Top 40 Albums of 2005

by Treble Staff; intro by Terrance Terich

12.18.2005





Lists. We use them all the time, in every way, in every situation. Grocery lists, to do lists, Franz Liszt. Huh? It takes a certain kind of person (read: ob-com) to be as passionate and devoted to wading through an entire year's worth of albums and songs, ranking them in our own orders of preference, and then compiling the final list to present you, our lovely reader, with the ultimate bests of the year. I know for a fact that nearly every writer on staff went back to their lists multiple times with changes, some even going so far as to send emails with addendums on the day the list was being finalized. Some of even changed our lists to include albums that had just been released, trying not to forget albums that were released early in the year.

What you'll find here is a list truly representative of 2005. From the major label popularity of Kanye West to the independent winner of the Mercury Prize, Antony & the Johnsons, and then on to the combination of hip-hop and cartoons (no, not the Gorillaz!). Our journey takes us from the northerly climes of Iceland to the unlikely shores of Sri Lanka and every corner of the US and UK. This year was rife with the Canuck invasion with Canadian acts almost surpassing those from the UK on our list! Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are the new hotbeds of independent music, maybe proving to us that all you need to have a great band is good national health care and gun laws!

What makes this whole endeavor difficult is the entire ranking process. We here at Treble usually eschew the idea of album ratings, because really, how can one put a number on a piece of art? It's entirely arbitrary, especially when you get into the whole comparison aspect. It's one thing to try to compare albums by the same or a similar artist, but when they are as diverse as Tom Waits and Depeche Mode? So, believe me, if you have your differences with this list, so do we! We thought it'd be fun anyhoo, looking at the ranked lists from every writer as a representation of how much power these albums held over us rather than as a representation of artistic value.

Another heartbreaking aspect of this project is that some of our favorites didn't make the cut. Albums from Metric, Love as Laughter, New Order, Sons & Daughters, Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney, Ed Harcourt, Silver Jews, Trail of Dead, Blackalicious, Depeche Mode, Kasabian, Fiona Apple, British Sea Power and Rogue Wave were all just shy of the final count. What can be agreed upon is that the final tally reveals a collection of music that we can all feel comfortable recommending to the discriminating listener, with something for everyone, and truly representative as the best of the year. Enjoy!

40. Low - The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop)

The reports that Duluth's finest had turned up the volume for their seventh full-length outing proved correct, but David Fridmann's role as producer betrayed the most information about the sound of Destroyer. This was a beautiful, full-fleshed pop take on Low's sparse palette. "Cue the Strings" succeeded with shades of Neil Young and Buddy Holly, while "When I Go Deaf" added a Bends-esque fuzz to one of the year's most jaw-dropping acoustic moments. Elsewhere the album touched on My Bloody Valentine ("Everybody's Song"), Red House Painters ("California"), and early nineties Flaming Lips ("Just Stand Back"), but these songs were unmistakably Sparhawk, Parker and Sally. Low didn't just bring the noise, they delivered the tunes, and possibly their best album yet. – Thomas Lee

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39. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)

When most bands sing about love, it's magical and it's powerful. It's tragic or it's devastating. When Eddie Argos sings about love, it's real. It's flawed, it's hopeless, it's awkward. It's even kinda funny. But that's exactly why Art Brut is such a likeable band. They're human. They're also quite deft on writing Modern Lovers-like rockers, as evident in their high energy and hand-clappable tunes about new loves, old loves, little brothers, forming bands, Morrissey (drinking Hennessey) sightings in LA, Velvet Underground rip-offs and rocking out at the Pompidou. And if it all seems a little bit cheeky, well, it's just because they're laughing with you. — Jeff Terich

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38. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights (Lost Highway)

I've spent the past five-and-a-half years living in North Carolina and thus, by definition, I must be passionate about Ryan Adams. He's our indie rock hometown hero (sorry Ben Folds). However, despite my love for Heartbreaker and Rock N Roll, I feel a personal connection to Jacksonville City Nights because of the sheer North Carolina-ness of it all. Driving down I-40 blasting this real country album, the trees whizzing past, I understand how he feels about "suffocating on the pines in Jacksonville." And this album is Country with a capital C—a boozy, swinging, old country full of Americana. This honky-tonk sounding album still makes room for sparse folk tunes too. For example, the wistful "September," that forces your heart to ache with the lyrics "They carved your name into a stone / And they put it in the ground / I run my fingers through the grooves / When no one's around" And thus, I'll remain loyal to Ryan Adams to the bitter end. His homespun tales of deceit, lost love, and drinking till he's sick feel as though they were sculpted out of the very dirt of North Carolina. — Becca Johnson

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37. Spinto Band - Nice and Nicely Done (Bar/None)

Indie-pop never sounded so great. And it comes from Delaware, thus giving our nation's first state a reason for remaining part of our country other than being a storage facility for our hazardous waste. On their debut album for Bar/None the Spinto Band exhibits a youthful exuberance with catchy hooks, frolicking melodies and a barrage of kazoos on "Brown Boxes." Kazoos people! Let it be known that one of the best tracks on the album is a hidden one; "Japan is an Island" tells all about doing things like getting it on with your girl while your dog gets loose and playing Atari. Every day in Delaware should be Spinto Band day. – Chris Pacifico

