2003 Pitchfork 'Best New Albums' - which of these is the best?

i've heard like six of these albums

exploding hearts, obviously

Can't wait to do this thread 10 more times

I think Exploding Hearts will get my vote too, such a great album.

Out Hud, Exploding Hearts, Basement Jaxx or MU.

I've probably listened to Basement Jaxx the most, but Exploding Hearts is the saddest. ;_;

weird that they gave out 50+ BNMs in a single year

2003 was a pretty decent year iirc.

Wonder what the difference is between this list and their top 50 albums of the year.

records i liked then and still do:

four tet
manitoba
dizzee rascal
jay-z
radiohead

i impulse-voted for dizzee and i feel good about it.

Actually I don't wonder that at all xp

there are only four albums here that don't make me want to vomit and/or murder

why must ilx persist in its weird pfork obsession even though it knows it's bullshit

Boy In Da Corner. Might have thought about the TV on the Radio EP, but it's Dizzee.

there are only four albums here that don't make me want to vomit and/or murder

I was wondering when my weekly dose of lex ott revulsion would arrive. RIGHT ON TIME.

wow

the wrens or the shins i guess

why must ilx persist in its weird pfork obsession even though it knows it's bullshit

in this case just because they set up this clear cut 'category' of albums that was easy to reflect on and poll, easier than just like grabbing 50 random reviews from FACT or The Wire in a given year. mostly I was hoping it could be a way for people to be either, "lol, I forgot they loved those guys" or "hey, I forgot about that cool record"

several decent options but today i am feeling lightning bolt

Some good albums here but You Are Free is far and away my favourite. 2nd place would probably be Songs: Ohia.

This feels a lot more stylistically circumscribed than a poll for recent years would be, right? Idk, I don't really track these things I guess.

Ohhh! I miss The Deadly Snakes

man none of these albums i've still got in full. loved the ted leo album most at the time but too many middling falsetto numbers in hindsight. ironically kish kash probably makes my top 3 or 5 - even if i didn't think it was as consistent as the average '03 ilxor, at least it has serious highlights.

interesting that by 03 they had already started shedding some of their rockist tendencies, for some reason i thought that didn't really occur until much later w/ ewing's column sorta being the capstone to their 'redemption'.

tim if you think this is, um, circumscribed you should check out earlier prime corny indie fuxxor era pfork when something like fennesz making this list would be the pop outlier.

why must ilx persist in its weird pfork obsession even though it knows it's bullshit

― lex pretend

Why don't you just stop going on threads with Pitchfork in the title? You seem to have your own weird obsession opening up threads about subjects or bands you hate.

Voting for Ted Leo, love that album. Exploding Hearts would be a close second.

just doublechecked and their top 3 singles that year were "Hey Ya," "Crazy In Love" and "Cry Me A River" with "in da club" and "milkshake" in the top 10. yeah, they definitely were already inching towards ilx mindmeld

that said, best new music-wise, only basement jaxx and jay-z strike me as outside the early schreiber era, and actually i thiiiink the fork liked rooty and blueprint fine

weirdly i think the johannsson is the one i am most likely to actually listen to nowadays, the lightning bolt and the ellen allien are the ones that most prompt the 'it has been too long since i listened to that' response, the rapture and basement jaxx are the most '03' ones for me (that i love at least) and at the same time not likely to deliberately listen to any time soon.

Didn't see Kish Kash on the list, that would be up there too.

The albums I play the most from 2003 these days would be Goldfrapp's Black Cherry and Moloko's Statues, sadly neither are on this list.

No fork hated rooty, one of their worst reviews ever iirc.

Yeah I know it was even more limited earlier than this - 03 was when they started the 'we are the world' column yeah? I think they were dipping their toes in popular music via singles only to begin with.

I still listen to Supersilent and MU a lot

Ted Leo
Why?
Broken Social Scene

i stand corrected!

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/571-rooty/

"I have the same objections to this disc that I had to Kool Keith's Sex Style-- even though the rhymes were tight, and the production spoke for itself, the tastelessness of Keith's lyrics seemed to overshadow the record's finer points. By the same token, a few fatal flaws eclipse all of Rooty's abundant qualities. Basement Jaxx have taken kitsch a few steps too far. They may be in on the joke, but this shit is no laughing matter."

pfork gave the blueprint a rave BUT more accurately ethan gave blueprint a rave and ethan in the context of pfork 2001 was decidedly not the house voice. interestingly i think that review actually prompted the first interaction between ethan and former ilxor/current pforker patrin (nate was full backpacker mode at the time i think, outraged pfork would devote space to this, etc)(i feel like i'm talking about cockburn v hitchens here), back when drake was still wearing short pants and whiney was writing for a dying print mag. different times, different pfork.

