| THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2003!!!!!! |
| Since I spent a good amount of time coming up with a list of my favorite albums of the year, I might as well post the list on my site. There's obviously tons of other great stuff out there that I haven't paid as much attention to, or just haven't heard, but here are, as of the end of December 2003, my favorite albums of the year. Please check these out if you can, they are all awesome. #1. Soundmurderer & SK-1: Rewind Records (Rewind/Rephlex) and Soundmurderer: Wired For Sound (Violent Turd): Todd Osborn and Tadd Mullinix resurrect ragga-jungle and make drum'n'bass fun again. I've played these tracks to death and they still show no signs of getting stale. Absolutely fucking brilliant. #2. Four Tet: Rounds (Domino): I didn't think much of his previous album, but this one, holy shit. Completely memorable, beautiful electronic compositions. #3. Lightning Bolt: Wonderful Rainbow (Load): GO SEE THIS BAND LIVE. Then go buy this album and the band's DVD, The Power Of Salad. You'll never be the same. #4. Enduser: 15 Tracks CD-R (Sonic Terror)/tour-only CD-R/various remixes, 12"s and MP3s: The unexpected indie success (on some level anyway) of this Cincinatti ragga/breakcore artist is entirely deserved. Seriously some of the craziest, most beautiful, most genius breakbeat tracks I've heard in a while. #5. King Geedorah: Take Me To Your Leader (Big Dada): MF Doom drops an incredible abstract sci-fi concept album (my favorite kind of hip-hop album!) and, well, he's pretty much going to take over the world and there's nothing any of us can do about it. #6. Microphones: Mt. Eerie (K): Heralded at the beginning of the year but strangely not mentioned as much in most year-end polls, this album seemed to alienate a lot of fans of Phil Elvrum's previous albums. I didn't get into this album at first myself, but after listening more, it's obviously a near-masterpiece. Indulgent, yes, but incredibly beautiful and moving. It would be quite sad if this were the last full production album that Elvrum attempted, because he's really good at making amazing albums like these... #7. Country Teasers: Secret Weapon Revealed At Last (In The Red): Underrated crazy Scottish band releases one of their best albums yet. If it's not Scottish, it's crap!!! #8. Belle & Sebastian: Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Rough Trade): Overrated crazy Scottish band releases one of their best albums yet. If it's not Scottish, it's crap!!! (just kidding, B&S aren't overrated.) #9. Eluvium: Lambent Material (Temporary Residence): Quite simply, the best ambient/chill/drone album of the year. #10. Tujiko Noriko: From Tokyo To Naiagara (Tomlab): Fourth and possibly best album by this incredible Japanese singer. Incredibly beautiful sad electronic pop music. #11. People Like Us/Wobbly/Matmos: Wide Open Spaces (Tigerbeat6): Live performance by the best multimedia sound collage/plunderphonic artist this side of Negativland, and three likeminded souls. Almost makes me like country music!!! #12-14. Dosh: Dosh, Why?: Oaklandazulasylum and Early Whitney EP, Themselves: The No Music Of AIFFS: The No Music Remixed (all on Anticon): Anticon continues to push the boundaries of basically all underground music, and has a blast doing it. #15. Iron And Wine: The Sea And The Rhythm EP (Sub Pop): A film teacher from Florida who records incredible solo acoustic folk songs in his living room on his four track. Not usually my cup of tea, but in this case, very much so. #16. Broadcast: Haha Sound and Pendulum EP (Warp): Another smash success for one of the best retro indie pop bands of the past few years. Plus they even salute Raymond Scott! #17. Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun and Today Is The Day EP (Matador): Hoboken's finest mellows out for their 10th or so LP, and then brings the noise on the first half of their 50th or so EP. #18. Venetian Snares: Find Candace (Hymen) and Chocolate Wheelchair (Planet Mu): Unstoppable Canuck madman gives us two more reasons to fear him. Brutal yet darkly humorus spazz-core. #19. Knifehandchop: Rockstopper (Tigerbeat6): I've said this before, but, party album of the year. #20. Curse Of The Golden Vampire: Mass Destruction (Ipecac): Godflesh meets DHR meets yr crushed skull. #21. Agorophobic Nosebleed: Altered States Of America (Relapse): 100 hits of pure insanity. #22. Hella: Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People (Suicide Squeeze): Epic brutal prog, plus even a song with vocals. #23. Evolution Control Committee: Plagiarhythm Nation V2.0 (Seeland): Somehow, some way, Negativland releases a hilarious collection of ECC's best work yet, and nobody sues them. #24. M.O.T.O.: Kill M.O.T.O. (Criminal IQ): Incredibly immature rude obnoxious punk rock that completely kicks the asses of anything else that can be labelled as such. #25. Black Dice: "Cone Toaster" 12" (DFA): The A side is probably the most interesting thing the band has done on its own, but the eYe remix on the other side is truly mindblowing. Give us a new Boredoms album, already!!! #26. Fennesz: Live In Japan (Touch): In anticipation of this year's Venice, Christian Fennesz graces us with a live album reprising and updating material from his 2001 masterpiece Endless Summer. #27. Sufjan Stevens: Greetings From Michigan The Great Lakes State (Asthmatic Kitty): One of the most ambitious albums of the year (he's planning on doing an album about every other state), and one of the year's biggest surprise successes as well. #28. M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas And Lost Ghosts (Gooom): Slightly dated but still pretty amazing synth stuff. #29. Steve Reich: Three Tales (Nonesuch): Minimalist pioneer unearths his latest ambitious concept multimedia work, focusing on some of the major events of the 20th century. #30. Donna Summer: This Needs To Be Your Style (Irritant): WFMU's most exciting DJ chops up a million samples and ends up in tons of music magazines and, for a few seconds (literally), on MTV. #31. All Girl Summer Fun Band: 2 (K): Cutesy twee pop you have to be a total sourpuss not to like. #32. Monade: Socialisme Ou Barbarie (Drag City): Home demos from Laetitia Sadier that manage to be more interesting than anything Stereolab's done in a while. #33. Prefuse 73: One Word Extinguisher and Extinguished: Outtakes (Warp): A glitchy instrumental hip-hop breakup record, plus leftovers that are arguably better than the main course. #34. Odd Nosdam: No More Wig For Ohio (Anticon): The third of cLOUDDEAD that doesn't sing or rap produces a nevertheless compelling set of instrumental sketches. #35. Sweet Trip: Velocity : Comfort : Design (Darla): If Kevin Shields did glitch, he probably wouldn't even sound this good. #36. mu-ziq: Bilious Paths (Planet mu): A bit normal compared to some of his other stuff, but nevertheless an intense and occasionally brilliant set of breakbeat tracks. #37. Postal Service: Give Up (Sub Pop): Cheesy emo synth-pop that is too catchy and fun for me to dislike. #38. Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts Of The Great Highway (Jetset): A new Red House Painters album in all but name. The return of dream-pop!!!?! #39. The Books: The Lemon Of Pink (Tomlab): Still too many of the annoying lame vocal samples that plagued their first album, but the melodies and instrumentation of this album's best songs are truly amazing. #40. His Name Is Alive: Brown Rice (Brown Rice): Limited (sold at 2 shows) CD-R, all instrumental, jazzy, ambient, classical, and very beautiful. Honorable Mention (in no order): -Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf: Big Shots (Stones Throw) -Madlib: Shades Of Blue (Blue Note) -The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band With Choir: "This Is Our Punk Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing (Constellation) -Rachel's: Systems/Layers (Quarterstick) -Stereolab: Instant 0 In The Universe EP (Elektra) -Dataclast Vs The Earwigs: Dataclast Vs. The Earwigs (Crucial Blast) -Pacific UV: Pacific UV (Warm) -Clear Horizon: Clear Horizon (Kranky) -Andalusia: Around Three In The Morning (self-released through CD Baby) -Pram: Dark Island (Merge) -MiniKon: MiniKon (KiraKira Disc) -Aislers Set: How I Learned To Write Backwards (Suicide Squeeze) -Of Montreal: A Pollinaire Rave EP (tour-only CD-R) -Saturday Looks Good To Me: All Your Summer Songs (Polyvinyl) [note: this should be much higher, possibly top 10. this REALLY grew on me, but i don't feel like changing the list] -Thermals: More Parts Per Million (Sub Pop) -Zelda Pinwheel: ...One Tear To This Fabric... (Transparent Voice) -Les Baton Rouge: Chloe Yurtz EP (Elevator Music) -White Stripes: Elephant (V2) -Radiohead: Hail To The Thief (Capitol) -Outkast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Arista) -Jaga Jazzist: Animal Chin (GSL)/The Stix and A Livingroom Hush (Ninja Tune) -Dead Meadow: Shivering King And Others (Matador) -Slumber Party: 3 (Kill Rock Stars) -Russian Futurists: Let's Get Ready To Crumble (Upper Class) -Cex: Being Ridden and Being Ridden Instrumentals (Temporary Residence) -The Spectacle Experiment: Just In Time For Nothing (114 Music) -Surface Of Eceyon: Dragyyn (Strange Attractors Audio House) -HiM: Many In High Places Are Not Well (Bubble Core) -Eaves: Eaves (Ace Fu) -The Locust: Plague Soundscapes (Anti) -Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, Ginger Brooks Takahashi & Friends: Songs From The Black Mountain Music Project (K) -Casiotone For The Painfully Alone: Twinkle Echo (Tomlab) -The Bug: Pressure (Rephlex/Tigerbeat6) -AFX: Smojphace EP (side A only) (Men) -Viktor Vaughan: Vaudeville Villain (Sound Ink) -Guided By Voices: Earthquake Glue (Matador) -Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People (Matador) -Colleen: Everyone Alive Wants Answers (Leaf) -Explosions In The Sky: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (Temporary Residence) -Kid606: Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You (Ipecac) -Stephin Merritt: Pieces Of April soundtrack (Nonesuch) -Xanopticon: Liminal Space (Hymen) ...................and lots of other albums that I've played on the air over the year, or not given a good enough listen. Also, notable reissues/complations/anthologies/etc.: 1. Remarc: Sound Murderer (Planet mu) 2. Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs and Human Amusements At Hourly Rates (Matador) 3. Wesley Willis: Greatest Hits 3 (Alternative Tentacles) 4. v/a: Tigerbeat6 Paws Across America (Tigerbeat6) 5. v/a: Branches And Routes (FatCat) 6. Delmonas: Do The Uncle Willy (Get Hip) 7. v/a: American Song Poem Anthology and American Song Poem Christmas (Bar/None) 8. Windy & Carl: Introspection (Blue Flea) 9. Flowchart: Pre-2000 Singles And Comp Tracks Part 1 (Fuzzy Box) 10. v/a: (Sic) (Broklyn Beats) 11. Comets On Fire: Comets On Fire (Alternative Tentacles) 12. v/a: Ye Olde Barn (Addict) 13. DJ Scud: Ambush! (Rephlex) 14. Jackie-O Motherfucker: Wow/The Magick Fire Music (ATP) 15. v/a: Good Night (Tigerbeat6) Most disappointing album of the year by far: -Blur: Think Tank (Virgin) Overall, I thought 2003 was one of the best years for music in a while, and I'm looking forward to the rest of 2004! |