mandatory end-of-year business

let's face it folks, 2k5 was a year of misery saved only by album-after-album of booty-shaking pumped religiously through decimated ipod earphones. so here we go, it's the cold cowboy's top ten albums of 2005, whose slogan in time immemorial shall inevitably be "well, at least we got some good songs out of it.":

10. caribou – the milk of human kindness

well-crafted but weird crap for the most part, which is reason enough for me. first line on first song ('yeti'): "his greasy fingers strung together and stretching cross the sky..." like some kind of modern day shakespeare!

9. calexico/iron & wine - in the reins

8. bright eyes – i’m wide awake it’s morning

in the past i mostly couldn't stand conor oberst's wimpy-but-clever ramblings but i hold no grudges. naturally it has its far-too-emo moments... but she's a keeper.

7. new pornographers - twin cinema

it still pales in comparison to front dude a.c. newman's solo album of last year (the slow wonder'), but with some notable exceptions (see 'bones of an idol') this is even better than their first album. i think neko case is the weak link but on the albums i hesitate to admit that i like the dude from 'destroyer', arguably one of the most terrible bands i've ever seen live.

6. stephen malkmus - face the truth

speaking of terrible shows: pavement's "last show ever" at bogart's in cincinnati ranks right up there. dudes were drunk and sloppy and the "second drummer" stopped playing towards the beginning of the set in order to scream out of key, submerging malkmus's equally slurred lyrics in a sea of poop-slop. i don't know what happened, but somehow malkmus put out an album that totally rules after several that royally blow.

5. sufjan stevens - illinois

4. clap your hands say yeah - s/t

some slightly irritating a-hole mimicks david byrne with sexy results. it'd be a lot more awesome if it didn't have all the hipster buzz. but it's still awesome. you have to dance.

3. go team! – thunder lightning strike

in a year of booty-shaking, this takes the big ass cake. how can you not groove to this shit? there are only two ways: 1. you are having a stroke, 2. you are 200 years old. even zombies have to party when this record starts playing in the graveyard.

2.wolf parade - apologies to the queen mary

as mayor of rockachussetts, i hereby declare this record to be... awesome.

1. animal collective – feels

can't. stop. listening.