All The Tunes, None Of The Waiting
God damn, we listened to a lot of music this year. And while we don’t pretend to be scientific, well, we like what we like and we’re right about everything. So here it is, warts and all, and in no particular order. Rockers of the world, when you weren’t sucking, you, um, rocked us. Good on ya.
The Cribs ? ìHey Scenesters!î/îYouíre Gonna Lose Usî
Yeah, thatís right, this band has a hit single called ìHey Scenesters,î which on the face of it, is about as cool as walking into Making Time with a Joy Division t-shirt and a trucker cap outfitted with twin drink cozys on either side with a rubber tube attached to each for maximum Sparks-drinking affect. But guess what? Any of you bitches (female AND male) would give your eye teeth to fuck The Cribs, so just shut up already. The Cribs: Theyíre The Strokes with brains!
Watch the video for “Hey Scenesters!” here. [Wichita]
Spinto Band ? ìOh Mandyî
Weíve opined about the genius and mystery of ìOh Mandyî on this site quite a few times before, but at the risk of hammering it home once more, let us just say this: Sometimes, a song comes along that can capture the imagination of everyone within earshot. This time, when it was ìOh Mandy,î it grabbed an entire scene by the collar, and simply refused to let go. Every time I hear it, all I can think about is all of the awesome shit that was happening every other time I heard it.
The Spinto Band: “Oh Mandy” [mp3]
Doves ? Some Cities
Before Some Cities, you could be forgiven for thinking the Doves were just a bunch of fat dudes from England in track jackets and woolies making non-descript Britpop. Because thatís just what they were. But with this one, like damn. They went for it. And it was huge and scary and beatiful and even had a romper stomper with that ìBlack & White Townî song that jacked the hook from ìHeatwaveî by Martha & The Vandellas and really made some serious dancefloor lemonade. And donít even get us started on the fuck-me-up sneer on ìSnowden.î All over the city, you could hear people saying, ìYou know, man, I feel really gay for saying this, but that new Doves record is fucking unreal.î And they were right.
Doves: “Snowden” [mp3 via KissAtlanta]
Q-Unit ? Greatest Hits
Yes, yes. Mashups are over. Of course they are, and of course the gimmick could never last, especially when you go over to Boomselection and itís just a bunch of white dudes fucking around with Audio Bullys tracks in Garageband. But gosh, when The Silence Xperiment mashed pretty much all of Queenís Greatest Hits with sundry 50 Cent/G-Unit tracks, they unleashed a fucking monster. Clever like The Black Album, but way less arty and way more intensely hedonistic, Q-Unit, like a storm of German club boys chanting ìFat Bottom Girlsî at a football game, had something more than a little terrifying about it.
Young Jeezy
You heard right: Young Jeezy gets into the year-end wrap-up on the strength of his Angry Snowman logo alone. If any of you have a fucking problem with that, page the dude and bitch at him and see how that works out.
The Clientele ? Strange Geometry
Since The Clientele started out, pretty much, theyíve been faced with a daunting dilemma: How could the worldís best living seven-inch and EP band keep up all that icy beauty for an entire album and not have to trot out retreads of their own shit? With Strange Geometry, they finally did it, AND expanded their heretofore psychedelic-wet-cardboard-box sound AND busted out a new music industry model that we can get behind: If you bought the vinyl of the album, you got a coupon to get it for free on mp3 as well. The only downside: The classiest, most elegant band of the year is still signed to Merge, the sweatpants of indie labels.
The Clientele: “E.M.P.T.Y.” [mp3]
Richard Hawley ? Coles Corner
Yes, you took your S.O. to see Walk The Line, and wasnít that very nice of you, because Johnny Cash is/was cooler than testicles made of ice. But you know what? Itíd be shitloads nicer of you if you introduced hunnybunny to Richard Hawley, whoís this new genetically engineered hybrid of Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, Billy Fury AND fucking Morrissey. Coles Corner was hands down the most romantic and accomplished record of the year. Itís like a fine cognac poured over a golden breast on the summit of Love itself.
Stream selections from “Coles Corner” here. [Mute]
Mazarin ? Weíre Already There
While Mazarinís long-awaited comeback record sliced it and diced it on several levels, it was the lead-off track that really seemed to capture peopleís imagination. Kicking off with ye olde Fishtowne tubular bells and a cokey kick drum that went thwat-thwat-thwat-thwat-thwat-thwat, the tune opens right with a starry forgiveness before it even asks the question it already knows the answer to: ìWho wants to be oblivious?î Fuckiní A, Quentin: Everybody does. I mean, I know thatís not the point, but if you went through 2005 not feeling like there were things you wished you could un-know, well, then, good on ya. But really.
Mazrin: “Another One Goes By” [mp3]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Every rock star in the world had been secretly mouthing the words for years, every indie band had been saying it like it was some kind of boogah-boogah tribal prayer, but it took Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to actually walk right up, throw their dicks out on the table and say it: ìThe record industry is useless. We are awesome. Give us piles of cash.î And therein, taught the music world a very valuable lesson: Itís all about how you ask the question.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: “Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood” [mp3]
Dungen ? Ta Det Lugnt
Confession: I donít understand a single goddamned word on Ta det lugnt, the sprawling present-day psychedelic masterpiece by Dungen, the Swedish Guided By Voices. But what I do know, obviously, is that somehow, just one album by the Swedish Guided By Voices is 5 gagillion times better than the last 8 American Guided By Voices albums combined. Thatís why this countryís going to hell in handbasket, people. Itís not just that weíre outsourcing. Itís that weíre outsourcing to people who are smarter, more efficient, better looking, more tuneful and in general radder and better than us.
