An Ear For An Era: 2015

Hello Again, Dear Reader!

Reader, can I call you Reader? 2015 was a year, you see, where we were all so innocent (not really) and things were so much simpler (or more complicated) and we hadn't yet entered the hellscape of a Bowie-less world (and other such disappointing developments of 2016). 2016 is modern music, current music, in 2018. But 2015 is the end of an era.

Another randomly sorted list of things. Well the sorting is more or less similar to release date, in that my stuff is sorted by quarter. So alphabetically by album, but divided by quarter. That's how I've been doing this thing for a while now.

Most notably these items:
I guess I'll just happen to start off with what is likely #1 album of the year for me. It was for a lot of people I think. Sufjan Stevens' devastating Carrie & Lowell. Sad sad songs about a mother or the idea of a mother or something, of confusion and growing up. The thing that was most striking listening to this album now was that in the time since,  I have seen him live twice, and he's put out a live album and a kind of remix mixtape thingy. New and exciting interpretations of these songs that I love. And then you come back to the original takes, the spare arrangements of this album and it just makes it hit that much harder.

Sufjan Stevens "Blue Bucket of Gold"

Belle & Sebastian seemed to be trying to shed their twee image once and for all with Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. (Aww, remember peacetime but not really peacetime, let's not romanticize that time too much now?) Not that they'd been particularly twee for some time by now, but this one had moments where they just straight up played dance pop. Good times. This was also the album that I finally saw them on tour for, and it was a show at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Which was awesome. Charles Bradley opened for that show, which was about as amazing as you could want. But I'm talking about Belle & Sebastian. They are a perennial favorite.

That reminds me of something I wanted to talk about for 2015. Not that it was some great revelation, but 2015 really seemed to mark the point where I spent most of my new music budget on those perennial favorites, regardless of what all the cool new critics were saying was cool and new. I still checked out a few new critical darlings probably, but I'm getting older and only have so much time and I know what I like. (Breaking the format of going in that order now to talk about things). Bands like The Go! Team, Modest Mouse, The Mountain Goats (though they keep changing things up and putting out albums about  wrestling and whatnot), Calexico, Jim O'Rourke, Hot Chip, Built to Spill, Battles, Wilco, !!! and Mercury Rev didn't get a ton of critical attention but they are part of the class of bands/musicians that I feel like will never let me down and put out solid B+ albums on a regular basis forever.

I'm going to talk about Sleater-Kinney separately here because No Cities to Love did not feel like a band that has put out a bunch of albums. And it was something of a reunion. But it has such freshness about it. The Woods probably would have counted in that other category, but No Cities to Love sounds almost like a debut album with its energy levels and complete awesomeness (though with some veteran musicians at the top of their game).

Courtney Barnett sure is a fresh voice in this world, isn't she? She seems to share a lot of DNA with Jonathan Richman, from the high level of wit in the lyrics (with a good amount of heart) to the speak-sing vocals to the long album titles (Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit). I just thoroughly enjoy just sitting and listening to her music.

The other highly regarded album of the year shortlister was of course Kendrick Lamar, whose To Pimp a Butterfly was some next level stuff, particularly in the mainstreamish line he tows. All of the Thundercat jazzy stuff, recurring motifs, thoughtful interludes and bursts of creative energy, it really is something special. I remember in 2015 I thought it was a good album but that it didn't have enough songs that could qualify as straight-up songs to quite stick with me. The revisit I just did with this project changed my mind though, as things do. Everything had stuck into my mind and unearthing that was really cool.

There was another very special record that I insisted on listening to twice (as I put it in a Facebook post, revisiting 2015 requires listening to it more than once), and that was E-mo-tion by Carly Rae Jepsen, and I don't even care what that looks like. Yes, she is hipster-approved pop, so it's not like I'm super courageous to be declaring my love for it, but damn does it sound good. To sing along to, to exercise to, to let it just dig into your brain and hum it all day. You gotta listen to it more than once.

Carly Rae Jepsen "Run Away With Me"

My final major highlight, from the final quarter of 2015, was Art Angels by Grimes. At first I was skeptical when this great experimental producer/musician went all-out pop, but it is so infectious that I don't mind. And there are still interludes and postludes and odd song structures that prove her avant bonefides and keep me wanting more and more.

Other highly notable items

• THEESatisfaction - EarthEE - Bold, engaging, I think it matches the last album in terms of quality. they will be missed!
• Father John Misty probably counts as someone who was new and cool with critics even though he came from the world of Fleet Foxes (who were still relatively new compared to those 20 year old bands). I Love You, Honeybear is a pretty great record. I like his ranty old man character he takes on.
• John Carpenter's Lost Themes is an awesome collection of jams.
• The Sonics came back after forever and put out This Is the Sonics, which is a title that reminds me of their album titles from the 60s. Lots of fun garage rock as one might expect from the almighty Sonics.
• I picked up Apocalypse, Girl by Jenny Hval because I apparently had money to burn at the record store (and the cover amused me, and it was on the reliable Sacred Bones records, and I looked it up really quick and it had good reviews, and I like nordic stuff in general). But was I ever glad I did. This album sounds great on headphones, reminds me of Laurie Anderson or something.
• Downtown Boys are real good.
• Old reliable Kermit Ruffins put out a hashtag album called   #imsoneworleans and I don't even care.   The music's great so whatever!
• Desaparecidos came back so I'm sure everything was going fine politics-wise.
• Vince Staples deserves more than a bullet point for his double album but I'm neglectful.
• Georia Anne Muldrow actually rapped on her album A Thoughtiverse Unmarred. And I dig it quite a bit!
• Both Beach House albums made for some good headphone listening.
• CHVRCHES are real good too y'all. More of that pop music.
• MEOW THE JEWELS.
• One tragedy of this strategy was that the really dense albums I couldn't give enough time in 2015 didn't get any less dense, so they still didn't get enough attention on revisit. Remind me to give The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus a lot more attention in the near future (and yes, I know they have a new one coming out!)
• Dilly Dally is a very interesting band that I'm hoping to hear more from soon.

