Urban75 Album of the Year 2004

[The39thStep]

Bark Psychosis: Codename Dustsucker

Ten years after Hex and with only Graham Sutton from the original band . It's more of the same but more refined. A slow burning sonic canvass of scattered drumming, glistening guitars and some sparse piano and occasional trumpet with alternating breathless vocals from Sutton or women singers. Once more it's the arrangements and the space between the notes that are apparent and if you enjoyed late period Talk Talk then you'd enjoy this

 

[Spandex]

Bark Psychosis: Codename Dustsucker

Oh, that reminds me... completely different but sample-happy German disco-funk-post-punk-electro-minimal-house types Le Dust Sucker released their album, which is excellent. Good year for dust sucking.

 

[Spandex]

Seelenluft - The Way We Go

Nice album of Swiss electro-pop. Jim Reid from Jesus and Mary Chain randomly pops up singing on one track, but not this one which is my favourite:

 

[Indeliblelink]

I watched Peter Fonda's directorial debut The Hired Hand the other day and fell in love with soundtrack of ambient Americana, despite the film coming out in 1971 the score by Bruce Langhorne wasn't released until 2004*.
Recommend the film too.

*Discogs says 2007 but there's a Guardian review online dated 2004

 

[stavros]

The Twilight Singers' covers album:

 

[AverageJoe]

Two stunners that spring to mind:

Id forgotten when that isis album came out. In Fiction is still as good now as it was then

 

[hitmouse]

!!! - Louden Up Now

Excellent punk-funk act at their peak. I saw them play sometime around then and they were amazing, 8 people crowded on stage grooving along, two dummers pounding away, basslines punching my chest, one of the singers took a pill at the start of the show and was butt naked, dripping with sweat, dancing like Bez by the end of it. Includes Me and Guiliani Down by the School Yard - A True Story, one of the best songs of the decade.

Listening to this now, it's got some bops. Kind of weirder than I expected it to be. I like the Rapture and the Knife fine, but this is definitely not the Rapture.

 

[hitmouse]

That !!! album does also have the lyric "What did George Bush say when he met Tony Blair?", just in case anyone has any doubts about it being well and truly an album from 2004.

 

[stavros]

The Delgados' final album:

 

[The39thStep]

Hood - Outside Closer. Never heard this before and to be honest can only vaguely remember coming across Hood very early in their career and they didn't make any impression. This though is unexpectedly superb.

"what initially sounds simple soon reveals itself to be remarkably complex; each and every song here possesses layers far beyond the human ear’s reach. To call it stunning would be wrong; this is numbing, lulling you into a state of absolute ignorance – everything that’s not on the record dissolves into a blank canvas, upon which the listener can paint their own environments. "

"A modish conflation of acoustic guitars, violins, subtle electronics and artfully detached vocals, located somewhere near Amnesiac-era Radiohead."

 

[braindancer]

Hood fanboy here - and yes, this album is superb, though Cold House is probably the ultimate Hood.

They split up donkey's years ago but Chris and Richard, the brothers who formed Hood have been a million other projects since - many of them have been similarly excellent. I'd say my favorites have been:

High Passes which Chris released as Bracken:



Belmont Slope which Richard released as The Declining Winter



If you like Hood then check these out...

 

[braindancer]

Hate to be anal but it looks like Outside Closer was 2005 though

 

[stavros]

JC Chasez.

 

[zedr]

Slowly working through that Rate Your Music list and have fallen in love with Corea. Never heard of them before but the tags 'screamo, post rock, noise, sound collage' drew me in. spanish skramz. wasn't even sure that was a thing but absolutely loving this.

 

[braindancer]

If you've developed a taste for Spanish skramz have a listen to Tenue... 20 years on Spanish skramz would seemingly be alive and well...

 

[stavros]

Some more faves...

Bola's Gnayse album on Skam - seriously lush electronica....



Claro Intelecto's debut album Neurofibio - super tasty detroit techno tinged electro...



Adam Wiltzie from Stars of the Lid's Dead Texan project - wow, this takes me back.... I probably listened to this more than anything else in 2004. Beautiful ambient...



Loscil's First Narrows - dubby ambient vibes - sublime - I think this was the first time I came across Loscil. Been a fan ever since...



Oren Ambarchi's Grapes from the Estate - droning guitar based ambient business:

I'm giving the Ambarchi album a first listen, and it's definitely good.

 

[stavros]

Murcof's Utopía is a contender. braindancer , it sounds like it'd be up your street.

 

[braindancer]

Like Murcof a lot but don't think I've heard this. Will have a listen....

 

[stavros]

Like Murcof a lot but don't think I've heard this. Will have a listen....

Quite a bit of it is remixes.

 

[hitmouse]

Turns out 2004 was the first album by everyone's favourite uncontroversial musician. I've never listened to much of his pre-MBDTF stuff before, but there's some fantastic tracks on there:


And Mozza did You are the Quarry if you're looking for more albums by 2004's least problematic musicians. And there was a Mekons album consisting of newly recorded versions of their very old punk songs, but much as I love the Mekons it'd feel strange to claim 32 Weeks or Never Been In A Riot as the best songs of 2004 even if they are new versions.

 

[Spandex]

Pet - Player One Ready

Great all over-the-place album, that throws T-Rex style glam rock, motorik, house and disco into an early 00s electropop blender. I've never met anyone else who's even heard of it.

One minute it's:


and the next it's:

 

[stavros]

Turns out 2004 was the first album by everyone's favourite uncontroversial musician. I've never listened to much of his pre-MBDTF stuff before, but there's some fantastic tracks on there:

I've not listened to it for donkey's years, but I remember thinking he did better production jobs for other rappers (see below) before he went behind the mic himself. The sped-up soul samples could get annoying, but they could also be good.

 

[The39thStep]

Jolie Holland -Escondida . Sort of thing if you crossed Appalachian folk with old time jazz played on a porch. It's very good

 

[The39thStep]

Some more faves...

Bola's Gnayse album on Skam - seriously lush electronica....



Claro Intelecto's debut album Neurofibio - super tasty detroit techno tinged electro...



Adam Wiltzie from Stars of the Lid's Dead Texan project - wow, this takes me back.... I probably listened to this more than anything else in 2004. Beautiful ambient...



Loscil's First Narrows - dubby ambient vibes - sublime - I think this was the first time I came across Loscil. Been a fan ever since...



Oren Ambarchi's Grapes from the Estate - droning guitar based ambient business:

That Loscil album is great . Really manages to combine both active and passive listening

 

[Indeliblelink]

Enjoying giving this a listen tonight. Groovy 60s/70s style funk psychedelia with a 2004 big-beat / nu-disco edge.
Chris Joss - You've Been Spiked

 

[stavros]

Not múm's best, but still very good:

 

[chilango]

Jolie Holland -Escondida . Sort of thing if you crossed Appalachian folk with old time jazz played on a porch. It's very good

Must give this a proper listen. Sounds really good.

 

[Indeliblelink]

I doubt anyone will vote for William Shatner's 2004 'Has Been' album but his Pulp cover was rather fun.

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

Teresa Cristina - A vida me fez assim