Compared to 2002, this year has been a great year for music fans. Plenty of great mainstream bands like Radiohead and The Strokes put out fantastic new albums. Although the year had its sad moments - like the passing away of Johnny Cash and Elliott Smith, as well as the breakup of long-time indie rockers The Dismemberment Plan - 2003 was still packed with great releases.
A comprehensive list of all the best releases of 2003 would be near impossible, but here are a group of albums that may have flown just under the radar but should definitely be checked out, as they are some of the best that the year had to offer.
1. Broken Social Scene
You Forgot It in People
The second album from this Canadian group hits its stride on 13 beautifully crafted songs. This endlessly listenable album should be the new playbook for any aspiring indie rock bands; it easily seams together various tempos and sounds to create a fully realized album.
Broken Social Scene also gets credit for some of the more inventive song titles as well, such as "late nineties bedroom rock for the missionaries," "shampoo suicide," and "i'm still your fag." You Forgot It in People is an album that can mix the instrumental swells of "Godspeed You Black Emperor!" while keeping the songs under five minutes, and pop sensibilities while still keeping guitars the heavy, like on "almost crimes." A must-have.
2. Manitoba
Up in Flames
Up In Flames is an interesting album of IDM (intelligent dance music) that utilizes mostly organic instruments to create a brilliant new album of sounds. The opening track, "I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life," sets the tone for the album with drums crashing and crescendoing while a saxophone sometimes juts in for a few quick notes. "Hendrix With Ko," clocking in at about four minutes, is a quirky pop song that begins with a straightforward drumbeat and ends with a handclap with enough syncopation to need a metronome to keep the beat.
The whole album lasts about 40 minutes, giving listeners the best that Manitoba has to offer in a nice package that doesn't get old. If you are looking for something a little quirky but with a strong beat, then this is the album.
3. The Wrens
The Meadowlands
The first album in seven years from this indie rock band shows that the time off was well spent. Although it sounds like the last few years have been filled with heartbreak and sadness, the band does tell its sorrows eloquently over 13 songs. Lucky for us, these tales didn't happen to us but instead, makes us feel better to hear someone else sing about failures in love.
"This Boy is Exhausted" is a standout track with lyrics that sum up the position that The Wrens are in: "I'm way past college / no ways out / no back doors / not anymore / but then once a while / we'll play a show then it makes it worthwhile." Pass on the Dashboard Confessional when you want to hear about heartbreak and pick up The Wrens album for more honest, truthful and heartbreaking lyrics and songs.
4. The Shins
Chutes Too Narrow
The follow-up to 2001's brilliant Oh Inverted World, Chutes Too Narrow is the return of the quirkily crafted pop songs that The Shins have branded with their inventive sound. Instead of wasting time on verses that build up to a catchy chorus, The Shins draw attention to every word coming out of lead singer James Mercer's mouth, making this album a rewarding listen after a few run-throughs.
"Saint Simon" is a delicately crafted song that starts with a simple beat and melody, which then melt into a violin breakdown and a simple guitar instrumental before quickly tying the whole song with a nice bow. The Shins draw comparisons with the Beach Boys, but the band has much more to offer with its peculiar sound.
5. The Rapture
Echoes
By blending rock guitars with drum machines and synthesizers, The Rapture have concocted a sound that is far removed from the brief period it spent on Sub Pop records. The '80s influences are definitely heard on Echoes ("I Need Your Love"), but the band knows when to rock with guitar fuzz ("Heaven") and how to write a sweet ballad with piano and saxophone ("Open Up Your Heart").
Using the DFA as its producing team, The Rapture has "hype" written on its sleeve, but the band follows through with its debut full-length album. And if you haven't heard "House of Jealous Lovers" by now, then you've been spending too much time at Top 40 dance clubs.
6. Prefuse 73
One Word Extinguisher
Prefuse 73 has created a new sound for hip-hop that has been tossed around with the sound of "glitch-hop." This describes One Word Extinguisher with some accuracy, even though the album isn't completely filled with beeps and glitches and other crazy sounds because, in the end, this is still a hip-hop album at heart.
The album features guest emcees Mr. Lif and Diverse on a couple of its tracks. Some of the tracks on One Word Extinguisher feel more like experimentation than actual songs, while others have strong enough beats that a deejay would have wished he bought this album on vinyl instead of CD.
7. Constantines
Shine a Light
Similar in sound to Fugazi, the Constantines have created a supercharged political album. Some songs are rougher around the edges with guitar clashing, while some songs like "On to You" are the closest that the band would get to a traditional "pop" song.
Lyrics like "If sanctuary still exists, it's among the shaking fists" on "Sub Domestic" and "I've got a few words for the graceless herd / The state ain't my shepherd!" on album opener "National Hum" state the band's political position, and the band does it with a sound that draws attention to both the lyrics and the music.
8. TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
When a band doesn't have really any idea what kind of music it wants to create, it makes it even more difficult to describe it. This is the case with TV on the Radio's debut EP. The EP is a five-song album that focuses primarily on Tunde Adebimpe's gospel-meets-Peter Gabriel-like vocals while the background music sounds something like a drum machine skipping over itself and guitar strings vibrating from an earthquake.
Two members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and lead guitarist from the Liars lend their music skills to a couple of the tracks, but the most peculiar and amazing track is the vocal-only cover of the Pixies' "Mr. Grieves." "Blind" is a seven-minute haunting track and is the centerpiece of the album.
Reach the reporter at steven.ganczaruk@asu.edu.