Next Time:

I feel like 2016 was pretty epic, if nothing else. Many terrible things happened. Lots of great music came out though. Bowie of course, De La Soul, Danny Brown, Frank Ocean, Blood Orange, The Falcon, Open Mike Eagle, Run The Jewels, Solange, Nick Cave, A Tribe Called Quest, Avalanches, Leonard Cohen, Bon Iver, et al.

An Ear For An Era: 2010

Okay, let's get on with it.

I finished listening to 2010 a while ago but I have just been listening to all of the new music I can get my hands on because 2016 ain't half bad either!

But 2010 gives 2007 a run for its money. A ridiculously great year for music. So I'll probably just focus on the great, putting the merely "very good" in the bottom section.

The most significant thing in my personal life in 2010 is probably my trip to New Orleans. It is where I proposed to my wife and fell in love with the city. We went to Preservation Hall and saw the band there. Earlier in the year I had purchased An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall with such guests as Andrew Bird, Tom Waits, Jason Isbell, and many more. This was the first New Orleans jazz album officially in my collection and it will always be near to my heart for these reasons. Similarly, Kermit Ruffins put out Happy Talk, which will probably always be my favorite Ruffins album.

I remember Broken Bells were taken off my top whatever list at the last minute because I decided it was a little boring on my final listen-through. I'm bringing them back here because it is just so darn pleasant to listen to!  I think I like this more than anything The Shins have done, although I was never a huge Shins fan. Danger Mouse's bleeps and bloops compliment James Mercer's words and voice quite well.

Remember when we all first heard Sleigh Bells? I'm pretty sure "Crown on the Ground" just had me immediately thank the person who shared them on Facebook or whatever. Such an awesome unique combination of sounds, from the pop vocals to the hip hop beats to the metal guitars, it was one of the most exciting sounds I'd heard and I was immediately hooked. When Treats finally came out, it sure was a collection of Treats, am I right? But seriously, that song and "Rill Rill" are what it's all about.

Spoon was always and will continue to be super reliably great. Transference saw them returning "to form," whatever that means for them. Just dig that beat, dig that build, and dig those forays into otherness.

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire was exactly what I wanted from them. I've always enjoyed them, but on this album they somehow sounded less self-important than everything else they've done. I'm not sure how that is. I think there's just this playful element that keeps it breezy. It just floats by in a wonderful way. Not that they don't sing about some heavy subjects, but the delivery makes it that much more enjoyable.

OFF! had four great EPs combined into one release called First Four EPs. That's a total of 16 songs for a grand total of 18 minutes of music. These little bolts of hardcore punk lightning are just a shot of lightning into the lightning tree. Am I right?

That's curtains for the Man in Black. American VI: Ain't No Grave was officially the final release of new music by Johnny Cash. With how depressing American V was, VI was a nice batch of hopeful, uplifting tunes, perfect for bidding adieu to one of the greatest artists to walk this earth.

The tip top:

There were a few albums that could easily top the list at the end of whatever year, but since it was 2010 there could be only one (at the time; I'm not ranking anymore). So these are the exceptionally great ones. Just because.

I had gotten previous Hot Chip albums, but One Life Stand stuck with me hard. It's like I finally figured out what they were doing. I'd had it in my head that they were supposed to be some dancy thing to take to the parties, but then I gave them more attention here and heard something much closer to the heart. Very soulful and optimistic. The title track ended up obviously being a very appropriate song for my pending nuptials, but this song was the one I wanted played at my wedding, for my side of the wedding party.

Hot Chip, "Brothers"

I'm pretty sure I picked up The Monitor by Titus Andronicus based off hype alone. People were talking them up and without even really knowing what it would sound like I went for it. This is something I have done before and since, but probably the most successful I've ever been with it. This is an epic punk rock tale. This is a story of the civil war and it's a story of self and all the ugliness and beauty that goes along with that. This is pure passion, unrestricted. Throw it all out, burn it up, and breathe in the fire.

Titus Andronicus, "Richard II"

She seemed to be ignored in 2010 by the mainstream here in the states, but in the years that followed, it looks like Robyn started getting her due, as songs like "Dancing On My Own" made their way to TV shows and such. But we can call 2010 her Body Talk era, when she put out three EPs over the course of the year to culminate in the full album version toward the end. At the time I remember thinking of how criminal it was that she wasn't the queen of the pop world, but the pop world just wasn't ready for her. Innovative beats, heartfelt lyrics, and just something extra that I can't quite pinpoint combine for the pop album of the year or more. Perfection. Love. Adore.

Robyn, "Hang With Me"

LCD Soundsystem. As of now, their latest album is still This Is Happening (that will probably change any day now!). At the time, it was the perfect culmination of their short career. Starting with the best drop I've ever heard on "Dance Yrself Clean," it just proceeds to rock every bone in your body including your skull and ribcage (as in being thoughtful and heartfelt), knock you down, and pick you back up, swearing "I Can Change." Because of this music project I hadn't heard this album in a few years before seeing them live at Red Rocks this summer, and coming back to the songs off this album in that mindset was pretty mind blowing.

LCD Soundsystem, "All I Want"

I think I mentioned a couple of these ago that my introduction to the great Janelle Monae was that Outkast song she was amazing on. But that and even the EP that followed were nothing to prepare me for the dizzying The ArchAndroid. I declared this my #1 album of the year at the time and I have no regrets about that (I'm not going to rank these here though, just so you know. Too much greatness for any of them to fall outside the top 5!). She can PERFORM and she can SING and she can CONCEPTUALIZE and she can ENTERTAIN and she can MAKE YOU SMILE and she can MAKE YOU THINK AND QUESTION EVERYTHING. She is the future. So it's only fitting that she introduced herself to the world with a multi-part concept suite-of-albums about the future.

Janelle Monae, "Tightrope" (I used this version because the official video isn't on YouTube but she was amazing on Letterman! But track down the video for the Big Boi part!)

That guy from that song up there, Big Boi, finally put out a proper solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty. Previously I had remarked that Speakerboxxx was criminally Underrated, but this album just builds on that for the new decade to sound super fresh even now, six years later. It sounds like someone who has been holding it all in and has had so much to say. The energy of the beats here and his awesome delivery, I still haven't gotten any better at writing about hip hop have I?

