The Upstate Life

Thursday, December 22, 2005

TUL's Top 20 Albums of 2005, Because You Really Care! (Part 1 of 2)

Here we go again. Yes, that's right, it's when The Upstate Life compiles his favorite albums of 2005 and ranks them in ascending order of awesomeness. Although there weren't any Arcade Fires or Killa Cams to be had this year, we still saw plenty of excellent releases from a vast array of artists in the 2K5. From indie rock, Canadian power pop, NYC dance-punk, and whatever genre The Go! Team fall into, diversity is certainly the theme of this year's list. Anyways, as you can tell, we've doubled this year's list, making this a two-day spectacle of sorts. Albums #20-11 will be posted today (obvs) and will be followed by the Top 10 sometime before we hit 2006.

20) Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights: This is perhaps Mr. Adams' strongest effort since his solo debut, Heartbreaker. More concentrated than his double album released earlier this year, Cold Roses, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals go the straightforward country route, but it sounds that the former Whiskeytown member is at home with his roots which results in fourteen great tracks.

19) Deerhoof - The Runners Four: Words cannot really describe why I like this album, but then again, you'd probably say the same thing after listening to it. An indie rock outfit lead by the highest pitch female lead singer you've ever heard somehow results in an LP both very unique yet catchy. They seem to create their own genre as each track enters (and swiftly exits) its own sonic environment.

18) Spoon - Gimme Fiction: This one somehow fell under the radar here at TUL, but once it was finally discovered it was proudly initiated into the iPod library. It gets a lot more plays than say, The Polyphonic Spree.

17) Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask: Pairing lyricist MF Doom with DJ Dangermouse's beats was one the best things to happen to the masked rapper in awhile. While Doom's drawl tends to get repetitive, joining his extensive play on words with Dangermouse's production skills has created one enjoyable record. The Adult Swim cameos are pretty funny too.

16) The Decemberists - Picaresque: Colin Meloy and his merry band triumph once again in what could be their best album yet. Unfortunately, "16 By 32" resulted in me receiving a minor concussion after futile attempts to remove the catchy song from my head.

15) Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger: This album is so full of balled-up rock that it should have come with a warning label stuck onto its packaging claiming "Contents might explode when inserted into CD player." There's an undeniable rawness to the sound of this band that makes them so distinctive and their LP so compelling.

14) Stars - Set Yourself on Fire: I guess if it wasn't for Death Cab for Cutie (Spoiler Alert - they do not appear on this list), I wouldn't have been introduced to an outstanding Canadian band whose name doesn't start with arcade and end with fire. Stars have been around for awhile now, but their 2005 release, Set Yourself on Fire, really brought this Montreal group to the forefront of indie pop.

13) Kaiser Chiefs - Employment: OK, so maybe they're riding the horse Franz Ferdinand came in on, but whatevs, at least they do a respectable job of it. Their live act was a nice surprise to the low expectations I had going into it, plus "I Predict a Riot" is simply tits.

12) Hot Hot Heat - Elevator: It may not have been as critically hailed as their debut, but Elevator wasn't a disappointment by any means. Plenty of toe-tapping songs make up this more guitar-driven record with very little filler.

11) Kanye West - Late Registration: "Gold Digger". Need I say more? Fine, "Touch the Sky" broke my track blazing thermometer.

Posted by Brett at 1:57 PM |