In no particular order, my favourite albums of the last 12 months:

The Killers 'Hot Fuss'
The White Stripes 'Get Behind Me Satan'
The Libertines 'The Libertines'
Hard-Fi 'Stars of CCTV'
Ordinary Boys 'Over the Counter Culture'

I love this poll, even though I know it's slightly pretentious. I do like to see what people are in to! More reissues than new albums for me I'm afraid - rare is the new album that astonishes me. Anyway, here goes

NEW ALBUMS

1. Junior Boys, Last Exit - sublime
2. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Abbatoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus
3. Madvillain, Madvillainy (not sure if this was out just before this time frame, but I only got it five months ago)
4. Richmond Fontaine, The Fitzgerald.

And, err, that's it.

REISSUES

1. The Fall, The Complete Peel Sessions - if the Smiths box is anything like this, it'll be BRILLIANT!
2. The Clash, London Calling 25th Anniversary
3. REM, Automatic For The People
4. Ian Dury And The Blockheads, New Boots And Panties
5. Super Furry Animals, Songbook Volume 1
7. Public Enemy, Power To The People And The Beats - Public Enemy's Greatest Hits
8. The Fall, Hex Enduction Hour
9. Wu Tang Clan, Legend Of The Wu Tang
10. X Ray Spex, Germ Free Adolescents
11. Luke Haines, Luke Haines Is Dead
12. Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

LOOKING FORWARD TO -

Goldfrapp, Supernature; Super Furry Animals, Love Kraft; collaboration between MF Doom and Dangermouse (can't remember what it's called); Morrissey's new album - hopefully!! And others that I doubtless forget.

I would have to go for:

Take Fountain - The Wedding Present
Ambulance Ltd
The Magic Numbers
Kasabian
Once More With Feeling - Placebo

I don't think I've even bought 5 albums.

Um. Hot Fuss, Daft Punk "Only Human"; um. hmm. "Hidden Cameras" not sure of title;

OK, i'm old.

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
2. Brian Wilson: Smile
3. Jobriath: Lonely Planet Boy
4. The Fall: The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)

These are the only albums I purchased this year that were actually new releases...and Smile and Jobriath are not really new. Guess modern music is a little weak, sorry. Can I list non-new releases that I came into this year? Sure!

1. The Walker Brothers: After the Lights Go Out: Best of 1965-1967
2. Songs the Cramps Taught Us (3 disk box)
3. The Wolfe Tones: Rifles of the IRA
4. Leonard Cohen: Death of a Ladies Man
5. The Pretty Things: S.F. Sorrow
6. Love and Rockets: s/t
7. The Champs: The Champs Greatest Hits

Doves "Some Cities"
The Tears "Here come the Tears"
Decemberists "Picturesque"
Gorillaz "Demon Days"
Ben Folds "Songs for Silverman"

1. Arcade Fire- Funeral
2. Bloc Party- Banquet
3. Le Tigre- This Island
4. Koffin Kats- Inhumane (the best psychobilly band right now, period!)
5. 12 Step Rebels- Go Go Graveyard Rockin'

1. Gang Gang Dance - God's Money
2. Go Kart Mozart - Tearing up the Album Charts
3. Dizze Rascal - Showtime
4. The Fall - Interim
5. Boredoms - Seadrum/House of Sun

Doves- Some Cities. Best album by the band band in the world at the moment.

Also good albums by New Order, Killers, Interpol, Kaiser Chiefs, Ordinary Boys, Coldplay, British Sea Power and Moby.

It's hard for me to remember what came out after June of last year....so maybe I'll come back with a full list.....

For now, by far my favorite album since "Your Are The Quarry" is Regina Spektor's "Soviet Kitsch."
It's a fun album, it's a playful album, and Regina's got a beautiful voice and cool lyrics.

I've also been playing Cobra Verde's "Copycat Killers" a lot, but I'm not sure it should count as it is an all-covers album.

But yeah, I'll have to think about the rest more.....

sufjan stevens - "illinois"
art brut - "bang bang rock and roll"
bloc party - "silent alarm"
doves - "some cities"
feist - "let it die" (reissue?)

