2004 in music. • Page 3

I identify with this post so hard

 

Morning View- ACLOTM - Light Grenades is an amazing trifecta, usually overshadowed by SCIENCE and Make Yourself. But those 3 albums are really something and, speaking about A Crow..., there's not one bad song on the whole album. Megalomaniac, Talk shows on mute, Agoraphobia, Pistola, Sick sad little world, Zee Deveel, Smile Lines...

Very, very underrated.

 

1. Ray Lamontagne - Trouble
2. Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
3. Tegan and Sara - So Jealous

Excruciating Cuts:
John Butler Trio - Sunrise Over Sea
As Tall As Lions - Lafcadio
Onelinedrawing - The Volunteers
The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
Silent Drive - Love Is Worth It.
Arcade Fire - Funeral
This Day and Age - Always Leave the Ground
Underoath - They're Only Chasing Safety
Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be
Hanson - Underneath

Others I love:
JImmy Eat World - Futures
Citizen Cope - The Clarence Greenwood Recordings
Avril Lavigne - Under the Skin
Straylight Run - Straylight Run
The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me
Prince - Musicology
Jon Frederik Band - Life in Progress
Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks
Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy
Kanye West - The College Dropout
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill
Butch Walker - Letters
The Honorary Title - Anything Else But the Truth
Green Day - American Idiot
Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
The Roots - The Tipping Point
Brandtson - Send Us a Signal
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Fall Out Boy - My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue EP
Joe Cocker - Heart and Soul
36 Crazyfists - A Snow Capped Romance
P.O.S. - Ipecac Neat
Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
Unearth - The Oncoming Storm
Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
Northstar - Pollyanna
Lovers - The Gutter and the Garden
The Junior Varsity - The Great Compromise
Yesterday's Rising - When We Speak, We Breathe EP

Good ones:
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
2pac - Loyal to the Game
John Frusciante - Curtains
Lovedrug - Pretend You're Alive
Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama - There Will Be a Light
Hold On - Name Taken
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Between Here and Gone
The Spill Canvas - Sunsets and Car Crashes
Alexisonfire - "Watch Out"
Damien Rice - B-Sides
John Legend - Get Lifted
I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business - I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business
Hellogoodbye - Hellogoodbye EP
Hopesfall - A Types
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle
Mewithoutyou - Catch for Us the Foxes
Kaki King - Legs to Make Us Longer
Heart - Jupiter's Darling
Emery - The Weak's End
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Nonpoint - Recoil
Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Ray Charles - Genius Loves Company
Janet Jackson - Damita Jo
Rush - Feedback EP
Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer - Popsicle EP
The National - Cherry Tree EP
Carissa's Wierd - I Before E
Prince - Chocolate Invasion
Prince - Slaughterhouse
R.E.M. - Around the Sun
The Academy Is... - The Academy EP
Black Label Society - Hangover Music Vol. VI
Brian Wilson - Presents SMiLE
Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium
Prince - C-Note
Pat Green - Lucky Ones

Not a fan:
Gwen Stefani - Love.Angel.Music.Baby
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
Head Automatica - Decadence
Ben Kweller - On My Way
Evanescence - Anywhere But Home
Far-Less - Turn to Bright EP
Altar Bridge - One Day Remains
A Perfect Circle - EMOtive
Tantric - After We Go
3 - Wake Pig

Targets for Listening:
Atreyu - The Curse
Blindside - About a Burning Fire
Chromeo - She's in Control
Everlast - White Trash Beautiful
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder
Keane - Hopes and Fears
Mae - Destination: B-Sides
Matisyahu - Shake Off the Dust...Arise
George Michael - Patience
Misery Signals - Of Malice and the Magnum Heart
The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
Nas - Street's Disciple
Phoenix - Alphabetical
Punchline - Action
Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Sparta - Porcelain
This Providence - Our Worlds Divorce
Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
Cee-Lo Green - Is the Soul Machine
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
The Libertines - The Libertines
Morissey - You Are the Quarry
Zutons - Who Killed..the Zutons?
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Mastodon - Leviathan
My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
Bayside - Sirens & Condolences
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Engine Down - Engine Down
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch
Cam'ron - Purple Haze
Feist - Let It Die
Usher - Confessions

 

Im really surprised that no one has mentioned Northstar’s “Pollyanna”. Not even in their honorable mentions. That album is so good.

 

I actually think that Chris did, he just mislabeled it as Nonpoint. Am I right @cshadows2887 ?

I have never heard it myself, RIYL?

 

I think fans of of early 2000 scene bands would like it. It’s in the same realm as TBS, Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, etc. If you’re up for it, give the first 4 songs a try and let me know what you think?

 

Oh shit, totally forgot about Pollyanna. Wouldn't have made my top 3 but that's an honorable mention for sure. One of the best ap.net albums.

 

1. Tegan and Sara - So Jealous
2. Biffy Clyro - Infinity Land
3. Saul Williams - Saul Williams

So Jealous, and the next two Tegan and Sara records are absolute all time favourites for me. Incredibly well written pop songs, simply constructed and so earnest and heartfelt. All three of them are perfect to me, they mean the world to me.

Infinity Land is the last of Biffy's "wonky rock" albums before they went a bit more straightforward (but still great!) on their next album, Puzzle. This is a mathy, proggy, aggressive and melodic album - I remember seeing a review from this at the time saying it sounds like the middle point between Jimmy Eat World and Dillinger Escape Plan, which simultaneously makes perfect sense and no sense at all.

Had a bit of difficulty with the third choice, but went for Saul Williams always fascinating, lyrical and poetic hip-hop.

