2004: The Good Old Days? - August

Looks like I spoke too soon about 2004 being the year of rap & R&B before indie/garage rock rook over in 2005. In August 2004 we had more indie/garage rock new entries. Even more surprising is more indie/garage rock records contributed points as rap and R&B. Actual points is equal, quite an achievement given I hated the former and was a fan of the latter at the time.

Lets begin with the indie genre then. 2004 brought us Keane, an indie band using pianos rather than guitars and making depressing music I would usually despise. However for some reason I like "Bedshaped", I sort of did at the time but have managed to avoid it since and it's only listening again now that I'm coming to terms with that fact.

Additionally from the indie genre we have Kasabian get half marks with "LSF". They're a band who's music I've largely ignored but I'm finding much of it is alright. Then there's Hope of the States with "Nehemiah" which is also alright.

The best record is and R&B one which is "Make It Up With Love" by ATL. They had a questionable debut hit, this much better but lesser known follow up and then disappeared off the face of the earth. I bought the single because I guessed it would be the only track I'd like on the album.

Speaking of singles I bought we have "Babycakes" by 3 of a Kind. It was good to hear a new garage record after the genre seemed to promptly disappear in early 2002. That's exactly what 3 of a Kind did after this record.

Elsewhere in the dance world we had Scent whose members included Daniele Davoli from Black Box with "Up And Down" which I thought was decent. There were also a couple of "projects" getting full marks who were Stellar Project and DT8 Project.

There were 2 really strong contenders for worst record this month and they both deserve a mention. There's "Bye Bye Boy" by soap actress Jennifer Ellison who thankfully called time on her brief music career shortly after this. Beating it though is Avril Lavigne with "My Happy Ending" which edges it because it was on the radio all the sodding time. 

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 25%

Here's a look at the chart:

Well 2004 is looking better than what came afterwards but still room for improvement.