10 The Michigan D - Friday, January 21, 2005
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FRIDAY FOCUS
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andrewgaerig
The Walkmen Bows and Arrows
A hugely reverberating album, Bows and Arrows
bounces off subway windows and wheel wells
with the force of U2's spiraling guitar attack and the
rhythmic drive of so many '80s post-punk bands.
Hamilton Leithauser scrapes his voice across and
chalkboard and winds up angry/confused/hope-
ful, waiting for anything that'll take him away
from here.
Madvillain Madvillainy
Hip hop, too often recognized for
its harsh and visceral nature, rarely
feels as soft and transcendent as this album.
Madlib clips frayed shards of your con-
sciousness. MF Doom peeks through the
cracks, discarding his many masks long
0 enough to get goofy, sad and hilariously
confused.
Brian Wilson SMILE
Go west, old crackpot psycho. Brian
Wilson takes a break from lounging
scarily around swimming pools to fanta-
size, after a 30-year hiatus, about a mythic,
candy-cane America. His blend of surreal
and serene ignited such holy wanderlust
that daddy didn't just take the T-Bird away,
he drove it straight into a midlife crisis.
oelhoard on death fu
Brian Wilson SMILE Mo
Wilson's late-'60s genius is Au
once again on display on an nie
album that ranks right up there with one of the}
Pet Sounds. SMiLE's densely layered
arrangements are as interesting and Thel
complex as its creator. '\ The
The Black Keys Rubber Factory
"The Lengths," the country-blues epic that
splits this album like dried snakeskin, is the
type of transcendent ash that their prior albums
were missing. It should also put to rest any linger-
ing doubts about the blues duo's authenticity, as
if there was something inauthentic about growing
up in the permanent gray of Ohio and recording
your album amidst the fumes of an old production
plant.
The Streets A Grand Don't Come for
Free
No matter how badly Skinner wants us to
believe he's a stoned-batty slacker - "I should
just sit on my couch like I know how" - the grand
ambition of A Grand proves it's bollocks time and
again. His production, a synthesis of bratty guitars
and RAM-powered soul, allows his stilted rhymes
to hit with the force of a far less subtle MC. We're
all better off for his ambition, whether he admits
it or not.
L Bork Medulla
Bjork's arcane vocals-only concept gave
this album a schtick, but it was Bjork's total
embrace of Rahzel's gruff production that allowed
her to weld the digital choir together with her snak-
ing melodies. Medulla is another chapter in Bjork's
fantastic fiction.
Ghostface The Pretty Toney Album
Has anyone ever pined so hard for main-
stream acceptance, failed so miserably and
still come out with such irresistible art? Bathed in
buckets of soul, stoned out of his mind and drunk on
his own ridiculous flow, Ghostface eats your under-
ground ethos for breakfast.
8 Califone Heron King Blues
A bunch of aging, skinny white boys from Chica-
go get nutty with Afro-funk freakouts, jamming
on a bed of white noise and emptying ma's pan cabinets
for their deviant percussion. Like Brian Jones's Rolling
Stones on Sly Stone and a slow morphine drip.
Y Interpol Antics
Annoyingly enough, everything still sounds
easy for Interpol. Their effortless second album,
however, seeps a humility that their debut lacked,
reducing their sound to rock'n'roll's charming holy
trinity: guitar/bass/drums. Few bands can take such
basic ingredients and sound so huge, so dark.
1 O Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Abbatoir
Blues /The Lyre of Orpheus
Cave's been toiling in arty gothic angst for
years, but remarkably, this double album is fresher and
brighter than anything he's ever released. Imbued with a
sense of humor and clarity that his prior material severe-
ly lacked, Cave sounds mature, intelligent and surpris-
ingly well balanced. Scary.
0
Kanye West The College
Dropout
You can question his street cred, but
not his greatness. Kanye's debut offers a refresh-
ing respite from the thug posturing and antagonism
that have come to dominate hip hop.
Modest Mouse Good News for People
Who Love Bad News
With their best record to date, Modest Mouse have
finally gained the recognition they've deserved for years.
