2004

                A curiously backward-looking year this year, in a couple different ways.  In genre terms, there’s both a surprising resurgence of both folk-rock (soon to become as hip as it’s been since 1970) and (even more surprisingly, given how unhip it had become) real, old-school 70s style prog-rock (mostly of the Jethro Tull school).  Another thing that I’m really struck by in 2004 is how many albums there are from old friends I haven’t heard from in awhile (i.e since 2000 or earlier).  These are predictably enough a mixed bag, but overall pretty solid.  Some of these, of course, aren’t particularly surprising in that they never really changed their sound that much. 

Social Distortion, for instance, who we haven’t heard from since 2006, haven’t changed their sound much at all, still mining the same roots-punk sound that one can easily imagine them continuing with well into old age.  Fortunately it’s the kind of sound you can as play as credibly as old men play as you can as young punks.  A punk band changing their approach dramatically, though, is Green Day (who haven’t put out an album since 2000, but haven’t put out an album I own since 1994).  They haven’t really changed their sound substantially, but are a refreshing reminder of how good pop-punk can sound done right (and possibly just because after being driven into the ground by the inferior likes of Blink-182 et al, it’s a sound that vanished from the mainstream around the millennium).  Green Day haven’t changed their sound much, but their approach is substantially different, making an honest-to-goodness rock opera, complete with a pair of 9-minute song-suites.  The overall effect is more Tommy than The Wall, consisting of a bunch of basically conventional songs strung together with a common through-line, rather than a single broader composition.  Still, 1) who’d have thought you’d hear a 9-minute song suite on modern rock radio in 2004, and 2) that it’d be by Green Day, of all bands.  Also points for joining Pearl Jam and Radiohead as one of the few politically-minded rock bands of the ‘00s.

                Despite having been gone far longer (since 1982), Mission of Burma change their sound hardly at all; unsurprisingly, since half the songs on their reunion album are re-recordings of old songs that previously had only seen release on their various outtakes comps.  In this they parallel the Mekons, who this year re-record a bunch of their old punk songs in their new(er) country-roots style.  Of course, the other obvious active post-punk band to compare them to is Wire, another band of similar vintage and sonic approach whose own highly unlikely comeback started only 2 years prior.  Wire blow Burma out of the water on the comeback trail, though.  Wire’s second reunion has a lot more to say than Burma’s first, which doesn’t really update their sonic template.  Good timing, though, just as the indie kids rediscover 80s post-punk.  Elsewhere in punk rock, the Dropkicks record their soundtrack to the Red Sox’ curse-breaking World Series run, a revival of the old Sox anthem “Tessie,” while Lars Frederiksen shows that, while he can bring the intensity on his own, Tim Armstrong was the great songwriter in Rancid. 

                The other clutch of bands making their long-absent return are various 90s alt-rock and indie acts.  Cornershop, Stereolab, Modest Mouse, and Elliott Smith all put out material for the first time since at least the turn of the century (Smith sadly posthumously), but the longest-gone of these (and after Mission of Burma, the most unexpected reunion) are the Pixies, following on a Breeders reunion from two years prior.  They mostly just reunite to tour, though do have a lone just-ok single.  Almost as long gone, at least as a group, are the non-Axl part of Guns ‘n Roses, who follow the pattern of Audioslave, keeping the rest of the band together and picking up the lead singer of another recently-collapsed 90s rock band.  Velvet Revolver probably make more sense on paper than Audioslave, as Guns ‘n Roses and Stone Temple Pilots were probably closer sonically than Rage and Soundgarden, and as with Audioslave, the results are more or less what you’d expect.  Better than late GnR (when they were basically reduced to being Axl’s backing band), but not as good as either the glammy, colorful late STP or the live-wire energy of early GnR.  Somewhat surprisingly, what they most recall are early STP, and less surprisingly, like late STP they're seeped in ‘70s classic rock swaggger.  A throwback, to be sure, but it's a backward-looking kind of year.

                On the hip-hop side of things, Mos Def is also back after a long (since 1999) absence in which he focused much more on being an actor.  But five years later, he’s back to music, with a fairly radically revamped sound.  A couple of tracks on Black on Both Sides, esp. “Rock ‘n Roll,” hinted at his interest in reclaiming rock & roll as a black musical form, but doesn’t really prepare you for how guitar-heavy this album is.  Mos Def has a new band, consisting of Bernie Worrell, Dr. Know (of Bad Brains), and the rhythm section of Living Color, so members of probably the three biggest or most important black rock bands of the last 35 years.  Understandably those bands shape his sound, though he’s leaning much more heavily on the early, moody Funkadelic than anything resembling the later Parliament sounds.  At times, though, the biggest influence on his sound seems to be the thrash-metal of Rage Against the Machine. 

                Also foregrounding the guitar in their sound this year are the Roots, on what’s both their shortest album to date (even including the hidden tracks), and also probably the closest to a party record in their catalogue.  Except for the closer, they’re all more-or-less upbeat bangers, covering a range of sounds, generally with an electro-funk production sheen.  Not their best work, probably, but possibly their tightest, without the sprawl that’s made earlier albums both impressive and at times intimidating.  Also tightening up from the sprawl of his earlier albums (with Blackalicious), is Chief Xcel, partnering with fellow-Quanuum member (& former Latyrx member) Lateef the Truthspeaker for Maroons, whose lone album, Ambush, may just be the finest album from the whole Solesides/Quanuum collective (Endtroducing… excepted).  Like the Roots, Maroons (or possibly the Maroons) put out a tight album, mostly focused on more upbeat tracks.  Unsurprisingly, it sounds a lot like the melodic, 70s-soul-inflected sound Chief Xcel produced with Blackalicious.  Not groundbreaking, but definitely the sound of pros in a sound they excel at, and driven primarily by a politically-aware sentiment.

