In a continuance of yesterday’s break down and give-in to the pervasive “lists of music,” I’ll post abother; Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums. As mentioned yesterday, Pitchfork has become a love/hate thing for me as I greatly enjoy reading about the bands I know, but am often left with a defeated sense of taste. In a funny way, I’ve come to look at them as Jack Black’s character, Barry, from the movie High Fidelity (which is funny in the sense that the movie’s subplot pokes fun at musical superiors, culture bullys if you will). Barry is always there, with something new to say about something, and evermore believing that his take on life is the best, span style=”font-style: italic;”FACT/span. But in the end, Barry shows that he might actually know what the f__k he’s talking about, and lays down some serious DAP! (for those of you who don’t get that reference, Tony Kornheiser wants a quick word with you). There’s a scene where Barry is mocking the other guy who works in the record store, Dick, for his taste in music. Following it, John Cusak’s character, Rob, says to him “how can you mock that, it’s personal preference.” I take this to heart sometimes; fully understanding that Fu Manchu and a href=”http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/r/reverend-horton-heat/space-heater.shtml”The Reverend Horton Heat/a haven’t changed their sound in ever, but I still love them. They’re my AC/DC…wait, AC/DC is my AC/DC, but for the sake of discussion, I simply don’t mind that most all of their songs sound the same.br /br /Sometime Barry would come through with a gem:br /(Barry) “How about the Jesus and Mary Chain?”br /(customer) “They always seemed…”br /(Barry) “They always seemed what? They always seemed really great is what they always seemed. They picked up where your precious Echo left off, and you’re sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums. I can’t believe you don’t own this f__king record.”br /br /Still, it always seemed like even if I span style=”font-style: italic;”HAD/span in fact liked Jesus and the Mary Chain, I’d be accused of some other musical sin. Pitchfork offers something interesting that isn’t found in other major music outlets (let’s face it, for an independent, they’re doing it big time), and that’s actual…new….music. I mentioned yesterday a little bit about how I feel that Rolling Stone gave The Rolling Stones the #2 position for the year on their Best of 2005 list. I mocked it a bit, because, well, I’ve heard it, and it’s by far not the second best album of the year (but you can’t mock personal preferences…I know…I know). But I have heard it, and I do like the occasional song. It’s not a bad album; as a matter of fact it’s far better than I thought it would be. But, the point is…am I happier to have heard another Stones’ album, or am I happier to have heard “The Woods” by Sleater-Kinney. It’s time to come clean.br /br /I’ve known a bit about the band’s music for years, but haven’t made it deep into their sound. It was a href=”http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/sleater-kinney/woods.shtml”Pitchfork’s overwhelming review/a of the album (well, that and my little sister’s interest in them) which took me out to their a href=”http://culturebully.blogspot.com/2005/06/sleater-kinney-with-dead-meadow-live.html”show here in Minneapolis/a (subsequently, my sister’s first “rawk” concert). It was amazing, just like the album is. Point is, they bring new music to light that I might not otherwise take the time to listen to. And I have to thank them for that. In the end, Barry takes on Marvin Gaye, with his band Sonic Death Monkey aka Kathleen Turner Overdrive aka Barry Jive and the Uptown Five, and nails it. If nothing else, check the list out, maybe you’ll find your Sleater-Kinney.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”span style=”font-weight: bold;”Pitchfork Media’s Top 50 Albums of 2005/spanbr /br /1. Sufjan Stevens “Illinois”br /2. Kanye West “Late Registration”br /3. Art Brut “Bang Bang Rock Roll”br /4. M.I.A. “Arular”br /5. Antony amp; the Johnsons “I Am A Bird Now”br /6. Deerhoof “The Runners Four”br /7. Animal Collective “Feels”br /8. LCD Soundsystem “LCD Soundsystem”br /9. Cam’Ron “Purple Haze”br /10. Wolf Parade “Apologies to the Queen Mary”br /11. Isolspan class=”tealdark serif”é/spane – “We Are A Monster”br /12. New Pornographers “Twin Cinema”br /13. Various Artists “Run the Road”br /14. Vitalic “OK Cowboy”br /15. Clipse “We Got It 4 Cheap: Vol. 2″br /16. Love Is All “Nine Times That Same Song”br /17. The Clientele “Strange Geometry”br /18. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah “Clap Your Hands Say Yeah”br /19. Sleater-Kinney “The Woods”br /20. The Hold Steady “Separation Sunday”br /21. Bonnie “Prince” Billy Matt Sweeney “Superwolf”br /22. Broadcast “Tender Buttons”br /23. Ladytron “The Witching Hour”br /24. The Mountain Goats “The Sunset Tree”br /25. Alan Braxe amp; Friends “The Upper Cuts”br /26. The Decemberists “Picareque”br /27. Jamie Lidell “Multiply”br /28. Sun O))) “Black One”br /29. Serena Maneesh “Serena Maneesh”br /30. Franz Ferdinand “You Could Have It So Much Better”br /31. Konono No. 1 “Congotronics”br /32. Beanie Sigel “The B. Coming”br /33. Bloc Party “Silent Alarm”br /34. Silver Jews “Tanglewood Numbers”br /35. The Game “Documentary”br /36. Keith Fullerton Whitman “Multiples”br /37. Dominik Eulberg “Kreucht amp; Fleucht”br /38. Devendra Banhart “Cripple Crow”br /39. Robyn “Robyn”br /40. Young Jeezy “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101″br /41. Rspan class=”serif”òis/spanspan class=”serif”ìn Murphy “Ruby Blue”/spanbr /42. My Morning Jacket “Z”br /43. Spoon “Gimme Fiction”br /44. Vashti Bunyan “Lookaftering”br /45. M83 “Before the Dawn Heals Us”br /46. Fiona Apple “Extraordinary Machine”br /47. The Boy Least Likely To “The Best Party Ever”br /48. Okkervil River “Black Sheep Boy”br /49. Fiery Furnaces EPbr /50. Orthrealm “OV”br //div