2004 Best Songs U didn't hear Part The Third...

Ok, here's my plan this week. I've got 15 songs that I think most people haven't heard but should've. If anything this year has made me realize how much good interesting music there is out there and how impossible it is to hear it all. They may be from albums you've heard of, I've written about or I hate but a single song is redeeming. There's at least 2 songs here from albums that I frankly think sucked a bit, but the individual song is a shining salvation. Thank God for iPod playlists. I'm going to post 3 or 4 a day and if you download religously by Friday you should have a decent mix to burn or new playlist for the pod. There may be a song or two that I blogged about way back when I started doing this thing, but since my readership has gone from 4 to about 12 some of these songs were probably overlooked. I'm going for the standard bell curve mix tape. That is, it starts out mellow builds to something rocking and then lets you down easy again. Be forewarned, I'm all over the place with these songs. I find that's at least part of the fun of thinking about a years worth of music. I feel justified in including alt-country, a little hip hop, indie-rock, etc. in one place because there's so much good music out there this year. As always you're encouraged, nay implored, to purchase these artists. So, away we go:

Day #3. Ok, we begin moving into the indie rock juggernaut phase of the mix. It'll get weird tomorrow.


7) Audio Learning Center - Stereo. From the ashes of the late great band Pond rises Audio Learning Center. If you recall Pond had a short deal with Sub Pop before landing with Work Group and releasing the awesome Rock Collection. Pond weren't really grunge so they missed that whole scene, and they weren't straight rock. They were noisier, darker, harder to pigeon hole. So, of course, they broke up. In 2002 lead singer of Pond Chris Brady formed a band called Audio Learning Center releasing Friendships Often Fade on Vagrant Records. This year they released Cope Park which is a collection of dark, rocking songs. I suppose these guys would've been lumped into the whole "emo" movement if it wasn't for the fact that they're darker and much more adult than the sad-sack-boy-loses-girl crowd (check out my review at Trouser Press). Anyway, "Stereo"'s a great song on a uniformly excellent album.

8) Bill Janovitz & Crown Victoria - My Radio. Maybe you did hear this because I did an entry on these guys about 3 months ago. The entire album Fireworks on TV is a little long. At 15 songs it gets a little thin. Bill should've kept in at 10 or 11. Aside from that complaint I think there are some songs here that are as good as anything he's done solo or with Buffalo Tom.

9) Bright Eyes - Take It Easy. Conor and company give us a little taste of what's coming. Drum machines, dancey beats, the usual whiny vocals. All and all a good song that I found myself listening to with more regularity than I expected. It grows on you like a fungus.