Big Boi, "Daddy Fat Sax" or "Back Up Plan" - apparently he is not on YouTube! Listen to this stuff though using legitimate/legal methods!

Kanye West. Oh, Kanye West. Whatever problems your ego causes, whatever the hell 808s and Heartbreak was, it is all worth it if it leads to something like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. You certainly have something you are good at, and that is constructing something of beauty from the ground up. My favorite moments from his early albums are the moments when he shows a little bit of vulnerability and he finds just the right times to do that here (while still showing the duality of his ego all over the thing). It's like a hip hop of Montreal. Showing one thing by demonstrating the opposite.

Kanye West featuring Pusha T, Tony Williams & The-Dream, "Runaway" - also can't emebed from YouTube! Get Tidal or whatever!

Is The Age Of Adz by Sufjan Stevens all that different of an album than that Kanye album? Maximalism to hide-which-also-reveals the underlying pain? Although it seems like he's taking a different approach to his maximalism. He's always had his heart on his sleeve, even if the sleeve is adorned in sequins and neon colors. It just draws you in with its unusual sounds so you're close enough to feel the gut punch which you saw coming from a mile away. There is this pain, this very personal pain, but it shows the spectrum of human emotion with its spectrum of even more neon colors. The joy and the fear, the sorrow and the hope, all culminating in my favorite 25 minute song. It is tempting to post that song, but I don't know if people have time for that, so I'll post this one instead.

Sufjan Stevens, "I Walked"

Other things that were very (very very very) good:

• I enjoyed Miles Kurosky's solo album, although maybe not as much as Beulah proper.
• Free Energy was an interesting product of my tendency these days to check out a lot of stuff that got good reviews. My wife ended up a bigger fan than me, but they are a good band to work out to.
• Love is All put out the wonderful Two Thousand And Ten Injuries, featuring mixtape staple "Less Than Thrilled,"  one of the best breakup songs of this century. Great energy. They still haven't followed up on that album 6 years later, but I'm excited to hear it whenever (if ever) they do.
• I'm New Here by Gil Scott-Heron is a really great collection of poetry and deep introspection.
• Sisterworld is yet another fantastic record by Liars.
• She & Him Volume 2 isn't all that different from Volume 1 but why change? They evolve a bit on subsequent releases and it does suit them but these early ones are just so charming.
• Oh yeah, Beach House! Teen Dream was my intro to this band and still my favorite of theirs.
• Black Francis continued his prolific hot streak with Nonstoperotik, a very good collection of vaguely and not-that-vaguely sexual innuendo with some heart.
• The Like went from 70s throwback to 60s throwback on Release Me. I enjoyed this shift in their sound immensely, particularly in the song "He's Not a Boy."
• The Magnetic Fields are always enjoyable and there's always a few standout tracks. On Realism, those standouts were "The Dada Polka," a signature clever song, and "Seduced and Abandoned," a signature sad song, from the master.
• Ol' reliable Ted Leo & The Pharmacists put out The Brutalist Bricks, a shot of adrenaline early in the year. 
• Sadly the most memorable thing to me about Devil's Music by Teddybears was the overly snarky article about it by Pitchfork when it was announced. But the song with Robyn is obviously awesome, and a few of the others are quite good as well.
• Surfer Blood!
• Phantogram!
• I remember impressing a hip hop friend by getting The Stimulus Package by Freeway & Jake One. He then introduced me to other Jake One stuff. I just got it because of curiosity and the fact that I bought a LOT of music in 2010. And it had guests like Raekwon and Bun B. Those Jake One beats are great for running though!
• Plastic Beach by Gorillaz cemented the fact that Damon Albarn didn't need some big name producer to produce great songs for this project. 
• Night Work had Scissor Sisters returning "to form" for an amazing celebration of excess.
• Assume Crash Position by Konono No 1 was quite revelatory. Such awesome sounds, it was like african post rock or something.
• CocoRosie continued to be underrated with Grey Oceans.
• The more beat-oriented Caribou found on Swim is a sound I like a lot.
• The New Pornographers always deliver and Together was no exception. "My Shepherd" has become possibly my favorite Neko Case fronted NP song.
• Is Outlaster the last Nina Nastasia album we've been treated to? Shame.
• How I Got Over showed The Roots settling into their TV gig and expanding their reach to things like Dirty Projectors and Monsters of Folk, both of which were featured (along with Joanna Newsom!). So indie! Of course, my favorite songs are the ones with Dice Raw, including the FIRE title track (and "The Fire" featuring John Legend). Lots of passion on this album.
• I Learned The Hard Way could potentially be my favorite Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings album, but that might just be because that's when I really started getting in to them.
• Medications were a band I discovered that appeals to both me and my wife, with their odd combination of post rock experimentation and pop vocals.
• I never quite spend enough time listening to Without Why by Rose Elinor Dougall, formerly my favorite member of The Pipettes. It is good and sassy even if it's not quite on the level of her old project's peak moments.
• Damn you, Twilight: Eclipse for having an exclusive Battles song "The Line" on your soundtrack (possibly the last Battles song to feature Tyondai Braxton)! Hopefully they found some new fans because it's a nice deceptive number that starts out easy and goes full Battles about halfway through. 
• High Violet by The National is another of their very good albums. This is actually the point where I decided I liked them. Or was that 2009?
• Grinderman 2 is everything it needs to be. And has the best album cover.
• Maximum Balloon had some of the best non-TVOTR TV On The Radio songs ever recorded. The party version of TVOTR.
• I guess I should put All Delighted People, the Sufjan Stevens EP, down here just because I didn't want to take away from my Age of Adz write-up. It does happen to include one of my favorite Sufjan Stevens songs of all time though, "Enchanting Ghost." For a surprise release that he just threw out there before blowing all our minds with his "real" album, it is an amazing accomplishment that is doomed to be a footnote like this.
• Lisbon includes one of my favorite Walkmen songs, "While I Shovel the Snow." Just so perfectly captures that winter feeling.
• M.I.A. put out the purposely polarizing MAYA (/\/\/\Y/\) that is just finally getting the respect it deserves. It still sounds a little slight compared to some of her other accomplishments, but it's just such a bold move that I appreciate it for that.
• of Montreal got Solange on a track for False Priest. And Janelle Monae on a couple. I always like of Montreal albums and then they kind of blur around this time. Still a nasty little fun time.
• !!! was in the midst of their great period that they haven't left yet. Strange Weather, Isn't It? is just a big party.
• Les Savy Fav was also partying on Root For Ruin. Not sure if it will end up being their final album, but it is a great one to go out on.
• That Girl Talk mash-up mix thing All Day became of my favorite things to run to, just like that  last one!
• National Ransom has all the ingredients to be a favorite Elvis Costello album for me. I just haven't been listening to him as much as I used to. But whenever I give it another shot, I remember that yes, I do quite enjoy this one.
• Neon Indian is pretty good, huh?
• Write About Love is a very enjoyable Belle & Sebastian album featuring the likes of Norah Jones and Carey Mulligan. 

