LEFT OFF THE DIAL - Catherine Nicholas' Best Albums of 2004

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CATHERINE NICHOLAS' BEST OF 2004

Best New Releases:
1		The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows [Record Collection] Much like this NYC-via-DC bands 2002 debut, Bows + Arrows is a stirring, multi-layered rock album that takes mostly traditional themes and instruments and filters them through unique almost signature production. And lets not fail to mention the feather in their cap: Hamilton Leithausers trademark swaggery vocals. Never has an album so accurately depicted what its like to be a single 20-something, lost in the big city. Themes of loneliness, jealousy, restlessness, hopefulness, regret, disillusionment, and fear all come through in the stories told on this album. And the music: most of it was recorded at the bands uptown Manhattan 24-track recording studio, experimenting with every production technique in and out of the book. The result is a beautiful album that stays with you long after you turn the music off. Buy This Album
2		The Arcade Fire - Funeral [Merge] Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is The desperate, nave plea of a son to his dying parent. An emotional concept album inspired by the cycle of life and death, Funeral is an orchestral, almost operatic masterpiece from Montreals most hyped band of the year. In a year when my own grandfathers health began to deteriorate, the themes of this music especially hit home. The singers yearn for an explanation for all the sorrow, often set to ironically upbeat music. The ability of the artist to create beauty from pain continues to amaze me. Buy This Album
3		Pagoda - Dearly Departed [Lazyline Media] This years surprise discovery is a band from my newly adopted home of Washington, D.C. Picking up where bands like Yo La Tengo and Galaxie 500 left off, Pagoda takes that spacey, droney sound and throws in a lot of jangle and a little bit of twang. Echoey production and innocent vocals round out the mix. The only problem with this album is that, at nine songs, its over much too soon. Buy This Album Read LOTD's Review
4		Guided by Voices - Half Smiles of the Decomposed [Matador] Sob, sob. 2004 is the year that one of my favorite bands of all time called it quits, leaving us Half Smiles of the Decomposed as their final work. Half Smiles covers familiar ground for GBV and has the band, for the most part, doing what they do best performing songs written by the man who just might be the most prolific song-writing genius of all time: Bob Pollard. While the album doesnt quite compare to older GBV classics, it has its highlights and will certainly age well; heres hoping Pollard will age well too and will be just as prolific in the post-GBV era. Cheers, Bob! Buy This Album Read LOTD's Review
5		Rogue Wave - Out of the Shadow [Sub Pop] Part of the revived indie pop scene coming out of the Pacific Northwest, Rogue Wave is much more than what the indie pop moniker implies. Not just the next Shins, this band adds a hefty dose of experimentation to its music; and (unlike too many others) they never stray too far from their genuine pop aesthetic. Buy This Album
6		The Futureheads - The Futureheads [Sire] Could there be another album released in 2004 that is more fun than this one? I think not. The UKs Futureheads have the exuberance of The Clash (minus their politics) plus the playfulness of XTC, doled out in heavy does of a cappella arrangements. Though their influences are blatant, no one else out there right now sounds quite like The Futureheads. Buy This Album
7		The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros [Astralwerks] My first thought after listening to this album was that it didnt sound like what Id come to expect from The Beta Band; and it took me awhile to realize that this wasnt necessarily a bad thing. After all, how could a connoisseur of good pop music criticize a band for accomplishing in four minutes (almost) the same thing that they used to accomplish in eight? While it may seem that this album was a dumbed-down-for-the-masses last-ditch effort of the band at commercial appeal, it shouldnt be ignored that these songs are simply good in their own right. Buy This Album
8		Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles [5 Rue Christine] In all honesty, I still cant believe that I like this album. Xiu Xius past work, while strangely magnetic, managed to turn me off with its uncomfortably overwrought pretensions. And while the overwrought pretensions havent necessarily disappeared on this album (just look at the cover!), its hard to deny that the intensity of the music more than compensatesand Im not embarrassed to admit that the occasional similarity to very early Depeche Mode is enough to draw me in and keep me listening. Buy This Album
9		Of Montreal: Satanic Panic in the Attic [Polyvinyl] Easily my favorite of this Elephant 6 bands releases, Satanic Panic in the Attic stays true to Of Montreals 60s psych-pop influences. They carefully lead the listener through fourteen perfectly sequenced tracks of pop experimentation and both tongue-in-cheek and heart-on-sleeve lyrics. Buy This Album
10		The Cure - The Cure [Geffen] What was that that I was saying above about turning pain into beauty through art? These are the masters, right here. If only all bands aged so well Buy This Album
Best Reissues/Box Sets:
	Various Artists - Left of the Dial, Dispatches from the '80s Underground [Rhino] Finally, the single most important era for independent, underground music is documented with a 4-disc box set.
	Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand, The Director's Cut [Scat] In this, the year of their breakup, the band's most defining album was reissued on vinyl for the first time in years, to include all the songs that were originally slated to be on Bee Thousand. Of course I own this, and for only $22, there's no reason you shouldn't as well.
Best Live Shows:
	Hayden and Sarah Harmer at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA - 4/17/04 My two favorite Canadian singer-songwriters on the same stage on the same night at one of my favorite venues with one of my favorite concert buddies. How could this not be show of the year for me?
	Wilco at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, MD - 9/28/04 Two hours to Baltimore in rain and rush hour traffic to see a band I've loved since high school (which is longer ago than I care to say), yet never seen in concert. Their performance was undoubtedly worth it.
	Magnetic Fields at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA - 12/11/04 Unquestionably the most interesting show I saw all year, Stephin Merritt and company put on a theatrically entertaining performance to a packed house of engrossed fans.
Most Disappointing Live Show:
	The Walkmen at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. - 9/23/04 How is it that the band who produced my favorite album of the year also played the most disappointing show? Well a big part of it was Hamilton Leithauser's vocals, which come across as assuredly mature when recorded, but as "screeching into the microphone" when live in concert. I suppose this is both a credit to the album's amazing production tricks and to Leithauser's lack of stage presence. Either way, the performance (or lack thereof) didn't ruin the album for me, and I am certainly relieved about that.

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