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Albums of 2004
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 23-Nov-05 @ 12:53 PM| Like our readers, AP's editors are one big, dysfunctional family whose members can only agree on one thing: Sure, we all worship different musical genres, and, yeah, some of us grumble privately about our co-workers' CD collections, but regardless of our differences, we can respect one another's passion to the sounds that move us. With that in mind, here are 10 of the discs that warmed our editors' hearts this past year. If we're doing this right, you'll argue over this list as much as we did when compiling it. |
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Converge You Fail Me (Epitaph,2004)  The most emo album of 2004 didn’t have a single whiny vocal, octave chord or reference to a John Cusack movie. Part two in a post-traumatic saga that started with 2002’s Jane Doe, You Fail Me is as naked and uncomfortably real as human emotion gets. Awash in noise and primitive energy, Converge’s latest is also as creatively next-level as metallic hardcore gets, which may explain why it also didn’t have a single guitar lick imported from Sweden’s underground.
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The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine (Relapse,2004)  The world wanted them to make another screamy, math-metal masterpiece, but Dillinger went with their hearts and, true to form, pissed off as many people as they converted with their second album. Miss Machine is a masterpiece of a different color: still math-metal at its core, still packed with screaming, but so ambitiously extended into new areas of melody, dynamics and atmosphere, it’s going to take the haters 10 years just to catch up before they kick themselves over what they’re missing.
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The Futureheads The Futureheads (StarTime/Sire,2004)  From the U.K. with love, the Futureheads are one of those rare outfits whose manic post-punk energy can make them appealing to the Warped Tour Nation while it simultaneously keeps them in vogue with both big-city hipsters and those middle-aged alt-rock fans who still get maximum mileage out of their XTC and Jam boxed sets. And the great thing is, the F-heads have no idea how incredible they are-they’re just here to play.
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The Good Life Album Of The Year (Saddle Creek,2004)  Tim Kasher’s depth and breadth of musical genius never cease to amaze me. Whereas Cursive are an outlet for Kasher’s rage, the Good Life provide a pipeline for his passion; and, not only does Album Of The Year triumph as a calendar for the lonely, but it also weaves a compelling-if sometimes schizophrenic-tale of love, loss and regret. See, Scott, I made it through the entire review without making some kind of punny remark about Album Of The Year being my album of the year. Oops! My bad. So close...
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Jimmy Eat World Futures (Interscope,2004)  It sucks, being jaded on music at the young age of 22. But just when I thought uninspired, fourth-rate Taking Back Thursday clones would take over the airwaves completely, these modest Arizonans revitalized my faith in music with their latest album. No band deserves mainstream success more than Jimmy Eat World, and Futures is the perfect curtain call to an already-stellar career.
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Mono Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (Temporary Residence, Inc.,2004)  When I was in fifth grade, I got mono and was bedridden for two weeks without video games or cable. If I had gotten Japan’s best (only?) instrumental guitar-rock answer to Mogwai instead, then maybe I wouldn’t still shudder every time I heard the word. I probably also would have avoided that short-lived gangsta-rap phase.
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Muse Absolution (Warner Bros.,2004)  Would you know a life-changing album the first time you heard it? I knew it with Absolution. The grandiose song structures; Matt Bellamy’s powerful falsetto; the bone-crunching rhythm section intermingling casually with piano minuets... Muse are the epitome of “power trio.” It’s only fitting this disc (yeah, we know it’s only a 2004 release in America...) came out on my birthday. Which is March 23, if you’re into buying presents...
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Say Anything ...Is A Real Boy (Doghouse,2004)  From the first notes of “Belt” to the last chants of “Admit It!!!,” Say Anything’s ...Is A Real Boy is a real accomplishment-especially for an album composed primarily of melodically off-kilter showtunes. (Think Rent, not Bye Bye Birdie.) Singer-songwriter Max “We Can’t Believe He’s Only 20” Bemis may be known more for the holes in his rehab punch card than for his unique storytelling ability, but that just adds to his band’s urban legend. I’ve got a front-row seat at the campfire, eagerly waiting to hear what happens next.
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The Secret Machines Now Here Is Nowhere (Warner Bros.,2004)  I could describe the Secret Machines’ musical breadth as being “like Pink Floyd, ambient-era Brian Eno and the Flaming Lips, held together by the spirit channel for John Bonham.” But the reason their new album ended up on my year-end list is because every song on this disc has fit perfectly into the soundtrack for my personal emotional arc over the past year. Everyone should have one record in their lives that completes them.
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Elliott Smith From A Basement On The Hill (Anti-,2004)  Call me a rock-critic turncoat, but I always thought Elliott Smith was kind of overrated: Sure, he had written a handful of amazing songs, but he’d never penned an amazing album-until now, that is. Smith’s swan song, From A Basement On The Hill, is heartbreakingly brilliant, filled with aching odes for a redemption that, sadly, fell short of arriving. Plus, Leslie already picked the Good Life...
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