top five albums of the last decade, part three: 2004 & 2005

2004

5. So Jealous - Tegan and Sara

I love Canadians. And I love twin sister duos (see Exit Clov). So yeah, I love Tegan and Sara. I first heard of them through Phantom Planet's old blog, when Darren and Jeff played around with a cover of "Walking With A Ghost". I loved the song so I looked it up and found this gem of an album.

4. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

The beginning bit of "Take Me Out" was my first musical phone ringtone ever. I actually thought it was so weird when I first heard it, but I couldn't get it out of my head.

3. Futures - Jimmy Eat World

I bought this CD for my brother for his birthday the year it came out, and then promptly stole it. I may be a bad sister but I do have cracking good taste in music! Jimmy Eat World are often lumped in with other random pop-punk or emo bands from the era, but they are really so much better than that.

2. Antics - Interpol

"I'm timeless like a broken watch / I make money like Fred Astaire" Awesome. I still regularly listen to this album.

1. Funeral - Arcade Fire

This is another band that I didn't love until recently. I thought they were okay for years, but never really tried to listen to a whole album. But last summer and this past semester I have become obsessed. I love the mixture of singing in French and English; it creates a beautiful, if strange, sound.

2005

5. Has A Good Home - Final Fantasy

I just found this video when I was searching for a song to link to, and it made me so happy. I love Owen Pallett. He was one of the collaborators on Arcade Fire's first album, but he is amazing on his own too. The electric violin fascinates me; it's so cool how he is like a one man orchestra, creating the melodies and harmonies live at the same time.

4. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party

Bloc Party aren't one of my favorite bands exactly, but the type of music they make is the reason I love British music. The British have a history of blending rock and dance music to create something that is much more fun to dance to than rap or techno. Of course it isn't limited to the UK; bands like MGMT and The Strokes and We Are Scientists do it too, which is probably why they're more popular in the UK than they are over here.

3. The Sunlandic Twins - Of Montreal

Despite the misleading name, Of Montreal is an American band. They're very quirky and I love them. Good to work out to and good to clean to because they put me in a good mood.

2. Illinois - Sufjan Stevens

There are some artists that are better live than in studio, and I think Sufjan is one of them. Not that I've ever seen him live unforch, but all of his live youtube videos are fantastic (Owen Pallett also falls under this category). Plus, of course I love the U 0f I-like gear.

1. Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers

I've talked about this album before so I'm not going to go into detail about why I love it. Suffice it to say that I really do.