Hip Pop Stop Today's hip tunes. New music that isn't Classic Rock or Jazz!

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More than 10, and with descriptions

Posted by Todd B. (A) on February 1, 2005 at 23:49:58

In Reply to: What is your top ten of 2004? posted by JustinPoss on December 22, 2004 at 15:01:50:

Better late than never, eh? I was out of the music loop for much of last year, and there's a lot of stuff I haven't gotten around to hearing yet. Still, I did manage to find enough great music that I can easily exceed your ten-album limit. :) As usual, free and legal samples of most of this, in both Real Audio and Windows Media formats, are available at Amazon and Tower Records. For the more obscure releases not sold through those outlets, I'll link to samples if I can find some.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Arcade Fire - Funeral
An indie rock base, mixed with helpings of 70's glam and 80's alternative rock. The influences are obvious, but very well done, tastefully incorporated, and not derivative or affected. Brilliant and diverse songwriting, the 2004 equivalent of The Wrens 2003 album Meadowlands.

OUTSTANDING ALBUMS

The Elected - Me First
Alt-countrified psychedelic slacker pop, with the occasional drum machine thrown in. Pointed, direct, and sarcastically intelligent lyrics, with a pedal-steel guitar riffing all over the place. Until Funeral, this was the best album I'd heard last year.

Iron And Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Think the sound of a guy sitting on his front porch, somewhere in the south, during a pleasant summer sunset, strumming his acoustic guitar. The overall quality of this work, musically and lyrically, is exemplified by the song "Sodom, South Georgia", which opens with the lines: "Papa died smiling/wide as the ring of a bell/gone all star white/small as a wish in a well." Beautiful in so many ways.

Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
A contemporary band making 60's pop music, and doing so extraordinarily well. Where Belle And Sebastian stumbled with their last release, Camera Obscura pick right up, and the purity of their approach to this style is impressive. The song "Number One Son" would be a timeless classic on radio, were this a better world.

Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation
Does this really need explaining? I mean, come on, it's the Pixies. For anyone not familiar with the band, this is a decent and mostly chronological selection of their career prior to their apparent reformation. It doesn't convey the singular identity of each album, but does convey the singular identity of the band, which, after all, is the point.

My Hotel Year - The Curse
Sure, it sounds like the conventional pop-punk that's currently in fashion on mainstream airwaves, but it's much smarter, more creative, and it absolutely rawks. Much fun.

The Ruby Lee - They're Blue EP
Fifteen minutes of excellently written, breezy pop music. A bit reminiscent of Velocity Girl and Insta. The only complaint is that it's so good, yet so short, that it leaves the listener wanting more. Sigh...

The Six Parts Seven - Everywhere And Right Here
Melodic, mellow, jazzy-feeling rock instrumentals. Sweet, quiet, gentle, comfortable. Incredibly relaxing.

VERY GOOD ALBUMS

Onelinedrawing - The Volunteers
Lo-fi indie emo. Direct, immediate, grounded. Comes across as sincere and honest. Very amusing at times.

Tanya Donelly - Whiskey Tango Ghosts
Predominantly voice and piano, accompaniment is usually acoustic. Very pretty.

The Half Empties - The Half Empties
Raw melodic punk. Sounds like a cross between a gritty, urban New York punk band, and a sun-baked, partying Los Angeles punk band. This album just misses out on making it into the previous category. Terrible sound quality. The songs at the link are the best on the album.

Curve - The Way Of Curve 1990/2004
Techno-metal. Or, maybe, electronic hard rock. Whatever, you get the idea. This album was released in the UK, but seems to be readily available as an import. Yet another band that should have been vastly more popular. I can't find samples for this album, but sampling Pubic Fruit and Gift will give a good idea of the span of their career.

Echobelly - Gravity Pulls
Polished melodic rock, often more laid-back. Epic, introspective, and atmospheric. The female singer has a gorgeous, Brit-accented voice. Excellent songwriting. Overall, could use a bit more energy, but impressive nonetheless.

Anders Parker - Tell It To The Dust
Singer-songwriter rock with a strong backwoods Americana thread through it, similar to Jay Farrar, but not nearly as much country influence. If you like this, his final album in the band Varnaline is better.

Now It's Overhead - Fall Back Open
A curious rock blend of emo melodicism, southwestern desert openness and austerity, and electronic rhythms and atmospherics. These disparate elements are blended very well, and the excellent songwriting and arranging hold everything together.

Sasha - Involver
Techno. Or, more properly, progressive trance. While this release is remixes of other people's work, it's clear that Sasha is trying to bend the style into song structures that are different than where trance usually goes. He doesn't abandon the form's conventions nearly as much as he did on AirDrawnDagger, but he's not leaving them alone, either. What he does with this approach in the future should be interesting.

Statistics - Leave Your Name
Melodic emo, slightly electro around the edges. Not particularly weighty or challenging, but well done.

ALBUMS WORTH HEARING

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
Post modern alt-country classic pop rock, I guess. Not bad by any means, just a bit too indulgent and insular. Not as poppy as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, more rootsy.

Pedro The Lion - Achilles Heel
Down-tempo emo. Very, very droll, and very oppressive feeling.

The Letterpress -Input/Output
Let's call it mellow emo-pop, played by two electric basses, with drums and vocals. Definitely not a novelty act, instead, surprisingly developed, melodic, and sincere.

Before Braille -Cattle Punching On A Jack Rabbit EP
Prog. I don't like much/most/nearly all prog or math-rock, but this is good. Not as tweaky as much of the genre.

Before Braille - Balance And Timing EP
As above.

The Crystal Method - Legion Of Boom
Techno. TCM have clearly been listening to a lot of Leftfield, and they've learned well. This release is much better than their last full-length, though they haven't yet recaptured the brilliance of Vegas.

Paul Van Dyk - Reflections
Progressive trance. Absent the three tracks of ill-advised stylistic experimentation, this release would be very good. It's more lightweight overall in comparison to his previous work, but his music just keeps getting more sophisticated and impressive. There's a special edition with a second disc that's a continuous-mix of many of the tracks on the standard release.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures
Emo. Has definite limitations, but is fairly well done.

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