Behold, my list of 2004 favorites.
ALBUMS GETTING THE MOST PLAYS:
(Released in any year, not necessarily 2004, and in random order.)
Bjork - Vespertine. My ears are late bloomers. I just heard this for the first time in October or November. It's so twinkly and destructive all at once. Speechless. [Favorite track: Unison]
Bjork - Medulla. Yes, I'm on the Bjork train. While this album is a little less played than Vespertine in my house, it BLOWS MY MIND. [Favorite track: Mouth's Cradle]
Odessa Chen - One Room Palace. This album has been on my radar for over a year, but I had neglected to buy it. STOOOOPID! It's remarkable, wintry, and intelligent. [Favorite track: Snow Angels "I hear your breath sliding like a wing past my ear and see your footsteps scar the surface of the snow..."] Odessa's site
Sarah Slean - Day One. I've been a Sarah fan for years, but this is the first album of hers that I feel explores more than just One Layer of Sarah At A Time. Very rich and creative in the most exciting ways. [Favorite track: When Another Midnight] Sarah's site
Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch. Other than an odd track here and there, I haven't known much of Regina's work. But this album is GREATNESS! She's outrageous, fun, and poignant. Just perfect. [Favorite track: Chemo Limo] Regina's site
Eric Metzgar - Finally Lost. This album gives me the weepies. If someone was physically capable of handing their heart on a platter, Eric offers it with this album. It's crushing. [Favorite track: Pendulum "Perhaps by red hot air balloon, perhaps by full moon, don't misjudge the wind, it's menacing...wait, my love...reach, my love, reach for the pendulum, swing to me."] Eric's CD Baby page
Noe Venable - The World is Bound by Secret Knots. Still on heavy rotation here, after a full year of spinning. Please listen to this album. It's inspired even my pinky toes to be more creative. [Favorite track: Midsummer Night's Dream "One day I am going to bloom...patient and proud...with fish in my mouth and eyes in my wings"] Noe's site
Kate Bush - The Dreaming. At first, this album scared me. Scared me greatly. And then I realized that's what's missing from most of my musical encounters. It's challenging, frightening, and completely original. [Favorite track: Pull Out the Pin]
Paul Simon - Graceland. Classic, classic, classic. Can't get enough. "He is surrounded by the sound, the sound...scatterlings and orphanages. He looks around, around, he sees angels in the architecture spinning in infinity. He says Amen! and Hallelujah!" The album reads like a book of poetry. This man is my hero. [Favorite song: I absolutely can't pick only one favorite, so the one I'm pulling off the top of my head is Crazy Love, vol II "Fat Charlie, the Archangel sloped into the room...sad as a lonely little wrinkled balloon. He said well I don't claim to be happy about this, boys..."]
Robyn Hitchcock - Fegmania. With such luminous song titles as "Man with the Lightbulb Head" and "My Wife and my Dead Wife", this album sweeps up in the Most Original Verbage category. Totally brilliant. This is Robyn with his groove on. Love love love. [Favorite track: My Wife and my Dead Wife "I can't decide which one I love the most...the flesh and blood...or the pale, smiling ghost."]
Dead Can Dance - Toward the Within. I first heard this album in 1997 when I was working on a PSA for domestic violence. The director played it on the set to evoke a mood from the actors who were pantomiming a violent encounter through dance movement. The music moved me then. It moves me now. [Favorite track: inarguably the least moody song on the album, American Dreaming]
**Note that this list excludes my friends who have released in 2004. If I included them, all objectivity would be thrown out the window. Also, I only provided URLs to artists that are kind of hard to find. The rest can be heard in most retail shops, etc.
ORPHAN SONGS:
(read: songs I love from albums that just missed my top 10...er...11)
Faun Fables - "Eternal" from Family Album
Laura Viers - "The Cloud Room" from Carbon Glacier
Martha Wainwright - "Bloody Motherfucking Asshole" from Bloody Motherfucking Asshole
Casey Stratton - "Butterfly" (Tori Amos cover)
Katell Keineg - "The Battle of the Trees" from Jet
Kristin Hersh - "Your Ghost" from Hips and Makers
Mirah - "Cold Cold Water" from Cold Cold Water EP
Sarah Fimm - "Alien Boys" from A Perfect Dream
Aiko Shimada - "You" from Like Hannah
The Dresden Dolls - "Girl Anachronism" from The Dresden Dolls
Joanna Newsom - "The Book of Right-On" from Milk-Eyed Mender
HITS OF 2004 THAT INFECTED MY BRAIN WITH THEIR EVIL, DELICIOUS SUGAR:
Modest Mouse - "Float On"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Maps"
Damn that VH1.
LIVE SHOWS:
There weren't enough live shows in 2004 to make a list. (SOMEone needs a life. cough.)
BOOKS / READING:
Louise Gluck - Vita Nova
Louise Gluck - The Wild Iris
Heather Armstrong - Dooce.com
Audrey Niffeneger - The Time Traveler's Wife
Flannery O'Connor - 3 By Flannery O'Connor
Michio Kaku - Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension (Geek.)
FILMS / WATCHING:
Hero
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Neverending Story (I got Kevin to watch it last week!!)
Donnie Darko
Man on Fire (Godhelpme. I liked it.)
Shrek 2
Dressed to Kill (Eddie!!)
The Food Network
All My Children (Yeah. That's not a typo.)
Buffy Season 7 (Anya. Sniff.)
Lost
GENERAL OBSESSIVE GOODNESS:
The beautiful artwork of Lisa Albinger. I stumbled on her website in November and immediately snatched up The Guardian which eerily resembles the rabbit dream I wrote about earlier this year.
That concludes this list. It was fun to write. Now go have yourselves a wonderful New Year.
xo
T.
