Your Best of 2004

Sam(antha) Ross, Laurie's Planet of Sound Best Albums: 10. Two Cow Garage - Wall Against Our Backs 9. Finn Brothers - Everyone is Here 8. Ted Leo - Shake the Sheets 7. the Sadies - Favourite Colours 6. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose 5. Califone - Heron King Blues 4. Bobby Bare Jr. - From the End of Your Leash 3. Wilco - A Ghost is Born 2. Joanna Newsom - Milk-Eyed Mender 1. Sufjan Stevens - 7 Swans Best Shows: (no particular order) -Decemberists April 1 @ Schubas -Ted Leo June 19 @ the Hideout -Pixies November 14 @ Aragon -Wilco with Calexico September 14 @ the Blue Note (not in Chicago, sorry) -Sloan April 22 @ Metro Best Songs Not on Albums mentioned in Top 10 -Andrew Bird - Sovay (free download on http://bowloffire.com) -Magnolia Electric Co. - Down the Wrong Road Both Ways (on CD with Isn't It Romantic, a book of Love Poems) Just a Kid - Wilco (on the Spongebob soundtrack) -God's Coffee - Jay Bennett (from his album Bigger Than Blue. this is what a hit single sounds like in some other much cooler dimension than ours) -Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand (from their s/t album. Come on, it's an awesome dance song!) -TV on the Radio - New Health Rock (CDS or 7" from Touch and Go. B-side is a Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover. Perfect!) -Float On - Modest Mouse (from Good News for People Who Love Bad News, another obvious choice, but so so good!) -That's Alright - Nora O'Conor (from 'Til the Dawn, a beautiful cover of a Stevie Nicks song off Mirage) -Nanny Nanny Boo Boo - Le Tigre (from This Island, sometimes, you just wanna dance.) --------------------------------- Ron Saemann - RFC reader Top 15 Albums of 2004 1) The Legends-Up Against the Legends 2) Iron & Wine-Our Endless Numbered Days 3) Franz Ferdinand-Franz Ferdinand 4) The Concretes-The Concretes 5)Camera Obscura- Underachievers, Please Try Harder 6) Arcade Fire-Funeral 7) Interpol-Antics 8) Saturday Looks Good to Me-Every Night 9) A.C. Newman-Slow Wonder 10) The Ponys-Laced with Romance 11) Kings of Convenience-Riot on an Empty Street 12) Loretta Lynn-Van Lear Rose 13) Rogue Wave-Out of the Shadow (reissue on Sub Pop) 14) Air-Walkie Talkie 15) Snow Patrol-Final Straw Top 15 Songs of 2004 15) Sodastream-Otherwise Open 14) Kings of Convenience-Misread 13) Belle & Sebastian-Stop, Look and Listen 12) The Ponys-Let’s Kill Ourselves 11) Preston School of Industry-Caught in the Rain 10) Saturday Looks Good to Me-The Girls Distracted 9) Sondre Lerche-Stupid Memory 8) Futureheads-Decent Days and Nights 7) Intepol-Evil 6) Franz Ferdinand-Take Me Out 5) Snow Patrol-Chocolate 4) Camera Obscura-Keep it Clean 3) All Night Radio-Daylight Til Dawn 2) Iron & Wine-Love and Some Verses 1) Arcade Fire-Neighborhood #3 Honarble Mentions -Wilco-Hummingbird -Magnetic Fields-I Don’t Really Love You Anymore -Legends-Nothing to be Done -Jens Lekman-You Are the Light (By Which I Travel Into This and That) -Concretes-Seems Fine -Air-Surfing on a Rocket