Legendary country singer Kris Kristofferson has endorsed Barack Obama. While he's no super delegate, Kristofferson does articulate the way many are feeling these days: ""I believe in Barack Obama like I believed in the Kennedys," Kristofferson said. "In the months before his death, John Kennedy pointed out that while we could not agree on their choice of government, there was much in the history of Russian people we could admire in terms of personal courage in the World War and artistic and scientific achievement. It's this spirit of finding common ground and working things out through dialogue and diplomacy that the world needs so desperately today at this critical point in our history. This is the hope that Obama inspires." Strong words from the Texas born singer who served in the Army as an Airborne Ranger helicopter pilot.

But, Kristofferson isn't alone in his musical support for the Illinois Senator.
Mr. Obama has indie rockers the Arcade Fire in his corner. The now Montreal based band swung into Ohio yesterday to play at an Obama Rally. The New York Times reported that aides to Senator Clinton tried to distract from the support by incorrectly stating the band is Canadian. Of course, Arcade Fire die hards know that singer Win Butler is originally from The Woodlands, Texas. No word on whether the Fire will deploy to the Lone Star state where Obama seems to be trending toward a victory on Tuesday.

Some rap world heavyweights are also backing Barack. Will.I.Am and Russell Simmons are both supporting Obama as well. Will.I.Am has a new Obama inspired video, We Are The Ones, that includes cameos from Macy Gray, Jessica Alba and the Black Eyed Peas. Simmons says he was inspired by Obama's "unprecedented, national movement comprised of people from all ethnic, racial, political, social and economic backgrounds." The breadth of musical support from multiple genres is emblematic of the phenomena Simmons describes.

Labels: Arcade Fire

The Arcade Fire is set to take on the dust bowl that can be Randalls Island. The show takes place October 6th, so the weather may be better than for some of the summer shows. The Fire are bringing some friends along for the ride. Wild Light, Les Savy Fav, Blonde Redhead and LCD Soundsystem will share the bill.

You may recall us featuring Demander back in January. The New York trio are still going strong and the buzz will likely only increase this fall as they join both the Hold Steady and Art Brut on the road for a series of shows and then going abroad for some dates with New Model Army. Just before hitting the road the band will release their new cd The Kindness of Ravens on October 2nd. Check out some tunes and get all the tour scoop on their Myspace page.

Mink, the New York based power-gritters, are hitting the road with Perry Farrell's Satellite Party (who we caught in Austin). Sounds like a great matching of high energy bands and worth seeing. Their new self-titled record, produced by Sylvia Massy (Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers) & Chris Shaw (Dylan, Wilco), came out yesterday. You check out Mink's video for the "Talk to Me" over on YouTube and get the show dates on their MySpace page.

Mp3 Offerings:
They Might Be Giants (new record out now): "Careful What You Pack"
Cannonball Jane (this is not the Adrock remix): "Take It To The Fantastic"
Division Day (starts of good, not sure about ending): "Tigers"
Tim Williams (new record in October): "Novel"
The Hot Springs (another Montreal act to watch): "Headrush"

The Decemberists are hitting the road for what they are calling "The Long and Short Of It" tour. The name refers to the idea that the band will play longer songs on some nights and shorter songs on others. The band will play two nights in each city so seemingly you could go to both shows and see two entirely different sets. Laura Veirs, who appears on The Crane Wife, will open.

Natalie Merchant and some friends are banding together to help the homeless. A benefit cd titled Give US Your Poor features new songs by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Madeleine Peyroux, Sonya Kitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant, Michelle Shocked, Keb’ Mo’ and others. Merchant even recorded a song written by 15-year-old Nichole Cooper when she was homeless. You can check out a clip from a related documentary here. The record comes out September 25th on Appleseed Recordings.

