ILM TOP ALBUMS OF 2004

#33.

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Bark Psychosis - ///Codename: Dustsucker

On the first Bark Psychosis record in ten years, vocalist Graham Sutton and a dozen credited instrumentalists craft a denser sound than on the vaunted Hex but convey the same sort of beautiful desolation, filled with filtered, druggy guitars and off-kilter sighs. Much of the album's success can be owed to ex-Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris, whose steady ride cymbal is thrillingly trancelike. But Sutton's knack for
manipulating a wealth of sonic colors and textures also pays off: "Miss Abuse" builds into a slow and dirty grind, as a bass synth squirms over clanging train bells. And there's a point in "The Black Meat" where I'm suddenly reminded of the stylish Los-Angeles-at-night of Michael Mann's Collateral: the crisp trumpet and splashy drums would sound fantastic coming out of the limo stereo, as you gaze out the window to admire all the glass buildings. The perfect nexus between the heady post-rock I adored in college and the sad shoegazer I've only recently been discovering. -Jaymc

Other ILXors Say:

"The thing is it's not a comeback or a reformation or an attempt to recapture past glories. It's just a guy who loves music taking his time and enjoying making it; in this respect, of course it's good, because there's no pressure or expectation, just music." -Sick Mouthy

"Dude, it completely rules. Don't understand why the girl sings so many sings. But the beginning of the second one, about standing on a beach on some strange land. . .album of the year?" -Trevor Horn

"God this is so gorgeous, I can't believe it. It's spinning in my shitty kitchen Philips CD player for the second time now and I am already overwhelmed." -alex in manhattan

Everyone I show the Teedra cover to goes 'she's so hot!' at first, then they see a close-up and go 'actually she's much older than she looks on the cover'.

I mean, I sorta think it's the kinda R&B album that only really makes sense if you've internalised R&B.

this is otm, it's not the kind of R&B which appeals to the 'look, R&B's male producers take cues from IDM, we can like it now' brigade at all. Those people tend to think that R&B as a genre was shitty pre-Timbaland, and this is kind of a throwback to that era (except not, &c).

Complex Simplicity is actually a perfect title for it.

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The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

I'd love to be able to listen to the Hold Steady without thinking "I'm listening to the Hold Steady." (This is the risk you run when a band's got "personality," I guess.) Anyway last night I got close, and here's how: I thought about all the surprising ways they manage, on Almost Killed Me, to get from loud to louder. Listening that way made the whole mess transcendent. -DKrissoff

Other ILXors Say:

"ommfg--the Hold Steady are GRATE." -M Matos

"fave rock album of the year EASY" -Cinnblount

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Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll

31. Mylo - Destroy Rock n Roll

Electroclash was fun and all, but rarely either bangin' or poppy enough, so thank heavens it turned out to be a transitional thing. Destroy Rock & Roll feels transitional too: this sort of sweet'n'soft electro house lends itself wonderfully to the album format, and I hope it's only the first of many. Mylo's only beginning to sharpen his skills and his best is yet to come - compared to, say, the sweeping muscular majesty of his remix of Kylie's "I Believe In You", this album already sounds sketchy. But that's just another part of its laidback charm. Destroy Rock & Roll is immediate in its warm embrace, and flawlessly sequenced - gearing up slowly, then diving headstraight into a seemingly endless wave of hook after sunny hook, and at the end slowing down again into Royksopp-y bliss. Roll on summer of 2005! -Mind Taker

Other ILXors Say:

"Hey, this is great! Okay, the album clearly doesn't have an original bone in its body but its still one of the most purely enjoyable records I've heard in a while..." -Matt DC

"I'm currently playing it to death and enjoying it immensely, whilst knowing full well that I'll be sick of it by the end of the summer." -mike t-diva

"Marianna and I discussed this in the pub. We concluded that it is a fantastic album and you are all ponces." -Gravel Puzzleworth

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30. Wiley - Treading on Thin Ice

There's no one quite like Wiley
I know you will agree
His tracks are always icy
From a cold mysterious place
And though he says he's froze at heart
He seems to be confused
The words of everyday feeling
Are the ones that he has used

Wiley we love you
Wiley we do
Though you may not have made the best album of 2004
You made the most important one. -Jacob W.

Other ILXors Say:

"It's really good. Not as abrasive as I'd expected... very poppy in places." -The Lex

"Really pretty great, although it doesn't have the immediate take-your-head-off power that Boy In Da Corner did the first couple of times you played it." -DJ Mencap

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Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse

29. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse

Sometimes after just a few albums, bands begin to sour on me. I don't think Stereolab's new Margerine Eclipse is a particularly bad record; I probably just overdosed on them a while back and now everything they do just seems tired. So it's a surprise to me that the new album by Sonic Youth, whom I've loved now for over ten years, is my favorite of theirs since Washing Machine. That record's final track, "The Diamond Sea," launched the template for much of their recent output: a loose, hazy, jammy style that could achieve a certain dreamy transcendence but just as often seemed tepid or bloated. Sonic Nurse does absolutely nothing new but perfects that form in a way that sounds both spirited and effortless. Songs routinely exceed the six-minute mark but never feel excessive; even during long, mazy guitar solos shot through with noise, the band for the first time in a while sounds entirely at ease. -Jaymc

Other ILXors Say:

"It's a bit underwhelming. They seem to be cruising well within their comfort zone. It's solid, but unspectacular, save for a couple of songs." -Dave Segal

"This is probably their best album 'cause it's so MOR" -Mr Snrub

"this album is SO good. Murray Street was a step in the right direction; this takes the good things about that album (namely, the builds) and really uses them to their full advantage." -Kyle

