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2004. Weak year for music?


YI

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I love Crossfade and Breaking Benjamin aren't too bad, but they're not great either, quite average IMO. All in all it hasn't been a bad year in general (Except the outbreak of indy bands), but there isn't really a band that makes me go "wow" which has happened other years . With some great new British bands, Bloc Party and Kazabian (I would say Bloc Party are the best new British band this year, but they get very little recognition).

But for punk it's been quite a bad year. (Specifics of punk, I dunno. I'm pretty much open minded about all music. I normally go for harder stuff, but quite melodic. I'm also into technical punk (It's what they use to describe themselves), with bands like "pmx" and "Skyline Collapse". Also i'm into bands like Anti-Flag, Screeching Weasel, 88 Fingers Louie (1 or 2 of whom are in Rise Against, how I found out about Rise Against), Strike Anywhere etc. I don't know the exact name for them, but they've got amore unpolished sound to other bands, if you understand what i'm saying)

I'm not saying there hasn't been good bands this year, but there was only 2/3 albums I loved all the way through and they are, The Libertines album, The Killers album and Rise Against's album. Kasabian's album is good, but there's some weak songs (The 2 new singles have been a bit meh). I haven't been able to find a copy of Bloc Party's album, but i've got around 6/7 songs by them (Or head 6/7 songs) and they're all very good.

Strung Out's new album is out in about a month, so maybe that'll help get some good punk (Maybe it'l mean a good year for 2005). I've heard 2 songs off the album, 1 is average, the other is good, abou a 7/10. But nothing to get you realy excited about.

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I enjoyed the following albums:

Kanye West - College Dropout

Snow Patrol - Final Straw

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News

Hope of the States - The Lost Riots

Masta Killa - No Said Date

Melissa Auf Der Maur - Melissa Auf Der Maur

Alanis Morisette - So-Called Chaos

Jedi Mind Tricks - Legacy of Blood

PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

The Roots - Tipping Point

Interpol - Antics

Green Day - American Idiot

And that's only the albums I've heard, I don't have The Killers' album, or Real Gone or Kasabian's album.

Plus the following, expected later this year, could be good:

Rammstein - Reise, Reise

Jimmy Eat World - Futures

Eminem - Encore

U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Lauryn Hill - Khulami Phase

I got nothing against 2004.

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This has been an 'eh' kind of year.

As for the UK chart, Franz's debut album was pretty solid, although it did suffer from too much dross filler. You tend to get that on most indie albums, though. That was pretty much made up for by the greatness of the singles Take Me Out, Matinee and Michael.

The Killers really have not done it for me. They're a mediocre, boring indie band that I couldn't care less about.

Kasabian may be ultra-twats, but they're album has a few really nice songs on it (Club Foot, Processed Beats, Reason is Reason). To be honest, I've never really been into the whole dance-indie thing - at least not in the way it's done by the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays or Big Audio Dynamite. However, they are at least more interesting and can take their sound more places than The Killers, who will be stuck making indie shite for the forseeable future.

Razorlight seem to be moving up to the Franz sort of level - but, well...I really, really hate them. I have to wonder if they've ever had an original idea in their whole time making music. That just about does it for the British mainstream.

On the bright side, Dogs Die in Hot Cars produced a smashingly retro debut album.

Look for big things from Bloc Party and The Futureheads next year, methinks. Both great bands from whaty I've heard (although that is, admittedly, little).

The big album of the year in 2004 was seemingly 'American Idiot'. Green Day should've quit a long time ago. Dookie was pretty much their zenith, and anything beyond that has been...lame. They are not the Who, and this is not a rock opera. The titular single is a disgustingly light-weight song with awful lyrics, which is only redeemed somewhat by its catchy riff.

Before 2004 I'd never heard of Snow Patrol, but Final Straw kicked ass in a whole bunch of ways. Definately one of the albums of the year.

Interpol's second album was pretty frustrating. Their lyrics are horrible, and they come off like a poor man's Joy Division most of the time. 'Slow Hands' is a pretty solid single, though, I guess.

I can't claim to have heard either Crossfade or Breaking Benjamin. I guess I might check them out if I can be arsed.

The Constantines' debut album rocked.

'SMiLE' or however the fuck it's capitalized looks pretty decent from what I've heard.

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It hasn't been a bad year but it could have been better. The only album I really have listened to a lot which was released this year would be Slipknot's Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses), Green Day's album had too much hype to live up to despite "American Idiot" being in my view the best single released this year. Goldie Lookin' Chain have also caught my attention but apart from that I can't see much else which I really enjoyed. Albums from Seether and Papa Roach were meh while Saliva's "Survival of the Sickest" was enough to make anyone sick literally. If System of a Down get round to releasing their new album this year I might have to reconsider but it has been put back and put back so who knows when it will surface?

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Ohmygoodgods it's Whoo *Teenage girl scream*

I had the same reaction. :o whoo

as for good albums from this year, I liked the new releases from Green Day, The Killers, Jet (was that this year or last year?), The Roots, Joss Stone and Missy Higgins. Really looking forward to the new U2 album later this year.

