The Top Fifty Favorite Albums Of 2005 - Pt.4

20. The National – Alligator, (Beggars Banquet) 75.08
The first line from The National's fourth full-length is: “I think this place is full of spiders, I think they’re on to me … didn’t anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear into a room?” Whether it’s metaphorical or real, the stage is set. Alligator (what an odd title) is thirteen songs of nearing-middle-aged paranoia (after 30 you are irrelevant). Like last year’s Bows & Arrows by The Walkmen, The National are singing tales of growing out of the “scene”, dealing with lost innocence, realizing you can’t stay out late, your so-called corporate life is going nowhere, you’re a terrible lover, you’re a rotten friend, and your hair is falling out (it’s a very masculine record, accentuated by Matt Beringer’s baritone vocals and his themes of sex, hope, violence, disgust, and regret). The rockers like “Lit Up”, “Abel”, and “Mr. November” are anxious and earnest. The mid-tempo tracks such as “All The Wine”, “Baby, We’ll Be Fine”, and “The Geese Of Beverly Road” capture the anxiety (the mantra of “I’m in a state, I’m in a state” and “I’m so sorry for everything”) and the hope (“Baby, we’ll be fine, all we have to do is be brave and be kind” and “We’ll get away with it, we’ll run like we’re awesome”) that seems to be Beringer’s obsession. The real triumph of Alligator is how it has to be taken as a whole – it’s not a concept album, but it’s like a collection of Raymond Carver stories – it all fits together with its cohesive themes. I don’t believe the songs are autobiographical, but they do reflect a philosophy that is planted on terra firma (today) rather than a billion miles away (a distant future).

19. The Joggers – With A Cape And A Cane, (Startime International) 74.90
The Joggers 2003 debut record, Solid Guild, took me completely by surprise – only a couple listens and I was hooked on the band’s eccentric approach to the post-post-punk revival (all the requisites were satisfied – complex rhythms, lots of noisy energy, stop/start changes, etc. – but they transcended these standards adding a sense of oddness with maniacal changes, lots of harmony, and a real pop sensibility). While the band has inexplicably dropped the harmonies, crazy lead guitar licks dominate the entire record. “Wicked Light Sleeper” has a dance punk drum beat, crazy rhythms, and a chorus that comes out of nowhere. “Horny Ghost” is propelled by a drawn out melody and heavy guitar riff that creates what is called “the groove” to the same effect of the best Parliament/Funkadelic tracks. An instrumental breakdown at the 2:14 mark sounds like a broken record and continues for the next minute-and-fifteen until it’s zapped by a chaotic sub-chorus that jarringly segues back into the original guitar groove and the track abruptly ends. “Ziggurat Traffic”, the album’s opener, incorporates a zither-like riff and possesses an alternate universe pop ambiance. “Since You’re Already Up” typifies The Joggers musical approach – bizarre rhythms, each part of the song revolving over itself, exploding into a triumphant sing along chorus (this is the standout track). The Joggers are writing some of the most interesting, if I may be so bold, experimental, pop songs.

18. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire, (Arts & Crafts International) 74.60
Stars are one of those pop groups (The Delgados, Arab Strap, Belle & Sebastian, Pernice Brothers, to name a few) that weave the web of depressing/angsty lyrics with sweet perfect pop melodies. Like The Delgados (there is a lot of Delgados in Stars), they have two lead vocalists (Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan) who add a much needed variety. If you’ve read the rundown of my favorite songs, you know about the perfection of “Ageless Beauty” (see #1 on that list). “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” opens the record with both Campbell and Millan singing backed by a wonderful string arrangement, driving guitar, and a steady beat. The title track is a solid and pretty slab of synth pop with the bounciest of bass lines juxtaposed against the noisiest blasts of distorted guitar and dreamy synth lines. The lyrics are wonderful too (a clever take on the "breakup song"), Campbell runs down a variety of locales across the world (“the 97th floor overlooking Tokyo” to “a cancer ward where patients sit” to “an airplane” to “Hirsohima Los Angeles and each town in between”) and says to his (ex-)lover, “… only one thing could be free/and it’s not you and I.” There are many moments of pop perfection: the chorus on “Reunion” and “The First Five Times”, the incredibly hooky “What I’m Trying To Say”, Millan’s vocals on “One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)", the shoegaze-y “Sleep Tonight”, and, again, the four minutes of absolutely perfect pop of “Ageless Beauty”.

