20.
The Streets – A Grand Don't Come for Free
First, the surprise: I do believe Mr. Skinner's proficiency in spitting has decreased, from
Original Pirate Material to the above, his second album. I must be one of the few to believe it, too. But all that is not to say the performer's ability to weave a compelling narrative has flown the coop with his quick-silver verbiage - in fact, it's vastly improved, and the album as a piece is probably the least jarring, most concise concept disc ever.
Plus, the Scooby-Doo denouement of the saga of the missing hundred thousand pennies is priceless. I must recommend this - but maybe not “Blinded by the Lights.” What I see called out as nigh everybody's favorite track is really rather bland to me: the muted swirl of guitar beneath the slurred vocal; Pedro the Lion did that better with To Protect the Family Name. My preference leans to the title lead, “Not Addicted,” “Get Out of My House,” and “What Is He Thinking.” Maybe I just need to drop more e, though…?
Monty
19.
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Shake The Sheets
Finding the music of Ted Leo about two years ago might just be the best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world. Seriously. Well wait, that statement might not be entirely accurate. While finding the music of Ted Leo is fantastic and one of the coolest things ever...finding the PERSON Ted Leo is in fact, probably the best thing ever. Since the first time I listened to him, and I mean really listened to him and the songs he wrote, I knew that Ted Leo was something special. After listening to this album, and then seeing Ted live in concert, there is no doubt in my mind that Ted Leo should be the leader of the independent music scene; someone that almost all rockers should look up to. He's humble, he's hardworking, he's funny, he's a real person. He's been doing this for years and years, has a dedicated following, and has enough talent to sell his soul and make boring mainstream rock...but he won't. Ted Leo is a smart man, or so I like to assume. He's a political man who never gets overly preachy, and totally reminds me of one of my uncles. He seems like the one teacher you had in high school that was utterly cool, and makes you want to consider teaching for as your future profession. And the music, gosh. Ted Leo is like Elvis Costello but louder. Insane punk-inspired guitar work that is played to precision, the catchiest freaking songs ever...high pitched vocals that sound just like anybody singing. He's an amazing musician and in my opinion he seems like the most amazing person. That's what puts this album so high for me. It's not his best album (
Tyranny of Distance, anyone?). But it is still fantastic. The opening track "Me & Mia" is the best rock song of the year, or at least one of the catchiest and most fun to sing along to. And it features one of my favorite lines of the year too: "If you believe in something beautiful/Then get up and be it!" I probably listened to this album more than any other album this entire year, or at least "Me and Mia" more than any other song this year (save for maybe that Max Richter song). But that's not the only good song, it's just the beginning. From beginning to end it's one of the most fun records to sing along to and drive to and just casually listen to, and to play air guitar to. And he's definitely one of the best albums live. (meaning get off your ass if Ted comes to your city to play, and go see him). But the success behind this album isn't just the absurdly catchy hooks, or the socio-political and intelligently written songs. It's about the man. An average guy who loves music, loves people, and knows how to express himself. He's one to look up to. The leader of the indie rock scene, regardless of sales, regardless of hype, regardless of reviews. Ted Leo should be the rock world's adopted father. And the best part is that he's not an abusive one. He's the most wonderful father there is.
Contradiction
18.
The Futureheads – The Futureheads
British angst is a wonderful thing. It's spawned tons of bloody good music over the years, the latest of which is the gloriously spastic self-titled debut album from The Futureheads. Melding New Wave and Post-Punk with a dash of British Invasion, The Futureheads do much more than merely mimic their producer Andy Gill's touchstone band, Gang of Four.
Though their sound does owe a tremendous debt to U.K. rockers of yore, The Futureheads are also just as influenced by the artists of today. "Danger of the Water," for one, would sound right at home on a Beta Band album. The Futureheads manage to distill their litany of influences into a uniquely original sound, even when performing the album's only cover song, Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love." No less an authority than noted rural Maine DJ frostingspoon, who loves Kate Bush so much he had the restraining order professionally framed, must agree that The Futureheads have done his stalkee justice. This entire album is not so much a tribute or homage to British angst, as it is a celebration of every rambunctious Limey ever to step on stage with a chip on his shoulder and a pick in his hand.
