What were your favorite CDs this year? This is a list of my Top Albums for 2004 )not necessarily in order) :
1. Big & Rich, Horse of a Different Color (Warner)
It ranges from upbeat songs, like Save a horse (Ride a Cowboy), to slower, more traditional country songs, like Holy water and Live this life. Its wide range of music makes it good for any mood, and will surprise those that don't particularly care for country music.
2. Madvillain, Madvillainy (Stones Throw)
What happens when underground rap's greatest producer (Madlib) teams up with its funniest, most ingenious wordsmith (MF Doom)? The answer: Madvillainy, an instant-classic meeting of the super-brains that feels as fresh on the 50th listen as it does on the first.
3. Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album (Def Jam)
Just when it seemed like Wu-Tang Clan had reached a collective dead end, Ghostface came through with a knockout solo album that recaptured the excitement and deranged humor of the group's golden age. Unhinged hyper-soul helped save a year otherwise clouded by the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard and Method Man's anticlimactic return.
4.Dolorean, Violence in the Snowy Fields (Yep Rock)
Sounding like a cross between timeless murder ballads and the crisply emotive chamber folk of Nick Drake, Dolorean's third album finds them deepening their subtle resolve.One of the most overlooked bands I know of, Dolorean released a wonderful record in 2003 and no one seemed to care. None of my local record stores carry it and none of my friends know about it. All I can say is that it is truly a crime that this band really gets no push whatsoever.
5. Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days(sub pop)
Great ballads full of dark lyrics, mixed with with more blues-based tracks. On "Naked As We Came," it's easy to get caught up in the beauty of the music - and miss the fact that Sam is singing about someone's eminent death and the spreading of ashes.
6.U2, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Interscope)
"Sometimes You Can't Make it on your Own" and "City of Blinding Lights" are U2 classics. If you want that U2 sound- the heavily echoed sparse guitar arpeggios, the plaintive whining vocal, it's all here in spades.
7. The Foreign Exchange, Connected (BBE)
Hip-hop doesn't get more delicate than The Foreign Exchange's Connected, an album-length collaboration between Little Brother rapper Phonte and European producer Nicolay. Recorded before either party met face to face, Connected makes a fine case for hip-hop internationalism, and should propel Nicolay to the top tier of rap producers.
8. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Shake The Sheets (Lookout)
"Me And Mia," the first song on Ted Leo's Shake The Sheets, is so catchy and mind-blowingly inspiring that it takes a little bit of time for the rest of the record to sink in. Once it does, it's virtually impossible to deny, as Leo cements his position as an icon-worthy motivational singer and peerless rock ace.
9. The Killers, HOt Fuss (Island)
Even if "Somebody Told Me" is getting overplayed on the radio, this is still a fine collection of standout tracks. Frontman Brandon Flowers has a taste for tales of murdered lovers as he delivers on "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine," and "Midnight Show", a little voyeurism ("Mr. Brightside") and the odd sexual confusion (the single "Somebody Told Me").
10. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose (Interscope)
That's right: Loretta Lynn. Sometimes the sweetest comebacks are the least predictable. Having recorded and toured infrequently since the 1996 death of her husband, Loretta Lynn teamed with longtime fan Jack White to record some original songs that delivers an emotionally wrenching album.