17. OK Go – Oh No, (Capitol) 74.04
It seems like every time Pitchfork gives a record a terrible review (scoring a 3 or below), I’ll love that record. Oh No suffered (well, depending on your perspective) a damning, damning!! review from the kids at DuhFork (it scored a 2.2). I will concede that the record is comes up more than a bit short in the lyric department, and I shudder when I consider what I’m about to write, but if OK Go should be bitched out, it most definitely should be for the Kravitz-esque “Do What You Want”. The track is painfully retro-chic like any number of Mr. K’s hit songs, and the “whoas” sound way too much like the formerly dreadlocked fashion banshee! Still, the song is much better than anything he could dream up because it actually has actual song structure. I could point out a few more travesties on this record (which kept it from making my Top Ten), but I don’t want to go negative. OH KAY, FINE, I just watched a couple episodes of Scrubs I taped, and I love Dr. Cox, so I’ll dish out another dis. On “A Million Ways” the backing vocal lazily sings, “One zero zero zero zero zero zero … cruel”. That’s just plain stupid. But enough about Pitchfork and Lenny and stupidity; the record is full of solid power pop jamz that are as classic as anything by Shoes, Tommy Keene, Eddie & The Hotrods, The Scruffs, hell any number of obscure 70s little hits. They inject their songs with some angular guitar work which may bring on a Franz Ferdinand comparison, but this is lazy because the songs are too true to pop and lack the Duran Duran disco. I prefer when OK Go plays it heavy: “It’s A Disaster”, “Crash The Party” (try to deny this chorus! I dare you), “Here It Goes Again”, and “A Good Idea At The Time”. Unlike my friends at DuhFork, I say, “OH NO!! An amazing slab of hits!!!”

16. The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart, (Yep Roc Records) 74.80
I did not expect another great record from this classic Aussie band. Honestly, ever since they made their triumphant return on The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000, Jetset Records), I thought they’d fall back into obscurity (not that they aren’t obscure now, but you know …). The record opens with the kick-ass, “Here Comes A City” – as I said in my songs write up, “the song contains the best lyric of the last five years: “And why do people … who read Dostoevsky [pause] look like … Dostoevsky?” But there is more to it than just one great song. “Finding You” is achingly gorgeous. There’s, “This Night’s For You” is another amazing song with it’s chorus that jumps on you and it’s rich acoustic guitar tones. And I can’t forget, “Darlinghurst Nights”, a classic and I love how it continues to build to a climax filled with horns and crashing cymbals and hard strummed acoustic guitar. And there’s “No Reason To Cry” and “Lavender” and “Boundary Rider” and “The Statue”. Finally, it comes to the end with “The Mountains Near Dellray”, the perfect song to close the record.

15. Black Dice – Broken Ear Record, (DFA/Astralwerks) 75.29
DFA is known for all the chk-chk-disco-punk-beat, the open-hi-hat-smacking, the blurring of indie and dance music. So how the fuck did Black Dice join the party? I don’t know, and I guess I don’t care. Because I’m pressed for time, and I just really like what I wrote about Black Dice in my mini-review of “Snarly Yow” (the opening track on Broken Ear Record), I will reprint it here: “Black Dice songs can meander in ambience or they can assault your senses with noise or they can totally fuck with the dance music paradigm.” Over the seven tracks that comprise this record, Black Dice are out to assault the senses (whether with overt blasts of manufactured noise or subversive periods of silence or micro-electronics), but there is, and I mean this, an ugly-beauty. It’s not just noise for the sake of noise; it’s not just interjecting weird sonic blasts and electro static like some sort of masturbatory art school project, there is something conscious and something sublime going on. “Smiling Off” was the single, but what does that mean when it comes to Black Dice? “Street Dude” is interesting – the track opens with some extreme noise for a good two-plus minutes before it shifts into an ultra-percussive jackhammer, but the really interesting thing is how it becomes freaking musical by the end of the track. Dare I say, there’s even a melody to the whole atmosphere? Well, maybe not pure melody, but you can hum it. The record closes with a total primal monkey jam of clipped whoops and a simple (and messy) guitar lead that descends into some bizarro take on minimal techno. Or something like that. Great record.

