2005 Todd Ten: Number 1 - Death Cab for Cutie
The game is simple. Describe your favorite records of the year, counting backwards.
To be completely honest, I resisted naming the Death Cab for Cutie's Plans as my favorite record of the year. First of all, it's totally predictable. Everyone knows I love Death Cab and I couldn't wait for the new record to be released.
Second, this record is clearly a step backwards for Death Cab. I dare you to listen to We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes and tell me that DCFC isn't better when they rock out the guitars.
At the end of the day, though, the songs on this album are just too fantastic to deny. Taken as a whole, they are a heartbreaking rumination on the prospect of losing someone you love. Songs like "I Will Follow You into the Dark" and "What Sarah Said" reveal a Ben Gibbard terrified of losing his love. With "Your Heart is an Empty Room" and "Someday You Will be Loved" we see that she's already gone.
Plus Tracy loves "Soul Meets Body." That always makes things easier.
The truth is that Death Cab is so terrific that even something less than their best is still better than anything else released in 2005.
FYI - Feel free to use this post for general argument-starting or to post your counterproposal for the best records of 2005.
Plans grew on me, and "What Sarah Said" is inspired. However, I have to agree. It doesn't feel like progress for them, and I'm sorry that the album they thought would take them mainstream is, frankly, so weak. How about The Photo Album? There's a record without a misstep.
Where Soul Meets Body has gotten huge amounts of radio play here, almost comparable to that horrific Nickelback song that screeches at you to look at the photograph of them while they're apparently high and wearing silly hats.
My real point, though, was to say thanks for turning me on to Bloc Party. They're like the strangely beautiful love child of The Killers and New Order. I can't get enough.