| Blue Alert | Anjani | Jazz |
| Magic Potion | The Black Keys | Rock |
| Ulisses | Cristina Branco | World |
| Brightblack Morning Light | Brightback Morning Light | Rock |
| Unsung | Slaid Cleaves | Folk |
| The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves | Cibelle | World |
| New Monastery: A View into the
Music of Andrew Hill | Nels Cline | Jazz |
| Trouble In Paradise | BJ Cole | Electronica |
| Specialty Profiles: The Soul Stirrers | Sam Cooke | R&B |
| Today | Gal Costa | World |
| The River in Reverse | Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint | Rock |
| Saturday Night Wrist | Deftones | Rock |
| Nuages du Monde | Delerium | Rock |
| Boulevard De L'independence | Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra | World |
| Meaning And Mystery | Dave Douglas | Jazz |
| Here's My Song | Nicolai Dunger | Rock |
| Tearing Sky | Piers Faccini | Rock |
| I Sincerely Apologise For All
The Trouble I've Caused | David Ford | Rock |
| Harpo's Ghost | Thea Gilmore | Rock |
| St. Elsewhere | Gnarls Barkley | R&B |
| How We Operate | Gomez | Rock |
| Volver | Alberto Iglesias | Soundtrack |
| The Unknown | Antonio Carlos Jobim | World |
| Journey To The Center Of An Egg | Rabih Abou-Khalil & Joachim Kühn | World |
| Lenine | Lenine | World |
| Sangam | Charles Lloyd | Jazz |
| Lamp Fall | Cheikh Lô | World |
| Continuum | John Mayer | Rock |
| Floriculture | Carl Maguire | Jazz |
| East Coast Cool | John McNeil | Jazz |
| The Believer | Rhett Miller | Rock |
| Bring Me The Workhorse | My Brightest Diamond | Rock |
| Little Children | Thomas Newman | Soundtrack |
| Techari | Ojos De Brujo | World |
| Notes From The Underworld | Persephone's Bees | Rock |
| The Greatest | Cat Power | Rock |
| Tales From A Turnpike House | Saint Etienne | Rock |
| White Bread Black Beer | Scritti Politti | Rock |
| Lost In A Moment | Shrift | World |
| Junjo | Esperanza Spalding | Jazz |
| Angel of the Presence | John Taylor | Jazz |
| Dreaming Through The Noise | Vienna Teng | Rock |
| How to Grow a Woman from the Ground | Chris Thile | Bluegrass |
| Flor Nocturna | Marta Topferova | World |
| Time Line | Ralph Towner | Jazz |
| Return to Cookie Mountain | TV on the Radio | Rock |
| I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian) | Antony and the Johnsons | Rock* |
| Extraordinary Machine (Sony) | Fiona Apple | Rock |
| Live at Bradley's II, the Perfect Set (Sunnyside) | Kenny Barron Trio | Jazz |
| Honeycomb (Back Porch) | Frank Black | Rock |
| Flow (Blue Note) | Terence Blanchard | Jazz |
| Make Do With What You Got (Shout Factory) | Solomon Burke | Soul | |
| Aerial (Columbia) | Kate Bush | Folk |
| East of Bristol, West of Knoxville (Strong) | Jordan Chassen | Folk |
| Last Quarter Moon (Verve) | Chiara Civello | Jazz |
| Chavez Ravine (Nonesuch ) | Ry Cooder | World |
| Forever Hasn't Happened Yet (Yep Roc) | John Doe | Rock |
| News on the Rail (Palmetto) | Marty Ehrlich | Jazz |
| Ruby, My Dear (Dreyfus) | Richard Galiano | Jazz |
| In Praise of Dreams (ECM) | Jan Garbarek | Jazz |
| Oceans Apart (Yep Roc) | The Go-Betweens | Rock |
| Everything's OK (Blue Note) | Al Green | Soul |
| Weather and Water (Dualtone) | The Greencards | Country |
| I Never Heard You Knockin' (Holcombe) | Malcolm Holcombe | Folk |
| A Change is Gonna Come (Warner Bros.) | Leela James | Soul |
| Shades of Jade (ECM) | Marc Johnson | Jazz |