14. Richard Davis – Details, (Kitty Yo) 74.03
The archivists and electronic music nerds would call this micro-house (I suppose). I like micro-house. A lot. I actually just discovered it in 2005, and this record was my first exposure to the sub-genre, but I knew it was entirely house music, that is dance music, but it isn’t – tiny beats, sparse arrangements, melodies peppered with space and silence, I mean, it’s barely danceable, except maybe in your mind. Davis’ vocals fit his music and melody wonderfully: oddly distant, but filled with emotion (loneliness, sadness, regret); at times out front, other times deep in the mix; he practically whispers the words, or at least pushes them out like you would a sigh. A friend in NYC talked about how this was the perfect soundtrack for his train ride to a dead end job. For me, it was similar, but it was a bus ride home from a demanding job that drains me physically and emotionally. It was the entire record, that would calm my mind and prepare me for a night with my love, Sharon. Pieces of songs like “Empty” (the hook of “I’m empty” and “I feel nothing”), “Sometime” (the icy but intense beats, opening line “I know that times have been worse”), “The Truth” (“I don’t care, I don’t care”), “Honest With You” (“I will always be honest with you”) and "This Time" ("No I don't feel like reading your mind") would move me, but never to the extremes of emotion – just even, just calm, calm, calm.

13. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem, (DFA/Capitol) 71.81
James Murphy is my kind of guy. He’s obviously a fellow music geek-snob. He likes all the same kinds of music I do (I’m especially digging how much he loves The Fall). He’s reverent towards the history of rock, but he’s also willing to challenge it. He mostly does this by throwing a lot of cool sounds and influences into the blender and seeing what happens. So what does happen? To be honest, it can be hit or miss (more hits than misses). “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” is a bit jokey, but the sentiment is pretty fresh (it’s making fun of the hipsters as much as proclaiming how he was FIRST to getting into Daft Punk). “Movement” is one of the best song MES didn’t write. “On Repeat” continues in the vein of great LCD Soundsystem singles like “Yeah” and “Beat Connection”. “Tribulations” is a slab of pure electro brilliance – one of the best vocal performances from Murphy. The thing that makes LCD vital is the sincerity behind the words and the music – sure it may be ironic or (more often) sarcastic, but the points cannot be lost behind some cute outfit and fancy haircut. The real kicker of this release is the second disc which compiles nearly all the 12” singles – every fucking track is a cracker. “Losing My Edge” is silly, but dammit if it isn’t relevant; “Beat Connection” is a sick victory for bridging the gap between rock and dance music; and both versions of the incredible “Yeah” are freakouts for anyone who loves good music.

12. The Boy Least Likely To – The Best Party Ever, (Too Young To Die) 76.38
The Best Party Ever is a hot platter of twee-pop with a healthy dose of folky instrumentation (acoustic guitars, banjo, glockenspiel, harmonica, etc.), not unlike the more innocence moments of Belle & Sebastian. From the first track, “Be Gentle With Me” to the closer “God Takes Care of the Little Things” you aren’t gonna be rocking out, but you are going to hearing some of the most addictive pop tunes of the year. Typically something this cute, precious, childlike requires a certain mindset to listen, but this isn’t the case. It’s the strength of the songs. The songwriting is incredible – the melodies are much catchier and much more memorable than they should, they can write an excellent bridge, and the hooks are all over the place. Upon further review, the words are reflective of anything on The Walkmen or The National records – the fear and loathing of aging – it’s the approach that is completely unique (songs about paranoia shouldn’t be so damn cheery and giddy - at least musically, check “I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes”). “Paper Cuts”, “I’m Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star”, “Hugging My Grudge” are bloody remarkable.

11. Satellite Beach – The Haunted Sea, (The Record Camp Label) 76.38
Satellite Beach is John Reading, a Brooklyn dude who has spent time in Paris and London. Interesting, but I don’t know how much it has to do with this record (maybe a lot, the recordings were begun in Paris in 2001, and finished in Brooklyn in 2004). What we have here are six songs that are fairly different, but entirely the same. Reading is working in the convention of minimal techno with hints of experimentation and plenty of atmosphere. “Elektra” combines minimal techno one-two-one-two-one-two-three-four beats with strains of shoegazer guitar and dark ambience (add a manipulated creepy vocal sample, and you've got dark ambience); the slow-burn crescendo is to die for. “Echo Angel” employs a gorgeous synth melody with organic-sounding instruments (horns/trombones, Javanese zither, guitar) with lots of weird noise and samples. “You Can’t See It From The Ground” plays Richard D. James like Kid A. “Nothing Good Comes Easy” is a super melodic track in the RDJ tradition, quick step breakbeats duke it out with a repetitive synth melody and four-on-the-floor beats. “Univoice” closes the EP with a whimper, but the other five are so demanding, that it’s ok.

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