In no particular order...
1) Art Brut - Bang, Bang, etc.
2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Self Titled
3) Cass McCombs - Prefection - (seriously a KILLER album)
4) New Waves: 45 Original 45's from the Post Punk Era
5) Gang of Four - Entertainment!(reissue)
6) World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's a Real Thing - (these is a disc of music from western Africa in the early 1970s. some of stuff on it is sick, funky.)
7) Mahjongg - Raydoncong 2005
8) Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
9) Monade - A Few Steps More
10) Beck - Guero
11) M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

to name a few...

You Are The Quarry, Morrissey – Platinum Edition (released December 7, 2004)

Weightlifting, Trashcan Sinatras – Deluxe Version (released August 31, 2004)

------} This album is mature, earnest, accessible, textured, nuanced, lush, carefully crafted, and very pretty. Expansive melodies, beautiful harmonies, and masterful guitar work. You won't be disappointed.

Hot Fuss, The Killers (released June 15, 2004)

The Libertines, The Libertines (released August 31, 2004)

No Cities Left, The Dears (released October 12, 2004)

Live at Earls Court, Morrissey (released March 29, 2005)

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, Tears For Fears (released September 14, 2004)

Singles 1984-2004, A-Ha (released December 21, 2004)

------} Not the 1 hit wonders the American music industry would have you believe. With classics like ‘The Sun Always Shines on TV,’ ‘Hunting High & Low,’ ‘Stay On These Roads,’ ‘The Living Daylights’ and 14 other great songs, spanning 7 albums, you can't go wrong.

Remixes 81-04 - Depeche Mode – Box Set (released October 26, 2004)

Pornography, The Cure - Deluxe Edition - Remastered (released April 26, 2005)

well, I not spend much these days on music. I was given some stuff and heard some charming things on T4.

1. Don't Cha - Pussycat Dolls and Busta Rhymes.
2. Want Two - Rufus Wainwright
3. An earlier Rufus Wainwright CD (can't be bothered going to car to see what it is). ... that's it.

It's going to be a tight squeeze.

Anyway, if you're on Coronation street you might here the following from the Barlow household:

( not necessarily in this order)

British Sea Power- Open Season
The Arcade Fire_ Funeral
Sons and Daughters- The Repulsion Box
Orange Juice- The Glasgow School
Belle and Sebastian- Push Barman to Open All Wounds

Honourable mention to Moz live at Earls Court (sneak him in)

The Killers, I mean they really are an unoriginal pile of dog's business. And the way Flowers has now adopted Morrissey's mannerisms kinda makes me want to smash his face in.

Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
The Concretes
The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Crash
Brian Wilson - Presents Smile
Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic
Jennifer Gentle - Valende
Luna - Rendevous

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Nick Cave - Abbatoir blues (double album)

Doves - Some cities

Low - The Great Destroyer

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock

Blond redhead - Misery is a butterfly

St Etienne - Tales from

...sound as though I'm copying directly off our man, but "Shots" by Damien Dempsey is simply magnificent.

I only saw them listed twice so far...how can this be? I know they've been hyped a lot but they seem like the real deal to me...their album is AMAZING! And I agree with an earlier post about the Killers...good band with a few good songs but the album doesn't hold up as a whole and I don't think we'll be hearing about them in three years time.

most of this year has been shit. pure shit. but here are the bests.

Jet By Day - the Vulture
Rump Posse - Steamy Scandals and Love Handles
Sleater-Kinney - the Woods
Boris - Akuma No Uta
Fantomas - Suspended Animation

fuck Killers, fuck Bloc Party, fuck Kasabian, fuck Bravery, fuck all that shit. the "indie" hits this year have been anything but.

The Tears - Here Come The Tears
Gorillaz - Demon Days
LCD Soundsystem - S/T
Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth

Interpol-Antics
British Sea Power-Open Season
The Go! Team-Thunder,Lightning,Strike
Bright Eyes-I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Secret Machines-Now Here Is Nowhere

As well as listening to the usuals such as Franz. American Idiot by Green Day is also very good.

Gorillaz-Demon Days

Chemical Brothers-Push the Button

Beastie Boys-To the Five Boroughs

This year:
Want Two - Rufus Wainwright
Thunder, Lightning, Strike - The Go! Team
Shots - Damien Dempsey
Tap the red cane whirlwind - Kelly Joe Phelps
Dear Heather - Leonard Cohen

Blinding stuff I acquired this year but has been out for a while:
I Trawl the Megahertz - Paddy McAloon
A Meeting at the River - Vishnu Mohan Bhatt and Ry Cooder
Come on in - R. L. Burnside
Nighthawks at the Diner - Tom Waits.

