3 artists I overlooked on 2005

There's many great music that was released on 2005 which I didn't got the chance to hear until now. The thing is; there's 3 artists that released records on 2005 that I'd like to mention, because I used to made bad publicity while talking about their past efforts, wont happen again, a sincere apology for all the damages caused...

The Fiery Furnaces - rehearsing my choir
Download: The garfield e!

Well, to be honest, I still find this album just awful and horrendously executed and I still loathe this band and I still don't get the press surrounding them. But, after listening closely to the album-opener, "The garfield E!", my hate towards this band was instantly diminished. Just listen to that romantic opening with the vocalist commanding to his piano: "Faster, hammers!" and then starts talking about his lost love. It's quite beautiful, actually.

Beck - guero
Download: Scarecrow
Download: earthquake weather

When I first heard this album, I thought it made a tedious listen and didn't offered anything new. And, well, I still feel this way about "guero" and his remixed son "guerolito" but then, there's some few tracks which are fairly interesting or at least fun to listen to on this record like: the samba influenced "missing", the sparse and swampy, "scarecrow" or the blue souled "earthquake weather" among others. Not his best album (maybe the worst) but still I'd like to mention it because I have been seriously overlooking Beck since his past 4 albums when he's been such a good boy to all of us.

Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
Download: Santa Maria da Feira
Download: I feel just like a child

After listening to a few songs on "rejoicing in the hands" and "el nino rojo" I dismissed Devendra Banhart as an opportunist trying to take advantage of the growing "freak-folk" scene, for me, he was being willfully bizarre (how does that work?). I didn't got close to "cripple crow" even when I saw it on various year-end lists and some reviewers kept telling everyone how good it was. Then came the song "Santa Maria da feira" and I decided to give him a second chance that I don't regret.
That raw, solitaire and whining artist I hated is long gone... his songs have become more elaborated, his arrangements are precise and he's being backed by a band of musician friends which call themselves "The hairy fairies". And you know the thing that amazed me the most? His take on bohemian latin music is quite good (he even covers a classic Simon Diaz ditty), not to mention his impeccable accent. A very nostalgic trip to the newness that brought the eastern hippieness for those of us who weren't there... highly recommended, I'm very sorry for ignoring this one before,... Oh yes, and I love the eerie group photo on the cover.

Update: Adding the very nice mexican mp3 blog Sonorama to the sidebar. Can't believe this was under my radar for so long. Take a look, great layout and even if you don't understand anything on the site, download some great quality songs from many mexican indie artists.
Muy buen trabajo!