Good News makes schizophrenic guitar rock and meditations
wor
back to roc
Pete Dohe'
Lunc
Aft
stre
called it q
indie-popr
'un for everyone.
ountain Goats We Shall All Be Healed
stere, stripped-down arrangements and John Dar-
lle's byzantine lyrics make We Shall All Be Healed
year's simplest and most beautiful pleasures.
Libertines The Libertines
Libertines are a throwback in every sense of the
rd. Both their sound and their backstory harken
ck's days of excess. Enjoy them while you still can;
rty could self-destruct at any minute.
a Rendezvous
er more than a decade of flying below the main-
eam radar, one of America's best-kept secrets
uits - but not before releasing one more classic
record. Farewell, friends.
in his sleep than 95 percent of the MCs out there. The man
simply can't make a bad record.
8 Green Day American Idiot
Idiot is about as overblown and pretentious as punk
rock can get. Nevermind the absurdity inherent in
the idea of the concept; Green Day are still at the top of
their game, and their classic sound is unbeatable.
The Streets A Grand Don't Come for
Free
Just like Green Day, Mike Skinner took the concept
route this time 'round. Just like Green Day, I couldn't
care less about the concept. Skinner's clever laptop pro-
duction and quick wit drive the record.
Beastie Boys To the 5 Boroughs
They weren't able to prevent Dubya's re-elec-
tion, but that shouldn't take away from their
achievements. Even in their 40s, the B-Boys sound fresh
and full of the youthful vigor that put them on the map
two decades ago.
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Eminem Encore
Sure, it sounds like he's snoozing his way through
half the album, but Eminem can make a better album
1A.C. Newman The Slow Won-
der
The Slow Wonder contains some of
the decade's best songwriting. Emotional yet reserved lyr-
ics, impulsive rhythms arranged more intricately than lace
and a dash of redheaded charm make Newman Canada's
future poet laureate.
2 Brian Wilson SMILE
Forget context, history and the fact that you've been
hearing "God Only Knows" on oldies radio for years.
In any era, SMiLE is unsurpassed in its harmonic beauty
and conceptual vitality.
3 Decemberists The Tain
The fact that this album is an 18-minute interpretation
of Irish folklore speaks to the Decemberists' ability
to rock your socks off as well as soothe you to sleep. The
Tain is more than a between-album tidbit for fans - it's a
sign of things to come from one of the most talented bands
out there.
Destroyer Your Blues
Dan Bejar went out on a limb to release Your
Blues under his counterintuitive Destroyer moni-
ker: It's a series of synthesized dramatic tableaux featur-
ing "It's Gonna Take an Airplane," one of the catchiest
songs this year.
Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose
Loretta Lynn needed a comeback. Jack White needed to
work on a project without eye candy/dead weight drum-
mer Meg. The end result? Lynn reminds us how kickass she is
and White makes up (a little) for Elephant.
Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat
The only reason that the Fiery Furnaces' just-
released EP isn't on this list instead of Blueberry
Boat is because, well, it just came out. I laud Blueberry
Boat as a destination, not a starting point; begin with EP
and Gallowsbird Bark and work your way up.
meets "The Pied Piper"; they overturn a fruitstand. Also,
they're aliens from another dimension.
8 Bjork Medulla
After teetering on the crazy edge of avant-pop with her
earlier releases, Iceland's premiere chanteuse makes a
record as musically complex as her homeland is cold.
Y Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans
Ever wondered if Michigan's own bard could sound
prettier, get sadder or be even more spiritual?
Three for three, dude.
Frog Eyes The Folded Palm
Arguably the most perplexing band
to break out in 2004, Frog Eyes'
bristling instrumentals and octave-jump-
ing, throat-contorting singer Carey
Mercer sound a bit like holding a por-
cupine up to your face might feel I
- at first. But if you keep at it, the
payoff will far outweigh any ini-
tial pain. Modest
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Deerhoof Milk Man
Milk Man - alternately danceable, hummable and
difficult to listen to- sounds a bit like Tommy
andrewhorowitz
Brian Wilson SMILE
SMiLE, more so than any other release in rock
history, was under immense pressure to be
nothing short of brilliant. Fortunately, it lived up
to its promise, a virtuosic collection of songs that
finally close a painful chapter for Brian Wilson.
