Listed

Here we go again. Second year in a row that we submit to the trend: here's what rocked the musique[machine]'s writers world in 2004! Each contributor thought about his individual list, and we left it that way because we are very lazy, and we like it. Browse our archive for reviews and may 2005 be good for all of you, for all of us.

David Bauwens

Pointless banality: 2004 was a good year for music.
Well, of course it was; but what year isn't?
There were a few towering box sets: the Ayler box, the Goodbye Babylon box; the archival releases of Wadada Leo Smith, of Shrimp Boat, etc. Good, let's not let any of this fall through the cracks.
There were tremendous amounts of reissues: hurray! Most noticeable were Cans and Enos, of course, but a lot of other, more obscure recordings have been revived.
Two that spring to mind:
L's 'Holy letters', which I got from VHF when they mysteriously found a few dozen remaining copies one or two years ago. Now re-released in a handsome digipack including the 7" and some extra material. Gorgeous.
Christina Kubisch's 'On air', which I'm sure you picked up back in 1984 when it was released in a limited run on cassette... I on the other hand had to wait for this very beautiful CD.
And finally there were compilations; which can be nice; or annoying. Anyway, a few winners:'Spire' on Touch; 'Noli me legere. To Maurice Blanchot'(Sirr-ecords), 'Tape/Operette' (Cubicmusic), 'Rural Psychogeography' (Nexsound).
Three cheers for consistently excellent labels: Erstwhile, Rune Grammofon, Touch, For4Ears, Tzadik (50 releases in one year seems to be pushing it a bit, but plenty of jewels among them), the list goes on.
Not that many concerts this year; the best were CocoRosie, obviously (3 times); The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band; Devendra Banhart (solo!! please, dump those 'Queens of Sheba'!); Fennesz; Haco & Sakamoto Hiromichi.
My completely pointless, worthless, largely arbitrary list (understandably, especially towards the end the ranking hardly matters at all) that is already completely obsolete at the time of writing:

1. CocoRosie - La maison de mon rêve
   
2. Fennesz - Venice
   
3. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the hands & Niño rojo
   
4. Joanna Newsom - The milk-eyed mender
   
5. Wovenhand - Consider the birds
   
6. Shuji Inaba - The rapture of being destroyed is the flipside of the misery of destruction
   
7. Arve Henriksen - Chiaroscuro & Food - Last supper
   
8. Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide - Good morning good night
   
9. Rosy Parlane - Iris
   
10. Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins - ErstLive 001
    
11. Kazuo Imai - Far and wee
    
12. Tomas Korber/eRIKm/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide - Brackwater & eRIKm/Günter Müller/Toshimaru Nakamura - Why not béchamel
    
13. Carla Bozulich - I'm gonna stop killing
    
14. Castanets - Cathedral
    
15. Trapist - Ballroom & Radian - Juxtaposition
    
16. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir blues/The lyre of Orpheus
    
17. Animal Collective - Sung tongs & Panda Bear - Young prayer
    
18. Charalambides - Joy shapes
    
19. Michael J. Schumacher - Stories
    
20. MIMEO - Lifting concrete lightly

Roger Batty

1. Subtle - A New White
   
2. Coil - Black Antlers
   
3. Nurse With Wound - Ship wreak radio vol 1
   
4. The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan:
   
5. Slipknot Vol 3 - The Subliminal Verses
   
6. Fog - Hummer ep
   
7. Blood Box - The Iron Dream
   
8. Oliva Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
   (OK, it's a reissue)
9. Coil - ANS
   
10. Passgae - The force field kid
    
11. Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
    
12. cLOUDDEAD - Ten

Movies

1. Lost In Translation
   
2. Shaun of the Dead
   
3. 21 Grams
   
4. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
   
5. Dawn of the Dead (remake)

Dvd's

1. The Residents - The Commercial DVD
   
2. Ren and Stimpy - Uncut: the complete first and second series
   
3. The Norman J Warren Collection

Books

1. Dark Tower 5: Song for Susannah - Stephen King
   
2. In This Skin - Simon Clark
   
3. Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore - Albert Mudrian

The good stuff
Finding the wonder of Morton Feldman's exquisite modern classical music, finding the heady low budget sleaze of horror mister Andy Milligan, Vesting High Gate Cemetery and seeing the Berlin Wall.

