2004 Albums ----------- This was the year that indie broke into the public consciousness, thanks to a string of key records that had come out that year, and the previous. Admittedly I had been progressively starting to listen to this kind of music without totally realizing it. Today it is easy to draw a line between the kind of alt rock that grew out of the late 90s and the indie rock that would dominate the next decade. At the time things were less clear. It was especially confusing for me, since I was discovering a lot of new things on the nascent Sirius Satellite radio. Sirius had two stations I listened to regularly: one called Alt Nation (ostensibly the music that grew out of 90s alt rock) and Left of Center (ostensibly music of the past and current day released on independent labels). The truth was more complicated, with quite a bit of overlap between the two stations and progressively, Left of Center became more about the indie aesthetic, instead of any sort of statement about how the music was produced. My tastes started to lean heavily towards these indie sounds, and I felt like a music connoisseur. Little did I know that millions of others my age were doing the very same thing at the same time. Indie would also be distinct from the mainstream pop of the same era, but it was a significant cultural and commercial force. This was probably the most difficult year of my life. My time in grad school came to an unexpected end, and I found myself suddenly looking for my first real job. My first significant relationship had ended and my interactions with my family continued to be strained as a result of my leaving the extreme religion that they belonged to. Despite all that, there was also a strong feeling of potential under all the struggle. I graduated with my Masters degree, and thanks to an research assistantship, had no debt. While I felt a bit alone and somewhat estranged from my family, I also felt free to make my own decisions in a way that I never had before. Life was hard, but still very exciting. When I look at the albums below, I remember the struggle and hope for the future. This where I started building the good life I have today. .. image:: images/2004.jpg :width: 900 :alt: My 2004 favorite albums .. raw:: html - *Funeral* by **The Arcade Fire** - Besides the **Postal Service** record that had come out the year before, no other record was more influential in the "mainstreaming of indie" than this one. Still a stunning record today, only Canadian bands can be this over the top and not seem ridiculous. This music feels simultaneously designed for youth to dance in music festival fields, and to sell various products through television commercials and movie trailers. [*Memory*: I became aware of "Neighborhood #1" when it was the iTunes free download of the week in fall of 2004. I loved it, but I was so broke at the time I wouldn't even consider getting the whole record. Shortly thereafter I heard "Neighborhood #3" playing in the background at Darkhorse Tavern in State College, PA. I remember dedicating some of my limited funds to buy a copy at Circuit City, one of the last CDs I bought before getting a job in early 2005.] - *Talkie Walkie* by **Air** - Their most "poppy" record, with nearly every track a somewhat conventional song. Those chill electronic sounds accented with guitars and wind instruments are still there, but now with chill abstract lyrics. I have a strong personal attachment to *Moon Safari*, but this is probably their objectively best record with the widest appeal. [*Memory*: I can't hear this record without thinking of Cleveland Ohio. This ended up becoming the soundtrack to my second summer working at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Many mornings on my drive into the research center I was listening to this on my CD discman connecting to my car stereo via a cassette adapter. This was the first time that I remember finding one of my favorite semi-obscure bands playing on satellite radio. I remember hearing "Cherry Blossom Girl" and "Surfing on a Rocket" playing though the portable receiver unit suction cup mounted to my dash.] - *Misery is a Butterfly* by **Blonde Redhead** - The albums from the first half their career all have a fairly similar sound. This is where they stared to pivot to full on dream pop. It suits them well, and this and the next one captures them in top form, before they went overboard on the pop. [*Memory*: This was a retrospective discovery. After loving *23* I was able to explore the whole back catalog thanks to eMusic.] - *Bright Like Neon Love* by **Cut Copy** - This album sounds both incredibly derivative of classic synthpop bands (especially **New Order**), and completely ahead of the trends. In only a few short years, the "imagined 80s" era of indie music would commence, and this is possibly the first notable record in that trend. [*Memory*: I only