Anders Norås' blog

Off topic: Best Albums of 2005

1. Anthony and The Johnsons – I am a Bird Now
   I am a Bird now was released back in January, and it has been on heavy rotation on my iPod ever since. Anthony has a voice like the late, great Nina Simone who had a deep, masculine voice. This is a striking coincidence on songs such as “For Today I am a Boy” which is about the travails of transgender confusion with its heartbreaking line “One day I’ll grow up to be a beautiful woman, but for now I am a boy”. Musical highlights: My Lady Story, Hope There’s Someone
   
   
   
2. Arcade Fire – Funeral
   Funeral is a stunningly brilliant album, filled to the rim with emotional intensity. The Arcade Fire blends the sounds from great bands from the 1980s post-punk scene, The Pixies and Roxy Music to name a few, to create their own, new and refreshing soundscape. The album was released in Canada in 2004, but it didn’t get a proper European release until this year. Musical highlights: Neighborhood #1 - #4.
   
   
3. My Morning Jacket - Z
   After two releases that didn’t really appeal to me, My Morning Jacket rises like a phoenix with Z with an entirely new sound. The music is spontaneous and doesn’t seem to follow any conventional musical patterns. A pleasant surprise. Musical highlights: Wordless Chorus, Anytime
   
   
   
   
4. Kate Bush – Aerial
   Kate Bush has always gone her own way, and her “comeback” this year is no exception. The double album is musically expansive, where everything from birdsong to eighties inspired synths and jazz elements blend into a lush musical journey. The lyrics are eerie, deeply personal and they grab you right from the beginning. Musical highlights: A Sky of Honey (The suite which makes up CD 2).
   
   
   
5. Sigur Rós – Takk
   Takk is an album with quite, yet still noisy music that is pure bliss. I can’t understand a word they’re singing since the lyrics are in either Icelandic or in the fabricated Hopelandish language, but this makes the album even more wonderful as the beautiful vocals come across as musical instruments. Musical highlight: Hoppipolla, Glósóli
   
   
   
   
6. The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers
   The Magic Numbers is the most perfect pop record of the year with great lyrics, incredible hooks and great SoCal style harmonies. Musical highlights: Forever Lost, Love Me Like You, Love Is a Game
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Bell Orchestre – Recording a Tape The Colour of Light
   Bell Orchestre is a spin-off from many bands in the Montréal scene, with members from bands like Arcade Fire. Their music can best be describes as a mash of chamber music and post punk. The album isn’t easily accessible, but once you get your ears around it you’re sold. Musical highlights: Les Lumineres pt. 1
   
   
   
   
   
8. Little Brother – The Minstrel Show
   While you’ll probably have to browse the hip-hop section of your local record store to find this album, this album is the opposite of your regular rap album. The Minstrel Show is a concept album centered on a television show which acts as a metaphor for everything that is wrong with today’s mainstream hip hop. Musical highlights: The experience as a whole, which is rare with hip hop albums these days.
   
   
   
   
9. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
   Illinoise is a sprawling musical celebration, which encompasses a vast set of musical styles, blended into magical, sophisticated arrangements. This is a great album. Musical highlights: Come Feel The Illinoise
   
   
   
   
   
10. Dangerdoom – The Mouse and The Mask
    The collaboration between MF Doom and production genius Danger Mouse has resulted in a playful album that is heavy on novel details in both rhyme and rhythm. Musical highlights: Sofa King, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
    
    
    
    
    
11. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
12. Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow
13. Fat Freddie’s Drop – Based on a True Story
14. Brian Eno – Another Day on Earth
15. Jaga Jazzist – What We Must
16. Iron & Wine and Calexico – In the Reins (EP)
17. John Legend – Get Lifted
18. Kari Bremnes – Over en by
19. M.i.A. - Arular
20. Jamie Lidell – Multiply
21. Roots Manuva – Awfully Deep
22. Archer Prewitt – Wilderness
23. Iron & Wine – Woman King (EP)
24. Moneybrother – To Die Alone
25. Amadou et Mariam – Dimance à Bamako
26. Steve Reid Ensemble – Sprits Walk
27. Common – Be
28. Porn Sword Tobacco – Explains Freedom
29. …and You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Worlds Apart
30. Emiliana Torrini – Fisherman’s Woman
31. Edan – Beauty and The Beat
32. Low – The Great Destoyer
33. The Herbaliser – Take London
34. VHS or Beta – Night on Fire
35. Andrew Bird – And The Mysterious Production of Eggs
36. Boards of Canada – Campfire Headphase
37. Pat Metheny – The Way Up
38. Quasimoto – The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
39. Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah! – Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah!
40. The Fiery Furnaces – Rehearsing My Choir
41. Harold Budd & Eraldo Bernocchi – Fragments Form The Inside
42. The Dandy Warhols – Oddatorium or Warlords of Mars
43. Harmonic 33 – Music for Film, Television and Radio vol. 1
44. Broadcast – Tender Buttons
45. Depeche Mode – Playing the Angle
46. M83 – Before the Dawn Heals Us
47. Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms
48. Buck 65 – Secret House Against The World
49. Nostalgia 77 – The Garden
50. The Perceptionists – Black Dialogue