Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2005

Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2005

Original Source →

50.

Orthrelm - OV
January 20, 2005
Critic Score
84
4 reviews
Ultimately, this record stands as a towering achievement in its own right, regardless the context you visualize. And maybe this many words are overkill for what I'm really trying to say: This is fucking great.

49.

The Fiery Furnaces - EP
January 11, 2005
Critic Score
81
6 reviews

48.

Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
April 5, 2005
Critic Score
79
14 reviews
Okkervil's newest batch of songs create a roomy and natural showcase for Will Sheff's high-wire vocals.

46.

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
October 4, 2005
Critic Score
79
18 reviews
The shame of it all is that Apple, after six years of silence, could've made a more definitive, progressive statement rather than something familiar and similar-- and we've got the bootlegs to prove it.

45.

M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
January 25, 2005
Critic Score
75
20 reviews
This is a mammoth collusion of synth gasps and distorted swirls, darker and more urban than its meadow-bound predecessor.

44.

Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
October 17, 2005
Critic Score
81
12 reviews

On Lookaftering, it comes as a relief to hear not only how pristine Bunyan's delicate vocals remain but that she has retained her understated abilities as a songwriter.

43.

Spoon - Gimme Fiction
May 10, 2005
Critic Score
81
17 reviews
Even the most direct songs here have a precision craftsmanship rarely heard in something that is still, at heart, a rock album.

42.

My Morning Jacket - Z
October 4, 2005
Critic Score
84
21 reviews

Z abandons the Skynyrdisms of It Still Moves, but that album's lessons remain intact: Compared to those on previous albums, these tracks have more guitar crunch and tighter song structures.

41.

Róisín Murphy - Ruby Blue
June 13, 2005
Critic Score
78
6 reviews

When the songwriting is on, Ruby Blue seems perfect, the ultimate combination of human warmth and technological know-how.

39.

Robyn - Robyn
April 27, 2005
Critic Score
86
16 reviews

Over canned synbeats and zaps, she struts her stuff, castigating silly boys who think they're playing in her weight class and generally acting like the shit.

38.

Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
September 13, 2005
Critic Score
78
23 reviews

37.

Dominik Eulberg - Kreucht & Fleucht
August 29, 2005
Critic Score
82
2 reviews

36.

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Multiples
May 16, 2005
Critic Score
84
4 reviews

35.

The Game - The Documentary
January 18, 2005
Critic Score
76
13 reviews
Dr. Dre's latest protégé boasts not only an impressive set of producers and guests for this highly anticipated throwback to early 90s West Coast gangsta rap, but also a hoarse, guttural vocal style that commands more presence than precedessor 50 Cent.

34.

Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
October 18, 2005
Critic Score
78
15 reviews

33.

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
March 22, 2005
Critic Score
79
22 reviews
This is a solid, intelligent album that a lot of people will love-- one that'll slot onto indie-crossover CD racks right beside the debuts from Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and the Futureheads.

32.

Beanie Sigel - The B. Coming
March 29, 2005
Critic Score
76
10 reviews

31.

Konono N°1 - Congotronics
September 27, 2005
Critic Score
83
5 reviews

30.

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
October 3, 2005
Critic Score
79
21 reviews

Judging by You Could Have It So Much Better, these style-conscious art kids are content to be a fine, entertaining pop band instead.

29.

Serena-Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh
August 29, 2005
Critic Score
79
17 reviews
These aren't 11 songs so much as 12 blood-riling arguments.

28.

Sunn O))) - Black One
October 18, 2005
Critic Score
90
6 reviews
Sixth album from the doom metal duo nearly matches their ferocious live power, and features assistance from noise icon John Wiese and experimental guitarist and percussionist Oren Ambarchi.

27.

Jamie Lidell - Multiply
June 28, 2005
Critic Score
76
16 reviews

Listen to Multiply once and you'll be struck by how reverent it is; listen to it three times and you'll start to notice the microscopic digital artifacts and subtle tweaks that give it personality and pop.

26.

The Decemberists - Picaresque
March 22, 2005
Critic Score
81
20 reviews

Picaresque captures the band in peak form, packing in exotic instrumentation that creates a lush and evocative backdrop to Colin Meloy's story-songs, which here are more colorful-- and more topical-- than ever.

25.

Alan Braxe and Friends - The Upper Cuts
June 1, 2005
Critic Score
85
2 reviews

The Upper Cuts is sleek and inspired and exhilarating, and after nearly a decade, it's nice to have all this stuff in one place.

24.

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
April 26, 2005
Critic Score
78
16 reviews
On his third record for 4AD, John Darnielle axes his fictional sketches and explores his own personal life, specifically an abusive stepfather.

22.

Broadcast - Tender Buttons
August 19, 2005
Critic Score
70
16 reviews
Third album from Broadcast-- now downsized to a duo-- sees them dressing their poptastic efforts with whatever ruckus they can conjure.

21.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
January 25, 2005
Critic Score
78
12 reviews

Soft and subtle, Superwolf is the kind of record that unwinds slowly, and is best enjoyed over multiple listens and, unsurprisingly, many glasses of wine. Oldham and Sweeney mew coquettishly, stroking their guitars, cawing bizarre stories about love, death, and body parts: theirs is a rancid and beautiful landscape.