The bad stuff
Sad loss of both Jhonn Balance and John Peel, plaster that don't stick

Martijn Busink

A strange year for me. I got to work a 32 hour workweek while on the other hand I expanded my reviewing activities by writing for Dutch metal magazine Aardschok. A real highlight was certainly seeing Buckethead perform in Belgium. The downside was that my surgery got bumped ahead four months. After some more mishaps I finally ended on the slab, on my 33rd birthday. First time for me to spend some time in hospital. All in all I'd been having health issues, first the illness and then the recovery, for about an entire year.

Hopefully 2005 will be kinder to me, but as the everflowing stream of music will never stop here are a bunch of musical events that made 2004 worthwhile:

1. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book Of Horizons
   Amazing: diverse yet coherent. Adventurous and full of interesting concepts and mystery to which doors have been opened for me this year.
   
2. Susanna & The Magical Orchestra - List Of Lights And Buoys
   Stunning. Calm but engulfing, gently working towards a complete rapture at the end.
   
3. Gåte - Iselilja
   Still young and not mellowing down despite huge success in their homeland Norway. The buzz outside Scandinavia is becoming audible here, which the recent show in Groningen illustrates.
   
4. Winds - The Imaginary Direction Of Time
   Neo-classical yet timeless. Subtle metal, as paradoxal as it may seem.
   
5. Duvelduvel - Aap-O-Theek
   This year I discovered the mighty Rotterdam-Zwolle connex with Opgezwolle (whose album I picked up way to late), Kubus and these 'apen' from Rotterdam. Dutch hiphop at its finest.
   
6. BaBa Zula & Mad Professor - Ruhani Oyun Havaları
   
7. Björk - Medúlla
   
8. Fennesz - Venice
   
9. Shape Of Despair - Illusion's Play
   
10. Electric Masada - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4
    
11. The Haunted - Revolver
    
12. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
    
13. Jóhann Jóhannsson - Virðulegu Forsetar
    
14. 213 - The Hard Way
    
15. Fates Warning - FWX
    
16. Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - The Equatorial Stars
    
17. Sunn0))) - White2
    
18. Kubus & Sticks - Microphone Colossus
    
19. Deathprod - Morals And Dogma
    
20. Brian Wilson - Smile
    
21. Masta Killa - No Said Date
    
22. Buckethead - Cuckoo Clocks Of Hell
    
23. Mayhem - Chimera
    
24. Track Addicts - Handgrenades & Butter
    
25. Enslaved - Isa
    
26. John Zorn - Magick
    
27. Cadaver - Necrosis
    
28. Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
    
29. Squarepusher - Ultravisitor
    
30. Void Of Silence - Human Antithesis
    
31. Stian Carstensen - Backwards Into The Backwoods
    
32. Isis - Panopticon
    
33. Tom Dissevelt, Kid Baltan, Henk Badings, Dick Raaijmakers - Popular Electronics

Best reissue:

• Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs

Best concerts:

1. Screaming Headless Torsos @ Melkweg, Amsterdam
   There were times where chances of seeing Dean, the Vox Populi, perform with the Torsos seemed slim. But it happened and it was all I hoped for.
   
2. Khanate @ Worm, Rotterdam
   
3. Material @ Vooruit, Gent
   
4. Pachora @ Rasa, Utrecht
   
5. Vistar & Najma Akhtar @ Rasa, Utrecht
   
6. Kultur Shock @ De Helling, Utrecht
   
7. Anathema @ Tivoli, Utrecht
   
8. Ryoji Ikeda @ Kikker, Utrecht
   
9. Cadaver/Mayhem @ De Kade, Zaandam
   
10. Suffocation @ Musis Sacrum, Arnhem

Best dvd's:

1. Ferrera/Masada - Tonic, 1999
   Yes, another Masada release. This one is special though. I already had a couple of pro-shot video's but this one's has a bootleggish atmosphere that almost made me applaude after songs.
2. Khanate - Northern European Deride
   