listened to this record after knowing and loving the two that came after. In fact I heard this for the first time after buying the vinyl reissue at Record Store Day 2013.] - *Absent Friends* by **The Divine Comedy** - I have a hard time picking a favorite from this guy, but this is the most likely answer for me. Fits in well with the indie chamber pop of the time, only at a much higher level. Less humor than what came before (and in the most recent records), but plenty of wit and obscure references. The sound of an artist getting older, but no less interesting or relevant. [*Memory*: This record will always be linked with the fantastic live performance video that captured one of the largest and most interesting configurations of his band.] - *The Dresden Dolls* by **The Dresden Dolls** - A really unique idea that worked out for exactly one album and a song. Surely the only piano punk duo to make it to the big time never equaled their self titled debut as a band or in their solo work. There is actually quite a bit of range here: the straight ahead pop punk of "Gravity", the quirky vaudeville of "Coin-Operated Boy", and the sweet old time torch singing of "Jeep Song". [*Memory*: I think this is the song that led me from Sirius Alt Nation to Left of Center. The same person programmed both channels at the time, and there was a clear intent to bridge between the two. In many ways this is the perfect music to make the journey from 90s alt rock to the best part of 2000s indie.] - *Ta det lungnt* by **Dungen** - An often blistering, often quite sweet psychedelic rock record where I understand none of the lyrics and don't care. Still my favorite of theirs. [*Memory*: Looking back, I must have discovered 75% of the music I was listening to on Sirius. I can still remember hearing this for the first time while brewing beer in the kitchen of my new apartment and looking at the display to get the band info so I could acquire the disc.] - *Let it Die* by **Feist** - Before her iPod commercial, Lesley Feist was just another indie folk-popper, although a quite brilliant one. This kind of electronics accented chamber folk was about to become all the rage, and few albums have done it quite as well as this one. The DIY whimsey of "Mushaboom"'s sound and video would spawn a myriad of imitators, but no one (especially not Zooey Deschanel) could quite pull it off the same way. [*Memory*: I heard "Mushaboom" for the first time on a Music Choice TV channel, even before satellite radio picked it up.] - *Blueberry Boat* by **Fiery Furnaces** - Just as wild sounding now as it was back then. This was definitely their attempt at a new kind of progressive rock. Epic art rock telling nonsensical stories about blueberry captains going down with their ship and eating tacos for lunch. This works better than it seems like it should, and has aged better than anyone could have imagined. [*Memory*: It is wild to think this used to be in the top 5 of the RateYourMusic chart for 2005. That is how I found out about it. For some reason some of the more extreme forms of indie have not kept their status, and this is now outside the top 200.] - *EP* by **Fiery Furnaces** - The shorter more conventional pop songs that didn't fit conceptually or space-wise on *Blueberry Boat*, many of these are their most enduring tunes like the whimsical "Tropical-Iceland" and the sugary sweet "Here Comes the Summer". One of my favorite indie-pop records from a band that typically is making much more challenging music. - *Franz Ferdinand* by **Franz Ferdinand** - The first post punk revival band to realize the indie kids wanted to dance. A massively influential record in retrospect, and just as enjoyable today as the day it was released. I recently heard this described as classic rock, and while that feels a little weird, it is absolutely true. [*Memory*: I heard "Take Me Out" streaming Virgin radio in my grad student office. I was often listening to UK radio at the time, since their indie scene was peaking. I wrote an E-mail to Sirius Satellite radio to request the current US Single "Darts of Pleasure". They played it, but I remember the DJ kind of making fun of it. I was right!] - *Thunder, Lightning, Strike* by **The Go! Team** [**2004 Favorite**] - For a moment, it looked like there was going to be some sort of huge new genre that involved hyperactive, rapid fire samples. This kind of post-modern pop didn't end up being that big of a deal, but it did produce this brilliant record. Interestingly, there are two different versions of this album. While I do miss some of the original samples featured in the 2004 UK release, I prefer the expanded version that came out the following year in the US. [*Memory*: I hated this at first. The samples seemed so garish to me when this started getting big plays on Sirius Left of Center in late 2004. For whatever reason it was the amateurish, childlike "Hold Yr Terror Close" that would get me on board when the "legal" version of the record was released in the fall of 2005.] - *The Lost Riots* by **Hope of the States** - I really wish there were more bands that took the basic ideas of post-rock to make more conventional song based albums. This seems like an obvious idea, but this record is one of the few examples where this is done well. The opener, "The Black Amnesias", isn't very far from the likes of **Explosions in the Sky** or **Godspeed You! Black Emperor**, but then we diverge into the post-Britpop of **Muse** or **Doves**. A really pretty hard rock album [*Memory*: My lack of funds in 2004 meant that many of the things I would hear and enjoy on satellite radio would not enter my collection. There were a list of tracks I had saved in the memory of my plug and play radio that I wouldn't explore further until many years later. "The Red The White The Black the Blue" was one of my favorites on Alt Nation back in the summer of 2004, but I wouldn't get the CD until sometime in the year 2007. It immediately became a favorite, and I was left to wonder why they didn't become a bigger thing.] - *Antics* by **Interpol** - A bit of a lighter mood on this one, with what could almost be described as a pop sound at times. It suits them well, and this is my favorite record by these guys. "Evil" is an amazing song and is a perfect way to summarize this highly successful change of direction. [*Memory*: I think if I would have picked a favorite record at the time, it would have been this one. Listening to this today makes me feel very nostalgic for what was a very difficult time in my life.] - *Hot Fuss* by **The Killers** - The birth of "indie" bands debuting on major labels, but what an outstanding way to start. This is generally seen at the genesis of UK "landfill indie", despite being the work of a US band. Without question, this sound would be very overused and tired only a year later but it feels fresh and compelling here. [*Memory*: This was one of only two albums I bought during my days of limited financial means between grad school and my first job. I like "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" that much. The other was *The Bends* by **Radiohead**, with both coming from the Columbia House Record Club.] - *Good News for People Who Love Bad News* by **Modest Mouse** - My favorite "sellout record". This is widely perceived as a difficult indie darling changing their sound to appeal to the masses. I prefer to see it as a difficult indie darling finding a way to turn their sound into a platinum seller. When I heard "Float On" for the first time I knew it was going to be a monster hit. [*Memory*: I remember having an argument about the merits of this album with a hardcore fan who gave me a drive home from a party in 2004. That argument has repeated at least a half a dozen times since.] - *You Are the Quarry* by **Morrissey** - All of a sudden Moz was an indie artist again, and was making fantastic music. It seems likely that this will stand as his last classic record, and his last moment in the popular consciousness for his music and not his sour personality. [*Memory*: Shortly before this release I had starting listening to the artist and his band **The Smiths**. In those days, the first thing you heard in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was "How Soon is Now" in the intro video to the museum. After my initial dive into the back catalog I started hearing "Irish Blood, English Heart" on satellite radio, and was excited that the man was still making great music. Shortly after "First of the Gang to Die" would be an even bigger indie hit, and I would run out to the local Best Buy to grab this one.] - *Mr. Beast* by **Mogwai** - Admittedly, these guys tend to make music that sounds pretty much the same. The albums that have become my favorites tend to be the ones that hit a little different. On this record, the piano comes to the front in a way that builds interest in a way that the more guitar focussed albums do not. "Auto Rock" is probably my favorite song by the band. [*Memory*: This was the new album by the band, at the time that I was exploring their back catalog. Even at that time it was very apparent to me, how much this still sounded like what they were doing in the late 90s.] - *The Slow Wonder* by **A.C. Newman** - His solo material tends to sound exactly like **The New Pornographers** without all the harmony vocals. This record ended up getting some of his best material from an era that would produce two of the finest records from that band. This is one of the greatest power-pop records ever made. [*Memory*: This is the first album I discovered via the nascent Pandora platform in late 2005. I heard the outstanding "On the Table" there, and it not only led me to this fine record, but to one of my favorite bands for the next few years.] - *Satanic