20.

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
May 3, 2005
Critic Score
81
9 reviews

Second album from these Brooklyn boozehounds finds them molding the reckless shoutalongs of their debut into overdriven beer-soaked party anthems. Vocalist Craig Finn comes into his own here as a lyricist, and as a sweat-drenched and drunk back-alley bawler.

19.

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
May 24, 2005
Critic Score
85
19 reviews

Even in the face of its cock-rock trappings, The Woods most closely recalls the righteous fury of their first great albums, Call the Doctor (1995) and Dig Me Out (1996).

18.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
June 28, 2005
Critic Score
78
20 reviews

Every time it seems like conventional indie rock has gasped its last, someone builds a mansion of song that reminds us that, at its best, the genre still pulls off raw, celebratory spirit more convincingly than almost any other.

17.

The Clientele - Strange Geometry
August 30, 2005
Critic Score
73
11 reviews

The slight nods to accessibility and the decreased stylization might disappoint some of the faithful at first, but Strange Geometry grows more appealing with repeated listening.

16.

Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song
January 24, 2006
Critic Score
79
14 reviews
In an album that's so anxiously avoided these types of cliches, the power-pop ditty "Trying Too Hard" truly seals the kiss with an afterthought: "I was trying way too hard." Haven't we all.

15.

Clipse - We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2
December 31, 2005
Critic Score
88
1 review

Volume 2 delivers on the promise of "Zen". In alternating mismanaged heaters ("So Seductive", the murderous "Kobra"), hugely successful singles ("1 Thing", "Hate It or Love It"), and timeless thrillers ("Elevators", "Daytona 500"), the pacing never slows.

14.

Vitalic - OK Cowboy
April 4, 2005
Critic Score
77
12 reviews

The long-awaited debut LP from Frenchman Pascal Arbez includes three-fourths of the seismic electro/techno Poney EP, which sits beautifully alongside his less dancefloor-friendly, album-oriented material.

13.

Various Artists - Run the Road Vol. 1
January 24, 2005
Critic Score
88
3 reviews

The invaluable grime primer Run the Road provides a sweeping survey of the genre's biggest figures and strikes to the heart of its maneuverability by constantly changing gears without ever sounding anything less than massive.

12.

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
August 23, 2005
Critic Score
81
21 reviews
The Canadian power-pop supergroup's latest full-length is its most consistent, confident, and best album to date.

10.

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
September 27, 2005
Critic Score
81
21 reviews
There's no question the lonesome crowded sound is here, but when Wolf Parade dig in and dust off their influences, the band rolls like a Ritalin-deprived power-Bowie or 70s Eno flexing piano-based hooks over Pixified rhythms.

9.

Cam'ron - Purple Haze
December 7, 2004
Critic Score
75
8 reviews
Backed by beats ranging from wistful chipmunk soul to oppressive, bell-rattling NWA jacks and hypnotic electro bounce, Cam'ron bids adieu to Roc-A-Fella.

8.

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
February 15, 2005
Critic Score
83
23 reviews

LCD Soundsystem has been anticipated since Murphy's 2002 splash "Losing My Edge"/"Beat Connection", and like it, makes clear that although his musical reference points are upfront enough to be conspicuous, they never quite cross the line into hipster-wallpaper.

7.

Animal Collective - Feels
October 18, 2005
Critic Score
81
22 reviews

Like Animal Collective's previous full length, Feels is sequenced carefully, with jauntier, tuneful numbers leading to an amorphous back half.

6.

Deerhoof - The Runners Four
October 11, 2005
Critic Score
81
16 reviews

5.

ANOHNI and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
February 1, 2005
Critic Score
88
21 reviews

The mingling of friends is a treat but, heart in his hand, Antony can more than ably go it alone-- even though he spends so much of I Am A Bird Now fearing solitude and celebrating those rare perfect connections.

4.

M.I.A. - Arular
March 22, 2005
Critic Score
86
22 reviews

The closest thing to a truism about Arular is that it's a taut, invigorating distillation of the world's most thrilling music; a celebration of contradictions and aural globalization that recasts the tag "world music" as the ultimate in communicative pop rather than a symbol of condescending piety.

3.

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
May 30, 2005
Critic Score
80
19 reviews

As with the best LCD Soundsystem singles, Bang Bang Rock & Roll is at times some of the best music criticism going right now, and far better than our boringly verbose bullshit 'cause you can dance to it.

2.

Kanye West - Late Registration
August 30, 2005
Critic Score
82
22 reviews

With the help of co-producer Jon Brion, West has taken his jumbled personae, buoyant enthusiasm, and vision for the grandiose, and transformed his chattering, seemingly unrealistic ideas into an expansive, imperfect masterpiece.

1.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
July 5, 2005
Critic Score
91
26 reviews

Musically, Illinois is strange and lush, as excessive and challenging as its giant, gushing song titles.

Original Source: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6222-top-50-albums-of-2005/
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