Here are my choices for the top 10 albums of 2004:

#1: Scissor Sisters / Scissor Sisters Remix Album - Scissor Sisters

When I first bought the Scissor Sisters eponymous album, I dismissed them as an amusing gender-bending art/garage/glam band too reverential to the Elton John 1970s. But as time passed, the songs never left my noggin, and it's been months now. I have no choice but to conclude that SS is really an amazing real-deal retro/futuristic album, in spite of the falsetto, ukuleles, and Pink Floyd cover. My favorite track, "Filthy/Gorgeous," gets a delicious remix by A Touch of Class, who brings out the excellent lyrics. Never has any poet put better use to the words 'Business,' 'Christmas,' and 'Princess.' "Laura" and "Take Your Mama Out" are also standouts tracks. Yes, I've cheated a bit since these are technically two albums. But if I were forced to separate them, I'd still put the original album at #1 and the remix album somewhere in the Top 10.

#2: American Idiot - Green Day

I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said. Suffice to say that this is an epic album, and one that deserves to be listened to in its entirety. (This is one of the few albums that make me hate the shuffle function on a CD/MP3 player.) I'm not a big fan of three-chord anthem punk, but this album's grandiose sincerity and dramatic arc keep me coming back to it. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Jesus of Suburbia" are standouts. No doubt, Green Day is the best band from Berkeley, whereas the Counting Crows are the worst.

#3: Soviet Kitsch - Regina Spektor

Not since Tori Amos' "Little Earthquakes" has any artist brought something new to the table with only a voice and a piano. To be clear, Spektor is nothing like Tori Amos. She's a Russian/Jewish New Yorker who has a little Bjork, a little Nelly Furtado, and mostly nothing I've ever heard before. Forget Nellie McKay; Spektor represents the new generation of singer-songwriters. "Us" is a gorgeous track. "Ode to Divorce" is compelling.

#4: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - The Prodigy

Always reliable and rarely outcharged, the Prodigy (without much of the crew from the classic Fat of the Land) has put out yet another album that compels me to test the volume limits of my stereo system. "Girls" is a hot single and the weakest track on the album, which says something about how turbo this album is. "Spitfire" ranks as one of the best album openers of all time.