Labels: Arcade Fire, Art Brut, Bruce Springsteen, Demander, Mp3s, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady, The Hot Springs

By: David Schultz

Idealistically, the United Palace makes an idyllic locale for the Arcade Fire's return to New York City. As they tour the country in support of Neon Bible, their recently released sophomore effort, the Canadian indie-rock sensations have been selectively choosing venues that reflect the album's introspective themes. A converted movie theater that serves as the home of the United Christ Church, the Palace's ornate trappings seem to be a match made in heaven for Win Butler, his wife Regine Chassagne and the rest of the Arcade Fire. Realistically though, the United Palace is Manhattan's third biggest venue and Arcade Fire are one seriously hot band.



Even though it was just three months since Arcade Fire played five sold-out nights at the Judson Memorial Church as a prelude to Neon Bible's release, it seems like eons ago. Since then, the artsy rockers have had the album skyrocket to the top of the charts, destroyed an unsuspecting acoustic guitar on Saturday Night Live and generally begun their trek towards worldwide domination. Once the little Canadian band that could, they are now on the verge of becoming a full-blown rock and roll sensation. It's a milestone they seem quite ready to achieve.

As Arcade Fire's fame grows, so does the size of the venues needed to house their expanding fan base. Expectedly, some growing pains are evident. With intimacy becoming a scarce commodity, the Arcade Fire have put together a visual show that remains true to their nature: high in subtlety and low on spectacle. The same quirks that seem adorable in smaller venues take on a different scale in a larger arena. Instead of getting a modest ovation, some of the more endearing tricks, like Richard Reed Parry and Tim Kingsbury's penchant for singing through a megaphone or grabbing a stray snare drum and heading to the front for a second or two, went primarily unnoticed. The modest horn and string sections aren't getting lost in the mix, but they are sometimes getting lost on the bigger stage. One benefit to having more room is that they can thrash around with the best of them.

The serious multi-tasking of the various band members continues to be an Arcade Fire trademark. At times, a scorecard would be helpful: rarely will Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry or William Butler play the same instrument twice. The constant reshuffling made for some awkward pauses between the songs which Win Butler did his best to cover for with some limpid banter. The uber-efficiency even carries through to the string section: on "Keep The Car Running," Sarah Neufeld, wearing a set of hot pants that would make Itzhak Perlman blush, played violin, jangled a set of bells and sang backing vocals.

The humble little musicians from Quebec are quickly becoming veritable rock stars. Regine Chassagne may be cute and tiny but she more than holds her own with the band's boys club. Early in the set, Chassagne moved center stage for "Haiti" striking rock star poses and showing a deft aptitude for voguing. Chassagne's voice has a bit of a sassy lilt that carries well and gives the Fire a different dimension from Win Butler. Like any good married couple, they have figured out a way to make the differences work: their contrasting voices and styles tying together the otherwise disjointed "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations."

"Neon Bible" and "Windowsill" avoided the death knell that often greets quieter material in spacious venues. When the band got quiet, so did the audience; a startling rarity for any concert. "Windowsill," which saw Chassagne jump behind the drums, provided the night's most spectacular moment. With the song slowly building to its climax and Butler's vocals becoming increasingly more anxious and emphatic, they not only had the crowd enraptured, they got a few New Yorkers to cheer lyrics about not wanting to live in America any more. When you're inspiring your fans to denounce their nationality, you're laying down some seriously powerful shit.

The most ecstatic reactions were reserved for material from Funeral, the band’s breakthrough debut. Coming out of "(Antichrist Television Blues)," featuring Jeremy Gara's urgent drumming, they finished their main set with a phenomenal romp though "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" that had frat boys throughout the crowd jumping like excited teenage girls. Showing a knack for arena theatrics, they closed the song with a Sgt. Peppers-esque crescendo which Win Butler led into "Rebellion (Lies)" before it could fade. As the band churned through the Funeral classic, Butler, who seems to be gaining more frontman charisma as time goes on, jumped into the crowd, belting out the majority of the song amidst the crowd in the front of the audience that gleefully chanted along with the chorus. Butler's antics distracted the crowd from one of his bandmates, possibly Kingsbury, attempting to duplicate Nirvana's Krist Novoselic's MTV Awards blunder, nearly braining himself with a boisterously tossed snare drum.

