Albums: 2005

1. Ryan Adams' COLD ROSES

2. Spoon's GIMME FICTION

3. Stephen Malkmus' FACE THE TRUTH

4. The National's ALLIGATOR

5. Bright Eyes’ I’M WIDE AWAKE IT’S MORNING

6. Ryan Adams’ JACKSONVILLE CITY LIGHTS

7. Clem Snide’s END OF LOVE

8. Thunderhawk’s IV

9. Sufjan Stevens’ ILLINOIS

10. Mount Eerie’s NO FLASHLIGHT

11. Fiona Apple’s EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE

12. The New Pornographers’ TWIN CINEMA

13. Okkervil River’s BLACK SHEEP BOY

14. My Morning Jacket’s Z

15. The White Stripes’ GET BEHIND ME SATAN

16. Broken Social Scene’s BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

17. Animal Collective’s FEELS

18. LCD Soundsystem’s LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

19. Buck 65's SECRET HOUSE AGAINST THE WORLD

Oh shit, another doctored list. Not sure what happened to the original, but I do know that COLD ROSES was also at the top of it. Easily the biggest no-brianer No. 1 pick on any list I've ever made. As good of a year as 2005 was  (especially for Ryan Adams), absolutely no one could begin to fuck with COLD ROSES. Every conversation I had for two months was about this album. I like to think I built an army around this record. Damn. COLD fucking ROSES. Hard to find a modern double album that is THIS good. And what's great about it is that, as much as fans LOVE this record, you'll be hard pressed to find one reviewer to loved it. One reviewer, aside from me, that is. I wrote the thing up to the moon and back. Me smart; they dumb.

After a somewhat lame 2004, 2005 started to kick some serious ass. I was only working at one store that year, but I was writing more than ever and making some new music friends. This was also the first year that I started looking into local music a bit. My longtime girlfriend and I broke up early in the year, which meant that every sad song out there was important, and was written about me and what I was going though. I ended up living with my friend Dave (who I used to work at record stores with), which was very cool. I remember going out and buying the new White Stripes album on the night of our move. We drank and drank and listened and drank. It was a hot fucking day and I was working hard ... so, yes, the beer coupled with the sweating made for some serious dehydration. But damn, Dave and I had some fun.

Huge year for me. Huge year for music.