Except for the songs that made my Top 20 songs of 2004 and the representative tracks from my Top 20 Albums of 2004, these are the rest of the best indie and indie-minded rock tracks of 2004, volume one. To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2003 and November 30, 2004.

1. Secret Machines “First Wave Intact” Now Here Is Nowhere (Reprise)
2. The Faint “Desperate Guys” Wet From Birth
(Saddle Creek)
3. Elf Power “Walking With the Beggar Boys” Walking With the Beggar Boys (Orange Twin)
4. The Killers “Mr. Brightside” Hot Fuss (Island)
5. McLusky “She Will Only Bring You Happiness” The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not On Fire (Too Pure/Beggars)
6. Evening “Being Is Automatic” Other Victorians (Lookout!)
7. Secret Machines “Nowhere Again” Now Here Is Nowhere (Reprise)
8. Blonde Redhead “Elephant Woman” Misery Is A Butterfly (4AD/Beggars Group)
9. Modest Mouse “Satin in a Coffin” Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Epic/Sony)
10. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists “Me and Mia” Shake the Sheets (Lookout!)
11. A.C. Newman “The Town Halo” The Slow Wonder (Matador)
12. Rilo Kiley “Portions for Foxes” More Adventurous (Brute/Beaute)
13. The Arcade Fire “Wake Up” Funeral (Merge)
14. R.E.M. “Wanderlust” Around the Sun (Warner Brothers)
15. Modest Mouse “Float On” Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Epic/Sony)
16. The Good Life “Notes In His Pockets” Album of the Year (Saddle Creek)
17. Secret Machines “Light’s On” Now Here Is Nowhere (Reprise)
18. Pinback “AFK” Summer in Abaddon (Touch and Go)
19. Aveo “Dust That Dreams of Brooms” Battery (Barsuk)