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In a year focused almost completely on politics, it’s important to remind ourselves that life goes on. To that end, we follow up our Best of 2003 with a more up-to-date Best of 2004. Enjoy!

Matt’s Champion Caliber Selection

Albums

Federico Aubele - Gran Hotel Buenos Aires

Aubele’s debut album instantly earns him a spot in the inner circle of downtempo music alongside Kruder & Dorfmeister, dZihan & Kamien and Thievery Corporation (producers of Gran Hotel.) His ability to blend the Latin sound of Argentina with Jamaican basslines and dub effects is truly original in a genre that can get a bit too familiar. These layered elements combined with beautiful yet understated vocals yield an album that is not only strong from beginning to end, but is deep enough that it gets better with each listen. iTunes Music Store / Amazon

Thievery Corporation - Babylon Rewound

Despite the fact that their next album, The Cosmic Game, isn’t due until early next year, this EP of remixes from their exceptional 2002 album The Richest Man in Babylon more than makes up for the delay. Both their remixes of “Resolution” and “Until the Morning” are snapshots of masters at work. For “Resolution” they add a strong break under the dreamy instrumental and “Until the Morning” gets a dubbed out treatment that makes the vocal seem even more ethereal than the original. The limited edition CD comes with the video for “The Richest Man in Babylon” single. iTunes Music Store / Amazon

In a busy year for the Wu-Tang family, it was Ghostface’s highly anticipated Pretty Toney Album that was expected to carry the flag. While it was a solid album, it didn’t quite live up to the hype surrounding its release. Two albums that exceeded their hype were Masta Killa’s No Said Date and Ghost’s side project Theodore Unit’s 718.

Long one of the least known and appreciated members of the Wu, Masta Killa was the last to release a solo album. Many questioned whether he could even carry an LP, but those questions were answered with the June release of No Said Date. MK’s confident flow over the electronic tinged “Digi Warfare,” the uptempo title track, and the classic hip hop joint “Do That Dance (with Raekwon and Ghost),” make this album better than any other hip hop album out this year. Plenty of Wu cameos give it the variety missing on most recent LPs. MK truly made the best of his solo opportunity. iTunes Music Store / Amazon

Around the time that people were discovering that the advance tracks that were supposed to be on Pretty Toney were left off in favor of filler, along came 718. Ghost’s posse of lesser-known Wu affiliates shine on this diverse album of unpretentious yet well-produced hip hop. Would Ghost have had as good a 2004 without 718? Doubtful. Amazon

Vladislav Delay’s Luomo project finally saw a domestic release of sophomore album The Present Lover in 2004. One of the sexiest sounding collections around, this is another album that grows with each spin. I’ll admit to dismissing it at first before Rob urged me to give it a second chance. An interesting cross between soulful house, and the cold techno that Delay is known for on his other projects, The Present Lover is a worthy follow up to 2000’s Vocal City. Listening to this album is like having high tea on a cloud overlooking a rainforest. This album has appeal that reaches out of the normal electronic crowd. iTunes Music Store / Amazon

Just in time for the end of the year is his remix project with Domenico Ferrari called The Kick which reveals just how much Delay has improved his form in just a year. Even crisper beats, fuller bass and more angelic vocals are on display here. This is a man with limitless potential. iTunes Music Store / Label

Singles

Usher - “Yeah”
Destiny’s Child - “Lose My Breath”
Kardinal Offishall - “Kill Bloodclot Bill”
Macka Diamond - “Yuh Nuh Ready”
Mr. Vegas - “Pull Up”
Jadakiss - “Why”

TV

HBO’s The Wire

With a shift in focus away from last season’s dockworker storyline and returning to the drugs trade and political corruption, The Wire stayed as fresh as ever this year. From Stringer Bell’s attempts to go legit to Avon Barksdale’s early return from prison to Major Colvin’s experiment in decriminalizing drugs to political maneuverings second only to the Bush administration, each of this season’s episodes have been and embarrassment of riches. The new writers even figured out a way to add humor to a show that made its name walking on the dark side of reality. This is without question the best show on television, and one of the best all-time. Getting snubbed by the Emmy Awards only serves to demonstrate how meaningless those statues have become.

HBO’s Deadwood

When Deadwood began its run on HBO earlier this year, I watched as I watch all new HBO series. It was my mistake to multi-task (often while writing political commentary) while trying to take in the show. All I really noticed about the first two episodes was the near-world-record amount of profanity (”cocksucker” being the most popular.) Only when the first three episodes were replayed back-to-back did I give my undivided attention, and the reward turned out to be well worth it. Deadwood tells the story of a gold rush camp turning into a frontier town. Laws are nearly nonexistent, as are hygiene, ethics, and morality. Al Swearengen (a perfectly cast Ian McShane) runs the local saloon and by extension the town itself, but faces new challenges and enemies with each new day. Real life figures Seth Bullock, Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane mix with fictional characters like Swearengen, hotel owner E.B. Farnum, prostitutes Joanie and Trixie, and others mesh to form fluid alliances that often end in brutal betrayal. What could have been just another western tale transcends the genre with excellent writing and casting. Fans will be happy to watch a re-airings of season one in January with season two to follow.

HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm

Now in his fourth season of putting the sitcom format in a blender and throwing the remains on the wall, Larry David took it over the top this season with a main storyline that had him learning how to sing and dance for a starring role in Mel Brooks‘ The Producers. Cameos by Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Super Dave Osbourne, and Brooks (all of whom ended up at David’s throat) made for awkward and hilarious confrontations. The season’s payoff, contained in the final episode, was set up in a way that surprised everyone. But the highlight of the season included a hooker, the HOV lane, a Dodgers game, David’s father and a bag of marijuana. Priceless.

Showtime’s The L Word

I missed this when it aired on Showtime, but thanks to the DVD release, I was able to watch it anyway. Despite being almost completely character-driven (as opposed to the story-driven series I tend to watch), The L Word was still solid television. The final episode, as close to perfect television as can be found outside of HBO, captured a group of friends and lovers in various states of pain, love, anger and vulnerability in a way that reached even this heartless bastard.

Books

Even though I spent the year reading 20-year-old books on the Federal Reserve, these four books made the cut.

The Daily Show - America The Book is priceless. The fake 24 hour CNN script was the first page I opened to in the store, and alone would have been worth the purchase price. Every facet of government and media is lampooned in the manner that we’ve all come to expect from Mr. Stewart and his writers.

Both Kevin Phillips - American Dynasty, and Eric Alterman - The Book on Bush make strong cases against our President and his family, albeit from different angles. Phillips reaches back through the Walker / Prescott / Bush family tree to expose the tactics they employ to gain and hold power and wealth. It’s unfortunate the half of the country that voted to reelect didn’t have access to this book, as hundreds of years of blue-blooded aristocratic living gives lie to the image of Bush as common Texas rancher. Alterman meanwhile produces the definitive volume of each and every lie, deception, and sin of omission and commission that the administration has been responsible for over the last four years. This will be the starting point for anyone studying the first four years of this decade. Even those who closely follow this administration will be shocked by the tonnage of new information in these books.

Even though you could choke a dozen donkeys with the pages of Bill Clinton - My Life, it is worth the time to read. Starting before he was born, Clinton tells the story of his life in sometimes minute detail. Is it important to know what elementary school he went to when he was seven years old? Probably not, but the full package from birth to White House sheds light on his motivations and convictions in a way that no outsider could. Plus since you can’t vote for him anymore, you can always vote for his book to piss off Republicans.

Jason’s 2004 Known Unknowns

Music

Coachella 2004

2004 was the first year that I attended the Coachella festival in Indio, California. I had resisted going to previous years because of the nine hour drive and — let’s face it —because most huge music festivals are more hassle than they are worth. While Coachella certainly had drawbacks such as crowding and oppressively hot temperatures, those complaints fade in the face of such an incredible music lineup. What makes Coachella special is the attention to detail payed to their lineups, with a great mixture of up-and-coming acts and legendary favorites. Besides headliners The Cure, The Pixies, Radiohead and the Flaming Lips, Coachella 2004 also hosted acts such as Belle and Sebastian, Kraftwerk, Mogwai, BRMC, Beck, Dizzee Rascal, Crystal Method, Basement Jaxx and more top name djs and up-and-coming indie rock bands than can possibly be remembered.

The Cure - Join The Dots - B-Sides & Rarities

In 1986, The Cure released what would be it’s first “Greatest Hits” collection, “Standing on a Beach”. As an additional bonus for those who bought the cassette version (remember those?), the second side collected all the b-sides for the singles released up to that point. As the cassette faded out of use, Cure fans everywhere were hoping that, someday, those songs would be available on CD. Well, earlier this year The Cure did much more than that. Over the course of four cds, “Join the Dots” includes not only the b-sides from 1978 to 2001, but also the movie soundtrack themes, compilation songs, and various unreleased remixes that the band had created during that period. In addition, a top-notch remastering job ensured that all the songs sounded fantastic. Amazon

Snow Patrol - Run (Live from Edinburgh)

Snow Patrol is one of the newer bands that is looking to create a career in the whole Coldplay/Travis mold, and while their debut album “Final Straw” was a good effort, it still shows a band that is still finding their own voice. But while the album is a bit too uneven to nominate for “best of 2004”, it can’t be denied that Snow Patrol have the ability to write a great pop song, complete with soaring choruses and hooks that stay in your head for days. The best example of this is “Run”, which gains even more power in this epic live version (available only at iTunes Music Store).
iTunes Music Store (exclusive)

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (special edition)

While not a perfect album, or even the best Morrissey album for that matter, YATQ was still one of 2004’s most pleasant surprises musically. After his last two albums (the yawn-inducing “Southpaw Grammar” and “Maladjusted”) in the 1990s, it was easy to write the Mozzer off as being a has-been, and go back to listening to Smiths albums. YATQ shows a welcome return to form for Morrissey in the lyrics department, and while some purists didn’t like Jerry Finn’s sparkling-clean production it certainly helped banish the plodding instrumentation that made Moz’s previous albums suffer. Be sure to check out the newly-released “special edition”, which includes all of the album’s b-sides and other bonus features. Amazon / iTunes Music Store

Other Notables in Music:

Thievery Corporation - Babylon Rewound
Jamie Myerson - Jamie Myerson
DJ ZInc feat. Slarta John - Flim (Calibre vocal mix)
KOTP - Secret Fire
Curiosa 2004

TV

HBO’s The Wire

In addition to what Matt said above, what makes The Wire the best show on television is its obsessive attention to detail and its courage to intertwine the stories of dozens of characters. The Wire isn’t a show like CSI or Law and Order, where things are easily wrapped up in an hour and forgotten about next week. Instead, the writers methodically create a world where every action has a consequence and every bit player has a role. Like many television critics have said, The Wire is nothing less than a novel as television, with each chapter building on the last to create a masterpiece of storytelling. Ignore at your own peril.

