Dec 10, 2003

Top 50 Albums of 2003 Part V (The Top Ten)

aww shit, the moment that someone, somewhere has been waiting for. although i'm not quite sure who that "someone" is. maybe it you...

10. Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
this one was set to hit my top ten long before the tragic van accident earlier this year, and it saddens me to realize this is all we'll ever get to hear of this band. Cheap Trick, Big Star, and lots of punk attitude rolled up in to one big ball of piss and vinegar. i love this album.

9. Jet - Get Born
save it, this shit is hot. the influences are all over the map - AC/DC, Oasis, Cheap Trick, Iggy Pop, and yes they are as obvious as a hard-on in a speedo. but who cares when a band can bring the action like this? immediately catchy, worthy or repeated listens, and one of the best debut albums of the year. will the flame burn out like Oasis? or will they prove there's more where this came from? either way, i for one will be paying attention.

8. Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance
i love it when a highly anticipated second album just blows away the debut that i have been digging on for over a year. Andrea Zollo is by far the most engaging female vocalist on the scene right now, and "A Certain Cemetery" is one of the best tracks of 2003. check it, now.

7. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
what more can be said about Radiohead at this point? they didn't go back to the pure guitar rock of The Bends as hinted at, and they didn't go on and make Kid C either. what they did do, was combine the best of both worlds to make yet another excellent album.

6. The Shins - Chutes too Narrow
Oh, Inverted World was an amazing debut, but the band managed to top that by cleaning up the fuzz and coming up with some beautiful melodies. in a perfect world "So Says I", "Saint Simon", and "Kissing the Lipless" would be burning up radio charts around the world. instead they'll just have to live on in infinite repeat in my head, which is what every great song should aspire to be.

5. Manitoba - Up in Flames
this album is pure poetry to me, capturing the bliss of a summer spent with nothing to do perfectly over its course. it's IDM that doesn't forget the heart that is essential to making a great album.

4. The Strokes - Room on Fire
it's the little touches that keep this from being just another Is This It?, the keyboard emulating guitar solo on "12:51", the drum machine imitating beats, and the "who gives a fuck lyrics" that suit Julian's voice to a 'T'. it's not breaking new territory, but what it does do is prove that the debut was no fluke, and the garage kings of NYC weren't just a flash in the pan.

3. The White Stripes - Elephant
how do they do it? how do two people turn such simplicity into some of the best rock music on the radio right now? how can a mediocre drummer and a mediocre vocalist come together to throw down such a wide variety of tunes that really make you feel something? because Jack White has an amazing ability to reach down into the primordal stew of rock and roll history and pull out something that is timeless, classic, and brand new all at once. simply put, "Seven Nation Army" is the best rock song of the last five years. and that's just the beginning of this wonderful album.

2. The Postal Service - Give Up
on paper, this looked like it could have been one of the most vomit-inducing records in eons. Ben Gibbard whining heart-on-sleeve lyrics over Jimmy Tamborello's beats? please. but it works, because Gibbard brings some of the most honest and emotion-enducing lyrics of his career and Tamborello provides the instrumental base that weaves it into pure gold.

1. Outkast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxx alone is among the top hip-hop albums albums of the year. brilliant lyrics, pounding beats that rise above the pack, and the little touches that has made Outkast the best in the game. check "Bowtie", "Ghetto Musick", and "War" for further proof. then you package that with one of the best mindfucks in hip-hop history and you get the best album of the year - hands down. Andre 3000 shifts into overdrive, becoming the Prince/George Clinton/Miles Davis/Al Green cross-pollination result that we've all been waiting for (we just didn't know it). i think it was the "My Favorite Things" cover that clinched it for me. who else would have been able to turn that jazz standard into a key moment on a fucking hip-hop record? nobody but the kings.

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