I get the same result

Wife's out for the weekend and I'm home alone studying for the GRE, which means its time to pick up the bad habit again. Last year I wrote a short list of my top albums of 2003 for Pulse, and though I have no idea whether it was actually published or not (because I left town that weekend), I enjoyed doing it. This year I'm going to have a slightly different version, and it will be written for my personal enjoyment only (and the enjoyment of anyone who might accidentally read this even though I've been gone for months).

8. Album that only a humanities grad student could love of 2004: Blueberry Boat, by the Fiery Furnaces. Pitchfork, sometimes a force for good (see Broken Social Scene) is also sometimes a force of pure evil. Like when it rates this awful "literary" schlock highly, causing people to purchase this album and, I am convinced, leading directly to the fact that the song-mashing sister and brother are recording a follow-up with their grandmother. That, my friends, is so not rock and roll. I suppose I should note that wife rates this album highly. Personally, I think its just a couple of good songs (couple literally, as in two) prolonged and cut up and surrounded by junk, with MFA-in-creative-writing lyrics. And I say MFA in the worst way possible. Like the Decemberists.

7. Artist of the year of 2004: Smog. I like Smog. No, Smog didn't do anything special. I just like Smog. I can't remember if their last album (which was actually a b-sides compilation) even came out this year. But they're still my artist of the year. Which is totally unrelated to album of the year.

6. Best French album I've bought of 2004: That would be M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, because its the only French album I've bought. But its still pretty good. Immediately impressive, though not with enough staying power or depth to merit consideration for best album of 2004.

5. Best Hip-hop album I've bought this year of 2004: I haven't bought the albums that other people's lists talk about yet, like MF Doom's, the Foreign Exchange, or Kanye West. That's because I'm still catching up on the last decade of rap, and as far as I'm concerned I've yet to hear a better rap album than Aesop Rock's first, Float. Including Labor Days.

4. Best album by a member of the New Pornographers (who, for the uninitiated, are not actually pornographic) of 2004: There is some stiff competition in this category, including Destroyer, but I give the award to A.C. Newman for The Slow Wonder, for sure. Its got some hot stuff on it. Rock music, involving guitars and keyboards and drums. Less kiddy feeling than the New P's. I hope this entry doesn't ban people at Covenant from reading this, though the New Inquisitors' web filter might do just that. Oh well.

3. Most ironic album I've heard this year of 2004: Yo, this one goes to Hawksley Workman for lover/fighter easily. If you haven't heard Hawksley Workman, leave your email address and I'll mail you a copy. I like it that much.

2. Second best album of 2004: Right now, I give this to the Arcade Fire for Funeral. Call me back in a month and I might give them number one, but I haven't had it long enough to make that kind of judgment. Despite the hints of Conor Oberst in the vocals, I'm totally won over by their sincerity and passion. Funeral bleeds rock, and that's why I'm totally committed to seeing them if they come to Athens or Atlanta anytime. The only other band I'd do that for is Crooked Fingers.

1. Best album of 2004: Pinback, with Summer in Abaddon. Yes, if anyone's curious, I do know what Abaddon is. And listening to Pinback's latest is anything but Abaddon. To all those who are so enthused with the Arcade Fire: I hear it too, and I'm promising you, Pinback delivers the rock as thoroughly as the Arcade Fire do. I've not been the biggest Pinback fan in the past, but this album has done it for me. I don't think anyone is as crazy about it as Jess and I are, though.

Posted by eatingbark at December 10, 2004 7:53 PM