Fractured Take
17.
Brian Wilson – Smile
It says a lot that this album has been so widely embraced by critics and fans after almost 40 years of obsession, speculation, and the general over-analysis of
Smile. One could argue the merits of the new recordings versus the old versions released on various
Beach Boys albums and traded among the different
Smile bootlegs, but ultimately it's a moot point. The songs were meant to be heard as a cohesive whole, and listening to
Smile reveals that this is the way in which they work best. This final, ‘official’ version allows for this in ways that homemade assemblies of the old tracks never could. Even though the Beach Boys' distinctive vocal harmonies are absent, and Brian Wilson's voice shows his age, the new recordings avoid sounding tired, hollow, or overly polished. Instead, modern production tastefully lends the album crispness and clarity while the compositions remain rich and buoyant. It's still a powerful and affecting piece of music in a world completely of its own, and we’re lucky to have it.
Drinky Crow
16.
Madvillain – Madvillainy
MF Doom mustn't sleep. How else could he have multiple releases every year? In addition to his nutritious solo effort in 2004, the villain/time-traveler/three-headed-dragon collaborated with producer Madlib, and just hearing about the pairing created massive expectations in the underground. Not only were the expectations met – they were exceeded: Doom's rolling, chorus-less lyrics connect perfectly with Madlib's jazzy beats and spastic channel-switching. This synergistic duo exemplifies everything that is right about indie hip-hop. The final stats: 2 men. 6 aliases. 22 tracks. 46 minutes, 23 seconds. It all adds up to one of the best records of the year.
Sketch
15.
Elliot Smith - From A Basement On A Hill
A funny thing has happened since being assigned the daunting task of reviewing Elliot Smith's final album.It has become my favorite. This man moved so many of us. He shared his tortured soul, allowing us to see in him those things we are afraid to see in ourselves. This was reported to be his
White Album. To me it is more akin to two other great final masterpieces,
Electric Ladyland and
Abbey Road. Like those records, this album consolidates the diverse strengths of its predecessors, while showing at least a glimmer of where the artist would have gone next. Songs like "Coast to Coast,” "Kings Crossing" and "Shooting Star" are like no place Smith has taken us before, where drums and cymbals crash and cascade and electric guitars abound. Many of these songs are his most Lennonesque yet, but as a guitarist, Elliot had become the equal of George, as the beautiful solo in "The Last Hour" attests to. At the same time, the eerily and perhaps purposefully prophetic, "Fond Farewell,” as well as" Ugly Before" and “Twilight" are all songs that somehow seem familiar and timeless the very first time you hear them. If only we could have reminded Elliot of David Bowie's immortal words before he plunged that knife into his heart. "You're watching yourself, but you're too unfair, You got your head all tangled up, but if I could only make you care.”
ElGuapo
14.
The Fiery Furncaes - Blueberry Boat (Rough Trade)
This album is often compared to some of the Who rock opera tendencies from the mid to late 60s - the Fiery Furnaces have said much of that music was influential on the making of the record. While that element is certainly present, I can’t help but think of Captain Beefheart whenever I listen to
Blueberry Boat. Both artists seem to have the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mentality when making music-but Blueberry Boat, like Beefheart at his best, remains surprisingly focused musically. In that way, it’s less like a terribly cluttered house than just a very ornate and busy one. Maybe not a place many would like to live, but certainly a cool place to spend a lot of time.
Aerodynamics
13.
Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
As much as I hate to admit it, Devendra Banhart is a hippy. He’s obviously a former art student, and his near-caricature voice and image must be contrived. And yet all of the weirdness and eccentricity in his music seems perfectly natural. Much like Tom Waits, we know he’s made an effort to sing that way, and we know he’s aping very familiar, traditional forms of music. It’s the end result that matters though, and it’s completely one of a kind. It simply works, especially with the unobtrusive, perfectly complementary production by M. Gira. The songs are close and familiar and yet stubbornly abstract and whimsical, and their sparse atmosphere on record highlights their earthy strangeness. So who cares if he can’t make up stories or even make much sense most of time? He brings songwriting back to the ethereal and the mysterious while keeping it warm and inviting. Even though the buzz around him has inevitably died down,
Rejoicing in the Hands is a record that many of us will keep coming back to for very long time.