| American Whip (Dangerbird) | Joy Zipper | Rock |
| No Wow (Rough Trade) | The Kills | Rock | |
| I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti) | Bettye Lavette | Soul |
| LCD Soundsystem (EMI) | LCD Soundsystem | Techno |
| There's a Fire (RCA) | Longwave | Rock |
| Songs of Misfortune (Appleseed) | The Love Hall Tryst | Folk |
| The Magic Numbers (EMI) | The Magic Numbers | Rock |
| I Have the Room Above Her (ECM) | Paul Motian | Jazz |
| Same Mother (Blue Note) | Jason Moran | Jazz |
| Berimbaum (Universal) | Paula Morelenbaum | World |
| Oceana (Sunnyside) | Ben Monder | Jazz |
| Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note) | Thelonious Monk | Jazz |
| Several Arrows Later (Attitude) | Matt Pond PA | Rock |
| A Bigger Bang (Virgin) | The Rolling Stones | Rock |
| 12 Songs (Crypto) | Jenny Scheinman | Jazz |
| Howl Howl Gaff Gaff (Capitol) | Shout Out Louds | Rock |
| Corazon Libre (Deutsche Grammophon) | Mercedes Sosa | World |
| Goodbye (ECM) | Bobo Stenson | Jazz |
| Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty) | Sufjan Stevens | Rock |
| Fisherman's Woman (Rough Trade) | Emiliana Torrini | Folk |
| In the Heart of the Moon (World Circuit) | Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate | World |
| Out of Nowhere (WA) | Two Siberians | Jazz |
| Broken Flowers (Decca) | Various Artists | Soundtrack | |
| I Believe to My Soul (Rhino) | Various Artists | Soul |
| Motown Remixed (Motown) | Various Artists | Soul/Techno |
| Kicking Television, Live in Chicago (Nonesuch) | Wilco | Rock |
| Nolita (EMI) | Keren Ann | Folk |
| Whaa! (Six Degrees) | Zuco 103 | World/Techno | |
*These categories are almost meaningless. Please sample the music on iTunes, www.cdnow.com or some such place. You'll hear what I mean.
| A Girl Named Eddy (Anti) |
A Girl Named Eddy |
Rock* |
| Our Shadows Will Remain (Vector) |
Joseph Arthur |
Rock |
| My Everything (Blue Note) |
Anita Baker |
R&B |
| All Wood and Stones (Beachwood) |
John Batdorf & James Lee Stanley |
Folk |
| The Lost Chords (Watt) |
Carla Bley |
Jazz |
| High (Sanctuary) |
The Blue Nile |
Rock |
| Damage (Sanctuary) |
Blues Explosion |
Rock |
| Kinsey (The Body) |
Carter Burwell |
Score/Jazz |
| Somewhere (Blue Note) |
Bill Charlap |
Jazz |
| The Graceful Ghost (Sugarhill) |
Grey De Lisle |
Country |
| Gold Medal (Atlantic) |
The Donnas |
Rock |
| One Blood (EMI) |
Lila Downs |
World |
| Greatest Hits (EMI) |
Brenda Fassie |
World |
| In Praise of Dreams (ECM) |
Jan Garbarek |
Jazz |
| The Incredibles (Disney) |
Michael Giacchino |
Score/Jazz |
| American Idiot (Reprise) |
Green Day |
Rock |
| Uh-Huh Her (Island) |
P.J. Harvey |
Rock |
| Van Hunt (Capital) |
Van Hunt |
R&B |
| Bad Education (Sony Classical) |
Alberto Iglesias |
Score |
| Getting My Axes Together (Kalinor) |
Ron Kalina |
Jazz |
| Lonely Runs Both Ways (Rounder) |
Alison Krauss and Union Station |
Country |
| Far From Enough (Nonesuch) |
Viktor Krauss |
Country |
| Beautiful Yesterday (Kismet) |
Danya Kurtz |
Rock |
| Trouble (RCA) |
Ray Lamontagne |
R&B |
| Negro Color (World Village) |
Tania Libertad |
World |
| Los Lonely Boys (Sony) |
Los Lonely Boys |
Rock |
| I'm All For You (EMI) |
Joe Lovano |
Jazz |
| The Things We Do (Manhattan) |
Angela McCluskey |
Rock |
| Alive & Amplified (Columbia) |
The Mooney Suzuki |
Rock |
| Virginia Creeper (Rounder) |
Grant-Lee Phillips |