The band's continued commitment to their fans remains impressive: their effort to battle scalpers goes beyond the simple lip service paid by most artists. For the Judson shows earlier this year, no physical tickets were issued, leaving nothing tangible for scalping. At the Palace, tickets could be obtained for all but the first 15 rows. Anyone seated close to the stage was immediately ushered into the arena after claiming their tickets. Going beyond the live attendance, the band announced that a portion of the gate would be donated to Partners In Health to assist with medical treatment in Chassagne's home country of Haiti.

Likely owing to Win Butler's better health, The United Palace show was considerably longer than any of the Judson outings, even without including surefire crowd pleasers like "My Body Is A Cage" or the anthemic "Wake Up." They would perform the two songs the next night, giving security a bad case of deja vu from The Stooges' show last month by bringing the crowd onto the stage for "Wake Up." Like most milestones for the band, they are quickly overshadowed. Arcade Fire's two sold-out United Palace shows were but a prelude to their Wednesday night debut at Radio City Music Hall, where curator David Bowie slotted the band as the opening artist of May's High Line Festival. Having sold out New York City's second and third largest venues in a matter of days, Madison Square Garden looms large on the horizon.

Labels: Arcade Fire, High Line Festival

Anyone who's read Blender's cover story on Canadian sensations Arcade Fire already knows of the sinus and bronchial problems that have plagued lead singer Win Butler for the past two months. During a brief respite in their promotional blitz for Neon Bible, Butler underwent a successful operation to relieve his symptoms.

Through the band's Web site, Butler addressed the situation. "Just wanted to let you all know that the surgery was successful and I am recovering nicely. I will probably start singing again this week some time to try and get ready for the shows in North America," writes the singer. "It has been a blessing in disguise to be forced to stay at home and read, and sleep and I have even started work on some new songs."

Labels: Arcade Fire

By: David Schultz

Since exploding in the aftermath of the success of Funeral, their debut album, Arcade Fire became the art-rock band of choice for the literati and cognoscenti; with their sophomore effort, Neon Bible, the friendly Canadians are about to belong to the world. They are trying their best to cling on to their connection with their audience, previewing the album in intimate venues in London, Montreal and New York City.

If TV On The Radio are channeling the heady days of David Bowie, Arcade Fire are keeping his artsy side alive. Funeral sprang from the feelings of loss in the aftermath of the death of band members' relatives. While Neon Bible doesn't present a happier, sunnier Arcade Fire, it does have them living them in the moment, even looking forward into the uncertain abyss of the future. In typical Arcade Fire fashion, they seem bewildered and quite frightened by what they see.

Although they keep the strings and horns that dotted their initial release relatively restrained on their latest, they are no less grand or spacious. Instead they are more prone to use mandolins and pipe organs than guitars. Given their relative absence, the shuffling upbeat guitars of "Keep The Car Running" are more pronounced than they might be otherwise. Rather then revert to traditional instruments or arrangements, Arcade Fire emulate the Radiohead philosophy of keeping things fresh by trying something novel. The music is only half the story. Never straying into trite pop aphorisms, the lyrics remain true to the album’s general theme. Even though the Quebecois will slip in an unnecessary French phrase or two, the power of "Windowsill," "Intervention" and "Antichrist Television Blues" remains undiluted.

Neon Bible thrives on Win Butler's earnest sincerity. With many of the songs in a lower register than those on Funeral, Butler seems able to put more feeling into the vocals, wringing out every bit of emotion. His wife, Regine Chassagne, shares the vocals, getting a sassier feel with her energetic delivery. While many CD's seem to frontload the disc with the best songs, Neon Bible saves them for the end. With its Eighties-style sheen, "No Cars Go," a rerecording of a song that's been in the Arcade Fire repertoire for a while (live video), explodes in modernized new wave frenzy. "My Body Is A Cage," with Butler singing of the corporeal restrictions inherent in human existence over the funereal strains of an organ, closes the album uneasily.

