Top 10 Albums of 2005 According to Jordan Green

It may difficult to believe, but I used to write these top ten lists every year for my friends, and I would send it out via email with great pomp and circumstance, and only my friends John and Steve would care in the least. Bless their little hearts.

Anyway, I love the end of the year, when I’m forced to organize and agonize over the songs and records that impacted me the most. This was an especially tough year, as I had to cut over a dozen albums that were really, really great from some of my favorite bands (Pernice Brothers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club). There were also some fantastic newcomers (Laura Veirs, Eisely, Wolf Parade), and albums from established musicians (Kanye West, Sleater-Kinney, Sigur Ros and Fiona Apple).

Who am I kidding? I love having to make these decisions.

I apologize for the lack of variety in these bands. I’m not a huge hip-hop or electronica fan.

10. Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band, Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band.

This album is not available unless you know where to look, and I can’t even tell you where that place to look would be.

I’ll tell you about it, though. There’s always something special about finding a debut effort that is as widely unknown as this one is. From the opening low chord strums and jagged guitar solos of “Wexford Arch” and the atmospheric strains of “All the Stars in Tune,” The Trapdoor Band wields a dangerous and intelligent form of folk Americana.

“Guaranteed Wintertime Blues” is a standout track with it’s sing-along chorus (“I am ready/I am ready/For something to change”). Dupree wraps a simply poignant chorus with rich, poetic story-telling with lines like “Roped up three times, twice with a tongue/But under this coat there’s blood and there’s fire/And old drunken Cupid, he lost his touch/His last shot sent me spinning back the fire”.

Not every song on the album is perfect, but the weaker tracks only serve as mortar for the crucial bricks. The best track may be “Sarah is Rising”, a rough-hewn and banjo-tinged ballad that slowly burns brighter toward the end.

Here’s hoping that this self-titled debut becomes readily available soon, Alex Dupree crafts intricate and poetic songs, and The Trapdoor Band’s beautiful backing and sparse production only serves to add to it’s charm.

9. Set Yourself on Fire, Stars

“When there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire” a gravelly voice intones at the albums outset, and the voice is quickly followed by floating strings and horns before kicking into “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”, a crisp and bittersweet duet that echoes the Canadian indie rock revolution nearly as well as Broken Social Scene’s “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl”.

Set Yourself on Fire mixes Postal Service tricks, utilizing male-female combo vocals to achieve a similar effect. Nearly every track on this album is solid, hitting especially hard with the driving pop of “Ageless Beauty” and “One More Night”, a track which follows the theme of “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”, even going so far as to be sub-titled “Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead”. “Celebration Guns” is string-heavy and softly melancholy.

8. If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry, Marah

Five years removed from their critically-acclaimed Kids in Philly, the Bielanko brother-lead, Philadelphia-based Marah finally hit the nerve that made Kids in Philly so great with If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry.

The album kicks off with the blue-collared riffs that marked Marah as torch-bearers for E Street Band rock. “The Closer” and “The Hustle” hammer home the way that “The Catfisherman” did in 2000. “The Dishwasher’s Dream” is a great example of the everyman songs that Bruce Springsteen once wrote so convincingly. If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry even uses the same riff over multiple songs, adding to the album’s overall cohesion.

On their last two albums, 20,000 Streets Under the Sky and Float Away With the Midnight Gods, Marah experimented with new sounds. Whether they like it or not, organic urban rock and roll is what they’re built for, but even the ballads shine: “Walt Whitman Bridge” and “So What If We’re Out of Tune (With the Rest of the World)” are standouts. If anything, Marah could still step back on their polished orchestration, scuffing songs that are meant to be scuffed.

7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

“Away we go!” the opening track implores and the listener is faced with the decision of either blowing off the oddly-yelped vocals or being sucked in to the carnival trappings. There’s only a minute and a half to decide before the album’s best track, “Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away” slams into high gear on a rumble of bass guitar.

The vocal stylings of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel in that it’s difficult to imagine this band with any other singer. The instrumentation is what carries these songs, though. The songs are carefully-crafted and pristine pop, layered over with a joy and danceable jingle (especially on “Is This Love?” and the wonderfully-titled “Upon this Tidal Wave of Young Blood”)

6. Cold Roses, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

With three albums released on the year, the biggest complaint about his albums is that they could’ve been edited better. While Cold Roses is the his most cumbersome, and while some of these songs were simply awful, it was also his best.

