Musicwhore.org Music and memory

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

I remember not being much impressed with 2005. So much so, I made a half-arsed attempt at a Favorite Edition list and didn’t even call it such. It’s taken a lot of sifting to arrive at the present form of the list.

1. Sigur Ros, Takk …
2. Antony and the Johnston, I Am a Bird Now
3. Ann-Sally, Brand-New Orleans
4. Kate Bush, Aerial
5. … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Worlds Apart
6. Bob Mould, Body of Song
7. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
8. Yorico, Cocoon
9. Duran Duran, Beautiful Colours
10. Kawai Kenji, TV Animation BLEACH Original Soundtrack 1

Other favorites of the year:

• Enya, Amarantine
• Grizzly Bear, Horn of Plenty
• Levi Kreis, One of the Ones
• Madonna, Confessions on a Dancefloor

The list goes through much shuffling due to some late discoveries. I didn’t pick up Anthony and the Johnsons till 2006 and Ann-Sally much later. BLEACH wouldn’t be appointment viewing till the following year.

The extended list gets pared down a lot. Fuji Fabric, Sasagawa Miwa and toddle make room for Grizzly Bear and Levi Kreis.

I was so desperate to find entries, I included catalog titles from Gang of Four and John Zorn. In hindsight, that was the signal my priorities were starting to shift.

Toward the end of 2005, I relaunched this site as a traditional blog instead of the interactive zine it had been. My interest in Japanese popular music started to wane, and I reached an age where the music of my youth was being reimagined — some would say misinterpreted — by up and coming bands.

2005 marked the beginning of the end of Musicwhore.org ver. 1.0.

Tags: ann-sally, antony and the johnsons, bob mould, duran duran, enya, favorite edition, grizzly bear, kate bush, kawai kenji, levi kreis, madonna, rewind, sigur ros, sleater-kinney, yorico