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December 28, 2004
Top Albums of 2004
One of my favorite parts about the end of the calendar year is finding out what other people thought was good. I'm not going to touch film or books since there are only a couple of good movies released each year and I don't have the time or money (my public library fine is large and unpaid) to read a bunch of newly released books right now. Music is easier since I subscribe to Roadrunner Rhapsody.
First, some other lists:
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Blender's 50-25 - too stingy to post their whole list kinda like their sister magazine Maxim that wants people to pay for the all the good Eva Longoria pictures. Blender's #1 album of the year, just for the record, was Kanye West's College Dropout.
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Pitchfork posted their entire top 50. Their #1 is Funeral by The Arcade Fire.
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Spin follows the Blender model of web publishing which means you'll only see 40-31 online. I'd tell what their #1 album was but I don't feel like getting up and looking for the issue, especially since we just cleaned up the Christmas leavins. I want to say it was American Idiot - Green Day but don't quote me on that.
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World famous Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer, commenter on this weblog and rock music critic, Kevin, posts his Top 10. The #1 is predictably Kevin - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. Hey, Kevin, did you know I still have your copy of And the Ass Saw the Angel?
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The Village Voice's Pazz and Jop poll hasn't been released yet.
This post has gotten a bit long so I'm going to save my Top 30 for a post tomorrow. My picks will be limited to what I've heard, meaning as a poor law school student I couldn't afford to hear everything there was to offer this year. Most labels get their stuff on Rhapsody but Merge doesn't which means I haven't heard The Arcade Fire and thus can't include all the critical faves in my list (and it also means I can't hear my favorite Superchunk albums when I want to).
Posted by Half-Cocked at December 28, 2004 11:12 PM
Comments
1) Spend your excess cash (if any) from strabismas on the Arcade Fire album. It's a must-have.
2) Next time I'm in Lincoln, I'm taking that book back. It was out-of-print for quite some time, but 2.13.61 publications (Hank Rollins' deal) has put it back into circulation. At any rate, I'm snagging that back and (finally) bringing you a copy of the Metropolis 4-song demo.
3) There's nothing predictable about my list. Nick Cave simply made the best album this year. Done and done.
Posted by: Kevin at December 30, 2004 02:46 PM