Legal Album of 2004: Cut Copy's Bright Like Neon Love, which also wins best album name of 2004, and finished strong in best album cover category. (The band wins for best band name also, but they sure made it hard to search for.) The album combined house beats with New Wave attitude, the first half is as thrilling as the first half of Daft Punk's Discovery without the latter's second half letdown. The lyrics are throwaway sentimental pap, but I'm only ever interested in lyrics that tell a story anyway. I heard about Cut Copy through an MP3 blog, and I felt compelled to post an MP3 of the band earlier this year.
Honorable Mention: Björk's Medúlla. Yes, I started listening to Björk again this year, and as she usual does, she flipped it on pretty much everybody with her almost all-voice album.
Best Independent-As-Fuck Album of 2004: Bea the Playa's The Critics Call You A Genius, though to be honest, this was the only independent-as-fuck album I bought all year. (Matt Haughey has a great list of 2004 independent-as-fuck albums to check out.) It's fun accoustic-guitar folk music with swearing and drug references, and I heard about her through Flickr, as she posted many a photo of herself, and clicking through to her profile, then to her website, then to her CD Baby site, then listen to a few tracks, then a purchase.
Best Illegal Album of 2004: David Browne beat me to it, but Jay-Z's and the Beatles' The Grey Album, produced by DJ Danger Mouse. I was late to appreciate it, but it seeped deeper into my consciousness after giving The Beatles (The White Album) a sustained and thorough listen. More than just a mashup, Danger Mouse did with a whole album what most rap producers these days do: he took something from the past, chopped it up, and made it new again. Most producers borrow liberally from one song to make a new song, took liberally from two albums to make an album entirely different than the originals. I've written that Jay-Z's original album sounds like the "remix" version to me.
Those that have bought a DJ's hiphop mix tape in the last 10 years know that DJ Danger Mouse did was not without precedent: rappers have long released voice-only versions of their songs (or, Jay-Z's case, whole albums) as well as instrumental versions so that DJs can produce "blends", that is playing the vocal track of one song over the instrumental track of another, creating a whole new experience. They were mashups before the kids called them mashups.
The Grey Album is my pick for the best album of 2004 overall, legal or illegal, indie or not.
Band of 2004: Interpol, who are evidently the American Tragically Hip. They and their sound were everywhere.
Radio Station of 2004: The Internet. I only really listened to KEXP this year, but until I got a laptop, listening to great new music via the Internet (via streaming radio stations and MP3 blogs) was a good enough reason for throwing all my CD's in the trash.
