favorites of 2004: the ENTIRE YEAR

[Matos_W.K.]

I think I prefer the new Streets to OPM.

[TheNames]

Same here. Though my fav streets song will always be "it's too late"

[Brad Shoup]

...
04 | The Hold Steady, Almost Killed Me
05 | The Mountain Goats, We Shall All Be Healed
...
08 | Devendra Banhart, Ni/+/-o Rojo
...

(I don't like happy music.)

I dunno... the latter two men released some fine happy moments on their latest. And it may be cheating, but Craig Finn is so caustic he never fails to make me happy...

[jebreject]

2004 release I would give anything to somehow be able to obliterate from the annals of audio recording history:  Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender.

GASP!!!      

[Brad Shoup]

Yeah, that too. But it's a unique timbre. I've known good, good people who got injured by it.

[Scott CE]

I think I prefer the new Streets to OPM.

Me too.  I wasn't even really a fan of OPM, I thought it just OK, but I heart the crap out of A Grand Don't Come for Free.  So much, in fact, that it is my number 1:

1. The Streets, A Grand Don't Come For Free
2. Ted Leo + The Pharmacists Shake the Sheets
3. Big and Rich, Horse of a Different Color
4. Kanye West The College Dropout
5. The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me
6. Mirah C'mon Miracle
7. The Arcade Fire Funeral
8. Animal Collective Sung Tongs
9. Ghostface The Pretty Toney Album
10. Mouse on Mars Radical Connector

*Yawn* man I wish I had something shocking on that list.

Records it gave me great pains to leave out:


Junior Boys, Last Exit
Wiley, treddin on thin ice
The Ex, Turn
Madvillian, madvilliany
United States of Electronica
Mastodon Leviathan

So I guess i really listed my top 16.

[SPACERACE]

Eluvium - An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death
Dosh - Pure Trash
Isis - Panoption
Joanna Newsom - Milk Eyed Mender
RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
Tara Jane O'Neil - You Sound, Reflect
Mirah - C'mon Miracle
Junior Boys - Last exit
Passage - the Forcefield Kids
People Under the Stairs - Or Stay Tuned.


I say that's the cream of the crop.

[ComputerJudas]

20-Jean Grae-This Week
19-Kanye West-The College Dropout
18-Madvillain-Madvillainy  
17-Get Fucked-s/t
16-Sufjan Stevens-Seven Swans
15-Robust-Potholes In Our Molecules
14-One AM Radio-Name Writ In Water
13-Crimson Spectre-s/t
12-Single Minded Pros-From Now On
11-Coachwhips-Bangers Vs. Fuckers
10-Mountain Goats-We All Shall Be Healed
9-Devendra Banhart-Rejoicing In The Hands
8-Smoke and Smoke-Love Suffers Long
7-Qwel and Maker-The Harvest
6-cLOUDDEAD-Ten
5-Black Eyes-Cough
4-Typical Cats-Civil Service
3-MF Doom-MM Food
2-Murs-The 9th Edition
1-Circle Takes The Square-As The Roots Undo

[fever]

1 the walkmen "bows & arrows"
this one may of been talked about a bit too much but yeah.. it really is better than anything else i've heard all year. i've been obsessed w/ them since the first record came out and they didn't dissapoint a bit.. everything i was hoping for in a sophmore record and more.

2 frog eyes "the folded palm"
this record just completley fried my brain. all i can i say is if you haven't heard it do so.

3 the mountain goats "we shall all be healed"
i was very very impressed. i expected the new goats record to be good but after tallahasse i didn't expect it would be completley fuckin' mindblowing.

4 modest mouse "good news for people who love bad news"
i still love modest mouse

5 mirah "c'mon miracle"
the record mirah has been threating to make since for years

6 jason molina "pyramid electric co."
whatever name molina  releases under its always fuckin great. after the magnolia record it felt good to be sad again.

7 joanna newsom "the milk-eyed mender"
debut record of the year, no shit. can't stop listening to it. i often find myself playing "sadie" over and over and over..

8 sufjan stevens "seven swans"
this is just great.. not sure what to say about it.. i like literate folky stuff

9 the arcade fire "funeral"
i really didn't wanna like this. so many people couldn't shut the fuck up about it and i tried to ignore it. i finally relented and joined the crowd.