Dungen: “Panda” [mp3]
Babyshambles
As an excuse to get intimate with Fleet Street, you couldnít do much better than Babyshambles ó which is to say, you couldnít do better than ex-Libertine Peter Doherty ó in 2005. Things Pete Doherty likes: smack, Rimbaud-esque self-mythologizing, porkpie hats, sexy music-hall-meets-Clash type tunes, and Kate Moss. Things Pete Doherty does not like: Dudes from Vice, the po-po, rehabs in far-flung Buddhist monasteries and ìdead-monkey-brain-tabloid-fever.î Huh. Subtract Mr. Brownstone, and dude is man after our own hearts.
Stream “Down In Albion” by Babyshambles here. [NME]
Devendra Banhart ? Cripple Crow
Knives were sharpened and out, awaiting Prince Devís downfall, and then wouldnít you know it? He releases Cripple Crow, which actually rocks and sways in that Tyrannosaurus Rex way you always hoped he could. Simple observations morphed into heavy statements sent out into the world: I like Chinese children. I feel just like a child. It sucks how the Beatles died in the exact opposite order that they should have. All of it delivered in this very, very ìSpill The Wineî-esque steez that totally made up for the put-upon ìlook, Iím a faerie Billie Holidayî musings of his first records. Devendra Banhart, let us be the first to welcome you into the world of sexy people. Leave your elves behind.
Sample tracks from “Cripple Crow” here. [XLRecordings]
Feist ? Let It Die
While everyone is somehow still going totally Boner City over Broken Social Scene, how is it that Leslie Feist got through ë05 without having her likeness on a postage stamp. That voice! Those songs! Like Mr. Banhart, Feist the album took great joy in pop-icizing folksy form, to the point where the songs got inside you on two levels: melody and sentiment, and there was nothing cheesy about it. Instead, Feistís voice, clear and confident on Let It Die, put wings back on the Big Old Ideas: Love is real. People just might be inherently good after all. And itís okay to sound like Rickie Lee Jones every once in a while, just, you know, so long as you mean it.
Feist: “Mushaboom” [mp3 via TheManWhoSteppedIntoYesterday]
The Yah Mos Def
By rights, The Yah Mos Def should be the most annoying Philly band since Silvertide. But somehow, two skinny white dudes rapping about hardcore and scenesterpolitik became the sleeper local hit of the year. YMD could flip wigs at the Khyber just as easily as they could some 16-year-oldís basement SJHC show, and totally blow out their voices with equal fire and precision no matter what. Why? Isnít the whole thing a gimmick? It might have been, but this year, somehow, YMD transcended the gimmick and jettisoned it for a new one. Their new gimmick is just being awesome. Come one, come all.
The Yah Mos Def: “The Beat That Makes The Natives Nod” [mp3]
Annie ? Anniemal
Truth serum time! Annieís tunes are hot, but sheís kind of butterface. But thatís the nice thing about grooving to Norwegian electro-pop: When youíre dancing to tunes this smart and perky, frankly, the last thing youíre thinking about is the face, if you know what Iím saying. Even ABBA were kind of fugly when you got right down to it. And so what if her show at the North Star was sub-Kylie lipsynching and bad dance moves: Did you really show up wanting precision?
Watch the video for “Chewing Gum” by Annie here. [WMV]
Reissues:
Orange Juice ? The Glasgow School
For fans whoíd been scouring import racks since like 1989 looking to uncover the strange and mysterious world of the Scottish post-punk upstarts, Orange Juiceís first-ever proper stateside release didnít cast that much new light; most of this stuff had already been issued on an import-only comp a few years back anyway. But a wider release meant more folks than ever before got a peek into The New Sound Of Young Scotland (as it was dubbed in the early ë80s) at the precise moment when it was becoming The New Sound Of Young Everywhere. Whatís more, who cares how many times over it had been repacked, Orange Juice still thrills at every turn. The cheek, the ineptitude, the romance: This is the sound of people throwing away the book and being as surprised as anyone that they didnít totally break down at every turn.
The Squid & The Whale(Original Soundtrack)
In which Blossom Dearieís kind of scary ìFigure 8î becomes Elliot Smithís much scarier ìNeedle In The Hay,î as Noah Baumbachís directorial return referenced the Wes Anderson ouvre every which way but loose, and still seemed to possess more heart than the oddly wooden The Life Aquatic. Scarier still: They seem to have raided the Espersí record collections for the strange task of soundtracking a relationship movie. No matter, though: The whole enterprise did quite right, quite surprisingly, by Bert Jansch and Loudon Wainright. Now if someone could only convince Baumbach that Dean Wareham kind of sucks.
Belle & Sebastian ? Push Barman To Open Old Wounds
Faced with the prospect of all of the EPs in one totally crushing package, we did the only thing that seemed reasonable: We had the best all-Belle & Sebastian dance party ever. You laughed. You cried. You even wore a fuzzy jumper.
Bruce Springsteen ? Born To Run
Look. At. All. Of. That. Hair. Wow.
Curiosities/Honorable Mentions:
Tom Vek ? We Are Sound
Franz Ferdinand ? You Could Have It So Much Better With Franz Ferdinand
The Legends ? Up Against The Legends
Holland Boys/King God (live and mp3s)
Sweat Heart (live)
Bruce Springsteen ?Devils & Dust
Bloodfeathers (live)
Worst:
The Lovemakers, Coldplay, Beck, The Brakes, Silver Jews.
Sorry guys. Some of you, we even liked before. (We had such high hopes, Coldplay and Silver Jews.) But this year, you just plain sucked.
