Top Ten Records of 2004

[skitbraviking]

May your mind scroll through your favorite flavors and let the lists begin!

[pitboss]

TV on the Radio - Desparate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Interpol - Antics
Ted Leo - Shake the Sheets
Tom Waits - Real Gone
M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (extra track version: "Happy Cycling")
Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
90 Day Men - Panda Park
Tortoise - It's All Around You

and number Ten...

Matador at 15

[digadog]

T.V on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Frank Black Francis
Tom Waits - Real Gone
The Briefs - Sex Objects
Modest Mouse - Good News for People who Love Bad News
The Mummies - Death by Unga Bunga ( their old stuff, but now on CD )
Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams

hmmm..that's all that comes to mind right now.

[snickersnicker]

European bands ****ing killed it this year:

Life at These Speeds - Self-Titled 12" (Owsla Records)
Various Artists - Wayfarers All 12" (Owsla Records; Life at These Speeds, The Pine, La Quiete, Stop It!!, etc)
Sheryl's Magnetic Aura / Rapider than Horsepower - Split 7" (Neon Boombox Records)
The Pine / La Quiete - Split 7" (Broken Hearts Club Records)
Die, Emperor! Die! - Acoustic CD-R (Friends Forever Records)
The Pine - Days Slipping By 12" (Alone Records)
Raein - Döden Marscherar Åt Väst 7" (Release the Bats Records)
Raein / Daitro - Split 10" (Pure Pain Sugar Records/Ape Must Not Kill Ape Records)
Raein / Funeral Diner - Split 7" (Red Cars Go Faster Records)
The 101 - Green Street 12" (Riptide Recordings) [To be honest, I've only heard one song from it. But judging by how awesome that song (http://www.riptiderecordings.de/audio/the_101.mp3) is, and considering that Eric Richter from Christie Front Drive and Antarctica is in this band...it makes the top ten.]


Honourable mentions:
Thee Silver Mountain Reveries - Pretty Little Lightning Paw 12" (Constellation Records)
The One AM Radio - A Name Writ in Water 12" (Level-Plane Records)
Daitro - Des Cendres Je Me Consumme (Demo) CD-R (Self-Released?)
The Sea, The Sea - Self-Titled one-sided 12" (Neon Boombox Records)
The Gibbons - Self-Titled 7" (Neon Boombox Records)
MF DOOM - MM...FOOD? 2x12" (Rhymesayers Records)

I haven't heard the William Shatner CD (or LP, maybe? I hope.), but I have a feeling it's up there.

[skitbraviking]

Still whittling mine down, but here it is so far...

TV on the Radio: Desparate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Interpol: Antics
Tom Waits: Real Gone
Iron and Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
90 Day Men: Panda Park
Tortoise: It's All Around You
Dugen: Ta Det Lugnt
Elliot Smith: From a Basement On the Hill
Hives: Tyrannosaurus Hives
Wilco: A Ghost is Born
Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse
Kings of Convenience: Riot On An Empty Street
Morrissey: You Are The Quarry
PJ Harvey: Uh Huh Her
Sondre Lerche: Two Way Monologue
Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free
The (International) Noise Conspiracy:Armed Love (not yet released in the States)

[skitbraviking]

Raein - Döden Marscherar Åt Väst 7" (Release the Bats Records)
Raein / Daitro - Split 10" (Pure Pain Sugar Records/Ape Must Not Kill Ape Records)
Raein / Funeral Diner - Split 7" (Red Cars Go Faster Records)


What's this Swedish stuff? Hardcore?

[snickersnicker]

Well, none of those bands are Swedish, actually. Raein and Daitro are from Italy, as is La Quiete (two members of Raein). Funeral Diner is from the US.

Raein is DIY emotive Hardcore in the vein of Portraits of Past (split 7" with Bleed-era), but at the same time they've definitely got their own sound. They have released the three records I mentioned above, as well as an LP and a couple CDs. You can listen to an MP3 from the Funeral Diner split (This Life, My Cage (http://www.self-restraint.net/punkisdead/mp3s/Raein%20-%2001%20-%20This%20Life,%20My%20Cage.mp3))...that split is some of their worst material, but I haven't gotten a chance to record the other 7" and split 10" to MP3 form yet. The first forty seconds are kind of lame, but after that it gets good.

Daitro is a little more controlled than Raein, at times reminding me of early Twelve Hour Turn. Some of the time they're more grooving and screamy, though. A few of the songs on the demo CD-R I put in honourable mentions are really really awesome. I can upload some to my server if you'd like to hear them.

La Quiete...I really don't get why so many people are into this band, but I like a few of their songs. Very violent and spastic screamy Hardcore. They don't really sound like anything else I've ever heard. They've released split 7"s (with The Pine, Acrimonie, Catena Collapse, The Apoplexy Twist Orchestra), a 10", and a few other things. Most of it is a bit too chaotic for me (and that's saying a lot), but some of the more melodic songs are really good. However, the work they put into packaging and art is simply phenomenal.