                Speaking of old pros, Cee-Lo is back with his second solo album, showing again that Outkast don’t have the monopoly on arty variants on the Atlanta hip-hop sound.  Despite the sonic similarities with Outkast, though, Cee-Lo is still lacking the breakout mainstream hit to get more widespread appeal.  Increasingly, Cee-Lo is a soul singer who will occasionally rap, rather than a rapper who dabbles in singing.  Not that that’s a bad thing, esp. given how innovative the songs and productions are (and how excellent he is as a singer and just-ok he is as a rapper).  It may have limited his commercial appeal, I suppose, since he’s neither a rapper anymore nor does he fit comfortably alongside the much more trad-minded neo-soul scene (and radio programmers generally don’t like artists they can’t slot easily).

                Neo-soul, as I alluded to, is getting increasingly trad-minded.  Jill Scott somewhat embodies this, sounding much more conventional and less arty in a beat-poet kind of way on her second album, though in this case  I prefer the shift, as she’s an excellent singer and spoken work has an extremely high threshold for me to care about it.  Here she sounds at times like she’s making the sequel to Things Fall Apart the Roots opted to pass on.  Much more trad, though, is John Legend, who may be making his debut here, but whose sound is entirely borrowed from Marvin Gaye c. 1970.  It’s a great sound, Legend has a great voice, and his songs are generally pretty good (though not jaw-droppingly great or anything).  But it’s just revivalism, and Legend probably only got the attention he did by being a project of his producer, genius voice of a generation/gay fish Kanye West.

                West himself, who’s been behind the scenes as a mainstream producer for awhile, also steps out for his solo debut here.  I’ve hated Kanye West for a long time now, so I’m pleasantly surprised to find how little I dislike his debut album.  He hasn’t gotten as lazy in his production as he will later on, and a lot of this album is pretty good, if (like Legend) not blowing me away.  Still, West is pretty much the Coldplay of hip-hop: sonically a bit progressive, but not enough to scare off commercial radio, and with a social consciousness that bleeds quickly into messianic tendencies.  The latter is the big reason I loathe the man: boasting is both fun and an august hip-hop tradition, but whining about how you’re persecuted for your greatness gets old really quickly.  So the seeds of his obnoxiousness are all right there on his first big single, “Jesus Walks,” which does at least have a pretty good beat.  But like a lot of other American Christians, he somehow convinces himself he’s being persecuted because people don’t like it when you’re an in-your-face asshole about your religion.  Also, he’s way too defensive about having dropped out of college; if you tell me 50 times in an hour about how you totally don’t regret dropping out, I’ll begin to suspect that’s a lie you’re telling yourself.

                2004 is also the debut of another of the bigger producers of the next decade, with DJ Dangermouse’s White Album-based remix of Jay-Z.  It’s an acknowledged gap in my collection that the only Jay-Z albums I have are The Blueprint 3 and (with a big asterisk) The Grey Album.  But Dangermouse really does a phenomenal job here, on a project that could easily have just been a gimmick (like virtually every other example of the thankfully short-lived “mash-up” fad).  Some of these tracks do approach gimmickry, but others meet or surpass the Black Album originals (esp. “Public Service Announcement,” “December 4^th,” and even “99 Problems”). 

                Elsewhere in producer’s records, Madvillain (who I remember being a big name, but who vanishes from my collection after this year) collaborates with MF Doom, an unsurprisingly successful pairing of two of the decade’s most prominent (and best) purveyors of abstract hazy hip-hop.  Having a great rapper instead of a parade of mediocrities makes this quite a bit better than last year’s Madlib.  Doom also has a solo album this year, showing that he’s as distinctive a producer as he is a rapper (and very indebted to DJ Shadow’s early work). 

                This is also a big year for hip-hopera, a form that seems like a natural fit for as story-based and conceptually-minded a genre as hip-hop.  Still, I can think of only a surprisingly small number of examples, and they’re somewhat uneven.  Prince Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves from back in 1999 is an acknowledged classic, but Masta Ace’s A Long Hot Summer from this year is just ok, without the variety or outstanding beats to carry it.  On the other hand, over in the UK, the Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come For Free is pretty excellent.  “Fit But You Know It” excepted, the individual songs aren’t as outstanding as on the debut, but the successful integration of solid songs into a real story (which is both clear & grounded) makes up for a lot.  Plus, Clue-style, there are two endings to chose from.  So an excellent way to follow up an outstanding debut: keeping the basic sound intact, but pressing forward conceptually.  And by basic style, of course, I mean that the beats are still much more dance-based than hip-hop based.

