Top Songs of 2005

I starting making a winter mix CD and decided I might as well make my top songs of 2005 CD. I finished my top 10 CDs of 2005 list as well as other categories for CDs a week or two ago, but I haven't started any of the write up on it yet. I should get that done by Christmas.

Here's the list with a bonus EP to boot. This covers most everything that I listened to in 2005. It's got a few 2004 tunes, but what the hell. They're good songs.

These tracks are in no particular order in terms of best song of the year. They're all awesome in their own way.

Side A
1. The Constantines – Draw Us Lines
2. Stars – Ageless Beauty
3. Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
4. Death Cab For Cutie – Soul Meets Body
5. Broken Social Scene – Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
6. The American Analog Set – Born on the Cusp
7. Steel Train - Better Love
8. The Decemberists – On the Bus Mall
9. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
10. Regina Spektor - Us

Side B
11. The Shout Out Louds – The Comeback
12. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Worlds Apart
13. My Chemical Romance – Helena
14. Bomb the Music Industry – Does Your Face Hurt? No? ‘Cause it’s Killing Me!!!
15. Longwave – There’s A Fire
16. Pinback - Blood’s On Fire
17. Biirdie – I Got You (On My Mind)
18. Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine
19. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
20. Final Fantasy – The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead

Bonus EP
1. The Most Serene Republic – Content Was Always My Favorite Color
2. Chin Up Chin Up – Collide the Tide
3. Small Towns Burn a Little Slower – Wake Up
4. The Cardinal Sin – Where We Shine
5. Somerset – House of Knives
6. Polar State – We Broke Bread
7. Bear vs Shark – 5,6 Kids
8. Copeland – Hold Nothing Back

The Constantines

The Constantines - Draw Us Lines

Shine a Light did nothing for me. It was okay I guess, but the vocals irritated me like a dirty mosquito bite and I couldn't get into it.

A bandmate put this CD in his car stereo with the doors open and back open and cranked the volume while we were waiting to load in our gear at the venue. We talked a bit, but mostly listened. It took me until the middle of the song. They hadn't changed chords at all. One fucking chord the entire song.

Yet the song moved and went somewhere. I felt moved. It felt like the song was pushing away this mountain over a hole I was stuck in, and I was gripping at the moving earth above me - vines, loose dirt, mud, clay, dripping sweat, with anxiety like I was going to be buried alive sucking air like it might be my last. The pounding drums just kept moving the mountain while the grisled, yet calming vocals of Bryan Webb echoed and resonated with me, letting me know that I had many more breathes ahead. This song is so physical it feels like its going to slowly crash into itself, but the vocals keep the song from grinding itself to a complete halt, burned and smoked.

I didn't know how much mountain was there until near the end when I could feel the song letting out its sigh of relief, as the pounding drums collapsed, the last "Draw Us Lines" is uttered, and I crane my neck out of the hole looking at that massive mountain beside me. This song changed me. Not a lot, but enough to make note.

I may give Tournament of Hearts and The Sonstantines a chance, especially with an opener like this.