[skitbraviking]

Raein - Döden Marscherar Åt Väst 7" (Release the Bats Records)


That's weird that the title is in Swedish.

[snickersnicker]

Probably because it was released around the same time they had their Scandinavian Tour. Some distros that sell it have it named as the "Scandinavian Tour" 7".

[Mayonnaise]

Nostalgia is an opiate I willingly take, which is why "Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The 80's Underground" tops my list. It's 2 am on a Monday night in 1987 and I'm at KGNU 88.5 FM, Boulder, Colorado wondering if Kundalini Express will follow This Corrosion, if Running Up That Hill is too girly, if it's okay to like "We Care A Lot", and what would happen if I played "Institutionalized" twice.

The older I get the better I was: that's when I reach for my revolver.

[Mayonnaise]

if you're interested:

"...virtually all of these songs and recordings have held up beautifully." (4 stars) -- Rolling Stone


"...this labor of love is a vital, often profound, super-fun ride." (4 stars) -- Blender


"The music on this set influenced most everything Pitchfork slobbers on today." -- Pitchfork Media


"No collection I've heard has so well evoked the awkward gear shifts you've come to expect from actual college radio." -- Seattle Weekly


People will say otherwise, but music didn't suck in the '80s -- it just went underground. As the well-financed end of the art form turned to synthetic sounds and short-attention schtick, the punk and new wave of the late '70s evolved and mutated in the capable hands of scores of independent-minded musicians.

This four-disc boxed set celebrates the stuff that dwelt just beneath the topsoil -- everything from R.E.M., The Smiths, and The Cure to Black Flag, Ministry, and The Cramps. The spiritual progeny of a boxed set ancestry that includes Loud, Fast & Out Of Control, Nuggets, and No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion, Left Of The Dial houses four jewel-cased CDs in a lidded box. A separately bound 64-page book features essays and notes by independent rock writers Karen Schoemer, John Srebalus, Tim Scanlin, and Kathleen Billus, plus written reflections from The Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn and Factory Records' Tony Wilson, and Q&As with SST's Greg Ginn and Twin/Tone's Peter Jesperson.


TRACK LIST

RADIO FREE EUROPE - R.E.M.

GOING UNDERGROUND - The Jam

A FOREST - The Cure

HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA - Dead Kennedys

I'M IN LOVE WITH A GERMAN FILM STAR - Passions

I WILL DARE - The Replacements

THAT'S WHEN I REACH FOR MY REVOLVER - Mission Of Burma

JOHNY HIT AND RUN PAULENE - X

JUST LIKE HONEY - The Jesus And Mary Chain

BLACK CELEBRATION - Depeche Mode


TELl ME WHEN IT'S OVER - The Dream Syndicate


HOLLYWOOD (AFRICA) - The Red Hot Chili Peppers


TEMPTATION - New Order


GHOSTS - Japan


A SONG FROM UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS - Magazine


OBLIVIOUS - Aztec Camera


DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE LONELY - Hüsker Dü


RISE ABOVE - Black Flag


BACK IN FLESH - Wall Of Voodoo


CATTLE AND CANE - The Go-Betweens


MESSAGE OF LOVE - The Pretenders


VIENNA - Ultravox


FREAK SCENE - Dinosaur Jr.


THIS CHARMING MAN - The Smiths


STIGMATA - Ministry


WAYS TO BE WICKED - Lone Justice


WARDANCE - Killing Joke


ENOLA GAY - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark


MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM - The English Beat


FAIRYTALE IN THE SUPERMARKET - The Raincoats


BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP - The Smithereens


POLITICAL SONG FOR MICHAEL JACKSON TO SING - Minutemen


PUNK ROCK GIRL - The Dead Milkmen


STILL IN HOLLYWOOD - Concrete Blonde


LOVE WILL TEAR US APART - Joy Division


BLISTER IN THE SUN - Violent Femmes


LAKE OF FIRE - Meat Puppets


AMPLIFIER - The dB's


WHEN LOVE BREAKS DOWN - Prefab Sprout


GOO GOO MUCK - The Cramps


THIS CORROSION - Sisters Of Mercy


SENSES WORKING OVERTIME - XTC


THE CUTTER - Echo & The Bunnymen


PAY TO ***! - Bad Brains


BIRTHDAY - The Sugarcubes


MADONNA OF THE WASPS - Robyn Hitchcock 'n' the Egyptians


WE CARE A LOT - Faith No More


TEEN AGE RIOT - Sonic Youth


TO HELL WITH POVERTY - Gang Of Four


FA CÉ-LA - The Feelies


ANA NG - They Might Be Giants


SWAMP THING - The Chameleons UK


THE MERCY SEAT - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds


I LOOK AROUND - The Rain Parade


ALL THAT MONEY WANTS - Psychedelic Furs


UNDER THE MILKY WAY - The Church


RISE - Public Image Ltd.