2 The Arcade Fire Funeral
If there's a band worth noting in 2004, it's
The Arcade Fire. Their debut LP bleeds with
pain and longing, all while producing some of the
most memorable tracks of the year.
3 Madvillain Madvillainy
Madlib and MF Doom's eccentric collabora-
tion overflows with burning rhyme and beats
drawn from accordions, old-school TV clips, flute
leads, honky-tonk piano and just about everything
in between.
Maria Schneider Concert in the Gar-
den
Schneider's composition and arranging is
once again luminous on this limited edition release.
From the curious accordion of the title track to
Luciana Souza's gorgeous scatting, this is one of
the finest big band albums to appear in years.
Joanna Newsom The Milk-Eyed
Mender
Who would have thought that a woman
sounding more like a whining little girl and
accompaniment consisting of mostly harp could
be so compelling?
William Bolcom Songs of Innocence
and Experience
Undoubtedly the most ambitious recording
of 2004 and possibly in years, Bolcom's masterpiece
finally comes to life with the help of the University
music school and some special guests. In the hands of
Bolcom, the William Blake poems sound like a Pol-
lack painting: one minute country, the next atonality
and eventually, a resounding reggae.
7Sufian Stevens Seven Swans
7 fThe idea of a religious album inspires
immediate skepticism, but Sufjan pulls it
off with delicate vocals and just enough banjo.
8 Kanye West College Dropout
West's production has graced a number of
projects, but not until College Dropout has
he truly put his stamp on hip hop. West's innova-
tive production and witty banter establish him
amongst the giants.
Dave Douglas Strange Libera-
tilon
A chameleon of the jazz world, Doug-
las this time dabbles in the fusion sound made
famous by Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis.
Backed by the New York in-crowd, Douglas's
tunes are thoughtful and provocative, taking
us in all sorts of directions while revealing
hints of brilliance and maintaining intrigue
from start to finish.
The Streets A Grand Don't
Come for Free
The opening of Mike Skinner's con-
ceptual odyssey announces that "It was supposed
to be so easy," and 51 minutes later, we under-
stand why "it" wasn't. With large-scale produc-
tion and a distinct British lyricism, A Grand Don't
Come for Free puts Eminem to shame.
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evanmcgarvey
Ghostface Pretty Toney
Ghostface Killah is the official cultural nexus into
which Curtis Mayfield, Samuel Coleridge, Shao-
lin kung-fu, John Shaft, Louis Armstrong and most of
the Harlem Renaissance flows. Pretty Toney is his most
human, romantic and wild spectacle. Get some spinach
and "Biscuits" if you know what's good.
2 Bork Medulla
She's got high-concept vocals, a United Nations
of verbal alchemists and the flooding chants of
"Where Is The Line." Haunting silences give way to
vnal npaks with nonih warm heatv to melt elaciers
Madvillain Madvilliany
MF Doom and Madlib are the Kobe and Shaq of
indie-rap. Only this time they play nice, smoke
buckets of greenery and get deep enough in raps so only the
Mole Man can find them. In a perfect world, "Accordion"
was the No.1 single of the year. Just "keep an eye out / like
'aye 'aye captain."
S Interpol Antics
Joy Division, Roxy Music, Mission of Burma. blah
blah blah. Charmingly pined down by comparisons,
Interpol relaxes and uses all that talent to make some spell-
binding choruses. Oh, but Paul, take off that damn hat.
/ Tom Waits Real Gone
anthem for leftists.;
8 ModestMouseGood News r
For People Who Love 16 Aim
Bad News
In the year 2004, Isaac Brock plants an
indie-rock flag on Top-40 soil with the daz-
zling "Float On." The citizens listen to the
whole album, start talking to music nerds and 18
all rejoice. Brock then pounds a fifth of Scotch
and passes out. Hail!
Young Buck Straight Outta
Ca$hville
The third most hyped member of G-Unit might
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