Best Music of 2005

Before anyone complains, this is a list of what I consider to be the best music of 2005 -- as in the best music I discovered in 2005. So even though some has been released years ago it's still the best I came across this year. To start things off, I bring you, the best album of the year by far.

Sufjan Stevens -- Illinois
Holy shit this is a fantastic album. Part two of Sufjan's 50-States project, this album is so emotional, historically accurate, beautifully composed and oh fuck it...just go buy the damn thing already.


















And now in no particular order, the rest of the best of 2005.

The Postal Service - Give Up
Excellent pop stuff from Ben Gibbard of Death Cab.


Sigur Ros - Takk


Death Cab For Cutie -- Transatlanticism


Yo La Tengo -- And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out


Bright Eyes -- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning


Iron and Wine with Calexico -- In The Reigns


The Notwist -- Neon Golden


Bloodhound Gang -- Hefty Fine
Who could say no to the year's most catchy song, Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo, or the brilliance of a song composed entirely of Ralph Wiggum quotations? Not I sir, not I.


Rachel's -- Handwriting
People often quote Music For Egon Schiele as being Rachel's best, but nothing compares to this modern chamber orchestra's music on Handwriting. Southbound to Marion is a definite stand out track.


Unkle -- Edit Music For a Film
Holy crap. Unkle of "Rabbit in your headlights" and DJ Shadow fame takes on movie soundtracks. He remixed soundtrack chunks from movies that have emotionally effected him. Never before have tunes from movies as diverse as 2001, Bladerunner, Alive!, Solaris and Scarface rocked ourt so much. One for the movie geeks.


Arcade Fire -- Funeral and EP.
Never before has a band needed to bring out a second full-length album so badly. Oh god. If Illinois hadn't come long this would have been the album of the year by far. I also inlcude EP 'cause it has some great tracks, too.


Andrew Bird -- And The Mysterious Production Of Eggs

push button receive bacon

Narnia
Andy from the Lonely Island rapping on SNL about heading to see Narnia. Awesome old-school rap, but freakishly nerdy. Love it.

Even more macro shots

The Very Best of The Fermented Brick

What can we say? The Fermented Brick has been live for about ten days now, and my god hasn't the time just flown? So many memories, good times, laughter and tears were packed into those days.

So in honour of these amazing and incredible times, The Fermented Brick presents...

THE VERY BEST OF THE FERMENTED BRICK

It's hard to know where to start? I know the beginning would be the best place, but honestly there are just so many highlights that need further highlighting. If you're a regular reader (hi Dellis!), you might want to take your over-excitement medicine because this is going to be an action packed high-octane speedway rocket-sled ride down Memory Lane.

Strap on the plastic pants, we're going in...

Who could ever forget that time when The FermentedBrick spent its first six weeks gestating as nary but a dead link on Blogspot because nothing had been posted? My god those were the days. Back then in November 2005 everything was different. The Internet was everywhere making communication instantaneous, people could walk about with "mobile" "phones" that ran on this new magick called electricity -- no longer relying on crude oil or the prayers of small children to run, and thousands of new blogs we're being born every day. But not The Fermented Brick. Oh no.

The Fermented Brick was content to bide its time, like a coiled worm ready to strike or an eagle hording only the best acorns for winter.

Then there was the incredible first post. A post that rocked the Blogosphere to its very foundations with the author's erudition and immense typing prestidigitation skills that saw a mere 26 letters arranged into what we now know as "words" and "sentences"; these further arrayed in such a fashion that entire worlds opened before the reader's eyes.

It was obvious that the author was a skilled alphabetical artisan, and as any sane reader would instantly divine he had sexual charms that no women should be able to resist, but inexplicably had...

The first post though ushered in a totally new era of blogging, insofar as The Fermented Brick was concerned, and within days it had garnered an insane number of comments! (Please note: the author considers zero to be an insane number)

Who could forget the second post? They said it couldn't be done, that the mighty testament to the human sipirit that was the first post could never be bettered, and yet they were wrong, so wrong. Ladies, that sensation you're feeling right now are your ovaries crying out...

Be strong.

I would include a screenshot of the second post here, but my technical advisors tell me that's it is far too much awesome for even the Windows Clipboard to handle. Instead I'm going to risk incurring the wrath of the Old Ones, and include a link to it here. Forgive me, horrors that hath no name, for I know not what I do...

Then there was the run on nature photography -- a set of post so haunting, so...so... *sob*

Who among us could ever say that they don't remember reading about the very best of The Fermented Brick? I know I'll never forget that special moment.

Look, sorry...I can't type any more at the moment. There's just too many good times, so many memories... Although I can report that at the moment the world's greatest scientific minds are gathering to try and explain how The Fermented Brick managed to get to ten posts in ten days, as it's quite obvious to lay-men such as you and I that this blog is expanding faster than the universe. Obviously some fundamental laws are being broken here, and while part of my brain is telling me it's to do with the blog taking full advantage of the massive energies released in the Casimir Effect and therefore the laws of Relativty are still unbroken, the other part of my brain is cautioning me not to blog drunk any more.

More nature

More macro madness

More Incoming! Protect the pollen!

INCOMING!

Another native bee heading for the prize. I cropped the bejesus out of this image to make it more dramatic. Pity the bee's a little blurry...

The fly sees all. Not too sure of what fly this one is, but I'll repost when I find out. This little bugger wouldn't stay still, so I got pretty annoyed but finally managed to capture him well.

Same day, different little critter.

A robber fly doing...not much.

Sweet, sweet nectar


I'm a macro photography nut, and spent a goodly portion of yesterday at the Singapore Botanical Gardens laying in grass, avoiding snakes in the undergrowth and getting stung by insects while taking macro shots of aforementioned insects.

Above's a cropped shot of a native bee, obeying its primal bee needs.

I love advertising. Especially when it's done creatively and cleverly, and I tend to remember ads that are bizarre, confrontational, or downright fucking annoying. But this new one from A-Class in NZ has got me scratching my head. It's an ad for their "legal party drugs", featuring a bloodied bar of soap on a prison shower block floor, and the slogan "Because jail sux".
Rape crisis centres in NZ are going batshit over the ad, saying that it implies that "...it is your own fault if you take illegal drugs and end up in prison being raped." Well, isn't it?
I can't say that depciting the aftermath of aggravated male rape is how I'd sell any of my own products, but then I'm not in marketing nor do I have any products so what the hell do I know?
Maybe these guys are on to something...

File under...music

Been listening to Three Month Sunset's "Milkthistle Roughmix" from his Myspace page. Streaming only, but it reminds me of Godspeed You! Black Emperor kinda mixed with a bit of Mogwai (Rock Action, in particular). Good to see an Aussie lad mixing it up with the best of the post-prog-rockers (whatever the hell that means)

Hello world
Well, this is my first post and it's gonna be a lame one. Had this URL for around six weeks now and haven't had the time nor the inclination to really do anything with it. So, here I am...now.


The only thing of note that I thought I wanted to share was the incredibly awesome new video for Sigur Ros' song Glosoli. It's an amazing bit of film-making, and is right up there with the previous videos for Untitled #1 from () or the extremely touching vid for Svefn-g-englar from agaetis byrjun.