Alt-Country |
| Musicology (NPG) |
Prince |
R&B |
| Easy Living (ECM) |
Enrico Rava |
Jazz |
| Baila! Gitano Baila! (Tzadik) |
Septeto Rodriguez |
Jazz |
| Beautifully Human (Sony) |
Jill Scott |
R&B |
| Suspended Night (ECM) |
Tomasz Stanko Quartet |
Jazz |
| Neruda (Sunnyside) |
Luciana Souza |
World |
| A Fix Back East (Rounder) |
Tarbox Ramblers |
Rock |
| Bowmboi (Nonesuch) |
Rokia Traore |
World |
| In Between Evolution (Zoe) |
The Tragically Hip |
Rock |
| Hands Up! (Yep Roc) |
Two Dollar Pistols |
Country |
| How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Interscope) |
U2 |
Rock |
| Landed (Dangerbird) |
Peter Walker |
Rock |
| Smile (Nonesuch) |
Brian Wilson |
Rock |
| Ancestry in Progress (Luaka Bop) |
Zap Mama |
World |
| Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo (Or) |
Various Artists |
Alt-Country |
| Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster (American Roots) |
Various Artists |
Country |
* Please sample these albums on iTunes or cdnow.com or some such service. These category titles are woefully inadequate. And please let me know what music you enjoyed in 2004. Thanks.
| Thirteenth Step (Virgin) | A Perfect Circle | Rock |
| Hittin' the Note (Sanctuary) | The Allman Bros. Band | Rock |
| These Are the Vistas (Columbia) | The Bad Plus | Jazz |
| Worldwide Underground (Motown) | Erykah Badu | R&B |
| Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (Koch) | Joan Baez | Folk |
| Chinatown (Nettwerk) | The Be Good Tanyas | Folk |
| Take Them On, On Your Own (Virgin) | Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Rock |
| Feast of Wire (Quarterstick) | Calexico | Alt. |
| Amorino (Instinct) | Isobel Campbell | Alt. |
| North (Deutsche Grammophon) | Elvis Costello | Pop |
| Transatlanticism (Bark 32) | Death Cab for Cutie | Rock |
| Her Majesty the Decemberists (Kill Rock Stars) | The Decemberists | Alt. |
| Diamond Jubilation (Rounder) | Dixie Hummingbirds | Gospel |
| Shootenanny! (Dreamworks) | Eels | Rock |
| Exploding Girls (Triple X) | Gene Loves Jezebel | Rock |
| Whale Rider (4AD) | Lisa Gerrard | Soundtrack |
| The Rain (ECM) | Ghazal | World |
| I Can't Stop (Blue Note) | Al Green | R&B |
| Ethnomusicology Vol. 3 (Justin Time) | Russell Gunn | Jazz |
| Changing Places (ECM) | Tord Gustavsen | Jazz |
| Another Mind (Telarc) | Hiromi | Jazz |
| Extended Play (ECM) | Dave Holland Quintet | Jazz |
| Up for It (ECM) | Keith Jarrett | Jazz |
| Red = Luck (Vanguard) | Patty Larkin | Folk |
| The Edge of Heaven (Indigo) | Gary Lucas | World |
| Sepia (Tinker) | Coco Mbassi | World |
| Private Astronomy (edge Music) | Geoff Muldaur | Jazz |
| Treats for the Nightwalker (Justin Time) | Josh Roseman Unit | Jazz |
| Dime Grind Palace (Rope-a-Dope) | Sex Mob | Jazz |
| The Soul of John Black (No Mayo) | The Soul of John Black | R&B |
| Stellastarr (RCA) | Stellastar | Rock |
| Logic Will Break Your Heart (Vice) | The Stills | Rock |
| Soul Sessions (S-Curve) | Joss Stone | R&B |
| Ghosts of the Great Highway (Jet Set) | Sun Kil Moon | Rock |
| Ether Song (Source) | Turin Brakes | Rock |
| The Best of Caetano Veloso (Nonesuch) | Caetano Veloso | World |
| Up All Night (Compass) | The Waifs | Folk |
| Elephant (V2) | White Stripes | Rock |
| Torch: A Six Degrees Collection (Six Degree) | Various Artists | Pop/Trip-Hop |
| Yes New York (Wolfgang Morden) | Various Artists | Rock |
