I'm sorry for 2004

Both the roommate and I have work tomorrow for the first time in over a week (I'm going to plead birthday celebrations) and as we are getting ready to head off to our respective beds all of the fire trucks in Brooklyn are suddenly parked outside our neighboring building. Firemen are wandering around downstairs with hoses and flashlights and it looks like something is wrong in the basement--like the pipes burst or something. Instead of going to bed (which I can't do because I have loud trucks, bright lights, and 15 men in uniform downstairs from where I sleep) and since I'm too lazy to actually go down stairs in the cold and the snow and see what is going on (hey, I figure if my building was on fire, someone would come up and tell us, right?), I thought now was a perfect time to finally put my BEST MUSIC OF 2004 LIST out there. After all, my 27th birthday was officially yesterday (hell, it's after midnight so really my birthday was 2 days ago!) and 2004 has been over for more than 25 days so the statute of limitations on my list had really run out. Plus now that every single magazine and blogger has had a go at it, I figured it was time to point out where everyone went wrong.

But first.....some important news.
--Billboard is reporting that the lineup for Coachella is finally getting solidified. (I told you Rilo Kiley were going to play!!!)

--According to NME, the new Beck album is forthcoming (they say it's being released in the UK in the middle of March, so it must be getting a US release before then) and that he's returning to his older, harder, funkier sound (at least funkier and more aggro than the sweet mushfest that was Sea Change). Jack White plays bass on one song, so you know I'll be buying the damn thing. (Speaking of Jack White....do you think he can sue that douchebag in the red eyeshadow that fronts My Chemical Romance for stealing his look and making it infinately lamer?)

--There are still tickets for the Low shows at Bowery Ballroom next week. Snap them up quick. Their new album is their loudest (um....that is relative to the slowcore exercises in quiet that they usually call albums) and most accessable pop record ever. While that might be bad news for their old fans, I think the people who booed them off the stage at their slot opening for Radiohead at MSG will be rethinking those catcalls and running out to buy it.

--Unfortunately this big old snowstorm that kept me and the roommate homebound all weekend also kept a lot of people from joining Ozzy Osborne at his Tsunami benefit recording of "Tears in Heaven" by Clapton. Um....Prince of Darkness, I think God is trying to tell you something..... Speaking of Ozzy though, my little sister is slated to be drunk and bikini-clad in next week's episode of the Osbornes. She met Jack in Hawaii while on vacation last winter. Dude, I'm so staying home and taping that on Monday!!!

OK....Rebecca's Year in Music 2004:

Best Album: (in no particular order)
1) The Thermals- Fucking A
I have been pretty vocal about my love for this Portland punk trio, so it should be no surprise that they made my list. They played New York like three times this year and I saw them twice. Hutch is totally going to be the father of my babies. I know that everyone peed themselves about Green Day's grown up, political brand of punk (and American Idiot is a good album) but this album gets my vote for best punk song about our current political situation ("God and Country").

2)The Killers- Hote Fuss
Duh.

3)Franz Ferdinand--s/t
By January of last year I was already obsessed with their EP, but their self-titled debut really blew me away. White boys from Europe haven't had such a good year with rock that you can dance to since Madchester! I mean "Take Me Out" alone is like three amazing songs and tempos rolled into one. It was nice to remember that popular music was intended to be danced to.

4) TV on the Radio--Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
There are so many reasons to love this band. They won the Shortlist. They are from Brooklyn. They embrace electronic textures but use complex vocal harmonies not heard since the doo-wop era. They are like the first multi-racial indie band since, sadly, Bad Brains. Plus the music on this album is so rad and textured and interesting and dancable that you don't notice how smart and politically-charged the lyrics even are until the 25th listen!

5) Arcade Fire- Funeral
So much has been written about this album that I feel like there is nothing left to say. This album defies genre with an infusion of Ren Faire strings, icy Montreal winters, indie rock guitar fuzz, complex meter changes, and unabashedly romantic swooning songwriting.

6)Rilo Kiley- More Adventurous
Did I mention that I want to be Jenny Lewis? Quasi-folk music hasn't been this sexy since Bob Dylan in "Don't Look Back." The songs on this album (along with Lewis' sweet, perfect alto) break my heart every time I listen, but like the instince to press on a recent bruise, I can't stop listening to them.

7)Elliott Smith- From a Basement on a Hill
Smith's friends did an amazing job assembling and mixing his delicate, fierce final album. Because of its post-humous release, it is hard not to hear this record as a cry for help or through the prism of his untimely passing. But even with lines that drip with junkie pain (like "OD on Easter afternoon, My momma told me 'Baby stay clean, there's no in between.'"), this album overcomes its deathly burden and with sharp poetry and shimmering harmonies from the John/Paul school of songwriting.

8)Secret Machines- Now Here is Nowhere
It makes me violently ill when people claim that this album is like Pink Floyd. Mostly because I love this album and I hate Floyd. And while "Now Here is Nowhere" is undeniably prog-ish and good to get stoned to, I like to think of the Secret Machines more like the love child of early Led Zeppelin and the Flaming Lips. If that love child were fronted by Andy Bell from Ride.

