Unreviewed Concerts of 2005

This is more for my own records than anything.

1. Felonious/Matisyahu at Cafe Du Nord on Sunday, February 13, 2005
2. Still Flyin/Smoosh/Aqueduct/Mates Of State at Slim's on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
3. Yellow Press/The Hold Steady/Helio Sequence/The Thermals at Bottom Of The Hill on Sunday, February 27, 2005
4. Okkervil River/The Decemberists at Bimbo's on Wednesday, March 23, 2005
5. Feist/Apostles Of Hustle/Stars at Bimbo's on Saturday, March 26, 2005
6. Food For Animals/Manhunter/Q And Not U at Slim's on Saturday, April 16, 2005
7. Bunky/Dios Malos/Fiery Furnaces at Great American Music Hall on Friday, April 29, 2005

Best of 2005

This list could change at just about any moment, but as I sit down to write this, here's my best of lists for 2005.

Top Songs of 2005
1. Magnolia Electric Company - The Night Shift Lullaby
2. Lavendar Diamond - You Broke My Heart
3. Wolf Parade - Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts
4. Voxtrot - Raised By Wolves
5. Laura Viers - Secrety Someones
6. Metric - The Police And The Private
7. Elbow - Station Approach
8. Imogen Heap - Goodnight And Go
9. Voxtrot - The Start Of Something
10. Hold Steady - Cattle And The Creeping Things
11. Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
12. Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
13. Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh!!
14. CocoRosie - Ohio
15. Common - The Corner
16. Gogol Bordello - Not A Crime
17. Rosebuds - Blue Bird
18. Happy Bullets - The Vice and Virtue Ministry
19. Wolf Parade - Grounds For Divorce
20. Bloc Party - Pioneers
21. Kelly Clarkston - Since U Benn Gone
22. Cardigans - Good Morning Joan
23. New Pornographers - Use It
24. Chad VanGaalen - Clinically Dead
25. Mercury Rev - Vermillion
26. Blue Scholars - The Inkwell
27. Troubbled Hubble - I'm Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules
28. Oh No! Oh My! - Walk In The Park
29. Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut
30. Arctic Monkeys - Bigger Boys & Stolen Sweethearts
31. Great Lake Swimmers - I Will Never See The Sun
32. Robyn - Be Mine!
33. Harvey Danger - Wine, Women, & Song
34. Thunderbirds Are Now! - This World Is Made Of Paper
35. My Morning Jacket - Anytime
36. Immaculate Machine - Broken Ship
37. Out Hud - It's For You
38. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
39. The National - Mr. November

Top Albums of 2005
1. Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
2. Laura Viers - Year Of Meteors
3. Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5. The Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
6. New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
7. Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks
8. Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration
9. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
10. Thunderbirds Are Now! - Justamustache

Top Concerts I Attended in 2005
1. Hold Steady/United States of Electronica/The Cops
2. The Wrens/Parchman Farm/Decoration
3. Bloc Party/The Kills
4. Wilco/Court And Spark
5. The Thermals/Helio Sequence/The Hold Steady/Yellow Press
6. The Go! Team/Tussle
7. The National/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Bird Monster
8. The Stars/Apostles Of Hustles/Feist
9. Mates Of State/Aqueduct/Smoosh/Still Flyin
10. Fiery Furnaces/Dios Malos/Bunky

The Wrens

Show: The Wrens at Slim's
Headliner: The Wrens
Openers: Parchman Farm, The Decoration
Location: Slim's in San Francisco, CA
Date: Friday, December 2, 2005

It's been a long time since I've been to a show.

I got to the show late. I was able to listen to the Decoration from outside the club, but I wans't able to get inside to listen. I didn't get to see them, but they seemed ok.

After meeting up with my friend, we got our tickets and got in to see Parchamn Farm. What can I say about this band? Not much. 3 guitars and a drummer, just jamming away. Nothing really caught my attention. Not that anything was bad, but just a lot of eh.

Finally, the Wrens came on. This is the second time I've seen them live. They claimed that they all live in a house in Jersey, and never rehearse. I could see that being the case. It hurts the performance in terms of songsmanship, but everything lost their is regained in how much energy the have. It's amazing how a depresing song about breaking up can be belted out with so much energy. A good time. They hit alomst everything on "The Meadowlands," which I appreciated since I never dug out their back catalog. They did do a few old songs though, which kept it interesting for me.

They played a very solid and enjoyable 1.5 hour set (including encore). At no point was I ecstatic, but a very very reliably fun and solid show. Which is certainly something of a great deal of value. Good times.