[music] notes: best of 2004

Best albums:

1st STATUESQUE - Choir Above Fire Below

Few of my favorite songwriters have ever made a record I liked right
away. But I tend to forget that, so every time I come home with a new
disc by Scott Miller, Franklin Bruno or Stephen Manning it disappoints
me at first, and when I grow to love it, I look back and feel dumb.

These days, Manning is the only one of the three still actively making
music. Which is why I'm overjoyed he hasn't stopped, and actually
seems to be getting more confident (if one can judge by the ease with
which he does difficult things-- the guitar-only "Safecracker" or any
number of songs that have five hooks AND far more lyrics in the verses
than you realize the first time around.)

   http://www.125records.com/audio/choirabove.mp3
   http://www.125records.com/audio/boysarelazy.mp3

2nd THE BLOW - The Concussive Caress / Poor Aim: Love Songs

The Blow would be here just for Poor Aim: Love Songs, a completely
perfect EP (7 songs, 16 minutes) of blippy indie-pop dance music and
frustrated desire, but The Concussive Caress (Or, Casey Caught Her Mom
Singing Along With The Vacuum) came out at the very end of 2003 and its
only real flaw was sprawling a little too much, which, in retrospect,
making a perfect EP absolves her for.

   http://www.statesrightsrecords.com/mp3s/Blow-Knowing.mp3
   http://www.krecs.com/mp3/theblow_whattomsaidaboutthegirls.mp3
   http://www.krecs.com/mp3/TheBlow_HowNakedAreWeGoingToGet.mp3

3rd SOFT PINK TRUTH - Do You Want New Wave, Or Do You Want The Soft Pink Truth?

Nine punk songs covered as tech-house dance cuts plus one Broadway tune,
created by Drew Daniel of Matmos with several of his friends from the
conceptual/low-art corner of the electronic music grid helping on vocals.
The most academic AND most ass-shaking record I heard all year. In
particular, it is delicious revenge to hear Minor Threat's straightedge
anthem "Out Of Step" ("Don't smoke / Don't drink / Don't fuck / At least
I can fucking think") performed as pure sex by Dani Siciliano (the
vocalist from some of Matthew Herbert's albums). The label doesn't have
any mp3s to download, but you should really read the liner notes:

   http://www.brainwashed.com/spt/chart.html

4th THE KILLERS - Hot Fuss

This band was what made me stop caring whether it was okay that Interpol
sounded like Joy Division or Hot Hot Heat sounded like The Jam or... it
doesn't matter.  All these bands appropriating post-punk from 20+ years
ago are made of people around my age, just young enough to have missed
this music the first time. To me, this is the sound of discovering
there's something better than what's on the radio-- and having it all
over the radio won't stop that.

Anyway, if Duran Duran had been more convincingly scruffy as well as
much shinier they might have sounded like this. If you've only heard
"Somebody Told Me", be aware that the rest of the record is NOT all a
ripoff of Blur's "Girls And Boys". I like the other tracks better,
myself.

5th THE FUTUREHEADS - The Futureheads

Which is not to say that dealing with bands' debt to the past is not
still complicated. I cannot stop thinking of XTC, Talking Heads, Wire
and others when I listen to The Futureheads. Their music is just enough
DIFFERENT from the sum of all those bands as to produce the kind of
incongruity which all of the above thrived on. You can hear the first
minute of every song at www.thefutureheads.com. ("Le Garage" and "A To
B" are best to start with.

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