I did a two-album set for my mix of 2010.

'Twas 2010a:

1. LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean

2. Robyn - Dancing On My Own

3. Gorillaz featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon - Plastic Beach

4. Flying Lotus featuring Thundercat - Mmmhmm

5. The Roots featuring Dice Raw - How I Got Over

6. Kanye West featuring Dwele - Power

7. Big Boi featuring Andre 3000 - Lookin 4 Ya (Jedi Remix)

8. Janelle Monae - Cold War

9. Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill

10. Broken Bells - The High Road

11. Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

12. Hot Chip - One Life Stand

13. Sufjan Stevens - Vesuvius

14. The National - Lemonworld

15. Titus Andronicus - The Battle of Hampton Roads

'Twas 2010b:

1. Love Is All - Less Than Thrilled

2. Maximum Balloon featuring Aku - Tiger

3. Reflection Eternal featuring Bun B - Strangers (Paranoid)

4. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Dandelion

5. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - When I Come Home

6. Grinderman - Evil!

7. Snake Rattle Rattle Snake - Ornament

8. Liars - Scissor

9. Gil Scott-Heron - Me And The Devil

10. Beach House - Zebra

11. The Magnetic Fields - Seduced and Abandoned

12. Nina Nastasia - Cry, Cry Baby

13. Tussle - Soft Crush

14. Caribou - Leave House

15. Free Energy - Young Hearts

16. The Like - He's Not a Boy

17. The New Pornographers - My Shepherd

18. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bottled Up In Cork

19. Les Savy Fav - Excess Energies

20. Spoon - Written In Reverse

21. Battles - The Line

22. Black Francis - Nonstoperotik

2011:

Antlers, Battles, Beastie Boys, Bon Iver, Deerhoof, Fleet Foxes, Jay Z & Kanye, M83, Shabazz Palaces, St Vincent, Thao & Mirah, Tom Waits, TV On The Radio's triumphant return, Wild Flag, and another classic album by Mr. "Weird Al" Yankovic.

An Ear For An Era: 2005

I am very well aware that 2005 was a decade ago. That weighed on my mind as I went through this. 2005 was arguably the best year of my adult life personally. I went through a whirlwind and came out on the other side something resembling a grown up.

2005 was the year I...

• Completed my final film for school
• Graduated from said school
• Moved in with my sister
• Got this very computer I'm typing on right now (it's damned ancient)
• I was trying to log on to myspace to see if I posted my year-end list thing there at the time...and now...my computer is too out-of-date for myspace! 
• Using my phone, it appears that the blog entries might not even be available anymore on myspace, just old pictures and top 8s.
• I could now potentially just sort the music by "date added" and be even more granular in when stuff comes on and all that! Weird! I don't think I'm gonna do it, too many complications. But still weird!
• Joined the hipster scene with the kickball and the dancing and the dancing some more
• Met some of my best friends
• Got that full-time gig at the Internet TV station
• Moved into my first studio apartment in Denver
• Met my wife
• Went on our first date
• All that jazz.

I remember in college I kept thinking I was doing it all wrong. I did not party, I did not drink until I was 21, I just went to class and didn't have many friends. Spent a lot of evenings alone. Went to a lot of shows at least. Then senior year I finally started hanging out with the friends I should have been hanging out with the whole time. But really, when people refer to college as "the best  years of [their] life," I just thought I wasn't having the fun I was supposed to be having. But then the summer of 2005, when the freedom just hit me, that was when I had that experience. Out of school, paying very little rent to my sister, working for very little money but it was okay (and having a crazy schedule, 4am-noon), going out multiple times per week, it was a very good year.

Is it time to talk about music now? I am scared of doing this.  I started listening to 2005 a month and a half ago. It took awhile. There was a lot. So I apologize if I'm short-worded on some of this stuff. Some of it was so long ago.

It was a pretty significant year in music. If 2003 was the end of my punk/"emo" dominated days, 2004 was the big dance year, then 2005 was when I went full hipster with the indie rock. But still lots of dancing. Lots of indie dance rock, if you will. So let's start there.

Remember Datarock? They were goofy. But "Computer Camp Love" was fun and quoted Revenge of the Nerds. Witching Hour by Ladytron had the hit "Destroy Everything You Touch." They ended up having a lot of really great songs. I also closely associate Goldfrapp with them. Supernature was one of their bigger hits. Both of those groups had already established themselves over the years before and had mature albums, great craft, and just kind of owned the synthy indie dance stuff in 2005. Fischerspooner held up surprisingly well. Or it was just coasting on my nostalgia. But Odyssey was fully entertaining to listen to all the way through. The Juan Maclean's got a groove for sure. But of course there's the other half of the DFA coin...LCD Soundsystem just blew the whole thing up for me. Their debut self-titled full length was such a blast of fresh beats. I kind of got sick of the inescapable single "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" but upon revisiting it, it makes me want to jump all over the dance floor with all my friends. But the rest of the album is great. "Movement" is a great rock song, and the beat to "Thrills" will get stuck in your feet.


