ihavebeenfloated

So, I was going to write up just some general summaries of music I’ve been listening to a lot that I like, instead of writing up my Best of 2004 post that I’ve been meaning to get around to… and instead, I’m going to actually write up my Best of 2004 post in lieu of doing laundry like a proper respectable person. Keep in mind, “best of” in music to me is, well, just about everything I’ve listened to this year, that was released this year, but I will try to maybe not include everything. I’ll try my best.

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B.R. Root’s First Annual Best of This Year in Music (2004)

Ayreon – The Human Equation
I don’t have any goddamn idea why I like this two disc concept album. Ayreon is a Swedish melodic prog metal band composed of only one crazy Swede who does everything. The idea of the album is to transcribe the feelings and emotions one man can experience in various situations. Each feeling has it’s own unique voice, and there can be many different emotions in each song. It’s a great two disc set, entirely unlike anything I’d normally listen to, and I think that sort of explains it’s power.

Fantomas – Delirium Cordia
I can’t really describe this album. It’s one track, 74 minutes, of almost pure noise. I’ve only listened to it once. But it belongs here in this list and you owe it to yourself to give it a listen if you can. Put on some headphones, lay down, close your eyes, and terrify yourself.

Frank Black – Frank Black Francis
I’ve never been as much of a Pixies fan as I like to let on. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed Frank Black’s solo work far more than I enjoyed the Pixies outside of Surfer Rosa. This is a two disc set, the first disc composed of solely Black Francis and his guitar recording demos of songs that would make their way on to the Pixies’ Come On Pilgrim/Surfer Rosa the day before they went into the studio to record The Purple Tape (their first demo). They are excellent acoustic versions of the Pixies tunes that, in some ways, are more enjoyable to me then the real finished versions. A few flukes here and there but it’s a solid listen.

The second disc is the gold, for me, though. The second disc is brand new covers and, I would say, “reanimations” of old Pixies tunes by Frank. These versions have a lot in common with Frank’s early solo work and they’re a breath of fresh air. They have also made me appreciate the finer points of the Pixies’ catalog and I’ve found myself, since listening to this set, listening to Pixies far more than I ever did before. Definitely want to check this out, even if you’re not a Pixies fan.

Green Day – American Idiot
Green Day finally comes back to kicking some ass. This is a great pseudo-concept album and I’m sure you’ve probably already listened to it. If you haven’t, then give it a whirl. It helps if you clear your mind of what you thought Green Day was before.

Local H – Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles
Jesus, I’m so happy Local H found their way back to rocking. P.J. Soles is a welcome return to the sheer ass kicking they displayed on Pack Up The Cats and I can’t get enough of it. Any time I feel like blasting some loud guitar rock in my car, this is what I put in now. I really love this album, it’s so full of great moments that it’s impossible not to enjoy unless you’ve really got your head stuck up your ass.

One Ring Zero – As Smart As We Are (The Author Project)
One Ring Zero, a band composed of two guys who play a variety of very odd instruments, enlisted the help of the literary scene to write lyrics for their second album. The result is a collection of fairly above-average lyrics (and sometimes just puzzling below average lyrics) set to some of the most unique sounding music you’ll ever hear. They use theremins to great effect, as an actual instrument even, and a terribly beautiful, nearly non-existent, instrument called the Claviola. Word of warning though, this disc was published as book, and not so much as a CD, so you’re better off looking in your local bookstore rather than the music shop.

Skinny Puppy – The Greater Wrong of the Right
I grew up listening to Skinny Puppy, and have been following cEvin Key’s other projects, mostly Download, forever now, so when I heard that SP would be getting back together and recording a new album, I only crapped in my pants a little. I, luckily, went into this album with the right expectations, so I enjoyed it profusely. I didn’t expect it to sound raw and vulgar like old Skinny Puppy, I expected a combination of cEvin and Nivek’s new skills they’ve learned from their projects away from each other. This is what you get, a very polished Skinny Puppy sound, with a few of their old tricks. It might help if you think of this disc as a Nivek Orge & cEvin Key group project, and not as a “Skinny Puppy” album.