                So the Streets are (is) as much a peer of UK dance-rockers as they (he) as much a peer of US hip-hop acts.  And in the UK this year, chief among the UK dance-rockers are Kasabian.  They’re massively derivative of the last two Primal Scream records’ techno-punk, albeit with some elements recalling the early-90s rave-rock sound (so like Primal Scream’s third record) and just a dash of 90s Radiohead.  Derivative, but a lot of fun.  Also, Kasabian yet again show how the UK version of dance-rock is much more interested in contemporary sounds than its US equivalent.  LCD Soundsystem, for instance, return with another single, the excellent “Yeah,” which is a lot of fun, but extremely derivative of Remain in Light-era Talking Heads and NYC disco of similar vintage.  Similarly, !!!’s album is quite good, but heavily indebted to Afrika Bambaata-style old school hip-hop beats.  Thankfully they’re singing/chanting rather than rapping, at least.  In neither case, though, should the retro-ness be taken as a diss, as both are a lot of fun this year (I’m more just commenting on the differences between the US & UK, rather than making a normative judgment).  I will say, however, as a normative judgment, that the US dance-punk roster has much less depth than I remember.  LCD Soundsystem, though they have yet to put out an album, are one of the great bands of their era, and !!! have at least one really solid album in them (this year’s), but after that, there’s a big drop-off in quality to the rest.  The Rapture and Juan MacLean had a couple of decent singles, but otherwise?  meh.

                One of the better bands on the dance-punk scene is the oft-reviled Franz Ferdinand, whose shtick is simple but effective.  Basically, they take Stokes-style garage-rock songs, and add dance beats, the overall effect recalling the early post-New Wave 80s British pop of the Duran Duran/Depeche Mode school.  Another band debuting this year that both recalls 80s synth-pop and is oddly intensely hated are the Killers.  I, for one, think they're just pretty good, sounding a lot like an inferior version of last year's Dandy Warhols; trashy and artificial, but probably by design.  It's when they start faking sincerity as the weakest of the late 00s Springsteen wannabes that'll soon crop up that they start to lose me.  Faking artificiality is what you're supposed to do, after all; faking sincertity is another matter.

Elsewhere on more straightahead rock, the Hives and Libertines are both back, the Hives, like the Strokes, repeating themselves to diminishing returns.  The Libertines don't repeat themselvs, but are starting to sound even more like a band constantly on the verge of falling apart, albeit in the best possible way.  Certainly sounding more live-wire than any of the garage rock revivalists, White Stripes included.  The Libertines are also part of a mini Brit-pop revival, driven largely by veterans.  Graham Coxon, now officially post-Blur, returns to conventional pop-rock, leaving the experimentation now to Albarn and Gorillaz.  This is probably as trad-rock as Coxon has been since Modern Life is Rubbish; even his more experimental moments lean heavily on past innovaters the Who and the Fall.  Still, better than good songs, and excellent guitar, even if Coxon is not exactly the strongest singer.  Morrisey is also back this year, with probably his most memorable single since his solo debut, "First of the Gang to Die."  The Super Furry Animals, meanwhile, have a remix album that, like all such creatures, is a mix of song inessential and inessential but leaving little trace of the original.

Among the other big UK acts, the Beta Band are back after a long absence with their final album, which is very much in the art-pop vein of their last one.  Maybe a bit more radio-ready, with, among others, the best U2 song U2 never wrote.  Also among the old turn of the century art-poppers, Cornershop have a last bouncy Punjabi aingle, which'll be the last we hear from them for awhile.  These two, apart from Gorillaz, are probably the end of the line for that colorful post-Beck art rock in the UK.  Meanwhile, Radiohead continue their album-then-ep pattern with ComLag, a mix of unnecessary remixes, mostly  deserved outtakes, and "I Am A Wicked Child," an entirely successful and spooky attempt by Radiohead at bluesy roots- decidedly an anomaly in their catalogue, but well worth tracking down.

                Over in the States, we're finally hearing a band influenced by Radiohead's new electronica sound (as opposed to the morass of Bends-aping groups in the UK).  TV on the Radio are more original in their homage than the UK groups, although not as tight in putting their ideas together than they'll be soon.  Still, a band with a lot of promise.  Another band making their LP debut is the Arcade Fire, in what is easily the best debut record of the year.  They'll get Springsteen comparisons I don't hear at all, escept insofar as they also sound like a Phil Spector Wall of Sound, albeit applied to songs that owe more to Modest Mouse (in jagged melodic approach) and the Flaming Lips (in weighty lyrical themes and big, group-sung moments - see especially album highlight "Wake Up").  So made up of recognizable parts, but fitted together in a new whole.

                Modest Mouse is yet another band back after a lengthy absence.  They haven't changed their core progressive-grunge sound at all, though they've started packaging it in pop-song length constructions.  They're rewarded for their troubles with surprising radio success, with the kind of skronky, lyrically obtuse stuff that hasn't gotten much radioplay since the grunge era itself.  Also among the 90s veterans back this year are Wilco, showing love for both grungy Neil Young roots-rock and Radiohead-recalling art-rock.  A Ghost is Born is very close sonically to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but while that one was conventional songs gussied up with electronic production, on Ghost, Wilco are getting bolder compositionally as well.  This is most successful on their Neil Young-goes-krautrock "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," but everything wrong with art-rock on the deliberately unlistenable 15 minute drone "Less Than You Think." I know of no one who's listened to it in it's entirety more than once.

