2005: The Year in Music

OK, it's time to start with the media. Since I'm probably not done with movies for the year (and have another one that I saw that I still need to discuss) and I still need to discuss a play and a couple books, I'll start with music. I'm going to combine albums and songs and not do a specific ranking (except for #1 album).

Depeche Mode's Playing the Angel is a clear winner for the top spot (shock!). The tracks "Precious" and "A Pain That I'm Used To" are truly stupendous and the song Lillian is also very nice (but I will only include the first two in the "official" list because I did indicate I'd restrict myself to two Depeche Mode songs). The B side "Newborn" sounds really good as well, but I've only listened to it once and want to hear it more before ranking it.

Another key song is Röyksopp's "What Else is There?", which I can credit Laemmle theatre's pre-movie music for my discovery. It reminds me of Delerium's "Silence" and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", which is high praise indeed. The album it's on, The Understanding, had some other decent songs as well, but the drop-off from it's best song to the others is huge.

New Order's Waiting for the Siren's Call joints Playing the Angel as one of my awesome albums from 2005, with several superb tracks, including "Morning Night and Day" (my favorite track) and "Dracula's Castle".

The new Echo & the Bunnymen album Siberia is a solid effort, but I haven't decided if I think any of the songs stand out among the others. I need to listen to it more.

The new Enya album, Amarantine, has a couple standouts, but I don't remember which ones they are yet. (You can tell when I've downloaded something and just put it in the regular playlist after playing it through a couple times because I can't yet identify the titles of the songs I like the best.) There's also another Enya song that's new for me (but not actually new) that I really like.

Madonna's new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor has a disco flavor and includes lots of ripping from older songs. A few of the songs sound very nice---especially "Hung Up", which rips from "Gimme Gimme Gimme", one of my favorite ABBA songs.

Alison Moyet's Voice has a couple nice songs. In contrast to her older stuff (like when she was part of Yaz), this is 'easy listening', but a couple of the songs (they may be covers) are really catchy. I've also rediscovered my enjoyment of a couple more of Moyet's songs from her solo career.

Garbage's Bleed Like Me has some good songs, especially "It's All Over But the Crying".

I've heard some songs from Greenday's American Idiot from 2004 (I didn't hear any of them until this year) and enjoyed those as well, although I don't have any one in particular crying out as one I want to mention explicitly.

I have been meaning to listen to the new Shakira album, but I haven't gotten around to doing so yet. I've heard it has more pop and less of the Latin music influence, which is unfortunate because it's the latter that I have really enjoyed in her music. I've also been meaning to listen to Cyndi Lauper's new acoustic album. (I think it's mostly live versions of her stuff with help from various guest stars.) Have I ever mentioned how awesome she is? She has a lot of really great songs.

In a special category for stuff I discovered in 2004 is the 2002 album My Fault by the group Métisse, who are from Ireland if I am remembering correctly. The songs "Boom Boom Ba" (which originally appeared in a well-known movie) and "Sousoundé" are especially awesome.

Other older songs I've discovered in 05 and 04 are "Slender Frame" by A-Ha, as well as a bunch of their 90s songs. Their 90s stuff takes a much darker tone than their superb 80s work, which included "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines on TV", and "The Living Daylights" (yes, A-Ha performed a Bond theme---it has the worst Bond, but the best Bond theme song this side of "A View to a Kill"). In the last couple years, I've also rediscovered several songs by The Church (including "Reptile" and "Metropolis").

Other songs I've discovered recently include Angelo Venuto's version of "Sweet Caroline", "1000 Mirrors" by Asian Dub Foundation (with vocals by Sinead O'Connor), DHT's cover of Roxette's "Listen to Your Heart" (especially the trance/techno version), and Slinkee Minx's cover of Belinda Carlise's "Summer Rain" (which may in turn be a cover---I need to check this).

I rediscovered, among other songs, "Don't Pass Me Over" by the BoDeans, "This Town" by The GoGo's, "The Lady Don't Mind" by Talking Heads, the "Oompa Loompa Songs" from the old-school Willy Wonka movie, and some album tracks by Men Without Hats and have gained even more appreciation for "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits.

One of funky song mixtures I've discovered this year is "Intergalactic Tarzan Boy", which juxtaposes exactly the songs you think it does. I've also been enjoying a couple techno remixes of classical songs.

On a more lighthearted note, 2005 was also the year that I discovered the awesomeness that is MC Hawking. Who's down with entropy?

Finally, a couple days ago I discovered the song "The Internet is for Porn" from the musical Avenue Q (from 2003). It is simply awe-inspiring. "Just grab your dick and double-click."