These would be albums that came out in 2004 that you weren't already anticipating. You found out about it via word of mouth, a review, show, year-end list, and was pleasantly surprised. Here's mine so far:

Blanche * If We Can't Trust The Doctors (Loose Music/Vinyl Junkie)
A husband-wife duo not unlike Handsome Family. Not only does Dan Miller's rich baritone resemble Brett Sparks, but their subject matter is similarly steeped in southern gothic Americana. The main difference, is that Blanche draw on more uptempo honkey-tonk, rockabilly influences, and sound a little more fresh and fun. They toured with White Stripes, but I just found out about them in Uncut.

Andrew Morgan * Misadventures In Radiology (Broken Horse UK)
Yet another budding symphonic pop genius currently based in Chicago. Born in Kansas, he's also lived in New York, Los Angeles and Oxford. He spent five years making his first album, and is only 25. Comparisons can be drawn to Elliott Smith and Plush. Misadventures... is a night time album, the songs blend into each other, linked by dreamy soundscapes. It's very pretty, and he's already nearly completed with a second album.

Ray LaMontagne * Trouble (RCA)
At first listen it sounded too much like 70s easy-listening like Gordon Lightfoot and Elton John. Produced by Ethan Johns, LaMontagne's talent breaks through the conservative surface on repeated listens with some pretty passionate songwriting that brings Van Morrison to mind.

Micah P. Hinson & The Gospel Of Progress (Sketchbook)
Texan songwriter writes about some downbeat things, produced lushly by The bi-coastal Earlies team.

I expected to be wowed by some fresh electronic stuff but haven't been duly impressed so far. DJ /rupture's latest was a little disappointing.

Heard some really nice comments about that Ray LaMontagne album from a variety of people, some unexpected. Seems like it has some widespread appeal. Just about everything I hear these days seems to come a bit unexpected, but a couple favorites come to mind that don't seem to be getting much attention this year and coincidentally aren't listed on your site either (and I do love your site, btw )....

Old Canes - Early Morning Hymns
One of the CDs that I've been playing most in recent weeks is the new one by a band named Old Canes called Early Morning Hymns. It's actually a side-project of the lead guy from the Appleseed Cast, Chris Crisci. But instead of the indie-prog soundscapes that band excels at, this is acoustic folk-rock. And very good folk-rock that comes out sounding a bit more like something from Neutral Milk Hotel's modern indie-rock classic In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, except with the warmer and less abrasive voice of Crisci telling the stories. The more I play it, the more I like it. Really a fine album with nods to bluegrass and folk and avant-pop and many other music forms, but surprisingly unique and hard to describe. Pretty sure it's gonna be in my top few albums at year end time.


The Honeydogs - 10,000 Years
Kind of like a modern day Sgt. Pepper's in some respects. Conceptual with far reaching, intelligent lyrics, all wrapped in great Beatleseque melodies and elegant pop arrangements that also bring to mind Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. It starts out sounding quite a bit like classic Harry Nilsson. Then I think about Ben Folds or Jason Falkner or someone like that in the modern orchestrated pop field. And other times it reminds me a bit of something more rootsy by Ry Cooder or John Hiatt. Great production work by young veteran John Fields moves it far beyond the scope of most "indie" projects. It had a very limited release at the end of 2003 and then a full release earlier this year so should be widely available online. Technically, I guess that makes it a 2003 release, but I think only critics heard it last year. Anyway, it's on the Aimee Mann/Michael Penn United Musicians label so shares their ideals for adult pop along with other "grown-up" bands like the Jayhawks. The underlying lyrics is really where this one breaks out from the field with its "Brave New World" storyline. But the music is still more important than the concept and all the songs are fully capable of standing on their own. There's some Memphis-style soul here and there, as well as Middle Eastern, Brazilian and cabaret, giving the album lots of fun and interesting shifts in tempo. It did take a few listens before I really started to think of it as one of my recent favorites.

Dave Feeney from Blanche played on Van Lear Rose.

Sigmatropic - Sixteen Haiku & Other Stories - Akis Boyatzis (a founding member of Hum) put to music the poems of Nobel poet laureate George Seferis. Guest appearances by Catpower, Mark Eitzel, Edith Frost, Simon Joyner, Lee Ranaldo, Laetitia Sadier, Robert Wyatt, Mark Mulcahey, Alejandro Escovedo, Carla Torgeson, John Grant, Pinkie MacClure and several others. Has remarkable atmosphere and fluidity.

Tangle Eye - Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed - Rounder Records' Steve Billington and Steve Reynolds (with Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., bluesman Corey Harris, banjo player Tony Trischka, guitarist Jeff Raines and trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis) reworking Lomax's field recordings and putting Moby to shame. There are full-fledged gospel, blues, reggae, jazz and folk songs created here, with the orginal acappella vocals used as far more than just loops. A very moving, very spiritual album that manages to be at once blues, gospel and trip-hop.

diplo