soulless eyes have ceased to cheer me: 10/2005

albums O' the year

Goodness me, this is shocking, I'm actually using this thing to post an opinion and not just anonymously show my pictures.
I have been editing my list of favourite albums of 2005 for the last couple of months now, and I think we are far enough through the year for me to put it up as it currently stands.

(The top four are definately my favourites of 2005, sharing the top spot. I've tried to create a solid top 10, everything after that could be muddled about quite easily, and I have just downloaded a free album by an ambient Fin called Keijo which is sounding pretty darn good, so everything is still subject to change)

1.= Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
1.= Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
1.= Sigur Ros - Takk...
1.= ASMZ - Horses in the Sky
5. hrsta - Stem Stem in Electro
6. Esmerine - Aurora
7. Lau Nau - Kuutarha
8. Matt Elliott - Drinking Songs
9. Six Organs of Admittance - School of the Flower
10. Low - The Great Destroyer
11. Josephine Foster - Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You
12. Marissa Nadler - The Saga of Mayflower May
13. Bell Orchestre - Recording a Tape the Colour of Light
14. Islaja - Palaa Aurinkoon
15. Hangedup - Clatter for Control
16. Akron/Family - Akron/Family
17. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
18. Xiu Xiu - La Forêt
19. A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Darkness at Noon
20. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

(*edit - 7th November 2005*) - Forgive me, I am a fool! I just realised that Low's 'The Great Destroyer' came out in January of 2005! I thought it came out at the end of 2004! Therefore it has been placed at #10 (because it has to be in the top 10 somewhere), and Josephine Foster's 'Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You' has been relegated to #11, meaning that Mount Eerie's 'No Flashlight' has been bumped off the list! When the end of the year does actually come around I will probably try and publish a final top 10, so the above is not to be taken as final (who am I talking to?).

EPs worth mentioning:
Elizabeth Anka Vajagic - Nostalgia / Pain
Amina - AminaminA

Albums that lost out on making the list due to technicalities:
Arcade Fire - Funeral (was first released across the Atlantic in 2004)
Laura Veirs - The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae (is a re-issue of her 2001 album)
Gary Higgins - Red Hash (is a re-issue of his 1973 album)
Espers - Espers (was released by Wichita in 2005, but first released by Locust in 2004)

Albums that would probably be somewhere in the list if I had them!:
Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
Mogwai - Government Commissions (though this is more like a live album / best of, so it wouldn't really count)