2004: Favorite Music

Better late than never! Here are my favorite albums of the year, with mp3 downloads, as available. An asterix (*) denotes favorite tracks. Albums frequently exchange spots as my true favorites emerge with time and endless repeat listens. And, as always, I'm certainly forgetting some stuff.


Favorite Tracks of 2004:
1. The Arcade Fire - Crown of Love
2. Fiery Furnaces - My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found
3. Modest Mouse - Float On
4. Air - Run
5. Monster Magnet - Unbroken (Hotel Baby)
5. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
6. Max Richter - Shadow Journal
7. Phantom Planet - Knowitall
8. Peter Adams - More Than You Know


Favorite Albums of 2004:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Sorry to be so unoriginal. So much has already been written about this acknowledged masterpiece of modern rock that I could hardly add anything meaningful. Heartfelt, refreshing, gorgeous. There are no excuses for missing this one.Listen:
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

Track Listing:
1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)*
2. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)*
3. Une Annee Sans Lumiere
4. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)*
5. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)*
6. Crown Of Love*
7. Wake Up*
8. Haiti
9. Rebellion (Lies)*
10. The Backseat

Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks

Brian Eno and Philip Glass, watch out! Max Richter is playing now, and he's not doing anything tricky or unusual; he's just playing a solid game. 'Shadow Journal,' BTW, might be one of the best songs I've ever heard. Time will tell. Welcome to the party, Max. Drink as much as you like - it's on me.Track Listing:
1. The Blue Notebooks
2. On The Nature Of Daylight*
3. Horizon Variations*
4. Shadow Journal*
5. Iconography*
6. Vladimir’s Blues*
7. Arboretum
8. Old Song
9. Organum*
10. The Trees
11. Written On The Sky*

Kasabian - Kasabian

The album whose every track I adore is extremely rare (even on this list), but this album is one of them. Kasabian writes a delicious blend of hipster-friendly electronic rock and post-punk grunge (without the 'grungy' sound) - except for the "(Interlude)" tracks, which are pure Vangelis. I can't wait for more, but I'd really like to see Kasabian push their sound over fresh ground on their next album, because this band has the rare talent of making 'daring' (as compared to most radio artists, not as compared to DAAU or something) music remarkably accessible and radio-friendly.Listen:
Stream entire first album

Track Listing:
1. Club Foot*
2. Processed Beats*
3. Reason Is Treason*
4. I.D.*
5. L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)*
6. Running Battle
7. Test Transmission
8. Cutt Off*
9. Butcher Blues*
10. U Boat
11. Reason in Treason [Jacknife Lee Version]

Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere

First of all, I'm baffled by comparisons to Pink Floyd. Now, about the music: this is a depressing album that washes wave after wave of emptiness over you. You'd be pummeled into a weeping, prostrate sack of sadness if it weren't for the bass and rhythm sections, which are just strong and consistent enough to carry you through. And on the other side, you're surprised to find you fondly recall your harrowing journey and how its familiarity and sense of community struggle uplifted you. For a great example of powerful songwriting, pay attention to how the slowly consuming, uncertain sorrow of the line "As leaves from modern trees..." in 'First Wave Intact' is followed by the quietly rising hope of "...Rest on walls like these."Track Listing:
1. First Wave Intact*
2. Sad and Lonely*
3. Leaves Are Gone*
4. Nowhere Again*
5. Road Leads Where It's Led*
6. Pharaoh's Daughter*
7. You Are Chains
8. Light's On
9. Now Here Is Nowhere

The Killers - Hot Fuss

I feel a bit like I'm admitting to a kiddie porn stash. In fact, I even derided this band in my review (below) of Blueberry Boat (which I wrote a month before I heard this whole album). But I don't care if they're popular or overrated or sellouts - the truth is that I like listening to this album - alot, actually - and that's all there is to it.Track Listing:
1. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine*
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. Somebody Told Me*
5. All These Things That I've Done*
6. Andy, You're A Star*
7. On Top
8. Change Your Mind*
9. Believe Me Natalie*
10. Midnight Show*
11. Everything Will Be Alright*

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

I just love it when music is as good as it is popular. This is an album wholly deserving of its sales numbers (a rare event), with a great number of interesting, thumping, catchy tracks. Franz Ferdinand excels at transitioning from one exciting passage to the next - never more evident than the transition one minute into 'Take Me Out.' Oh, and I don't usually watch music videos, but I could watch that one boxer punch that other guy in the video for 'Take Me Out' all day long.Track Listing:
1. jacqueline*
2. tell her tonight
3. take me out*
4. matinee*
5. auf acshe
6. cheating on you
7. this fire*
8. darts of pleasure
9. michael
10. come on home
11. 40 ft*

The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat

Whenever I want to hear my friends say, "Luke, what the hell is this? You're crazy, Put The Killers on." I play the title track on this album. Blueberry Boat is challenging, but rewarding. The title track, in particular, is conceived with a number of brilliant and varied sequences. And, I've been known to sing 'My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found' at the top of my lungs in the shower, in the car, and around the house.Track Listing:
1. Quay Cur*
2. Straight Street
3. Blueberry Boat*
4. Chris Michaels
5. Paw Paw Tree
6. My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found*
7. Mason City*
8. Chief Inspector Blancheflower
9. Spaniolated*
10. 1917
11. Birdie Brain*
12. Turning Round
13. Wolf Notes