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36. Feist - Let It Die (Interscope)

When I first heard Leslie Feist, I refused to believe she was some skinny white girl, just as I refused to believe Dusty Springfield wasn't actually from Memphis. Is it even possible for that sultry voice to be emanating from that body? While Joss Stone tries to sell her Gap-approved brand of blue-eyed soul, Feist achieves a sincerity that the manufactured Stone can never attain. Feist is honest and stark and the result is the strikingly beautiful Let it Die. To say the least, Feist defies convention and third album Let it Die is filled with her soulful, sparse compositions, from the jazzy "Leisure Suite" to the Sade-worthy "Inside and Out." "It might be years until the day / My dreams will match up with my pay," she sings on the playful "Mushaboom." With more albums like Let it Die, that day may come sooner than Feist thinks. – Molly B. Eichel

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35. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan (V2)

Jack's nappy hair and Meg's nifty "lungs" made a turn for the better as the Stripes pushed the envelope even further on Get Behind Me Satan. While it isn't exactly fueled by the fuzzy blues frenzy of their previous releases, the White Stripes still aim to please by getting their Deep Purple on with "Blue Orchid," adding a taste of the marimba with "The Nurse" and some ragtime shimmy on "My Doorbell." This time around they could even convince a first time listener that they hail from the incestuous hills of the Appalachians (not that they are incestuous) with the Mountain boogie of "Little Ghost." – Chris Pacifico

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34. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft (XL-Beggars Banquet)

The Welsh band with the funny name and cultish fans all over the world returned with Love Kraft, a spacey rock opera of sorts. The indie rag hype on this one was so loud, it nearly drowned out the actual album when it appeared. Four of the five Furries wrote songs for the album, making it truly a group effort. As such, it turned out to be this era's Dark Side of the Moon, dense, layered landscapes with dreamy vocals and cryptic lyrics (though not as cryptic as they would have been if sung in Welsh). In opener "Zoom," the line "I can't get enough of this" is sung. This is how I felt after hearing the album in total, like I wanted more.

There's not a single throwaway song in the bunch, each solidifying into a gelled whole, but each singular enough to stand on its own as unique. The Furries seem rooted in '70s space rock with this one, but they pull it off with such panache that one can tend to forget. Somehow, they have created a wormhole into the past, making it seem as if the band is playing in two decades at once, yet in the same recording room. Plus, "Oi Frango" is one of the best Blur-meets-Herb Alpert on the moon impressions I've ever heard, not that I've ever actually heard that before. – Terrance Terich

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33. Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness (Domino)

Dan Snaith followed his breakout album as Manitoba, Up in Flames, with a much more refined piece of work. The Technicolor joy present throughout its predecessor gave way to a slightly subtler, richer-textured approach. Thankfully, in its knack for merging genres into something beautiful, this record is undoubtedly Dan. From the disjointed psychedelic elevator music of "Yeti," through to the pulse-raising, orchestrated Four Tet stutter of "Barnowl," everything here intrigues and impresses. It's fitting that Snaith's name change comes at a time when he's well on the way to establishing himself as a fully-fledged electronic auteur. – Thomas Lee

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32. The National - Alligator (Beggars Banquet)

The National's third album, Alligator, is the type of recording that helps you find the silver linings in an overcast sky. The shades of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave in Matt Berninger's voice – somber and introspective as his literate lyrics – are complimented by the shimmering arrangements by the rest of the band, particularly Aaron and Bryce Dressner's. The bubbling and shimmer of the Dressners' guitars bring a bit of light to the brooding, moody proceedings as the album saunters through city streets and smoky rooms. From the reserved "Secret Meeting" to the boisterous "Abel," from the desolate ballad "Daughters of the Soho Riots" to the soused celebration of "All the Wine," the band expertly walks the line between light and shadows. And who can beat the triumphant close that is "Mr. November," a song that gets better with every listen. It's impossible to not be swept up by the full-tilt chorus and machine gun drums as Berninger belts, "I won't fuck us over, I'm Mr. November!" – Hubert Vigilla

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31. Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In a Digital Urn (Saddle Creek)

Conor Oberst's heart-clad sleeve has been replaced by an outward machinelike stoicism; his true emotions percolate just below the surface. This detachment is well matched by a musical mash-up of computer-generated blips, video game sound effects, and electronic drum beats, which thinly veil his true feelings of isolation. The album's strongest track, "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)," details his first heartbreak and ensuing indifference:

"Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth.
Someone might get hurt but it won't be me.
I should probably feel cheap, but I just feel free
And a little bit empty."

