album of the year
hands down, this has to go to spoon for their fantastic album, "gimme fiction".
hands down.
i was hooked upon first listen. well, that is a slight exaggeration, as i really enjoyed it as of the first listen but was a bit taken aback by what i thought was the abrupt end to the album. it just.....ends. suddenly. anyhow, by the second listen, i was hooked. from the opening measures of the beast and dragon, adored to the still somewhat abrupt ending of merchants of soul, everything is pure quality. there is not one bad track on this album. in fact, this album pushed spoon into the stratosphere of obsession and britt into the status of ROCKSTARGOD. in my opinion. of course.
any album that can hold my attention span for months and months after repeated listening and wear and tear (this was the only album played in my car for about three months), is a good album. not every album gets that privelege, but gimme fiction does.
spoon rocks.
plus, britt is really hot.
best album of the year and probably in my top five albums of all time, were i to revisit that list.
honorable mentions:
destroyer - notorious lightning and other works (ep)
bobby conn and the glass gypsies: live classics vol. 1
clap your hands say yeah - clap your hands say yeah
arizona amp and alternator: arizona amp and alternator
stephen malkmus and the jicks: face the truth
sleater-kinney: the woods
the new pornographers: twin cinema
scout niblett - kidnapped by the neptune
there surely are more, but those are the standouts at the moment. spoon just was leagues above everyone else and thus my vision is a bit clouded by that.
i would like to give a special shout out to the british band nine black alps and their debut album "everything is". while i enjoyed the album quite a lot and would recommend it to people who like good british rock, that is not why i am giving the shout out. once upon a time, i traded mix tapes with sam forrest, the main man behind the band, and he makes a mean mix and makes a good album, and thus, the shout out. so, that was a debut in 2k5 that is quite good. okay? okay.
concert of the year
this one is a little bit less clear-cut, and thus, i am giving the honors to two bands.
1A. HARRY AND THE POTTERS in the park, july 19, 2005.
i love wizard rock. perhaps people know this? i love harry potter. i love harry and the potters. i love everything about this band. they rocked it out in the minneapolis park on a lovely, sunny, but not too hot summer day. it was fantastic. super fun. super energetic.
they showed heart. they showed soul. they showed pure awesomeness (but not pure-blood. oh no.).
1B. SPOON, 400 bar, december 8, 2005.
again, the awesomeness of britt and his voice and his fantastic songs and the sound of spoon overshadow most everyone else. most. i was very close to britt (front row at a small venue with a low stage) and i think it made all the difference in the world. see, i saw them play in june at a larger venue, but, due to the day of three concerts, we had to stand in the balcony and though it was awesome (they sounded incredible), it was not the same as being RIGHTTHERE in a small, sweaty crowd, knowing that you're witnessing rock godness in the making.
so, yeah, spoon rocked. read my review of this for further details on the show.
honorable mentions:
sleater-kinney, first avenue, june 15, 2005.
neko case, first avenue, june 7, 2005.
lou barlow, 400 bar, march 15, 2005.
ted leo and the pharmacists, first avenue, june 14, 2005.
stephen malkmus, electric fetus, june 12, 2005.
i did not go to as many concerts this year as i have in years past, and some of the concerts that i should have seen were cancelled (destroyer! bobby conn!) and others (scout niblett! grr...) i just could not attend. alas, the ones i did see were pretty quality, so that is good. not really a bad one in the bunch, though i did leave some off the list. i couldn't list everything, right?
random weird music thing of the year
my mom knows more about the hip hop world than i do. it's weird.
musical discoveries of the year
one album that came out in 2k4 that i quite like is the arcade fire's funeral. i was a bit anti-buying this because sometimes i don't like to follow the hype, but, i must say that that is an album that i have enjoyed thoroughly since its purchase one year after its release. that's not necessarily a "discovery", but it would be my album of the year not released in the year.
jim guthrie. he's pretty fantastic. i was sent an edited version of his first album, a thousand songs this fall? or late summer? anyhow, regardless of when it was, i found that album to be kind of....just okay. however, after listening to morning noon night repeatedly later this fall, i realized that i really liked him. a lot. that album was one of my favorite new to me albums of 2005, though it came out in 2002. i would also recommend now, more than ever (2003) as a solid pick.
new band alert
my brother has a band called mise en place. they're pretty good. i've seen them live and heard rough cuts of their demo, and i'd say, (with just an ever so slightly biased opinion) that they could do good things. i'll let you know if/when they explode beyond the local circuit. they just played st. paul for the first time the other day, so they are expanding beyond minneapolis. fifteen minutes beyond, but still.
other random weird music thing
how did the emancipation of mimi score eight grammy nods? granted, i have never listened to it, but eight? that's kind of a lot.
tomorrow, if i remember, i'll have a best of 2005 mix ready for you. it should be pretty mixtastic.
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