                On the more singer-songwriter side of folk-rock, the long shadow of Elliott Smith is starting to recede, even as his last, tragically posthumous album comes out, showing a somewhat scruffier take on the band-based style of his previous two.  In place of Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Magnum is emerging as a big influence.  I mentioned in discussing In an Aeroplane, Over the Sea, that it sounded like demos; specifically, it sounded like Decemberists demos.  The Decemberists have been doing the literate folk-rock thing for a couple of years now, but first really get my attention as they start showing their old-school progressive rock leanings.  They not only owe a lot soncially to Jethro Tull, but compositionally as well, releasing a 20 minute medival epic constructed Thick As A Brick-style by stringing more conventional songs together into a single suite.  Between The Tain and American Idiot, a surprising resurgence of a song form that's been decidedly unfashionable since 1977.

                Also borrowing heavily from Neutral Milk Hotel, esp. in the shouty vocals and crummy production is Conner Oberst, aka Bright Eyes.  He also has obvious debts to Ryan Adams and (especially) Bob Dylan.  Like so many other "new Dylans," though he mislearns Dylan's stylistic approach, reducing the equation to excellent lyrics trump terrible singing.  Yes, Dylan never had a "good" singing voice, but in another sense has always been an excellent singer.  Like Sinatra or Elvis (Presley, but Costello as well), Dylan excels as an interpreter, at putting the right kind of snarl or sigh or other kind of inflection on the right words.  The likes of Oberst or Magnum, though, just shout-sing, substituting yelly intensity for the subtlty needed to really lift a song.  (On the subject of Dylan, though, due to the unamused Seuss estate, the Dylan Hears A Who project was pulled almost as it went up.  It's well worth tracking down if you can, though: I don't know who's singing, but he does a dead-on electric 60s Dylan impression, both vocally and musically, singing some Dr. Seuss classics.)

                More conventionally good-voiced is Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, one of the first of a new wave of sensitive and musically-conventional bearded roots-hipsters.  This wave also includes the excellent and bluegrassy Avett Brothers, who make their first appearance in my collection this year.  Both are quite good, putting out solid stuff, if not breaking new ground.  They sound pretty good next to the old masters, at least, like Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, who release an archival release of some of their excellent bluegrass duets.  Also fitting the sensitive bearded roots hipster tag, albeit with a more experimental streak, are My Morning Jacket, who re-release some of tbeir old ephemera this year.

                Related to roots, but much more rocking are the Black Keys.  Due to itunes screwing up the dating, I failed to discuss their Thickfreakness last year, but it's a lot like their debut, more a higher-energy version of Mississippi hill blues than, say, the White Stripes' Zeppelin fetish.  It's this year's Rubber Factory, though, that's their big leap forward, sounding more beat-heavy, more stripped, and more confident than ever before.  It's also the best collection of guitar riffs I've heard on a single record since the likes of Zeppelin and Sabbath stalked the Earth.

                Speaking of Sabbath, they're a big influence on Atlanta's Mastodon, one of the biggest metal bands of the new century to date.  They're very much a mix of a Sabbbath's grime and progressive inclinations with the intensity of death metal.  Since 1) I appreciate metal chiefly for its almost physical intesity through technical mastery and 2) I regard Sabbath as probably still the pinnacle of the genre, I'm willing to overlook the terrible and cartoonish cookie monster vocals to get to the best band of its type since Judas Priest.

                This has been a year where old-school prog has stared to resurface in all sorts of places both expected (metal) and unexpected (punk(!) and folk-rock).  So it's probably fitting to close with one of the greats of classic prog, looking back at their roots.  Rush's 60s covers EP is a massive amount of fun, and a typically grounded way for the band to celebrate their 30th anniversary by looking back at their own influences.  None of these better the originals (an amped-up “For What It’s Worth” probably comes closest), but it's a fantastic good time.

Song of the Year:  Usher feat. Lil John and Ludacris - "Yeah"  Obviously the summer jam, but also just an excellent mainstream hip-hop track, that you can (and did, at the time) hear over and over again without minding too much.  Also, this has a year with a bunch of solid albums, but not a lot of great singles.

Album of the Year:  Lateef & the Chief - Maroons: Ambush.  Just a really solid piece of melodic, soul-funking, lyrically substantial hip-hop.  I may be mistaken, but I don't think I've heard a straight hip-hop album I love more than this one since.

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  The Arcade Fire.  I liked them fine at the time, but they were so praised that I smelled over-hype.  This sense would be confirmed by their genuinely overhyped second album, but upon revisiting it, Funeral really is an excellent debut from a band showing worlds of promise.

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  Kanye West.  I was all set to give him Most Benefitting, as on first listen (having obtained it for this project), I was surprisingly fine with his debut.  But the longer I lived with it, the more Kanye's smugness and self-rghteousness/self-pity started to grate.  Smugness, I freely concede, can be difficult to separate from arrogance, which can be a lot of fun in music: see Jay-Z or Oasis.  But like pornography, I know it when I see it, and Kanye, like Billy Joel, is just an overwhelmingly smug little bastard.  Though also apparently a bit insecure, so if he reads this on the internet, I hope he doesn't take it too badly...

Album List

!!! - Louden Up Now

Andrew Mitchell - Andrew & Dad

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Brian Wilson - SMiLE

Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Cee-Lo Green - Closet Freak: The Best Of Cee-Lo Green The Soul Machine

Cornershop - Singles 1997-2006

Dangermouse & Jay-Z - The Grey Album

Dilated Peoples - Neighborhood Watch

Dropkick Murphys - Misc.

