 | Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
Buy new: £6.80 / Used from: £6.80 Album Of The Year. Sufjan Stevens' second entry in his tour of the United States is a sprawling trek of enchanting songwriting. Indulgent in the best way. Download: Chicago
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 | Funeral by Arcade Fire
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £4.48 Received its official UK release in February 2005 and has been steadily gaining momentum since. A grand debut. Download: Rebellion (Lies)
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 | Feels by Animal Collective
Buy used from: £6.14 Since being enchanted by Sung Tongs last year I have been catching up with the work of A.C. This may be their most focused and enjoyable set so far. Magic. Download: The Purple Bottle
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 | Broken Ear Record by Black Dice
Buy new: £8.69 / Used from: £22.01 Black Dice's most insistant album to date. Jagged beats and ungodly noises bubble under in this hypnotic concoction. Download: Smiling Off
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 | The Woods by Sleater-Kinney
Buy new: £6.33 / Used from: £5.94 Sleater-Kinney's sound here is richer and fuller than ever, and this set really is impressive. All girl rock to drown out the neighbours with killer killer hooks. Download: What's Mine Is Yours
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 | Out of Breach: Manchester's Revenge by Mu
Buy used from: £2.40 Understandably this album has divided opinion, but for me it's trashy electro highs outweigh any of its brief faults. Reassuringly sick dance music. Download: Tigerbastard
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 | Superwolf by Will Oldham
Buy new: £9.98 / Used from: £3.95 This collaboration is superb. A bewitching set of Americana pieces both frivilous and personal. Highly recommended. Download: Beast For Thee
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 | Black 1 by Sunn O)))
Buy new: £12.48 / Used from: £7.69 As much as I enjoy getting lost in all of Sunn O)))'s previous works, Black 1 is the most brilliantly dark and soul-consuming so far, and the most varied. Drone-metal to die for. Download: CandleGoat
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 | The Campfire Headphase by Boards Of Canada
Buy new: £7.98 / Used from: £4.75 A beautiful, hazy and addictive return from Boards of Canada. If you#re anything like me you'll find yourself listening over and over. Download: Peacock Tail
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 | Par Noussss Touss Les Trous De Vos Cranes by Et Sans
Buy new: £9.99 / Used from: £1.82 The ever-fruitful Montreal music scene has birthed many interesting projects and Et Sans are becoming one of the best. Krautrock inspired experimentations with a Black Dice feel.
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 | Minimum - Maximum by Kraftwerk
Buy new: £11.98 / Used from: £5.74 Ok, so perhaps not techincally a 'new' album of 2005, but this live double CD is an absolute must-have. Download: Numbers
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 | Takk by Sigur Ros
Buy new: £4.97 / Used from: £3.89 Takk doesn't quite hit the soaring heights of the band's previous two albums, but a merely-good Sigur Rós album is still of a calibre most other bands simply can't achieve. Gratifying.
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 | Tender Buttons by Broadcast
Buy used from: £5.90 A fantastic soundtrack to city nightlife. Simple electronic pieces dipped in feedback with beautiful reflective vocals. Download: Black Cat
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 | Hex (Or Printing in the Infernal Method) by Earth
Buy new: £12.48 / Used from: £6.90 Ah the return of the mighty Earth, not with the legendary 'doom' sounds of the likes of Earth 2, but instead with bold windswept country-tinged post-rock. Dusty. Download: Raiford
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 | School of the Flower by Six Organs Of Admittance
Buy new: £9.98 / Used from: £6.67 School Of The Flower is an excellent album of wistful folk tunes and sensuous guitar meanderings. On the strength of this, I shall be investigating them further. Download: Saint Cloud
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 | Arular by MIA
Buy new: £9.00 / Used from: £6.99 As technicoloured as it's garish sleeve design, Arular is a treat, mixing up influences from dancehall, techno, reggae, grime and more. Unique. Download: Pull Up The People
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 | I Am a Bird Now by Antony & The Johnsons
Buy new: £7.64 / Used from: £6.07 His Mercury Music Prize win has given Antony and his Johnsons a sudden spotlight. The album is the most worthy winner of recent years; tender, alluring, addictive. Download: Spiralling
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 | The Days of Mars by Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom
Buy new: £12.99 / Used from: £3.80 Probably the least publicised of DFA's main releases in 2005, but an enchanting one nontheless. Spacey-electronica to mellow out with.
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 | Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes
Buy new: £6.45 / Used from: £5.92 Two albums released on the same day by Conor Oberst this year. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning got most of the acclaim (and with reason), but this more electronic offering is just as good.
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 | LCD Soundsystem by LCD Soundsystem
Buy new: £10.98 / Used from: £3.95 The new material which makes up disc 1 may not have been quite as thrilling as those early singles, but with all the material here this is an exceptionally consistant buy. Download: Losing My Edge
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 | Cripple Crow by Devendra Banhart
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £3.99 It could do with a little editing perhaps, but Cripple Crow finds Banhart expertly broadening his palette. Call it freak-folk or whatever, it's just enchanting. Download: Long Haired Child
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 | I'm Wide Awake It's Morning by Bright Eyes
Buy new: £6.45 / Used from: £4.65 A popular choice on end-of-year lists and with good reason. Very easy to get completely lost and obsessed over. Couldnt leave it out. Download: Land Locked Blues.
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 | Fall Heads Roll by The Fall
Buy new: £8.58 / Used from: £5.98 Another fantastic set from The Fall, still so good after all these years. Download: Blindness.
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 | God's Money by Gang Gang Dance
Buy new: £10.48 / Used from: £4.90 Gang Gang Dance continue to impress more and more with every release. God's Money finds their music adopting a quasi-mystic feel as genres are defiantly blurred. Download: Before My Voice Fails
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 | Suspended Animation by Fantomas
Buy new: £10.98 / Used from: £8.28 Mike Patton's latest offering with Fantomas is this bonkers collision of metal licks and gonzo cartoon samples. Best approached as a whole piece than as 30 seperates. Accutely judged madness.
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