[2] best [0] albums [0] redux [4]
i thought about it some more, and i re-ordered my list. then i wrote a lot about it. i wanted to provide a ton of links back to stuff that i mentioned, which is what i did last year at the end of the year, but then i remembered that that thing took me several hours, so you'll just have to live without the links.
anyway, the new and revised list:
what's really exciting about looking through this list is that my year had some variety to it, so different albums are linked to different memories now.
tilly and the wall is recent, so it's mostly manda and also just being and singing and fun and digging the lyrics. it's one of those albums that i really digest voraciously over several months, developing a new favorite every couple weeks (see: postal service, radiohead, etc.)
air is manda, all the way, one hundred percent. sometimes the concert, sometimes lying around together talking and amusing each other as we drift off to sleep, her warm body a comfort and a harbor.
the killers is driving around in my car, rocking out. and a little bit my friends because we're all into them and i guess i saw them at ACL but it wasn't much of a set at 1pm. but this album is hot shit.
franz ferdinand is rockin' out, california, their amazing set at ACL, jump step shiver, and wishiwasarockstar.
magnetic fields is mostly california, but also manda a bit because we listened to it driving around and hanging out and we saw them together a month or so ago.
iron & wine i haven't even really fully gotten into, but for some reason they make me think of manda. very delicate and warm.
pinback is pinback. perhaps part of what makes it such a welcome escape is that it has no strong associations with anything. just a general vibe of chill. car driving chillness. poker. friends. doot doo doo.
hayden is hayden. he is a constant and yet he grows and evolves. his songwriting leads me and anchors me. his songs are a comfort and a catalyst. i like watching the line he traces as i watch the line i trace, as a person and as a musician. (this is a topic i could get into, i feel this way more and more about certain artists and thinkers as i get older.)
wilco is pleasanton, california, all summer long. driving to airports. listening to jump, step, shiver in rental cars. living in a hotel. playing poker online. calling manda. chatting with manda. missing manda. missing my friends. and taco bell.
elliott smith makes me think of him dying, and of wanting to write songs again this year and at least starting some good ones.
!!! is poker, hip kids, and wishiwasarockstar. (*buys the domain wishiwasarockstar.com*)
of course, there's other music from this year that ties into memory, but (perhaps pointlessly) this list is limited to 2004 releases. after reviewing the pitchfork and rolling stone year-end lists, i recognize that either they had to lower their standards or, more likely, i have some homework to do on the quality music of 2004. then again, i recognize some of the quality but just didn't get into it as much (beastie boys? eminem? prince? that prince album is great, but no one else i talk to seems to be into it. bastards.). so maybe it's a question of motivation.
the astute observer may have noticed i don't have the modest mouse album on there. that's interesting. it has some great songs that i listed to a lot, but as an album it is weak and seldom gets a full spin. of course, i probably listened to it way more than !!!, so maybe leaving them off the list entirely was a bit of an over-reaction. i can't believe i'm actually having hipster backlash to popularity of a previously elite group? could it be? nah, the album just wasn't that great. but holy shit if this was a list of videos they'd definitely be on it. and all time, well, anyone who knows me knows the mouse is a perennial favorite. let it stand thus: if i had made a list of 12, modest mouse would probably have been number 12.
and now, as time marches (as it habitually must) ever onward and upward, i go to fold and unfold my body as i blow and unblow my mind in the causal vacuum of incandescent rainbow dreams and the reverie of sweet slumber.
anyway, the new and revised list:
- Tilly and the Wall - Wild Like Children
- Air - Talkie Walkie
- The Killers - Hot Fuss
- Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
- Magnetic Fields - I
- Iron & Wine - Endless Numbered Days
- Pinback - Summer in Abaddon
- Hayden - Elk-Lake Serenade
- Wilco - A Ghost is Born
- Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill
- !!! - Louden Up Now
what's really exciting about looking through this list is that my year had some variety to it, so different albums are linked to different memories now.
tilly and the wall is recent, so it's mostly manda and also just being and singing and fun and digging the lyrics. it's one of those albums that i really digest voraciously over several months, developing a new favorite every couple weeks (see: postal service, radiohead, etc.)
air is manda, all the way, one hundred percent. sometimes the concert, sometimes lying around together talking and amusing each other as we drift off to sleep, her warm body a comfort and a harbor.
the killers is driving around in my car, rocking out. and a little bit my friends because we're all into them and i guess i saw them at ACL but it wasn't much of a set at 1pm. but this album is hot shit.
franz ferdinand is rockin' out, california, their amazing set at ACL, jump step shiver, and wishiwasarockstar.
magnetic fields is mostly california, but also manda a bit because we listened to it driving around and hanging out and we saw them together a month or so ago.
iron & wine i haven't even really fully gotten into, but for some reason they make me think of manda. very delicate and warm.
pinback is pinback. perhaps part of what makes it such a welcome escape is that it has no strong associations with anything. just a general vibe of chill. car driving chillness. poker. friends. doot doo doo.
hayden is hayden. he is a constant and yet he grows and evolves. his songwriting leads me and anchors me. his songs are a comfort and a catalyst. i like watching the line he traces as i watch the line i trace, as a person and as a musician. (this is a topic i could get into, i feel this way more and more about certain artists and thinkers as i get older.)
wilco is pleasanton, california, all summer long. driving to airports. listening to jump, step, shiver in rental cars. living in a hotel. playing poker online. calling manda. chatting with manda. missing manda. missing my friends. and taco bell.
elliott smith makes me think of him dying, and of wanting to write songs again this year and at least starting some good ones.
!!! is poker, hip kids, and wishiwasarockstar. (*buys the domain wishiwasarockstar.com*)
of course, there's other music from this year that ties into memory, but (perhaps pointlessly) this list is limited to 2004 releases. after reviewing the pitchfork and rolling stone year-end lists, i recognize that either they had to lower their standards or, more likely, i have some homework to do on the quality music of 2004. then again, i recognize some of the quality but just didn't get into it as much (beastie boys? eminem? prince? that prince album is great, but no one else i talk to seems to be into it. bastards.). so maybe it's a question of motivation.
the astute observer may have noticed i don't have the modest mouse album on there. that's interesting. it has some great songs that i listed to a lot, but as an album it is weak and seldom gets a full spin. of course, i probably listened to it way more than !!!, so maybe leaving them off the list entirely was a bit of an over-reaction. i can't believe i'm actually having hipster backlash to popularity of a previously elite group? could it be? nah, the album just wasn't that great. but holy shit if this was a list of videos they'd definitely be on it. and all time, well, anyone who knows me knows the mouse is a perennial favorite. let it stand thus: if i had made a list of 12, modest mouse would probably have been number 12.
and now, as time marches (as it habitually must) ever onward and upward, i go to fold and unfold my body as i blow and unblow my mind in the causal vacuum of incandescent rainbow dreams and the reverie of sweet slumber.