Many artists become overly ambitious with their sophomore release and Arcade Fire are no different. Unlike many of their predecessors, Neon Bible seems to reach their lofty aims without drenching the result in pretentiousness. Much of Neon Bible possesses a low level sturm und drang, but by not overpowering the mix with unnecessary drama, Neon Bible carries off its weighty momentous intentions with an understated brilliance.

Labels: Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire front man Winn Butler lashed out at big bands like U2, Oasis and The Rolling Stones. Speaking to NME Butler implied that these big acts "force feed their music to fans."

Butler reportedly said: "It's not like we shun success, but at the same time we don't want to shove it down people's throats. In the UK there's this kind of rock star competition." The Gallaghers of Oasis certainly feel they're in a competition given the way they mouth off, but I don't think the Stones and U2 fit into that same mold.

I love it when rock stars talk about other rock stars "selling out" or trying to be too famous (like this guy didn't know he'd get tons of exposure for making these comments). Butler is a somewhat admitted hypocrite here. If he truly didn't like music to be marketed to fans he wouldn't have his band on one of the most successful labels who focus on marketing his music to fans. Yes, they are a good band and are putting on good shows, but lets drop the holier than thou attitude.

Labels: Arcade Fire, Oasis, The Rolling Stones, U2

By: David Schultz

Whether the Arcade Fire are ready for it or not, with next month's release of Neon Bible, the follow-up to their critically beloved 2004 breakthrough hit Funeral (an Earvolution top 10 that year), the delicate art-rockers from Montreal, Canada are poised for even greater success. Without major label support, the indie-superstars, led by Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne, stumbled forth from the Great White North and captured the imagination of many fans with their descriptive lyrics, humble charm and eclectic mix of instruments. The world seems to be their oyster, if they can only stay out of their own way. Already they've presided over the inadvertent release of the wrong advance track from the new album and Neon Bible has already been leaked well ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, Internet maladies did nothing to diminish the excitement over the Arcade Fire's fiercely anticipated five night residency at New York City's Judson Memorial Church. With no tickets available after the initial sale, crowds braved hellacious weather to line up hours before each show to purchase the limited number of tickets made available each night.

Besides falling in line with the thematic structure of their upcoming album, the Arcade Fire's occupation of the JMC also fell in line with the band's status as emerging purveyors of thoughtful, passionate reveries. Long a sponsor of the arts, the Judson Memorial Church has progressively supported a wide-ranging array of music and artists, hosting theater, dance and avant garde performances since the sixties. Before eager crowds that included a nightly smattering of celebrity sightings, Butler and his cohorts essentially played the same set of songs each night, though they did change the order. Preciously dressed in unstylish button-up shirts and thrift store wares, the Arcade Fire took the stage on Thursday night to the recorded strains of "Black Mirror" before claiming their right to the Judson stage with all the disheveled charm they could muster.

Playing underneath a neon replica of the album's emblematic tome, Arcade Fire previewed a number of songs from Neon Bible, creating their own chapel within the church while they nicely reproduced Funeral and Neon Bible's layered arrangements. As the room wasn't designed for concerts of this magnitude, especially Arcade Fire's amalgamation of guitars, keyboards, strings, horns and drums, the sound was a tad muddy. However, the venue's cozy confines didn't require much, if any, amplification.

Likely stemming more from familiarity than a difference in quality, "Haiti," "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Rebellion (Lies)" received a bigger response than the Neon Bible material. A rockabilly beat underscores "(Antichrist Television Blues)," the horns and strings push along "No Cars Go" with a furious new wavy bent and "Keep The Car Running" bounces right along. Slower pieces like "Windowsill" and "Neon Bible," provided a nice change of pace, moodily contrasting with the more upbeat material. The soft spoken Butler politely kept thanking the crowd between songs, continuously introducing the band and making sure the few hundred in attendance knew they were from Montreal. He traded vocals with his wife throughout the evening: Butler's voice providing an off-kilter aura while Chassagne's vocals sometimes fought with the music, running more towards punky new wave.