My second favorite album of the year was even less of an album than my #1 (to be seen later in this entry). It was a single! Kind of a double sided single. Two songs available only on this single. And both covers. Okay, enough teasing. !!! put out a cover of The Magnetic Fields' "Take Ecstasy With Me" backed by a cover of Nate Dogg's "Get Up." And it took everything I loved about !!! into two separate but equal directions. I've given both of the songs five stars. The most consistent the band has been (not that consistency over two songs is a great accomplishment). "Take Ecstasy With Me" takes the essence of the Magnetic Fields song and spaces it out and turns it into a real ecstatic experience. Then "Get Up" is a pure party track with a huge build to a huge ecstatic climax.

 

!!! "Get Up"

Metric was a favorite of my wife's. "Monster Hospital" is a pretty undeniably awesome track. I liked the new New Order album Waiting for the Sirens' Call..."Krafty" showed that they still could pack a dance floor.


And just like, indie indie. You know? Indie like indie rock or whatever. One song that persisted in my brain for weeks after hearing it here was this one:

The Decemberists "16 Military Wives"

It's just so damn catchy and beyond that, it demonstrated to me the power of a great protest song that didn't have to be punk rock. It can be catchy pop folk music. I remember we played this video a lot. But this time, listening to it again, it just reminded me of my rage over the Iraq war and it just fired me up. And made me mad about it all over again. That is one powerful song. The rest of the album is quite good but that song in particular wouldn't get out of my head. And now I'm listening to it again so that's sure to happen again. I forgot to put the band's name in here to bold it. The Decemberists. Great group.

When Sufjan Stevens released Illinois, I was concerned with one thing: how could I make money off this thing? See, right before the album came out there were news reports about a last minute change to the cover art, and how for copyright reasons they were trying to recall the cover art that included an image of Superman. There were stories of the version with Superman going for lots of money on eBay. And I went to my favorite local record store and there was the version with Superman! So I bought a few copies and left them unopened. Then I heard the album was good so I opened one copy for myself. Then I found out that the Superman version was really not that rare, just the first pressing. So I had a few extra copies. Luckily, I had a few friends to give them to. The moral of the story? Buy this album (with or without Superman on the cover). Because it is amazing, as many know. It's not some big secret. An album of folk songs accented by lush orchestral arrangements. Some of the saddest songs and some of the most joyous. All beautiful. And since Illinois, every major album he has put out has been nothing short of a masterpiece. This is where it started for me. I'm glad I hatched my hair-brained money making scheme because it ended with me having a copy of this album.

Sufjan Stevens "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead! Ahhh!"

In early 2005, since I was kind of keeping track of when music came out, I reluctantly let Bright Eyes be my first 2005 album. It's always such an honor in my mind, being the one that kicks off the music of that year for me. I'd always been pretty skeptical of Bright Eyes, but I liked Desaparecidos so I figured I'd check out his "electronic" type album Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. You know, anything to kind of mask the whiny voice because I can admit that he is a good lyricist and songwriter, I just couldn't stand that voice. But he has gotten better at that and later in the year I learned from my new girlfriend that his folky album (he put out the same day) I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning was actually a better album and showed a new level of maturity and has a bunch of really good songs on it. Fine, Bright Eyes. You win.

And Okkervil River. Black Sheep Boy was kind of the peak of their slower, folkier period. I would become a huge fan on the next one when it was a bit more rock, but going back to Black Sheep Boy is such a pleasure. Just absolutely brilliant.

A guy in my film class found out I liked The Pixies so he realized I had impeccable taste in music. Once when we were at the hipster bar he was telling me about Spoon, and how I HAD to check out Gimme Fiction because it is just amazingly amazing. I listened to him and got the album. And then couldn't get away from "I Turn My Camera On" at work. But still. I'm glad I got it because he turned me on to who may be the most consistently great band in indie rock.

Another consistently great band in indie rock is Sleater-Kinney. This year (2015) there was all that hype around their new album, their first since 2005. And the hype was justified because it is simply amazing and they didn't lose a beat over those 10 years off. But The Woods, that's...also simply amazing. I think they are one of the truly great guitar based bands of our time. By guitar based I mean really guitar based. They use it as more than just filler or a necessary sound...they really make the guitar mean something and it's just so much fun to hear. I probably could have written that better. But they couldn't have written The Woods better (see what I did there? Lazy, I know).

The album I ended up voting as my #1 of the year was an odd choice. An EP that wasn't particularly groundbreaking but just had two artists combine their visions into one in such a perfect way. I'm talking about Iron & Wine and Calexico and their collaborative EP In The Reins. I'd gone into it as an Iron & Wine fan. They also had the Woman King EP this year which had them incorporating a lot more sounds into the once minimalist folk music. I was familiar with Calexico, but on the strength of this EP I became a big fan, particularly in every album they put out going forward. But what was it about this EP that drew me in so strongly?  Just the perfect compliment of Iron & Wine's lyrics and vocals with the southwestern flavor of Calexico's instrumentation? It's even a subtle thing for the most part. A slide guitar here, some moody atmospheric percussion there. Calexico's not stepping on anyone's toes. Sam Beam has a delicate voice and they compliment it just perfectly.

Calexico and Iron & Wine "Sixteen, Maybe Less"

CocoRosie followed up their great debut with Noah's Ark. The album itself was a small disappointment for me personally. Like my idea of what the band should sound like, how they should evolve, was different from the direction they evolved into. In retrospect it is a solid album, but when I first heard the single "Noah's Ark" before the album came out, I loved it so much and the rest of the album couldn't live up to it. Here is my ideal version of CocoRosie:

CocoRosie "Noah's Ark"

The joy of The New Pornographers on Twin Cinema, it doesn't get much better than that. Every time I hear the coda to "The Bleeding Heart Show" I can't help but bang on my steering wheel/leg/whatever's available as hard as I can and sing at the top of my lungs. So damned catchy! The dictionary definition of power pop, if you ask me. Underline the word power. And the word pop. Twice. Put a few exclamation marks at the end of it too, why not.