Dropkick Murphys - The Singles Collection, Vol. 2

DylanHearsAWho.com - Dylan Hears a Who

Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill

Elliott Smith - Misc.

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines [Bonus Track]

Green Day - American Idiot

Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days

Jerry Garcia And David Grisman - Been All Around This World

Jill Scott - Beautifully Human: Words And Sounds Vol. 2

John Legend - Get Lifted

Kanye West - The College Dropout

Kasabian - Kasabian

Lateef & The Chief - Maroons: Ambush

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Masta Ace - A Long Hot Summer

Mastodon - Leviathan

Mclusky - Mcluskyism

Merle Haggard - HAG: The Best Of Merle Haggard

MF Doom - MM...Food

Mission Of Burma - ONoffON

Mitch Hedberg - Strategic Grill Locations

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News

Morrissey - Misc.

Mos Def - The New Danger

My Morning Jacket - Chapter 1: The Sandworm Cometh: Early Recordings

Patti Smith - Outside Society

Pearl Jam - Christmas Singles

R.E.M. - Misc.

Radiohead - COM LAG (2plus2isfive)

Richard Thompson - Misc.

Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - Liz's Best of Compliation for Her Wonderful Husband

Rush - Feedback

Social Distortion - Misc.

Social Distortion - Sex, Love And Rock N' Roll

Stereolab - Serene Velocity - A Stereolab Anthology

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Phorce

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power

The Avett Brothers - Mignonette

The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros

The Beta Band - Live At The Shepherd's Bush Empire

The Black Keys - Rubber Factory

The Decemberists - Misc.

The Decemberists - The Tain (EP)

The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives

The Killers - Hot Fuss

The Libertines - Time For Heroes - The Best Of The Libertines

The Mekons - Misc.

The Mountain Goats - Misc.

The Pixies - Misc.

The Pixies - no title

The Roots - The Tipping Point

The Roots - Wedding Songs

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free

TV On The Radio - Deperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

V/A - 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler

Velvet Revolver - Contraband

Velvet Revolver - Misc.

Wilco - A Ghost is Born

Wire - Misc.

2003

                2003 is maybe a high water mark for pop-rock from the indie rockers.  The New Pornographers and the Shins both put out really excellent old-school pop-rock albums (harmonies, big hooks, rockin’ but not in am aggressive punk/metal way – think Cheap Trick, or various other post-Beatles guitar pop bands).  The two bands also sound very much like each other, though I’d give a slight edge to the New Pornos: multiple songwriters give a bit more variety, and multiple singers help with harmonies.  The Shins probably have a bit more coherent lyrics, not that that’s an essential component for a style of music that lives and dies on the hooks.  I suppose neither is too far from the Super Furry Animals’ core sound, though the SFA add a lot more to their sound (and have much more coherent lyrics).  This year they’ve doubled down on both the prog & techno, and added in a new strain of steel-guitar country. 

                Last time around, I described Death Cab for Cutie as very similar to the Shins in sound, and even started to warm up to them a bit.  That all stops this year.  In their core sonic elements, they’re not so far gone, but they’re dirge-y instead of hooky, and self-pitying like they want to be the new Elliott Smith.  But while Elliott Smith was fantastic lyrically, if you don’t want to slap Ben Gibbard after he whinges about how “the glove compartment is inaccurately named” because it has photos of his old girlfriend rather than gloves, you either a) haven’t graduated from high school yet or b) are Zoey Deschanel.  Not any better is Gibbard’s synth/IDM side project.  (IDM, by the way is Intelligent Dance Music: read dance music with wimpy beats you can't actually dance to; I don't really see the point either...)

                Elsewhere in indie, the synths are really rising to prominence, as acts move to ape the 80s much like 90s alt bands aped the 70s.  Most explicit (and also best, this year) are the Dandy Warhols, who actually bring on a former Duran Duran-er to produce.  The hipster poseurs over at Pitchfork slagged them for being poseurs, which neatly misses the point that they’re fundamentally a glam-rock band, and nobody wants a glam-rock band that’s not artificial & plastic.  All that matters is that the Dandy’s Welcome to the Monkey House is fun as hell, absolutely drenched in retro synths, but also big, Bowie-style hooks.

                The Flaming Lips are less revival-focused on a pair of EPs this year, and more interested in mixing modern techno sounds into their mix.  Of course, being EPs instead of proper albums, the songs this year are pretty much either outtakes or (wholly unnecessary) remixes, so the Lips are definitely in a holding pattern, albeit one that suggests that their new look is one they can sustain.  Also playing around with synths, and straddling the border between indie pop and dance punk are Phoenix, who debut this year.  That they can sound a bit like Daft Punk is unsurprising, as their guitarist was formerly in the band that would become Daft Punk, but elsewhere they sound like they owe a lot more to Air's loungetronica (an don one track early Pavement).  More than anything, they're another in a long line of indie-poppers reclaiming AM Gold, though.

The other major scene within indie is dance-punk, which you know is starting to become a real movement because the Johnny-come-latelys are starting to graft dance beats onto their bog-standard indie rock in a bid for au currant cache (this year, Moving Units).  Among the actual movers & shakers, the Rapture put out their debut.  They definitely were originators of this scene, but their album is a less than inspiring affair, all warmed over Public Image impressions and tepid thin beats.  None of this stuff ever really swung, but for the Rapture especially, dancing seems more like a theoretical concept than a real thing.  For music you can actually dance to this year, it’s hip-hop or bust.

