As Pitchfork point out 2003 was a great year for music. We had plenty of huge releases from pre-established bands, a shit-tonne of greatest hits (including Underworld, The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk), some excellent movie soundtracks and best of all a whole bunch of new bands noone had ever heard of before. I think 2003 was the first year a really made a concious effort to try and expand my musical horizons and try and get out a very electro-focused mindset. I’m glad I did, because there was a tonne of stuff this year that I would have missed otherwise. So, anyway, without further ado, here’s my pick for 10 best albums of 2003. You probably won’t agree with them, but that’s the great thing about opinion pieces, they’re for discussion. Feel free to post your own top ten in the comments.

#1: The Postal Service, Give Up Give Up by The Postal Service is without a doubt one of the best albums I have ever heard. Those that know won’t be surprised at all to see this at the top of the list, as I have played this a lot in the past year. The immaculate production from Jimmy Tamborello (DNTEL) coupled with the soaring vocals of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) just work together so, so well. The first single, Such Great Heights, is the perfect road trip song, with New Order esque synth hits and a catchy unforgettable melody. If listening to Give Up doesn’t make you want to get up and dance, you’re probably dead. [ Site | Buy ]

#2: The Guild League, Private Transport The Guild League is an interesting side project of Tali White from Australian band The Lucksmiths. Private Transport is a collaborative effort with 16 people from bands such as the Sodastream, Poundsign, the Fairways, the Aislers Set, Red Raku, Art of Fighting, the Killjoys, and Blackeyed Susans. I suppose you could call it a theme album as every track on it explores travel, or a place in the world. If you’ve ever waited for a letter from the other side of the world, or backpacked around Asia, you need this album. Indie pop at its finest. [ Site | Buy ]

#3: The Shins, Chutes too Narrow I discovered this album by The Shins fairly late in 2003 and was kicking myself for not knowing about them earlier. As far as music goes, I tend to listen to a large range of stuff before returning to an album for a second time. Somehow though, I was always seem to leave Chutes too Narrow on repeat and listen to it over and over, it’s that good. It’s best enjoyed in a single sitting, 35 minutes of cheerful, intelligent, guitar driven power-pop. [ Site | Buy ]

#4: Various Artists, Lost in Translation Soundtrack This was one of two movie soundtracks released this year that I thought were exceptional (the other was Kill Bill). Lost in Translation got the spot on the list because it manages to transcend the “movie sountrack” stigma. Rather than a series of tracks that were in the movie, this CD is so carefully arranged it becomes a soundscape of Japan. Listening to announcements for the subway system in Osaka fading into arrangements by Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine without sounding forced is impressive indeed. [ Site | Buy ]

#5: Radiohead, Hail to the Thief If you haven’t heard this yet, you’ve certainly found a nice spot under that rock. Radiohead have always been brilliant, and this just further cements their position as greatest art-rock band in the universe. If you think otherwise, you’re wrong, sorry. [ Site | Buy ]

#6: King Geedorah, Take Me to Your Leader This is a Hip-Hop album that feels like it should be the soundtrack to a 50s monster movie. Samples from all those terrible science fiction movies you watched as a kid wrapped up with some really hard-hitting rhymes and polished off with dialogue so bad you can almost see the out-of-synch dubbing makes for a wholeheartedly bizarre album. Next time you turn on the TV at 1am on a Sunday morning, you’ll wonder where the back-beat is. [ Site | Buy ]

#7: Menomena, I am the fun blame monster I read about Menomena on a forum somewhere and pulled down their album the following day. They’re part Dntel, a smattering of Radiohead, and a squeeze of Death Cab for Cutie thrown together with glitchy piano and bizarre drum tracks in a spastic sort of arrangement that somehow turns out to be really beautiful. This is a fairly hard album to get your hands on, but its well worth it. You’ll find yourself trying to compare them to other bands and sounds just because the sound is so, well, unique. [ Site | Buy ]

#8: The Rapture, Echoes This is the album that Pitchfork basically had wet dreams over, labelling it as the best album of ’03 and saying things like “Treble-charged guitars attacked like guard dogs and back alley killers, lunging out with knives drawn and stabbing furiously.” and “nothing says 2003 more”. While the reviewers at PF tend to get a little over-excited, this is a genuinely great album that feels like it’s having trouble working out whether it’s a throwback to the 80s or a whole new thing. Either way, I love it. [ Site | Buy ]

#9: Blur, Think Tank Who’d have thought Blur would come out with an album like this? It’s nowhere near as poppy as most of their other albums and I think it suits them. While there’s moments of pure brit-pop, Think Tank has some really interesting tracks including a one minute punk frenzy, and an extended sounscapy piece. All the tracks on Think Tank seem to be tied together with references to Morocco, a place that features heavily in both the sound and lyrics. Best Blur album ever? I tend to think so. [ Site | Buy ]

#10: Prefuse 73, One Word Extinguisher I’m still pissed off that I missed Prefuse 73 playing in Perth the day I left for Japan. What’s there to say about Prefuse 73 other than that they do Hip-Hop the way it should be. Witty, relevant, funny, with a shit-tonne of samples, a huge beat and an eye for stuff that shouldn’t work, but does. [ Site | Buy ]

Posted in Flatbeat on Saturday January 3, 2004.

« Previous: Trooping the New Year | Next: Yakiniku Xmas »

Related Posts

Mongrel Heart
Dude Sweeter
three blue domed roof
Little Faith
Atlas Air