Drinky Crow
12.
Drive By Truckers – the Dirty South
Some songs hit you so personally, seem so right for a specific time and place in your life, that objectivity goes out the window. Like the narrator of "Puttin' People On The Moon" my friend's wife died of cancer this past year while he struggled to provide for his family and afford the daily trips to Boston to be by her bedside. Mike's a carpenter by trade, but works as a delivery man for the benefits. The Trucker's songs have always reminded me of him, a working stiff who would never pay someone to fix his truck, writes country songs, and plays guitar better than you, but never gets to because he works too hard. The highlights on this record are too many to list. This band has three, yes three, of the best singers, songwriters, and guitar players on the planet, all at the top of their game here. These songs will alternately make you cry, laugh, pump your fist, and play your air guitar like its 1978 and you just saw Molly Hatchet open for the Outlaws. The Truckers have been by far the most consistently brilliant and hard working rock band the U.S of A has produced since Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crashed, but so much more so, because these songs are real as they come. American Album Of The Year. Hands Down.
ElGuapo
11.
A.C. Newman – The Slow Wonder
Just the notion of “New Pornographers = Canadian Pop Supergroup” has always rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, I understood singling out the elfin charm of Dan Bejar or the fem-country pipes of Neko Case, but had always dismissed A.C. Newman as a collaborator cursed with the semi-recognition steaming off any mid-90’s Sub Pop band. Yet, with the
Slow Wonder, Newman proved himself to be one of the purest pop songwriters around today, taking 33 1/2 minutes of a smooth-flowing “Greatest Hits Record” and doing everything short of playing minor-chord Sabbath-style riffs layered beneath the sheen of achingly near-harmonized Oohs and Aahs. Oh, wait, he does that. Twice. Once with a cello. Never mind… From the opening electrified bounce of “Miracle Drug” to the gentle, lilting dirge of “The Cloud Prayer”, each song lies next to each other like family sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner – each one obviously different, yet making complete sense sitting next to one another. I remember groaning audibly the first time I found the album to be over, a day this year I was compelled to listen to “Come Crash” on repeat for 2+ hours straight, and the fact that this CD has gone to work with me almost every day for the past 6 months. When it came to make out my first Shmoo poll after years of lurkin’ around these boards, I made sure not to forget
The Slow Wonder – obviously there are a few more than me that remembered it as well.
Slow Mersh
10.
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
This Midwestern folk/pop savant took a break from his 50-states project to help us explore life's deeper questions: Is there a God? Is Christ the way, truth, and the life? Is it pronounced "SOOF-yan?" While not as musically varied as
Greetings from Michigan (#30 in the 2003 Shmoo Poll),
Seven Swans finds itself exploring similar depths of emotion and real-life experience. Stevens uses his minimal starting arrangements and powerful crescendos to emphasize how religion can reflect universal thoughts and feelings. In that sense, his themes of both surrender and joy create an affinity with anyone who is willing to listen, regardless of faith.
Sketch
9.