10 the hold steady "almost killed me"
"killer parties" may be the best single song i've heard all year

[o.nate]

My favorite new records I heard this year were (not in order):

Blood Brothers - "Crimes"
N.E.R.D. - "Fly or Die"
Devendra Banhart - "Rejoicing in the Hands" and "Nino Rojo"
Magnetic Fields - "i"
Black Keys - "Rubber Factory"
Jason Forrest - "The Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post Disco Crash"
Keren Ann - "Not Going Anywhere"
A.C. Newman - "The Slow Wonder"
Jewels & Binoculars Plays the Music of Bob Dylan - "Floater"
Air - "Talkie Walkie"
Lali Puna - "Faking the Books"
Fiery Furnaces - "Blueberry Boat"
The Streets - "A Grand Don't Come For Free"
Ghost - "Hypnotic Underworld"
Dave Douglas - "Strange Liberation"
Sonic Youth - "Sonic Nurse"
M.I.A. and Diplo - "Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1"
The Futureheads - s/t
Joanna Newsom - "The Milk Eyed Mender"
Wolf Eyes - "Burned Mind"

I'm doing the final list with commentary on my blog (http://o_nate.pitas.com)over the next few weeks.

[sashwap]

best:

joanna newsom followed by frog eyes.


GREAT RECORDS.

[heather]

ALBUMS
1. United State of Electronica (Mannheim)

YES!!

here goes:

1. jv cellar door
2. bobby conn the homeland
3. coughmountaingoatscough
4. u.s.e. united state of electronica
5. revolutionary hydra the peefs
6. ted leo/rx shake the sheets
7. the decemberists the tain

so i only have a top 7.. nothing grabbed my attention as much as the above.

stuff i liked in 2004:

elliott smith from a basement on the hill
arcade fire funeral
cursive the ugly organ
grant lee phillips virginia creeper
the new low album [we have an advance at work. it actually rocks.]
m83 dead cities, red seas & lost ghosts
harvey danger sometimes you have to work on christmas [sometimes] [stephanie, do you have this? 'jack the lion' is the last track... and it's from the reunion show. you can kinda hear us yelling like drunk bitches. dude. awesome.]
hot snakes audit in progress

AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE ON DVD.

[ps: that joanna newsom is a little godawful.]

[jebreject]

fuck the haterz

[Charming Tedious]

This year, no record shook me up and moved me as deeply as this one:

Jason Anderson New England

especially driving home through the wheatfields from Spokane to Walla Walla after seeing my ex-boyfriend for the last time before he moved to Texas.

This record is simple & humble & direct & intimate.  The part where Mirah starts singing along brings tears every time.

[fever]

oh my, i forget all about cellar door.

[Andrew_TSKS]

heather, i dunno if you were trying to stick with stuff from this year, but that cursive album is from 2003 i'm quite sure.

also, i understand why some don't like joanna newsom, but i have to join with my man jebreject in a resounding chorus of "fuck the haterz".

though i do think it's cool how that record forces people to take a stance on it one way or the other.

[elpollodiablo]

Andrew, I know you and I have bristled at one another in the past, but yes: I agree wholeheartedly with both you and jeb. Fuck the hating haterz.

[Bernard]

One album from 2004 has crushed all the others from my memory, such that I can recall only a few of their names. It is Lhasa's The Living Road, a torchy, ghostly collection of songs sung in Spanish, English, and (Canadian) French. They vary from worldweary to coy to spooky but are consistently heartrending. I saw her perform a few songs in a record store with only a guitar for accompaniment, and she's one of those singers whose soul jumps out of her body when she sings and grabs you by the throat. If I had to compare the sound to anything, I'd describe it as a cross between Night Owls and Chavela Vargas. I wish I knew enough to be able to identify all the instruments she uses, and for that matter, I wish I smoked and drank whiskey and stayed out late in dark, mysterious clubs, where one day a stranger might challenge me with a knife, because these songs deserve that kind of setting. I've played this album through for hours on end, three or four nights a week, ever since I got it back in August.

[jebreject]

also, i understand why some don't like joanna newsom, but i have to join with my man jebreject in a resounding chorus of "fuck the haterz".

HIGH FIVE!

Fuck the hating haterz.

And the hatehorses they hatefully hated in on!@

[elpollodiablo]

I hate to hate, and hate meets me as fast, and all my hate is like yesterday.

[elpollodiablo]

I've resisted as long as humanly possible... I just...can't go on living the lie.

Xiu Xiu... they're... *sob* fucking wonderful.

My new single of the year: I Luv The Valley

[kathryn]

my list is here.

honorable mentions: a.c. newman, the futureheads, dios malos, the good life, the wolf parade.

disappointments: rilo kiley, and q and not u.

[Matos_W.K.]

ALBUMS
1. United State of Electronica (Mannheim)

YES!!

. . .

[ps: that joanna newsom is a little godawful.]

clearly we need to hang out.

[TheNames]

Another revision, put Felix Kubin's Matki Wandalki ahead of that streets album.

[WhereTheSlimeLive]

This year, no record shook me up and moved me as deeply as this one:

Jason Anderson New England

Being a New Englander with some pride in my local, I was wondering if there is any greater connection to the region beyond it's title