Musically, no one from the Arcade Fire steps forward to steal the show. Quite versatile, they switch instruments every couple songs or so, often requiring a scorecard to keep track of their whereabouts. Without any virtuosos in their mix, Arcade Fire's whole greatly surpasses the sum of their parts. Working with the Church's modestly sized space, Butler led the group through a briskly paced seventy-five minute set. For the haunting "My Body Is A Cage," the horn section strolled up to the Church's balcony, providing the brassy undertone from the rear of the crowd; for their finale, they ambled to the middle of the crowd, for an acoustic, unamplified rendering of "Wake Up." As they finished a number of their European shows by leading the crowd to the streets, there were minor expectations of a similar finish in the adjacent Washington Square Park. If there were any plans of concluding outside, they were scotched by the snow and sleet that greeted the Arcade Fire's arrival. But, in finishing within an arms' length of their fans, using a megaphone for a microphone, the "band of the people" still found an original way to cap off a show at one of the stranger Metropolitan venues.

Labels: Arcade Fire

Snow Patrol won four awards at Ireland's Meteor Music Awards last night. The lads won Best Live Performance, Best Irish Album, Most Downloaded Irish song, and Best Irish Band - beating off competition from The Divine Comedy, Humanzi and The Frames. Justin Timberlake was named "Best International Male" and Lily Allen was named "Best International Female". Scissor Sisters scooped the award for "Best International Group" and "Best International Album" went to Arctic Monkeys for Whatever People Say I am, That`s What I'm Not.

Mariah Carey is showing off her boobs on the cover of this month's Playboy. Yep, we don't care much either. But, anytime you can put "Mariah Carey", "Playboy" and "boobs" in your post there's a good chance the google gods will smile in our direction.

Billy Joel, Keith Richards and Elvis made Blender's list of rock's worst drivers. Apparently Richards used to have a "napping while driving" habit. Hopefully he sticks to limos these days.

Arcade Fire has now joined Fall Out Boy as the latest indie rockers to duke it out with security guards. NME reports that front man Win Butler scuffled with a security guard after a recent gig when the band wanted to play one more song...in the venue's foyer. In an era where concerts have gotten shorter, I've got to tip my hat to this guy for going the extra mile to give fans something extra to remember.

Philadelphia's Dr. Dog have caught the national media's attention with their upcoming release. High praise is coming from no less than Rolling Stone and GQ (what, GQ reviews music?) and CREEM Magazine. We All Belong drops on February 27th, but you can check out Dr. Dog's video for "My Old Ways" on MTV.com starting today and on MTV2 "Subterranean" on Sunday, February 4th.
MP3: Alaska

Death Cab for Cutie frontman, Ben Gibbard recently wrote a blog entry about The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill (a collection of unreleased recordings from Neal Hemphill's Sound of Birmingham and Hemphill Studios) on his MOG.com page, calling it "the best soul music you've most likely never heard."
MP3: "Groove Me Mamma" by Eddie Steele.

You may remember Andrew Douglas Rothbard from his vocal work in Sub Pop rage-rockers Pleasure Forever. After the group disbanded, Andrew disappeared from "the scene" to work on his solo material. His album Abandoned Meander was on Aquarius Records' top ten of 2006.
MP3s: Bull in the Dell, "High Upon Love" & "Indigo"

Labels: Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Billy Joel, Justin Timberlake, Lily Allen, Philadelphia, Playboy, Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol, The Rolling Stones

Neil Young is releasing a set of previously unreleased live and studio tracks assembled from earlier days in his career. His Archives Volume 1 will consist of eight CDs and two DVDs and will be out later in the year. But, first Young is putting out a live solo cd, Live At Massey Hall, which was recorded in January 1971 in Toronto, Canada.

Garbage is set to hit the studio to record some new music. Drummer Butch Vig reportedly told MTV: "We're recording a couple new songs at the end of February. I think everyone's excited about getting back in a room and playing some music together. We've been working on it for a while. There was originally talk about doing a B-side and remix CD as well. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we have a lot of B-sides and remixes over the years, so it would be cool to see that come out in a proper package for our hardcore fans."

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists have a new record due out in March. Meanwhile, catch "The Sons of Cain" here. Another indie buzz band, Arcade Fire, are also readying new material. Their new record is called Neon Bible. You can listen to the track "Black Mirror" here.

