Best of 2004 CD Liner Notes

Every year, for the past four years, I make a year-end compilation CD to give to friends and whoever else wants one. Since I've had a lot of time on my hands lately, this year I wrote a rambling essay of considerable length to include with the disc. If you are a friend or acquaintance of mine and would like a CD of your own, email me with your current address and it's yours. Here are the liner notes, plus a closing paragraph that I didn't have room for:


The Black Keys – ’10 a.m. Automatic’ – Rubber Factory
A.C. Newman – ‘On the Table’ – The Slow Wonder
Madvillain – ‘ALL CAPS’ – Madvillainy
Sonic Youth – ‘Unmade Bed’ – Sonic Nurse
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – ‘Me and Mia’ – Shake the Sheets
The Fiery Furnaces – ‘Evergreen’ – Single Again 7”
The Libertines – ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ – The Libertines
Loretta Lynn – ‘Portland, Oregon’ – Van Lear Rose
The Von Bondies – ‘C’mon C’mon’ – Pawn Shoppe Heart
Mirah – ‘Jerusalem’ – C’mon Miracle
Joanna Newsom – ‘Bridges and Balloons’ – The Milk-Eyed Mender
Franz Ferdinand – ‘Take Me Out’ – Franz Ferdinand
Belle & Sebastian – ‘Your Cover’s Blown’ – Books EP
Annie – ‘Heartbeat’ – Anniemal
Madvillain – ‘Fancy Clown’ – Madvillainy
Madvillain – ‘Accordion’ – Madvillainy
Rogue Wave – ‘Every Moment’ – Out of the Shadow
TV on the Radio – ‘Staring at the Sun’ – Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Modest Mouse – ‘Float On’ – Good News for People who Love Bad News
Saturday Looks Good to Me – ‘Since You Stole My Heart’ – Every Night

So, what do we have here? We have lots of albums by fantastic bands that didn’t quite live up to expectations (The Streets, Mirah, Von Bondies, Interpol, Bjork), we have several good albums without any real stand-out tracks (Fiery Furnaces, Arcade Fire, SLGTM, Madvillain, Streets and Mirah again) and too many broken promises of albums that were supposed to be released this year but have been delayed ‘til 2005 (Beck, Spoon, Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney). This year I also purchased the fewest number of new CDs ever, and spent less time listening than usual. But, despite all that, I think this year’s line-up turned out OK. For the first time, every single piece of music was released in 2004, there were no stragglers to fill out the running time. So, the mistakes I made last year, by forgetting The Shins, The Darkness, and the Postal Service, are something I’ll have to live with. As I write this, the final track order hasn’t been finalized, but certain differences from last year are pretty obvious. First off, I apologize a trillion times for putting ‘Hey Ya’ on there, and ‘In Da Club’ as well. Everyone had heard those songs too many times already, and I grew completely sick of them about 5 minutes after it was too late. So no obvious ‘hits’ this year, unless you count Franz Ferdinand or Modest Mouse (they were on SNL after all), but I’m not sure if you can. Also, it seems like last year I had about a dozen bands with only guitar/drums instrumentation, and this year there’s only one. I ended up with a weird mix: a track by a harpist, a track with a 70-year-old country singer, only one song over four minutes long, two non-album b-sides, two songs used in car commercials, three songs with what sounds like an obvious disco influence, three songs by one group, and I think the second half is better than the first.

So now I need to talk about the “rap” music. For the most part, I don’t have a lot of respect for most rappers, especially the popular ones. With a few exceptions, most popular rap songs are popular not because of rapper’s amazing skills on the mic (about getting money, bitches, or popping a cap or whatever), but because of some good beats or sample or guest vocalist’s chorus. ‘In Da Club’ was a hit because of the music, not the words. There seems to be a rotating cast of superstar producers behind any hit song: Dr Dre, the Neptunes, Timbaland, Lil’ Jon, and Kanye West. Even underground rap producers, or ones that only work with specific artists, seem to get more recognition than the actual rapper, like Prince Paul, Automator, or the Bomb Squad. And this is fine, all of these people are very talented. Then you have the Puff Daddy’s of the world who aren’t creative enough for a hook of their own, so they just steal an old pop song to be catchy. Puff Daddy, or whatever he goes by these days, is a rapper so bad that he only appears good when standing next to Mase. So, once you get by the many shortcuts taken in the form, all basically designed to take all pressure off of the actual ‘rapper,’ you have the problem of the ‘rap album.’ These include stuffing the album’s running time (which usually is stuffed like a sausage to over 70 minutes) with intros, outros, reprises, and comedy skits. The actual songs on the record are usually chock full of guest appearances, so that any potential singles are performed by Rapper X featuring Rapper Y, Rapper Z, and Female Singer A.