Or the Electric Six.  Grouped with the dance-punks (and probably getting some exposure from being accidentally trend-adjacent), they're really a disco-metal band that takes both halves of the equation seriously.  Though that’s all they take seriously.  So as though Judas Priest’s Turbo really was influential, but also had a sense of humor.  Most importantly, not only does it rock, and swing, but Fire! is one of the funniest albums in my collection.  Just the titles, like “Naked Pictures (of Your Mother)” or “Electric Demons In Love,” give you a sense of the type of humor on display.  Also my favorite lyric of the year is, hands-down, “who elected you judge & jury in the body of a beautiful girl//I suspect heavy gerrymandering in the singles bar.”  I suppose if you don’t find it funny, it’d lose a lot of its charm, but you’d be missing out on a gem.  The world emphatically needs a band like the Electric Six.

                Of course, the last thing the world needs is another band like the Electric Six, which leaves the Darkness in an unfortunate position: also more joke-metal, though more hair-metal focused, but not as funny as the Electric Six, nor as clever.  Also, it was never quite clear whether they were serious power-metal fans or having a joke at the expense of the music (while the Electric Six always seemed genuine in their love of the music).  Regardless, the Darkness are just one of several bands in the garage/new rock wave that show a decided classic rock influence.  Also new (and more clearly of the garage rock scene) are the oft-maligned Jet and the severely overrated Kings of Leon.  The Kings of Leon are actually better than I remember, sounding like a rootsier Strokes, although I can testify that they were terrible live.  Nevertheless, like the Strokes, more hype than substance, as the songs themselves are just pretty good, but not outstanding.  Jet, by contrast, are probably better than their reputation.  Unabashedly derivative, yes, but derivative of good influences, like Iggy Pop, John Lennon, and AC/DC.  Ultimately, they have more in common with the Rapture (and the Darkness) than their critics would concede, as all three are basically just straight revivalists.  At least Jet kick up a credible ruckus. 

                Among the returning garage-rockers, the White Stripes cement their position as the best of this scene, with another ambitious sprawl of an album, this time sounding even more like a two-person Zeppelin with prominent country leanings (vs. the more Sabbath-derived heaviness on the last one).  Not a radical change, but some solidly discernible growth, into more country-heavy territory.  Certainly more growth than the Strokes, who pretty much just repeat themselves on their follow-up.  Nothing you haven’t heard if you’ve heard their debut, but if you liked their debut, it’s not significantly different in quality either.  Maybe a touch more New Wave in their sound, with the Edge-style treated guitars to sound like keyboards.  Over in the UK, the Libertines are also back, but only with an EP that doesn’t significantly modify their sound form before.  I’m more forgiving of the Libertines, but only because 1) it’s an EP, and 2) I like them better anyway.

                Finally among the indie kids is the little-heard debut EP of the Arcade Fire.  Already they sound pretty darn solid, like a better version of (fellow Canadians) Broken Social Scene’s big orchestrated sound, but in the service of real songs, rather than Broken Social Scene’s rather aimless tracks.  Still, they’ll be worth paying a lot more attention to starting soon…

                So that’s the newer groups.  Turning to older groups, it’s a pretty strong year.  As the indie kids rediscover the post-punk 80s, several of the artists that were actually there are putting out entirely worthwhile records this year.  Joe Strummer’s last posthumous album is probably his best, even if some of the tracks still have what I suspect are early versions of the lyrics; at least I hope “Igot a busy day, I’m wearing a vest” wasn’t meant to be a real lyric.  Regardless, this is the album that’s most likely to appeal to Clash fans, as Joe tries his hand at reggae and punk again, but also includes some of the best of his more electronica-type experiments (esp. “Midnight Jam”).  Joe even gets to sing his own eulogy, the indented-for-Johnny Cash “Long Shadow.”  A thoroughly fitting last word for one of the absolute best of the Class of ’77.

                Elsewhere among those active in the world of post-punk, there’s more good stuff.  King Crimson of course were active before post-punk, but the Crimson that’s around these days is the post-punk lineup.  Though this year they sound like a harder version of the Red lineup.  Among the real post-punks, Wire disappointed some people when they followed up last year’s comeback EPs with a studio album that’s half “best of the EPs” and half new tracks, but those new tracks are at least as good as the EP tracks, including one (“Being Watched”) which reintroduces pummeling dance-style beats to good effect.  Combined with their harder comeback sound, though, it ends up closer to Primal Scream than Wire in the 80s.

                Better still, though, is the Fall’s latest, the aptly named Real New Fall LP.  Fall fans are a contentious lot, with non-overlapping lists of the band’s best & worst, but there’s a real consensus around this one, and with good reason.  The Fall haven’t sounded this focused in their attack in awhile, still pursuing their garage-techno sound and making a record that can stand alongside their 80s classics.  I should also note that it’s abundantly obvious to me now that McLusky aren’t neo-garage affiliates, but rather are died-in-the-wool Fall followers.  This revelation also coincides with me thinking of them more fondly this year.  Any band that loves the Fall can’t be all bad.