KUNDALINI EXPRESS - Love And Rockets


GRAVITY TALKS - Green On Red


ADRENALIN - Throbbing Gristle


SHE BANGS THE DRUMS - The Stone Roses


MONKEY GONE TO HEAVEN - Pixies


UNCERTAIN SMILE (Original 7" Version) - The The


BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD - Bauhaus


CHRISTINE - Siouxsie And The Banshees


STRAIGHT EDGE - Minor Threat


I WANT TO HELP YOU ANN - The Lyres


OUR SECRET - Beat Happening


JANE SAYS - Jane's Addiction


WORLD SHUT YOUR MOUTH - Julian Cope


RUNNING UP THAT HILL - Kate Bush


SEX BEAT - Gun Club


TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLING - Camper Van Beethoven


INSTITUTIONALIZED - Suicidal Tendencies


PEARLY-DEWDROPS' DROPS - Cocteau Twins


24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE - Happy Mondays


I WANT YOU BACK - Hoodoo Gurus


SUBURBAN HOME - Descendents


A PAIR OF BROWN EYES - The Pogues


JET FIGHTER - The Three O'Clock


MOVING TO FLORIDA - Butthole Surfers


A NEW ENGLAND - Billy Bragg

[stellarchaos]

What I've been posting elsewhere...

01 The Damnwells – *******s of the Beat – Epic
02 Snow Patrol - Final Straw - Universal
03 The Walkmen – Bows + Arrows – Record Collection
04 Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous - Brute
05 A.C. Newman – The Slow Wonder - Matador
06 Grace Cathedral Park – In The Evenings of Regret – La Verdad
07 Rogue Wave – Out Of The Shadow – Sub Pop
08 Nicolai Dunger – Here's My Song - Virgin
09 The Thrills – Let's Bottle Bohemia - Virgin
10 Pinback – Summer In Abbadon – Touch and Go
11 Bumblebeez 81 – The Printz – Modular
12 Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid - Hollywood
13 Davíd Garza – A Strange Mess of Flowers – Wide Open
14 Magnetic Fields – I – Nonesuch
15 Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand – Domino/Epic
16 Modest Mouse – Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Epic
17 M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts - Gooom Disques
18 Ratatat – Ratatat - XL
19 Arcade Fire – Funeral - Merge
20 Keane – Hopes and Fears - Interscope

Runner-Ups:
01 Arkitekt – Arkitekt - unsigned
02 Jem – Finally Woken – ATO
03 The Futureheads – The Futureheads - Sire
04 Endochine – Day Two – Fresh Tracks
05 Destroyer – Your Blues - Merge

Forgot to put in but belong somewhere in there:
Isidore - Isidore - Brash
Pleasure Club - The Fugitive Kind - Brash

[lotek]

Sigh, I feel so farging old. . .

and if I can quote another forum member
"] I'm tired

[pitboss]

Sigh, I feel so farging old. . .

and if I can quote another forum member
revivalist! woo hoo! I am not so tired anymore!

[skitbraviking]

if you're interested:

"...virtually all of these songs and recordings have held up beautifully." (4 stars) -- Rolling Stone


"...this labor of love is a vital, often profound, super-fun ride." (4 stars) -- Blender


"The music on this set influenced most everything Pitchfork slobbers on today." -- Pitchfork Media


"No collection I've heard has so well evoked the awkward gear shifts you've come to expect from actual college radio." -- Seattle Weekly


People will say otherwise, but music didn't suck in the '80s -- it just went underground. As the well-financed end of the art form turned to synthetic sounds and short-attention schtick, the punk and new wave of the late '70s evolved and mutated in the capable hands of scores of independent-minded musicians.

This four-disc boxed set celebrates the stuff that dwelt just beneath the topsoil -- everything from R.E.M., The Smiths, and The Cure to Black Flag, Ministry, and The Cramps. The spiritual progeny of a boxed set ancestry that includes Loud, Fast & Out Of Control, Nuggets, and No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion, Left Of The Dial houses four jewel-cased CDs in a lidded box. A separately bound 64-page book features essays and notes by independent rock writers Karen Schoemer, John Srebalus, Tim Scanlin, and Kathleen Billus, plus written reflections from The Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn and Factory Records' Tony Wilson, and Q&As with SST's Greg Ginn and Twin/Tone's Peter Jesperson.


TRACK LIST



What a mix! Reminds me of high school. Or at least most of it does.

[lala]

01 Boredoms- Seadrum/House Of Sun (Warner Japan)
02 Ricardo Villalobos- The Au Harem D’archimede (Perlon)
03 Klimek- Milk & Honey (Kompakt)
04 Thomas Fehlmann- Lowflow (Plug Research)
05 Black Dice- Creature Comforts (DFA)
06 Turing Machine- Zwei (Frenchkiss)
07 Diplo- Florida (Big Dada)
08 Dave Aju- Dive And Lie Wrecked (Context)
09 Bruno Pronsato- Silver Cities (Orac)
10 Beans- Shock City Maverick (Warp)