The White Stripes. I finally got into them with Get Behind Me Satan. I listened to that album a lot. I think at the time I didn't acquire a ton of music so what I got I listened to a lot. In the car on my daily commute. And my nightly commute back into Denver to party. You know. Anyway, I remember this album was on in my car a lot. I really liked "My Doorbell" and the video with Conan. Was that for "The Denial Twist?" I think so. Catchy songs. And lots of more low tempo songs. I liked the kiss-off vibe of "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)."

Other stuff happened too! Like hip hop!

Blackalicious released their follow-up to the brilliant The Blazing Arrow and did everything one could hope for.  Full of bangers, full of catchiness, The Craft was kind of a victory lap but in a very acceptable way. Not the cohesive, singular statement but just an expression of...the craft. Good songs. Great songs even. Fun songs. Fun Fact: this was the first album I ever ripped to this computer.

Beauty & The Beat by Edan was quite brilliant, very good recommendation (but I do need to listen to it more). 

Is this where I put Gorillaz? When Demon Days came out I felt bad for Dan the Automator but I don't know what politics or personal relationships were involved when Damon Albarn went to Danger Mouse to produce this one. I think at this point Danger Mouse was just known for The Grey Album. So Demon Days, the 2005 Gorillaz album, started his hot streak of being on top of the crossover pop world. "Feel Good Inc" and "Dare" were such hot tracks and more or less defined the year in pop music. I ended up liking it more for the darker songs (the vast majority of the album).



I guess it makes sense to use this to transition to Danger Doom. The other big Danger Mouse production of the year. I was already a fan of the Adult Swim stuff so it was just a fun, silly album to listen to that had Brak rapping on it. And Meatwad, he was pretty good. But it was also really my introduction to MF DOOM and turned out to be more than just a novelty. And Talib Kweli was on that track which was just so great and maybe that was my introduction to Talib Kweli. And Ghostface. Really it introduced me to a whole other side of hip hop.


Hey, who's this Kanye West guy? Late Registration is such a great piece, even if I got oh so sick of "Gold Digger" and Jamie Foxx doing his Ray Charles impersonation (though he was great in the movie). We should keep an eye on this dude though, I think he's going to say and do some interesting things in the public eye and if we don't pay attention he might just disappear. Seriously though, Late Registration was the last Kanye album I was late to, so it's still one I need to pay more attention to, but all of the singles are so great and there's not really a weak track on the thing.


Also Notable...

• Sharon Jones! I didn't know who she was until '07 but Natually is a good collection of throwback soul goodness.
• Similarly, Bettye LaVette!
• Common! I'd heard about him because in some American music class some classmates did a project about him and praised him for being all progressive and whatnot. So then Be came out. And it's got stellar Kanye production and that "Testify" song. We played that one a lot at the ol' station.
• Coldplay sucks! So for some reason Amazon once thought it'd be fun to charge like a buck each for their albums so I went for it. Mostly so I could have the relics when I was doing this project, this is what 2005 sounded like to the mainstream or whatever. But all I could think while this played was, why did I pay money, as little as it was, for Coldplay music? Why is this taking up space on my hard drive(s) and why is it taking up my time when I could be listening to something else? I think I'm gonna get rid of it...
• When The Buzzcocks were at the studio a Wolfmother song played and the guys liked it and asked about it. So ManiaTV!, amongst our other accomplishments, introduced Wolfmother to The Buzzcocks! Umm anyway, Wolfmother is pretty neat sounding. A better mainstreamish rock band of 2005 than stupid Coldplay.
• Jens Lekman gave away free downloads of a bunch of tour EPs and let me tell you...they have some of his catchiest material. Check out "Run Away With Me."
• Beck too, Guero might be my favorite Beck album. Certainly among the most fun he's put out.
• I liked Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta, but it was a bit tough and too proggy and it turned out to be the last Mars Volta album I actually bought.
• TV On The Radio put out a free song called "Dry Drunk Emperor" and I loved it and made everyone at work listen to it a lot.
• Animal Collective, they were on to something with Feels.
• Antony & The Johnsons, how great were they??
• Yeah Yeah of Montreal, The Sunlandic Twins. Their last album before I found out about them! "The Party's Crashing Us" is great fun though.
• Old favorites Polysics moved from Asian Man Records to Myspace Records (???) and reached a strange level of popularity and it was weird. But it resulted in them playing a show in Denver so I got to see them live, so I am super appreciative that it worked out that way. Now Is The Time isn't quite as great as Neu, but it's still a lot of fun and resulted in opportunities to introduce them to more people.
• No more Black Eyes but Hand Fed Babies, one of many offshoots, were pretty great.
• Remember that "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" song? That was ridiculous.
• Bruce Lee Band EP! Acceptable ska. But I do like their next one (just came out recently!) better.
• Kaiser Chiefs were another good "Target" band that I checked out because they were cheap at Target. Lame I know. But like Franz Ferdinand, I ended up liking it way more than I'd ever have expected.
• Speaking of Franz Ferdinand, that second album was also quite good!
• Thunderbirds Are Now! Turned out to be Jess' friends but I discovered them when they opened up for Enon. That Justamustache album is audio crack.
• Junior Senior put out a second album too! It's entertaining too!
• Bang Bang Rock & Roll by Art Brut was one of the most fun releases of the fun year, and whenever "My Little Brother" came on at Lipgloss or other such dance nights I would go so crazy. I could see myself as the little brother who just discovered rock & roll.
• When M.I.A. came out with Arular (and the infectious "Galang") I didn't know what to think. I didn't particularly care for it. But after finally "getting it" with the follow-up album, I came back to Arular and realized it was quite amazing. 
• I was just looking through the stuff from a future year and discovered that Robyn's self-titled album was actually 2005. So I then listened that. "Konichiwa Bitches" is still a huge blast to listen to. Of course, she's more known for the great progressive-ish pop of her recent Body Talk series, but the level of sass hits some dangerous levels here in '05. Irresistible.
  

