In no particular order, my picks are:

Jesu - Jesu
The Dirty Three - Cinder
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - Horses in the Sky
Oneida - The Wedding
Larsen - Play
Andrew Peklar - Strings + Feedback
Edan - Beauty and the Beat
Konono No. 1 - Congotronics
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Tuning to the Rooster
Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett

Cocorosie "Noah's ark"
Weird War "Illuminated by the Light"

Those are the only records I thought were any good this year.

I purchased dozens of records this year but I don't think a single one was actually released in 2005.

Wait, the new Lightning Bolt. That was good.

The Evens.

This thread needs more lists.

Samara Lubelski - "Spectacular of Passages" & "The Fleeting Skies" (LP)
Farina/Gray/Littleton - "New Salt"
Calexico/Iron & Wine - "In the Reins"
Make Believe - "Shock of Being"
Wilco - "Kicking Television"
Albert Ayler -"Holy Ghost" Vol 1 (LP)
Julie Dorion - "Goodnight, Nobody"
Judee Sill - "s/t" and "Heart Food" (LP reissues)

I wonder when my interest in music from previous years will plateau enough that I actually buy 10 albums from the current year. As it is, I haven't even heard some of these 11 albums in their entirety.

A Gun Called Tension - s/t (Cold Crush)
Debashish Bhattacharya - Calcutta Slide Guitar (Riverboat)
Black Taj - s/t (Amish)
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Multiples (Kranky)
Fan Club Orchestra Japan - 20,001 a Space Odyssey
Jaga Jazzist - What We Must (Ninja Tune)
Monsonia - s/t EP (self-released)
Prefuse 73 - Prefuse 73 Reads the Books EP (Warp)
Negativland - No Business (Seeland)
Washington Phillips - The Key to the Kingdom (Yazoo)
Wilco - Kicking Television (Nonesuch)

Oneida - The Wedding
Konono no. 1 - Congotronics
John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt
Dirty Projectors - The Getty Address
MIA - Arular
Sage Francis - A Healthy Distrust
The Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree

Hmm... that's 7... I hate lists...

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:This thread needs more lists.

Broadcast-Tender Buttons

Stuart Staples - Lucky Dog Recordings

British Seapower - Open Season

Dirty 3 - Cinder

Fall - Heads Roll



Honorable Mentions........

Nine Horses - Snow borne sorrow
Low - The Great Destroyer
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
Crap your hands and say No - S.T.