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These are the best albums of 2004.

Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE (Nonesuch)
Yeah, I don't know who's really running the show over at Brian Wilson: Genius, Incorporated either. And whenever I listen to this album (which is quite often), I don't give a shit. It's much more fun to get caught up in SMiLE's epic, poignant, total-goofball sweep. Even if he didn't look halfway to rigor mortis most of the time, Wilson's essaying of the trick melodies and thesaurus-smart lyrics here would still awe your brain and touch your heart.
--Michael Pelusi

Styrofoam
Nothing's Lost (Morr Music)
Belgian DJ Arne Van Petegem (aka Styrofoam) pooled assists from Markus Acher (The Notwist), Valerie Trebeljahr (Lali Puna), Ben Gibbard (Postal Service), Andrew Kenny (American Analog Set), Alias (Anticon) and others for the electro-pop album of the year. Mixing slabs of turntable textures, indie pop, knob tweaking and hip-hop, Nothing's Lost — endeavored as a 25th anniversary project for Brussels' Club Ancienne Belgique — is a survey of the new Euro-pop underground. From the foreboding Trebeljahr- and Alias-assisted "Misguided" to the first-blush optimism of "Anything" featuring Das Pop's Bent Van Looy and Japanese singer Miki, Nothing's Lost is an album brimming with lump-in-throat moments.
--Brian Howard

Múm
Summer Make Good (Fatcat)
It was a year where one offbeat Icelandic musical experiment overshadowed another. While Björk's Medulla soaked up the plaudits for an interesting concept that didn't really work, Múm's Summer Make Good whispered along enchantingly like the ghostly voice of its singer, Krist'n Anna Valtysdõttir. Rumbling soundscapes met with lightly plucked strings ("Weeping Rock, Rock") and a bed of keyboards was propped up by polyrhythmic percussion ("The Island Of Children's Children"), swiftly outdoing the band's spastic 2002 offering Finally We Are No One. Impressive enough on its own, the music was presented in a new light when Múm toured this summer and showed off the handmade instruments it used to make Summer's sounds; a PVC pipe filled with marbles, a violin fused with a French horn. Enveloping, entrancing, and the kind of music that benefits greatly from a great pair of headphones; listen only one and you'll just drift away.
--John Vettese

Ken Stringfellow
Soft Commands (Yep Roc)
If soft-rock stations weren't just as canonical as classic rock radio, they could easily fit in almost anything off Ken Stringfellow's third solo album. But while Soft Commands sounds made for '70s AM radio, Stringfellow tries out nearly a dozen genres in as many tracks. Homages to Brian Wilson and Phil Spector are lovely; perhaps more surprisingly, so are his stabs at soul, rock and even reggae.
--M.J. Fine

Dogs Die in Hot Cars
Please Describe Yourself (V2 Music Limited)
Aside from the sardonic name that doubles as a public service announcement, this Fife, Scotland, fivesome calls to mind Andy Partidge nailing the upper registers, David Byrne chopping at his right forearm and Dexy's Midnight Runners jamming in their coveralls. If you've refused to buy an album since 120 Minutes went off the air, this is the album for you. Here are the New-New Wave Scots who should have topped our Top 20 — not those Franz Ferdinerds.
--Duane Swierczynski

Los Lobos
The Ride (Hollywood)
Thirty years together for these East Los Angelinos and they haven't peaked yet. Whew. There's the amazingly diverse crew of guest artists: Rock en Espa–ol inventors Café Tacuba, gospel-soul greats Mavis Staples and Bobby Womack, and even Brits Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson. The Ride is an amazing amalgam of rock, Tex-Mex, Latin folk, blues and soul, all dished out with a swaggering confidence and bold sonic experimentation.
--Nicole Pensiero