No Ripcord's Top Fifty Albums of 2005

No Ripcord's Top Fifty Albums of 2005

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50.

Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
February 22, 2005
Critic Score
68
5 reviews

49.

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
April 26, 2005
Critic Score
78
16 reviews
There’s so much here to enjoy, we can tolerate the occasional lyrical overreach.

48.

Wilderness - Wilderness
July 5, 2005
Critic Score
79
6 reviews

47.

Test Icicles - For Screening Purposes Only
October 31, 2005
Critic Score
64
11 reviews

46.

Xiu Xiu - La Forêt
July 12, 2005
Critic Score
76
10 reviews

44.

Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic
May 31, 2005
Critic Score
71
18 reviews

42.

CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
September 13, 2005
Critic Score
62
14 reviews

41.

Kraftwerk - Minimum-Maximum
June 6, 2005
Critic Score
80
10 reviews

40.

Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
September 5, 2005
Critic Score
79
13 reviews

39.

Love As Laughter - Laughter's Fifth
April 26, 2005
Critic Score
77
6 reviews

38.

Blood on the Wall - Awesomer
September 6, 2005
Critic Score
70
5 reviews

35.

Beck - Guero
March 29, 2005
Critic Score
77
24 reviews

It remains a very good album, but you always get that sense that he's always just one chord progression away from greatness this time around.

34.

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

33.

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
May 24, 2005
Critic Score
85
19 reviews
There's not a whole lot that's new with this record, even if some of it is new for you.

31.

Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
September 12, 2005
Critic Score
76
23 reviews

Endearingly sorrowful without descending into outright misery, Leaders Of The Free World is exactly what we the listeners should expect from a band's third album.

30.

My Morning Jacket - Z
October 4, 2005
Critic Score
84
21 reviews
An album you should definitely own, and a band you should definitely watch.

29.

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
June 7, 2005
Critic Score
74
24 reviews
The White Stripes continue to surprise and entertain simultaneously.

27.

Josh Rouse - Nashville
February 22, 2005
Critic Score
76
11 reviews
This is the year’s first great summer album.

26.

The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black
May 3, 2005
Critic Score
66
16 reviews

25.

Low - The Great Destroyer
January 25, 2005
Critic Score
75
22 reviews
Stunningly good.

22.

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

21.

The Decemberists - Picaresque
March 22, 2005
Critic Score
81
20 reviews
Their best full length yet.

20.

The Books - Lost and Safe
April 5, 2005
Critic Score
77
10 reviews

19.

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
October 17, 2005
Critic Score
78
18 reviews
Such a relief, in a year of follow-on after follow-on that disappoints, to find that this latest in the list of most-eagerly-awaited doesn't.

18.

Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
May 23, 2005
Critic Score
74
19 reviews
He seems pretentious and sincere, playful and sombre, immature and wise, freewheeling and disciplined all at once.

17.

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
August 23, 2005
Critic Score
81
21 reviews

In short, it's no Mass Romantic, but it will do quite nicely.

16.

Mogwai - Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003
February 21, 2005
Critic Score
80
7 reviews

15.

Gorillaz - Demon Days
May 24, 2005
Critic Score
79
29 reviews

14.

Hood - Outside Closer
January 17, 2005
Critic Score
78
14 reviews

Outside Closer weaves an oddly distinctive set of roundelays between the Air-like poppiness and cheery melancholia of the negatives and the Massive Attack jams with The Clash in Reykjavik melancholia of winter 72, concluding with two of the most depressing songs I’ve ever heard.

13.

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

12.

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
September 27, 2005
Critic Score
81
21 reviews

Wolf Parade is a great band, and while one will automatically think of Brock when they first hear You Are a Runner I Am My Father’s Son, (or any song featuring the first of the band’s two vocalists, Spencer Krug,) many of the album’s strongest moments actually come when they more closely resemble other bands.

11.

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
March 22, 2005
Critic Score
79
22 reviews
Sensitive enough to charm you, yet with songs hard enough and strong enough to keep you from getting bored, Silent Alarm is already a strong contender for debut album of the year.

9.

Sigur Rós - Takk...
September 13, 2005
Critic Score
83
24 reviews

Certainly, it feels as though Takk emerges from a group who, despite arriving at the zenith of their capability, has, at least for the time being, run out of things to say.

8.

ANOHNI and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
February 1, 2005
Critic Score
88
21 reviews
This will surely be counted as one of the most remarkable, individual, and adorable albums of the year.

7.

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
February 15, 2005
Critic Score
83
23 reviews
Intellectual without being snotty, encyclopaedic yet accessible, it takes the seemingly stalled electro model and kick-starts it into outer space.

6.

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

Arular is a fantastic amalgamation of dozens of styles, too many to be classified by one, perhaps even deserving of a whole new genre.

5.

M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
January 25, 2005
Critic Score
75
20 reviews

Like 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, Before the Dawn is commendable for its almost obsessive attention to detail that has produced a collection of gorgeously layered and dense songs without ever sounding laboured.

4.

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
January 25, 2005
Critic Score
85
19 reviews
This is the best album of the year so far.

3.

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

The great achievement of Feels is that it throws everything at every track yet never loses sight of the tunes themselves.

2.

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

I can see your raised eyebrows, I can tell that you are dubious, but I can assure you, gentle listener - these are the goods.

1.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
July 5, 2005
Critic Score
91
26 reviews
These are adventurous pop songs with intricate arrangements and sophisticated chord structures.
Original Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20051225032006/http://www.noripcord.com/features/2005/2005_1.html
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