I know A LOT of these records bc in 2003 I was pforks target demo and downloaded so many of these thinking I had discovered the portal to coolness. ones I still love: Manitoba, lightning bolt, jaxx, four tet.

pfork gave the blueprint a rave BUT more accurately ethan gave blueprint a rave and ethan in the context of pfork 2001 was decidedly not the house voice. interestingly i think that review actually prompted the first interaction between ethan and former ilxor/current pforker patrin (nate was full backpacker mode at the time i think, outraged pfork would devote space to this, etc)(i feel like i'm talking about cockburn v hitchens here), back when drake was still wearing short pants and whiney was writing for a dying print mag. different times, different pfork.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Algrt.jpg/350px-Algrt.jpg

This is Dizzee, Jaxx or Radiohead

honorable mention to The Ratpure

lot of likable records on this list, lot of risible ones too

albums i have five or more tracks from, admitting i never did cotton to that instrumental clickety clack shit much: Wrens, Ted Leo, Rapture, M83, Radiohead, Basement Jaxx

From the Black Album I've just got "Change Clothes," "99 Problems," "Justify My Thug" and "My 1st Song," a selection that I believe makes me a weirdo

I remember going to the christmas party for my local music paper at the end of 2001 and my (then new) editor asked me what my favourite rap album of the year was and I said Jay-Z (subsequently Iron Flag would overtake it) and he was really sceptical to the point of shock. "Jay-Z? Really?" It seems odd in retrospect given how obvious in its appeal to a rock press audience 'The Blueprint' feels.

Within 3 years he was a massive Jay-Z stan obviously.

The shift in the attitude of the rock press to contemporary rap during the first half of the decade was pretty dramatic, even though of course it hasn't gone as far as it might have.

I know A LOT of these records bc in 2003 I was pforks target demo and downloaded so many of these thinking I had discovered the portal to coolness. ones I still love: Manitoba, lightning bolt, jaxx, four tet.

Ditto. 2003 was probably when I did the most downloading. It was my first at uni. I've heard 22/23 of these I think and I'm still fond of a promise, guitar romantic, vaudeville villain, boy in da corner, who will cut our hair. lemon of pink, chutes too narrow. Going with vaudeville villain.

Vik Vaughn I guess, Black Album maaaaybe idk.

Boy in Da Corner is the only album I revisit regularly, with The Black Album second, I guess. I did like The Wrens thing a lot then.

(btw the point of my anecdote above is that i thought I had very safe MOR hip hop taste, it's funny how resistant so many people were back then even to going that far)

every editor/critic like the one in tim's story now considers the black album to be the best jay-z album

YES. This is actually true in the case of my story!

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Englabörn
Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain
The Deadly Snakes - Ode to Joy
Ellen Allien - Berlinette
Jay-Z - The Black Album

xpost the punchline being that in 2003 he was so excited about TBA and I was pretty lukewarm.

deadly snakes probably my top pick

every editor/critic like the one in tim's story now considers the black album to be the best jay-z album

― J0rdan S., Thursday, July 26, 2012 7:14 PM

Last year:

The Black Album [Roc-A-Fella, 2003]
History has vindicated this album. On a meticulously hyped valedictory no one believed would be his actual farewell, the fanfares, ovations, maternal reminiscences, and vamp-till-ready shout-outs were overblown at best. But on an album where the biggest rapper of all time announces that he's the biggest rapper of all time, they're prophetic. Bitch about Kingdom Come and American Gangster if you must, but not The Blueprint 3 or Watch the Throne, and not his label presidency, amassed fortune, or close personal relationship with Warren Buffett. He's got a right to celebrate his autobiography in rhyme because he's on track to become a personage who dwarfs any mere rapper, and not only can he hire the best help dark green can buy, he can make it sing. Tracks four through nine enlist Kanye West, the Neptunes, Timbaland, 9th Wonder, Eminem, and Rick Rubin. Each one sounds different, each one means different, and each one kills. I'm also touched when "Justify My Thug" tag-teams Madonna and Run-D.M.C. Hova if you hear me. A

lightning bolt no doubt

@ moka I disagree that anybody should start with "Fabulous Muscles"

So I'm listening to MU and decide to check out the original review. Gotta say, I was surprised by the opener

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5561-afro-finger-and-gel/

In her broken Eng-rish, about midway through "Chair Girl", Japan's Mutsumi Kanamori, the wife half of Sheffield-based duo Mu, creeks out the maxim that "DJs awh wock band," while her husband, Baltimorean Maurice Fulton, whips Model 500 basslines around submarine alarms and a dubbed-out salsa beat. It all makes sense for a second, until I re-read the lyrics and realize that she's actually saying: "Deejays are rocked by an electric chair girl."

mostly i was surprised by "Eng-rish," to be clear

from same review

2003 might go down as a year in which some rock records learned how to dance (Electric Six, !!!, The Rapture, Ssion) and some dance records learned to rock (Basement Jaxx, T. Raumschmiere, Fat Truckers).

did it?

fucking electric six sucks so bad

I am not much a fan of Michigan, but "Sister" off of Seven Swans bowls me over every time. That's where I would point anyone trying to 'get' Sufjan.

The Microphones - Mount Eerie
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain

currently listening to that Lightning Bolt album, which I have been "meaning to listen to" forever, and ya it rocks intensely

Blood Brothers good too but I didn't hear it till waaayyy after 2003

yeah, the blood brothers got a fair amount of attention in their moment, but seem forgotten now. i associate them with the GSL/31G records art-glam-hardcore thing, which seemed to evaporate (or shift/fragment?) a few years back.