3. Primus - Hallucino-genetic 2004
   
4. Heuermann/Zorn - A Bookshelf On Top Of The Sky
   
5. Estradasphere - Passion For Life: Live Form The Estradasphere Archives

Justin Faase

1. Fennesz - Venice
   
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
   
3. Isis - Panopticon
   
4. Biosphere - Autour De La Lune
   
5. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come From Free
   
6. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book Of Horizons
   
7. Madvillain - Madvillainy
   
8. Bliss - Quiet Letters
   
9. Rodney Hunter - Hunter Files
   
10. Gåte - Iselilja
    
11. Annie - Anniemal
    
12. Brazzaville - Hastings Street
    
13. Brian Wilson - Smile
    
14. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
    
15. Zero 7 - When It Falls
    
16. Trijntje Oosterhuis - Strange Fruit
    
17. Nasum - Shift
    
18. Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm
    
19. Air - Talkie Walkie
    
20. Arcade Fire - Funeral

Frankco Lamerikx

1. Faun Fables - Family Album
   
2. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
   
3. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
   
4. Master Musicians of Bukkake - The Visible Sign of the Invisible Order>
   
5. Electrelane - The Power Out
   
6. Sunn0))) - white2
   
7. Boredoms - Seadrum/House
   
8. Sun City Girls - Carnival Folklore Resurrection Vol.13: 98.6 IS DEATH
   
9. v/a - Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk and Pop Music Vol. 1
   
10. v/a - I Remember Syria

• Las horas del dia (Spain, Jaime Rosales, 2003)
  
• Bu jian bu san aka Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
  
• Le monde vivant (France/Belgium, Eugène Green, 2003)
  
• Peep "TV" Show (Japan, Yutaka Tsuchiya, 2004)
  
• Zero Day (USA, Ben Coccio, 2002)
  
• Akarui mirai aka Bright Future (Japan, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2003)
  
• Lost in Translation (USA, Sofia Coppola, 2003)
  
• Elephant (USA, Gus van Sant, 2003)
  
• Platillos volantes aka Flying Saucers (Spain, Óscar Aibar, 2003)
  
• Kill Bill Vol.2 (USA, Quentin Tarantino, 2004)
  
• Twentynine Palms (France, Bruno Dumont, 2003)
  
• Panj é asr aka At Five in the Afternoon (Iran/France, Samira Makhmalbaf, 2003)
  
• Ong-Bak (Thailand, Prachya Pinkaew, 2003)
  
• 5x2 (cinq fois deux) (France, François Ozon, 2004)
  
• Buongiorno, notte (Italy, Marco Bellocchio, 2003)
  
• The Saddest Music in the World (Canada/USA, Guy Maddin, 2003)
  
• Osama (Afghanistan/Netherlands/Japan, Siddiq Barmak, 2003)

I haven't seen Fatih Akin's Gegen die Wand, but I suspect that would've ended up in the Top X as well.

My favorite event of 2004: the birth of my daughter Lente.

François Monti

I don't know how to judge a year with objectivity. 2004 has been fantastic, that's the way I feel. But for real? Well, I should have a look at the hopes I had a year ago. I graduated. Can't drive. Got a girl. Love her. Didn't go to London, don't live in Brussels anymore. I read much more than last year. Listened to tons of cool music.

2005 will be even better. I want a job and more time with the special lady. I want more Cd's. I want Jesu, Boris, Sunn, Khanate, Sage Francis, Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, Coil (Balance RIP), ODB, RZA, Ulver, Stars of the Lid, dälek, Depeche Mode. Should be good.

Here is what I liked this year:

1. Einstürzende Neubauten - Perpetuum Mobile
   After four years without any studio recordings, Neubauten released one of the highlights of their career (in a career full of highlights), in the shape of this superb album.
   
2. Coil - Black Antlers cd-r
   Coil died with John Balance but its legacy will live on. The tracks released on this cd-r as demos should be released as a finished product. If their even slightly better than the versions on Black Antlers, we're in for a treat.
   
3. Interpol - Antics
   Yeah. Best pop/rock album of the year, great songs, great vocals, great everything.
   
4. Raymondo - s/t
   I told you in the review I wrote how great this album is. From what I told, it didn‚t have much effect on the sales. A real shame! Go and buy it here, it's cheap.
   
5. Isis - Panopticon
   Better than Oceanic. Maybe.
   
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
   A stunning return to form.
   