The Elected – Me First
I’ve always disliked all of Blake Sennett’s songs on the Rilo Kiley albums, (with the exception of Ripcord), so I’m not quite sure why I enjoy The Elected, his side project with him at the center of it, so much. The album feels great, natural in its country elements, combined with small bits of electronic beeps and bloops. Blake’s vocals fit in very nicely with the texture and feel of the music itself. Everything comes together quite nicely and makes for a great listen. (I will tempt karmatic death and say Me First succeeds where Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous disappoints).

The Minus Story – The Captain is Dead, Let the Drum Corpse Dance
This probably takes my prize for best Indie album of the year. Why? Well, I’m not sure. They feel like a combination to me of The Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bauhaus, and a bunch of other influences. This year there were very few discs (released this year or in the past) that grabbed me as being “a band could envision myself in” and The Minus Story is the only one I really wish I had some part in. I really like this album, even though I can’t put my finger on it exactly. The low-fi psychadelia influences are apparent and I love them for it.

The Polyphonic Spree – Together We’re Heavy
This album takes the prize as most life changing experience for me all year. There is a sheer power and love in The Polyphonic Spree that you cannot find anywhere else that is only barely apparent on this album. You really need to see them live to understand exactly what I mean when I say they changed my life. They made me a better person, gave me a better understanding of what joy really feels like, and just really deeply affected me. This album helps me relive those moments and I’ve burned copies for everyone I know regardless of whether they might like it or not. This is a band that cannot be ignored or glossed over, because I swear they must have been sent down to earth directly from heaven.

William Shatner – Has Been
I keep recommending this to people regardless of their cries of, “You have to be kidding!” No, I say, I am most certainly not kidding. I will admit that being a Ben Folds fan may give you an advantage in the potential enjoyment of this album, or maybe you need some sort of specific musical tic in your brain in order to enjoy this album, but I love it. From the opening cover of Pulp’s “Common People” I was hooked, all the way until the very last country-style song. Ben Folds helps Shatner cover a lot of ground here. Most enjoyable, but frightening, are the tracks dealing with Shatners acceptance of death, (ranting on how everyone will die, eventually, and you will probably die regretting that you wasted your life, or a very quiet spoken word piece that seems to be a semi-fictionalized account of him finding his wife drowned in the pool).

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B.R. Root’s First Annual “These Just Barely Missed the Mark” this Year in Music (2004)

Elliott Smith – From a Basement on the Hill
This is the last Elliott Smith record ever, probably, duh. Only reason it’s not in my Best of 2004 is that it didn’t grab me like his earlier work did.

Gomez – Split the Difference
I’m a huge Gomez fan and for that reason alone I almost put it in the best of, but I knew I would be lying. All in all, this album was a big change of form for Gomez, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself, I can’t help but feel hat it was a grab for cash, riding in on the wave of britrockpopshit that has been invading the airways. It’s a great album, I won’t deny that, as it’s a Gomez album, and it keeps their distinct sound. Also, it rocks really hard and really well. Hell, it might even have some of the best tracks they’ve ever recorded on it, but it lacked something I needed, not sure what.

Now It’s Overhead – Fall Back Open
I saw them open for Rilo Kiley and I really enjoyed their live show, even more than the band before them, Tilly and the Wall, who I fell in love with, and way more than Rilo Kiley’s performance. Sad truth is, though, there’s only two really good tracks on the album and the rest feels very flat in comparison. (The two stand out tracks are Wait In A Line and Reverse. Check them out). I bet their next album will own so much ass I will die from its sheer power.

PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her
I’ve never been a big PJ Harvey fan, but this album was great. Quite a few stand out tracks, and it got me listening to some of her other music. Still, not best of 2004 material in comparison to other things I’ve listened to.

Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous
I was so close to putting this in my Best Of 2004, but instead I opted to elect The Elected that position in place of Rilo Kiley. (Oh, that was bad). It hurts for me to admit it, but The Execution of All Things was so much better than More Adventurous that it eclipses it in all ways. More Adventurous might be tighter, and leaner than TEOAT, but the fact is that there are absolutely no stand out tracks on the whole album. Nothing stands out in your head days after listening to More Adventurous, unlike the many tracks from TEOAT (like Paint’s Peeling, A Better Son/Daughter, The Good That Wont Come Out, etc). That, alone, is enough to make this album undeserving of the Best Of 2004 seat.

The Dears – No Cities Left
I like this album. I can’t really say much else about it besides that. It’s good stuff.