Other key tracks are the equal parts depressing and hopeful "Easy/Lucky/Free" and a tribute to fate and order in the universe, "I Believe In Symmetry." The digital thumps mirror Oberst's obsession with facts; death is unavoidable so don't stress, time is propelling forward so spend it well. These are solid pieces of advice from the guy whose basic philosophy seems to be life is shit, but I love it anyway. — Becca Johnson

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30. M.I.A. - Arular (XL-Beggars Banquet)

M.I.A. should stand for Most Individual Artist. Not in recent memory has a person like this appeared above the radar screen; she is fierce, hear her roar. M.I.A. does have her critics though. They tend to be very outspoken and although I can see how she is one of those `you either love her or hate her' performers, I personally loved her from the first moment I heard her. This year saw M.I.A.'s much-hyped debut record Arular hit the shelves to respectable sales, some more than respectable reviews, and her name rolling from the tongue of some of the most notorious taste-makers around. Believe the hype people, because she is sooooooo the real deal. Arular is almost like a mash-up mix, in that it's a record that mixes styles seamlessly to combine the world music influences of M.I.A.'s native Sri Lanka with dub, hip hop, and various forms of broken beat music. Not to mention she does it all, from rhyming to singing, dancing, and tailoring the most nostalgically inspired hip-hop wardrobe I've ever seen. Being a Sri Lankan refugee, M.I.A. is a lot more than your average immigrant living in England, and this is reflected in her lyrics. M.I.A.'s songs are politically-charged and many, such as "Pull Up The People" are delivered with all the conviction and ferocity of a seasoned guerilla rebel. Probably the single greatest part about Arular though is that it is politically charged, but like Gang of Four, its rebellion requires putting on your dancing shoes. – Christian Conlon

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29. Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)

Many people don't know quite what to make of Antony & the Johnsons, the controversial Mercury Prize winner of 2005. The controversy lies not in the gender bending act and themes, nor the `not so easily' accessible material, but in the fact that Antony now lives in New York, not England. A pox on him! Anyhoo, I Am a Bird Now, an album loosely based on a series of letters from hermaphroditic children wanting to be a different gender than they currently are, is a stunning work of vocal art. Antony's voice alters between Bryan Ferry, Jeff Buckley and Tracy Chapman, all over beautiful pianos and strings. He even gets some help along the way from friends Boy George and Lou Reed, both sympathetic to the gender confusion cause, as well as Devendra Banhart, who has championed Antony since his debut.

It's difficult to pick out particular standout songs as the album flows so smoothly from one track into another. I'm surprised that this album even spawned single releases. It seems to me that this piece is better digested as a whole. To me, making singles out of this is like seeing a close-up of one star in Van Gogh's "Starry Night." It is still beautiful and textured, but has no context. That said, the cascading piano in "Hope There's Someone" and the fifties Motown horns in "Fistful of Love" are stunning and captivating moments. Antony is a singular performer who is thankfully getting some recognition, controversy or no. – Terrance Terich

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28. Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth (Matador)

I was wary, I admit. I couldn't see why Stephen Malkmus would slap only his own name on Face the Truth. And just when his band, The Jicks, had started to sound less like some dudes playing with that other dude from Pavement, as they did on their debut, and more like a real live band, as on 2003's Pig Lib. And, well, good call Stephen. Although the Jicks make the occasional appearance, Malkmus recorded the majority of the record in his basement studio; it sounds like just that.

A lesser man would get lost in a sea of bedroom pop indulgences, but when the indulger is Stephen Malkmus, the sort of turbo-quirk brilliance present in most of Pavement's work shines through. Face the Truth starts out of the gate with "Pencil Rot," which itself begins with arguably the least pleasant synth line you've heard this year, and one you'll be humming before the song's end. We're privy to some of the best slacker-oriented guitar-rock since the demise of that other Malkmus project on the off-the-cuff "Baby C'mon." And all over Face the Truth, we're reminded a song can be catchy in a straightforward-rock sort of way and be weird as all hell at the same time. – Nate Hayden

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27. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans (Atlantic)
Their jump to Atlantic resulted in neither a large change in sound, nor a vast leap in experimentation, or even a watered down version of the past. Instead, it was the next logical step in a progression for Death Cab for Cutie. I guess things can happen at the right time and at the right place. This time around the boys from Bellingham have fallen more in love with the organ than ever, and do they ever use it. Jason McGerr has proven time and again that he is Death Cab's best drummer, while Nick Harmer has remained steady and solid on bass. But, no offense to them intended, Death Cab is all about Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard. Gibbard's songwriting and Walla's production and Britpop guitars make a lethal combination for the sappy suckers in all of us.

At their recent homecoming show, last stop on the tour, at the Paramount in Seattle, thousands of teenage girls sang along with first encore song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark." "If Heaven and Hell decide that they are satisfied, and illuminate the `NO's' on their vacancy signs." "Soul Meets Body" proved to be a worthy first single, though not my favorite on the record. That honor changes every time I hear the record, wavering between "Marching Bands of Manhattan," "What Sarah Said," "Someday You Will Be Loved" and "Different Names for the Same Thing." Plans is more than a worthy successor to Transatlanticism, making for one of the best three album progressions in pop history, from The Photo Album to now. Between "Styrofoam Plates," "Transatlanticism" and "What Sarah Said," one can have one hell of a melodramatic mix. – Terrance Terich

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26. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow (XL-Beggars Banquet)

If there is one thing you can say about Devendra Banhart, it's that his music is intense. This isn't intensity like the Ramones had. And Banhart's music won't keep you glued to the TV screen like the 497th time you watched Purple Rain. The effect of Devendra Banhart's music is much less obvious than that. You might not notice it after one listen or even two, but eventually the power, honesty, and originality of Devendra Banhart's message and music will hit you like a ton of bricks. It is this mysterious witchery that is part of what makes Banhart's 2005 release, Cripple Crow such an enchanting piece of artistry.

