Year End Lists
OK, so I’m a self-confessed music dork/obsessive, and former music critic, but I’ve never been of the High Fidelity-list-making mindset. I hate ranking apples in relation to oranges, and most music strikes me as even more exotic fruit that fits far outside the apple-orange spectrum anyways. Plus, I’m a right mercurial Gemini bastard, and my favorites change more or less daily, so a Top x of 2004, ranked and rated and set in stone for posterity, is not my style.
And yet, at the same time, I don’t write about music much anymore, and I wanted to do something to exercise myself again, so to speak, and reflect a bit on the year in music. So, Here’s an unranked, unordered assortment of albums and EPs that are my favorites, my most-listened to, my most-thought-about, and otherwise most-intriguing or noteworthy musical offerings this year.
2004 Releases:
Wilco: A Ghost Is Born
I was uncertain at first, but this quickly became my most-listened-to, and most-enjoyed album of the year. It was different, restrained and subdued upon first listen, but the more I listened to it, the more nuance I heard in the cracks. Precise and tiring as the chrome hell Tweedy describes, crisp and quiet and numb when it needs to be. Extra props for being one of the most dynamic records I’ve heard in ages. The opening track alone is like a revolutionary declaration against over-mastered rock albums.
The New Trust: We Are Fast-Moving Motherfuckers, We Are Men and Women of Action
I woke up one morning a few months ago with the opening track from this EP stuck in my head. On it’s own, that wouldn’t be unusual, but here’s the thing: I didn’t own any New Trust recordings, and had only seen them live twice, months earlier. That was when I decided I needed this EP. They may not be the world’s most accomplished band, this may not be the best recording ever, they may have some groan-inducingly joke-y lyrics, but they have a knack for writing some of the best pop hooks around. If it was possible to wear out an MP3, I would’ve done that by now.
The Americas: Statuette EP
The Americas played the most jaw-droppingly awesome live shows I saw this year, by a long shot, and this CD-R EP is an excellent document of the band’s style. Switching from echoing guitar patterns to truly thunderous rock at the drop of a hat, and twisting their way through time signature changes that would make Dave Brubeck wince, the Americas are more skilled and unique than any duo deserves to be.
Les Savy Fav: Inches
Technically not an album, but a collection of 7″ singles and B-sides released on disparate record labels over the band’s career, this is nonetheless remarkably cohesive. Intentionally so, according to the liner notes on the reverse, detailing the band’s insane plan to construct this collection of singles with interlocking cover art. Some of Les Savy Fav’s strongest songs are on this disc, as well as a few left-field experiments (such as the dramatic reading of “Reformat”). The atypical reverse chronological sequencing is excellent too, easing the band’s current fans into their older work and front-loading the disc with their best material.
Venetian Snares: Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding
I’ve never been a huge fan of Aaron Funk’s work, though I’ve always respected how prolific he is. I have to wonder if that’s due to an extreme work ethic towards his music, or just a low level of self-editing. With this album, you certainly can’t fault his methods, whatever they are. HCCBU is my favorite release of his to date, beating out the sinister Find Candace and the monumental single A Giant Alien Force More Violent and Sick Than Anything You Can Imagine, with a highly melodic, densely architectural take on his usual micro-edited style. The cover art and seemingly process-oriented sonic textures bring up inevitable Autechre comparisons, but this is more human and apparently hand-crafted than Autechre’s recent work.
Califone: Heron King Blues
This album combines bits and pieces of familiar and unfamiliar styles in ways that sound simultaneously like nothing you’ve ever heard, and something you’ve known all your life. Califone’s squalling backwoods grooves are like something that always should have existed, and it was just a matter of time for someone to come along and put together the right pieces.
Honorable Mentions:
Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
cLOUDEAD: Ten
Fennesz: Venice
the Magnetic Fields: I
Non-2004 Releases:
Previous years’ releases that have dominated my headphones in the past 12 months.
Dilute: Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape
The singer’s nasal voice and unconventional singing style take some getting used to, but everything else about this album is instantly appealing. Assuming you’re into twisted art rock, that is. The production is top notch, very airy and open, artfully and transparently mixed, in service of compositions that range from delicate and crystalline to thick and propulsive.
