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Your 2005 Music Review!
Jan. 9th, 2006 10:50 pmTop Ten Albums
... excluding anything Jewelled Antler Collective-related, which will likely require a separate entry.
10. Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds
I like the mythology behind this one: A ragtag bunch of Internet sine-slingers got together to squish and smash one of pop's greatest albums, copyright law be damned! Fortunately the music lives up to the backstory. Some of the tracks test your patience (the 12 minute ambient version of "here today," the rap over "pet sounds" proper) but by and large this album consistently hits the mark.
9. Countless Times - Diane Cluck
Sort of a sleeper hit for me - I kept bringing this up on the ol' iPod without really thinking about it. Countless Times is like having Blue all over again, but with some non-Euclidean geometry thrown in. The chords, the harmony, the lyrics never quite go where you expect them to go. Doesn't hurt, either, that the background noise and the obviously-recorded-in-the-living-room reverb scratch my lo-fi itch.
8. The Milk of Human Kindness - Caribou
The quiet ballad "Hello Hammerheads" makes this album for me. Gentle, yet driving. The psych response to Four Tet's instrumental free-jazz hip-hop.
7. The Saga of Mayflower May - Marissa Nadler
I can't resist music that loses itself in its own world, and Saga of Mayflower May is about as insular as it gets. Nadler makes you want to believe that her beautiful land of broken hearts and smooth-skinned women and placid seas and so forth exists, somewhere out there, tragic though the happenings of that land may be.
6. School of the Flower - Six Organs of Admittance
Inscrutable lyrics? Trance-inducing acoustic guitar ragas? Drone? Free jazz drumming? Drag City sure knows how to sell me music. Somewhere in the middle of this album the high-concept abstractness melts away and leaves behind a minimalist, moving skeleton. Its boney fingers grab up to strangle you and you welcome their embrace!
( rest of the top ten; disappointing albums; essential singles; top ten songs not otherwise mentioned )
... excluding anything Jewelled Antler Collective-related, which will likely require a separate entry.
10. Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds
I like the mythology behind this one: A ragtag bunch of Internet sine-slingers got together to squish and smash one of pop's greatest albums, copyright law be damned! Fortunately the music lives up to the backstory. Some of the tracks test your patience (the 12 minute ambient version of "here today," the rap over "pet sounds" proper) but by and large this album consistently hits the mark.
9. Countless Times - Diane Cluck
Sort of a sleeper hit for me - I kept bringing this up on the ol' iPod without really thinking about it. Countless Times is like having Blue all over again, but with some non-Euclidean geometry thrown in. The chords, the harmony, the lyrics never quite go where you expect them to go. Doesn't hurt, either, that the background noise and the obviously-recorded-in-the-living-room reverb scratch my lo-fi itch.
8. The Milk of Human Kindness - Caribou
The quiet ballad "Hello Hammerheads" makes this album for me. Gentle, yet driving. The psych response to Four Tet's instrumental free-jazz hip-hop.
7. The Saga of Mayflower May - Marissa Nadler
I can't resist music that loses itself in its own world, and Saga of Mayflower May is about as insular as it gets. Nadler makes you want to believe that her beautiful land of broken hearts and smooth-skinned women and placid seas and so forth exists, somewhere out there, tragic though the happenings of that land may be.
6. School of the Flower - Six Organs of Admittance
Inscrutable lyrics? Trance-inducing acoustic guitar ragas? Drone? Free jazz drumming? Drag City sure knows how to sell me music. Somewhere in the middle of this album the high-concept abstractness melts away and leaves behind a minimalist, moving skeleton. Its boney fingers grab up to strangle you and you welcome their embrace!
( rest of the top ten; disappointing albums; essential singles; top ten songs not otherwise mentioned )