EDIT: I can do this now!
2005 Mix From 2005:
It Was 2005
1. LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk is Playing at My House"
2. Thunderbirds Are Now! "Eat This City"
3. Franz Ferdinand "Do You Want To"
4. The New Pornographers "The Jessica Numbers"
5. The Kaiser Chiefs "What Did I Ever Give You"
6. Bright Eyes "Hit the Switch"
7. CocoRosie "Noah's Ark"
8. !!! "Take Ecstasy With Me"
9. Gorillaz "O Green World"
10. Danger Doom feat. Ghostface "The Mask"
11. Blackalicious feat. Lateef & Pigeon John "Side to Side"
12. Fischerspooner "Never Win"
13. Out Hud "The Song So Good They Named It Thrice"
14. New Order "Krafty"
15. The White Stripes "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)"
16. Sufjan Stevens "Casimir Pulaski Day"
17. Calexico and Iron & Wine "Dead Man's Will"

Next Time:
Amy Winehouse's big breakout, those Arctic Monkeys, remember Bat for Lashes? And one of my favorite Belle & Sebastian albums! Beth Orton's angelic voice made me swoon. Big Bob Dylan combeback. Cursive come on back, I finally get really into The Decemberists, the crazy Gnarls Barkley, Hank III's finest moment (perhaps), The Hold Steady, Islands, Dilla's Donuts, SexyBack, The Knife, the last Lawrence Arms album for awhile, remember Lily Allen? Food & Liquor was good! Nas was hip hop's coroner, Neko Case's brilliant Fox Confessor album, Pipettes, Game Theory (!), Teddybears, Yo La Tengo is not afraid of you, and MUCH more. These are getting really long you guys.

An Ear For An Era: 2003

2003 was a year of the heavy hitters. The big dogs. Massively massive albums. The year of over selling things.

I turned 20. That was pretty neat.

It was also the first year I really started getting into the "ranking the albums of the year" practice that I have obsessed over since. The year I recognized years as the next unit up from album. This year was way better than that year. The basis for this whole thing, I guess, kind of came from these exercises. So all of these albums I'll talk about, let's just say they could all be called album of the year. Maybe. We'll see how this goes.

The #1 Dance Punk or Whatever Album of 2003:
Pitchfork ranked the #1 album of 2003 as Echoes by The Rapture. I wonder if they have any regrets about that. It seems like they were trying to capture the band that most exemplified the most NOW sound of those days. Or something. The whole dance punk craze. But damn it, it is an amazing album. Does it outrank the other ones I'm going to talk about? I guess Pitchfork thinks so. What is it about this album? I have no qualms calling it the best entry in that whole dance punk world. DFA production. Passion upon passion. It really is punk rock. I think I probably got into this around 2004. But maybe that all ages dance night I went to would play "House of Jealous Lovers" and I got really good at dancing listening to that song. When I started going to Lipgloss (the 21+ "hipster or whatever" dance night) in 2004 it was possibly my #1 jam.

The Rapture "House of Jealous Lovers"

Lesser dance punk entries (I guess I can use this format):

• Metric- Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? Right before they really hit their peak, this debut album is a good taste of the good stuff.
• Electric Six- Fire. Kind of ridiculous. I still enjoy about 3 of the songs but it feels pretty dated compared to the rest of the crop.
• Ladytron- Softcore Jukebox. Can I put a mix tape here? Ladytron demonstrated their impeccable taste with this mix including My Bloody Valentine, Pop Levi, and a bunch of people I haven't heard of. And closed it off with Nancy & Lee!
• Ima Robot- Ima Robot. They were pretty fun. I saw them live at the Larimer Lounge (I bet Black Black Ocean opened up the show) from the front row. Good times!
• Les Savy Fav- Inches. Okay, there is nothing at all "lesser" about LSF. They are kings of this stuff. Inches was a compilation in reverse chronological order of a series of singles they put out over the years. Behold! De-evolution! But a good third of those singles were from 2003 anyway. So this album just kicks off with a series of amazing dance punk tracks of pure energy and pandemonium. Possibly my favorite 6 tracks by the band.
• Black Black Ocean- Operacion and Vultures for Permanent Fix. They were my favorite local Denver band. Always getting uncomfortably close. I'll talk about them more when I talk about their final album.
• The couple songs LCD Soundsystem put out in 2003 were great. "Give It Up" is still an all-time favorite. I kind of want to do that song karaoke some day.
• Let's put Polysics here! Neu is such a masterpiece in their new wave psycho psycho punk style, probably their best. Before Myspace Records or whatever discovered them, they were just a crazy Japanese band that Asian Man imported. I had no reference for this sound, as much as they insisted Devo were their major influence. It just sounded out of this world to me. This album in particular, it is a little more nuanced than Hey Bob! My Friend! It has some slower songs that build energy and the whole album is just pure joy.

Polysics "Black Out Fall Out"

The #1 Album of I Still Listened to Some of The Same Bands I've Always Listened To:
I'm sure much of the indie/emo crowd ranked the #1 album of 2003 to be The Ugly Organ by Cursive. If I'd been honest at the time I probably would have as well. I probably had it way up there. One of the first albums I pre-ordered from the record label for mailorder. I got it at my place in Boulder. And listened to it on vinyl. A lot. It was just so brutally honest about the artistic process and other personal things that just came crashing out. Such a good sound of chaos as well, with minor chords being played on said organ. Yet promising. The cello (this is their only full album with that cello!!) just brings in the hope and the sadness. I just think of the end of the song "A Gentleman Caller." When the cello comes in. Here, just listen to it (listen to the whole song):

Cursive "A Gentleman Caller"

The cello is what I associate with the line "the worst is over..."


