Monday, January 02, 2006
We mix our own mythologies, we push out through PA systems...
1. Spoon Gimme Fiction. Merge Records releases my favorite album of the year for the second time in as many years. Kudos, Mac and Laura. Now start recording a new Superchunk album.
2. The New Pornographers Twin Cinema. So close to number one. Ask me tomorrow and it may be number one. But not as tight as the current champeen.
3. Bloc Party Silent Alarm. Shouldn't have liked it so much. Did. Get the "2 More Years/Hero" single on iTunes.
4. The Hold Steady Separation Sunday. Late entry. Sprawling. Kick ass. Makes me want to get a tattoo that says "Damn right he'll rise again."
5. DangerDoom The Mouse and the Mask. Feel-good album of the year.
6. Death Cab for Cutie Plans. I shouldn't like this one either. Calculated to touch heartstrings of girls with librarian glasses everywhere, it still manages to provoke real emotion.
7. Greg Dulli Amber Headlights. Did you know this isn't officially a Twilight Singers album? That so effs with my CD organizing system. It's kept me up at nights, but I'm a screw-up. The album? Slight, incomplete. But Dulli rocks even on his laziest Sunday. He's like a garage door, automatic.
8. Sleater-Kinney The Woods. The anti-headphone album, which may be why it took me so long to get into it. Just dirty and nasty, recorded in the red. Janet Weiss steals my heart with every drum roll.
9. Wilco Kicking Television. Another late entry. Nels Cline steals my heart with that solo during "At Least That's What You Said". a ghost is born's songs find the spark lacking on the studio versions.
10. The National Alligator. Top ten just for "All the Wine", second only to "Since U Been Gone" as single of the year.
Honorable Mention: Bruce Springsteen Devils and Dust. "Black Cowboys" will break your heart, but songs about anal sex and drowned men seem desperate. Flawed, but good.
2. The New Pornographers Twin Cinema. So close to number one. Ask me tomorrow and it may be number one. But not as tight as the current champeen.
3. Bloc Party Silent Alarm. Shouldn't have liked it so much. Did. Get the "2 More Years/Hero" single on iTunes.
4. The Hold Steady Separation Sunday. Late entry. Sprawling. Kick ass. Makes me want to get a tattoo that says "Damn right he'll rise again."
5. DangerDoom The Mouse and the Mask. Feel-good album of the year.
6. Death Cab for Cutie Plans. I shouldn't like this one either. Calculated to touch heartstrings of girls with librarian glasses everywhere, it still manages to provoke real emotion.
7. Greg Dulli Amber Headlights. Did you know this isn't officially a Twilight Singers album? That so effs with my CD organizing system. It's kept me up at nights, but I'm a screw-up. The album? Slight, incomplete. But Dulli rocks even on his laziest Sunday. He's like a garage door, automatic.
8. Sleater-Kinney The Woods. The anti-headphone album, which may be why it took me so long to get into it. Just dirty and nasty, recorded in the red. Janet Weiss steals my heart with every drum roll.
9. Wilco Kicking Television. Another late entry. Nels Cline steals my heart with that solo during "At Least That's What You Said". a ghost is born's songs find the spark lacking on the studio versions.
10. The National Alligator. Top ten just for "All the Wine", second only to "Since U Been Gone" as single of the year.
Honorable Mention: Bruce Springsteen Devils and Dust. "Black Cowboys" will break your heart, but songs about anal sex and drowned men seem desperate. Flawed, but good.