Other ILXor Stats:

Nominated by toothy philanthropist as one of the Biggest Drops in Quality Ever

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Gretchen Wilson - Here for the Party

28. Gretchen Wilson - Here for the Party

To be completely honest, the is the only country album I've heard this year. Living in Croatia means this stuff feels refreshingly exotic to me, but sadly also means that I have no place to purchase it offline. Which is a shame! "Redneck Woman" and "When It Rains" rock so much they put most "proper" rock of today to shame. But, first and foremost, I enjoy this as a great SOUL record. Every one of its ballads is completely gorgeous. "Here For the Party" does all those things R&B forgot to do and nu-soul just can't do no matter how hard it tries: it's rich, soothing, tender, romantic, bittersweet, and... I don't know, it just makes me feel all warm inside. -Mind Taker

Other ILXors Say:

"Just finally heard the whole Gretchen Wilson album yesterday, and it is indeed quite great" -Chuck

Other ILXor Stats:

Jaymc's prediction for Sasha Frere-Jones' Next Article in the New Yorker

#27.

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Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters

I was listening to their “Comfortably Numb� cover at my parents’ friends house once. I can only imagine what they think of me as a result. -The Good Dr. Bill

Other ILXors Say:

"Scissor Sisters live - grebt.
Scissor Sisters on record - "meh", ranging to "argh what is this shit?"" -Matt DC

"Right!!!!! I've finally listened to this album!!!!! Ang again, it's been a bit of a surprise!!!! On the strength of the "Comfortably Numb" I was expecting a mildly annoyingly innoffensive House music flavoured record, and instead got for the most part a late 70s rock/pop record with solid, if slightly workmanlike, production, and reasonably decent tunes!!!!! In fact, at times it comes across almost like a Christopher Cross album with balls!!!!!!" -Old Fart!!!

"surely gay and camp are synonomous with good logic and reason?" -Stevem

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Ted Leo - Shake the Sheets

26. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets

Leo’s previous record, “Hearts of Oak,� was so open to collaboration – sing along with the loopy falsetto, why don’t you, and while you’re at it, how about banging out that cowbell part on the steering wheel? “Shake the Sheets� offers no such invitation. It’s almost bullying: all precision and frank brutality. To my slack-conditioned ears, the exciting bits – the rhythmic tricks at the end of “Me and Mia,� say – seem manipulative. But you know, being manipulated by Ted Leo feels pretty fucking o-kay. -DKrissoff

Other ILXors Say:

"Yeah, Shake the Sheets just clicked big time for me." -Colin Beckett

"on the whole i must say i don't feel it as much as i did hearts... which i felt almost immediately. the playing is x10 better and the production is way better and there are some really nice instrumental parts. but it's lacking hooks, or something. also it seems to be far more "political", which i guess given tej's basic schtick is to be expected in this day and age." -Jess

This is not a complaint, but then I only know one song by Kingmaker.

Nice list making and the suspence is killing me.

-- Tuomas (tuomas.alh...), January 16th, 2005.

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What happened?
-- mohair (pdesign...), January 16th, 2005.

I think the plan is to finish on Monday

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Big and Rich - Horse of a Different Color

As Chuck Eddy points out, this has a bounce and a swagger and a brightness that is extremely rare these days - indeed, it's always been uncommon enough to be cherished when we do find it. It blends its multifarious styles beautifully, partly because it's so well produced, and partly because the voices, the lovely, tight and sophisticated harmonies, pull it together so well. I'm a big fan of Bubba Sparxxx's albums, but (and this may be because I have been so out of touch with country music over the last few years) I didn't see this blend of country and hip hop, plus disco and hard rock, coming at all. I love music that sounds wildly happy, ecstatic, exuberant, and to combine all that with a lot of the lyrical wit of country and rap AND include the glamour of disco and the punch of rock is a thrilling achievement. -Martin Skidmore

Other ILXors Say:

"their album could easily wind up being the first album by anybody that I give 30 points to on a Pazz and Jop ballot. Ever." -Chuck

"Nevertheless, I'm having trouble getting overly excited about this album as a whole. There are certainly some fine songs, and I understand the thought process behind it, but ... eh." -Mr. Deeds

"I am so scared to investigate this record." -Sick Mouthy

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Devin the Dude - To tha X-Treme

A record that makes you feel dumb just trying to pin it down. Devin's drawing from everywhere, but making a disc strongly held together by his overwhelming sense of self. Obviously he's high, but maybe he's just SO high, he's grounded. How else to explain a guy who has his shit so absurdly together. The humor is humane and humanity is
staggering. Musically solid but rooted in Devin's own absorbed style relying on elements of funk, reggae, rock, whatever... It doesn't matter. He incorporates contradictions like the everyday part of life they are: Invigorating bass lines on an otherwise laid back track,
crying/laughter to kick off a breakup song where he immediately cops to farting under the covers. It doesn't stop until Unity, where he spells it out for us clear as can be. The aural
equivalent of staring at the sun. -Dan H.

Other ILXors Say:

"I defy you to name a better hip hop album released this year." -Forksclovetofu

"Judging from most kid-targeted food packaging, I'd say that he should try selling his CD in a supermarket where children can guilt parents into impulse-buying it. mmm, X-Treme jello." -DJDee2005

"this
album
is
THE
SHIT" -JSK Baby

Can I say, it should be noted that's from 2002, and that I completely retract that and just saw Wolf Eyes on an EXTREMELY rare off night the first time I ever saw them, and subsequently want to cut myself open and have them spit in my wounds so they can be a part of me?