More year end lists from the mags of rock

Play it: Magnet Magazine's Top 20 Albums 2005
Play it: Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 50 Albums 2005

Just got my Magnet Magazine yesterday and couldn't help skipping right to the annual best albums list. Nothing too crazy here. They (correctly) went ga-ga over Sleater-Kinney's The Woods album earlier this year, so I'm not surprised to see it topping the list. ...Trail of Dead at #3 is a 'whatever' for me, but I'm more tolerant of their noise then enjoy it (I guess I don't really 'get it', even though I'm a Sonic Youth fan.) The rest of the list are all fine albums that I can't argue with (w/o boring you!)

01. Sleater-Kinney The Woods
02. New Pornographers Twin Cinema
03. ...Trail of Dead Worlds Apart
04. Stars Set Yourself On Fire
05. Sufjan Stevens Illinois
06. Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
07. Black Rebel Motorcycle Howl
08. M. Ward Transistor Radio
09. Queens of the Stone Age Lullubies to Paralyze
10. National Alligator
11. Black Mountain Black Mountain
12. Constantines Tournament of Hearts
13. Decemberists Picaresque
14. Spoon Gimme Fiction
15. Hold Steady Separation Sunday
16. High Dials War of the Wakening Phantoms
17. Devendra Banhart Cripple Crow
18. My Morning Jacket Z
19. Of Montreal The Sunlandic Twins
20. Six Organs of Admittance School of the Flower

Rolling Stone gave Kanye West his wish, to be number one ("Kanye West is the most brilliant man in the music world -- just ask him.") It is a classic, and by all accounts should deservedly the win album of the year grammy. If it doesn't, it's just as well as we'll get to see West throw another tantrum.

As far as the rest of the list, I gotta call 'em out for making the Rolling Stones album #2. Sure Charlie Watts fought throat cancer during the recording, but that's neither here nor there in how a final product sounds and stands the test of time. Every new Stones album released has RS-in-charge Jan Wenner saying 'this is the one' that's reflective of their hey day. They sound played out, to me, and at best certainly not #2 in a good year for music. Outside of that, plenty of albums that were released in 2004 (John Legend, Dungen, The Go! Team, Annie, Daddy Yankee, just to name a few) making the list.

More year-end lists!

tags: playlist, music, year end list, magnet, rolling stone, sleater-kinney, kanye west