Best Albums of 2005:

1. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
2. The Rosebuds – Birds Make Good Neighbors
3. Broken Social Scene – S/T
4. The National – Alligator
5. Polar Bear – Held on the Tips of Fingers

This dreamy jazz album is the brainchild of drummer and bandleader Sebastian Rochford. Already established as one of the most creative jazz outfits in the UK, Polar Bear are finally starting to get some recognition here in the US. While their record label, Babel, does not yet have a US distributor you can find and purchase their music on iTunes. I ordered this album as well as their debut, “Dim Lit” from Amazon.co.uk.

Polar Bear is a collective group of musicians who work seamlessly in and out of different UK jazz bands. Their sound is very modern but also holds roots in traditional jazz styles. Their press release describes their sound as “raw-boned, dramatic music that mixes jazz with an electronic soundscape and a punk sensibility, underpinned by breakbeat and rock rhythms”. This album has blown away everyone I have introduced to it.

Polar Bear flew onto my radar when I was reading over the list of 2005 Mercury Prize nominees. This album was included among the likes of Antony and the Johnsons, Bloc Party and MIA. While it is clearly a jazz album, there are so many different things going on here it can’t be confined to that classification. I can’t recommend this album enough. Buy it, play it for your friends, accept their thanks, and then have a discussion about how Seb Rochford is just about the best drummer out there right now.

Press Release on Label’s website.

6. Cage – Hell’s Winter

Cage has lived the kind of life that lends itself to the gritty and brutal style of hip-hop he creates. He was abused by his drug addicted father and stepfather, booted from his high school, sent to a mental hospital and addicted to drugs. While I can’t relate to his struggles, I can definitely feel for him. This is Cage’s first release on Definitive Jux records and it’s the strongest they have put out in a very long time.

The production on Hell’s Winter is amazing thanks largely to Cage’s mentor El-P, but throwing in RJD2 and Blockhead only makes it that much better. Other performers sliding in to help with the album are Jello Biafra (doing a hilarious George W. impersonation), James McNew (of Yo La Tengo) adding some nice guitar work on a couple of tracks, DJ Shadow and Aesop Rock.

While there are great musicians and producers all over the album it’s Cage’s unrelenting and deeply personal lyrics that knock this album out of the park. Cage doesn’t hold anything back as he raps about the trials and tribulations that have marked his life. Kanye may have the commercial hip-hop album of the year, but anyone who is in the know will tell you that this is the real winner.

Read the Pitchfork review here.

7. Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
8. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
9. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – S/T
10. Lucero – Nobody’s Darlings
11. Kanye West – Late Registration
12. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
13. Edan – Beauty and the Beat

Edan’s second full-length album came out of left field and blew me away this year. I have read that “Beauty and the Beat” is hip-hop mashed together with “Pet Sounds” and “The White Album”, and I would say that’s a fairly good description of the overall sound. It reminds me of spending a sunny day in southern California on acid. The beats on this album are strong and Edan’s lyrical flow is spot on.

When listening to this album there is a strong feeling of past meets present. That’s mostly due to the fact that there are sounds of 60’s psych and 70’s funk being streamlined into a hip-hop masterpiece. In an era of bloated hip-hop albums clocking in at 60 + minutes, this album is much needed relief. It’s concise as hell and clocks in at 34 minutes. So you can put this album on repeat (which you will want to do) and it will be over again before many hip-hop albums finish their first run. Bravo, Edan.

Read the Pitchfork review here.

14. The Decemberists – Picaresque
15. Cloud Cult – Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus

This album just made it into my world within the last month, and I am real happy that it did. Each time I listen to “Advice..” I discover something new about it and another layer of the sound seems to reveal itself to me. One moment it’s like listening to acoustic Neil Young and the next like hearing “OK Computer” or the Flaming Lips.

You probably wouldn’t expect an organic farmer from Minnesota to spawn an album this enormous (25 songs) and varied, but there are circumstances in his life that he didn’t expect that led to this gem. Namely the death of his infant son of unexplained causes in 2002 which directly contributed to the disintegration of his marriage. There’s no doubt this album is about life and death in all of its forms, but rarely have those subjects been as beautiful as they are on this album.

Read the Pitchfork review here.

16. The Clientele – Strange Geometry
17. Dangerdoom – The Mouse and the Mask
18. Common – Be
19. Jens Lekman – Oh You’re So Silent, Jens
20. My Morning Jacket – Z
21. Acoustic Ladyland – Last Chance Disco

Seb Rochford is a really busy guy. Not only did he put out a great album with Polar Bear, but he managed to release the second Acoustic Ladyland album in two years. Acoustic Ladyland is the high-ocatane punk-funk jazz blowout that compliments the subtle, straight forward jazz of Polar Bear.

“Last Chance Disco” has been named the Jazzwise Album of the Year for 2005, adding fuel to its already strong fire. The band that Acoustic Ladyland could most be described as sounding like are Medeski, Martin and Wood. But I find them to be much more interesting and groundbreaking than MMW.

The Guardian had this to say about Acoustic Ladyland’s sound:

“The band hammered through raunchy tenor licks over rumbling drum’n'bass sounds, trancelike dance-floor hooks blurring into free-sax howls, power-chord rock, briefly dreamy episodes for soft horn-playing, jingly keys and Rochford’s lazy slow-funk pulse, and a Coltranesque lament. On this evidence Acoustic Ladyland will be one of the big stories of 2005.”

If I didn’t have anything going on in my life right now, I would be on the next plane to London to check out anything Seb Rochford does.

Press Release on Label’s website.

In addition, these albums would have made my top ten, had they actually came out this year:

Jose Gonzalez – Veneer
Stars – Set Yourself on Fire

Bands I have really loved this year but have not put out proper releases:

The Harlem Shakes
Arctic Monkeys