My Favorite Songs of 2005 

My favorite songs of 2005.

A handful of rules:

1. I must own the song
2. The song must have originally come out in 2005
3. Only one song per album

The rules eliminate some fun songs. No Kelly Clarkson "Since U Been Gone". Only one song from The New Pornographer's Twin Cinema album. Nothing from The Killers.

Here we go, in no particular order:

• Taxpayer - When They Were Young
  Taxpayer's a local band, and this song is just getting some airplay on FNX here now. It is well deserved. It's the song the stuck out the most when I saw them in person. I just love the hook.
• Stellastarr* - Sweet Troubled Soul
  Stellastarr* might have been my favorite live act from 2005, and this is probably the best song off the new album. It encompasses what the band does well: the fun call and return, the overlapping vocals, the sound stuck somewhere between The Killers and Interpol.
• The Perceptionists - Memorial Day
  I'm a big Mr. Lif fan. I was sorely disappointed by The Perceptionists album, which doesn't hold up to what Lif has done as a solo artist. That being said, this is the closest stuff to what Lif does solo, and that's why it sticks out. Best track on the album.
• OK Go - Do What You Want
  Pretty much everyone hates OK Go. They can be grating, but at their best, they're really good power pop. This is really good power pop. Probably should have been the second biggest hit of the summer.
• The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show
  Tough decision on this one. Damn near every song on Twin Cinema would rate in my top 20 songs of the year. My favorite changes each time I listen. I think this captures the sound the best. It's got the witty Carl Newman lyrics, the Neko Case vocals, and it just sounds great.
• Metric - Monster Hospital
  Another disappointing album, but for whatever reason, this song catches my ear every time I hear it. This would have fit in nicely on Metric's last CD.
• Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God
  A toss up between this or "I Predict a Riot". This wins because it references Pac Man.
• Ivy - Thinking About You
  Ivy can be pretty hit or miss, but this year's album was great atmospheric pop. "Thinking About You" was the lead single, and deservedly so.
• Hot Hot Heat - You Owe Me an IOU
  I dug a couple of songs off of Elevator. I think this is my favorite because it was on MVP Baseball 2005 and I've heard it a million times and still dig it.
• Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise
  Harvey Danger release an album for free and still no one cares. That's just criminal. HD are such a great band, walking the line between emo and power pop better than anyone else, yet Jimmy Eat World get all the hype. This is the only non-piano driven song off of Little By Little. How can you not love a song with a title like that?
• Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
  No sophomore slump here. There's 4 or 5 great songs off the album, but this is the one I always end up coming back to.
• Fountains of Wayne - Maureen
  One of two new songs off of this year's compilation and B-sides release, this should have been the biggest hit of the summer.
• The Decemberists - On the Bus Mall
  It's hard to know what to do with The Decemberists. They sound quite different than everything else on this list, but they're right in the same vein of indie pop, just on the other end of the spectrum. Picaresque has a handful of good, Decemberist songs. This is my favorite. Yes, I am a huge pussy.
• Death Cab For Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan
  It just builds and builds and builds.
• Danger Doom - Old School
  MF Doom brings it on the whole Adult Swim album, but I actually think he gets held back a bit by Danger Mouse's beats. This track, with Talib Kweli, is a rare exception. Great from top to bottom.
• Josh Rouse - Winter in the Hamptons
  The final entrant on my list. Josh Rouse's Nashville is the album that every girl and Abercrombie-wearing preppy should have bought instead of Jack Johnson. The fact that Josh Rouse toils in obscurity while Dave Matthews has a huge hippie following and Jack Johnson gets to do movie soundtracks is a traveshamockery. A bigger travesty than the "War on Christmas".

There you have it.