That said, I must admit that I don’t listen to a ton of rap, mostly because the good stuff is so hard to find. I typically check something out if it’s gotten great reviews, but right now on my shelf I have less than ten rap CD’s, not including ‘instrumental’ hip-hop. As a general rule, rap music is harder to get into because it’s harder for me to sing along in the car. Granted, 50 Cent is pretty easy, or Eminem maybe, but Outkast go about a mile a minute, which is why it took me a very long time to get into ‘Stankonia,’ which despite its bloated running time and annoying skits, is quite a good exception to the rule.

When I’m looking for new CD’s to buy, I typically look for indie rock, with rap joining country, jazz, electronic, folk, and blues on the fringes of my radar. Which makes all the more surprising that this year I’ve picked a rap album as the best album of the year. In fact, it wasn’t even close, really. I couldn’t even tell you who was number 2. Granted, the year wasn’t particularly strong, as I mentioned, but still, Madvillain’s “Madvillainy” was by far the best album, and the one I’ve listened to most. So how could this happen? Well, unlike most rap albums, this one is only 46 minutes long, and there are 22 songs, a combination more common in punk rock. Throw out the r ‘n b choruses, exchange the ‘comedy’ skits for cut-ups of old superhero radio shows, and create beats made mostly of old jazz records and 1950s lounge music. There are a few guests, but about half of these are the alternate personas of the two group members: Madlib, who takes care of most of the beats, and the fantastic MF Doom, a rapper who wears a metal mask over his face. The songs average about two minutes apiece, and there’s no fat left to trim. It’s very lo-fi, sounds like nothing you’d hear on the radio or in the club, gets better with every listen, and even warranted a multi-page write up in The New Yorker. It’s that kind of rap. There are no ‘singles,’ or highs or lows, and I spent most of the last month trying to pick the best song, one that could justify my ramblings and best represent the feel of the album. I failed miserably; I ended up with three. This probably spells disaster, but you’ll have to accept it.

To lead off I had to go with a killer, something that gave the listener the comforting feeling of putting the next 65 minutes of their lives in my hands, and preferably something that rocks and hasn’t been used in a car commercial. The Black Keys are a blued-influenced Midwestern guitar/drums duo who record their albums in a single day (stop me if you heard this one before); “10 a.m. Automatic” is a song that rocks for a couple minutes, and then just when you think it maybe is a good time for the song to be over, a second guitar part kicks in, and while at first you think your stereo or car engine may be falling apart, you never want it to end. They’ve released three albums in as many years, all of which are raw and contain an element of ‘blackness’ that sets the group apart from other blues-rock acts. A.C. Newman follows, he’s best known as most of the creative force behind the New Pornographers (as Carl Newman), his first solo effort is a bit more low-key and maybe eight percent less catchy. Then we have the first Madvillain track, ‘All Caps,’ which also has the best music video I’ve seen all year. Check it out online if you want, it’s particularly sweet if you are a comic book fan.

Then we have Sonic Youth, who this year released their millionth album. Though they’ll never make a jaw-dropping masterpiece again (go back to ’88), they’ve been remarkably consistent, especially in the last few years since they added fifth member Jim O’Rourke. Granted, they still use the same melody for the vocals and music, but they’ve got a nice formula in full effect here of starting off softly, then halfway through brutally deconstructing the melody, then returning to earth for the end of the song. Ted Leo follows, his band has been reduced since last year to a trio, and still is writing catchy vaguely-political pop songs and singing them as if his life depended on it.