However, such a bewitching record as Cripple Crow could not have such a hypnotic effect on the listener if Devendra Banhart was merely another folksinger. Part of what makes the musical tapestry of Cripple Crow unique is that it draws its sound from so many different genres. From the Beatlesesque "Heard Somebody Say," to the take no prisoners protest of "Long Haired Child." From the traditional nylon string Latin guitar parts on "Quedateluna," to the neo folk of "Cripple Crow." From the psychedelia of "Chinese Children," to the R&B of "Little Boys." This hodgepodge of musical influences is what allows Devendra Banhart to transcend the genre of folk, further drawing the listener into the majesty that is Cripple Crow.

The variety of styles and slow building intensity of Cripple Crow make it not only one of the best albums of the year, but add to the mystery of Devendra Banhart's unusual musical journey. On top of all that, there is a shameless innocence in Banhart's message. Much like the dirty hippie that has come down from the woods, Banhart is unapologetic about who he is and where he came from. This pure and harmless intention could be the key to the revolution, or at least to the one that's taking place in modern folk music. – Christian Conlon

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25. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cold Roses (Lost Highway)

So, apparently, the best thing for Ryan Adams to do was become more ambitious. Releasing three albums in one year, totaling four discs, Adams managed to bless us with some of his best material, giving fans little time to breathe between albums. While Jacksonville City Nights was more or less a pure bluegrass album and the just released 29 returned to a stark sound famously heard on Heartbreaker, Cold Roses filled two discs (just over halfway each) with rootsy rock tunes reminiscent of Neil Young, The Band and Adams' former band, Whiskeytown (I still don't hear Grateful Dead and probably never will, though). On "Magnolia Mountain" and "Easy Plateau," Adams and The Cardinals take on a decidedly classic rock sound, while "Let It Ride" and "Sweet Illusions" mark two of the best alt-country tunes released since Wilco went astray. And even if the album is a tad long, it's far more refined and cohesive than it may initially seem. Admittedly, I may be the resident Ryan Adams fanboy geek on staff here at Treble, but if you couldn't guess by its position here, it made more than a few contributors weep in its epic, moving presence. — Jeff Terich

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24. Kanye West - Late Registration (Roc-a-Fella)

For all the adoration we heap upon our pop stars, we impose a certain set of restrictions on what we'll allow them to be. Mos Def and Common deliver intellectualized and nuanced tales of the black urban struggle. 50 Cent and Nelly rap about bling and booty. As far as we, the audience, are concerned, the two archetypes are mutually exclusive. Mos does not drink Cristal, Fiddy don't think. But Kanye, somehow, we've let slip through the cracks. He can release a record populated largely by intricate beats and poignant (and at times hilarious) reflections on real social ills, and at the same time lay Prada leather to Red Carpet, all the while proclaiming his uncontested awesomeness. It's as if someone gave Ludacris Talib Kweli's set-list.

But, of course, none of this works if the music doesn't hold up. Luckily, Kanye (once again) proves himself more than proficient. From the shout-it-from-the-stoop non-melody at the core of "Touch the Sky" to the heart that holds together the ode/letter-home "Hey Mama," Kanye proves he's got both the chops and the soul to play whatever role he damn well pleases. And if cultural anomaly isn't your thing, well, who the fuck cares? It's not a great hip-hop record if it doesn't cover its dance-floor bases: get up, shake yer ass. – Nate Hayden

23. Maxïmo Park - A Certain Trigger (Warp)

There are times when reality and art crossover, when events in your life start to mirror fictions or works of art. Whether this points to the universality of diverse human experiences or just a series of strange coincidences remains to be determined, but Maximo Park's A Certain Trigger is my post-punk biography of 2005. You've got romantic frustrations, you've got some angst, you've got a whole lot of vamping, pomp, and swagger. Coupled with the pop hooks, spiky guitars, and songwriting reminiscent of The Smiths and The Jam, frontman Paul Smith uncannily narrates moments from my year. There's the sinking suspicion that someone I was dating was playing the field without telling me on "Going Missing" ("I sleep with my hands across my chest and dream of you with someone else"); an impassioned statement to win her over in "Kiss You Better" ("And if it comes down to me and him / You know I'd kiss you better"); and the punch to the throat on "Signal and Sign" ("I'd love to meet her, but she won't see me"). "Postcard of a Painting" reminds me of the desperate scrawls written to get another gal back and make amends. There's the eventual acceptance that these dames just don't dig in "Now I'm All Over the Shop" ("I know you'll be fine / Now that you're not mine"). But as with any year where a few things go awry, there are lessons learned. From "The Coast is Always Changing": "I am young and I am lost / Every sentence has its cost" and "Age makes no difference `til you open your mouth". But the most important lesson is from "Apply Some Pressure": "What happens when you lose everything? / You just start again / You start all over again." It's going to be a happy new year.— Hubert Vigilla

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22. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday

