Albums: 2004

1. Buck 65's THIS RIGHT HERE IS BUCK65 

1. Wilco's A GHOST IS BORN

3. Sonic Youth's SONIC NURSE

4. The Arcade Fire’s FUNERAL

5. Madvillain's MADVILLAINY

6. Sufjan Stevens' SEVEN SWANS

7. The Drive-By Truckers’ THE DIRTY SOUTH

8. A.C. Newman’s THE SLOW WONDER

9. The Fiery Furnaces’ BLUEBERRY BOAT

10. Rilo Kiley’s MORE ADVENTUROUS

11. Modest Mouse’s GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE ...

12. Brian Wilson’s SMILE

13. Morrissey’s YOU ARE THE QUARRY

14. Animal Collective’s SUNG TONGS

By 2004 I was literally living in record stores. Most of my friends had already begun downloading everything, but not me. (Still not me.) I must've set some sort of record that year. I was working in two record stores at the same time and knew pretty much everyone who worked at every other record store in town. If I wasn't working at a record store I was probably hanging out at a record store. I'd drive up to Ann Arbor often to shop their stores. I'd say "yes" to roadtrips with friends, so as long as it meant that we could look for record shops. I was going to concerts often, but usually only because I wanted to find a place to look for records before the show.

Oddly enough, 2004 really wasn't all that great of a year for new music. Sure, that Arcade Fire record is a monster and the Wilco record is a personal favorite of mind ... but, dang ... looking over that list I can't help but notice how lame 2004 was compared to most of the rest of the decade (and surely the three previous years).

I played BLUEBERRY BOAT at a record store over and over again. My co-workers hated me for this. I bought SEVEN SWANS on one of the coldest days of all-time, after which I went out to my car and was stuck in holiday traffic for an hour. The heat in my car didn't work, so I remember sitting there while SEVEN SWANS played, watching my breath fall out of my mouth as I shivered violently. If not for that amazing record warming my soul, I'd have surely froze and died that night. Thank you, Sufjan, for making that amazing record.

As for A GHOST IS BORN. After falling so hard for YANKEE, GHOST became one of the most anticipated albums of the decade for me. And I loved it. I loved it more everyday and I'm still loving it more as I get older. The writing on the record is some of the best of the decade and damn if the band wasn't shit-hot with ideas back then. No one played A GHOST IS BORN more than I did in 2004. Not even close, I'd imagine.

And, believe it or not, I played the Buck 65 "crossover" record just as much as the GHOST. Still sounds amazing to this day. "Livin' in fear of Satan and the witches." Ha.