Brooklyn's Pela, who struck me as very nice guys when I got to hang a bit with them in Philadelphia last summer, have announced a deal with Great Society records and will be putting out a full length disc in April. The band has a great live show and worth checking out if you haven't seen them yet.

For those who like a genre mixing, check out this track with a little Biggie, Tupac and others mixed over a mash-up of David Bowie's "Fame" and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side."

Keller Williams got a bunch of friends together for his new record. Dream hits stores in February and includes appearances by Béla Fleck, Bob Weir, Michael Franti, Steve Kimock, The String Cheese Incident, Victor Wooten and a host of others.

Labels: Arcade Fire, David Bowie, Garbage, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Ted Leo

There have been a handful of standout bands in the last four years, but this decade still lacks a defining sound. The newsmakers of 2004 were veterans -- U2, Morrissey, Tom Waits, and the Pixies. But if you take the time to look a little closer, you'll see the beginnings of a new evolution in music. Geographically, Glasgow and Montreal emerged as new music hot spots while New York became as interesting as it has been since the days of Velvet Undergound and the Ramones. Collectively, we have seen a number of talented newcomers break through. While the music of 2004's newcomers seems to borrow heavily from past movements such as new wave and post-punk, it signals a change of course that will hopefully bring about a new great hybrid.

1. Elliott Smith From a Basement On the Hill (Anti) Released: 10/19/04
Listening to Elliott Smith is like watching a beautiful cherub-faced child laugh and play while reciting Sylvia Plath's darkest poetry. His music is at once heart-breaking and fulfilling. From a Basement on the Hill is every bit as orchestrated and full as his earlier works such as XO and Figure 8, but with an undercurrent of deliberate chaos. Guitars are bigger, sometimes untuned, sometimes competing with the melody. Pianos are less vaudevillian and more mysterious. Drums echo and pop in and out unexpectedly. It all fits together to encase Smith's delicate vocals. While it is impossible to listen to this album absent the context of his life and death, it should be recognized as more than a sad farewell from a troubled musician.
2. Muse Absolution (Warner Brothers) Released: 3/23/04
Many have been quick to write off Muse as another Radiohead clone. I'm still trying to figure out why it would be so terrible to have another Radiohead in the world, but the point is moot. While Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke both follow the Jeff Buckley school of vocals, the blanket comparison ignores the vast musical differences between the bands. Where Radiohead is subtle, Muse is belligerent but also more melodic. On Absolution, the band ventures dangerously close to arrogant over-production, but instead delivers a well orchestrated and hook filled album that is magnificent from beginning to end.
3. Drive-By Truckers The Dirty South (New West Records) Released: 8/24/04
Drive-By Truckers are probably the only band with narratives about the rural South that don't make me wince. The band has three singer-songwriters and three guitars and still manages to pull together well-crafted, cohesive songs. The Dirty South is the best rock album to come out of the South in years.
4. Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days (Sub Pop) Released: 3/23/04
Our Endless Numbered Days is the lullaby album I love to fall asleep to, as Sam Beam's soft acoustic ballads stretch before you like a fluffy cloud. The move to the studio thankfully did not destroy any of the stripped down intimacy we grew to love him by.

5. Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand (Epic) Released: 5/20/04
Despite the overexposure, this album still puts a smile on my face. These spunky Scots managed to release a fantastic danceable debut with no disappointing filler songs.



6. Interpol Antics (Matador) Released: 9/28/04
Turn on the Bright Lights was so derivative of Joy Division and Sisters of Mercy that most didn't take Interpol seriously. With Antics they seem to finally be comfortable with their own sound.



7. U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Interscope) Released: 11/23/04
U2 delivers the raw emotion and loose production which defined their early work with a new, fresh spin. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is a guitar-heavy and bluesy reminder of why they have managed to stay on top for so long. No, this is not U2's greatest album, but it is nonetheless important.
8. Arcade Fire Funeral (Merge Records) Released: 9/14/04
On Funeral, Arcade Fire blends beautiful alt-folk music -- lavish strings, airy piano, and chunky guitars -- with sentimental lyrics telling stories of death and the loss of youthful naivete. The quirky eccentricity of this album doesn't distract from its strong emotional core.