7. Fourcolor - Water Mirror
   
8. Sunn0))) - White2
   
9. Subtle - A New White
   
10. Tom Waits - Real Gone
    
11. Mastodon - Leviathan
    
12. Guapo - Five Suns
    
13. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands/Niño Rojo
    
14. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
    
15. Faust vs. dälek - Derbe Respect Alder
    
16. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
    
17. The Dead Texan - s/t
    
18. Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
    
19. Corrupted - Se Hace Por Los Sueños Asesinos
    
20. Electric Masada - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4
    
21. Björk - Medúlla
    
22. Brian Wilson - Smile
    
23. Dizzee Rascal - Showtime

Special mentions to two Cd's released at the very end of 2003:

• Circle - Guillotine
  
• Shuren the Fire - My words laugh behind the mask

Best gigs:

• Einstürzende Neubauten in Brussels
  
• Pelican in Kortrijk
  
• Khanate in Antwerp
  
• Wolf Eyes in Hasselt

John Pusieski

2004 was a year of great tragedy and great truimph for me personally, I learned that sometimes from the ashes of the greatest tragedies come the greatest rewards life can give. It was a year of reflection about rethinking whats really important to me.

1. Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum
   The man has done it again
   
2. Drive By Truckers - The Dirty South
   Kick ass southern fried rock and roll
   
3. When - Pearl Harvest
   Had a permanent place in my cd changer all year long
   
4. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
   Simply stunning
   
5. The Melvins/Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
   Did not see this one coming, but great it is.
   
6. Enslaved - Isa
   
7. Theory of Ruin - Front Line Posterchild
   
8. Björk - Medúlla
   
9. Brian Wilson - Smile
   
10. John Frusciante - The Will to Death
    
11. Venomous Concept - Retroactive Abortion
    
12. Social Distortion - Sex, Love and Rock N’ Roll
    
13. Rocket Science - Eternal Holiday
    
14. Mike Watt - The Secondman's Middle Stand
    
15. Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath
    
16. MUL - Litany Circus
    
17. Polysics - or Die!!!
    
18. John Frusciante - A Sphere in the Heart of Silence
    
19. John Frusciante - Dc
    
20. John Frusciante - Inside of Emptiness
    
21. Red Harvest - Internal Punishment Programs
    
22. Fantômas - Delìrivm Còrdia
    
23. Sunn0))) - White2
    
24. Mayhem - Chimera
    
25. Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains - The Big Eyeball in the Sky
    
26. William Shatner - Has Been
    
27. Kaada & Patton - Romances
    
28. Graveland - Dawn of Iron Blades
    
29. Eagles of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal
    
30. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
    
31. Beastie Boys - To the 5 Boroughs
    

Niels Van Rongen

If someone in ten years time asks me if I can name my favourite album of 2004 then I surely can't. A lot of things happened this year and my interest in music has decreased a bit. I'm not instantly buying every new album when it hits the store anymore. Not every week going to the three cd shops I've been visiting since I can remember. Music has been slipping away. Or well, new music at least. I've been buying and downloading some older releases through the year. The Talk Talk catalogue is almost complete and I've been getting into The Verve since I heard one of their songs on a funeral But I still have some favourite new albums of course. The list of 13 says enough. I guess I will never totally lose interest in music. It just has it's ups and downs. This year it was going down, let's hope 2005 will be an up year. For me and for new releases.

• William Shatner - Has Been
  At least as interesting as those Star Trek Original Series DVD boxsets.
  
• Therapy? - Never Apologise Never Explain
  Their tenth album and still going strong.
  
• Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
  A big hype. But they did prove they can write good songs.
  
• The Dears - No Cities Left
  Canadian band who don't have anything to do with other 'The' bands. Check them out!
  
• The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
  I can sing along this time!!
  
• The Gathering - Sleepy Buildings
  Brilliant live album from the best band from the Netherlands.
  
• Secret Chiefs 3 - Book Of Horizons
  Simply genius! Trey and co really let me wait, but this is better than expected.
  
• Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
  As raw as old bubblegum on the sidewalk. The best release from the QOTSA family this year.
  
• The Eagles Of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal
  And the second best release from the QOTSA family.
  
• Keane - Hopes And Fears
  My mom must love this. For some reason I do as well. Great songwriting!
  
• Orquesta Del Desierto - Dos
  For those desert vibes at home.
  
• Fantômas - Delìrivm Còrdia
  The only Mike Patton release in my list this year. It was a slow year for the guy. Next year Peeping Tom?
  
• Lamented Souls - The Origins Of Misery
  I've known these songs for over five years now, but they're still as strong as back then.