9) TIE Dogs Die in Hot Cars- Please Describe Yourself and the Futureheads-s/t
Clearly I love XTC. I must if these bands are some of my favorite of the year. DDIHC, aside from having the worst name in rock, use close, dissonant harmonies and jagged keyboard lines to make their wry, infectious, arty pop. The Futureheads take XTC's pop and merge it with the driving Brit-punk style of the Jam. Both albums never get old. If I had a car or ever drove, these records would constantly be in the CD player. I could drive cross-country with just these two albums as my soundtrack. They are sunny but angular. Retro but decidedly futuristic. Sweet and salty. Perfect.

10) TIE Electrelane- Power Out and Junior Boys- Last Exit
Though I am not ashamed of my pop leanings, every once in a while you need to inject your sugary diet with some good-for-you spinach-like artiness. These albums weren't my favorite on first listen, but like sushi (that I learned to love and crave for its unusual texture and fresh taste--though I can't eat it anymore since I got food poisoning from it....but that is another story) I began to crave them all of the time. Though the lushness and easily-identifiable catchiness of pop is always enjoyable, these two records were the most rewarding that I heard all year because they always sounded different to me. On each listen I noticed a new texture or rythm or drone. Electrelane swathes their minimally-sung guitar art in Stereolab's twee vocals, Lilliput's girl punk edge, and lots of vintage Farfisa organ. Yummy! Junior Boys are the Canadian equivalent of the Postal Service if the Postal Service were more spare and missing Ben Gibbard's pop sensibility. It is electronica with an emotional edge. Its synth pop without the pop warmth. It's British "garage" without all of the unintelligible singing shitty rave fashion.

SINGLES:

Alright, its late so I'll be brief. I'm sure you know these songs. If you don't, get on the iTunes music store and download them.

1) Wonderful People- Q and not U
There whole album is great but this song- with its DC punk guitar and funky Prince vocals- is a slow jam for the Dischord set.

2) What U Waiting For- Gwen Stefani
I admit, I like this song. So sue me. It is catchy and makes me dance in my living room. But the rest of the album sucks ass. (Must you name drop every name brand you own, Gwen? So tacky!)

3)Mr. Brightside- The Killers
Duh. I was wondering when they'd release this single. It was the first single in the UK, but the second one here. Don't matter. It drips with jealousy and new wave cool over slithery synth lines. Eric Roberts still freaks me out though.

4) Toxic- Britney Spears
I admit it. This fucking song won me over in the end with its creepy violin and computerized Cher vocals. Fuck it--it's the best dance track of the year. And I think the Grammy committee will agree with me.

5)Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand
The second best dance song of the year. It is three great dance rhythms rolled into one insanely catchy, new millennium disco jam.

6)Slow Jamz- Twista, Kanye West, and Jamie Foxx
This song is great--from its slow jam shout outs to Kanye's bump n' grind production. Hell, even Jamie Foxx's vocals are good. If you don't like a song that contains the lyrics, "Got a light-skinned friend looks like Michael Jackson, got a dark-skinned friend looks like Michael JAckson" than you've officially been born without a sense of humor!

7) Histoy- Controller.controller
Yeah it was only a single in Canada but just wait til they release their full-length debut. Every hipster in Brooklyn will be out searching for it. It has angular guitars, Siouxie Sioux vocals, and disco punk drum lines that'll make you dance. I dare you not to like this.

8) C'mon C'mon- the Von Bondies
I don't really like this band and was secretly proud of Jack White's balls for beating up Jason. When this song was first released, I didn't really love it but sadly, as it became the theme song to the HBO ONDemand channel this summer, I became obsessed with it. It is just good catchy garage rock. Sorry, Jack. I can't help myself.

9) TIE Irish Blood, English Heart/ The World is Full of Crashing Bores- Morrissey
Moz put out a great album this year and that is something he hasn't done since I was in high school, but these singles are standouts. His best songs since "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get." They contain lines that feature Mozzer's trademark (oft-quoted) wit like: "I've been dreaming of a time when, The English are sick to death of Labour, And Tories, and spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell, And denounce this royal line that still salute him, And we'll salute him forever." Plus, when I saw him at the Apollo he dedicated "Bores" to GW Bush. That was hilarious.

10) I'm torn between Yeah (every other critic's favorite song of the year) and Float On (the song that finally broke Modest Mouse into the mainstream) for my last single pick of the year. Neither song is perfect. I love Lil Jon's production and Ludacris' rap on Yeah, but Usher's singing is bland and uninteresting and adds nothing to the song. You could put out a track of the song's bassline and it would sell a million copies without his annoying breathy croon on it. And Float On is not my favorite Modest Mouse track (hell, it's not even my favoriet Modest Mouse track that came out this year). And the teenage rock fan in me is crying sellout over their major label ties and their expensive videos and their MTV rotations. But I'm trying to keep the 14 year-old purist inside of me quiet. She's really annoying. This song is catchy as hell and actually features Isaac Brock singing--something he rarely does (especially on key!). I try to tell myself that success for Modest Mouse is a good thing. It means that more people are liking stuff that I think is good--not that stuff that I think is good is lowering its standards to be liked my more people.


Use the comment box to fervently disagree with everything I've said here. What are your favorite tracks from this year? What album can't you live without? I'm sure there are a bunch of Kanye West fans out there (since I'm like the only person who didn't pee all over themselves to proclaim his the best album of the year), but in my defense.....I like him, I'm just put off my his Jesus song.

Maybe (since I'm such a fan of lists) I'll use my next posting to write about my LEAST favorite albums and songs of the year.....Any suggestions?