Step One: The Listing

I had my first best albums of 2005 discussion the other day. Out behind the loading bay dumpster, where the girls who work the cosmetics counters in Dillards enter and exit the mall, we batted around some rough sketches of our top 5, top 10, and top 20 albums of the year. There was a lot of disbelieving guffaws and derisive snorts tossed around, too, but no less appreciative nods and curt forgot-that-one-yeah's. In the end we were only very slightly closer to having an idea about our choices for best albums of the year, let alone what they actually were.

So, in the spirit of fairness and good music, tonight I combed my apartment for albums I've purchased that were released this year. Anyone who's had the pleasure of trying to find a seat in this hole I live in knows how daunting this task would be. I may've missed a couple. In fact, I'm nearly positive I have missed some. But I have all the ones I remember purchasing. They're right here, stacked next to the desk and coming up to my knee. Please keep in mind that I am including EPCDs (Extended Player CD Singles) and significant Singles in addition to LPCDs.

Now, seeing as I spent half the year working at a college radio station (not to mention conducting and participating in other, slightly less salacious musical enterprises), this stack of jewel cases and digipaks is not nearly representative of all of the albums I've acquired this year, let alone listened to. Keep that in mind, please, as this fact may bear upon my final list sometime nearer the end of the year. Chances are, though, if an album is good enough to make my top 10 list, it was worth purchasing. Hear that? When I actually get around to whittling a real list out of this catalog, the albums listed will be worth purchasing.

Also, please note that there are some 10 albums or so that I'm still waiting to purchase before the year's out. For some, the money situation wasn't right when it was released. Most of the remaining albums have yet to come out. I am positive that some of these will demand consideration come December. But for now, all I can do for the endeaver is catalog the known purchased releases of 2005.

Here they are, in no particular order:

01. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
02. Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic
03. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
04. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
05. Martha Wainwright - Martha Wainwright
06. The Fiery Furnaces - EP
07. The Books - Lost and Safe
08. Rogue Wave - 10:1
09. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
10. Iron & Wine - Woman King
11. Fruit Bats - Spelled In Bones
12. Aesop Rock - Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives
13. Edan - Beauty and the Beat
14. Mara Carlyle - The Lovely
15. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
16. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Superwolf
17. Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor
18. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
19. Holopaw - Quit /or Fight
20. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
21. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
22. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
23. Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
24. Prefuse 73 - Surrounded By Silence
25. Prefuse 73 - Reads The Books
26. Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer
27. DJ Z-Trip - Shifting Gears
28. Low - The Great Destroyer
29. Feist - Let It Die
30. Destroyer - Notorious Lightning and Other Works
31. Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
32. Iron & Wine/Calexico - In The Reins
33. The Bees - Free The Bees
34. Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
35. My Morning Jacket - Z
36. Liz Janes & Create(!) - Liz Janes & Create(!)
37. MF Doom - MM..Food

Looking forward to:
38. DangerDoom - The Mouse & The Mask
39. Kanye West - Late Registration
40. The Double - Loose In The Air
41. The Constantines - Tournament of Hearts
42. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
43. Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary

So far, this is what I have to choose from. I'll browse the albums I've heard this year but didn't actually (or don't intend to) purchase in Step Two. Please, if you feel there are any glaring omissions to this list do let me know after I finish Step Two.