LEFT of the DIAL's
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2005

List:
10. Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
9. Why?- Elephant Eyelash
8. Deerhoof- The Runners Four
7. The New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
6. Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
5. The Decemberists- Picaresque
4. The Fiery Furnaces- EP
3. Of Montreal- The Sunlandic Twins
2. Architecture in Helsinki- In Case We Die
1. The Fiery Furnaces- Rehearsing My Choir
 
10. Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
I wasn't a Bright Eyes fan at all before this year. I always sort of found most of Conor Oberst's music to be extremely self indulgent and boring. I still believe that about many of his earlier songs. But when I heard good things about I'm Wide Awake, I decided to preview it on Amazon. I liked what I heard, and so I picked it up later that week. I was extremely impressed. A lot of the things that I didn't like about Conor's earlier work were missing here, and I didn't dislike a single song. Some tracks, especially, are strong. "First Day of My Life" is a perfect love song and "Lua" is beautiful as well. It's odd, that this could've been an album which I simply passed on due to Conor's previous efforts, but I'm extremely glad I picked this one up. Not only did I like it, but it has become one of my favorites of the year, beating out artists that I'd never thought Bright Eyes would best. Next time Conor releases an album I'll be there at the store on release day.

9. Why?- Elephant Eyelash
Elephant Eyelash remains as one of the more looked over releases of the year. It seems as if everybody who gives it a listen learns to love it though, and I see Why? getting lots of recognition with future releases. One of the great things this album does is seamlessly blend several different genres. Hip hop, rock, country.. it all seems to have some sort of presence here. Combine this genre hopping with some of the catchiest and best songs of the year and you've got yourself a great album. I still remember the first time I heard "Yo Yo Bye Bye" before I actually got the album. I listened to it on repeat several times, which isn't something I usually do. It was weird and different, but at the same time it was really infectious. Luckily, a lot of the songs on Elephant Eyelash have that same sort of quality to them. The high point of the album falls somewhere in the middle with "Gemini (Birthday Song)". Like everything else, it's hard to nail this song down to one genre, and it's instantly accessible while still being a breath of fresh air. Elephant Eyelash is one of the most original albums of the year, and it provides some of the year's best moments in music. I believe Why? is really going to break out in future years.

8. Deerhoof- The Runners Four
I'll get this out of the way early: the vocals in Deerhoof are sometimes very annoying. But the fact that the rest of the music is good enough to land them a spot in my top ten is a testament to how good this band is. One thing that's great about The Runners Four is the variety of songs. Through the course of its hour long length there is a lack of boring moments. Many of the songs on here such as "Twin Killers" are instantly catchy but at the same time have a noisy quality to them. The guitar work can best be described as unique. Not many bands are getting the same sort of noises out of their guitars as Deerhoof is. I can't help but be reminded of bands like Sonic Youth while listening to The Runners Four, but Deerhoof definitely adds some flavor of their own. While listening to this album, the listener is also treated to what I consider some of the best "moments" in music of 2005. One of these moments comes during "Scream Team" when a very cool little guitar lick is followed by some heavy strumming, and this is repeated several times. It makes for some very cool music that needs to be listened to within the context of the music to truly be understood. After a few listens, those high pitched vocals even lose their annoying quality and simply start to blend in with everything else. Is The Runner Four pretentious? Very. Is it a great album? Just as much so.

7. The New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
Here's something I think just about anybody could enjoy. With Twin Cinema, The New Pornographers have made an album just as infectious as their last two efforts. I'll admit though, after one listen I hadn't found the hooks yet. I was unimpressed. But then I listened again a few hours later and everything I had missed before came popping out at me. For a while, these songs were all that ran through my head and The New Pornographers were most of what I listened to. The songs on here are so catchy that it's easy to miss the actual complexity of the music. It would be wrong to write The New Pornographers off as just a power pop band playing some catchy yet simple songs. The production and instrumentation are definitely worthy of note, and Twin Cinema is just one gem after the next. These guys really know how to fashion a perfect pop song. The New Pornographers are a band that I can see anybody enjoying and Twin Cinema could very well be their best album yet. However, after too many listens the songs just don't have the same charm as those earlier listens. Despite that flaw, Twin Cinema remains one of the best albums of the year. Unlike other bands on my list like Deerhoof, this is something that I could recommend to just about any music fan.

6. Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
Here we have the artist that really broke out in 2005. Illinois is the second title in Sufjan Stevens' ambitious 50 states project, and also one of the most highly praised albums of the year. Even music fans who aren't typically into this type of thing caught on to Sufjan this year. A few big music sources, such as Pitchfork Media, gave this the spot of their number one album of the year. The hype, for the most part, was well deserved. The way Sufjan combines history with storytelling in his lyrics is very well done, and the musical arrangements are all fantastic. You can really tell when listening to this that this is a group of people who really knows what they're doing. We're even treated to some of the best musical moments of the year, like when the vocals go to falsetto in "John Wayne Gacy". It's the kind of thing that gives the listener chills. Illinois is an epic album that's part of an even more epic project, and in the end, that bigness is what hurts the album a little. Some of the filler could've definitely been removed and some songs could've been shortened. Only a minor complaint though, for a great album. If Sufjan Stevens releases 48 more albums that are even close to the level of this one, we have what will become one of the great American artists.

