Irresistible to begin one of these best-of-year mixes with a song declaring, “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.” Those words resonated deeply for me in 2005—my love life was in seemingly perpetual flux and I also had a doozy of a move to a new apartment that September. I was required to haul out much furniture left behind by ex-roommates and schlep the rest two blocks away over to the new place (which I’d end up staying in for a scant six months.)
Anyway, just as I went to more movies in 2005 than any previous year (including my first trip to the Toronto International Film Festival), I probably listened to more new music as well. My first draft of this mix was up near the 50-song mark, so I whittled it down to 33 (the same amount as 2004.) Given that this year generated three of my all-time favorite albums, the other tracks and one-offs I’ve kept are decidedly choice. There are unusual cameos (Cindy and Kate from The B-52s on “Take My Time”! An opera singer on the Calexico/Iron and Wine collaboration!), triumphant returns-to-form (Depeche Mode, Erasure, Aimee Mann and New Order), and defining singles such as Sufjan Stevens’ now-iconic ode to the Windy City, Fiona Apple’s Disney-meets-David Lynch title track from her troubled third album and The New Pornographers’ breathless, towering mini-epic—the centerpiece of an LP I nearly gave its own entry to.
If you asked me what some of the big hits of 2005 were, I’d answer “Hollaback Girl”, “Gold Digger”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and… that’s all I can name. But this mix is packed with songs that received many plays at the time on my just-purchased first iPod: Andrew Bird’s catchy, soaring, indecipherable wordplay; Metric’s Blondie-worthy disco-rock; My Morning Jacket’s incredible fusion of Lynyrd Skynyrd and XTC; Pernice Brothers’ blissful instrumental; Amy Rigby’s disarming meet-the-new-wife tale; glorious, meticulous power-pop from Stars, The Magic Numbers and Oranger; Doves’ alternately spiky and swaying Motown pastiche; and the now mostly-forgotten Shivaree’s dreamy, undulating ballad, its unresolved melancholy and regret just hanging there, affecting and unshakable.
Click here to listen to my 2005 playlist on Spotify
- The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
- The Go-Betweens, “Finding You”
- Calexico/Iron and Wine “He Lays In The Reins”
- Junior Senior, “Take My Time”
- The Decemberists, “The Sporting Life”
- Depeche Mode, “Precious”
- The New Pornographers, “The Bleeding Heart Show”
- Amy Rigby, “The Trouble With Jeanie”
- Bettye LaVette, “Joy”
- Doves, “Almost Forgot Myself”
- Metric, “Poster Of A Girl”
- Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago”
- Keren Ann, “Greatest You Can Find”
- Aimee Mann, “Video”
- Kate Bush, “A Coral Room”
- Roisin Murphy, “Through Time”
- Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine”
- Erasure, “Here I Go Impossible Again”
- Goldfrapp, “Ride A White Horse”
- My Morning Jacket, “Off The Record”
- Pernice Brothers, “Discover A Lovelier You”
- Shivaree, “Mexican Boyfriend”
- Antony and the Johnsons, “Fistful of Love”
- Martha Wainwright, “When The Day Is Short”
- The Magic Numbers, “Love Me Like You”
- Andrew Bird, “Fake Palindromes”
- Stars, “Aging Beauty”
- New Order, “Waiting For The Siren’s Call”
- Spoon, “The Beast and Dragon, Adored”
- Oranger, “Sukiyaki”
- Ivy, “Ocean City Girl”
- Saint Etienne, “Stars Above Us”
- Ben Folds, “Landed”
Haunted Jukebox 