Phantom Planet - Phantom Planet

I never cared for 'California' (now used as O.C.'s theme song), but Phantom Planet's next album was a radical and welcome departure from their previous work. Great licks, great textures, great vocals. The chorus to 'Knowitall' virtually throws me to the floor every time I blast it from my speakers (and really, there's no other way to hear it). Probably the biggest surprise from someone whose previous I was familiar with, and a infinitely more pleasant one than Metallica's St. Anger of last year.Track Listing:
1. The Happy Ending
2. Badd Business
3. Big Brat*
4. 1st Things 1st*
5. Making A Killing
6. You're Not Welcome Here*
7. By The Bed
8. Knowitall*
9. Jabberjaw
10. After Hours
11. The Meantime

Megadeth - System Has Failed

80s metal is dead. Nirvana killed it. That makes me very sad. Recent releases by ex-80s-rockers like Skid Row are horrible grunge or Nu-Metal offerings. But, what's this? Megadeth returns with more menacing thrash/speed metal, complete with killer riffage and blistering solos? I'm so there. Surprisingly, their best album in 15 years! Now, if only Metallica would follow up Master of Puppets, I might grow my mullet back.Track Listing:
1. Blackmail the Universe*
2. Die Dead Enough*
3. Kick the Chair*
4. Scorpion*
5. Tears in a Vial*
6. I Know Jack
7. Back in the Day*
8. Something That I'm Not*
9. Truth Be Told
10. Of Mice and Men
11. Shadow of Deth
12. My Kingdom

Air - Talkie Walkie

Air, masters of pop electronica ala Goldfrapp, triumphantly return with their best since Moon Safari. From the gorgeous 'Cherry Blossom Girl' to the shiver-inducing 'Run' to the head-swaying 'Surfing on a Rocket,' this is lusher than Lush. Still, there's no 'Talisman' here, and it's pretty similar to the rest of their albums.Track Listing:
1. Venus
2. Cherry Blossom Girl*
3. Run*
4. Universal Traveler
5. Mike Mills
6. Surfin' On A Rocket*
7. Another Day
8. Alpha Beta Gaga
9. Biological*
10. Alone In Kyoto

Honorable Mentions (no order):

- Vast - Nude
- Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung - Tub Gurnard Goodness
- Tears for Fears - Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
- Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse
- The Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
- Beatallica - Beatallica
- Pinback - Summer in Abaddon
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Lost Christmas Eve
- Futureheads - Futureheads
- Monster Magnet - Monolithic Baby
- TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
- A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
- John Debney - The Passion of The Christ
- The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows
- Interpol - Antics
- Razorlight - Razorlight
- Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
- Kaada & Mike Patton - Romances
- David Brookings - End of an Error
- Peter Adams - The Spiral Eyes
- Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy
- U2 - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
- Jon Brion - I &#9829 Huckabees
- Brian Wilson - Smile
- Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News

Alas, Haven't Heard Yet:

- Joe Stump - Speed Metal Messiah
- The Faint - Wet From Birth
- The Workhouse - The End of the Pier
- Magnitude 9 - Decoding the Soul
- Skeletons - Life and Afterbirth
- Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
- Les Georges Leningrad - Sur les Traces de Black Eskimo
- Battles - B EP
- Isis - Panopticon
- The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan
- Skygreen Leopards - One Thousand Bird Ceremony
- Willian Masinski - The Disintegration Loops
- Mission of Burma - OnOffOn
- Mirah - C'Mon Miracle
- The Plastic Constellations - Mazatlan
- Peter Himmelman - Unstoppable Forces
- Charlie Mars - Charlie Mars
- Jóhann Jóhannsson - Virðulegu forsetar
- Angra - Temple of Shadows
- Thievery Corporation - Outernational Sound

Sorry, Not My Thing (Mostly):

- Annie - Anniemal
- Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
- Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
- Les Savy Fav - Inches
- Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green is a Soul Machine
- Junior Boys - Last Exit
- Fennesz - Venice
- Bjork - Medulla
- Kanye West - The College Dropout
- Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
- M.I.A. - Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1
- Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
- The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
- Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
- Madvillain - Madvillainy
- The Streets - A Grand Day Don't Come for Free
- Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
- DJ Dangermouse - The Grey Album
- Sten - Leaving the Frantic
- Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
- Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
- Green Day - American Idiot

Bands Most Pimped by the Blogosphere in 2004:

1. The Arcade Fire
2. Franz Ferdinand
3. DJ Dangermouse
4. The Killers
5. The Kleptones

2004 was a decent year, but several newcomers had to save a wave of semi-stumbling veterans. For 2005, I think it's high time for bold new releases by Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Metallica, Xploding Plastix, Dream Theater, Coldplay, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Mew, Amon Tobin, and others, not to mention that infinitely delayed Guns 'N Roses album.