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B.R. Root’s First Annual “Wow, This Was Really Disappointing” This Year in Music (2004)

A Perfect Circle – eMOTIVe
I was under the impression that Maynard could do no wrong. Well, I was wrong. eMOTIVe (as you can assume from its pretentious and slightly retarded capitalization) is pretty bad. Sure, maybe one or two of the songs are good, but really, even without any understanding or prior knowledge of the songs horribly bastardized on this album, there is very little good here. APC jumps between so many styles that it is really difficult to listen to, and, as mentioned, familiarity with the original songs will only make the already sub par songs even worse.

Brian Wilson – SMILE
I’ll admit that I loved this when I first listened to it. Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile are two of the best records of the 60’s as far as I’m concerned, so to finally hear SMILE as it might have been was supposed to have been an incredible experience for me. For the first listen, it was. The second listen, it started to falter. By the third listen, I was picking out weaknesses in Brian’s voice and really angry that this album wasn’t made back when The Beach Boys were still The Beach Boys and weren’t half dead.

The truth is, these songs would have been perfect had Brian sung the vocals on them back in his prime. As it stands, his voice sounds too old and grizzly now to uphold the youthful fright that these songs need. Musically the album is solid, it could have used a little grittying up, as part of the charm of the old recordings is that they sound like the sixties. These don’t sound like the sixties, even though Brian Wilson sounds sixty. Very disappointing on repeated listens for me.

VAST - NUDE
Jesus, talk about a load of crap. Still, VAST goodness, but nowhere near what it should have been.

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B.R. Root’s First Annual “OMG WTF THIS SHIT SUCKS!” This Year in Music (2004)

Melissa Auf Der Maur – Auf Der Maur
This album makes me physically ill. The vocals, instrumentation, and songwriting are awful, awful dreck. I was so terribly disappointed by the fact that this album blew ass chunks that I almost hate myself for finally listening to it. You can return to the mid-90s Alterna-rock scene all you want, as long as you do it with skill and you do it right. Melissa Auf Der Maur fails miserably and potentially deserves to die for this sacreligious offering to the alterna-rock Gods. Had this album been released in 1996 when it should have been, it would have fallen under the shuffle of a handful of better albums and deservedly faded into obscurity.

The Killers – Hot Fuss
Dan made me listen to this and I wish him dead for it.

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Here’s some other stuff I’ve listened to that was released this year that I didn’t really like or dislike enough to comment on them specifically, so I will just make a big list for you with “Like” “Dislike” or “Neutral” next to each one so you get my basic feeling.

Aerosmith – Honkin’ On Bobo (Like)
DJ Danger Mouse – The Grey Album (Neutral)
Interpol – Antics (Dislike)
Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days (Neutral/Dislike)
Modest Mouse – Good News For People Who Like Bad News (Like)
Old 97’s – Drag It Up (Like)
The Beta Band – Heroes to Zeros (Neutral/Dislike)
The Dissociatives – The Dissociatives (Dislike)
The Libertines – The Libertines (Neutral)

Here’s a list of releases from 2004 that I have and didn’t get a chance to listen to before making this list even though I meant to.

Ben Folds – Super D (EP)
Clinic – Winchester Cathedral
Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
Le Tigre – This Land
Leonard Cohen – Dear Heather
Shearwater – Winged Life
The Arcade Fire – Funeral
The Futureheads – The Futureheads
The Secret Machines – Now Here is Nowhere
TV On The Radio – Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babies
Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

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So, what is my favorite album of 2004 out of everything I’ve listed? Shit, uhm…

The Polyphonic Spree – Together We’re Heavy

This album single-handily changed my entire life and probably adjusted my musical taste to what it really is, and really will be, for the rest of my life. They’ve really, honestly, opened my eyes to the music I deeply love and feel inside myself, allowing me to gain access to bands I would never have otherwise listened to. Seeing them live has shown me that live performance can have the most profound effect on me, more so than anything else I’ve ever experienced.

All in all, The Polyphonic Spree has totally changed my life, more than anything else before it. Even though, I’ll admit, I haven’t listened to a Polyphonic Spree CD in over a month or two, I cannot deny the profound effect they had on me. That is why they win my choice for single best of 2004.

Hope you enjoyed this.