Top 5 albums of 2003 so far

1. The Best of the Classic Years -- King Sunny Ade
2. Decoration Day -- Drive-by Truckers
3. Electric Version -- The New Pornographers
4. Soft Spot -- Clem Snide
5. Summer Sun -- Yo La Tengo

So far, I'd say this is a great year for ideas and a terrible year for execution. There's still a whole lot of stuff I haven't heard, though. Anyone know if the new Adult. is any good?

you're right, it's not been great.

It's been a great year for singles... albums I'm not too keen on.

voted for Dying in Stereo in pazz and jop last year. Hey Matos -- you like Decoration Day better than Southern Rock Opera? I think I might

Blur - Think Tank (take that hataz!)
Ani DiFranco - Evolve (and that!)
Tomahawk - Mit Gas (that too!)
Cex - Being Ridden (y'all prob'ly approve of that one)
The Detroit Experiment (and I have no clue how y'all would feel 'bout that one)

1. Jan Jelinek avec The Exposures - La Nouvelle Pauverte
2. Miss Kittin - Radio Caroline
3. Monade - Socialisme ou Barbarie
4. The Mover - Frontal Frustration
5. Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party?

1. Thickfreakness - the Black Keys
2. Log Bomb - Bob Log III
3. Hot New Spirits - Tangiers
4. Electric Version - New Pornographers
5. Orginal London Cast Recording - The King Ad-Rock and I

Ummmmm...random stab...

1. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
2. Kristin Hersh - The Grotto
3. Jan Jelinek Avec The Exposures - La Nouvelle Pauvreté
4. Matt Elliott - The Mess We Made
5. Xiu Xiu - A Promise

Madonna, American Life
Cat Power, You Are Free
Edwyn Collins, Doctor Syntax
t.A.T.u., 200 Km/H in the Wrong Lane
those Al Green reissues on Hi that aren't new but so what

*...until it's officially been released, that is... :D

Ted Leo / Pharmacists "Hearts of Oak"
(I'm not really counting "Ass Cobra" or "Apocalypse Dudes" by Turbonegro because they're reissues but I've listened to them more than most new stuff)
Stratford 4 "Love & Distortion" if only for the song "Telephone" which I adore like crazy. (See, I'm picking an *album* based on ONE song -- I never do that! Proof of my state of underwhelmingness.)

i would put the JLC mix but thats the thing, its a MIX, NOT an ALBUM!

1. Donna Summer, "This Needs To Be Your Style"
2. John Zorn/Various Artists, "Voices in the Wilderness"
3. Matthew Shipp, "Equilibrium"
4. Stephen Malkmus, "Pig Lib"
5. Cat Power, "You Are Free"

That's really quite good, isn't it...

01 Coloma - Finery
02 Daniel Bell - The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!
03 Jan Erik Kaiser - Bis Neun
04 The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party?
05 The Modernist - Kangmei

(Just below: Anders Ilar, Black Box Recorder, Goldfrapp, Adult., Spacek, Throwing Muses, Wire, Nina Nastasia.)

What's this, Andy?

Obviously Luomo needs to be on it, but I've just listened to the album once and try not to overplay it. It's a bit special.

...

After that there's a lot of very goods: K. Blau, J. Hanson, New Porn, and so on, but I can't designate the last two.

It's a mix of the first nine Areal singles. It's been mentioned in a couple dance threads -- can't remember which ones... Actually, now I remember one: Tracer started a thread about the label late last year that was recently revived. The quality control has been excellent thus far. I think they're on their 12th or 13th release.

One of the amazing aspects of the kraut/micro-house scene is that, even if you disregared the big players, the scene would still be immense.

There's a few floating voters as well, plus which I haven't heard Fallacy's album yet. There was a tune off it on in the HMV in Croydon today, though, sort of his version of Dilemma, except sans the female viewpoint, and without the whole 'never wanna break up a happy home' angle, Fallacy's view basically seeming to be "Yeah, so you're with someone else, but that's not a problem because I'll MONSTAH batter them no trouble." Not that I'm arguing or anything.

The bits of The Electric Version that I've heard have been quality as well.

Shiina Ringo - Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana
All Girl Summer Fun Band - 2
Blood Brothers - Burn Piano Island, Burn
Animal Collective - Campfire Songs
Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place
Hidden Cameras - The Smell of Our Own
Lightning Bolt - Beautiful Rainbow
Whitehouse - Bird Seed
Ellen Allien - Berlinette
M83 - Dead Cities Red Seas and Lost Ghosts

I have to imagine that those who said that this has been a weak year for albums either want it to be a weak year or are just not paying attention. There are so many things I have absolutely loved this year, and (as it has been said here before) it has been an absolutely stellar year in the world of indie rock.

(as I was typing WBS got in The Hidden Cameras and the AGSFB. I'm not copying, I swear!)

1. the rapture - echoes
2. ted leo & the pharmacists - hearts of oak
3. soundmurderer - wired for sound
4. white stripes - elephant
5. tobias thomas - smallville

and the best records of the year (that i know of) haven't even been released yet.

but yeah, i could probably list 50 singles already.

1. A.R.E. Weapons
2. Deadly Snakes
3. Electric Six
4. *Broklyn Beats*
5. Some tie between Voivod, Ted Leo, Drive-By Truckers, the three garage-rap compilations Simon Reynolds taped for me, the five-song pre-release Bubba Sparxxx sampler EP, Grooveski, and lots of others I mentioned on some thread last week. (On first listen, the new NOFX album *The War on Errorism* might be up there, too. We'll see.)

Three singles that will almost definitely make my top ten that nobody else cares (or maybe knows) about are "Bombs Below" by Living Things, "City Beat" by Bat Eats Plastic, and "Step Daddy" by Hitman Sammy Sam. "Pick Up the Phone" by the Notwist too, maybe. And maybe one or two Black Lips things I forget the names of. I haven't heard that Jay-Z/Panjabi MC song yet, for some shameful reason. "In Da Club" may or may not be good enough to squeeze in at the bottom.

Just realised I utterly forgot BBR, Cat Power, TATU and Northern State - if I listened to Bonnie Prince Billy and Manitoba more, they'd probably figure too. And I'm not sure if Maher On Water was this year or last either.

What's really odd - the album I've listened to most this year is probably Ooberman...

God, this year has been good.

Singles
1. “Big N Bashy” Fallacy
2. “It’s Over” Phi Life Cypher
3. “All The Things She Said” t.a.T.u.
4. “Ignition Remix” R. Kelly
5. “We Know Something You Don’t Know” DJ Format ft Chali 2na and Akil
6. “React” Erick Sermon
7. “At The Party” Northern State
8. “Mundian To Bach Ke” Punjabi MC
9. “If Everybody In The World (Loved Everybody In The World)” Stylophonic
10. “A.D.I.D.A.S” Killer Mike ft Big Boi

(I believe "At The Party" and "React" were US releases last year, but they were released over here, well, this year)

next five: s. carter collection, lightning bolt, freeway, four tet, libertines.

...gotta get that Smallville.

there's a bunch of new mego and erstwhile stuff i haven't heard yet

Siouxsie singing Bruce Springsteen songs with a big cheap Eurpop backing!

Top5:
1-"Beauty Party", The Majesticons
2-"200 Km/H In The Wrong Lane", t.A.T.u.
3-"The Raven", Lou Reed
4-"Supper", Smog
5-"Nocturama", Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

(#5 ain't much cop, but you asked for five and five you shall receive)

Plenty of other faves left off. Rapture and Bangkok Impact might have made it if I'd heard them more than once.

albums i'll be listening to soon that may change the order quickly...

autechre, radiohead, blur, matt elliot, evan dando, prefuse 73...

and many more...

Bearing in mind that Cécile's album is due out this year, I'd say that will find it's way in near the top soon, likewise Luomo's Present Lover (Matos will you please stop talking about this until I have a copy!!!) and the new Swayzak Fabric mix is pretty awesome by all accounts, I just don't have a copy yet, so it's not fair to include it...

Oh, so it's irony. Thought so.

2003 Pt. 1: Shlock and Awe
1 New Pornographers "The Electric Version"
2 Ted Leo/Pharmacists "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?"
3 Drive-By Truckers "Outfit"
4 Dan Bern "Graceland"
5 Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham "Threw It Away"
6 Yo La Tengo "Today Is the Day"
7 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
8 The Bloodthirsty Lovers "Telepathic"
9 Vessel "Koozbane"
10 Luciano "Orda'
11 Groove Armada "Lovebox"
12 Audio Bullys "The Snow"
13 Cooler Kids "E Is for Everybody"
14 Todd Edwards "Beckon Call (2003 Remix)"
15 SCSI-9 "My Sunday Zoo"

2003 Pt. 2: Hell Is for Kitchens
1 Akufen "New Process"
2 Electric Six "Danger! High Voltage"
3 Hi-Fi Hillary "Re-Work It"
4 Mickey and the Soul Generation "Football"
5 Triple Threat "Morning Showers"
6 Prefuse 73 "Uprock and Invigorate"
7 Killer Mike "Akshon (Yeah!)"
8 Freeway featuring Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel "What We Do..."
9 Adrian Sherwood "Boogaloo"
10 The Postal Service "Nothing Better"
11 Go Home Productions "Making Plans for Vinyl"
12 New Pornographers "The Laws Have Changed"
13 Stereolab "Untitled (Check and Double Check)"
14 Ted Leo/Pharmacists "The Ballad of the Sin Eater"
15 !!! "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)"
16 Freaks "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out"
17 The Contortions "Contort Yourself"
18 The Mover "Burning Universe"

Aarktica - Pure Tone Audiometry
Adult. - Anxiety Always
Coloma - Finery
Data 80 - s/t
Manitoba - Up in Flames
New Pornographers - Electric Version
Pale Horse and Rider - These Are the New Good Times
Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Stephen Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers - Heroin (reissue -- but with second disc of remixes, which is the part I like best)
Xela - For Frosty Mornings and Summer Nights

1. Curvo Fado Mariza
2. El Gallo Bueno Zemog
3. Electro Bamako Mamni Keita & Marc Minelli
4. Can't Make Me Besh o droM
5. (Tie) Rough Guide to Hungarian Music and Rough Guide to Balkan Music and Rough Guide to Ska

Bless me, I am converted for I have seen the true light!

I'm waiting to totally immerse myself in Hail to the Thief until I hear the final mix.

god how I hate that microphones record. I really liked the glow, too, but this one just jumped off into "trying way too fucking hard" territory for me (actually I liked it more when I heard it out in a club before I saw the Notwist, but it's not good sitting at home music, and it isn't good driving music, and it isn't good working music, so that pretty much kills it for me).

The Blood Brothers
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
New Pornographers
Wrens
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks

And in certain moods Bangkok Impact, Goldfrapp, Pram, Freaks, Lisa Germano, Lightening Bolt, and Jan Erik Kaiser can exchange for whatever.

Oh, fuck it. What's the point in this?

kenan- the point is fun! do u hate it?

I have a pile of things that have been released this year but which i haven't got round to yet and, as i type, i can only recall things i have bought this year but haven't been released in '03. as i hate fun:

1. Masayuki takayanagi/karou abe- mass projection
2. Borbetomagus- snuff jazz
3. No neck blues band- sticks and stone
4. sonny sharrock- black woman

I'll go and listen to some stuff and then come back and give no 5.

I like Siouxsie's voice. I LOVE Bruce Springsteen's songwriting. Therefore, of course I love something that combines the two. I don't like Eurpop much, but I like it when ppl can recontextualize stuff I previously thought I hated and make it sound exciting and wonderful. So, basically, I like t.A.T.u. because they're a combination of various things I like. Which I'm sure is terribly ironic, but I'm not about to care.

They also seem to be the most *Romantic* group I've heard in ages- you know, full-on forbidden love dark riders in the night we will love each other forever and/or commit suicide Romantic. I've never really gotten that style- I always preferred realism- and I'm happy that I've gotten a better understanding of it via such an unexpected source.

i'm gonna watch the bluebirds over my shoulder comp

Have fun!

Nothing

Ned is admirable (in a non-ironic fashion, lest I be misunderstood.)

hahahhaahah

at least that's it so far. still have yet to hear most things. 2003 is all right with me, daddy-o.

Cheers!

Cheers!

1.Blood Brothers DEFINITELY up there
2.I actually really like the Calexico album, can't remember if that's this year, think it is.
3.I'ma put The Black Keys in there, though it won't be there in six months (I hope)
4.If ALL the A.R.E. Weapons album was as good as the opening and closing tracks, it would clean up, but I'll put it here for now.
5.I'm going to put the Deerhoof album HERE, I haven't heard it yet, but Summer Sun is a bit disappointing. Or maybe Manitoba, A for effort.

John Fahey - [Red Cross]
New Pornographers - Electric Version
Brotzmann/Parker/Drake - Never Too Late But Always Too Early
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
(And at least for this week, a cheat:)Bad Brains - Greatest Hits

So many more....

1) ARE Weapons, s/t
2) White Stripes, Elephant
3) Adult., Anxiety Always (tentative, on first listen)
4) Murs, The End of the Beginning
5) Audio Bullys, Ego War

Yeah, so far so weak. I gotta hear that Luomo everyone's been nutting over, though. And Phantom Power. I didn't mention Radiohead because I've only heard the leaked MP3s and I don't think they'll necessarily be representative (if Thom's "darn that interweb mp3 stuff" grumblings mean anything).

Neudonym, how'd you like that? (lots, I guess, it's on your top 5)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
Jimi Tenor - Higher Planes
Blur - Think Tank
Kaada - Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time
The Rapture - Echoes

1.)The New Pornographers-Electric Version
2.)Wire -Send
3.)Calexico -Feast of Wire
4.) the Yeah Yeah Yeah's -Fever To Tell
5.) the Kills-Keep on Your Mean Side
6.) White Stripes- Elephant
7.) Cat Power- You Are Free
8.) The Libertines- Up the Bracket (American release)

Still haven't heard Manitoba in ist entirelty and where is everybody getting the new Rapture? I thought its supposed to be released in August?

and I guess YYYs, Xiu Xiu, Lucinda Williams and Yo La Tengo.

I need to hear Murs, Luomo, the Rapture and Tatu albums; and as soon as I do, they're in the list. Oh and the Clipse.

Yeah, where is everybody getting the new Rapture and Luomo albums?>

For dyson: "tell me more of this higher planes. is it classic jimi scandinavian phunk freak out stuff¿" It is classic jimi scandanavian phunk freak out stuff, but it's even better this time.

Haha!!!

It's "shew up."

shit that was OKAY:
Lightning Bolt, Tomahawk, Lil Kim

good shit so far:

Lexaunculpt, Autechre, Strapping Young Lad

Looking forward to playing and liking Prefuse 73, Audio Bullys and much much more. Liked a lot but not loved; Jnr Snr, Soft Pink Truth. Nonplussed by ADF. Various other things I own/have heard and probably liked/loved but can't remember and can't be arsed looking for at quarter to midnight.

Echoboy - Giraffe
Adult. - Anxiety Always
Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Stop The Beat
The White Stripes - Elephant
Kaada - Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time

--shakes magic 8-ball--

...ask again later...

Yes.

I started this thread and (mostly) no one cared.

My tentative top 5:

The Bad Plus, These Are the Vistas
Happy Apple, Youth-Oriented
Prefuse 73, One Word Extinguisher
Youngblood Brass Band, center:level:roar
Radiohead, Hail to the Thief

I'm looking forward to hearing the new Aesop Rock though, and the new Telefon Tel Aviv will almost definitely make my year end list. I'm sure there will be some good jazz albums along the way too.

I would also be remiss if I didn't admit that I haven't heard like 90% of the stuff on everyone else's list. But most of it I don't really care about, so whatever. I think my favorite song so far this year is "No Tengo Dinero" by A.B. Quintanilla y los Kumbia Kings, which also features El Gran Silencio and Juan Gabriel, and has a dope video with kids acting out everyone's part, and that break-dancing white girl from the Missy Elliott video who was the little sister on Disney's "Mike's Super Short Show," the same one that that creepy Scandinavian lurker dude was asking about a few months ago. Girl's tearin' it up on the hip-hop tip.

In no particular order

I must make an effort to not buy mix albums.

Top records of 2003:

Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak
Montrose, s/t
Badfinger, Magic Christian Music
Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
Neil Young, Harvest

(Hey wait, that answer fits for me too. Grr!)

(oh my GOOOOOOOOOOSH)

Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak
Montrose, s/t
Badfinger, Magic Christian Music
Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
Neil Young, Harvest

Compaired to whats been released lately. Your right!!!

Honourable mention - ...And You Will Know about whom I'm talking about - The Secret of Elena's Tomb EP

(obv. once Luomo, Rapture, Dizzee Rascal and various sundry Kompakt albums are released it's ALL OVER for this list)

Where are the good rap albums?

this list is likely to get totally fucked-up when I hear Four Tet, Radiohead, New Pornographers & Clue To Kalo albums.

In no particular order:
Gold Chains: Miss Young America
Doctor L: Monkey Dizziness
Hess Is More: The Soundtrack
(Reserved for Dizzee R.)
(Reserved for Blur)

Close but no cigar: Moloko "Statues", SFA "Phantom Power", Four Tet "Rounds", Manitoba "Up in Flames", Angie Reed "The Best of Barbara Brockhaus"

Thank fuck I downloaded this instead of buying it: Junior Senior "D-D-Don't Stop the Beat" and um others I've thankfully forgotten

It has been a poor year IMHO. Black Box Recorder was distinctly average. As for ulrich scnauss? Very dull. Compare it to Boards of Canada and you'll see how second-rate and obvious this record is. Hmm. I didn't like the first Prefuse 73. Is the second one any different? Manitoba seems very popular: might give that a go.

i saw this mentioned sev. times on the thread. y'all who're feeling this - is it really that good? tell me why i should like this. i reviewed the s/t debut last year and slagged it to death b/c it ripped off all of my favorite 90s cuddlecore bands and didn't add anything to the canon, i felt.

With White Stripes, Junior Senior and Soft Pink Truth bubbling under.

http://ilx.wh3rd.net/search.php?board=2

None of which are as good as Lil Wayne's 500 Degreez, which came out last summer but which I just got around to listening to now.

the best is actually radiohead's "hail the thief", but it hasn't been released yet.

(0 radiohead - hail to the thief)
1 yo la tengo - summer sun
2 cat power - you are free
3 howe gelb - the listener
4 massive attack - 100th window
5 go-betweens - bright yellow, bright orange

Yo La Tengo would come in a distant fourth; very very solid but I don't have any grebt desire to play it again.

i gave prefuse 73 and blur a couple of listens today, so my list may be changed already (the former definitely gets in, the latter possibly...)

adam johnson - chigliak (merck)
corker/conboy - in light of that learnt later (vertical form) (late 2002 release, i know, but it didn't come stateside until 2003)
tommy guerrero - soul food taqueria (mo' wax)
richy pitch - live at home ep (seven heads)
dub tractor - mostly mono (city centre offices)

motioned --
Wayne Shorter, Alegría

(admitted: haven't heard that many oh!3 albs)

1) Electric Six - Fire
2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
3) TaTu - 300 km/h In The Wrong Lane
4) White Stripes - Elephant
5) Turbonegro - Scandanavian Leather

Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks: Pig Lib
Emperor: Scattered Ashes (A Decade of Emperial Wrath)
Plaid: Parts In The Post - Remixes
Autechre: Draft7.30

It's been a good year for compilations and retrospectives. I wanted to put the Aphex Remixes in their but they're a close sixth. I'm worried that I'm getting impervious to new music. I'm only twenty-two but look at my selection - all from bands who were at their peaks around 1995. This is very worrying.

Must second Dog Latin on these:
Plaid: Parts In The Post - Remixes
Autechre: Draft7.30

(Glad you bought Parts In The Post in the end)
and also love Fever to Tell like everyone else.

Athletic Mic League - Sweats and Kicks
if you like hip-hop, go get this
Blur - Think Tank
cheesy on the first few spins, but it's genius
Damien Jurado - Where Shall you Take Me?
sad and beautiful
The Postal Service - Give Up
so damn catchy, pop wrapped up in an indie blanket
Murs - The End of the Beginning
intelligent lyrics, good beats, catchy

goddammit! I'm so in love with music right now.

But right now all I want to do is listen to Kitchens of Distinction B-sides -- not saying they're better than the current year's selection of songs, not saying that the past was better in general, it's just that this is what I want to listen to and care about...

"There you go loves, don't worry."

I listened to Ladies & Gentlemen last night on headphones for the first time in ageeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. Twas aceness.

1. Mew - Frengers
2. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
3. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak
4. The Divine Brown - How The Divine Brown Saved Rock'N'Roll
5. Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks - Pig Lig (Bonus 'Dark Wave' CD inparticularly)

roll on the next ones!!!

Good exceptions both. And once again, Dan, psychic twin (and indulging in Siouxsie big time is always Good and Worthy).

*i've only heard 3 tracks... but v.v.greight!

others: deerhoof - apple O, blood brothers - burn piano island burn, the rapture - echoes, neon hunk - smarmymob, uh... more to follow i'm sure.

best mix = colette No5 cd2 - DFA mix
best five years too late: saeita

I feel like a really bad person for being totally indifferent to the Postal Service.

*These may actually be the only five from this year I own, I'm not sure

other than these great ones, everything Ive heard this year is TOTAL SHIT. esp elephant.

This will change in the next month when I get more new albums, like Radiohead, Pernice Brothers, and Mogwai.

jess, when do you slsk?

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power (beware! the single is weak but the album is breathtaking)
Blood Brothers - Burn Piano Island Burn
Arab Strap - Monday at the Hug and Pint
Tangiers - Hot New Spirits

(a) Most obviously it's "good" in the usual way that albums are good, meaning it features a higher-than-average number of good-sounding songs that sound good together.

(b) Less obviously, I stand by my theory that it's largely a kind of schoolgirl nu-metal in trance clothes, which is a good and interesting thing (and incidentally much better, if less "interesting," than the lesbian nu-metal three-piece I saw here a few weeks ago).

(c) Oh BUT (you might say if you were enough of a weirdo to pay attention to what different things I like and dislike) what kind of hypocrite likes Avril Lavigne but totally ignores equivalent boy-punk, and then praises Tatu for their "schoolgirl nu-metal" vibe while maintaining that nu-metal, while surprisingly killer as a singles genre, is generally not a good thing? Well, a hypocrite like me, that's what kind. Oh, I'll admit: I'm not a teenager, and when I want to bathe in teenage pathos it is without doubt something to do with Otherness, and I'm not a girl, and so teenage girl-style pathos is just twice as much Otherness to revel in. Tatu's teenageriness tends to be much more inviting than Avril's, if much less complex: the latter is something a bit more than just endearingly bratty, while with Tatu it's OMG straight-up lovesick transcendental teenageriness, Star-Cross LoveExplosion, aching sighs and starry eyes! Okay so that is a good thing. Also also I've come to the unsurprising conclusion that teenage-girl pathos just tends to be better than teenage-boy pathos, as evidenced by a comparison of teenage-bonehead texts by like Good Charlotte and Avril -- the former with their snotty I'm-so-grown "I don't wanna go to school and get a job" talk (boring) versus the latter's cackly "hahaha one day I will show the snobby girls who's boss" (equally dumb but way more compelling!). I forgot what that has to do with Tatu, other than I dunno, if I'm hopping into the great stewy bath of teenagery solipsistic drama and solemn whimpering I want it to be Tatu's bath. (And yes, I'm uncomfortable with the bath metaphor because obviously I would rather take a literal bath with Tatu than with Linkin Park.)

(d) Also their voices are so sharp and chirpy and cut and sampled so rigidly to bits that they're practically robots. Plus roughly 80% of the composition on this record is, like most trance, largely about big squared-off shifts in harmony -- like the trance standard of the melody that repeats against big blocky gear-shifting in the chord underneath -- and it's interesting to hear how this record does the same thing, only using the girls' voices in big twisty harmony. Chirp!

(e) Also come on, don't say a word against Tatu or a word about "irony" unless you've heard "Malchik Gay." Seriously. That's just plain one of the most interesting and wonderful tracks I've heard in several years.

It's rather samey but I for one am quite happy for them to plow a single furrow.

A bunch of stuff I expect to like. (If I don't listen to nearly the same volume as some of you--and I can hardly compete with people who get review copies--at least there's the possibility that I will come up with a list that includes artists completely absent from all your lists. I usually can't make a list like this until about five years later though.)

most of the lyrics will be known to all y'all who have ever heard ras on the pirates or heard the mp3 sets on dc++ on kazaa, but it is still incredibly fucking awesome.

1. "Music For The Mature B Boy" DJ Format
2. "Blackmarket Boy" Fallacy
3. "Friends of Mine" Adam Green
4. "Young Miss America"
5. "200 km/h In The Wrong Lane" t.a.T.u.

1. Dizzee Rascal – “I Luv U (Sharky Remix)”
2. Wayne Wonder – “No Letting Go”
3. Joe Budden – “Pump It Up”
4. A.R.E. Weapons – “Don’t Be Scared”
5. R. Kelly – “Ignition (Remix)”
6. Killer Mike – “A.D.I.D.A.S.”
7. Beyonce feat. Jay-Z – “Crazy In Love”
8. Kardinal Offishall – “Belly Dance”
9. 50 Cent – “In Da Club”
10. !!! – “Me and Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story)”

1. The Rapture – Echoes
2. Luomo – The Present Lover (Force Tracks)
3. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Hearts of Oak (Lookout!)
4. Freeway – Philadelphia Freeway (Roc-a-fella)
5. Tobias Thomas – Smallville (Kompakt)
6. The White Stripes – Elephant
7. V/A – Broklyn Beats (Sic) 7” Series Compilation (Broklyn Beats)
8. Freaks – The Man Who Lived Underground (Music For Freaks)
9. The Bug – Pressure (Rephlex)
10. M Mayer – Peel Session

dizzee will change everything obv

1. bonnie prince billy- master and everyone
2. cat power- you are free
3. yyy's- fever to tell
4. the rapture- echoes
5. luomo- present lover

I'm very much looking forward to 'Boy in The Corner' from our man Rascket and Sightings forthcoming disc 'Absolutes'

Honorable mentions go to Neon Hunk, Glass Candy, Zeigenboff Kopf or however the fuck you spell it and DJ Scud.

1. ARE Weapons -- ARE Weapons
2. The Rapture -- Echoes
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Fever to Tell
4. DJ Language -- New Wave Vs. Negroclash
5. Blood Brothers -- Burn Piano Island Burn

Honorable mentions: Angels of Light, Calla, Glass Candy, Killer Mike, !!!, Carlsonics, Electric 6

Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
Enslaved - Below The Lights

Wanna hear:

Luomo - Present Lover
new Beyonce

Should prob. listen to again before saying anything:

Angels of Light, Katatonia

Eh:

Tomahawk

That Hella 12" I ain't so fond of (read my review here). They aren't at all LB rippers (tho the 12" at times comes pretty close). Get Hold Yr Horse Is if you haven't heard it, ss. Oh and Zach, Hella's drummer is now playing with: Les Claypool, Chino from Deftones and Daron from System of a Down. Word's out on that kid.

Oh my gawd.

Is this new? When I saw Owen a couple of weeks back he said the new album wasn't going to be out for a while yet.

what gives!?!

Rah! :-) I look forward to it. Here's hoping it gets him even more fans, he's a good 'un, he is.

1. Decoration Day -- Drive-by Truckers
2. Electric Version -- New Pornographers
3. Best of the Classic Years -- King Sunny Ade
4. Fever to Tell -- New Pornographers
5. Ego War -- Audio Bullys

1. trost. forget the peaches comparison, this sounds like daphne&celeste coming off heroin in a dank lofi bunker.

2. goulbourn poultry fanciers society. australias scuzziest bitmeddle the hits. choice title: "britany's boobies"

3. luomo: present lover (yeah, yeah...)

4. alterboy: nofi. probably too varied and accomplished tho'.

5. plumbline: circles. sometimes i think its beautiful and others a cliched dead end ...

Four Tet
Manitoba
Gillian Welch

1. The White Stripes, Elephant: For me, it lives up to the hype. I wanna be Jack and I wanna fuck Meg.

2. The Black Keys, Thickfreakness: The New Grime Blues. Love it.

3. Yeah, Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell: The most orgasmic album about sex from the female perspective since Liz Phair's Exile from Guyville.

4. Calexico, Feast of Wire: So easy to listen to, so transporting. Spaghetti western varmints on the spit and noodling tape-loops never tasted so good.

5. The Raveonettes, Whip it On: Haven't gone crazy...yet. You know when you accidentally drop your electric shaver into the sink and it buzzes around the bowl like a giant mechanical fly trying to climb out of the toilet? Yeah. And I still don't know why I can't sop listening to it.

I'm just now getting an earful of these five 2002 releases and I like them all better than all of my current year faves, for now.

1. The Hellacopters, High Visibility: This slab of 70s-styled rock skronk absolutely fucking rules my brain right now!

2. Clinic, Walking With Thee: Great title, spooky tunes, a good walk unspoiled.

3. Radio 4, Gotham: Sycnchronized racket, ala Gang of 4. I'm always a sucker for this kind of stuff. Liars, last year, did the same thing for me. I do dig rackety, danceable rock. Good for the circulation.

4. The Sights, Got What We Want: 2 young 2 B this good. And probably what the Hansons wanted to grow up 2 B. Sweet sounding, crunchy and varied with some infectious guitar playing. Mmm good.

5. The Libertines, Up the Bracket: The Blokes.

Long live rock--Swing

14 year old girls zombies in robots out
adult. anxiety always
apes oddeyesee
delgados hate
lefty's deceiver cheats
postal servce give up
s prcss mnml
sick lipstick string string string
throwing muses throwing muses
andrew wk the wolf

Broadcast 'haha sound'
Junior Senior 'D-d-don't Stop The Beat'
Audio Bullys 'Ego War'
Dizzee Rascal 'Boy In Da Corner'
Soft Pink Truth 'Do You Party'
White Stripes 'Elephant'
Black Box Recorder 'Passionoia'
Goldfrapp 'Black Cherry'
Radiohead 'Hail To The Thief'
Zongamin 'Zongamin'

1. Dizzee Rascal – “I Luv U (Sharkie Major Remix)” (XL)
2. Wayne Wonder – “No Letting Go” (VP)
3. Beyonce feat. Jay-Z – “Crazy In Love” (Sony)
4. A.R.E. Weapons – “Don’t Be Scared” (Rough Trade)
5. R. Kelly – “Ignition (Remix)” (Jive)
6. Coldplay – “Clocks” (Capitol)
7. Killer Mike – “A.D.I.D.A.S.” (Sony)
8. Kardinal Offishall – “Belly Dancer” (MCA)
9. !!! – “Me and Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story)” (Touch & Go)
10. Origin Unknown feat. MC Dynamite – “Hotness” (white label)

Waiting on The Rapture, Colder, Bark Psychosis, Mars Volta (which I'll get today, damn that cover) and anything else interesting that crops up. There are probably also loads of other albums from the year thus fat that are great which I've forgotten.

They're the only ones that have really stood out for me, but I haven't listened to many new releases this year.

1. El Gran Silencio, Super Riddim Internacional!, Vol. 1
2. Cibelle, s/t
3. Martin Gordon, The Baboon in the Basement
4. Over the Rhine, Ohio
5. Susheela Raman, Love Trap
6. Kenna, New Sacred Cow
7. Arnaldo Antunes / Carlinhos Brown / Marisa Monte, Tribalistas
8. Allison Moorer, Show
9. Sir Mix-a-lot, Daddy’s Home
10. Miary Lepiera, Soro

Revised list:
1. Postal Service - Give Up
2. Kanye West - I'm Good (mixtape)
3. Mars Volta - De-Loused at the Cornatorium
4. Cex - Being Ridden
5. Black Eyes - s/t
6. DJ Kast One - Reggae Bashment (mixtape)
7. Manitoba - Up in Flames
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
9. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
10. Adult. - Anxiety Always

I don't get free advance records like a lot of you (or I usually don't, anyway), so I haven't heard nearly as much.

Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Manitoba - Up In Flames
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts
The Notwist - Neon Golden (American release was this year)

but if you won't count that..take
Wire - Send
or
Xiu Xiu - A Promise

1. Zwan
2. HIM - Love Metal
3. Helloween - Rabbit Don't Come Easy
4. The Darkness - Permission to Land
5. Metallica - St.Anger

Mine (possibly to be amended in the near future *cough*Speakerbox/Love Below*cough* and maybe again cuz you know *cough*Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine*cough*):

Ween Quebec
Radiohead Hail to the Thief
Lightning Bolt Wonderful Rainbow
Black Eyed Peas Elephunk
Ween Quebec again cuz it's that fucking awesome

1. Radiohead, "Hail to the Thief"
2. Prefuse 73, "One Word Extinguisher"
3. The Postal Service, "Give Up"
4. Broken Social Scene, "You Forgot it in People"
5. Grandaddy, "Sumday"

Drive-By Truckers "Decoration Day"
Grandaddy "Sumday"
My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
White Stripes "Elephant"
Mars Volta, "De-loused in the Comatorium"
Bad Boys II soundtrack (yes, really -- surprises the hell out of me)
M. Ward "The Transfiguration of Vincent"
Cat Power "You Are Free"
David Banner "Mississippi: The Album"

Hasn't been a good year for the urban at all, and I've got some catching up to do on the white-boy electronic tip, especially re: Basement Jaxx. I'm not as big a fan of Postal Service or Prefuse 73 as some. I'm also intrigued by Freeway -- his cut on bad Boys II is fantastic.

I have yet to hear Basement Jaxx, the Rapture or OutKast. A pretty good year for wuss rock so far, and a lousy year for the urban.

M83
Notwist
Black Box Recorder
Pulseprogramming
Russian Futurists

Also like
Mars Volta - De-Loused In the Comatorium
Andrea Neumann/Burkhard Beins - Lidingo

Looking forward to hearing
John Butcher
K-Os
Andrew WK

Might look into
Darkness
HIM

All will be forgiven if those promised Mayer and Superpitcher albums make it out by year's end.

My top five is now looking like this:

Matthew Dear – Leave Luck to Heaven
Ricardo Villalobos – Alcachofa
Basement Jaxx – Kish Kash
Andrés – Andrés
David Sylvian – Blemish

drooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

i still rate the Junior Senior, White Stripes and Broadcast albums, but i think Basement Jaxx have it in the bag (tho i'm still waiting on Outkast) for me now.

1 Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
2 Richard X - Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1
3 Black Box Recorder - Passionoia
4 Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy
5 The Hidden Cameras - The Smell Of Our Own

Broadcast and The Faint and Girls Aloud all floating around the outskirts, all completely subject to change and and and.

Four Tet
Elbow
Manitoba
Nextmen
Gillian Welch

2. The Rapture-Echoes

3. Richard X-X Factor

4. Jacques Lu Cont-Fabric Live

5. i can't think of anything else, help i'm a singles head.

This will all change when we visit THEE COURTSHIP OF DEVIN DAZZLE!

I have not yet been so blessed.

The Rapture echoes
Decemberists castaways
Sunburned Hand of the Man headdress
TV on the Radio ep
Constantines Shine a Light
Circle Pori reissue
Animal Collective indians
Ethiopiques 14
The Clean Anthology
Babbletron Mechanical Royalty
Medicine
Dennis Bovell

(could easily be disrupted by Elephant Man, Richard X, Outkast, M. Mayer, Superpitcher, Ricardo Villalobos etc. etc.)

Still Waiting on Luomo -Where is the distribution for this album!
and the Rapture

The remaining candidates: Shack (probable), Broadcast (probable), Dizzee (maybe), Bubba Sparxxx (near definite), Outkast (ditto), Luomo (probable), Manitoba (maybe), the Hidden Cameras (hmmm), Dannii Minogue (could be), Fallacy (maybe), Girls Aloud (could be), Pleasure-Pleasure (am I the only ILMer who's heard this then?).

Further investigation on DH and Jemini and Gang Starr. Lack of j-pop/whatever-kei this year, which don't sit right.

Best mix CD is a battle between Bent's FabricLIVE mix, Cassius' Muzik mix and possibly Erol Alkan's and the DFA's (BTW, could anyone burn this for me as I'm having trouble finding it? Cheers)

Like, I never finished listening to Phantom Power and it was making an impression.

1. Dizzee
2. Radiohead
3. Richard X
4. Archigram/Crydamoure (does this count?)
5. Mogwai

It'll all change, probably. I have difficulty remembering what came out this year (if martian links his site I will slap him so help me god)

And I've forgotten Waves and the Hunches and Cat Power and the AGSFB ah buggery.

Thank you for reminding me that I need to go get some Clientele stuff, BTW.

My singles list is probably gonna be more fun.

1. Basement Jaxx
2. Dizzee Rascal
3. Outkast
4. Radiohead
5. Ratpure
6. Richard X
7. Luomo
8. Darkness
9. Junior Senior
10. Cat Power

(This is of course conditional on NO OTHER good albums being released from now until the end of the year)

Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
Broadcast - Haha Sound
The Clientele - The Violet Hour
The Relict - Tomorrow Is Again
Sodastream - A Minor Revival

Neil Young's Greendale missed out because I only love 3 songs on it.

I have high hopes for the following new releases: The Shins, Beulah, Erase Errata, The Strokes, and Belle & Sebastian.

1) Basement Jaxx, Kish Kash
2) Atmosphere, Seven's Travels
3) Dizzee Rascal, Boy In Da Corner
4) The Rapture, Echoes
5) White Stripes, Elephant

I'm also geeked for the new Strokes album (I figure it's merely a matter of time before they make their Blondie move and start fuckin' with disco beats), Jay-Z, Outkast, Ludacris and Can Ox.

how many songs does the guy (Innes?) sing on the relict album? his voice is a major letdown.

Hey, I picked non-indie-rock non-consensus choices.

2 are instrumentals,
Innes sings 5,
Lupe Nuñez-Fernandez & Pam Berry sing 4 between them &
Abigail Marvell sings 1

Radiohead, "Hail to the Thief"
Elbow, "Cast of Thousands"
Blood Brothers, "Burn, Piano Island, Burn"
SFA, "Phantom Power"
The Cooper Temple Clause, "Kick Up the Fire..." (hurray for difficult second albums!)
Pretty Girls Make Graves, "The New Romance"
British Sea Power, "The Decline Of..."
My Morning Jacket, "It Still Moves"

Also enjoying:
Muse, "Absolution"; Beulah, "Yoko"; Death Cab for Cutie, "Transatlanticism"; Dizzee Rascal, "Boy in Da Corner"; Killing Joke, "Killing Joke"; Fountains of Wayne, "Welcome Interstate Managers"; Pernice Brothers, "Yours, Mine and Ours"

high hopes for:
Electric Soft Parade, Rufus Wainwright (the first five tracks, which I've heard, are fantastic), Modest Mouse.

1. Basement Jaxx
2. Dizzee Rascal
3. Outkast
4. Radiohead
5. Ratpure
6. Richard X
7. Luomo
8. Darkness
9. Junior Senior
10. Cat Power

Only heard the Darkness.

Dan Greenpeace and DJ Yoda - Unthugged
Electric 6 - Fire
DJ Format - Music For The Mature B Boy
DJ Rubbish - Proper Propaganda
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief

i'm not sure how much this has changed since stuff by the walkmen, mountain goats, spoon, and john vanderslice have been bumped to 2004.

1/ Dizzee Rascal-"Boy in da corner"
2/ The Rapture-"Echoes"
3/ David Banner-"Mississippi:The Album"
4/ The Yeah Yeah Yeah's-"Fever to tell"
5/ Lightning Bolt-"Wonderful rainbow"
6/ Smog-"Supper"
7/ Basement Jaxx-"Kish Kash"
8/ Broadcast-"Haha sound"
9/ The Darkness-"Permission to land"
10/Sean Paul-"Dutty rock" (actually I'm not entirely sure about this one, it's too long)

Amazingly, Indie Rock is back in my life. The Strokes may push out Ted.

Radiohead, British Sea Power, Luke Vibert, Junior Senior, Gillian Welch, Mogwai, Plaid, Spiritualized, Prefuse 73, The Neptunes, Audio Bullys and The Mars Volta all pulling up the rear. Looking forward to Basement Jaxx, Fennesz, Ludacris and presumably lots of other stuff I'll stumble across by accident.

Manitoba, Medicine, Weakerthans, Constatines were all grebt but A Northern Chorus probably released my favorite.

that's today's pick

* THE SILVER MOUNT ZION & THE TRA-LA-LA CHOIR: This Is Our Punk Rock
* PRINCE: One Nite Alone... Live! (3 cds)
* THE RAPTURE: Echoes
* MAXIMILIAN HECKER: Rose
* JACK THE RIPPER: I'm Coming

But, there's a lot of good albums too:
Explosion In The Sky, Nick Cave, The Gatherings, April March (marvellous album!!!), Eels, Ed Harcourt, Tindersticks, Folk Implosion, Calla, The Coral, Songs: Ohia, Stevens Sufjan, Zongamin, Jean-Louis Murat.

:)

Didn't know there was a new April March album out. I need it!

blood brothers - burn piano island burn
black eyes - s/t
the warlocks - phoenix
pleasure forever - alter
spiritualized - amazing grace
dead meadow - shivering king & others
guided by voices - earthquake glue
asilvermt.zion... - this is our punk rock...
aereograme - sleep & release
songs: ohia - magnolia electric co

worthy mentions;
mojave 3 - spoon & rafter
lightning bolt - wonderful rainbow
deerhoof - apple o'
hot cross - cryonics
daughters - canada songs
envy - a dead sinking story
circle takes the square - as the roots undo
chromatics - chrome ratz vs basement rutz
califone - quicksand/cradlesnakes
the thermals - more parts per million
the locust - plague soundscapes
xiu xiu - a promise
lilys - precollection
unkle - never say never
the rapture - echoes
janes addiction - strays
british sea power - the decline of...
animal collective - here comes the indian
u-ziq - blilious paths
manitoba - up in flames
m83 - dead cities red seas & lost ghosts
mono - one step more & you die
sleep - dopesmoker

awaiting; the shins, bark psychosis, explosions in the sky, the icarus line, big thicket.

Manitoba
Four Tet
Elbow
Outkast
Clientele
Basement Jaxx
The Nextmen
Mogwai
The Rapture
Siobhan Donaghy
DM & Jemini
Gillian Welch
Plaid
Radiohead
Luomo

1. Super Furry Animals
2. Fountains Of Wayne
3. Radiohead
4. Grandaddy
5. Dandy Warhols

[Wahey, online listening posts!]

Too early to risk having a stroke, Nick....

Bubba Sparxxx
Drive-By Truckers
White Stripes
Grandaddy
Richard X
Mars Volta
My Morning Jacket
M. Ward
Radiohead
The Bled (awesome hardcore band out of Tucson; check 'em)

Haven't heard Outkast or Basement Jaxx yet, but others on the radar (not to steal Chuck's shtick or anything): Neil Young, The Format, The Rapture, The Coral, Cat Power, Cursive, 50 Cent, Dead Prez, David Banner, Daniel Lanois, Audio Bullys, Freeway, Fog, Bad Boys II, Metallica, The Bug, Black Keys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pernice Brothers, Yin Yang Twins, SuperCuts comp from StarTime, Lyrics Born, Bonnie Prince Billy, Serart, Scene Creamers, Minus 5, The Locust.

1)Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever To Tell
2)Electric Six, Fire
3)Outkast, Speakerboxx/The Love Below
4)Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Hearts Of Oak
5)Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day

Malkmus/Jicks Pig Lib
The New Pornographers Electric Version
Radiohead Hail To The Thief
Outkast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
The Rapture Echoes

Reduced to a handful of albums, I think I seem so boring. I'm more of a individual-songs kind of person, and so it's actually pretty special when I love a whole record. It always ends up being the usual suspects, though the Rapture is a surprise.

Belle & Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Postal Service, Give Up
Prefuse 73, One Word Extinguisher
Radiohead, Hail to the Thief

fabric 13
kish kash
the black album
room on fire
boy in da corner
(and whatever 03 dancehall mix you wanna name really)

(still wanna hear the whole of 'chicken & beer', the david banner album, and holdin out for the kelis)

Head Phone Over Tone - Solar Sails

T. N. Krishnan - Carnatic Violin

Kevin Drumm - Land of Lurches

Building Castles Out of Matchsticks - Blue Skies, Wet Tears, and Broken Hearts

Aruna Sairam - December Season 2002

Brett Larner/Joelle Leandre/Kazuhisa Uchihashi - No Day Rising

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

The Readymades - Play Their Hearts Out

Want to hear: Sightings, Lightning Bolt, Derek Bailey, Merzbow, Oneida, K-Os, Buck 65, Cee-Lo, maybe White Stripes (haha), The Locust, Kid Koala

Were there any good mainstream pop-punk or nu-metal or pop albums? Anthony?

1. Bubba Sparxxx
2. The Shins
3. Outkast
4. Drive By Truckers
5. White Stripes

and a 6-10:

6. The Darkness
7. The Rapture
8. Grandaddy
9. Cat Power
10. David Banner

the rapture - echoes

(smog) - supper

elbow - cast of thousands

1. Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
2. Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground
3. Diamanda Galás - Defixiones, Will And Testament: Orders From The Dead
4. Carina Round - The Disconnection
5. Outkast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below

(oh go on then)

6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
7. Black Box Recorder - Passionoia
8. tATu - 200km/h In The Wrong Lane
9. Cat Power - You Are Free
10. The Kills - Keep On Your Mean Side

(omg I was convinced Basement Jaxx would make it in there but they're not even close)

records that have suddenly bumped up my list: ellen allien, boggs, bubba sparxxx, matt dear

Finally finally finally get Dizzee tomorrow, also the Twilight Singers record. After general lack of enthusiasm for the Sugababes elpee I've suddenly come round to it in a big way, is maybe bobbling around at number 7 or so.

Junior Senior
Camera Obscura
Kaito
B&S
Misty's Big Adventure

When I do get round to doing it properly it'll almost certainly just be whatever I listened to the day before. Which probably means I'll vote for Sinead Quinn, which scares me a bit.

1. Outkast - "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"
2. New Pornographers - "Electric Version"
3. Steve Lacy - "The Beat Suite"
4. John Zorn/Various Artists - "Voices in the Wilderness"
5. Prefuse 73 - "One Word Extinguisher"

and then
6. Robert Wyatt - "Cuckooland"
7. Stephen Malkmus - "Pig Lib"
8. Matthew Shipp - "Equilibrium"
9. Calexico - "Feast of Wire"
10. Postal Service - "Give Up"
11. Donna Summer - "This Needs To Be Your Style"
12. Sean Paul - "Dutty Rock"
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Fever to Tell"
14. Cat Power - "You Are Free"
15. David Banner - "Mississippi: The Album"

01 False- False (Plus 8)
02 Matthew Dear- Leave Luck To Heaven (Spectral)
03 Matmos- The Civil War (Matador)
04 Ricardo Villalobos- Alcachofa (Playhouse)
05 Vibracathedral Orchestra- The Queen Of Guess (VHF)

REISSUES OF 2003
GLEN VELEZ- INTERNAL COMBUSTION (SCHEMATIC)
GLENN BRANCA- ASCENSION (ACUTE)
STARK REALITY- NOW (STONES THROW)
VARIOUS- NEW YORK NOISE (SOUL JAZZ)
KEN NORDINE- WINK (ASPHODEL)
ARNE NORDHEIM- DODEKA (RUNE GRAMMOFON)
FREE DESIGN- KITES ARE FUN (LIGHT IN THE ATTIC)

06 Dizzee Rascal - Boy in da Corner
07 Four Tet - Rounds
08 Danger Mouse and Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life
09 Non-Prophets - Hope
10 Phosphorescent - A Hundred Times or More

None of these last five are set in stone. I might substitute The Strokes, Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, Elbow, Bubba Sparxxx, Outkast, Damien Jurado, My Morning Jacket, Super Furry Animals or The Darkness. And Cafe Tacuba is definitely moving up the list.

1. El Gran Silencio Super Riddim Internacional V. 1
2. Anthony Hamilton Comin' From Where I'm From
3. Super Furry Animals Phantom Power
4. Shelby Lynne Identity Crisis
5. Virginia Rodrigues Mares Profundos

I do the same thing. I know I shouldn't let a name matter, but sometimes it does, when I have nothing else to go on. Four Tet really makes no sense to me - is it supposed to a pun on "Quartet" or something like that? Or is it a pun on the French "tete" for head? Four heads? Isn't there a band called 5ive Style? To me, that's possibly even worse.

After that: Kool Keith, Dizzee Rascal, My Morning Jacket, Bubba Sparxxx, Matmos, Tomahawk, Ani DiFranco, Black Eyed Peas, White Stripes, Granddaddy, Primus EP, White Stripes, The Middle Fork, Rza

However, The Black Album is arriving tomorrow so this may be revised shortly.

but that's just the mood i'm in right now. i'll have a different list by dusk.

1. Kish Kash -- Basement Jaxx
2. Decoration Day — Drive-By Truckers
3. Fever to Tell — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4. The Best of the Classic Years — King Sunny Ade
5. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below -- Outkast
6. Seven’s Travels -- Atmosphere
7. Electric Version — The New Pornographers
8. Justified -- Justin Timberlake (‘02)
9. Fire — Electric Six
10. Black Album -- Jay-Z

Simple Minds - Empires and Dance
Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Mambo Nassau
Rema Rema - Wheel in the Roses

My 2003 list would be almost completely different compared to what I listed a few months back.

1 David Sylvian - ‘Blemish’
2 Barbara Morgenstern - ‘Nichts Muss’
3 Bubba Sparxxx - ‘Deliverance’
4 Michael Mayer - ‘Peel Session’
5 Ricardo Villalobos - ‘Alcahofa’
6 The Russian Futurists - ‘Let’s Get Ready to Crumble’
7 N.A.S.T.Y. Crew - ‘N.A.S.T.Y. Mix (mixed by Jammer)’
8 Junior Boys - ‘Birthday EP’
9 The Handsome Family - ‘Singing Bones’
10 Tara Jane O’Neill - ‘TKO’

Three cheers and a couple of bonus toots to mandinina.

why no strokes? is there a theme to that top ten?

1. TV On The Radio - Young Liars
2. The Rapture - Echoes
3. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
4. Black Box Recorder - Passionia
5. Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place

1. AMPLIFY 2002: balance box set
2. Animal Collective - Here Comes the Indian
3. The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
4. Kaffe Matthews/Andrea Neumann/Sachiko M - In Case of Fire...
5. Kevin Drumm - Land of Lurches

and King Geedorah is current fighting furiously with Drumm for that #5 spot.

1. “Blackmarket Boy” Fallacy
2. “It Takes A Nation Of Tossers” Pitman
3. “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” Belle and Sebastian
4. “Music For The Mature B Boy” DJ Format
5. “Five Dollar Bill” Corb Lund Band

Top 5 so far (subject to change at any moment): Blood Brothers, Radiohead, Gathering, SFA, Non-Prophets.

yeah, um...that's probably right.

1) Aereogramme - Sleep & Release
2) Envy - A Dead Sinking Story
3) Hood - Compilations 1995-2002
4) Arab Strap - Monday At The Hug & Pint
5) Deftones - Deftones

1) Outkast: SPX/TLB
2) Sole: Selling Live Water
3) Bubba Sparxxx: Deliverance
4) Sean Paul: Dutty-yeah!
5) Dizzee Rascal: Boy in Da Corna

and:

6) Erlend Øye: Unrest
7) Erykah Badu: Worldwide Underground
8) Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun
9) Radiohead: HTTT
10) White Stripes: 3l3phant

Honorable mention and just outsside the top 10:
Aesop Rock
Ludacris
Hess Is More
Gold Chains
Voks

And I am STILL to really dig into:
Herbert's big band record
Matmos
Missy Elliott
The Rapture
Cat Power
Kid 606
Kevin Blechdom
Jacob Kirkegaard
Kelis
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Dub Tractor
David Banner

Ah, the enjoyment ahead!

It has been mentioned at least a couple of other times on this thread and on some other 2003 threads as well. Will probably be on my list as well, but I'm still deciding.

It's like the hive mind have been operating on my brain.

(hover mouse over images for artist and title info)

TV on the Radio-Young Liars