Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney
Superwolf
Drag City (2005)
What an album cover! It's the kind that would fit perfectly with the whole music sounding like album cover mantra that makes for a great last resort when you can't really come up with a good description of the music within on your own. With enough embellishing, it can work for almost every album ever created. But alas, Will Oldham … Read more
Brain Failure
American Dreamer
Thorp (2005)
Punk is a relative concept. In 1982, shaving your head into a mohawk and wearing studded jewelry was a symbol of rebellion. It was the aesthetic of a youth movement fueled by frustration with the status quo. It was a visual statement against suburbanite jocks listening to Bad Company and Styx. Today, the mohawk is a passing fad in hair … Read more
Brian Posehn
Nerd Rage
Independent (2005)
Stand-up comedians aren't funny. With very few exceptions, this is a truism that has become stronger and stronger over the years with every "I drive my spouse nuts" line and "Black people do things differently" joke. Brian Posehn is one of those exceptions. Culled from the last bastion of laughter - The Comedians of Comedy Tour, Nerd Rage reminds us … Read more
Bright Eyes
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
Saddle Creek (2005)
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn appears to be out of character for Conor Oberst. He incorporates heavy beats and samples that force his signature acoustic guitar into the closet. The initial shock caused me to put the album away for a month, because I thought it was such an immense departure from his previous albums. I pulled it out … Read more
Bright Eyes
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Saddle Creek (2005)
The morning is generally associated with hope and rebirth. Leave it up to sad-eyed pessimist Conor Oberst to reverse this symbol in I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning . Now the morning reveals all the clandestine secrets that lurk in the dark, all the secrets forgotten from a drunken night of destruction bask and glimmer in the sunlight. It brings consequences … Read more
British Sea Power
Open Season
Rough Trade (2005)
2005 has been a good year for British bands so far; it seems that for the first time since Brit-Pop that British artists are cracking the American market with the likes of The Bloc Party and The Kaiser Chiefs getting play listings left, right and centre. With the follow up to their brilliantly titled debut The Decline of British Sea … Read more
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Arts & Crafts (2005)
You know how there is always one band that everyone says "You should totally check this band out man; they rock harder than Ron Jeremy's cock at the office!" and you go, "Yeah sure man, I'll check them out if you say they are that good." And you never do! Well that's pretty much my relationship with the Broken Social … Read more
Bucket Full Of Teeth
IV
Level Plane (2005)
In the year of 2002, Bucket Full Of Teeth released three 7"s on Youth Attack! Records titled I, II and III. Each record was packed with an essay written by one of the three members: Brad, Matt and Will. It was an awesome idea, but also contrived in the sense that they planned to do something musically different, as described … Read more
Bunyan, Vashti
Lookaftering
Fat Cat (2005)
If you go to the Guinness World Records Website and type in, "Longest time between albums", you get a message that says, "Can't find what you're looking for? This site features only a selection of the 40,000 records in the Guinness World Records database." In other words, they are saying that if one desires to know the official record for … Read more
Buried Inside
Chronoclast
Relapse (2005)
My first encounter with Buried Inside involved a friend convincing me over AOL Instant Messenger (I get paid for that plug) that Buried Inside is "Hella sick!" BEGL00 sent me a few songs from Chronoclast, but I didn't listen to them right away due to my busy lifestyle. Coincidentally, that very night I saw Buried Inside. I watched as they, … Read more
Byla
Byla
Translation Loss (2005)
Byla is an ambient duo consisting of members of Dysrhytmia, Behold the Arctopus, and Infidel?/Castro!. The two started to work together in 2003 and have put out their debut full-length this year on Translation Loss Records. Despite the fact that their other bands are known for making either noise (Infidel?/Castro!) or being a technical debauchery (Behold the Arctopus), this band … Read more
Career Suicide
Invisible Eyes
Feral Ward (2005)
Let's be honest; Canada is pretty fucking cool.. First sentence and I've already used a semicolon...so very Canada-esque. Who's been to our neighbor that borders our Northern borders? Not I...which makes it even more mysterious and wondrous and just plain cool. Their laws are different. Their president is called a "Prime Minister." Their land is colored orange according to the … Read more
Carry On
It's All Our Blood (Reissue)
Youngblood (2005)
Despite the fact that they are broken up, Carry On is probably the second most talked about band in hardcore - American Nightmare being number one. There is always someone bringing up the band no matter where you go - record stores, concerts, and yes, the Internet. Granted, most of it is your typical messageboard talk about the edge-break/selling out … Read more
Cave In
Perfect Pitch Black
Hydra Head (2005)
About a year and a half about I was fortunate enough to catch a Cave In performance at which they debuted a handful of new songs, many of which made their way onto this release. When they played these new songs, they were sprinkled about a set-list of recent songs from Jupiter and Antenna as well as old jams from … Read more
Ceremony
Ruined
Malfunction (2005)
Ceremony is hateful and unrelenting hardcore/punk from California. Why people from California are so angry is beyond me, but since it results in hardcore as stellar as this, I'll let it slide. Ceremony formed from several mid-level (in notoriety) hardcore bands in the Bay Area a couple years back, and have since transformed themselves into one of the most promising … Read more
Cipher
Children of God's Fire
Uprising (2005)
One of the best jokes ever created was "rap metal." A suburban fusion between nu-metal (i.e. Korn) with a frontman that yelled out words in a "rap" fashion. The result was a golden age of LOL. Remember Limp Bizkit? If you didn't prior to clicking this review, you sure do now. Backwards hats, shaved eyebrows....or maybe I'm just thinking of … Read more
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Wichita Recordings (2005)
I can feel it happening. The hype is a train, rumbling in the distance. Though initially faint, it's growing progressively louder by the virtual second. Soon enough, it will be all encompassing when it finally arrives at the middle of nowhere railway station known as "Release Date." Metaphors, gotta love them. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released their self-titled debut … Read more
Cold World
Ice Grillz
Lockin Out (2005)
I had heard so much hype about this band, so I was kind of weary about checking them out. Everyone was talking about waiting for their pre-orders, and avid record collectors were searching out every color of their newest record. This phenomenon only happens with few bands. When I finally got around to listening to Ice Grillz, I was actually … Read more
