BigSoccer's Top 40 American Bands of 2004

1. Ted Leo/Rx
2. Ghostface
3. LCD Soundsystem
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Magnetic Fields
6. Bonnie Prince Billy
7. Sonic Youth
8. Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz
9. Fiery Furnaces
10. PAS/CAL

 

For me the Shins are on the top of their game. That's why I put them first. Sort of like: which band are you really stoked to hear the next album by? That was sort of what I was thinking when I made my list. I didn't base in on the past year, but who right now is doing their best work, who is on the rise and who is on the decline.

Sonic Youth shot up a bit on my list because Sonic Nurse was decent, whereas I didn't feel their last couple of albums as much as the early stuff. Modest Mouse would have been No. 1 last year, but I didn't particularly like GNFPWLBN. It wasn't terrible, I just wasn't as impressed as I had been by earlier stuff. So they dropped.

cheers,
hobbes

 

At least among my group of friends The Shins have reached a certain level of popularity that they would make all our lists.

 

This is about the best I can do and I'm not so sure I believe what I've got here:
1. The Shins
2. Luna
3. Neko Case
4. The Black Keys
5. Los Lobos
6. Fountains of Wayne
7. Beck
8. Old 97’s

 

cripes i'm so far out of the loop i dont even know half these bands you guys mention - i shudder to even think the reaction my top 10 would receive...

but i will say any list that excludes outKast is highly subject

 

[yoda]Two bands, a top ten does not make[yoda]

I see that Sparta has lost out in the post At The Drive-in era.

 

I don't have ten bands, given that I spent half the year involuntarily sequestered away from good music, so I'll just list what I have.

American Music Club reformed this year and produced one of the best CDs of their career (which is saying quite a bit), and I'm kinda surprised that no one else had them on their list.


1) American Music Club
2) Sea Ray
3) The Stills
4) Pedro The Lion
5) Chomsky
6) Ted Leo/Rx
7) The Lassie Foundation
8) Fvck & The Minders

 

Low

 

Please post your list because personally I'd rather see some differing views.

 

lol that's what happens when you're trying to do two things at once... i meant 'suspect'

 

I'll second that.

 

What's the definition of American? Because The Stills are all from Canada (but live in NYC) and with the exception of Neko Case (who was living in Canada when the band formed), same with the New Pornographers. If the Stills are American, they might make my list, and maybe so does Metric (all from Mtl, live in LA now I believe). The New Pornographers are definitely on there if they count.

American Music Club is a good call and yeah I maybe should have had OutKast in my top 10, they were 11, but that might have been hasty . . .

cheers,
hobbes

 

please bear in mind i've never heard half the bands you guys are raving over, i guess i have some artists to check out (btw kings of leon play amsterdam next monday) - also bear in mind that i havent heard the new pixies and that i'm almost certainly forgetting a couple of bands

oh well, here goes

1-kanye west (college dropout my runaway album of 2004)
2-the roots
3-outKast
4-foo fighters
5-alicia keys
6-N*E*R*D
7-green day
8-john mayer
9-ben folds
10-beastie boys

incubus are honorable mention coz although the last album was a letdown, but they still kick ass by me

ok you can begin laughing now...

 

I hardly go searching out new music, but I've gotta throw the words "The Donnas" out there.

 

I think you are mistaking the rest of us for Ted Cikowski.

 

I am gonna try as hard as I can to keep this limited to Stuff done in 2004.


1.Modest Mouse
2.Of Montreal
3.Pixies
4.Iron & Wine
5.A.C Newman
6.Brian Wilson
7.Kings Of Leon
8.The Shins
9.Animal Collective
10.Le Tigre

That was tough.

 

Top ten

1. Wilco
2. Interpol
3.The Shins
4. Modest Mouse
5. Of Montreal
6. Outkast
7. The Pixies
8. Ambulance LTD
9. The Postal Service
10. The Killers


Iron and Wine: close

Ted Leo: close

TV on the Radio: close

The Thermals: I have a friend from Portland who has pretty good taste, I told him to look out for Bloc Party, he told me to listen to the Thermals. We both won

The Secret Machines: The first time I heard them was on MTV, weird I know.

The Decemberists: Haven't heard enough of them

The Flaming Lips: No album this year

...Trail of Dead: No album for a long time but the single is good and if not for their stupid label they'd have a record out now.

The Black Keys: Love their music

Sufjan Stevens: Thanks MTVM board

 

I was just looking for clarification because while Neko Case solo makes sense to be American (born in Virginia, lives in the US now again), Carl (AC) Newman is (to the best of my knowledge) Canadian and writes 80 per cent of The New Pornographers material. Neko sings a lot, but it's basically Carl's baby and VideoFACT/CanCon considers them Canadian (and they famously said Bryan Adams wasn't on some of his songs), so that's good enough for me.

Or am I being too nit-picky?

cheers,
hobbes

 

I had no idea AC Newman was canadian.


I guess that means i should revise my list.

 

Believe me, he won't answer you. I've tried to get him to "enlighten" me and he refuses. But what would be a BigSoccer board be without a resident bitter bitch?

Anyway, here's my top 10 (and I agree with those who've said this is hard):

1. Ambulance Ltd.
2. The Killers
3. Wilco
4. Elefant
5. Interpol
6. The Hong Kong
7. Le Tigre
8. Mosquitos
9. Metric
10. The Pixies

 

Disreguard my last post. THIS one is for real.