Sorry: way off topic.

the killers - hot fuss (demo)
interpol - antics
morrissey - live in chile 2004

Picaresque -The Decemberists
Silent Alarm -Bloc Party
I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning -Bright Eyes
Pornography (Reissue) -The Cure
X&Y -Coldplay

Hopefully I can add a new Moz album to the list by the end of this year.

My picks for the last year or so have been:
Oasis- Don't Believe The Truth (Great CD!)
The Killers- Hot Fuss
Franz Ferdinand
Not all of these came out in '05 but that's when I got them. By the way, the new Coldplay sucks!
thetexasbloke
 

I'm not sure why some people say that there is not much quality music lately. Are you kidding? Everybody has their own opinion, so I guess some people could really feel that way. Anyway, in my humble opinion, the following groups have put out albums in the last year or so that are worth your money. (In alphabetical [kind of] order for your viewing pleasure).

acid house kings
ari up
aveo
caitlin cary and thad cockrell
clap your hands say yeah
clor
DraculaZombieUSA
Emiliana Torrini
final fantasy
four tet
freezepop
great lake swimmers
idlewild
john vanderslice
k-os
king django
letting up despite great faults
longwave
math and physics club
micah p. hinson
mike park
nouvelle vague
outhud
panico
pas/cal
pernice brothers
Royal Edinburgh Music
ry cooder
seespot
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
stars
supergrass
The Boy Least Likely To
the dears
the diskettes
the evens
the go! team
the hold steady
the legends
the national
the oohlas
the orange peels
the organ
the pheonemes
the winter pageant
trespassers william
viva voce
wolf parade

and the list goes on and on...there are more albums and even record companies to suggest, but I will end the list there. Enjoy!

shanonymous

Picaresque (Decemberist)
Let us never speak of it again (Out Hud)
Lost and Safe (Books)
Coming on Strong (Hot Chip)
OK Cowboy (Vitalic)
In the Clear (Ivy)
Best Party Ever (Boy Least Likely To)
Thrills (Ellen Allien)
Cookbook (Missy Eliott)
etc etc etc!

01. Lazarus - "Like Trees We Grow Up to Be Satellites"
02. Parker and Lily - "The Low Lows"
03. Flashpapr - "Flashpapr"
04. Carissa's Wierd - "I Before E"
05. The Remote Viewer - "Let your Heart Draw a Line"
06. Adrian Crowley - "A Northern Country"
07. Marissa Nadler - "The Saga of Mayflower May"
08. Hauschka - "Substantial"
09. Picastro - "Metal Cares"
10. Hood - "Outside Closer"
11. The Durutti Column - "Tempus Fugit"
12. Remora - "Enamored"

Honourable mention(s):

S - "Puking And Crying"
Aarktica - "Bleeding Light"
Malcolm Middleton - "Into the Woods"
Damien Jurado - "On my Way to Absence"
Maria Taylor - "11:11"
Smog - "A River is too Much to Love"
Savoy Grand - "People and What they Want"
The Books - "Lost and Safe"
L'altra - "Different Days"
The Organ - "Grab That Gun"
Small Town Boredom - "For Only The Chosen Will Love"
The London Apartments - "Romanticism Aside"
Great Lake Swimmers - "Bodies and Minds"

my best 5:

bloc party
franz ferdinand
ordinary boys
dead 60s
libertines

no order

La Foret is so sad, yet so happy :)

Modest Mouse
Of Montreal

Seriously - I know it sounds like I'm going for cult/tacky-chic, but William Shatner's "Has Been" was a marvellously produced, musically diverse and lyrically touching/hilarious LP. Only his dodgy cover of "Common People" let it down. Really, check it out - you may regret it, but at least a few of you will be converted to the genius of Shatner...

