2004
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the year 2004.
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Howl’s Moving Castle
Studio Ghibli are at their best when adapting folkloric tales of magical creatures and hitherto unseen lands, and Howl’s Moving Castle has them right at home. (read more)
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New Getter Robo
A reimagining of the classic ‘Getter Robo’ storyline, ‘New Getter Robo’ only justifies the first part of its name if replacing the Dinosaur Empire with Oni is enough for you. (read more)
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Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Nearly a decade after the classic sci-fi original, ‘Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence’ incorporates much of ‘Stand Alone Complex’s’ storytelling methods, resulting in a major stylistic departure, but more cogent, deeper themes and character development. (read more)
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808 State – “Prebuild”
As the title and cover suggest, Prebuild is a compilation of leftover tracks from around the time of Newbuild. As that might suggest, Prebuild is not particularly great outside of being a historical piece. 808 State were very influential to electronic music after all, giving this some worth to anyone interested in the history of music… (read more)
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Manic Street Preachers – “Lifeblood” (2004)
Lifeblood is the second-best Manic Street Preachers (MSP) album after The Holy Bible. For the first time in the MSP catalog, synthesizers take the lead and wash over the guitars, layering everything and making one of the most silky-smooth “rock” albums you’ll ever hear, while James Dean Bradfield’s vocals elevate the album to something almost soulful.… (read more)
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Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Taking advantage of the ‘Fire Emblem’ series’ successful debut in English countries, ‘The Sacred Stones’ hurries to shelves. At what cost? (read more)
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus”
Oh, how embarrassing! I mean, to hear one of rock’s all-time greatest vocalists pant and wheeze his way through those rhythm & blues rockers that make up the first disc of this double album. Nick Cave was once a man full of as much menace as he was class, but on Abattoir Blues / The… (read more)
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Stereolab – “Margerine Eclipse” (2004)
Margerine Eclipse is one of Stereolab’s best albums and possibly my second-favorite right behind Sound-Dust. Stereolab play off their strengths by making an album full of great retro, space-age pop songs, avoiding lengthy repetition. The end result is a relaxing journey that’s just about perfectly paced, if only a little bit long when it comes… (read more)
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Massive Attack – “Danny the Dog” (2004)
Danny the Dog sounds like a soundtrack album. It is, of course. My point is that it doesn’t stand well on its own, in my opinion. If you’re thinking there might be some songs with vocals here that might be worth salvaging, then no, there aren’t. There are no songs with vocals. Unless you’re a… (read more)
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Phantom Brave
Though not without tedious flaws, ‘Phantom Brave,’ is another twist on Nippon Ichi Software’s successful strategy RPG fundamentals. (read more)