The Fiery Furnaces released “Blueberry Boat” this year, a very challenging 76-minute album of 10 minute multi-part epic songs. I liked it, but there’s nothing catchy enough to warrant inclusion here, especially for the length. So I choose ‘Evergreen,’ a b-side on a non-album single (like The Beatles used to do!) which came out at the beginning of the year. It’s not a very good representation of their sound, and certainly not of their last album, but it’s a good song. The Libertines follow, a band from the UK whose singer I believe is in a constant flux of heroin/rehab. Joe Strummer produced this album before he died, and there’s a pretty obvious Clash influence present. Then we have Loretta Lynn, who is incredibly old and whose album I wouldn’t have noticed if Jack White hadn’t produced and played on it. He sings a little on the song I included, which could have had a shorter intro but still seems like it belongs here.
Then we segue into The Von Bondies, whose singer was beat up by Jack White last winter (brilliant, huh?). This is one of the car commercial songs, but I heard it long before. Their current album pales in comparison to their first, more unpolished effort (a song from which was included on ‘2002’), but this is undeniably a good single. I slow things down a notch for Mirah, who is another artist who’s made better albums in the past (2002’s Advisory Committee is a complete masterpiece). She seems to go between quiet, singer/songwriter type pieces and loud songs with crazy kitchen-sink production, which usually are the ones I like the best, but were lacking on “C’mon Miracle.” I continue on the quiet vibe with Joanna Newsom, whose voice sounds like a cross between a crazy 60-year-old lady asking for change, a six-year-old girl, and some sort of flying pixie-like creature. And she’s playing the goddamn harp. It took me awhile to get into this album, it’s not exactly what I’d describe as my usual cup of tea, but after a while it struck me as brilliant.

Next we have the ‘disco’ section, beginning with the ubiquitous Franz Ferdinand. I’m sure everyone’s heard this song already, they use part of it for background music during Monday Night Football sometimes. Belle & Sebastian follow, the track ‘Your Cover’s Blown’ is another b-side, from the ‘Books’ EP. This song is very very very un-B&S, so if you never heard them before, this is the worst possible introduction. But I liked this song immensely from the start; despite the long running time it’s very catchy, and has a ringing phone sound at the beginning that fooled me about a dozen times into thinking my phone was ringing, and that was enough to warrant inclusion here. This is followed by Annie’s ‘Heartbeat,’ which is shockingly mainstream-sounding disco-pop. Surely you’re wondering how I could include such a song, even if is extremely catchy after a few listens? Well, one of my dearest friends and longtime listeners is a HUGE Kylie Minogue fan, so I figured he’d love it.

We go back to Madvillain again now, ‘Fancy Clown’ is interesting because here MF Doom is rapping under one of his aliases, Viktor Vaughn, and he’s rapping about how his girl left him for, well, MF Doom. The second verse is hilarious. ‘Accordion’ is the final Madvillain song, a very unique sounding sample, but the key is the bass keyboard part buried underneath. I know this violates sacred rules about not putting two tracks by the same artist consecutively, but I was trying to capture the scattered feel of the album by putting two tracks next to each other. Plus both are short, so think of it as one normal-length song. Rogue Wave is a pop band a bit reminiscent of the Shins with more keyboards, their debut album was good if not a little spotty, but definitely worth keeping an eye on for the future.

TV on the Radio I first saw live in late 2003, they played at the Union South cafeteria in Madison. I will never forget that when the band was setting up their instruments, one of the guitar players rushed in holding a loaf of bread and some lunchmeat, and all of the members, who apparently hadn’t eaten for awhile, leapt upon it like hyenas. After this initial display, the singer, Tunde Adebimpe, asked if anyone in the small audience would like a sandwich. Fantastic. This is from another debut album, their sound is very vocally driven; I’ve heard it described as ‘Urban Barbershop.’ I can count three genius musicians in the band, so I’m looking forward to great things. Then we have the new pop heroes Modest Mouse. I’ll admit I went through a very brief ‘I liked this band six years ago; I’m better than everyone else’ phase when ‘Float On’ first hit the charts, but I’m still happy for their success. I didn’t like this album as much as their others (the last half is too much of an obstacle), but it does contain some of the best songs they’ve ever recorded. Finally, we close where we began last year, with Saturday Looks Good to Me. SLGTM is an interesting band because there is only one true member who writes, produces, arranges, and records all the songs, a Mr. Fred Thomas (a very friendly man that I had the privilege of meeting after a show last year). But on each of the band’s records, there’s between 20-40 guests, who play instruments and sing. I’ve seen them twice live, once with 7 other musicians, the other time as just a trio. Fred sings less than half the time, and he’s had the most success with guest female vocalists. The songs seem like they are from an alternative version of the 1960s in which the music was really as great as your parents thought it was. This was another album from which it was difficult to choose one song from, it is remarkably consistent and full of good ideas.

Some of the songs included aren't from terrific albums; there were records released that were great but didn't have that one surefire song. As usual there are some weird surprises and old standbys, as usual I'm sure I missed something golden. The point is to keep listening for your new favorite songs. Maybe you'll find one here.