I'm just looking at the tracklist and I honestly think All We Know Is Falling is my favourite Paramore record lol
1 Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth 2 M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us 3 The National - Alligator HMs: - Bloc Party - Silent Alarm - Coldplay - X&Y (pretty lukewarm on this band in general, but this one honestly rules) - Death Cab for Cutie - Plans (some beautiful songs on this, "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" is especially stunning and one of the most gorgeous tracks out there) - Jimmy Eat World - Stay On My Side Tonight EP (my favorite Jimmy release if I ignore the bad remix of a song I don't care for in the first place. they went back to this darker, weirder well on "Gotta Be Somebody's Blues" and I wish they would more often) - Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze - Spoon - Gimme Fiction - Switchfoot- Nothing Is Sound - Thrice- Vheissu (really good to great hard rock/hardcore/whatever, "Image of the Invisible" and "Red Sky" particularly) Big "Hall of Very Good" energy this year overall, nothing I really really love but a more than solid group here, lots of indie rock standouts in particular
Added to my playlist. Can't promise I'll get to it today, but will def get to it. RIYL? Spotify says "post-Radiohead / epic, moody soundscapes" which is intriguing enough.
1. Kanye West - Late Registration 2. The National - Alligator 3. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans 4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 5. Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree 6. Gorillaz - Demon Days 7. Panic at the Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out 8. Common - Be 9. MGMT - Time to Pretend EP 10. Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning shout out to The All-American Rejects - Move Along, which didn’t make my list but was the first CD I ever owned. didn’t even hear it in 2005, but got it for my 10th birthday later in 2006. Thank you Bionicle commercial.
I fucking love Oceansize and feel like an idiot for missing Everyone Into Position off my list. (I have to admit that I have got tremendously lazy researching albums for each year and keep on finding better albums after I post...) Ornament/ The Last Wrongs is one of my favourite ever songs.
Son of Dork was pretty cool, yeah. Especially the single. I forgot all about that. I also liked that first Fightstar release.
1. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning 2. The National - Alligator 3. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans Of the two albums that Conor released on the same day, I'm Wide Awake is his beautiful folk album, with these plaintive little songs, and then culminating in a glorious final track. Emmylou Harris is a great little presence here. Alligator is the start of The National's really hot run, this is a fantastic and evocative bit of indie rock, with Matt Berninger's wonderful baritone voice and frequently ludicrous lyrics. Plans is probably my favourite Death Cab record, I absolutely love the drumming on this record, on a track like Summer Skin in particular. As others have said Brothers on a Hotel Bed and What Sarah Said are a fantastic way to close a record (ish - I know they're not quite the closers). Honourable Mentions; The Academy Is - Almost Here: Of all the "scene" pop-rock bands, this is by far the best album to come from it, an assuming little bit of perfection, made all the more fascinating because everything else they did was rubbish. Funeral for a Friend - Hours: This was huge for me at the time, a follow up to Casually Dressed that's a little bit bigger and more epic. Alkaline Trio - Crimson: Another big album for me, a fun piece of melodic punk with a dark sense of humour. Fightstar - They Liked You Better When you Were Dead: Again, another big album / EP for me at the time. Loud and dynamic post-hardcore music, wearing it's influences on its sleeve, but very earnest. Idlewild - Warnings / Promises: Idlewild's journey to full on arena radio rock was complete by this album, but they did it so well. A very underrated band. Sigur Ross - Takk: Maybe Sigur Ros' most accessible album, writing music to score nature documentaries for, but some beautiful tracks here. Boris - Pink: Some of the absolute best riffs I've ever heard. Needs to be played as loud as possible. Oceansize - Everything Into Position: Also needs to be played loud, a fantastic British band making heavy post-rock sort of thing, a big wall of sound to them. Kanye West - Late Registration: A fantastic follow up to College Dropout, not necessarily pushing his sound like he would do later, but refining it extremely well. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm: A fantastic debut record and one that they never got close to matching, a fantastic bit of British indie meeting post-punk. Thrice - Vheissu: A big leap forward for Thrice, a really cool melting pot of sounds broadly exploring post-hardcore music. Amerie - Touch: One Thing is probably my favourite RnB song of the millennium - the album can't quite live up to that one song, but it's still good mid 00's soul / RnB.
For a bit of an oddity 65daysofstatic put out I guess a mixtape called Unreleased/Unreleasable Volume 2: 'How I Fucked Off All My Friends' this year. They did a remix / reimagining of Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words", which I genuinely love, but I can't think of another song that I love that gets such a universally negative reaction everytime I play it for anybody else ha. I listen to this song a lot - sometimes on repeat over and over. I dunno what it is, but it just works for me.
2005… by far my favorite year of music but also the hardest year of my life. Graduating high school, leaving for college, my dad dying. So much in one year and the soundtrack for that season will forever be cemented in my memory. 1. Mae – The Everglow – This was instantly my favorite album ever and 17 years later it still sits at #1. The songs alone hold up but the concept album with the read along story book put it over the top. Destination Beautiful showed potential but the jump to LP #2 was huge. Everything works, from the tracking order, to the artwork, to the production from Ken Andrews. For me this is an album of hope and perseverance, something I desperately needed at the time. There were a lot of piano/emo bands around this time but Mae nailed the sound so well without being sappy. 2. Jack’s Mannequin – Everything in Transit – Everything was in transit in my life and this album captured the balance between chaos and clarity. I was a fan of Something Corporate but this album took my adoration of Andrew McMahon to the next level. It is a perfect album start to finish with no filler tracks. No matter my mood I can put this on and it fits. 3. As Cities Burn – Son I Loved You at Your Darkest – I didn’t get into this album until well after 2005 but it has constantly been in my rotation. I’ve never been a huge fan of screaming vocals but for some reason TJ’s delivery worked for me. Combine that with Cody’s clean vocals and you get a wonderful mix of emotions. The album is overflowing with biblical imagery and text without being preachy. Years later I met Cody and TJ at a show and it was all I could do to keep from weeping as they played The Widow. Honorable Mentions Acceptance - Phantoms Anberlin – Never Take Friendship Personal Bleach – Farewell Old Friends Cartel - Chroma Copeland – In Motion Death Cab for Cutie - Plans The Evan Anthem – Sens The Fray – How to Save a Life Jimmy Eat World – Stay On My Side EP The Juliana Theory – Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This to Memory Mxpx - Panic The National – Alligator The Receiving End of Sirens – Between the Heart and the Synapse Relient K – The Apathetic EP The Rocket Summer – Hello Good Friend Sigur Ros - Takk The Spill Canvas – One Fell Swoop Terminal – How the Lonely Keep This Day & Age – Always Leave the Ground Thrice – Vheissu Waking Ashland – Composure
1. Little Brother - The Minstrel Show 2. Bolt Thrower - For Those Once Loyal 3. Animal Collective - Feels albums I wanted to highlight in Here to get glossed over Blacklisted - …The Beat Goes On Blacklisted - We’re Unstoppable Antony and The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now Buckshot & 9th Wonder - Chemisty Mental - Planet Mental Drudkh - Autumn Aurora Sean Price - Monkey Barz Reef the Lost Cauze - Feast or Famine
1. Thrice - Vheissu 2. System of a Down - Hypnotize/Mesmerize 3. Panic! at the disco - A fever you can't sweat out Very good year, lots of hard cuts.