Skinny boys in tight pants and blazers with angular guitar lines and far too much eyeliner can be a little grating when all you want to is rock out. Enter the Hold Steady. More confident than their stellar debut, Almost Killed Me, the Hold Steady present Separation Sunday, the story of Hallelujah and Charlemagne in the mean streets of Minnesota. But the story line doesn't impinge on the Hold Steady's ability to rock. "Stevie Nix" wins the award for most kick ass guitar riff and frontman Craig Finn's more-talking-less-singing approach to vocals makes it easy to yell along to. Just make sure you don't spill your beer. – Molly B. Eichel

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21. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Jagjaguwar)

Will Sheff doesn't play by the rules. First, he has the audacity to begin an album with a cover. Then, he builds a loose concept album around the character from that cover. Unheard of! But even with this odd revolt against conventions, Sheff and his Austin based band created one of the most consistently strong and emotionally affecting releases in a long while. Turning on the distortion for the first time, Okkervil River takes on the aggressive ("For Real"), the anthemic ("The Latest Toughs"), the dreamy ("A Glow"), all the while lending a voice to this supposed Black Sheep Boy. Sheff's narratives are vivid, touching and often disturbing, tossing in imagery of torn throats, the flash of steel from "real guns" and everyone burning. The string of tales, though loosely held together, creates an oddly cohesive collection, one that can be appreciated by sensitive poet and disheveled rocker alike. It's the smartest album ever to break your heart. – Jeff Terich

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20. DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask (Epitaph)

Ex-KMD man Daniel Dumile, now lionized by pale indie webziners of all shades in his MF Doom incarnation, combined with Grey Album architect Danger Mouse to great effect on The Mouse and the Mask. Touching on Cartoon Network, and dancehall that isn't (Talib Kweli collaboration "Old School"); the record recalled a lot of things and nothing else on the market. Dumile and Burton made this writer as happy as music can in bringing about an unexpected Sparklehorse/Wu-Tang Clan collaboration as Mark Linkous crawled out of the mountains to play bass on Ghost-Face cameo "The Mask." Superheroes for life…until their souls vanish. – Thomas Lee

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19. Andrew Bird - And The Mysterious Production of Eggs (Righteous Babe)

With all of the ridiculous, inane awards doled out to usually undeserving celebrities, one would think that there would be at least one award given for Best Whistler. Andrew Bird needs at least a little love for his superior talent. Bird's third release, And the Mysterious Production of Eggs, is positively epic in its own quiet and beautiful way. Each song on And the Mysterious Production of Eggs swells to create lush soundscapes with Bird's sometimes-nonsensical lyrics weaving their way through. And he whistles! Making it seem like just another instrument, Bird takes putting your lips together and blowing to the next level. Bring on the acceptance speeches and free swag! – Molly B. Eichel

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18. Eels - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations (Vagrant)

Someday, Mark Oliver Everett will be happy, right? Who cares as long as he keeps making music like this! What some might have thought was music that could not be mined anymore, introspective autobiographical singer-songwriter sadness, was not only blown up into two full CDs of material, but they were both quality CDs. A friend of mine said "It's almost too much Eels." He's right, in a way, but overdosing on E's `revelations' is rapturous joy. Somewhere in the middle of a comparative triangle of Brian Wilson, Randy Newman and Beck, E manages to balance the ecstatic, therapeutic and sublime in two masterful discs.

The album is difficult to sum up, but the single, "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" makes an attempt by suggesting reveling in despair, complete with `sha-la-la's.' "Trouble with Dreams," "In the Yard, Behind the Church," "Railroad Man," "Old Shit / New Shit," "Losing Streak" and "Ugly Love" are all songs that could end up on an Eels' greatest hits compilation, but the double album already feels that way. Back on Beautiful Freak, E wrote "One day the world will be ready for you and wonder how they didn't see." He could easily have been talking about Blinking Lights. – Terrance Terich

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17. Sigur Ros - Takk (Universal)

Barely a Sigur Ros review goes by without ridiculous naturalist imagery or a reference to their nationality. It's understandable, though, given that this is a band that actually deserves their otherworldly tag. Songs like "Hoppipolla" and "Saeglopur" sound like the listener dreamed them up. Pretension free, fashion-unconscious, and better than most; Sigur Ros remind me that life is a lot less cynical than appearances suggest. Wake up world. – Thomas Lee

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16. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (Domino – Epic)

Sure, you'll still want to dance, but You Could've Had it So Much Better, a worthy successor to Franz Ferdinand's Mercury Prize-winning debut, finds these lads avoiding the sophomore slum this time around by expanding well beyond the post-punk canon from which they were spawned. You'll want to dust off your old Adam and the Ants records when you hear "Evil and a Heathen" while "The Fallen" is cleverly and nominally funkified. Of course their signature strut is showcased on "Do You Want To" and frontman Alex Kapranos gets a tad bit more sincere with "What You Meant" and "Walk Away." This time around they've proved that they're far more than a pack of NME approved fancy boys from Scotland and a fantastically talented band all around. – Chris Pacifico

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15. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Saddle Creek)

Conor Oberst: indie poster-boy heartthrob, DIY raconteur, political activist and friend to small animals. Before going on two lengthy tours, Conor and his band recorded and released two albums at once, the electronic leaning Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and the balls-out folk masterpiece, I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, (or as it's called in some circles, `The Better One'). On Morning, Conor's lyrics have never been as insightful, erudite or self-aware, making the title of the album more than just a side note. Guest appearances by Emmylou Harris, Jim James, and a host of others simply add to the brilliance.