5. The Decemberists- Picaresque
The hype surrounding The Decemberists is well deserved. And while I don't think Picaresque quite reaches the level of Her Majesty, it's still a lot of fun, and its all packed together with some great musicianship. The album kicks off with "The Infanta" which at some points very easily seems like it could be part of the soundtrack to an epic movie. The album moves on to simple pop songs like "The Sporting Life" to ballads like "On the Bus Mall", which makes the story of two prostitutes sound beautiful. Colin Meloy's lyrics, as always, are excellent. This band truly is a force to be reckoned with. Just this year I saw them put on the second best live show I've ever seen, bested only by Paul McCartney. Picaresque is filled with some of the year's best songs and if The Decemberists, who are newly signed to Columbia, continue to churn out stuff like this, then we're very lucky.

4. The Fiery Furnaces- EP
The release of EP at the beginning of this year is somewhat puzzling. It was the next release after the Furnaces fantastic but weird 2004 album, Blueberry Boat, and came out the same year that their so called most inaccessible album was released. But EP, which really isn't an EP at all but an album length collection of odds and ends, is full of pop gems. No songs here reach the long lengths that songs reached on some of their other albums. These songs, instead, average around the three minute mark. The melodies here are more immediately recognizable whereas other Furnaces albums have melodies that are sort of hidden and require more listening to find. The album's high point comes early on, with the first three songs being something of a suite. Eleanor Friedberger's vocals sound excellent as usual, and her brother Matt's songs are great too. At first I wasn't going to include EP in my top albums since it isn't really an "album" due to the fact that it's a collection of singles and such. But then I realized that this collection of songs was just as good as most of the actual albums released this year, and that it would be wrong not to include it. You know you're dealing with a great band when their scraps are thrown together to make a listening experience as great as this one.

3. Of Montreal- The Sunlandic Twins
Of Montreal's transformation into a dance band is complete. Starting out with their debut album, Cherry Peel, they mostly made simple pop songs based around an acoustic guitar. Things got more complex as the band progressed to albums that reflected some of the more experimental music of The Beatles and The Beach boys, while still retaining a playful quirkiness. But with last year's Satanic Panic in the Attic, more and more keyboard and dance elements came into the mix. With the release of The Sunlandic Twins this year, those dance elements have taken over. This album could've easily been a disaster. And while it isn't much like some of their older albums, you still get the feeling that this is most definitely an Of Montreal album. Things start out perfectly with "Requiem for OMM2", an obvious choice for one of the best songs of the year, which has a hook reminiscent of The Cars. The album progresses perfectly from one danceable tune to the next. Seeing Of Montreal live this year really solidified in my mind why this album is so great. These are songs that can make people forget about all the complexities of life and just dance. Not a single person wasn't smiling during their show, mostly filled with material from this album. This certainly isn't Of Montreal's best effort, but even one of their lesser albums beats out most things released during the year.

2. Architecture in Helsinki- In Case We Die
You'd be hard pressed to listen to this album and not enjoy it. The Australian nine piece, Architecture in Helsinki, has crafted a ridiculously catchy and fun album with this one. The group greatly benefits from a high amount of members, since it allows them to incorporate a lot of different instruments and sounds. While some bands seems to overuse a variety of instruments, creating overly busy music, AiH knows exactly how to utilize what they have. From start to finish, In Case We Die truly has the feel of a complete album. Along the way, we're treated to some of the best songs of the year, like "Wishbone" and "Maybe You Can Owe Me". This is music to put you into a good mood, and for me, AiH really pulled this off. The music never sticks to anything for long, just as an interesting melody develops, another will take it's place. In Case We Die is overflowing with ideas, and just the sheer fun of listening to it gives it a well deserved spot as my second favorite album of the year.

1. The Fiery Furnaces- Rehearsing My Choir
It's very rare that everything about a particular album just seems to "click". What's even rarer is when an album that works so well for somebody, seems like nothing but pretentious trash to somebody else. Put me into the group that finds this work of music brilliant. From the first few listens I could tell that Rehearsing My Choir was something special. The Furnaces have made albums which went on to become my favorites of 2003 and 2004, and even landed another spot in my top ten of 2005. There's no doubt that I think this band is excellent, but this album takes them to a whole new level. While past albums were great, what they had in innovation and creative music, they sometimes lacked in emotional impact. What the Friedberger siblings have crafted with this album is truly unique, but at the same time, heartwarming.

The thing that scares some people away from this album, is what makes it so interesting for others, the grandmother. For this album, Matt and Eleanor employed the help of their grandmom to "sing". What she does do though is more of a narration, while Eleanor does the actual singing parts, which she sings quite beautifully I should add. The album is loosely based on the grandmother's life story, and it's filled with call and response type vocals between Eleanor and grandmother Olga. This is the kind of album where the experience is greatly enhanced if you sit down for the whole duration reading the lyrics. The background music is great, containing recurring themes, and often actually going along with the words. I actually didn't find this album to be inaccessible at all, even with my first listen, and that's why I find it shocking that some have found such a distaste for it. Like many great albums, it's hard to put into words what makes Rehearsing My Choir so special. The best thing to do to understand it is just to listen, but I'll wrap my summary up with this: Rehearsing My Choir contains fantastic and catchy music, and brilliant lyrics, but at the same time causes the listener to reflect on subjects like living life to the fullest, and the beauty of both youth and old age. There was some great music released in 2005, but with Rehearsing My Choir, there is a clear winner.

- Eli Sentman, Staff Writer - OOT's Left of the Dial