Top 10s

It's that time of year again.

Since I had to compile my favourite music of the year for Chart, Eye and Aaron Wherry's blog, I figured I may as well post some of it here.

To deter people from leaving anonymous comments along the lines of "Where's Wolf Parade/Sleater-Kinney/Fiona Apple? What's WRONG with you? Hey, are you the kind of person who poo-poos The Arcade Fire or something?", I would like to remind you that music is ever-so-subjective. The following may not be the best albums of 2005. But they were my favourites. I listened to them ad nauseam. I listened at work. I listened at home. I listened on the TTC. A song would come on from one of these albums and I would smile. Or cry. Depending on the album.

I have heard a lot of records this year. Due to the nature of my full-time job, the fact that I wrote reviews for both Chart and UmbrellaMusic and the fact that I spend 40% of my income on music...well, that's a lot of records. And yet...I still didn't listen to all of the releases of 2005. Or even a small percentage of them. No normal human being can listen to - let alone absorb - even 1/4 of the year's releases. Thus, any music critic who claims their list is "The Best of 2005" is pretty much full of crap.

And with that lengthy intro/rant out of the way, I present:

Sofi's Favourite Albums of 2005

1) SUFJAN STEVENS Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)
2) THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS Twin Cinema (Matador/Mint)
3) LES SEQUELLES Tes Chansons Cruelles (Local Distribution)
4) THE BEES Free The Bees (Virgin)
5) BECK Guero (Interscope)
6) LOVE AS LAUGHTER Laughter's Fifth (Sub Pop)
7) ART BRUT Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
8) JOEL PLASKETT La De Da (MapleMusic)
9) THE RAVEONETTES Pretty In Black (Columbia)
10) THE DEADLY SNAKES Porcella (In The Red)

Sofi's Favourite Singles of 2005

(This is hard because there were SO many good singles released this year. See: most of the songs in the albums noted above.)

1) SUFJAN STEVENS - The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
2) THE WHITE STRIPES - My Doorbell
3) GORILLAZ - Feel Good Inc.
4) CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
5) KANYE WEST - Gold Digger (I also dig this video very much)
6) THE RAVEONETTES - Love In a Trashcan
7) METRIC - Monster Hospital
8) BECK - Girl
9) HOT HOT HEAT - Middle of Nowhere
10) THE CLOUD ROOM - Hey Now Now

(Now playing: "Gore Veil", The Deadly Snakes)