TOP TEN SONGS OF 2005
as seen by Chuck

#10: "I Predict a Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs
fantastic. it starts out terrifying and then slides with the apocalypse guitars. everything about the song just slides, and that's great. show me someone who can hear the chorus of this and not want to burn everything down...but you can't. they don't exist. one of those fun shout out songs. i like it.

#9: "They Never Got You" - Spoon
there's groove, and then there's groove. this is easily the coolest song of the year- that is, it makes you feel super cool listening to it. this year for me, it was a big toss up between putting this or usher's "caught up" on the list. i knew i couldn't have both, but in the end it was this. it's just so damn cool. the first time i heard it, i started little hand claps and jon laughed cause they did it in the song at the same time. it does that. it does what it should: lulls you to chill-mode with it's sexy little beat and then leaves you high and dry...just like those cool ones always do. it's good though. and you don't regret it. it's just cooler than you are, and you have to deal with that.

#8: "Yeti" - Caribou
the retarded, naive younger cousin of the song above. it's got this beat. i don't know. it bounces. it's a happy little song. i love it. it does cool things. like a strange alien arcade ride just running long after the place has been deserted. it makes me feel good when i hear it, and that takes some talent. its hard to describe it, it's just got a positive outlook on what it's doing. a weird electronic hug from a broken robot. yeah, that's about right.

#7: "Almost Here" - The Academy Is...
right on, this one's awesome. it rolls down the hill and kicks you right in the face with it's awesome pop-punk-perfection. i found these guys this year thanks to dan at brunswick and i definitely am grateful. jon and ryan got too cool for pop punk years ago, but i always make a point to see my old friend from 8th grade every once and a while. for me this fall, it was a whole lot of yellowcard and these guys. but yeah, this song. it rocks so hard and then it slides into something a little bit more comfortable, only to turn around and stab you a million times with one of the best call-out endings ever. i keep singing this one. so good. don't listen to those people that say pop punk isn't cool. cause it is, and it's dad can beat you up.

#6: "One of Us Is Dead" - The Earlies
unexpected. everything about it, unexpected. it's so chilled out. but it's so big. "it's the beach boys, no...the beatles? what is that sound. it's so familiar. so interesting. wait, wow, what's it doing? this is kinda cool. is that a verse from the bible? oh man...where'd that chorus come from. oh man. what is it doing? dude, that beat! is that a trumpet? okay yeah. this song is cool. definitely going on that beach comp i'm making for that girl. dude! do you hear this song?" it's amazing. and the best part is that it only hints at an album that adds up to so much more than this song can offer. it's good. bring out the headphones, bring out the hapiness and slow motion clouds.

#5: "Knockers" - The Darkness
don't be afraid if you don't know what to make of this. don't worry, cause it'll tell you as soon as that second guitar comes in and slaps you. that chorus though, that's what ends up spelling your doom. especially when it doesn't leave your head or your lips for 48 hours past the last time you heard it. it's completely fantastic. completely. the darkness really made a huge sound for this new album of theirs, and i'm not sure if it's gonna be on the toplist for this year yet, but it certainly deserves it. this song has it all- awesome production and the catchiest, most retarded chorus in years. i love what you do with your hair.

#4: "So Begins Our Alabee" - Of Montreal
this was the song i left home to, and maybe that's part of it. no, it's definitely a deserving, unobjectively good song. yeah. that's for sure. it has an intro, and it was an intro. getting on the plane, taking off to this was perfect. wondering where the words are, and then at 1:15 it begins. the odyssey. a song without verses. a song for doing something different. a song that believes in you. i love it. it's got these cute, plucky little guitars and there's this really great new wave feel to it, and another terribly catchy chorus. especially when it breaks down and does that one part? you know, that one part with the phone? and it's just good and makes me smile?

#3: "Like Eating Glass" - Bloc Party
an early inductee to this years topsongs. right after the hi-hat came in and those vacuum sealed face rocking drums came in, i knew we were all doomed...to hear this song a million times from speakers that i was near. seriously the best drums of the year. i really have no idea what it's about, but i don't really care. it's just got some extremely groovy drums and man it just works. it works like things should. oh yeah, there's these swirly guitars, as well. i forgot about those. man, i forgot about this song. that's why these lists are good. yay for bloc party. i'll put a mention here to the bravery song "swollen summer" that this song beat. when i was narrowing down my list, i hadn't listened to this one in a long time. yeah, then i heard and remembered. #3 best song of the year. it's not cold in any house here in hawaii.