Jacksonville City Nights is solid, and none of the songs of that record are as bad as “Blossom” and “Tonight” (which sounds like a cast-off the below-mediocre Rock and Roll), but Jacksonville also lacks the high points that punctuate Cold Roses.

“Magnolia Mountain”, “If I Am a Stranger”, “Let It Ride” and “Life is Beautiful” are some of the best songs that Ryan has ever written, and there are plenty of above-average tracks here, too. Cold Roses could’ve been cut down, it’s true, but there’s something to admire about Adams’ lack of filter: Cold Roses is Ryan Adams at his best and at his worst, but it’s all there to hear. This album has grown on me over the year.

As a side note, the final Ryan Adams album of the year, 29, was released last week. I haven’t had time to really absorb it, but it’s a wonderful collection of story songs that brings to mind bits of Heartbreaker and Love is Hell.

5. Picaresque, The Decemberists

On their third LP, Portland’s The Decemberists maintain their unique brand of literary folk that was honed on Castaways and Cutouts and Her Majesty the Decemberists. Colin Meloy’s songs still speak of pirates, spies and chimney sweeps, intricate stories wound behind plaintive acoustic guitars and rolling drums, but the songs are more accessible. So accessible, in fact, that Capitol Records recently signed the critical indie darlings and songs like “Engine Driver” and “Sixteen Military Wives” are routinely played at Starbucks across the country.

Picaresque is simply the evidence of a growing band. They’ve always been capable of great tunes (check out “Oceanside”, “California One Youth and Beauty Brigade” and “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” for proof), but this collection is smooth and pristine. “Sporting Life” lifts the drum intro of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” to solid results, and “The Bagman’s Gambit” is a story of double agent in Washington D.C. that keeps the listener’s rapt attention. “On the Bus Mall” name checks Portland’s downtown life, referring to “urchins and old Chinese merchants at the Old Town” and “collonades of Waterfront Park”.

Oh, and how could I forget “16 Military Wives”, which is easily a better anti-war song than the mindless drivel that passes for political commentary on Green Day’s American Idiot?

4. Illinois: Come On Feel the Illinoise!, Sufjan Stevens

Two states into his nationwide album tour, Sufjan Stevens pieces together stories from the Prairie State and meticulous baroque pop. The idea of creating theme albums around state history is such a brilliant and ambitious idea that it actually frustrates me that Stevens started in the Midwest: an entire album from this musical mastermind about Oregon is almost too much to hope for.

While my girlfriend can’t bear to listen to it, the song “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” may be the most haunting song about a serial killer ever written (I’m wracking my brain for other serial killer-themed songs, and only Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” comes to mind. ‘Haunting’ is not a word I would use to describe “Werewolves of London”). The point is, this song can be horrifying to listen to, but it’s also exceedingly beautiful.

Every song is a pleasant surprise, though only a few stick in the head. The best tune is “Decatur”, a banjo-fueled and masterfully-rhymed track near the middle of the album. The song’s melody is like candy, and the line, “Stephen A. Douglas was the great debater/But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator!” is almost comically catchy.

If anything, Illinois will cause you to hope that Stevens is able to put out albums like Ryan Adams and somehow make our Nation’s history interesting again.

3. Gimme Fiction, Spoon

Britt Daniels, the lead singer of Spoon, recently moved to our fair city (that’s Portland, in case you weren’t sure), and he may be the most heralded emigre since Clyde Drexler was picked in the NBA Draft in 1983. Something magical happens when Texans move here.

Gimme Fiction follows up 2002’s Kill the Moonlight, and Spoon further establishes itself as one of the only completely fresh rock and roll bands working today. While bands like Interpol and Franz Ferdinand inspire legions of imitators (The Bravery), Spoon flies under the radar, and has spawned only one copycat (Robbers On High Street, a band which almost disturbingly imitates Spoon to the point where Tree City sounds like a collection of Spoon b-sides).

Gimme Fiction starts in a rage with “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” and continues into the record label assault of “The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine”. From there, Daniels’ utilizes falsetto on “I Turn My Camera On”, which sounds like it would’ve fit well on Kill the Moonlight.

I could keep going…there isn’t a bad track on this album.

2. Black Sheep Boy/Black Sheep Boy Appendix, Okkervil River

The best releases this year have been concept albums, and Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy wraps each of its songs together with repeated lines despite repeated changes in styles: “For Real” smacks of emo vocals, “In a Radio Song” is layered folk, “Black” blasts a repeated, nearly alt-country organ riff.