Hood: Cold House
I’ve had this album for a while, but it didn’t really grab me at first. Winter of this year really gave it time to grow on me, and sent me digging through their surprisingly vast back catalog. These guys have been around for about 2 decades, pushing their sound further and further with each release and bringing and increasing electronic influence to their productions. They deserve to be indie pop elder statesmen like the Flaming Lips or Sonic Youth at this point.
Serge Gainsbourg: L’Histoire de Melody Nelson
What collection would be complete without an album of lecherous French pop? Well, might I recommend this dark, depraved offering by France’s ambassador of sleaze? Oh, and if you want to hear where Beck stole his Sea Change string arrangements from…
Near-misses and Disappointments:
Bjork: Medulla
If anyone can actually pull off an all-vocal album, it’s Bjork. Unfortunately, she didn’t. Technically superb, with plenty of “how’d they do that?” moments and a lovely, spacious sound, but lacking enough really interesting musical ideas to sustain the concept. A boring song is a boring song, whether it’s sung by an Icelandic choir and beatboxers or played on a rack of electronic gear. I felt disappointed with Vespertine at first as well, but slowly grew to love it. But with that album, it was just a matter of discovering the heart buried beneath the icy sheen. With Medulla, the songs are chocolate rabbit hollow.
Squarepusher: Ultravisitor
Despite having what may be my favorite song of the year (“Iambic 9 Poetry”), and several other standouts, this album overall felt too scattered and inconsistent to really earn the status of a great album. The highlights are classic Squarepusher, in both breakbeat-terror and bass-wrangling modes, but there’s too much DSP noise filler on here to really make it’s 70+ minute length easy to swallow. Unlike Wilco’s 70 minute opus that almsot feels too short, there are too many skip-worthy tracks here.
Elliott Smith: From a Basement on the Hill
Posthumous releases are always a gamble, ranging from well-crafted musical eulogies to grave-digging opportunism. Most would agree that this falls far closer to the former. Although this album was almost completed by the time of Smith’s suicide last year, there are still a lot of uncertainties as to how the final version compares with his intended version. There have been accusations that some of Smith’s explicit instructions regarding track order and production choices were disregarded by the “Friends and Family” credited with finishing the album. That aside, the final result is a little uneven, which is somewhat jarring from an artist who’d previously crafted remarkably consistent records, whether on 4-track in a living room, or in huge LA studios. Chalk this one up as the nearest miss of the year, with songs ranging from great to decent, uneven production, and a cloudy and chilling history.
Modest Mouse: Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Modest Mouse almost succeeds here, taking bold leaps away from their ramshackle trailer trash past and into the brave new world of straight up Big Time Rock and Motherfuckin’ Roll. Unlike their previous full length, in which the boys went hog wild with massive amounts of gear and studio time that were previously unaffordable, here we have very straightforward performances with subtle flourishes. The restraint is nice, but the wild kitchen-sink experiments are sorely missed. That this sonic spartanism is coupled with the most pedestrian pop songs of the bands career doesn’t help. Sure, “Float On” is a triumph of pop simplicity, but it’s an unfortunately lonely high point. And here’s more good news…the three worst songs on the album are right in the middle, back to back. It’s a cliche at this point to call the big major label pop-chart breakthrough for an independent band the beginning of their slide into mediocrity, but if the shoe fits…
Telefon Tel Aviv: A Map of What is Effortless
I loved Fahrenheit Fair Enough for a lot of reasons. It had a warmth of sound and songwriting that’s sorely lacking from a lot of electronic music, and a pretty fresh and original sound. This album feels like a rehash of some of the same tones, with unnecessary vocals dropped on top ( the most egregious offender being the atrocious club anthem “My Week Beats Your Year”). It also sounds like every drum track on the album was built from the same Reaktor randomizing patch. Way to phone it in, guys.
a few things…
Modest Mouse. Ive always liked em but for the breakthrough record / can anybody say Talking Heads rip-off?
i also love TTA-FFE. The sound design is rediculously good and warm warm warm. not feeling the latest effort either. why do artists switch it up THAT much?? yikes.
i enjoyed reading this post :)
January 6, 2005 at 1:33 pm