The best albums of 2004

I can't see any classics being released between now and the new year, so here goes...

1. Guided by voices- Half smiles of the decomposed
The last time I'll be able to fire GBV straight in at number one in the "best of the year" list. It's an absolute pisser that they're splitting up just as they've found real form again but at the same time at least they're going out on a high. Next year's Pollard solo should be really special, seeing as solo artistry is now his full time occupation.

2. Bjork- Medulla
Her bravest and possibly best work yet, on which she finally forsakes the archaic notion of accessibility for sheer carnal thrall. No instruments! But why should the best voice on the planet play second fiddle to anything?

3. Tokyo adventures- The hunter's handbook
Did I just say accessibility was archaic? Well, not if you do it as well as this. This is pop/ rock in the purest senses of both terms. Quite, quite lovely.

4. The Streets- A grand don't come for free
Mike Skinner makes commercial music that is also innovative, whilst drawing on some really good influences. I believe he is the only person in Britain managing to do all of these things to any degree of success. The devil, as the Irish used to say, may take the begrudgers.

5. Neurosis- The eye of every storm
Not the best Neurosis release, but still better than practically anything else by practically anybody else. You need to hear it. Will you?

6. Shystie- Diamond in the dirt
I went bonkers over this when it came out, and I haven't changed my mind. This is just great on every level. MC of the year as far as I'm concerned.

7. Kanye West- College dropout
It's true what you heard- this is the shit.

8. The Shins- Chutes too narrow
In the year when turgid guitar rock made an inglorious return to the charts, it was very heartening to hear a four-piece making music as sweet as this. Indie pop that's far too vital to ever be described as "fey" or "twee".

9. Vincent Gallo- When
Achingly pretentious, laughably self important, bereft of enduring melodies and at times virtually unlistenable. What's not to like?

10. Bobby Conn and the glass gypsies- The homeland
It feels wrong to be including this album in the list- it's basically a Bowie tribute and I don't really listen to Bowie, and I've never had any time for people that listen to rip-off artists but not the people they're ripping off. It's like hating the Beatles but loving the Bootleg Beatles. But this album has given me so much pleasure it would be dishonest not to include it here. It's funny and clever and it sounds great. Maybe I should give Aladdin Sane another try?

A good year for music all in all, as evidenced by the fact that I had to miss off albums by Beastie Boys, Hella, The Dwarves, The Wildhearts and Dizzee Rascal. Single of the year poses no such dilemma, maybe because singles are virtually a dead format now. I'm no nostalgist but I think it's fair to say that there was a time when pop music- i.e., music written deliberately to be popular- was great, and that time is not now. However, once in a while that rarest of things happens- a number one single turns out to be a really great song. This year it happened not once but twice, with Three of a Kind's "Babycakes" (very sweet and considered annoying by the kind of people who deserve to be annoyed) and most significantly, the wonder that is "These words" by Natasha Bedingfield. Anyone who claims not to like this either a) is lying out their arse, b) is dead inside, or c) perhaps understandably, can't bring themselves to enjoy anything made by a Bedingfield. Anyway, me and The Royal Hoop both rate it, and we know more about music than you.

Despite all this, the best thing I've heard all year is "We're gonna win the league", sung by Everton fans- who for once were not being completely sarcastic.

White folks say the darndest things

I was watching this C4 documentary last night about an anti-Semitic website called "Jew Watch" that's run by the former "grand dragon" of the KKK, a guy called Don Black. The site basically lists every well-known Jewish person there is, with particular emphasis on film stars, musicians etc. The avowed purpose of the site is to enable white supremacist types to "be on their guard"- presumably in case they accidentally allow themselves to be entertained by a Jew. The documentary focused on this one Jewish reporter and his attempts to get himself onto the list- understandable as there were some awfully big names on there.

Anyway, I know I shouldn't have but today I had a peek at the site myself- what do they expect when they include the address in the programme? It was full of the usual paranoid crap about Jews "taking over" showbusiness, banks, the press etc, plus a section "exposing" famous people as being Jewish (Elvis and Ringo Starr, apparently). What really caught my attention though was a large headline reading, I shit you not,

"IS POPE JOHN PAUL II JEWISH?"

I expect Don Black to be refuting the notion that bears shit in the woods very soon.

Blog anything that moves, take two

I was lucky enough to catch Victor FME, Hot Club de Paris, Disco Drive and Do Idea at club Heaven/ Hell last Sunday. Sadly, due to University getting in the way of real life (again), I only caught the end of Do Idea's set and the beginning of Disco Drive's, but both were most impressive. In particular Do Idea are, in sickening industry parlance, "one to watch", fashioning the kind of spazz-rock workouts that are so popular at the moment with uncommon grace and vigour. Apparently they've not long started gigging, so The Ugly Vision will be monitoring their progress very closely.

As you should be aware by now, I think Victor FME are the best thing since posh crusty unsliced bread, and they were on form on Sunday. Their set was far more focused and passionate than last time I saw them, kicking off (in more ways than one) with scally gangster anthem "Snitches get Stitches" (probably the best thing they've ever recorded), and maintaining the momentum right to the the end. I'd disgracefully never seen Hot Club de Paris before, and was slightly nervous about the experience. I guess I was worried that Paul's enthusiasm for this band might lead to Victor falling by the wayside. If I'm brutally honest, I guess I was also a little concerned that they might sound like some goddawful attempt to emulate Storm and Stress. Any such fears were soon vanquished, however, as I very quickly realised that the hype is to be believed- the Hot Club really are something very special indeed. I don't know if the barbershop interludes are intended as an alienation device, but on Sunday that had the exact opposite effect, sending a lovely warm glow around the audience as everybody gloriously "got it". The songs themselves are far more coherent than I'd been led to believe, proving that good musicians really can push their technical abilities whilst still producing a sound that's most easy on the ear. The best thing about HCdP, though, is the way they work the crowd. Due to the many tangents their music goes off on, nobody knows quite when to applaud, and so often nobody does, for fear of being "buzzed from". This leads to a lot of silences, not the kind of silence that poor musicians get from an apathetic crowd, but edgy, anticipatory silences as we await the pay-off. There's no way a less talented act would be able to pull this off. Hot Club demand your attention from start to finish, and it is amply rewarded. Oh yes.