The impassioned shouting of `They go wild…' in "Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)," the hushed intimacy of "Lua," the reflective and vulnerable story of "First Day of My Life" and then probably the best consecutive three song ending recorded in "Land Locked Blues," "Poison Oak" and "Road to Joy." "Poison Oak" in particular is a personal favorite going from quiet reminiscence to cathartic primal screams all accompanied by Mike Mogis' ethereal pedal steel. Everything is completely summed up by the end of the album when Conor sings, "I could have been a famous singer, if I had someone else's voice. But failure's always sounded better, let's fuck it up boys. Make some noise!" If failure sounds like this every time from here on out, then failure is an option I can accept. – Terrance Terich

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14. Animal Collective - Feels (Fat Cat – Paw Tracks)

Reviewing the Animal Collective's Feels is like reviewing a day in a fecund field: The album gives the sense that there are in fact animals and insects passing you by, brushing past your legs, fauna growing around you all the while. Shifting from the acoustic Sung Tongs to the new album's vibrant, large in scope, spacey production, Animal Collective have not lost their ability to create anarchic music that, as quirky as it is, is still hypnotic. The clippity-clop gallop of "Did You See the Words" and the hippity-hop glee of "Grass" are instantly mesmerizing, like watching wild horses and mad hares racing by, respectively. "Banshee Beat," which builds from its initial stillness, captures an odd nocturnal quality, a night in which chirping crickets gather and build up momentum causing all animals to make calls to the moon. Yes, by the end of the album – as "Turn Into Something" breaks from its lively pace to usher in a morning dew – you feel a bit closer to the world around you and, more so, you feel that there is truth to Avey Tare's wispy yodel that "There's something living in these lines." – Hubert Vigilla

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13. Stars - Set Yourself On Fire (Arts & Crafts)

The stars sing / I've got their song in my head…

This is actually a line from the Long Winters' "Ultimatum" but it's also a nice little turn of phrase for this review. Songs by the Montreal band Stars do indeed get stuck in my head, songs like the high energy love song "What I'm Trying to Say," the equally infectious "Ageless Beauty" and the softer closer, with choral help from the Dears, "Calendar Girl." Opener "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" (which made it onto our best songs of the year list) was so good, tourmates Death Cab for Cutie melded its lyrics into "What Sarah Said" off of Plans.

Torquil Campbell's honeyed vocals sound like Paul Heaton from the Beautiful South and Amy Milian's angelic singing complements them perfectly. Although still in the "opening band" netherworld, they put on one of the best live shows I've seen. Most listeners will be more familiar with the collective that Stars members have contributed to, that being Broken Social Scene, but Set Yourself on Fire, an exquisitely made sex album, is a huge artistic leap for the band, mature, accessible and soaring. – Terrance Terich

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12. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (DFA – Capitol)

Prior to 2005, you probably heard shitloads of buzz about LCD Soundsystem, a.k.a. 35-year-old music geek James Murphy, a.k.a. the dude who runs DFA Records and may or may not have been the reason Death From Above 1979 had to put the 1979 in their name. But aside from all that, Murphy gives his own "homage" to various forms of dance music throughout the album's nine tracks, whether it be punk ("Movement), New Wave (`Tribulations") or Brian Eno ("Great Release"). This is a record for the mildly overweight, record collecting recluse in his mid-thirties that still lives in his parent's basement in all of us. – Chris Pacifico

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11. Spoon - Gimme Fiction (Merge)

A more appropriate title could not have been chosen for Spoon's fifth full-length, a compressed and minimal art rock opus swathed in mythology. There are beasts and dragons, the theatrics of one homoerotic Monsieur Valentine and some merchants of soul. Its very essence is one of legend, and it certainly didn't hurt when bloggers began creating their own myths about the album — the album's tracklist is meant to be played in reverse order, the album's artwork is meant to display "vaginal" imagery — most of which has been dismissed by the band. Even without the speculation and personal theories about the band's original intent, there's an unspoken grandiosity about the record, one that may not reveal itself at first, given the relative simplicity of the material. But even with a few chords, a simple piano melody, a stark bassline and Britt Daniel's super cool rasp, Spoon is capable of creating an indie rock opus, and on Gimme Fiction, they certainly have. — Jeff Terich

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10. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (Sub Pop)

With artists getting the compilation treatment after releasing a scant three albums and music pundits constantly telling the listening public that the death knell of the album is ringing loud and clear, it is rare for a band to make it to their seventh record. And it is even rarer for that album to kick as much ass as TheWoods does. The ladies of Sleater-Kinney aren't growing soft with old age (or motherhood, for that matter) and if The Woods doesn't convince you, nothing will. With The Woods, Sleater-Kinney combined the traditional ingredients of Carrie Brownstein's mind melting guitar work, Corin Tucker's banshee wail and Janet Weiss' flawless drumming and added a dash of producer David Friedmann to get rid of what they thought was becoming a stagnant sound. The result was heaping helping of guitar solos, reverb, and an 11-minute jam, creating a new sound, and one of the best records of the staggering career of these elderstateswomen of indie rock. – Molly B. Eichel

