therobots.org - select * from robots

2005 was a hell of a year for music. In the past I've tried to do a traditional top ten or top twenty list, but I don't think that's going to happen. Since it's already February, it's alphabetical or nothing.

Animal Collective - Feels
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll
No other album was this much fun.

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
I wanted to dislike this album, but I kept coming back to it, and it kept riling me up. I couldn't fight it.

Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask
This should not have been good, but it was great.

Deerhoof - The Runners Four
The Decemberists - Picaresque
Honestly, I don't include all eleven songs when I put this in the top twenty. But like Bloc Party, I kept coming back to it, over and over.

The Drift - Noumena
The best post-rock album of 2005, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

Greg Davis & Sebastian Roux - Paquet Surprise
Iron & Wine / Calexico - In the Reins
Kevin Blechdom - Eat My Heart Out
Most unexpected joy of 2005.

Kid 606 - Resilience
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Best unassuming brilliance of 2005.

The National - Alligator
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Alatt Születt
Best breakcore/strings combination from a foulmouthed Canadian in 2005.

Honorable mention:

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
Gang Gang Dance - God's Money
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Minotaur Shock - Maritime
Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor?
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Singles/EPs:

!!! - Take Ecstasy With Me/Give Up
Animal Collective & Vashti Bunyan - Prospect Hummer
Deerhoof - Green Cosmos
The Drift - Streets / Nozomi
Howard Hello - EP
Tarentel - Paper White

Albums from Chinese Artists:

718 - Nowise Assault
Dead J - Mental Imagery
Double Fish - Hackers EP2
PK14 - White Paper
Re-TROS - Cut Off!
Sulumi - Visit < Partial Works < Remix
V.A. - Landscape 2