They split off into two bands, one solid (Past Lives) and one good-then-horrifically-terrible (Jaguar Love).

Piano Island was released on a major, yes?

first Jaguar Love album was amazing fuiud

fucking electric six sucks so bad

I've only heard maybe three Electric Six songs, but I remain open to the idea that they are unheralded geniuses b/c of da croupier and Perpetua.

I've only heard maybe three Electric Six songs, and I've avoided hearing more because I don't want to push my reflexive dislike into hatred and feel the need to troll da croupier about them.

I like the first Jaguar Love record a lot; it's the second that's a problem. so horrible.

revisit "Evaline," that one was the keeper from the album for me

yeah that's the only one I remember kinda "working." I mean it was ballsy of them (him, at that point?) to embrace a pop sensibility so unabashedly, it's just that the result was...not good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRaHDK3CeVs

so good

"The Shame" is def one of the best album closers of the decade

microphones
songs: ohia
viktor vaughan

ted leoooooooooo

okay Dandelion Gum is sounding great. This sounds like something I would like whilst high.

(I mean, I like it sober, I just mean this sounds like something that would enhance that sort of experience)

Voted MU but was strongly tempted by Ellen Allien, pretty scary to think these records are nearly ten years old, they still sound so fresh to me.

I've heard 22 of these at one point in my life, still like quite a few. Will have to think about this, but leaning toward M83.

Incidentally, 2003 is my least favorite year from 2000-present.

A few that didn't cut the muster:

White Stripes- Elephant
Sun Kil Moon- Ghosts of the Great Highway
Drive By Truckers- Decoration Day
Broadcast- Haha Sound
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever to Tell
New Pornographers- Electric Version
Outkast- SB/LB

(keeping this along the lines of stuff I figured p4k would have liked)

Labels must not have bought banner ads

there's really no reason to believe advertising has an editorial influence at pitchfork and leveling the accusation even jokingly is way nastier than anything you could justifiably say about pf's taste or writing etc

accusation?

implying that Matador neglected to buy banner ads on Pitchfork is a pretty serious accusation! no wait that wasn't what i was saying

Need New Body so fucking easily.

Jesus it was a joke, I officially retract it and an sorry for the distress it has caused Pitchfork and some dude

Now go have a nice sunday in baltimore!

Hard to choose between Ellen Allen or Out Hud.

Early Out Hud singles might be better than the album.

i like Xiu Xiu a lot, but that album is uneven - i think i have that Need New Body album somewhere and should listen to it

looking back, i would say it was fairly decent year all in all. 'boy in da corner' is my obvious choice, but a few good to great forerunners. without order :

Out Hud - S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D.
The Microphones - Mount Eerie
The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party?
Supersilent - 6
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Englabörn
Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.
The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn
Deerhoof - Apple O
Manitoba - Up in Flames
Sunburned Hand of the Man - Headdress
Polysics - Neu
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Jay-Z - The Black Album
MU - Afro Finger and Gel

^^ especially these

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Glad I was able to give Prefuse 73 its lone vote.

Extinguished outtakes cd is way better, imo.

otm

Jesus it was a joke, I officially retract it and an sorry for the distress it has caused Pitchfork and some dude

Now go have a nice sunday in baltimore!

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, July 29, 2012 2:43 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

it's alright man. my last post was just kidding around.

damn, some dude and he1go can not be beefing. goon on goon violence.

Exploding Heart + BBs had a better showing than I expected

I can't complain too much about the results, glad to see Exploding Hearts put in a good run. Pretty good turnout too!

damn, some dude and he1go can not be beefing. goon on goon violence.

― tauheed & cambria (J0rdan S.), Thursday, August 2, 2012 1:51 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

never that! like i said, i think he misunderstood my botched joke

Jesus it was a joke, I officially retract it and an sorry for the distress it has caused Pitchfork and some dude

Now go have a nice sunday in baltimore!

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, July 29, 2012 2:43 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

it's alright man. my last post was just kidding around.

― now there's a lot of bad bitches in the building (am0n) (some dude), Thursday, August 2, 2012 12:50 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn, some dude and he1go can not be beefing. goon on goon violence.

― tauheed & cambria (J0rdan S.), Thursday, August 2, 2012 12:51 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha no beef! and honestly, i guess i operate in a sphere of...um...journalism where my credibility is questioned basically every week by some reader or another and dudes genuinely do believe that everything we do is bought and paid and that we are like seriously evil etc for so saying shit like i said is kinda common gallows humor in the biz, but i should remember that it might seem harsh to someone in another zone.

yeah i mean maybe if i made a similar joke about your editorial content being motivated by ad buys you'd shrug it off because you hear it constantly. but my point was kind of just that it's a shame that that's become such an obvious go-to speculation for people to make anytime they don't agree with a review, even in absence of any evidence or even plausibility.

it's a shame that that's become such an obvious go-to speculation for people to make anytime they don't agree with a review, even in absence of any evidence or even plausibility.

― some random MC rappin' mcdude (some dude), Thursday, August 2, 2012 8:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, honestly you have no idea. sigh.