Best Music of 2005

In order to inspire some non-ISS, non-sexual abuse related debate for the holiday season (and also to delay my studying for finals), I offer up a top ten list of the best music of 2005, with my favorite albums and three of the best songs off them.

What'd I leave out? What'd I rank too high? Too low? Discuss.

Top Ten Albums of 2005

1. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes

• "We Are Nowhere and It's Now"
• "Land Locked Blues"
• "Poison Oak"

2. Plans by Death Cab for Cutie

• "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"
• "Different Names for the Same Thing"
• "Marching Bands of Manhattan"

3. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

• "Casimir Pulaski Day"
• "Chicago"
• "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."

4. Go by Common

• "Faithful"
• "The Corner"
• "Go"

5. Picaresque by the Decemberists

• "The Engine Driver"
• "We Both Go Down Together"
• "16 Military Wives"

6. Late Registration by Kanye West

• "Touch the Sky"
• "Gone"
• "Heard 'Em Say"

7. Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

• "Pioneers"
• "Blue Light"
• "Helicopter"

8. Gimme Fiction by Spoon

• "The Delicate Place"
• "I Summon You"
• "The Beast and Dragon, Adored"

9. Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes

• "I Believe in Symmetry"
• "Ship in a Bottle"
• "Gold Mine Gutted"

10. X&Y by Coldplay

• "Fix You"
• "Speed of Sound"
• "Swallowed in the Sea"

--Brian