but I gotta issue a top 10 for 2004 anyway. There are several 2004 albums I've just gotten (PJ Harvey, Singapore Sling, the Shemps) and many, many more I've heard either barely or not at all. Oh well. This shall always be the case so I suppose I should accept it.
I'll start with the honorable mentions: Budget Sinatra (local): Either Way I Win; Devendra Banhart: Rejoicing in the Hands; Detachment Kit: Of This Blood; Dios: Dios; The Libertines: The Libertines; Mission of Burma: On/Off/On; DJ Shadow: In Tune and On Time [CD/DVD]; Sons and Daughters: Love the Cup; Squarepusher: Ultravisitor; Tilly & the Wall: Wild Like Children.
10. Mountain Goats: We Shall All Be Healed
9. Earlimart: Treble and Tremble
8. Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse
7. The Sun: Did Your Mother Tell You? - I liked Love & Death but their second EP is better.
6. Wilco: A Ghost Is Born
5. Clinic: Winchester Cathedral - I wasn't so excited about this after downloading "Vertical Take Off In Egypt" from the website before the album came out... then again an instrumental was an odd choice as an introductory song.
4. Modest Mouse: Good News for People Who Like Bad News - Last year it was the White Stripes that made the list with their 4th best album (out of 4.) Who will it be next year? [The upcoming Decemberists album will only be their 3rd, same for Electrelane... hmmm UPDATE: Tullycraft's upcoming will be their 4th. So they're in the running.]
3. Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous
2. Interpol: Antics - My favorite is "Take You on a Cruise." Usually.
1. Electrelane: The Power Out - I've talked about this album and this band a lot. 11 songs; 2 instrumentals, 1 in French, 1 in Spanish with lyrics taken from Juan Boscan and 1 in German with lyrics taken from Nietzsche... and this is a very reasonable progression from the first album which was almost entirely without vocals.
I saw 6 of these bands live in 2004; I last saw the Mouse in November 2003 (next time is a month away); Mountain Goats and Wilco were both September 2003 (in seperate, extremely different, shows.) I have not yet seen The Sun [ISTINAH.] I considered the possibility of doing a top 10 shows/sets of 2004... but the competition for that is ridiculous. The Cure, the Pixies, Interpol, Mogwai, Pretty Girls Make Graves... twice... each? The band I saw most in 2004 was Colorstore at 5 times... which was easy enough since they're local.
And that's all. As with last year I offer no movie list as I didn't see near enough to do so.
