Best of 2005

ALBUMS

1. M.I.A., Arular
2. Frames, Burn the Maps
3. Sons and Daughters, The Repulsion Box
4. High on Fire, Blessed Black Wings
5. Kanye West, Late Registration
6. Decemberists, Picaresque
7. White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan
8. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
9. Keyshia Cole, The Way It Is
10. Go! Team, Thunder, Lightning, Strike

THE NEXT 10

Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Keren Ann, Nolita
Feist, Let It Die
Spoon, Gimme Fiction
Teenage Fanclub, Man-Made
My Morning Jacket, Z
Magic Numbers, s/t
Kings of Leon, Aha Shake Heartbreak
A Band of Bees, Free the Bees

18 MORE

LCD Soundsystem, s/t
Lee Ann Womack, There’s More Where That Came From
Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy
Teairra Mari, Roc-A-Fella Records Presents
Stars, Set Yourself on Fire
Amadou & Mariam, Dimanche a Bamako
Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary
Van Morrison, Magic Time
V/A, Meridian 1970
Kraftwerk, Minimum-Maximum
Laura Veirs, Year of Meteors
Gruff Rhys, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth
Mastodon, Leviathan
Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain
Jenny Scheinman, 12 Songs
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howl
Low, The Great Destroyer
Juan Maclean, Less Than Human

SINGLES

Mary Gauthier, “Mercy Now”
Lee Ann Womack, “I May Hate Myself in the Morning”
Gorillaz, “Feels Good Inc.”
Kanye West w/ Jamie Foxx, “Gold Digger”
Amerie, “1 Thing”
Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl”
Weezer, “Beverly Hills”
Laura Veirs, “Galaxies”
R. Kelly, “Trapped in the Closet (Chapters 1-12)”
White Stripes, “My Doorbell”
Juelz Santana, “There It Go (The Whistle Song)”
Nickelback, “Photograph”
Brad Paisley, “Alcohol”
Keyshia Cole, “I Just Want It to Be Over”
Teairra Mari, “Make Her Feel Good”
Pussycat Dolls, “Don’t Cha”

REISSUES

Dungen, Ta Det Lungt
Herb Alpert series on Shout Factory
Numero series
V/A, Good for What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows 1926-1937
Coltrane finds
Dinosaur Jr.
Terry Reid

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Pelican
Brazilian Girls
Boredoms
Bloc Party

DON’T CARE

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Mountain Goats
Hold Steady
Fiery Furnaces
50 Cent
Beck
Shakira (her music, anyway)
all “American Idol” alumni
Foo Fighters
Rolling Stones
Paul McCartney

BLANK STARE

Antony

WORST ALBUM COVER

Korn, See You on the Other Side

WORST SONG

Black Eyed Peas, “My Humps”

WORST ALBUM OF 2005

Bright Eyes, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn