Barbelith Underground > Radio & Music > The "best records of 2003" thread..

Year end lists always pose a problem for me. I spend most of my money catching up on the 70 or so years of recorded music that I missed, so actually finding 10 releases that I would consider worthy of a top 10 list that were released this year is kinda hard. I think this is the first year I've been able to do it and actually had to cut one. (That would be Fletcher's Friends Don't Speak, but I figured since they were a local band then putting them on an internet top 10 list would be kinda pointless.) So here goes:

Top 10 in 2003

1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it In People
Unvelievable. This album is this year's YHF. The one that blindsided everybody, then slowly enveloped them, coaxed them back to health, and sent them back out into the world a little less bitter and a little more open-minded. I won't say anything that any other review hasn't already said, so I'm not going to try. Just buy this album. If you're an indie elitist, a pop fiend, or that guy who's never even heard of Beck... Trust me, it's worth it.

2. Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid
The underdog of the year, in my opinion. Sure, it sounds a lot like the Cure, but originality is overrated anyway. Everytime I listen to this album, I connect with it again. It hits me, a lyric clicks, a song sounds better, one more line applies to my exact current situation, whatever. It just works. I've been humming this album since the day I got it. If you want something that doesn't take heartbreak, a bottle of whiskey, and the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy to understand, this is your album.

3. Ryan Adams - Love is Hell Pts. 1 & 2
I know, I know, it's two EPs. But it's supposed to be one album, so I'm ranking it as one album. Basically, I'm in love with every song on this album. If you like Ryan Adams, you'll love it. If you don't, it probably won't change your mind. This is the closest he's come to Heartbreaker quality (Lost Highway rejected it at first because it was too "mopey") and it features some of his best songs ever (Political Scientist, Hotel Chelsea Nights, Shadowlands, Avalanche, My Blue Manhatten). And I'm even more partial to it because it features the piano moreso than his previous work (and I must say, he's using it very well), plus he scores infinite cool points for name-dropping the Chelsea Hotel in not only the lyrics of one song, but the title of another (The Chelsea is special to me, that's where I stayed in NY). Retelling the story of this album is getting about as redundant as retelling YHF's, but just know that this album is the one Ryan wanted to follow up Gold with. Rock'n'Roll is the ear candy he can "shit out" in two days.

4. Constantines - Shine a Light
The Cons are a band I've been shoving down people's throats for over a year now. Go download Hyacinth Blues (epitonic.com) and you'll see why. Now they've got a distribution deal with Sub Pop, and they're making a lot of waves in the indie world. Such is life. They've been called the heirs to Fugazi's throne, if that means anything to you. And if it does, you know you should check these guys out.

5. Outkast - The Love Below
The Love Below is an amazing 37 car pile up genres with some of the catchiest (Hey Ya!), funniest (Where Are My Panties?), and most original pop (My Favorite Things [unlisted track 17]) songs this year. But you've all read reviews of this by now, so I won't waste the bytes. (I haven't heard Speakerboxxx, that's why I only rank half the set.)

6. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
It was just too much. It was unbelievably weighed down with vocals and instruments and images. One track features Rufus backed by himself over 300 times. Yes, 300 backing vocal samples. Of himself. Rufus claimed to be writing an album about leaving the excess of his lifestyle behind, but instead he channeled all those things he gave up into the 14 songs on Want One. But then I started listening to it closer, and its gorgeous. Rufus' melodic genius is not weighed down. It just hits you harder if you let it.

7. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Isn't it funny. I didn't even really like this album at first. Radiohead promised me I wouldn't recognize them anymore. I was hoping the claims that this album would return to the rocky roots of The Bends would be yet another hollow claim. Instead they surprised me with a nice little summation of their past three masterpieces, not as good as the three, but still genius in that Radiohead way. And you can thank the last track for making me realize it.

8. Beck - Sea Change
Take this album, , set aside an hour, get into your car and drive. Turn the cell phone off, turn the music up, and just listen. If you don't, you won't like this album. It's one freshly served slab of pain, drenched in orchestra and served with a side of stereo effects to die for.

9. Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Give me a week and this album will probably be in the top three. I listened to it exactly 1.5 times and it made it this high.

10. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts
And they said Kevin Shields was done after Loveless. Oh, wait... you mean this isn't a My Bloody Valentine album? Well, it does sound a little more in focus with solid melodies that hook you instead of an ocean of sound that swallows you, and you can actually hear the lyrics. It builds songs out of solid pieces until they're packed into a perfect little nugget, but still structured and organized. It breaks down electronics into a simple revamp of entirely natural processes, and it all sounds completely fresh.

Best Older Albums I Didn't Get Until This Year (In no order)

Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Justin Timberlake - Justified
Outkast - Aquemini
Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I, Juno Split, Change, Is Terrified
Dalek - From Filthy Tongues of Gods and Griots
Faust - Faust/So Far
Lou Reed - Magic & Loss
Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Sondre Lerche - Faces Down