The Diary - 'Separate' http://thediary-separate.com/ [thediary-separate.com], Moz - 'Live At Earl's Court', New Order - 'Waiting For the Siren's Call', Erasure - 'Nightbird', NIN - 'With Teeth'

The Concretes "The Concretes"
The Go! Team "Thunder Lightning Strike!"
Kings Of Convenience "Riot On An Empty Street"
M.I.A. "Arular"
Dungen "Ta Det Lugnt"
The Boy Least Likely To "The Best Party Ever"
The Dears "No Cities Left"
Sufjan Stevens "Illinois"
The Decemberists "Picaresque"
Petra Haden "Sings The Who Sell Out"
The Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society" (reissue)

Disappointments: "Live at Earl's Court" (crappy sound); Beck (dull); Trashcan Sinatras (M.O.R.); Le Tigre (over-produced)

I know I'm forgetting something...
*easymeat

Brendan Benson - Alternative to Love
Tom McRae - All Maps Welcome
Josh Rouse - Nashville
Son Volt - Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production of Eggs
I Am Kloot - Gods and Monsters

Plus a couple best of
Gomez - Out West (Live)
Powderfinger - Best Of

And 3 to look out for in August:

Death Cab for Cutie
Jon Vanderslice
New Pornographers

the following are my favourites from the past twelve months or so:

Momus - Otto Spooky
Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
The Cock - Tuppence
Dorothy - Fat Lady With Beard

Actually, that about it.

I'm sure I'll think of others once I've posted this.

The following are old, but new to me:

Love - Forever Changes

Er... actually, once again, that's it.

The Dears - No Cities Left
Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade

oh, i'm not that hip anymore, but here is what I listened to in late 2004/early 2005

tom waits- real gone
nick cave- lyre of orpheus/abbatoir blues
social distortion- sex, love and rock n' roll
british sea power- open season
the killers- hot fuss
steve earle- the revolution starts now
new order- waiting for the sirens call
human aftertaste- white man's voodoo
u2- how to dismantle an atomic bomb
the tears- here come the tears
Chumbawamba-un
the Cure- s/t
PJ Harvey- uh huh her

Dear Friends,

Wilco's album, "A Ghost is Born"- merits a mention here. So does Tears For Fears "Everybody Loves A Happy Ending."

Both are excellent.

But the Wilco album is NOT easy to listen to- at first. But it is beautifully magnificent. Almost all 12 of the tracks are awesome!!!

Does anyone else think so, too?

The Tears for Fears album is wonderful, too- both bands terribly underrated.

Sincerely,

Ken Stavitzke

This album is one of the best ever made. I rank it along with "The Queen is Dead", the The's "Mind Bomb", Happy Mondays "Pills, thrills and bellyaches"..to name a few. They say that "You never choose the music you listen to..it finds you". Well, the last time I was found was in '82 and that was the Smiths. And now Keane...

The picks:

Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak Of It Again (Has anyone else here been into this? It's amazing, the chorus on the song "It's For You" is a high point - pop perfection)

M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us (More of the same, although in this case that isn't a bad thing. I've always thought of M83 as very glammy)

!!! - Louden Up Now

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus

Ricardo Villalobos - Thé Au Harem D'Archimède

Should have been better:

The Libertines - The Libertines (Rather embarrassing in places "Don't Be Shy" and generally mediocre, although "Can't Stand Me Now" is undoubtedly the best single of last year, and "What Became of the Likely Lads" is also excellent)

New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call (I think it's finally time for them to call it a day)

Hands down.

Green Day - American Idiot
Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
The Futureheads - The Futureheads
Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
nine inch nails - With Teeth
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Dredg - Catch Without Arms
Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Shake the Streets
Interpol - Antics
Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere
Pinback - Summer in Abbadon
The Honorary Title - Anything Else But the Truth
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

crappy year for music.

i guess Live At Earl's Court was this year. not big on live albums, but this one is pretty good.

Interpol's Antics is a terrible album, but "Evil" is a fantastic single

the deluxo reissue of The Cure's Faith is brilliant. why they put the fast version of Primary on the album when the slow version (on disc 2) is so much better just shows how much drugs Rob had in his head at the time.

those R. Kelly retarded soap opera things are pretty goddamn hillarious. i love his song writing style, which mainly constists of listing everything he did that morning and adding "up in the club" and "where the ladies/playas at"

he should go to prison for statutory rape, but he should be shot for what he's done to music.

The Arcade Fire ~ Funeral
The Tears ~ Here Come The Tears
Regina Spektor ~ Soviet Kitsch
The Decemberists ~ Picaresque

1-Kings of Leon* (Aha Shake)
2-Kings of Leon (Youth & Young Manhood)
3-Bloc Party
4-The Color
5-Moz/Smith compilations

*I've been around a long long time and these guys are the only ones to even come close to The Smiths.

m.i.a.

just a brilliant album.