# Best album of 2005? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624 "2005-12-29T20:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624/21 "2006-01-04T05:01:43Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Dude, I love Mountain Goats, Josh Rouse, and Antony. Hard to find them mentioned much of anywhere. I’m still wavering on the Gorillaz. I couldn’t pry the first one outta my CD player for like 6 months, but this one is not as ineluctable. To me. So far. But the second Portishead took me a long to get under, and now it’s my favorite. So we’ll see . . . The thing that I love about the recent Gorillaz is what a bummer it is - a really low-key album. My favorite tracks are the super-gloomy ones like “Kids with guns” and “last living souls.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624/22 "2006-01-04T05:03:53Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > The thing that I love about the recent Gorillaz is what a bummer it is - a really low-key album. My favorite tracks are the super-gloomy ones like “Kids with guns” and “last living souls.” Yeah, I know that’s it’s strength; it’s just such a reversal of what I expected that I’m still undergoing the adjustment. That’s why I mentioned the Portishead; the second was darker and deeper, and I just had to find my way into it. Dude, you’re talking to a fan of Low (the band; well, OK, the Bowie album too). So I have a feeling I’ll get there. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624/23 "2006-01-04T05:04:51Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > I have to say, I can’t ‘get’ Sufjan Stephens. I’ve listened to _Illinoise_ several times, but it just doesn’t sink in. Nothing about it grabs me. Can someone give me some pointers for appreciating this disk. I don’t like his stuff, either, though I’ve known about it since he was merely the keyboard player for the Danielson Famile. I think that the bulk of Sufjan’s appeal to people is similar to the appeal of Wes Anderson’s (_Rushmore_, _The Royal Tenenbaums_) films - it affects that sort of preciousness and pageantry that people associate with childhood, a la the Peanuts christmas special. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624/24 "2006-01-04T05:08:48Z")
I don’t know why I read these threads; they just remind how totally out of touch I am. That said, I’d vote for Frank Black’s _Honeycomb_. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624/25 "2006-01-04T05:38:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I have to say, I can’t ‘get’ Sufjan Stephens. I’ve listened to Illinoise several times, but it just doesn’t sink in. Nothing about it grabs me. Can someone give me some pointers for appreciating this disk. It seemed to reveal itself to me one song at a time; I think “Jacksonville” was the first track to really catch my attention, and it built out from there. I think it’s a little too much to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. (This is why I have it on vinyl. Now I just have to get a new turntable. 🙂 ) Of course, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. I didn’t care for the new White Stripes or for Antony and the Johnsons, for reasons I can’t really articulate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-of-2005/337624.md?page=1)