All Will be Revealed

I've gotta say, 2005 was a pretty fine year, musically speaking. Not only did I find myself reacting more favorably to records then I had in the past couple years, but I also had some real difficulty narrowing down my list to ten entries.

I'll of course be counting down my personal faves over the course of the next few entries, but I thought I'd also give some air time to the few albums who--had I been in a different mind-set the day I finalized it--might have slipped onto my list.

The Chemical Brothers--Push the Button: At what point can you predict chaos? Although we only have two of their albums, the Chemical Brothers seem to have a formula they follow in order to create music--anything goes, and it helps if it's loud. Take the lead-off track, "Galvanize," which features a great middle-eastern string sample, Q-Tip, and beats that are so front and center that even white folks like me can't miss 'em. And hooks remain a strong suit; I recall visiting a friend of ours who had a keychain with a series of buttons, each of which played a sample when pressed. That was for a different album, but that's still a key component of their approach.

Kate Bush--Aerial: Boy, did the Red Shoes suck, so it's tough to honestly say that this doesn't seem a better album simply because it's a significant step up from there. Although she recycles the idea of splitting the album into halves from Hounds of Love--one half individual songs and the other a "song cycle"--this time she expands the idea and gives each half a full disc. And unlike Hounds, I really enjoyed the song cycle more than the unconnected songs. With few exceptions, this is a very languid album, which is where it ultimately falls down for me. Still, I love the fact that Kate is still weird after all these years (she sings Pi to several dozen digits, and there's a memorable couplet from "Mrs. Bartolozzi:" 'Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy / Get that dirty shirty clean.') and the production is, as always, fantastic.

Eraldo Bernocchi & Harold Budd--Music for "Fragments from the Inside": In 2004, Harold Budd released Avalon Sutra and announced that he was retiring from music. In 2005, two new albums bearing his name were released. I can't speak to the other album, which was a soundtrack he worked on with Robin Guthrie, since I never got around to picking it up (so many albums, so little time). This CD was from a performance at an art installation in 2003 (hence the title). The disc begins with Budd on his own, playing his usual brand of piano minimalism; the rest of the work is with Bernocchi adding electronic rhythms and other treatments. This makes it more propulsive than Budd would be normally, which is not a bad thing, especially for people who aren't big ambient fans. Ultimately, though, this struck me as treading ground that was already covered during his collaboration with Hector Zazou.

I'd recommend any of these to those inclined to try something new, but the year's best is still to come.