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I think the problem (certainly in the UK) has been the extensive overhype going to Razorlight and The Libertines, both of which released fairly mediocre albums (certainly for the Libs, who could have done so much better), whereas a number of superb albums have been received well but then forgotten. A few have already been mentioned but my own personal favourites of this year are:

The Futureheads - The Futureheads (pisses on its London equivalents in so many ways)

Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself

Graham Coxon - Happiness in Magazines

Charlotte Hatherley - Grey Will Fade

Kasabian - Kasabian (I possibly love this album too much)

Mull Historical Society - This is Hope (criminally overlooked)

The Ordinary Boys - Over the Counter Culture

The Zutons - Who Killed The...

I think the case this year is that really no huge band has appeared with a perfect album like the Libertines did in 2002 and the Strokes did in 2001, but a lot of new bands have popped up with promising debuts who could well step up in the future. Especially a band like the Futureheads, who are fucking ace.

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I really can't give my opinion on the state of music of 2004, I really have no clue who any of the current bands are. I'm aware of some of the marquee names, but none of it interests me at all. In fact it's been a few years since I was aware of anything happening in mainstream music today. I don't watch MTV at all, and I never listen to the radio, I always pop a cd in instead. Nobody these days really play music that is appealing to me. None of it makes me want to get up and move, or it's lacking other qualities I look for.

As for punk bands, I can probably supply a few names for you.

77 Style - the Dead Boys, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, The Saints

Hardcore - Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Adolescents, Reagan Youth, Agnostic Front, Heart Attack, Bad Brains, The Germs, Battalion of Saints, Fear

Oi - Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, 4 Skins, Condemned 84

Other good stuff - UK Subs, Feederz, Husker Du, Minutemen, The Dils, The Cramps

Don't let my suggestions limit you.

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There never has been a punk band in the mainstream; the idea of punk could never exist in mainstream music...

but here are a lot of good bands in punk off-shots who released stuff or nearby.

The Liars, Death From Above 1979, !!!, Alexisonfire, Randy, The International Noise Conspiracy, the Hives, Bad Religion {The Empire Strikes Back is good}, the Horrorpops, Pansy Division, My Chemical Romance, Moneen, Division Of Laura Lee, Dillinger Escape Plan, Motion City Soundtrack, The Locust, Green Day, Jersey, Closet Monster, Bombs Over Providence, Hostage Life, Protest the Hero, Action, Career Suicide, Maximum RNR...

{note: this includes dance-punk, pop-punk, screamcore, emo, hardcore, psychobilly...}

As well, there has been lots of great music being created in the last couple of years. You just have to find it.

Where I'd start? Deltron 3030, Broken Social Scene, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, Mindless Self Indulegence, K-OS, Junior Senior, Hidden Cameras, Buck 65... some good bands that I personally e

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For rap, the only good album all year was Kanye West's (College Dropout).  I've only bought that, Jadakiss' (Kiss of Death) and Twista's (Kamikaze) for 2004 rap.  Jada's was very disappointing, Twista's was average.

*Ahem*

The Roots - Tipping Point

Go and buy it.

I'm broke and owe the state another $200-300 pretty soon. When I get the chance, I may look into it.

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Well i've got myself a copy of Strung Out's new album (Don't mention the November 2nd release date.:shifty: It was shipped to some people who bought special copies early, signed copies and stuff, I dunno). And to be honest, it's painfully average. I dunno, it just doesn't strike a chord with me. Again, some kick ass guitar playing. It sounds like the bastard love child of Element of Sonic Defiance, Twisted by Design and An American Paradox. Which on paper doesn't seem a bad thing (Despite the slack it got off other, I thought AAP was great) but there's nothing really that stands out as amazing. They've got a lot better musicians, their songs flow better, there's some kickass drum and guitar work with some amazing solo's that you come to expect from Strung Out. In the whole album, there isn't a bad song, but there isn't an amazing song either. Scarlet, Vampires, Her Name in Blood, Blueprint of the Fall and Angeldust, all rank above the rest and are all great songs, but there's nothing that blows me away. Maybe my expectations are too high in general, that I can't get into anything **shrugs** One thing I do actually dislike about the album is what they've done to No Voice of Mine. They've sped it up (Which is fine, that's their trademark thing, playing fast, even if when you listen to it you can't pick it up until you actually listen to what they're doing) but now it sounds really distorted and it still doesn't fit with the rest of the album (Which seems more darker than previous albums, with the exception of a couple of songs). I'd give it a 7.5 to 8.5 on a scale of 10. It really depends what mood i'm in when I listen to it. They're supposadely touring the UK before the summer next year, i'll be there hoping they pull out the classics like Bring Out Your Dead, Exhumation of Virginia Madison, Everyday, Velvet Alley, Too Close to See, The Kids, Monster, Lost Motel, Scarecrow, Unkoil, and Matchbook (Well even just a few of these) as apposed of just a set of new stuff.

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For rap, the only good album all year was Kanye West's (College Dropout).  I've only bought that, Jadakiss' (Kiss of Death) and Twista's (Kamikaze) for 2004 rap.  Jada's was very disappointing, Twista's was average.

*Ahem*

The Roots - Tipping Point

Go and buy it.

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For rap, the only good album all year was Kanye West's (College Dropout).  I've only bought that, Jadakiss' (Kiss of Death) and Twista's (Kamikaze) for 2004 rap.  Jada's was very disappointing, Twista's was average.

*Ahem*

The Roots - Tipping Point

Go and buy it.

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