Ben Lee, Awake is the New Sleep (2005)
Ben Lee is so earnest a songwriter that at times it becomes insufferable, but Awake is the New Sleep captures him at his most perfectly balanced. The acoustic guitar-driven pop is at its peak on "Whatever It Is," "Ache for You" and "Into the Dark," but the whole album really walks the tightrope perfectly. It's easy for a twentysomething guy with a guitar writing songs about relationships and the meaning of life to sound like a total douche, but Lee's largely peppy tunes hold everything together even when the lyrics get a little iffy. (The same can't be said of Ripe, the follow-up album, which has some good songs but too often gets bogged down in its own self-importance.)
#29
The Killers, Day and Age (2008)
A lot of the focus when this album came out went to the song "Human," which had odd lyrics and seemed too dance-ready for fans who came in more on Sam's Town. Of course, this ignored the fact that "Losing Touch" and "Spaceman," the songs on either side of "Human," are two of the most fun and infectious songs the Killers have released to date. Aside from the fairly weak "Joy Ride," the whole album is pretty strong, though it never returns to "Spaceman"-level heights after the third track. For all the crap they take, the Killers just keep proving that they know how to put out solid albums and how to knock at least a couple tracks per record completely out of the park.
#28
Okkervil River, The Stage Names (2007)
By this point, no one should be surprised to see a concept album from Okkervil River, whose frontman Will Sheff seems to take real delight in tying things together. What's amazing is that The Stage Names works as well as it does, given how headlong it dives into the world of pop culture in a way their previous album (stay tuned) had not. Consider "Plus Ones" in particular, which references a good nine other songs in its lyrics, a tactic I usually can't stand, or "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene," which actually describes scenes from real TV shows over which other Okkervil River songs were played. The music holds everything together, as well as a strong vein of emotion which Sheff mines to particularly strong effect in "Savannah Smiles" and "John Allyn Smith Sails." Few bands would be able to write a first-person song from the perspective of a poet who killed himself in 1972, much less make it deeply moving by weaving it together with "Sloop John B" - but here's the proof that Okkervil River can.
#27
Steve Burns, Songs for Dustmites (2003)
I feel bad for Steve Burns. By all rights, Songs for Dustmites should have made him a rock star; instead, few people could forget that he was "the Blue's Clues guy" and this album was never given the attention it deserved. By no means is it perfect - the production is conspicuously low-budget, and Burns' vocal talents might best be described as "capable." Still, these things don't take away from the fact that this is a great set of songs, led off by probably the best track, "Mighty Little Man." "Troposphere" and the sort-of title track, "A Song for Dustmites" are both pretty epic tunes as well, and the rest of the album is solid throughout. There's no real reason this album shouldn't have found its way onto the shelves of indie rock fans everywhere.
#26
Doves, Some Cities (2005)
The Last Broadcast is also a good album, and it's just off the bottom of this list, but the Doves album that really jumped out at me was Some Cities. The ringing guitar kicking off the title track immediately signals that this is something worth paying attention to, and the second track, "Black and White Town," continues the feeling. Much of the rest of the album is considerably moodier, on tracks like "Snowden," "The Storm" and "Someday Soon," but the whole thing still has a consistent feel, which can be attributed to a great set of tunes and the vocals of Jimi Goodwin, which pull various styles of song together. If there were any justice in the world, these guys would be as big as Radiohead.
#25
Something Corporate, Leaving Through the Window (2002)
It's a testament to how eclectic my taste is that I can follow up Doves with Something Corporate, an emo-rock band fronted by a then-20-year-old. But Andrew McMahon can really write a tune, especially one driven by a piano, which I always appreciate. For so young a band, there are surprisingly few spots on Leaving Through the Window where the age really shows - I wouldn't have put "Punk Rock Princess" as track two, "Drunk Girl" is clumsy and "iF yoU C Jordan" is just kind of petty, albeit still fun to sing along to. But the album has 14 tracks, and nearly all of the rest range from good to brilliant. "I Woke Up in a Car" may call to mind a particular age range, but it's singularly evocative, and "The Astronaut" should have been a monster rock hit. "Cavanaugh Park" and "Globes and Maps" are both great piano ballads. It may be an album that absolutely reminds me of college, but who says that's always a bad thing?
#24
Mates of State, Re-arrange Us (2008)
There aren't that many songs I feel like I could listen to on a loop almost indefinitely, but "My Only Offer," track three on Re-arrange Us, is one such. I'm not sure how long it would take me to get sick of it, but I bet it would be at least ten times through, which for a single song is probably ridiculous. It's that good. The whole album is a thoroughly effective piece with the voices of husband and wife Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner mixing perfectly with the indie-pop musical style. They've got some perfect tunes in here - "Get Better," the aforementioned "My Only Offer," "Blue and Gold Print" - and do a fabulous job of taking at times melancholy lyrics and pairing them with music in such a way that you simply can't help but sing along.
#23
Ben Folds, Songs for Silverman (2005)
"Landed" might very well be Ben Folds' best song, at least as a solo artist, but it's still just one piece of the puzzle on Songs for Silverman, a fairly melancholy album that contains virtually none of Folds' trademark humor. What it does have are a lot of great piano-driven songs, including "Late," a touchingly small-time farewell to Elliott Smith. It does lack a lot of booming highs, but I have to admit to a bias when I say that for me, good Ben Folds songs stand alongside very good to great songs by a lot of other artists. I love piano-heavy rock and I love Folds' flair for the everyday, which stands out in excellent tracks like "Bastard" and "You to Thank," along with those already mentioned.
#22
Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs (2008)
After the dreary nature of Plans, Death Cab sort of bridges the gap between that darkness and their earlier work (often still dark, but more entertainingly so) with Narrow Stairs. "Bixby Canyon Bridge," which opens the album, is plenty dark in its lyrical content, but the music isn't as much of a downer; track three, "No Sunlight," is pretty conspicuous in the contradiction between the lyrics and tune, which is curiously peppy. The album's best track, "Cath...", is about a woman giving up and marrying a guy she doesn't particularly love, but it absolutely rocks the place out. Ultimately, that's the best of Death Cab - regardless of what they're singing about, they're perfectly capable of giving you an impeccably crafted rock song with a chorus you're ready to belt out at a stoplight.
#21 The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (2005)
For the most part, the New Pornographers just keep getting better. I do tend to think of Twin Cinema as a tiny step back, though really it was more of a lateral move. The hits here are just as strong as those on any NPs album - "Use It" is a masterpiece, and songs like "Sing Me Spanish Techno," the title track, and "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" are great pop-rock tracks that stand with the best work the group has done. But similarly to Mass Romantic, something about the second half of Twin Cinema leaves me sort of cold. These aren't bad songs at all - in fact they're very good songs - but I just don't have the same connection to them that I do to most of the album's first half, or to the entirety of other NPs albums which will show up later. It's a very subjective opinion and I can't really defend it from a musical standpoint, but few things are as hard to quantify as exactly why a given song makes me feel a certain way. People can talk about various aspects of music all the way, but few forms of art are quite this personal. The New Pornographers are probably one of my five favorite bands, maybe of all time, but not all their work moves me the same way. Still, it says something that even an album whose entire second half "leaves me sort of cold" can find its way to just outside the top 20.
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