                The Fall have sort of generally surfaced as a bigger influence than I gave them credit for over the course of this project.  I heard them in Pearl Jam back in the day (almost a decade ago), and I definitely hear them in Radiohead this year (esp. on “Myxomatosis”).  Radiohead generally seem to agree with me that Amnesiac was better than Kid A, as Hail to the Thief sounds like the former more than the latter, albeit with fewer song fragments.  Not a dramatic shift, therefore, but a solid demonstration that they have more to say in their new electro-prog style (and some of that is a wave of cryptic anti-Bush statements).

                Sadly, Blur’s parallel attempts at an electro-prog style fall short this year.  Damon Albarn apparently is like Eric Clapton; capable of phenomenal work when driven to excel by a collaborator, but self-indulgent and uninspired left to his own devices.  In Gorillaz, Albarn’s slew of collaborators fill this role, and Graham Coxon used to do the same in Blur.  But Coxon quits Blur this year, leaving only one track on Think Tank with him on it.  So unsurprisingly it’s one of the two keepers from the album, the other being the Phil Daniels spoken word hidden track that updates his similar guest spot on “Parklife” to a grimmer and more techno-driven 21^st century.  The rest of the album’s sonically not too far from their last couple of singles, but a lot less compelling than “Music Is My Radar.”  It’s a stew of jammy prog-rock, not unlike Phish with more ambitious arrangements (horns, electronica flourishes), a dash of punk, and an air of melancholy borrowed from the Specials.  But Phish’s comparable take on jammy prog was helped greatly by the virtuoso playing, and Blur have now lost the only member who was better than average (and Albarn subbing in by looping his own rudimentary guitar parts is a poor substitute).  One hope that the Olympics reunion prompts the band to return with another album, as this is a disappointing way to finish.  Sonically ambitious, but uninspired.

                Over in the US, the alt-rock survivors are similarly not particularly inspired.  Jane’s Addiction return out of nowhere, but the results are nothing to really write home about.  The Stone Temple Pilots also close out their run with a greatest-hits-bait single, but it’s the weakest of their singles since at least the Purple days.  Better, but no more original, are Rancid, with another of their shout-y paeans to brotherhood.  This is really the first album where Rancid aren’t pushing their sound in new directions, and it’s also (probably not coincidentally) their last for almost a decade.  But it’s just more punk rock, much like the Dropkick Murphys’ stuff this year is just more hardcore.

                A bit better are the oldest of the alt-country bands (or, in Wilco’s case, the successor of one of the oldest of the alt-country bands).  Regardless, the Jayhawks and Wilco continue their parallel development by both returning to a more orthodox alt-country sound this year.  For the Jayhawks, this is a return to their classic sound, and (like Rancid) the last we’ll hear from them for awhile.  We’ll hear a bit more from Wilco, who follow up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with an EP that basically sounds like the YHF songs with the electronica production treatment removed; so pretty stripped roots-rock, though that’s a style that Wilco are pretty good at.   Also stripped, but considerably more ambitious is Neil Young, who puts out a concept album/rock opera, which in Young terms basically means that his rambling story-songs connect between the tracks.  Ambitious in concept (and I believe it was a multimedia project), thought the actual songs aren’t half as inspired as his 90s rockers.  Between this year’s concept album, and last year’s soul-tribute, the ‘00s for Young are shaping up to be another wandering decade like the 80s.

                Finally turning to hip-hop, a pretty solid year overall.  First of all, this year’s summer jam was one of the best in recent memory, Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love,” wherein both decree how much they love Jay-Z.  A monster single, though undoubted overshadowed by Outkast’s two-headed monster “Hey Ya”/”The Way You Move.”  When acts put out the album of their career, there are a couple of responses they can take to follow it up.  They can do a carbon copy, but Outkast are too good for that.  They can do an expansion, but they did that already, following up Aquemeni with Stankonia.  They can start releasing solo albums, KISS-style.  And they can put out a sprawling double-sized album, shades of Exile on Main St. or Sandinista!  So Outkast split the difference on last two, putting out a double-album that’s really two solo albums.  Both clearly have a funk icon on the brain, as André 3000’s The Love Below is his take on a Prince record, while Big Boi’s Speakerboxx is a modern version of a Parliament album.  The Love Below is certainly the more ambitious, including rock songs, jazz jams, funk workouts, and even hoary bits of vaudeville comedy.  The highs on this record are phenomenal, though it’s also a bit uneven.  Speakerboxx, on the other hand, is more of a straight hip-hop record, though that undersells it a bit, as it’s probably the finest hip-hop record to come out of Atlanta barring only Stankonia and possibly Big Boi’s own Sir Lucious Left Foot.  Also, being in The Love Below’s shadow makes it easy to overlook how innovative Big Boi also was/is, leaving him tagged as the “conventional” one, a tag that would stick until his proper solo debut.  But make no mistake, this is a state-of-the-art hip-hop album.