South Park

After six or seven seasons, it’s typical for any television series to start losing a step, relying on proven and repetitive gags instead of pushing the envelope. One happy exception to this rule has been South Park, which has continued to hone its humor to a Ginsu-sharp edge. One recent example was the Paris Hilton episode of a couple weeks ago, which was one of the most brutal celebrity smackdowns ever to see broadcast…and funny on a level that few shows can match. But what really sets South Park apart from many other shows is its ability to take serious social issues like immigration and stem-cell research and somehow make them into hilarious satire. If only Team America: World Police was as lucky.

The Ren & Stimpy Show Uncut - The First & Second Seasons (DVD)

It would be impossible to name all the animated shows that owe a huge debt to the first seasons of Ren & Stimpy, which was pretty much gutted by Nickelodeon once they kicked out creator John K. . And the newer R&S cartoons that John K. penned for Spike TV were just awful. But, thankfully, the original two seasons for R&S are now available on DVD, including all the rubber nipples, shaving yaks, powdered toast and shiny red buttons that a fan could want. Watching these episodes nowadays shows how ahead-of-their-time the original cartoons were. You eediot! Amazon

The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD)

This really needs little review. Many Simpsons fans recognize the fourth season as one of the best (“Marge vs. the Monorail” or “Whacking Day”, anyone?), and this collection has all the restored episodes (including all the bits that get trimmed in syndication) plus loads of commentary, lost scenes, period commercials and other bonus features. Amazon

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Video Games

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

In the time since the respective 2001 and 2002 debuts of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the video game industry has been doing its best to try and copy some of Rockstar’s magic. All the copycats—from True Crime to The Getaway to Driver 3—have pretty much been failures. Everyone assumed that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would raise the bar further, but no one could predict the scope of Rockstar’s achievement. Instead of a single city in which to create chaos, there was now a whole state, complete with three major cities and all the countryside, desert, small towns and mountains in between. The beauty of GTA:SA is that everyone’s gaming experience is different; there is so much to do that it feels like you are playing in a living, breathing world. Add in a well-developed storyline with great voice acting (James Woods and Samuel L. Jackson, most notably) and you have one of 2004’s great time-wasters. Amazon

ESPN NFL 2K5

When it comes to football games, it’s hard to compete against EA Sports’ John Madden series, which has held a lock on the genre since the days of the Sega Genesis. But leave it to Sega to come up with a marketing masterstroke—take a game that was at least equal to Madden in quality (if not a little better), and sell it for the unbelievable low price of $20. ESPN NFL 2K5 has all the features a football fan could ask for, looks fantastic and plays like a dream…all the while saving you $30 that can be used for something else. Nicely done, even though the computer-generated Chris Berman is more than a little frightening. Amazon

Burnout 3 - Takedown

There have been hundreds of racing games out there, but Burnout 3 climbs above its counterparts by boiling videogame racing down to its essence: speed and crashing. Nothing too complicated, but a whole lot of fun nonetheless. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had when you bash an opponent into a guardrail at just the right time, especially when playing in the six-player online mode. EA Games did a great job with the visuals, which convey a sense of speed that is far and beyond other arcade racers. Amazon

Sam’s Top Ten Instances of Schadenfreude in 2004

In a year of disappointment, we look to moments when we got to crack a smile at the misfortune of those we detest.

**Surgeon General’s Warning: This list is PC-free.

10) Ashlee Simpson’s SNL “Lip Malfunction”——the fault of a bilious slice
of pepperoni pizza

9) Fallen Yankee star Jason Giambi’s juicy disgrace

8) Yasser’s last breaths: publicized in November; actually happened in 2002

7) Martha Stewart Living…in the Can

6) Fidel biting it and snapping his leg in front of thousands (and on tape
for the free world to see)

5) Watching the Yanks lose 4 straight to the once “Dead” Sox. What’ll they
chant in the Bronx next year, 2004…2004….2004…?

4) Justin and Janet gumming up their already stagnant careers with an
ignominious half-time show unveiling

3) Ron Artest “fighting” for time off from his demanding job as a basketball
player to promote his album…now he’s got plenty

2) The promulgation of Bill O’Reilly’s prolific predilictions of
perversion…

…and, the number one instance of Schadenfreude in 2004: the rest of the
world’s collective acerbic snicker on Nov. 2nd, though the events of that
day may ultimately spell their doom. Dare we laugh with them?