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9. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)

Scottish-Canadian inventor Alexander Graham Bell must've had a tough time figuring a follow up to the telephone. The various patents in Bell's name, the accolades of his peers, the incessant touring following his breakthrough invention, the immense praise of hipster science critics – providing lush lines such as "This invention explodes with endlessly perfect possibilities" and "The telephone is a tremendously accomplished invention" – must have left the inventor sweating. Fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene must have felt the same way following the release of You Forgot it in People. Like Bell, whose next forays into the inventing world involved the possibilities of flight, Kevin Drew and his merry crew made eyes for the stratosphere on their most recent, self-titled album. Fittingly, songs like "Ibi Dreams of Pavement," the airy, dancey "Fire Eye'd Boy," or the idea-packed closer "It's All Gonna Break" sound like rocket ships shooting into space and whimsical flights of fancy. Other stand out offerings such as "7/4 (Shoreline)" and "Major Label Debut" shoot silver darts into the air and send gorgeous tetrahedrons to scrape the undersides of clouds. The new problem is what Broken Social Scene is going to do next. If I'm not mistaken, Bell worked on prototype hydrofoils; and I'm wondering how that will work musically. – Hubert Vigilla

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8. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Columbia)

Thunder, Lightning, Strike is fun. It's happy, quirky, cheer-up-your-mood music. This album isn't in your face intense, or overly dramatic with its approach towards you, the listener. Rather, Thunder, Lightning, Strike celebrates and cheerfully invites you to join in the festivities. While a lot of albums came out this year, this one made my list, primarily because it felt like a refresher course in music — Jackson Five, The Avalanches, Sonic Youth, Curtis Mayfield and Phil Spector all come to mind. This album shouts "get up and dance!" All songs are diverse and strong. No other album this year has merely reveled in the enjoyment of life, itself. And while you're living your life, why not have accompanying music to enjoy too? — Ayn Averett

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7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Self-Released)

From playing small shows in their native Brooklyn selling homemade CDs off a merch table to a feature on NPR, and laudatory reviews in major metropolitan newspapers in a few short weeks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah became the poster children for the DIY success story. While major labels are ridiculously punishing their listeners with higher prices, unwanted extra content and computer hijacking software, not to mention unfair radio station payola, Clap Your Hands are giving real music fans what they want, great music…period.

While singer Alec Ounsworth's vocals have gained comparison to folks like David Byrne or Gordon Gano, it is the hybrid of pop styles including said vocals that sets it apart from the pack, one of the many pieces of fortune's fate that brought this album to the forefront from obscurity. Tyler Sargent's bassline is the most reminiscent of Peter Hook's best work I've heard in years, while Lee Sargent's guitars take on more of an Isaac Brock quality. Top it off with the sometimes warbling, sometimes steady and dulcet vocals of Ounsworth and one can't resist their charms. Song like "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," "Is This Love?" and especially "In This Home on Ice" are standout tracks. – Terrance Terich

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6. My Morning Jacket - Z (ATO)

Jim James and Co.'s latest output is what would have happened had U2 grown up on Lynyrd Skynyrd as opposed to Van Morrison. As if the Waterboys had been weaned on Johnny Cash. Vast bombastic mountain rock is the name of the game on for Z, last in the alphabet, but first in our hearts. With this album, My Morning Jacket has progressed beyond the Grateful Dead comparisons from It Still Moves and ventured into territory only before tread by arena giants. Move over Who and U2, Jim James has managed to tie together four decades of musical history in one shot.

Songs like opener "Wordless Chorus" still have a semblance of Flaming Lips quirkiness, but towards the end, James' yelps resemble Bono's best until the last few that sound as if he's trying to shout "Benny" a la Elton John. "Gideon" soars like "Baba O'Riley" as if sung during The Joshua Tree sessions. "Off the Record" is one of the best songs on the album, sounding like a slowed down Tennessee version of a Clash song. While MMJ showed promise with their earlier work, this is a `surface of the moon'-type jump forwards from James James, the man with music so nice they named him twice. – Terrance Terich

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5. The Decemberists - Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)

In "The Engine Driver," hidden comfortably in the middle of Picaresque's latter half, Colin Meloy sings "I am a writer, a writer of fictions" and thus gives us a more apt description of his work than anyone else could ever hope to. Meloy and his ménage of multi-instrumentalists relate eleven narratives that sound both lyrically and aurally like English lit classics. Their indie-rock bard's tales, all folky vocal waver and kitchen-sink instrumentation (has anyone seen my squeezebox?), come off like your 11th grade English class filtered through a century or so of pop music. Fitzgerald's pomp-masking-frailty drives the big beat of "The Sporting Life." They cover Melville's swaggering creepiness on the epic "The Mariner's Revenge Song." Up and down Picaresque, The Decemberists follow their muses, both rock and prose.