                Elsewhere in hip-hop, it’s a good year for regions outside of the conventional East and West Coast hotbeds.  Staying in the South, the Nappy Roots follow up their debut with another record that’s very similar in style, but for whatever reason just not nearly as compelling (probably the old “a decade to write your first album, six months to write your second” problem).  But this is also the year that Bubba Sparxx bursts on the scene.  Unfairly tagged as a “hillbilly Eminem,” but excellent nevertheless, Bubba benefits from what might be Timbaland’s most innovative production work, fusing his conventional style with bluegrass seemingly on loan from O Brother, Where Art Thou?  The end result recalls slightly the Nappy Roots (at least insofar as both are far more proud of being ‘country’ than most in the conventionally urban hip-hop world), but really has no parallels anywhere else in either hip-hop or music generally.  Outside of the South, there’s Atmosphere in Minneapolis, who’s good but probably the unfortunate origin of the emo-rap style that’ll culminate in Drake.  And in the UK, in a sign that the indigenous UK scene is bigger than the Streets, Dizzee Rascal first makes some waves (though tellingly on a Basement Jaxx track, showing how the UK scene owes a lot more to techno than to old-school hip-hop).

                And there are some records that are just manna for the hardcore hip-hop heads.  A couple of old favorites return.  Lyrics Born is back with a solo album that keeps the basic Blackalicious sonic template, though the songs are somewhat lacking (along with Rancid and the Strokes, this is kind of a theme this year).  The flow remains outstanding, though.  Supergroup Hieroglyphics are also back, but I’ll mention them more below.  Among the newer acts, underground-favorite producers J. Dilla and Madlib collaborate on the Jaylib project, which has (as is to be expected) excellent beats, but some serious deficiencies among the guest rappers.  J. Dilla’s own solo set will benefit a lot from being just a straight-up instrumental album.  Nevertheless, a gem of production.  Finally, the first appearance in my collection of one of the great MCs of the new century (and a fine producer as well).  MF Doom owes a lot to Kool Keith, but has his own fantastically clever lyrics (probably more coherent than Keith) and a fantastic & original flow (I’ve characterized his chunky delivery in the past as ‘anti-flow,’ but it’s undeniably effective).  If nothing else, I’ve never heard anyone quite like Doom.

Song of the Year:  Outkast (but really André 3000) – “Hey Ya.”  As if there was ever even another contender.  It’s probably the song of the decade as well.  You know this song, everybody knows this song, and everybody loves this song.  A monster hit that deserved to be, making rock for the hip-hop crowd & hip-hop for the rock crowd all in a single song.

Album of the Year:  Two contenders this year.  Going in, I thought for sure it would be the New Pornographers’ Electric Version, and it’s both probably their best and one of the finest pure pop-rock records I’ve heard since Tom Petty’s prime.  On the other hand, the Electric Six’s Fire is a whole lot of fun, and I’d be hard pressed to deny that I looked forward to each and every one of its tracks coming up on shuffle. 

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  Hieroglyphics.  This is their second album, but their first album came out amid an embarrassment of riches for hip-hop.  This time I’m really able to appreciate the excellent beats, and the way that, in the manner of all old-school-style hip-hop albums, it’s a concept album about how great at rapping the various members are.

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  The Postal Service.  At the time, I was thoroughly mystified at why people were praising Death Cab so much, when they were so mediocre.  So I glommed onto the Postal Service, because at least the backing music was a bit more innovative.  But upon listening again, the faults (really, really whiny self-pitying lyrics) outweigh the virtues (moderately innovative beats).

Album List

Andre 3000 - Wedding Songs

Arcade Fire - Us Kids Know

Atmosphere - Seven's Travels

Belle & Sebastian - Misc.

Billy Bragg - Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg

Blur - Misc.

Blur - Think Tank

Bob Dylan - Masked & Anonymous

Bob Dylan - Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs

Bruce Springsteen - Essential Rarities

Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance

Daft Punk - Musique Vol 1

Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism

Dropkick Murphys - Misc.

Dropkick Murphys - The Singles Collection, Vol. 2

Edwyn Collins | Orange Juice - A Casual Introduction 1981/2001

Elliott Smith - Misc.

Hieroglyphics - Full Circle

Iron Maiden - Misc.

Jane's Addiction - Up From The Catacombs: The Best Of Jane's Addiction

Jaylib - Champion Sound

Jet - Get Born

Joe Strummer - Streetcore

King Crimson - In The Studio 1995-2003

King Crimson - Live 1994-2003

Kings Of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood

Lyrics Born - Later That Day...

Mclusky - Mcluskyism

MF Doom - Vaudeville Villain (Viktor Vaughn)

Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together

Nappy Roots - Wooden Leather

Neil Young - Greendale

Outkast - Speakerboxxx

Outkast - The Love Below

Pearl Jam - Christmas Singles

Phoenix - United

Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

Primal Scream - Misc.

Radiohead - Hail To The Thief

Rancid - Misc.

Randy Newman - The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1

Richard Thompson - Misc.

Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr

RZA - Kill Bill, Vol. 1

Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power

Super Furry Animals - Super Furry Animals Songbook

The Dandy Warhols - Welcome To The Monkey House

The Electric Six - Fire!

The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats

The Fall - The Real New Fall LP (formerly 'Country on the Click')

The Flaming Lips - Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell [EP]

The Flaming Lips - Fight Test EP

The Jayhawks - Music From The North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology

The Libertines - Time For Heroes - The Best Of The Libertines

The New Pornographers - Electric Version

The Postal Service - Give Up

The Rapture - Echoes

The Saltash Serenaders - Demos From The Next County

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

The Strokes - Room On Fire

The White Stripes - Elephant

Wilco - More Like the Moon

Wire - Misc.

Wire - Send

Yo La Tengo - Misc.

Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love