2005 Favorites, 20-16

20. Hot Chip-Coming on Strong
At first I didn't like this album much at all outside its AMAZING single "Playboy." I thought Hot Chip was a group who was great at remixing and had a fluke song, but was too jokesy to take seriously. Wrong. After manu, many listens, I think that Hot Chip is a serious group; their lyrics aren't serious, but their music is very mature and fun dance music that I can listen to in summer and winter. If you haven't heard it, it finally just came out in the US: "Throw off your towel and let's get wet wet wet"

19. Caribou-The Milk of Human Kindness AND The Books-Lost and Safe

These are two groups that have been so consistently innovative for so long that I think they were really slighted this year. The first two Books albums were amazing to revolutionary, but when they put out an album that is remarkably similar to them, they get overlooked. Similarly, Manitoba made some of the most sublime instrumental pop music of the past few years, but with the Caribou album it seemed like no one cared any more. Is this fair to consistently good bands? No. Did I do this? Yes. These bands revolve around innovating pop-rock sounds, so, fairly or not, I expect more. That doesn't mean, though, that these two albums are very, very good. P.S. I chose the album art for the Caribou album because the Books' cover is hideous.

18. Sigur Ros-Takk

I was never a huge fan of Sigur Ros. I liked them all right, but () I could never get into, and I tend to stray from deliberately spacey music that isn't shoegazey or at least poppy. But guess what? Much to my heart's delight, Sigur Ros did BOTH on their new album, including both pop gems and shoegaze-wonderful tracks. This is exactly what I wished () would have sounded like. Where should Sigur Ros go from here? MORE SHOEGAZE. Seriously, this album sounds, wonderful, though; even if you didn't like Sigur Ros before, give this a shot. ALso: it has great packaging.

17. The Chemical Brothers-Push the Button

In late middle school/early high school, I was a HUGE Chemical Brothers fan. Dig Your Own Hole is one of my favorite albums of all time to this day. I have a Surrender-era poster in my room. However, as I started moving out of breakbeat (and all electronic music) and into more indie-rock stuff, I stopped listening to anything new that the Bros. made. I never got into Come with Us. However, at the beginning of this year, I heard "Galvanize" featuring none other than my favorite MC Q-Tip, and I was blown away. Ditto to hearing the rest of the album; "Believe" is a wonderful track too, I like it more than anything on Silent Alarm. Actually, I like the Magic Numbers Track more than anything on their album. Also, the last track sounds eerily like the music from the water levels on Donkey Kong Country. I mean this as a compliment.

16. The Apes-Baba's Mountain

One of the most confusing and frustrating phenomena in my recent rock-listening career has been the obscurity of the Apes. Why will no one listen to them? Why will no one listen to me when I say to listen to them? Is it because reviewers drop prog-rock when describing them? They are no Alan Parsons; The Apes sound like what the manic mob of killer children in Lord of the Flies would sound like if they were in an indie rock band. Every time I hear this album I want to paint my face and dance around a campfire. Pitchfork reviewed this album obscenely late, something like 4 months after it was released. I wrote them an angry email. It just so happens that last year's Tapestry Mastery EP has my favorite song of the year on it (the title track), and this album sounds like a continuation of that EP. "Imp Ahh" is one of my favorite tracks of the year, and who can resist a track called "Organ Syrup"? Trust me, please; if you haven't heard the Apes before, give this album a listen. It's worth it.