The Automatik

Top Ten Albums of 2005 (Standard disclaimer: these didn’t necessarily come out in 2005; they are the albums I loved the most out of everything I listened to this year. For the first time in a few years there were so many good things I had to leave a few things off.)

1. Elliott Smith, From a Basement on a Hill: I don’t know why it took me so long to actually get and listen to this album. It was probably because I didn’t want to be any sadder about losing this amazing musician, songwriter, and singer than I already was. Beautiful and tragic.
2. Tricky Woo, First Blush: I heard about this band back when I first started listening to Sloan, thanks to a teenaged fan named Sylvia. I always assumed they were an Asian hip hop band (for real!). It wasn’t until I met Shaun that I actually heard them. This album is the rockingest thing you have heard in fifteen years. Get it, see them live�NOW.
3. Joel Plaskett, La De Da: Further proof of Mr. Plaskett’s mind-boggling talent. He makes it look easy, but if it were easy then every album would sound this amazing.
4. Tears For Fears, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending: When you tell people that you love the new Tears For Fears album, you have to fight the urge to immediately apologize. There are no apologies necessary for this gorgeous blend of pop and melancholy. When all those omnipresent upstarts that are hyped in music magazines make something this good, maybe I’ll start caring.
5. 54-40, Yes to Everything: This band is practically a Canadian institution, but they are consistently overlooked by the media. What a shame. Although long-time band member Phil Comparelli left the band before this album, they are as vital as ever.
6. Feist, Let it Die: I’ll be honest: until this year, all I knew about Leslie Feist was that she was in a band called By Divine Right and she dated Sloan’s Chris Murphy. Then I heard this album and was shamed. Her voice is among the most haunting and elegant I have ever heard. Success is the sweetest form of revenge.
7. Logan’s Sanctuary, Jason Falkner/Roger Joseph Manning, Jr./Brian Reitzell: The greatest soundtrack to a non-existent movie sequel ever! I heard this when it came out a few years back, but I recently got my own copy through Mr. Manning himself. These three gentlemen are vastly talented and underrated. “Metropia” will stick in your ears like taffy and leave you begging for more.
8. Beck, Guero: At times this album feels like a movie that needs a bit of editing, but it does show that Beck can do more than white boy hip hop and Prince knockoffs. Mr. Hansen is the only Scientologist that I can stomach and that alone should be testament to his talents.
9. Duran Duran, Astronaut: I can scarcely believe that this band has been around for 25 years and yet I still love them. Simon may have a paunch now, Nick may still wear too much eyeliner, and John may finally actually be aging, but so what? Adding Roger and Andy back into the mix may be a bid for nostalgia-induced capitalism, but that’s just fine with me if the tunes are good (and they are).
10. Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Electric Swamp: Although they are not New Orleans born and raised, they’ve got the spirit in spades. Goofy, soulful, and danceable as fuck. Even Miss P’s terribly off-key voice is charming. And puppet shows with crawfish, sno-balls, and Hubig’s Pies rock my world. The world needs more New Orleans, now more than ever.

The Cool Shit:

1. The Meligrove Band: Technically their latest album, Planets Conspire, doesn’t come out until January 2006, and I can’t put it on my Top Ten list two years in a row, but it wouldn’t be fair not to mention it. If you get the chance, you must see them play (you U.S. residents just might get this chance since they are now signed to a major label). I like this band so much that I would like them even if their music sucked. But thank goodness I don’t have to worry about that happening.
2. Cillian Murphy: It’s more than a tad disturbing that I didn’t start to really take notice of this impossibly beautiful actor until he played back-to-back evil roles in Batman Begins and Red Eye. What an absolute revelation then to see his stunning performance in Breakfast on Pluto. He is not just a pretty face; he’s astonishingly talented, too. It’s a tragedy that this movie is being crowded out by Christmas blockbusters because it deserves so much more. You can call me Kitten, darling.
3. Batman Begins: Let’s forget for a minute that Christian Bale plays Batman in this film. Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer’s vision of the Dark Knight of Gotham City kicks the ass of every previous Batman movie incarnation (yeah, I said it). It’s got amazing mythology, incredible acting, and delicious suspense and action sequences. Now add Christian Bale, possibly the most gifted and versatile actor of his generation, as the Caped Crusader. Hot damn.
4. Lester Bangs: I started reading Creem in the early 80s right around the time of Lester’s death, but I always heard his name thrown around with the word “genius” attached. I read Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung about three years ago, but wanted more. Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste is primo Bangs. Times may have changed, but the prescience and relevancy of Lester’s love/hate relationship with rock and roll as well as his blistering prose have not. I may not always agree with who he listened to, but I will defend to the death his way of writing about it.
5. Paul Feig: Freaks and Geeks is the greatest TV show of all time, edging out MST3K slightly by the fact that it’s based on real-life situations. Writer and creator Paul Feig mined his frequently embarrassing childhood for that show and with Superstud he has provided us with a genuinely and uncomfortably hilarious book, complete with actual diary excerpts. I posted my pre-teen Duran Duran fanfiction on the web, plus I still have my diaries and I read them often, so I think it’s fairly obvious why this man is a hero of mine.
6. Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith: Easily the best of the three sequels to the original trilogy. Lucas lets Hayden Christensen act for once and there is no happy ending. This is not a kids’ movie and it’s terrific.
7. Brian Eno: Anyone who’s heard them but says they don’t like the first two Brian Eno albums is either lying or insane. He is an ambient music pioneer, but like David Sylvian, it’s a real shame when he doesn’t sing. With his latest, Another Day on Earth, we finally get to hear that voice again. Eno has been around a long time: he’s worn feathered collars, sported a bald mullet and blue eyeshadow simultaneously, won Lester Bangs’ undying love and respect, and suggested knighthood for Jarvis Cocker’s Michael Jackson Brit Awards stunt. Get with it and get yourself some Eno today.
8. Chart Magazine: This Canadian music mag has been around for a while now and though it may not be as glossy as Magnet, The Big Takeover, or SPIN, it’s got more heart than any of them. They cover a variety of bands (those mundane, popular ones you hate as well as the up-and-comers that you love). The Grist 13 and The Shitty 7 are dead-on and funny as hell and editor Aaron Brophy’s column is always intelligent and thought-provoking (and funny as hell, let’s not mince words here).
9. Kids on TV: To describe them as half-naked break dancers who scream pop culture references over tape loops makes them sound terribly pretentious. However, they are genuinely engaging and hilarious. Highly recommended.
10. Calculating God: The description on the back of this novel sounds like a less funny, more serious version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but don’t let that turn you away. Robert J. Sawyer’s novel doesn’t rely on the typically otherworldly descriptions of alien life and that, as well as its humanistic approach, makes it quite compelling.

Top Ten Best Things That Happened in 2005

1. Moving to Canada
2. Living with Shaun
3. Losing weight
4. Breakfast on Pluto
5. Halloween weekend
6. Visiting Erin and Nuno in St. Catharine’s and taking Willi on a hike
7. Unlimited physio in Canada
8. Music (if I didn’t have this in my life, I don’t think I could go on)
9. LiveJournal pals

Top Ten Worst Things That Happened in 2005

Hurricane Katrina has pretty much obliterated the competition, but my grandfather’s funeral and the subsequent re-injuring of my shoulder were pretty awful. Let’s not dwell.