#2: "Since You Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson
i just couldn't bring myself to make this song of the year, although secretly, it really really is. for real. you're singing it now in your head, you know you are. or if you're friends with them, kyle and/or tj doing their little version of it. man, i love this song so much. even writing this, listening to it now, i'm thinking...maybe it is the song of the year. i can't. it's pop. it's super pop. it's for the masses. for the 12 year old girl inside all of us. but it's so good! you know it is. especially that little break down it does when amy binder's hair, or any girl's hair for that matter, flips out to the sides as she shakes her head. it's fantastic. pop perfection. sorry if you have to hate me forever for putting this on here, but hey, do what you gotta do. this song is effing incredible.

#1: "Glósóli" - Sigur Rós
cut out your foam fingers, get your jerseys, cause i just started playing this song to write it up and i remember why it's number 1. that first note. that bass that just swallows you up for eternity. gulp. it doesn't even have to chew. you're just gone. ionized into a million bits by it's awesomeness like a bizarre new maxell commercial. then that crunch. the footsteps of a thousand ice-covered robots tromping through the snow. with a bow guitar leading them. sigur ros definitely didn't leave us hanging this time. this song showed me that. the warm feelings in this cold heart told me that. the little music box breakdown reminded me that sigur ros is bigger than what we remember, that they represent something at least to the guys on this site. but yeah- the song. oh man. it does that thing. that sigur ros thing. when it just blows up all around you and there's no escaping it. i called, and will continue to call this album the most aggressively beautiful thing i've ever heard. this song is no exception. true, honest, beauty in an amazingly unique shell.
take that post-rock, take that universe.

TOP TEN SONGS OF 2005
as seen by Jonathan

#10: "Couches in Alleys" - Sytrofoam / "Between Us & Them" - Moving Units
yes, a tie. the reason is, the number ten spot is a little misleading. both of these songs were technically released in 2004, but late in 2004. too late for me to get them in on last year's count. both of them deserve higher rankings, however, given the release date complications, they're sliding in at #10. Mr. Arne Van Petegem, who is Styrofoam creates an incredible mellow song here in "Couches in Alleys", mellow enough to make it onto one of my driving home comps earlier this year. the only difference though, is that it's all electronic. the beat sounds like it should be in some massive dance song, but somewhere in the production, it becomes slight and just perfect. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab and Postal Service lends his voice to the melody, and twisted in a vocoder way, it fits the song just right. now Moving Units' "Between Us & Them" is possibly the catchiest song ever, just because of its semi-truck driving bass line that never gives up, and never gets out of your head. i mean, the song's great, but all you really need to mention is the bass line, cos it's the best thing ever.

#9: "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" - Death Cab For Cutie
another Ben Gibbard sung tune in the list. odd, because i don't really consider myself a big fan. i mean, Plans is pretty friggin boring, except for this song. somehow, this song just hit me right, like it was meant for me to hear. it just works, the way a song like that should work. a man and a guitar, a nice melody and some fun one-liners. yeah, it's good that way.

#8: "Come on Feel the Illinoise!: Parts 1 & 2" - Sufjan Stevens
so i saw Sufjan and the Illinoisemakers at the Metro, and they didn't play this song. i thought to myself, man, this show is awesome, but then it was over, and this song never happened. can you imagine the disappointment? no, you can't. you don't understand. this song does so many things, and fills so many desires for what music should feel like. when you have to count very carefully to figure out the time signature, even though non-musical people just think it's normal, that's probably a good song. yeah, we'll get to some more of that later. the charlie brown piano takes my heart and lifts it above the field i used to run through as a kid, which is now Illinois Route 53. and the two part song, finally catching to 4/4, and calming you down to finally relax and feel the song. goodness Sufjan, what will you do next.