Honourable Mentions;

Bjork - Medulla: A pretty fascinating album, and it doesn't always work for me, but songs like Who Is It and Where is the Line are remarkably constructed with just vocals.

Green Day - American Idiot: A massive album for me at this time, a big bold and epic album that sold a trillion and one copies and was ubiquitous for a couple of years.

Arcade Fire - Funeral: Huge, grandiose indie rock record, that like a lot of other 2004 records, just sounded so massive and bombastic.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures: A strong contender to win the whole thing, a brilliant JEW album, and maybe my favourite song of theirs, The World You Love.

Planes Mistaken for Stars - Up in them Guts: Love this description of them from Dan Ozzi:

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge: A great poppy, melodramatic post-hardcore little masterpiece.

Kanye West - The College Dropout: Maybe Kanye's best? There's a real innocence and joy to this record listening to it now, with those classic soul samples.

Madvillain - Madvillainy: A complex, sample heavy supervillain hip-hop record that sounds like nothing else.

The Get Up Kids - The Guilt Show: The Get Up Kids at their pure power pop best.

Converge - You Fail Me: Just horribly heavy, slightly slower and more malevolent than Jane Doe.

 

Polyanna was always one of those albums that I found pleasant but never really... impressed me? Kinda was just there. I always thought of that album in the same breath as Name Taken's Hold On which also came out in 2004

 

it isn't very good or memorable imo, the appeal of that dude's voice never made sense at all to me

 

Kanye- College Dropout
Alexisonfire- Watch Out
Madvillain- Madvillainy

 

speakerboxxx came out in 2003

 

Idk why I thought 2004??
Let me fix that~!

 

Adding Northstar and Tegan and Sara to my targets list. Love the descriptions of both. I know some later T&S stuff but not this one.

 

Both Northstar albums have filler, but at their best they're both like listening to a step up YFW followup without having to support an abuser. They may not be all time classics in the grand scheme of music history, but they fall into that category for me where (hyperbole to make a point alert) writing them off is might as well be writing off the whole genre, because I don't think many scene bands outdid the best Northstar songs. I think Pollyanna especially is a really good take on a (slightly) americana influenced emo album and has half decent lyrics to boot.

I've always considered them more similar to BN, but re-reading what I just wrote above I feel like I could make a similar case for Where You Want to Be right down to having a bit of filler but some truly high highs.

 

Northstar fucking rules.

 

I kinda can't believe I haven't at least heard of this band. Haven't listened to it yet but looking forward to it. As we've established in many other years, finding new previously unheard gems is the most redeeming part of this exercise.

 

1. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
2. Slipknot - Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)
3. Madvillain - Madvillainy

4. Jimmy Eat World - Futures
5. The Used - In Love and Death
6. Descendents - Cool to Be You
7. Zao - The Funeral of God
8. Midtown - Forget What You Know
9. The Cure- The Cure
10. Relient K - Mmhmm

 

Brand New didn’t really have a chance, Kanye looks like a front runner here.

 

Okay so @cshadows2887 I just heard "there'll come a time" by John Butler Trio while shuffling this evening, and holy shit. Song fuckin' RIPS. I only knew a few songs by them prior to this (which I enjoy) but always thought most of their stuff was more mellow/vibey than that track. Consider me impressed.

Hope to get to the rest of that album tomorrow, hopefully it's as enjoyable as that track was!

 

2004
1. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
2. Brian Wilson - SMiLE
3. Jimmy Eat World - Futures

4. Denver Harbor - Scenic
5. Green Day - American Idiot
6. Good Charlotte - The Chronicles Of Life And Death
7. Madvillain - Madvillainy
8. Eminem - Encore
9. Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be
10. The Killers - Hot Fuss
11. MF DOOM - MM...FOOD
12. The Used - In Love And Death
13. Incubus - A Crow Left Of The Murder...
14. The Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs
15. A Perfect Circle - eMOTIVe

Honorable Mentions
Spider-Man 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(Great soundtrack, especially Gifts & Curses by Yellowcard which is one of my favorite songs ever)

Favorite songs from other 2004 albums
DJ Tiesto - "Adagio For Strings"
Animal Collective - "Leaf House"
Ashlee Simpson - "La La"
Eighteen Visions - "This Time"
Interpol - "Evil"
Straylight Run - "Existentialism On Prom Night"
Franz Ferdinand - "Take Me Out"
Incubus - "Follow"
Sum 41 - "We're All To Blame"
The Von Bondies - "C'mon C'mon"
Sugarcult - "Destination Anywhere"
Hellogoodbye - "Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn"
Gwen Stefani - "What You Waiting For"
Alexisonfire - "No Transitory"
Seether, Amy Lee - "Broken"
Avril Lavigne - "My Happy Ending"
Chevelle - "Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)"
Modest Mouse - "Ocean Breathes Salty"
311 - "Love Song"
Papa Roach - "Getting Away With Murder"
Relient K - "Be My Escape"
Bowling For Soup - "1985"
Britney Spears - "My Prerogative"
New Found Glory - "All Downhill From Here"
Arcade Fire - "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"
Rise Against - "Swing Life Away"
Head Automatica - "At The Speed Of A Yellow Bullet"

This has to be the most meaningful year in music for me. I graduated high school, went through some personal stuff and the albums from this year really resonated with me deeply. Now most of those songs are on top of my greatest of all time list.

 

Good catch, they're right next to each other on my list alphabetically.

 

Not even close to one of my highlights from that one. Some wonderful writing on it.

 

1. ISIS - Panopticon

 

Pollyanna has one of my favorite lines in emo:

"You move me like I've got new feet"

Works better in context than written, but it's really grabbed me since the minute I heard it.