Interpol – Antics
God, you guys would have loved to see this album not be on the list, wouldn't you? You would have loved for me to be like loads of other people this year, and tell you I hated this record, that Interpol had lost and that the promise they showed on their first album means nothing.........................Who are you people kidding?! I don't get why people are hating on this record and still loving
Turn On The Bright Lights. Yes, vocalist Paul Banks still sounds like an Ian Curtis clone, but what's wrong with that? His lyrics aren't the same. The music backing him isn't the same...and even if it was, if you had to take a
handful of bands who were actually worthy of covering, Joy Division would surely be on that list. So please, stop the freaking comparisons between the two bands. Joy Division is legendary, releasing two of the best albums I have ever heard before Ian's death...but stop moping. Ian is gone, we miss him, we love him, I understand. But it's time to move on. Paul Banks and Interpol are definitely helping us do that. The truth behind this album is, yes it is more pop than the debut. But what the hell is wrong with that? It just so happens that track #2, "Evil" happens to be one of the best single songs released the entire year, and definitely in the top 5 for amazingly catchy choruses. The instrumentation is tighter on this album, many of the songs are shorter and to the point...and for me, overall...this is a better album than their debut. Honestly, I don't understand where people are coming from saying that this album sucks. For me, there is really only one poor track on the album, and that is the opening one. And yet, I realize that it is the perfect opening for the album. Much of the guitar work is less overdrawn on this album, but Carlos' bass playing definitely makes up for it, and his interplay with the drums is really something that other bands should take lessons from. I try to look at this album from the point of view of someone who likes it, yet every single time I listen to it, I realize just how gosh darn catchy it is. I'll listen to it in bed, and I subconsciously start twitching my legs, and doing the old Ian Curtis seizure dance. The music is just really good...and it's probably the only ‘darker edged’ rock that my mom has enjoyed in recent memory. I think she wants me to burn this album for her. The point is, Interpol hasn't slacked at all with this album, they've become more mainstream accessible, and it fits them...because they will never blow up like pop stars, because of who they are. But their music...definitely good enough for TRL. Hardy Har.
Contradiction
8.
Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Like Bad News
Isaac Brock, and by extension, Modest Mouse, strike me as the incarnation of my romanticized view of the cantankerous and wary, but still generous and sociable, old codger that was my great-grandfather. Raised on the plains of Montana and Alberta, he lived rough, and got dirty working the mine-shafts, but there was a gleam in his eye and prickle to his wit that made you want to sit down and have a beer with him; maybe take in a rodeo, if you could get up to Calgary quickly enough, and the show was in town. This is what “Bukowski” and “Blame It on the Tetons” do for me. The gruff but literate lyrics, plus the occasional exotic - for indie-rock - instrumentation (Dirty Dozen Brass Band cameo, banjos) of this album really tear at me, and put me on a tear. (You don't want to see me cutting it (a rug) to “Float On”!)... Oh, and there's that one song that sounds like Everclear (the band, not the drink).
Monty
7.
Animal Collective--Sung Tongs (Fat Cat)
This record completely blew my mind. I remember hearing last summer that it was completely insane, one of the weirdest things ever recorded, difficult to get into, etc. The truth is it knocked me over immediately. In many ways, it’s hard to listen to this record as background music - it’s easy to get sidetracked and just sit completely unoccupied while
it plays. For an album with virtually no percussion, the music is quite rhythmic as the acoustic guitars take both a melodic and pulse-setting role. But what catapults Sung Tongs are the vocals-a little campfire, a little nursery rhyme, a little woods-chant, but consistently overflowing with exuberance. Coupled with the effective guitars, the album becomes a simple exercise that turns stunningly intricate. A beautiful record.
Aerodynamics
6.
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
The first song most of us heard from
A Ghost is Born was probably “At Least That's What You Said,” the lead-off track, but also the first song leaked on the web. My first reaction was: "well, that's clearly unmastered and a studio leak, it's so raw and unedited - can't wait to hear what O'Rourke does with it." That was the comfort level every prior Wilco release had lulled me into expecting - and they pulled it right from under me at the 2:10 mark of the first song. Instead of somewhat predictable - and enjoyable - comfort,
A Ghost is Born presents a very deliberate confrontation with the listener, the idea of Wilco, mortality, and identity. "How am I not myself?" goes the mantra from one of the year's better films and I suspect this is the album's underlying theme....
Oh but hey, it rocks! I can't think of another song released in '04, aside from maybe “the Rat” - and that has a darker tone - that makes me want to pump my fist and plain *rock out* as much as the "change" in “Spiders/Kidsmoke.” And not just to be content with rocking out, we get downright impressive guitarwork throughout the record - all very deliberate, intentional leads - but still the stuff that makes me want to pick up a guitar. And not to be outdone by the cerebral content, Wilco slips in some of their best pure pop songs with “Hummingbird” and “The Late Greats,” right alongside the "difficult" material of “Spiders” and “Less Than You Think.” Is it the album Wilco fans wanted? Maybe not, but this is what we have come to expect from Wilco since “Misunderstood” put the also-ran Uncle Tupeloisms of
AM to rest. But this is absolutely the album I wanted - something that dared to be difficult, restrained, confrontational, experimental, all while crafting solid, even traditional songs. It will be a long while before I hear another record this good.
