The Wong Way
Back in July 2006, I bought my first digital SLR camera. The very next day, I brought it with me to Siren Festival in Coney Island. Although the shots from that concert didn't turn out too hot - too far away, too much of a novice with the camera - I wasn't deterred from future attempts at concert shooting. Ultimately, I decided to start a musicblog, titled The Wong Way, featuring photos I took from the concerts I went to. It ran regularly from July 2006 to December 2006 and while I'd like to start it back up some day, I prefer to just enjoy concerts from the sidelines. But who knows what the future will bring, right?
Favorite Albums of 2005, 25-11
My 25 favorite albums of 2005, presented in two parts. This, part 1, contains albums 25-11.
As stated before in the songs list – these are my favorite albums from 2005. While this list may share elements with other top lists out there, in no way am I declaring these to be the best albums since taste is subjective and my favorite albums can easily be someone else’s most-hated albums. After a lot of thinking and searching through iTunes, I’ve come up with a list of 25 albums that I’m happy to say are my favorite albums of the year.
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25. Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion) While the album that was eventually released was good, the session she did with Jon Brion was even better. Find this version if you can. |
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24. The Hold Steady: Separation Sunday Two albums in two years for the boys from Minnesota with still no drop in quality from lead singer Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler’s days in Lifter Puller. |
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23. Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger It starts out strong and fast, maintaining that pace, until “Acrobat” where it slows down and adopts a confessional nature. As a whole, it loses its appeal after a few listens but there are enough gems on the album to keep it in rotation. |
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22. Kaiser Chiefs: Employment There’s a cheeky swagger that’s pervasive throughout the entire album. I personally enjoy that about their music but it’s not hard to see why it can be annoying for others. |
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21. My Morning Jacket: Z The Kentucky band makes the leap, crafting their first truly great album. |
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20. Susie Suh: Susie Suh A solid debut from the Korean-American singer-songwriter from California. It’s just a shame that the album was originally released with the trojan horse-carrying copy protection from Sony. |
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19. Gorillaz: Demon Days Damon Albarn’s side project churns out another great album that keeps the Gorillaz story going. |
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18. Spoon: Gimme Fiction One of the finest pop rock bands around put out a well-crafted effort. |
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17. Metric: Live It Out With all the twists and turns, the best way to describe this album is “weird” – “good” would also do it. |
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16. Sigur Ros: Takk The Iceland band continues to craft songs that are emotionally evocative and ethereal. |
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15. The Boy Least Likely To: The Best Party Ever Nothing like a little British twee-pop to brighten your mood. |
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14. Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock And Roll Lead singer Eddie Argos doesn’t really sing, choosing to use more of a spoken-word style in his songs. Does it really matter anyway? No, it doesn’t. |
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13. The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike Listening to this album evokes memories of Saturday morning cartoons. |
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12. The Decemberists: Picaresque Colin Meloy’s amazing lyrics cements the album as their best to date. |
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11. Wolf Parade: Apologies To The Queen Mary The band’s energy and enthusiasm just leap off each track on this brilliant rock album. |
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Previous Year-End Lists:
Favorite Songs of 2005, 10-1
Favorite Songs of 2005, 25-11