samedi 7 Jan 2006, 5h37m

2005 has been a great year in music for me. At the start of the year I was mostly listening to rubbish I wouldn't go anywhere near now, I have discovered countless new bands, artists and styles, and my music tastes have matured a lot. I have gone through fascinations with rap, nu-metal, progressive, folk, post-rock and indie-pop throughout the year, as well as various other styles of music – for a short period I was even interested in emo. I like to think I listen to a little bit of all styles of music now, but at the moment my interests do focus primarily on indie-pop, folk and post-rock. And of course, there is plenty left out there for me to discover and get into - who knows what 2006 will bring?

So first, my 5 favourite albums of 2005:

1 Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
This album got a lot of hype, and still is getting a lot of praise through various other "best of 2005" lists. When I bought it I knew I was either going to get a truly incredible album or I was going to get a large disappointment. It was the former. This album is just outstanding. Sufjan not only does what singer-songwriters such as Elliott Smith, Nick Drake and Iron & Wine have been doing have been doing well for years - soft, emotional songs featuring wonderful singing over delicate acoustic instruments - but he also does something more than any other singer-songwriter I know, he arranges beautiful string sections, brass sections and choirs, making this record as epic as any prog rock concept album, just in a different vein. This, I think, makes for a truly magnificent album. He manages to perfectly blend the uplifting and the sorrowful, the loud and the soft. He manages to use a wide array of instruments, musicians and choirs, but still keep the music very personal. It's hard for me to pick out highlight songs, but "John Wayne Gacy, Jr" is definitely a standout track. This album is possibly the best that I have heard since Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

2 Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
I have liked Bright Eyes a lot for quite a while, but this is the first album I got, and I only got it back in November. I don't know why it took me so long to get round to getting a Bright Eyes album, but I have no regrets about this purchase. This album is really great, in my opinion underrated - I have seen it on far lest "best of 2005" lists than it deserves. Conor Oberst excels equally at woeful, acoustic ballads such as "First Day Of My Life" and "Landlocked Blues" as he does at rockier songs like "Another Travellin' Song" and the album's climax and closing track, "Road To Joy". Every track on this album is gold.

3 Sigur Rós: Takk…
This album got mixed reviews, some hailing it as Sigur Rós' masterpiece, others saying it was a disappointment, nowhere near as good as Agaetis Byrjun or the peculiarly titled ( ). I, thankfully, had the good-fortune of not owning any other Sigur Rós albums, and thus having nothing to compare it to like that. What I can say for sure is that, no matter how it compares to their previous efforts, Takk is a masterpiece in its own right. The sonic soundscapes and otherworldly vocals of Sigur Rós in many ways transcend the term "post-rock". There may be a little of what sounds like Radiohead, Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai influence in places, but I think Sigur Rós is something completely new. Taking music into strange, uncharted territory. The start of a new style of music altogether? Who knows?

4 The Mountain Goats: The Sunset Tree
John Darnielle's folk-rock project The Mountain Goats is one of my favourite bands, and this is a damn great album. The Mountain Goats' music is always of a consistent quality, and a consistent style, never departing much from their standard sound. But this I do not see as a problem, Darnielle doesn't need to experiment or evolve his sound, as his music is great just the way it is - folkier than Neutral Milk Hotel or Okkervil River, but rockier than Sufjan Stevens. This album is great all the way through, with highlights being "This Year", "Dilaudid", "Dance Music" and "Magpie".

5 The Double: Loose In The Air
This is probably the least well-known album in my Top Five Of 2005. The Double is an experimental indie-pop band from New York. Their music is definitely reminiscent of Xiu Xiu, with a little Radiohead, Beatles and Deerhoof in there too. Their music is a little abrasive to start with, but you get used to it. Most of this album is made up of fun, up-beat indie-pop with noise rock elements, but there is also the truly haunting song "On Our Way", which is a bit of a change, and one of my favourite tracks on the album. This band definitely needs exposure, they’re easily as good as any of the more well-known indie-pop bands, as long as you like a little experimentalism, noisiness and abrasiveness.

An important note is that I deliberately omitted The Arcade Fire: Funeral which was released in the UK this year, but the US and Canada last year. If I had included it, I would have put it at number 3, above Takk and below Wide Awake It’s Morning. Also, Wolf Parade’s Apologies To The Queen Mary is on its way to me, in the post, as I write.

Next is a list of 2005-released albums that I don’t own but are by bands/artists that I like, and so I would like to get them (listed in alphabetical order):
65daysofstatic: One Time For All Time
Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
Animal Collective: Feels
Architecture In Helsinki: In Case We Die
Bright Eyes: Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene
Courtney Pine: Resistance
The Decemberists: Picaresque
Deerhoof: The Runners Four
Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow
John Vanderslice: Pixel Revolt
Kanye West: Late Registration
M83: Before The Dawn Heals Us
of Montreal: The Sunlandic Twins
Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy
Opeth: Ghost Reveries
Pelican: The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw

I thought that The Mars Volta: Frances The Mute deserved a mention here, too. This album seems to be mentioned in everyone’s reviews of 2005, TMV seems to appeal equally to indie, prog rock, emo and experimental audiences. Everyone seems to think this is either the best, or the worst album of the year. Now I think it is a good album at the core, if you look past the layers of strange noises, over-experimentalism and self-indulgence. It's neither too gripping nor too easy to listen to, but at the best points in the album it is still awesome.

The most disappointing album of 2005, for me, was Audioslave: Out Of Exile. Though Morello’s guitar solos on this album were still pretty good, it was generally a boring record. It lacked energy, power, innovation or anything really special. Any album where the highlight track is a live acoustic version of a song from their last album can’t be very good. Though the album was alright, it wasn’t as good as Audioslave’s self-titled debut, and it was nowhere near as good as Rage Against The Machine. I hope either Audioslave has some massive creative surge and makes a masterpiece, or it disbands and Morello can go and make some good music.

And now I look on to the year ahead, it looks to be a great year, with a new Radiohead album scheduled, which has got everyone excited. Thom hinted that it’ll be something entirely knew, completely different to their other works. I hope they keep in an experimental vein rather than returning to the more basic indie rock approach of their early stuff. They’ve explored electronic and jazz, so maybe their new release will be full-on post-rock, but I can’t really see that happening. Maybe they’ll take some reggae influence, but I really can’t see that happening either. Who knows? I’m also looking forward to the new Mogwai album, which I know has already been leaked on the internet, but I want to wait until it’s released and then buy it. They say it’s the going to be the best album of its kind since My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. I am also hoping for new albums by Bright Eyes and The Mountain Goats, and maybe something by The Mars Volta to be released. And the Arctic Monkeys album should be interesting. On a more immediate note, my first concert of the year will be Courtney Pine (an amazing jazz saxophonist) in February. Pine is the only jazz I listen to, other than Jaga Jazzist. Apart from them the closest I get to jazz is some jazz-influenced Radiohead, Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene or Andrew Bird.

So yes, 2005 has been a good year for music, and 2006 looks promising too. Though mainstream music may be in a terrible state, there is still more than enough excellent music being made by excellent bands and artists.