With Picaresque, Meloy and Co. unstitched underground rock's tongue from the inside of its cheek long enough to grant us an album's worth of earnest high-drama that's, simply put, the best damn thing this guy's heard all year. – Nate Hayden

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4. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop)

Dear Canadian Government,

I love your country and the music you and your fine people have been putting out over the years. You gave us The Arcade Fire's Funeral, Broken Social Scene's You Forgot it in People, and Shine a Light by The Constantines. This year you've given us The Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary, an album that lives up to its hype by delivering an eclectic array of music. And I have to say, though the first half is quite good, the second half of the album is nearly flawless.

I do have a serious question, though. What exactly do you put in your water supply to inspire such great music? Do you use a different concentration of chlorine and ammonia than we do in the States, one which is capable of inspiring greatness in Dan Boeckner and company? Is there additional fluoride or another fine substance that we can use to help write songs like "Shine a Light," "Modern World," or "I'll Believe in Anything"? Because, oh Canadian Government, I think you can bottle whatever it is you've got and make a killing off of exported Canadian Music Drink®.

That is all. Along with Wolf Parade, by the way, I also like Mounties and Molson and the McKenzie Brothers.

Sincerely,
A music fan
- Hubert Vigilla

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3. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (Vice-Atlantic)

There comes a time in the life of every young adult when the world ceases to be a place of wonder and opportunity and reveals itself to be place of paradoxes, hypocrisies, and disappointments. Childhood naïveté falls away and suddenly appears reality. But, this newly born man doesn't know enough to understand. He only knows to react. Silent Alarm captures precisely this moment in time. Many bands make their bones channeling angst, but few do so with the sensitivity and talent heard here. Armed with angular guitars, marching drums, and a savvy sense of atmosphere, Bloc Party's reaction spontaneously combusts every time it hits the air.

The sad reality of incendiary reactions is that they seldom carry a band beyond the opening salvo. Indeed, even Silent Alarm winds down in its second half, with one exception. The marching drums continue, counting the time as it passes. And as it passes, the man learns how the world works, not just how it looks. Faced with this new challenge, many men (and bands for that matter), become resigned and detached – shells of their former selves. But, the best of them evolve. Bloc Party has the talent, and music will be a better place if they have the staying power. – Andrew Waugh

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2. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)

I listened to this album in its entirety at my brother's house before it was released, and although I was already a huge fan of Sufjan's work, nothing could prepare me for what was to come with Illinois, the second of his 50 States project. From the haunting "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." to the chanting funk of "They Are Night Zombies!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!!", Illinois is one of those albums that is immediately mind-blowing, and yet opens itself up to you like a flower over time. After hearing the album maybe fifty times, I started to appreciate more of the subtlety. The switch to Part II of "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" subtitled "Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream" is exquisite, with the organ and horns leading into the first line, "I cried myself to sleep last night." Only Sufjan could make what would normally be a Morrissey line into pure transcendent beauty.

What Sufjan has done with this 50 states project is to carry the mantle created by American folk icons Woody Guthrie, whose tales of Dust Bowl tragedy painted a picture of this country, and Bob Dylan, who also carried, yet changed that mantle, creating songs of a personal nature, internalizing America. Sufjan has now carried and changed that mantle again, not only painting pictures of the states as he knows them, but making them personal, historically accurate, and brilliantly orchestrated as he plays nearly every instrument under the sun. This album has been number one on my best of the year list ever since it came out, and nothing has deposed it since. In fact, even though #2 is more than highly respectable, and it was a close race, I was almost outraged. I wouldn't be surprised if Illinois ended up as my number one choice for best of the decade. That is, until his third state album comes out. – Terrance Terich

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1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

The New Pornographers have been primed for critical success since day one. Their debut record Mass Romantic was not only a power-pop joyride chock full of hits that never were, but it featured the combined talents of Carl Newman, Dan Bejar and Neko Case, who, despite a less prominent role, drew more than a little attention to the Canadian group. With their follow-up, Electric Version, it became clear that even slight variations on the same idea could prove to be pleasing. So when Twin Cinema busted down the doors and unleashed a prismatic barrage of shape-shifting pop songs that sounded often nothing like the band had done before, it came as a surprise, to say the least.

Clearly, it was obvious that the band had it in them. Any group with that many fabulous songwriters had to have been capable of making something so wondrously mystifying. The familiar elements of yore hadn't molted entirely; the title track, "Use It" and "Sing Me Spanish Techno" all pogoed in typically crunchy, Newman-esque fashion. But when combined with the dream pop of "The Bones of An Idol," the sampler aerobics of "Falling Through Your Clothes" and "Jessica Numbers," and the monumental "These Are the Fables," they made for a diverse and compelling album whose nearest relatives are art rock albums of the '70s, a la Bowie or Roxy Music, touched up with a hint of every band ever to be signed to 4AD.

I am compelled to call Twin Cinema genius. And though The New Pornographers are not actual pornographers, I feel it necessary, in closing, to turn to Justice Potter Stewart's description of pornography in the Jacobellis v. Ohio trial: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced…but I know it when I see it." Well, I'm not sure how to define "genius," either. But I know it when I see it, and Twin Cinema is it. – Jeff Terich

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Thanks for Reading, and Happy Holidays from Treble. Regular updates, with the exception of one column coming later this week, will resume on Jan. 9.