Top 10 albums of 2004

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:20 am

I think it's about time! Summer mentioned this recently, and we got started on 2003's when it was still October...
So let's hear 'em!
These aren't really ranked...

The Arcade Fire - Funeral
They might not be as diverse as Broken Social Scene, but they've got enough soul to tide me over until BSS's 2005 album.

Karate - Pockets
Fantastic jazzy indie rock. I think they've finally solidified into a complete package with this record.

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart
Technically not coming out until January, but it was supposed to be out this month. You can download it though!

Detachment Kit - Of This Blood
They seem to get unfortunately lost in Les Savy Fav's shadow most of the time, but I really prefer this group more. Lots of creativity.

Dungen - Ta Det Lungt
Psychedelic rock from Sweden. Sounds straight out of the '60s, can't tell what he's singing, but it's all groovy.

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
This is the background music for when you are chasing bad guys through the harbor with your boat, and you launch over the jump and crash through a bunch of crates. Then you comb your hair and get into your talking car.

Pinback - Summer in Abaddon
This is what me and Summer were talking about. It's a bit repetitive but it's hard to complain when they're repeating perfect pop songs over and over.

Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
Most accessible work yet from these guys. Not quite avant-garde but enough to turn off almost all casual listeners. Lots of electronic blips and faintly structured melodies that disappear before you can grasp them, over harrowing lyrics.

Planes Mistaken For Stars - Up in Them Guts
Probably their darkest album so far. Certainly has their raspiest singing. Takes some constitution to listen to, but it works for those black moods.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Speak of Brave Men EP
I had previously recommended this band to others but never really dug them myself, until this newest EP. Really fantastic boisterous and jaunty quasi-swing rock songs with all sorts of odd influences and instrumentation thrown into the mix to form a solid core.

Honorable Mention: TV on the Radio's New Health Rock for the sole inclusion of the title track, their best to date. A Day in Black and White's My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys is pretty solid post-City of Caterpillar Level-plane dirge, as is the Malady album. Isis' Panopticon is pretty solid too.

What I want in 2005: New albums from Broken Social Scene, Postal Service, Menomena, the Robocop Kraus, Moneen, JR Ewing, Mars Volta.
Full albums from Akeboshi, W/FISociety.
For the Blood Brothers to stop making music please. For Interpol to do something that doesn't bore me to tears.

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 5:32 am

Here's mine, listed alphabetically by bands.

Second Storey - Art Of Fighting
Wonderfully melodic band from Australia. Seriously, the rest of the world needs to get a whiff of these guys.

Pressure Chief - Cake
Bleh, I've always liked them and probably always will unless they start sucking ass.

Universal Audio - Delgados
I never would have imagined that they would take such a pop direction when I was obsessing over Hate in 2002/2003, but with breathtakingly beautiful songs like "Keep On Breathing", "The City Consumes Us" and "Come Undone" (actually, those aren't really the poppy tracks, but whatever), I am in no position to complain.

Untitled - downy
Shoe-gazing music for the 21st century, with the volume turned up to the max. The lyric sheets are very much necessary, as their singer's enunciation of Japanese makes Murmur-era Michael Stipe's vocals sound as clear as a newscaster.

Koyoi Mo, Utakata Sagashi - Gymnopedie
Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a sucker for that Japanese retro pop/jazz sound (a la Mayumi Kojima). So sue me. Possibly my favorite album from this list.

The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye - The Hepburns
While the great Moz is claiming that Estonians think Americans are big fat pigs, these Welsh lads, clearly influenced by his old band, are evoking the Smiths' spirit in a much more leisurely and low-key way.

Rendezvous - Luna
Not to be mistaken with the shit Japanese band with a somewhat similar name. I refuse to believe that these guys are breaking up.

Summer In Abbadon - Pinback
Yeah, I figured that stephen would like them, Pinback being a San Diego band and all, but fuck me, I like this record too. Indie rock at its most infectious.

Antenna - Quruli
After years of being overrated, their music has actually caught up to their critical acclaim. Their new American drummer is absolute ace.

Answer - Supercar
There are times when I wonder if this album isn't (gasp!) better than their 2000 masterpiece, Futurama. Less fillers, and infinitely funkier and more psychedelic than Futurama ever was (as can be evidenced by the insane violins on "The World Is Naked", courtesy of that dude from Rovo).

Street Musician Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 530

I don't have much of a basis to choose from since I spend most of the time digging up things from the past years I didn't know about (which is a lot) but here are a few (in no particular order):

Delgados - Universal Audio
Personally I like their older, more indie-rock-ish albums better, but hell it's still not shabby. No sir.

Tokyo Sex Destruction- Black Noise Is The New Sound!
They're called "Tokyo Sex Destruction." How can they not be good? (In a really bad sort of way).

DJ Krush - Jaku
Somewhere between the earlier albums and the last few. People probably find it to be more of the same, but he still makes lots of evil-sounding beats I like.

GO!GO!7188 - Ryuzetsuran
Not as frenetic-indie-rock as their previous albums, but still damn catchy.

Air - Talkie Walkie
No comment.

Locofrank - Ripple
More catchy rock music sung in Engrish by a Japanese vocalist. Except in this case (unlike, say, the Beat Crusaders) the Engrish sort of goes well with the fairly straightforward music.

Yes I'm terribly sorry I am not an indie-rock connoisseur, but I'm betting on the next 2 or 3 people below me listing JPop and Anime OST's. Yes the list is not 10 albums long, I'll add something later if I think of it.

Street Musician Joined: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 302

stephen wrote:

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Speak of Brave Men EP
I had previously recommended this band to others but never really dug them myself, until this newest EP. Really fantastic boisterous and jaunty quasi-swing rock songs with all sorts of odd influences and instrumentation thrown into the mix to form a solid core.

There's quite a large traditional Yiddish music influence at play on this EP. Would have made my first had it been long playing. Have not met a single person who didn't conclude that this CD was simply too good to dislike.

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:11 pm

Right, those come to the forefront on "Fiend in Wein."

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:54 pm

Well, the only new albums I got this year were Einsturzende Neubauten - Perpetuum Mobile, and Tom Waits - Real Gone. Both good albums by people who have done so much better. For what it's worth, back in May I saw E.N. in New York and the new stuff was much better live than on the album.

Fan Boy Joined: 14 May 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Los Angeles

Fan Boy Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 28 Location: sxm

You guys already mentioned some great ones, so I will exclude them from my list.

Atreyu - The Curse
Lamb of god - Ashes of the wake
Alexisonfire - Watch Out!
The futureheads - self entitled
Hawthorne Heights - Silence in black and white
It Dies today - Chatif Choir

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:22 pm

i can't even think of ten great albums from the last ten years.

that's it.

Fan Boy Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 28 Location: sxm

because you (a) don't like the new music or (b) don't use bittorrent?