The album, like most great albums, hops between ballads and heavier rock, the former softly-strummed and speaking of epic romances and bygone eras; the latter screaming bloody vocal chords when needed.

The story of the Black Sheep Boy is mad and difficult to follow, so the story is really in the music. Lead singer Will Sheff is a supremely talented songwriter, and emotes his lyrics well: angry songs are angry, heartbroken songs are forlorn.

In a brilliant stroke, Okkervil River released Black Sheep Boy Appendix a few months later. If you’re anything like me and thought, “Wow, this album is great…I wish there was more to it…”, then, well, you get your wish. Appendix picks up where Black Sheep Boy leaves off, and does so nearly as well as it’s original material.

Before I name the top album of the year, I have to mention that I strongly considered adding Arcade Fire’s Funeral to this list. Funeral would’ve been at the top of this list. While Coldplay is often compared to U2 in terms of musical themes (epic stadium rock combined with heart-bursting ballads), Arcade Fire appears to be a more appropriate torchbearer in regards to importance and innovation. “Rebellion (Lies)” drives on an irresistible piano/bass line. “Neighborhood (Power Out)” is a tightly wound barnstorm of a rock song.

“Wake Up” should be the anthem for our generation, especially a rising generation within the church. Last year, I thought that The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” should be our anthem, but “Wake Up” is a million times better.

All of this being said, Funeral was released last year. I’m not opposed to breaking the rules, but a top 11 list isn’t as appealing as a top ten list.

Go buy this album. If you don’t have much money (like, say, only $1), then download “Wake Up” off of iTunes.

Enough. The number one album of the year is:

1. The Forgotten Arm, Aimee Mann

After the fairly disappointing Lost in Space, the unbelievably talented Aimee Mann was able to follow the success of Bachelor No. 2 and the Magnolia Soundtrack with The Forgotten Arm, another concept album that follows John, a self-destructive boxer and Caroline, the woman that falls in love with him.

The story of John and Caroline is only the base upon which Mann crafts her meticulous songs. After listening to this album, I began to understand that only the John Lennon/Paul McCartney team could rival Aimee Mann when it comes to creating perfect melodies. Mann’s voice flawlessly echoes the melancholy and triumph of each stanza. I would listen to “Video” over and over while driving, unable to figure out how such a beautiful melody could go for so long undiscovered.

But here’s the thing: almost all of her songs are like this. Even the weak tracks (“She Really Wants You”, “Goodbye Caroline”) have moments when they shine. “That’s How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart” nods its head over piano chords and wavering strings before burning up like a streaking comet at the last minute. “Going Through the Motions” shows up twice on the album, and it’s difficult to tell which version is better.

Aimee Mann doesn’t exactly tread new ground, of course. Her songs are obviously influenced by The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra among others. But, like The Drive-By Truckers manage to run laps around their predecessors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aimee Mann makes these songs uniquely her own. With tongue-in-cheek apologies to Carole King and whoever wrote Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” Aimee may be the best pop songwriter alive today.

As an aside, has anyone noticed that it’s very fashionable to say that a band is influenced by Electric Light Orchestra rather than The Beatles these days? Isn’t ELO basically a poor man’s version of The Beatles?

So, that’s it until next year. In this playlist age of downloading, I’ll also offer you a quick mix to download off of iTunes, sort of like those super-sweet celebrity playlists, only from someone you’ve never heard of. Included are some songs from albums that didn’t make the list. This mix is available for purchase on iTunes. Click on iMix and search for “Burnside Writer’s Collective”. The mix may be difficult to find.

1. “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” —Spoon.
2. “For Real” —Okkervil River.
3. “Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away” —Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
4. “Wake Up” —Arcade Fire. Download it already! How many times to I have to say it?
5. “Jezebel” —Iron & Wine. This is just a mesmerizing track off of The Woman King EP.
6. “Let It Ride” —Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.
7. “The Engine Driver” —The Decemberists.
8. “Video” —Aimee Mann. This is the best song of the year.
9. “Us” —Regina Spektor. A wonderfully odd song from a wonderfully odd anti-folk singer.
10. “Decatur” —Sufjan Stevens.
11. “Guaranteed Wintertime Blues” —Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band.
12. “Still Suspicion Holds You Tight” —Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
13. “Walt Whitman Bridge” —Marah.
14. “The Bagman’s Gambit” —The Decemberists.
15. “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” -Stars.

Jordan Green always misses at least one album that he’ll regret not listing. He is vaguely afraid that that album will be Kanye West’s Late Registration.