2004: Ripped, Mixed & Burned
In keeping with last year’s precedent, I’ve been working hard on my response to Rich’s “End of the Year Mix CD Challenge” for over a month now. I think I’ve finally managed to get the sequencing and song selection just right, although I did have to completely leave out one of 2004’s most significant releases: Brian Wilson’s “Smile” (it has too many songs the flow into one another, and didn’t really match the rest of the material well enough).
Interestingly, this year all but 4 of my selections are available on the US iTunes Music Store, so I also decided to make the playlist available as an iMix (if you’re able to use the UK iTMS, I would bet that you’ll also be able to get three of the four remaining songs as well).
See below for a track listing and notes.
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Alone Again Or?
Calexico
Convict Pool [iTunes]This is a cover of a song by the cult 1960’s band Love, although I think it’s an improvement over its predecessor. While the original is a pretty (if slightly twee) faux-latin number, Calexico’s version is the real deal: an exhilirating mariachi romp complete with a rousing handclap section in the middle.
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I’d Rather Dance with You
Kings of Convenience
Riot on an Empty Street [iTunes]Thanks to Martin Pittenauer for turning me on to the Kings. I’m a sucker for slick pop production, so this song’s crisp violins and pristene piano solo hooked me immediately. I also find the lyrics, which question the whole business of chatting people up, pretty amusing.
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Time Is My Everything
Ian Brown
Solarized [iTunes]Ian Brown’s heyday as the frontman of the seminal Stone Roses may be far behind him, but hardcore fans like me will always find a place in our hearts for his (sporadically great) solo efforts. This album finds him fusing the acid house psychedelia that made him famous with a body-rockin’ pop sensibility worthy of Justin Timberlake. And I say that completely unironically.
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NARC
Interpol
Antics [iTunes]Interpol’s sophomore effort isn’t a huge departure from their fantastic debut (aside from the higher vocal mix and generally less dark-sounding songs), but that’s a good thing. “NARC,” an atmospheric, mid-tempo tune featuring a soaring chorus and the band’s signature icy guitar sound, stands out to me as one of the album’s finest moments.
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Hyperballad
Twilight Singers
She Loves You [iTunes]Former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli (one of my all-time heroes, as anyone who knows me well has undoubtedly heard me remark) has long been known for brilliant reinterpretations of songs as diverse as TLC’s “Creep” and Henry Mancini’s “Moon River.” So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that his current band, The Twilight Singers, was doing an entire album of covers. Their dreamy, downtempo, guitar-based recording of Bjork’s electronic anthem “Hyperballad” stands out as one of their most daring material choices, and, I think, one of their best.
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All the Wine
The National
Cherry Tree [Amazon]It’s finally happened: my little brother is turning me on to new music. And boy howdy, did he make a hell of a find with The National. Their stunning 2003 album “Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers” became one of my most played albums in 2004, and they followed it up with an EP that contains what may well be my song of the year. “All the Wine” is one of those tunes I never get sick of because it always puts me in such a fantastically upbeat mood. A celebration of near fanatical self belief (“I’m a perfect piece of ass,” “God is on my side,” etc.), it amply demonstrates why frontman Matt Berninger is often compared to the aforementioned Greg Dulli. I think The National, more than any other band I’ve heard in a long time, has the mark of greatness.
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At Least That’s What You Said
Wilco
A Ghost Is Born [iTunes]I’ve always admired Wilco’s song “Misunderstood” (from their double album “Being There”) for its dynamics: a soft, piano-backed opening darkly hinting at a seething cauldron of emotion that finally erupts toward the end. The opening song on the bands new album is made from the same material. Definitely my loud/quiet song of the year.
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I Live to Fall Asleep
Manic Street Preachers
Lifeblood [Amazon]The reception to this album was pretty lukewarm, and I’m sure the critics will never stop slagging the band off for failing to produce another “The Holy Bible,” but that’s OK because I think their new stuff is soulful and beautiful, even it it’s not officially cool of me to think so. No one writes a better pop song about depression than the Manics, and this pretty, catchy number is proof.
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Cry Yourself to Sleep
Charlatans
Up at the Lake [Amazon]I first heard this song at a fairly emotional time last year, and, what can I say, it struck a chord. I’m a sucker for three-part harmonies, and this sad, haunting ballad has some beautiful ones.
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Another Devil Dies
Badly Drawn Boy
One Plus One Is One [iTunes]I tend to agree with a lot of the critics about Badly Drawn Boy’s newer work: like Paul McCartney before him, he seems to have lost a lot of his interesting, experimental edge as he’s settled into domestic bliss. “One Plus One” contains a lot of what I would call filler, but Damon still manages to pull off a few truly great songs. “Another Devil Dies,” a clever cabaret-style number (complete with the noises of clinking glasses, dropped silverware, and a clever burst of applause as the audience recognizes the tune after the piano intro), proves that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor or ear for a good tune.
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Fragile
Mansun
Kleptomania [Amazon]Nick Hornby wrote in his Songbook that every serious music fan has a band that they champion but that nobody else pays any attention to. For me, it’s Mansun. Their debut album did very well in the Britpop-era UK, but their followups have generally been too weird to win them anything more than a fanatical cult following on their native shores and utter obscurity in the US. I actually met them once, after they generously agreed to put me on the guest list for a show they played at the Oxford Street Virgin Megastore in London during my family’s first trip to the UK. Since then, I’ve been fanatically devoted to their cause (in fact, the name Sci-Fi Hi-Fi comes from the band’s own indie label).
Unfortunately, the band broke up a few years ago, in the middle of recording their fourth album, which was finally released late last year after Internet fans took up a petition. I suppose it’s probably a fans-only affair (a lot of the songs are unfinished, and only have rough guide vocals, for example), but for someone like me, who never expected to get another Mansun album, Kleptomania was like manna from heaven.
Fragile, a typically odd, conspiracy-minded tune (“When Bilderberg will reign supreme, you’ll realize your votes were jokes”) with a chorus melody reminiscent of TLC’s “Waterfalls” and bizarro, jazz inflected lead guitars, is one of the more finished-sounding songs on the album, and certainly one of my favorites.
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Daylight Goes
Grand National
Kicking the National Habit [iTunes]I serendipitously discovered Grand National through Metacritic, and their debut album rapidly became my number one summer jam. The best way to describe their sound is to say that they are to The Police what Interpol are to Joy Division and The Stills are to…uh…Echo & the Bunnymen or something. That is, they manage to be strongly reminiscent without coming across as overly derivative.
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Through the Walls
RJD2
Since We Last Spoke [iTunes]An infectuous Cars pastiche from the maestro of underground hip-hop.
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The Last Blast
Blue States
The Soundings [iTunes]A dreamy, Underworld-esque electronic/acoustic track with a big, manic finish, providing a good climax for the compilation.
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Universal Traveler
Air
Talkie Walkie [iTunes]A pretty chill-out track to wrap things up.