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Hello, fellow too poppy bloggers. I'm an old friend of Lee's, whom he invited months ago to join this fine discussion. I'm just now getting around to it. My screen name, country feedback, tells you a bit about my musical DNA; it's the title, as you probably know, of an old R.E.M. song, one of my favorites. Stipe and the boys were my first musical love back in the day. (that's if I don't count that high school obsession with rap, of course; public enemy, krs-one, n.w.a. - i was an angry black man trapped inside the body of a 16-year-old white boy) Anyway, here's another telling snapshot of my musical tastes: I've compiled my Top 10 albums of 2005, as well as some honorable mentions. I tend to stray toward the indie stuff, but, as Lee would say, I'm always just a sucker for a good melody, too. Here goes, in no particular order. (+ denotes "with highest honors")

* New Pornographers - "Twin Cinema" +
* Stars - "Set Yourself on Fire"
* Rogue Wave - "Descended Like Vultures"
* Spoon - "Gimme Fiction" +
* Wilco - "Kicking Television: Live in Chicago"
* Ben Folds - "Songs for Silverman"
* Sufjan Stevens - "Illinois"
* Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - self-titled +
* Fiona Apple - "Extraordinary Machine"
* Andrew Bird - "The Mysterious Production of Eggs" +

Honorable Mention:
* Wolf Parade - "Apologies to the Queen Mary"
* The National - "Alligator"
* Bloc Party - "Silent Alarm"
* Sleater-Kinney - "The Woods"
* The Decemberists - "Picaresque"
* Death Cab for Cutie - "Plans"
* Broken Social Scene - self-titled
* Feist - "Let It Die"
* Ryan Adams - "Cold Roses"

Thoughts? Comments? Any "if you like this, you'll like this" sort of suggestions?

Game on.