This is my rough top 25 albums of the year 2005. A really great year for music. It's rough in terms of how it could basically be shuffled in groups of five- Any of my top five could be number one (especially the Why?, holy shit) and any of my last five are pretty "enh, respect is due." A lot of order is due to ambition, which is why The Hold Steady are just barely outside the top five- oh man, how I love their lyrics, and I listened to that album a fucking lot, as well as the works of Lifter Puller. This was originally posted on a message board, and I'm kind of archiving it here for my sake only. But if you're thinking "I should buy something Brian likes," I wholeheartedly support that thought process. But a very good year for music, and maybe not so much for any other creative medium, and probably not my life, maybe. So this is, a day late, what I'm thankful for in the year 2005, along with the love and support I received from friends and family, and the good times I had. Mostly I am ungrateful, and that combined with the poverty that marked this not a very good year (which, by the way, can be blamed in many ways on the election of Republicans which made this a shitty year for pretty much everyone poor) is why most of these records haven't been purchased by me yet. Someday, when Democrats are in office and there are jobs to be found, these records will be purchased, and that will be a good year. Here's to that happening before the world ends!

1. Broken Social Scene - s/t
2. Why? - Elephant Eyelash
3. Deerhoof - Green Cosmos EP
4. Animal Collective - Feels
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
6. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
7. Prefuse 73 - Surrounded By Silence
8. Need New Body - Where's Black Ben?
9. The A-Frames - Black Forest
10. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
11. Psychic Paramount - Gamelan Into The Mink Supernatural (this is where it is mostly due to its sheer force, which makes me place it higher than other things- It probably isn't better than the Black Dice, but it's just so violent)
12. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
13. The Evens - s/t
14. Enon - Lost Marbles And Exploded Evidence
15. Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
16. The Books - Lost And Safe
17. Jason Forrest - Shamelessly Exciting
18. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
19. Fog - 10th Avenue Freakout
20. Broadcast - Tender Buttons
21. Numbers - We're Animals (I haven't heard this, actually, just giving the respect due their live show and the fun times I had therein.)
22. Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
23. Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
24. Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
25. Page France - Hello, Dear Wind