9. The Walkmen Bows & Arrows (Record Collection) Released: 2/3/04
With Bows & Arrows the Walkmen lead a movement in New York that is closing the door on the Strokes dominated sound of the last couple of years and moving on to something more interesting and original. "The Rat" is easily a contender for the best song of the year.

10. Madvillain Madvillainy (Stones Throw) Released: 3/23/04
The underground rap collaboration made in heaven. Madlib lays down some muddy jazz beats while MF Doom contributes gritty rhymes with loads more wit than those watered down pretenders who have taken over the mainstream with played-out references to booty and bling.

11. Tom Waits Real Gone (Epitaph) Released: 10/5/04
Closing Time will always be my sentimental favorite. When I heard that Waits was to release a new album I was excited; when I heard his signature piano would be absent I was scared. Silly me to doubt such a brilliant songwriter.


12. Sonic Youth Sonic Nurse (Geffen Records) Released: 6/8/04
Sonic Youth reasserts their relevance with Sonic Nurse, their best since Daydream Nation. With this album, they have scaled back the experimentation without abandoning their unique garage rock sound altogether.


13. The Libertines Libertines (Sanctuary Records) Released: 8/31/04
Pete Doherty's crack and heroin driven escapades have kept the writers at the NME busy all year. This fragile band with all of its problems could never last, but at least they have left behind this hint at the greatness they might have achieved.


14. Patty Griffin Impossible Dream (ATO Records) Released: 4/20/04
I've always been a fan of Patty Griffin's, but wasn't prepared for the religious experience of Impossible Dream. She comes into her own as a songwriter on this album by incorporating more layers, including horns, synthesizers and moving gospel harmonies.

15. Graham Coxon Happiness in Magazines (EMI) Released: 5/17/04 (UK)
Coxon's solo work while with Blur seemed to be a reaction to the melodic pop produced by the band. It was almost laboriously lo-fi. In Happiness in Magazines, he embraces his ability to write great guitar-driven pop songs. It was released in the UK in May, but for some silly reason will not see the light of day in the US until January 25, 2005.
16. Morrissey You Are the Quarry (Sanctuary Records) Released: 5/18/04
The Moz is back and as wonderfully self-absorbed as ever. After a seven year hiatus and a couple of disappointments before that, Morrissey came back swinging with his best since Bona Drag. His non-apologetic lyrics are wordplay at its finest since Cole Porter.

17. Carina Round Disconnection (Interscope Records) Released: 3/9/04
With Disconnection, Carina Round proves that a woman's voice doesn't have to be pretty to be compelling. Don't misunderstand me, hers is as good as any of the Lillith Fair alumnae, but more visceral and energetic.

18. Ambulance LTD Ambulance LTD (TVT Records) Released: 3/9/04
Ambulance LTD is Brooklyn's answer to Oasis. They don't break any ground with this album, but they pack their songs with catchy riffs and sweet vocals. This album is one of the more accessible coming out of the New York scene this year.


19. Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Sony) Released: 4/6/04
"Float On" makes this album worthy. We just wish the rest of the album was as good.



20. The Tragically Hip In Between Evolution (Zoe Records) Released: 6/29/04
Gordon Downie is the best vocalist/lyricist most of you don't know. In Between Evolution was produced by Adam Kasper (Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age), who gives this release a more organic vibe. It's a little less radio friendly than what we're used to with the Hip, but only because it rocks more.

Best Reissue: Pavement, Crooked Rain. They made it more than worth your while to rebuy this classic by adding a ton of previously unreleased material including a cool REM cover. Stephen Malkmus seems to be hinting at a possible reunion or at least not ruling out the idea so cross your fingers.

Labels: Arcade Fire, Drive By Truckers, Elliot Smith, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse, Muse, Pete Doherty, Sonic Youth, The Libertines, U2