#7: "I'll Believe In Anything" - Wolf Parade
ok, so first, you have to get past the annoying Modest Mouse vocals. then you can hear how the song starts with a 3/4 guitar line, the snare drum then coming in on 2's throwing off the 3/4, then all coming together for a while and rocking, and then all of a sudden saying "Hey wait! if we put this song in 4/4 like a normal song, it would probably rock some more", and yes, yes it does. and the little backing guitar line at 3 mintues and 18 seconds, just as the song is about to explode again, is one of the coolest guitar lines of the year. i mean, come on, just sit there and notice these things.

#6: "The Mariner's Revenge Song" - The Decemberists
eight minutes and forty-six seconds of sweet maritime storytelling, with pirates and villains, and death-bed vows. i swear, at one point in this song you actually feel like your floating on a boat, i'm not kidding. this song is a full experience. it's not something you can just listen to while driving or hanging out with friends. you must experience it. hoorah to the Decemberists, for this epic at sea.

#5: "Pills" - The Perishers
so this one might be a surprise, except that they're Swedish. honestly, it's not even a song i listen to that much, but that's because it's too much to listen to too often. i don't think a song has ever evoked so much sadness in me before. and just for the fact that it can accomplish that, this song gets number five, with a bullet. the first time i listened to it, i didn't really listen to it. i heard the girl singing with the guy and thought "this song would be so much better if she'd just sing a dang harmony instead of singing the melody right along side the dude". but then, as i listened again, and actually absorbed the lyrics, i saw that it was impossible for the girl to sing a harmony, because she had no idea that the guy was singing at all. their's were two separate songs, sung from different rooms in the same house, feeling the same things, but not being able to talk about them to each other. and so they sang the same song, at the same time, with no answers on either end. and everyone cried a little inside. but not in the emo way, cos there's no such thing.

#4: "Be Mine" - Robyn
yeah, that's right. robyn, the swedish pop girl, from 1997. not many people get this. but i'm a sucker for scandinavian music. and this song, just moves so well. the string instrumentation over the stretching beat, and this girl's cute-but-i'll-punch-you-in-the-face-if-i-have-to vocals dance along the melody like michael jackson's feet on the lighting up squares in the video for "Billie Jean" that i loved as a child. and then there's that break, where she talks, and her heart breaks, but she keeps going on with song, no matter how hard it hurts. if Norway's Annie was last year's big girl-pop act, this year belonged to Robyn, cos this song reigns supreme.

#3: "Chicago" - Sufjan Stevens
while waiting in anticipation of Illinois i heard this song, and i think my brain instantly jumped three spaces to the left in a finite improbability. in other words, it blew my mind. like the city of Chicago is the necessary part of the state of Illinois, meaning you pretty much have to go to Chicago to experience the state itself, "Chicago" the song is the centerpiece of Sufjan's Illinois. it is the entrance point, all planes fly in here and go henceforth. the song says "this is what i'm going to do with the album, if you like me, you'll find other things on the album to enjoy". and at the same time, it sums the album up perfectly. it could have almost not been placed on the album and released only as a single, like "Good Vibrations" is to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. everything you love about the album can be found in some for in this song. and it's wonderful.

#2: "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!" - Sufjan Stevens
here's the epic. it starts out soft, pretty, innocent. a tale of childhood, admiring the older brother. and then, the wasp, and the insects flutter in on woodwind instruments, they're all around us now. they're swarming. oh, and there come the vocals. like rounds, more lines and more voices keep coming. they're in the air, they're taking over. i can't see anything, i can't hear anything. all i know now is this song. and all i need now is this song. wait, there for a moment, do you hear the trumpet? i think it's trying to tell us everything is ok. yes, it's beautiful. it's amazing, do you hear it!? my heart is at peace now. "we were in love, we were in love".

#1: "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" - Of Montreal
i kept my word through the year. back in april i declared this song the best song of the year, and i continued to say it through the summer, through the dance i made for it while in Israel, through Joe Manahan and Mrs. B even enjoying it. yes, this song was 2005. the walking bass line that plops up and down, to the joyous Taco "Putting on the Ritz" vocals, and the childhood innocence again of pretending to be in Antarctica. yes, i used to pretend exactly that walking home from school in the winter time. then the oompa loompa part matched up perfectly with the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. the song just took over. you couldn't deny it. you love it. but it's too hard for you, you can pretend not to exist.

so all my friends are leaving in the next couple of days for outreach.
it's a good thing my mom's coming on tuesday to keep me company.