Year End Wrap Up
The 04 was an OK year for music. It certainly wasn't as good as 2003, but it did have its moments. 2004 was definitely better for live shows than last year. In terms of great albums, the year came up a little short. There were strong releases, but nothing really stood out. I don't think there were any great albums this year, compared to about 7 or 8 from last year. I guess everybody took the time to chill out. 2004 was also the year of the compilation with collections from Constellation, Kranky, Matador, Merge, Temporary Residence and my favorite - Kompakt.
One of the biggest drawbacks of 2004 was that I no longer had a record store in my county. As a result I resorted to a lot of internet ordering. I'm opposed to this idea, but I think it worked out rather well. I bought less CDs that I didn't like and avoided impulse buys of things I wouldn't like after a couple of months. The big downside is that I might have missed out on random new CDs that I liked for the cover art or the label. Oh, well.
Note: I'm really into alphabetical lists right now.
Top CDs of 2004:
01 Ab Ovo - Le Temps Suspendu
02 Arcade Fire - Funeral
03 Bardo Pond - 4/23/2003
04 Dan Friel - Sunburned
05 Fly Pan Am - N'Ecoutez Pas
06 Fires Were Shot - Solace
07 The Future Heads - s/t
08 Guided By Voices - Half Smiles Of The Decomposed
09 Interpol - Antics
10 Kinski - Don't Climb On And Take The Holy Water
11 Loscil - First Narrows
12 McLusky - The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire
13 The New Year - The End Is Near
14 Silkworm - It'll Be Cool
15 The Six Parts Seven - Everywhere And Right Here
16 Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
17 To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan
18 Windsor For The Derby - We Fight Till Death
19 Various Artists - Kompakt 100
20 Various Artists - Kranky Kompilation
This years reissues were good. Y'all know this.
Repeats:
01 Les Savy Fav - Inches
02 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
03 Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation
04 Olivia Tremor Control reissues
05 The Swell Maps - Trip To Marineville
I don't think that these were completely bad, but they all had flaws or were letdowns. On the otherhand, some of them did suck.
Worst:
01 !!! - Louden Up Now - I like the band, but the CD didn't cut it.
02 Adem Ilhan - Homesongs - I hate dudes with acoustic guitars. Also I hate bearded dudes with acoustic guitars even more. I was hoping for something like Four Tet.
03 Fennesz - Venice - When that one dude started singing, it was ruined. Morrissey wouldn't even touch those lyrics with a ten foot pole. Otherwise this is good stuff.
04 For Stars - It Falls Apart - Dull.
05 Seachange - Lay Of The Land - I don't think I ever finished listening to this because it was so boring.
06 Secret Machines - Nowhere Is Now Here - I liked the one song. I didn't see it was on a major label when I ordered it. Whoops.
07 Tortoise - It's All Around You - They used to be so good.
08 TV On The Radio - Desparate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - This isn't that great. It's good, but boring as all get out. That might be the trend of the year: boredom.
09 The Cooper Temple Clause - They were so shitty opening for the Rapture & Mogwai. I know this is out of alphabetical order, but it seems like where it should go.
10 Tom Waits - Real Real Gone - I'm a Tom Waits fan, but I ordered Rain Dogs and they sent me the new one. It really pissed me off because it wasn't the one I wanted.
The 04 was an OK year for music. It certainly wasn't as good as 2003, but it did have its moments. 2004 was definitely better for live shows than last year. In terms of great albums, the year came up a little short. There were strong releases, but nothing really stood out. I don't think there were any great albums this year, compared to about 7 or 8 from last year. I guess everybody took the time to chill out. 2004 was also the year of the compilation with collections from Constellation, Kranky, Matador, Merge, Temporary Residence and my favorite - Kompakt.
One of the biggest drawbacks of 2004 was that I no longer had a record store in my county. As a result I resorted to a lot of internet ordering. I'm opposed to this idea, but I think it worked out rather well. I bought less CDs that I didn't like and avoided impulse buys of things I wouldn't like after a couple of months. The big downside is that I might have missed out on random new CDs that I liked for the cover art or the label. Oh, well.
Note: I'm really into alphabetical lists right now.
Top CDs of 2004:
01 Ab Ovo - Le Temps Suspendu
02 Arcade Fire - Funeral
03 Bardo Pond - 4/23/2003
04 Dan Friel - Sunburned
05 Fly Pan Am - N'Ecoutez Pas
06 Fires Were Shot - Solace
07 The Future Heads - s/t
08 Guided By Voices - Half Smiles Of The Decomposed
09 Interpol - Antics
10 Kinski - Don't Climb On And Take The Holy Water
11 Loscil - First Narrows
12 McLusky - The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire
13 The New Year - The End Is Near
14 Silkworm - It'll Be Cool
15 The Six Parts Seven - Everywhere And Right Here
16 Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
17 To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan
18 Windsor For The Derby - We Fight Till Death
19 Various Artists - Kompakt 100
20 Various Artists - Kranky Kompilation
This years reissues were good. Y'all know this.
Repeats:
01 Les Savy Fav - Inches
02 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
03 Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation
04 Olivia Tremor Control reissues
05 The Swell Maps - Trip To Marineville
I don't think that these were completely bad, but they all had flaws or were letdowns. On the otherhand, some of them did suck.
Worst:
01 !!! - Louden Up Now - I like the band, but the CD didn't cut it.
02 Adem Ilhan - Homesongs - I hate dudes with acoustic guitars. Also I hate bearded dudes with acoustic guitars even more. I was hoping for something like Four Tet.
03 Fennesz - Venice - When that one dude started singing, it was ruined. Morrissey wouldn't even touch those lyrics with a ten foot pole. Otherwise this is good stuff.
04 For Stars - It Falls Apart - Dull.
05 Seachange - Lay Of The Land - I don't think I ever finished listening to this because it was so boring.
06 Secret Machines - Nowhere Is Now Here - I liked the one song. I didn't see it was on a major label when I ordered it. Whoops.
07 Tortoise - It's All Around You - They used to be so good.
08 TV On The Radio - Desparate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - This isn't that great. It's good, but boring as all get out. That might be the trend of the year: boredom.
09 The Cooper Temple Clause - They were so shitty opening for the Rapture & Mogwai. I know this is out of alphabetical order, but it seems like where it should go.
10 Tom Waits - Real Real Gone - I'm a Tom Waits fan, but I ordered Rain Dogs and they sent me the new one. It really pissed me off because it wasn't the one I wanted.