Panic in the Attic* by **Of Montreal** - This album was my point of entry to what would become one of my favorite artists over the next decade. In retrospect, this mid period work is the perfect fusion of the early **Beach Boys** inspired psychedelic pop and the funky electronica that would come later. At the time, Kevin Barnes changes seemed sudden and jarring, but looking back a conceptual unity has come into focus. [*Memory*: I learned about this band when a song from the next record, "I Was Never Young" was used in a modified form for a commercial. As was my custom in the day, I used the AllMusicGuide to identify and obtain their highest rated record, which turned out to be this one. It was the perfect point of entry that led me to not only this fine artist, but the related Elephant6 collective that would dominate my listening for almost the next decade.] - *Drag it Up* by **Old 97's** - A really appealing combination of old time country tinged rock and roll and power-pop. One whiskey tinged song of heartbreak after another. [*Memory*: Another record I first heard about on satellite radio in my days of being broke that I wouldn't buy until years later. In this case not until 2010.] - *The Blue Album* by **Orbital** - I kind of wish they didn't make their comeback in the 2010s. This was the perfect way to go out. An ambitious record that builds on their album oriented techno roots and goes in a bunch of new directions that mostly work. [*Memory*: This was actually my point of entry for this duo, and I would work backwards to their classic 90s stuff. I heard "You Lot" on the Sirius Liquid Todd show, and immediately sought out the high points of their catalog. Maybe because I heard this first, I tend to rate this much higher than most fans.] - *More Adventurous* by **Rilo Kiley** - The highpoint for this band, and one of the finest indie pop records ever made. The country tinged pop songs contained here are the strongest, most fully realized statement from this act. If you were to make a single CD compilation of 2000s indie, "Portions for Foxes" has to be on there. [*Memory*: Without question the reason I (or almost anyone) knows about this record is due to the participation of lead singer **Jenny Lewis** on the **Postal Service** record the year before.] - *From a Basement on a Hill* by **Elliot Smith** - Another of the records that feels designed to transition a 90s alt-rock fan into an indie music fan. There is also a symphonic 60s Beatles style vibe here as well. This feels like it was specifically made to appeal to my generation. It is of course difficult to separate this record from the tragic suicide of the artist. The outstanding, but troubling "King's Crossing" is a compelling but difficult listen knowing how things would end. [*Memory*: I listened to this repeatedly during the most difficult period in my life. Listening to it now I don't feel the bad, but instead remember the strength and resilience it took to get to a far better place.] - *Bows and Arrows* by **The Walkmen** - "The Rat" was their big break into the big time, and is still a great track. I much prefer the weirder, warmer sounds of "What's in It for Me" and "No Christmas While I'm Talking". This is their most famous record, but it doesn't do a good job representing what made them great. [*Memory*: This was my point of entry like many folks. I, of course had heard "We've Been Had" on that Saturn Ion commercial that played for years up to this point, but "The Rat" was a phenomenon I could not ignore. At this point I was traveling home from Cleveland every weekend with the hope of reconnecting with my ex. Since my PC was at my place in Ohio I remember putting this into my CD boom-box for the first listen.] - *A Ghost is Born* by **Wilco** - An amazing followup that doesn't get enough credit. Yes they go a bit to far with the weird electronic noise at the end, but otherwise this is a masterpiece of pop and country. "Theologians" might be their single greatest pop song. There are some amazing instrumental passages on this record that really show off the instrumental talent of this band. [*Memory*: In the fall of 2005 I would buy an Ipod Nano, my first real MP3 player. This was one of the first albums I loaded on the device and I remember playing it through my car stereo as we waited for the gates to open at our Penn State tailgating lot.] - *Smile* by **Brian Wilson** - This has largely been replaced by the archival presentation of the **Beach Boys** attempts at this material. That said, this is probably the more refined and complete version. Also without this, I doubt the attempt would have been made to assemble the original recordings. [*Memory*: I didn't look into this when it was released to great fanfare. It would take until 2009 until I finally gave this a chance. It would make me realize there was much more to the **Beach Boys** than *Pet Sounds*.]