Tom's 2005 Music Review starts now...

As promised a couple hours ago, here's the first part of my 2005 music review:

Tom's Favorite Songs of 2005

(In no particular)

Gorillaz - "Feel Good, Inc." - I was as surprised as anybody that the Gorillaz somehow got it together for a second album, and guess what? They're still better than Blur (Damon Albarn's day job), and they've still got that "ominous yet insanely infectious" thing down pat.

Doves - "Black and White Town" - Can we finally stop lumping these guys in with Coldplay just because they're Brits who play guitar-based pop? If The Last Broadcast didn't already do it, this song proves once and for all that Doves are infinitely better with a pop melody and infinitely more creative in their accompaniment for it.

Fischerspooner - "Just Let Go" - Every time I hear Fischerspooner I could swear that they're from some Scandinavian country, and that their music emerged from the ultra-chic dance clubs that we Americans don't even know about. They don't make this list just because they're actually from New York, but they do make it because "Just Let Go" is probably the best dance-pop song I heard this year. Good enough that I might actually dance if it came on in a club!

Royksopp - "Circuit Breaker" - Now here is the hip Scandinavian electro-pop duo. Their second album wasn't particularly great, but "Circuit Breaker" was easily the stand out track. Put this one on my "dance songs I would actually dance to" mix CD too.

Of Montreal - "Death of a Shade of a Hue" - I've always preferred Of Montreal in their more esoteric moments than in their straightforward rock/pop moments, and this one is certainly the oddest sounding on The Sunlandic Twins. The moody string section, the unconventional chord structures, and the offbeat programmed drums may not make a nice piece of ear candy like some of the rest of that album, but it's by far the most interesting to me.

Paul McCartney - "Jenny Wren" - I am still in shock over how good this song is. A solo McCartney tune that's introspective and dark, and not smarmy and ridiculous? With a melody that would fit in seamlessly between "Yesterday" and "Blackbird"? Is it too hasty to say that this is the best song of Paul's entire solo career?

Coldplay - "Fix You" - A great song on an average album, this one really has more in common with the Polyphonic Spree or even Bruce Springsteen than any previous Coldplay tunes, soaring to heights of bombast attainable only with a major label budget and an unhindered desire to save the world with a single song. Like any good Bruce song worth its salt, it's utterly ridiculous, and it's so good that it doesn't even matter.

Espers - "Black is the Color" - Espers continue the sound of their first album with this rendition of a traditional folk song. Haunting and beautiful in equal parts, it achieves the perfect balance that made their self-titled album so wonderful to listen to. Give me these guys over Devendra Banhart any day. I can't wait to see what they have in store for next year.

Architecture in Helsinki - "It'5!" - Possibly the best pure pop song of the year, from the bouncing melody and the jubilantly shouted chorus right down to the "ooooooooh sha la la la" background vocals. Sugary sweet.

Super Furry Animals - "Zoom!" - If this list is in no particular order, this one is still #1 by a huge margin. Possibly the most perfect example of how to make a seven minute song out of a single chord progression that I've ever heard. Each listen reveals new depths in instrumentation, new unheard vocal parts. In their long career, the Super Furry Animals have never recorded anything so majestic.