KPH
5.
Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
In a year dominated by 80's retro, Iron and Wine captivated us by being gentle, serious, and sparse. With a newly polished, highly produced sound, the record sounded far removed from Iron and Wine's first record, but it did not detract from the excellent writing and hypnotic songs. The disc shows maturity and progression both through the use of new instrumentation and the comfort to let the songs have their space, and leads us to believe that (along with Damien Rice) Sam Beam may continue be the preferred soundtrack to our inner thoughts on quiet nights in these troubled times.
tthorn
And one more review:
Though Sam Beam has eschewed his prior "crappy four-track" aesthetic on
Our Endless Numbered Days, his style remains grounded firmly in the American folk and blues traditions. Even when touching on contemporary themes (such as the war in “On Your Wings”), he carefully maintains a subtly timeless feel, both lyrically and musically, in a time dominated by crude rhetoric. As comfortable writing a story as a melody, Beam narrates wistful tales of Southern life over delicate guitar-and-banjo arrangements that are simple but always striking. It’s enough to give the bitterest liberal some tenderness for the red states, if only for an hour or so.
Haq
4.
The Walkmen – Bows and Arrows
From the ash heap of Jonathan Fire*Eater and the Phoenix of
Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone, rose
Bows and Arrows, which – despite a personal bent for country-tinged brooders and monger rock - was my #3 album of the year.
Though the sonic crush of the opening drum line of “The Rat” seemed to define this album for many, it reveals itself through repeated listens to be far more than this one song. The slow sadness of “New Year’s Eve,” “Hang on Siobhan,” and “My Old Man” reveal “The Rat,” and the album to be what it is: one of those Springsteen songs that is so catchy you can’t help but freaking out in your living room or car every time it’s on, but whose heart is so dark Joseph Conrad would shutter.
LooGAR
3.
Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
In the course of a year they went from playing to a smattering of art school drop outs in an abandoned warehouse in The Gorbals to sell-out tours, awards aplenty and a couple of million LP's shifted. Yep, 2004, it has to be said, was very much the year of Franz Ferdinand. Releasing the best cross-over single in ages helped, but the real cornerstone of Franz Ferdinand's success was their self-titled album which proved there was plenty more where “Take Me Out” had come from. “Josephine”, “I'm Cheating On You” and in particular “Michael” brimmed with the same magic and while their 'jagged guitars with dance-floor beats' sound was hardly original, great songs and impeccable influences (Blondie, Eno, Televison) [ed: and fashion!] fortified with the spirit of their Celtic forebears (Orange Juice, Fire Engines) produced one of the great albums of the year. "Ich heisse super fantastische" indeed.
KonstantinL
2.
TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Featuring more highlights then an OPA-robotboy flirt thread, TV On The Radio delivered on the promise of their
Young Liars EP with more genre-bending doowop-post punk-electronic-soul music. TVOTR don't really sound like anyone else right now, and that is probably the biggest compliment a band can receive in these days of regurgitated music.
Spinning Plates
1.
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Despite all the hate against the hype, results show that we here at CMJ/Obner love this record. Through a wide array of instruments, complete and utter chaos on stage in their live performance (if you were lucky enough to get a ticket to any of their sold-out
shows), and frontman Win Butler’s powerful vocals and lyrics (
Ice has covered my parent’s eyes/don’t know how to see/don’t know how to cry in “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”), Arcade Fire’s
Funeral reveals a band emotionally distraught at the recent deaths of family members and the duality of embracing this while at the same time learning to enjoy life. Their energy and raw emotion that is poured into this record
definitely makes it remarkable. Aside from the fact that this Montreal band are a bunch of geeks in ties and the redhead looks like
Napoleon Dynamite (and no, it’s not him you idiots!), and the over-hype, one has to admit: Arcade Fire is definitely one of the great new bands of the past year.
Pumachik
