[review 2005: the best of the year]

Theoretically, the Saint Etienne album should be at the top of this list. Many years from now, when my old fogey self looks back at 2005, it’ll likely be Tales From Turnpike House that stands the test of time, the album that becomes a classic. So consider that album the philosophical favourite of the year. But I spent a month listening to Adelie Land, and absolutely nothing this year sounded anything near as cool as this. Listening to “Season Of Young Mouss” for the first time reminded me what it was like to be hopelessly addicted to music. These sorts of moments have been few and far between lately; the last time I remember feeling the same way about an album was the Go! Team’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike. Fitting that it was my favourite album of last year.

But let’s stick with the Go! Team comparison for a bit, since everyone and their dog has made it. Yes, Handsomeboy Technique sounds a lot like the Go! Team. It’s sample-heavy hip-hop without the frontin’ and tha bitches; everything’s in technicolour and all the sounds remind you of being a kid on a sugar high. Some people have even gone so far as to call Adelie Land the second Go! Team album in spirit, and maybe they’re right. But where the Go! Team is the product of Schoolhouse Rock, double-dutch chants and 70s action car chases, Handsomeboy Technique sounds a lot more like the soundtrack to a Katamari Damacy game. Adelie Land and Thunder, Lightning, Strike are two sides of the same coin: the Go! Team are more New York hipster, the Handsomeboy Technique more twee. Take out some of the trumpets, the banjo, the harmonica; add in some keyboards, some disco beats, some ba-ba-bas. The Go! Team are purposefully lofi; Adelie Land, by contrast, sounds almost bigger than life itself.

Adelie Land is addictive. “Adelie Coast Waltz” and “Affections” sit on one end of the spectrum, moving at an upbeat yet unhurried pace, so that the soundscapes pass by like a narcotic dream. At the other end lie songs like “Season Of Young Mouss” and “Miami Radio Flash,” psychedelic dance tracks that burst with ear candy. Everything on the album puts a smile on your face, from the wicked beat of “Miami Radio Flash” to the beatboxing on “8000 Laurels,” from the trumpet blasts on “A Walk Across The Rooftops” to the Jackie Deshannon samples on “Your Blessings.” This album is concentrated Prozac, pressed into a CD and available without a prescription (but sadly only in the band’s native Japan; there’s probably no chance this album will ever come out stateside). You owe it to yourself to find a copy of this album and give it a spin, because Adelie Land is so giddy, so sweet and juicy, just so amazing that it may very well save your life.