November 26th, 2005
Best albums (five lists) of 2005
Don’t blame me. Before the best of lists really kick off, In Fact, Ah had already started this a couple of weeks back, followed up with a very broad-ranging, disparate list from Auds over at realitycheck(dot)ie. Me, being me, I can’t just decide on a top ten, so I�ve come up with a couple of lists (which are themselves in no particular order) and I bet I still leave something momentous out…
Top Ten
1. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illnoise (Album of the year)
2. Bonnie Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
3. M.I.A - Arular
4. Sigur Ros - Takk
5. Kate Bush - Aerial
6. Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
7. Telepopmusik - Angel Music
8. Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum
9. Anthony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
10.Low - The Great Destroyer
The Next Ten Best
1. Stuart A. Staples - Lucky Dog Recordings
2. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
3. Goldfrapp - Supernature
4. Monade - A Few Steps More
5. Animal Collective - Feels
6. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
7. Steve Malkmus - Face the Truth
8. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
9. Smog - A River Ain’t Too Much Love (Interview with Mr. Callaghan here:
10. Gorillaz - Demon Days
Best new discoveries
1. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
2. Scout Niblett - Kidnapped By Neptune
3. Who Made Who - Who Made Who
4. Decoder Ring - Somersault soundtrack
5. Common - Be
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
7. The Superimposers - The Superimposers
8. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman’s Woman
9. Arcade Fire - Funeral
10. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Top 10 Irish albums
1. Julie Feeney - 13 Songs
2. Halfset Dramanalog *
3. Iarla Ó Lionáird - Invisible Fields
4. Various Red Bridge Compilation
5. Matt Lunson - Miss Vaughan
6. RóisÃn Murphy - Ruby Blue
7. Hulk -Silver Thread of Ghosts
8. Give a Man a Kick -We Are The Way Forward
9. Jubilee Allstars - The Struggle Continues
10. Rónán Ó Snodaigh - The Playdays
Honourable mentions
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-sides and Rarities
2. Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase
3. The Slits - Live at the Gibus Club
4. The Cocteau Twins - From Lullabies To Violaine
5. The Juan Maclean - Less Than Human
6. Ambulance Ltd - Ambulance Ltd
7. Beck - Guero
8. Husky Rescue - Country Falls
9. Phantom Buffalo - Shishimumu
10. Minotaur Shock - Maritime
* In the interests of disclosure, I should point out that I know these guys very well.
November 26th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
oooh i’m just working on mine at the minute actually
funeral lower than clap your hands… is a crime! i find the cyhsy album very patchy to say the least… i’m having a bit of a dilemma actually as i regard funeral as having been released last year as i got it on import from the us… but i don’t want to leave it off my list and have people think i don’t
November 26th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
i’ve come to the conclusion your comments form doesn’t like me! it keeps truncating (censoring? :p ) my counsel!
November 27th, 2005 at 11:16 am
Mish, sorry the comments are acting up on you, I think it may be sorted now.
You’ll be relieved to know that apart from Sufjan as numero uno, there’s no particular order to the lists - it nearly killed me trying to narrow it down to 50 as it is!
I’m having the same problem with CYHSY in terms of releases. The official UK/Ireland release isn’t until January (according to the record company) but it’s been available as an import but I’ve included it anyway.
I was going to include a list of biggest disappointments - anything stand out for you for the wrong reasons?
November 28th, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Great list(s) Sinead. I will endeavour to check out a few of the bands you have mentioned which I havent managed to listen to yet.
Already I need to update my Top 10 (I think we were a bit to hasty with our lists) namely because I have had Wolfparade and Animal Collective on heavy rotation for the past twop weeks. Both would easily make it inot my Top 10. Im not sure if you made it to the Wolfparade gig last night but it was fanastic even if the crowd werent great, (probably to do with it being Sunday night)
They are probaly the best new band Ive seen this year.
November 28th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Interested to see Julie Feeney at the head of one of your lists. She supported Teddy Thompson at The Sugar Club last Monday (’crowd’ of 30!) and she definitely has something.
November 29th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
PMc - I love that Animal Collective album and for some reason The WP album slipped past me so I must chase it up.
Crocodile - I love the Julie Feeney album, so different, so refreshing, so good to hear a woman in Irish music who doesn’t sound like the usual suspects. She’s very talented.
November 29th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Great lists - loads of stuff there that I need to check out….Julie Feeney sounds really great.
I want to update my list too - Clap you Hands arrived last week from amazon and has gotten a number of delighted listenings since.
I had just 1 raspberry, that being the Saw Doctors, but I was also disappointed with the Wallflowers’ Rebel Sweetheart - Brendan O’Brien produced it (who produced Bruce Springsteen’s Rising) so I was expecting something memorable but I just didn’t get it.
November 29th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
And I was also disappointed by Dar William’s My Better Self. The Beauty of the Rain, her last album was fantastic (especially Mercy of the Fallen - get it on itunes now - it’s really really good song!) but My better self was just insipid.
January 14th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
How about best gigs? (Camille O’Sullivan in the Spiegeltent, for one)
April 21st, 2006 at 10:46 am
Aracde Fire “Funeral” was defo the no.1 album 2004/2005…wins hands down