Honorable albums of I still listened to some of the same bands I've always listened to (?):

• The Lawrence Arms- The Greatest Story Ever Told. Probably their most concepty album. And I loved it from the first notes I heard of it. This was when they were my favorite band. It just kind of felt like a celebration of how awesome they were.  And the three years between this one and the next one made it feel like some sort of final statement on the "middle" era of the band. They were very productive up until this point. Anyway, this was probably easily in my top 5 at the time.
• Alkaline Trio- Good Mourning. Such a complicated relationship I have with Alkaline Trio. I loved their first couple, hated Infirmary, and then quite liked Good Mourning, but not enough to buy anything they've put out since. I listened to this one like 6 times in a row once I got it and I got quite fond of it. Good personal songs, good sadness.
• Mike Park went solo (officially) on For the Love of Music. Less ska, very personal acoustic music. Gotta dig it.
• The Smoking Popes went Christian (officially) with the band Duvall. I liked the songs that were less obvious about being preachy. I saw them live. It was great and I thought it would be my only chance to see members of the actual Smoking Popes live.
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists- Hearts of Oak. For some reason I didn't get into them as much as my peers at the time but now I know better. This is some great punk rock.
• The Honor System- Rise and Run. They brought a lot more energy into their sound here while keeping the passion and poetic political lyrics. Fantastic!
• The Weakerthans- Reconstruction Site. All of his albums are so great. All.
• Black Eyes- Black Eyes. Holy crap. I need to listen to this one over and over again. I didn't get this album until they'd broken up even though I got their second one. Another case of things being hard to find back in the day. But this is one of the best hardcore albums I own that I haven't listened to enough.
• The Suicide Machines tried to redeem themselves with A Match And Some Gasoline. I liked it okay. It sounded just like their first two albums, which were the ones I liked.

Officially The Best Acoustic or Something Music of 2003:
I didn't know anything about Sufjan Stevens until Illinois, but the start of his 2 States Project was Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State. A lovely album of sadness and sorrow and some hope as well, a very personal album and a great showcase of his arranging skills. You can just hear the love he has for the state all over this album.

Honorable Acoustic or Something:

• Songs: Ohia put out the album Magnolia Electric Co and it was fantastic stuff.
• The Handsome Family- Singing Bones. Hey, it has that True Detective song on it! 
• Jose Gonzalez- Veneer. Because it is the one.
• Cat Power- You Are Free. This showed her starting to branch out and incorporate different styles/arrangements. I haven't given this one its fair shake but I've been obsessed with everything she's put out since, and listening to this recently I could tell why. Here's another one for the obsession.
• Nina Nastasia- Run to Ruin. This was the Nina Nastasia album it took me forever to track down. But I've been a fan of hers since right around this time. She was probably the first female solo artist for me to get into. I just love how she puts her voice up and down like a rollercoaster on "I Say That I Will Go."

Nina Nastasia "I Say That I Will Go"

The Greatest Hip Hop Album of The Entire Year of 2003:
This is another one that is obviously well regarded a dozen years later. Or should I say another TWO? That's right, I'm talking about Outkast. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Because my ex girlfriend was obsessed with Outkast I was able to be aware of this when it was new. Also there was the fact that nobody on this planet was going to escape "Hey Ya!" the earworm that would not go away but would not get old. The Onion mini-headline "Outkast Universally Accepted" kind of said it all. We were all cool with Outkast at this time. I feel like everything's been said about this. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is a crazy accomplishment in that it is a full album where it's all bangers, no bar is wasted, it doesn't let up. It gets overlooked because of its game-changing accompanying disc, but on its own it could be the #1 hip hop album of the year or more. And then Andre 3000's The Love Below is a crazy good experiment that went right. Channeling Prince, it's not really hip hop at all. Just brilliant experimental pop music. I don't know, have you heard "Hey Ya" before? It's a pretty catchy tune!

Honorably Hip Hop:

• Kid Koala- Some of My Best Friends Are DJs. A DJ album! All scratches! I discovered him through the fact that he worked with Deltron 3030. And then I found out he had solo material. This is so like nothing else I'd ever heard. Jazz music created by turntables. Far out, man!
• Madlib- Shades of Blue. Then this similar idea but way different execution. Madlib remixing/reimagining the Blue Note catalog!
• Jaylib- Champion Sound. The album with Jay Dilla rapping! And Madlib! The two most respected producers in early '00s hip hop (don't quote me on that) working together to mixed results. Hey, I like the song with Talib Kweli!
• Hieroglyphics- Full Circle. I don't know this one as well as their other one but they are quite a crew.
• Jay-Z- The Black Album. It took me longer than perhaps it should have for me to discover this one. I finally did before he came out of retirement, so I did get to experience it as his "final album." Such a great final statement for an artist to make, all-encompassing, his autobiography. And "99 Problems." Of course. The whole thing just sounds like victory.
• Ludacris- Chicken N Beer. This one holds a special place in my heart because it's the first Ludacris album I actually bought. It's a bit ridiculous but has a couple songs I still like quite a bit, particularly "Hip Hop Quotables."

The Probably One Of The Most If Not The Most Loved Album 12 Years Later Album of 2003:
In retrospect, this might be the real #1 album of 2003 as a universal truth. Depending on your opinions of Outkast and The White Stripes and whatever. But this one has really stuck around. I'm talking of course about Give Up by The Postal Service. One of those albums I can completely agree with my wife on (although The Ugly Organ also shares that distinguishment). Sure, "Such Great Heights" may have been overplayed but these days it is still a treat to hear. Ten tracks that all kind of have the same feel, but it's such a great feel. Tamborello's production toed the line between cold and comforting, distant and embracing. Something completely organic produced by something completely digital sounding. Gibbard's vocals were completely on point, his lyrics relatable and familiar, it's just a lovely unassuming record that accomplishes so much. A little side project that may have been the best work either of them ever put out.

The Postal Service "Nothing Better"

And Finally! My Officially Declared Album of 2003 As Declared In 2003 So It Doesn't Matter What I Think 12 Years Later:
When I got De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta I didn't know what prog was. I thought it was something boring like jazz. I only knew that this was a crazy ambitious album with lots of long songs, arranged like a crazy symphony. It was the guys from At The Drive-In with all the vision and to me it was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. I remember listening to it once and thinking, "why do I even listen to pop music? I should start only listening to music like this." I thought it was so beyond everything else out there. So I had to call it my #1. Someone else on my message board put it a little lower on his list saying he didn't rank it higher because he doesn't actually listen to it enough. I chided him (slightly) and said that was his problem, not the album's. Of course, now I know what he meant. It's not like your personal ranking can't take personal subjectivity into account. Anyway, looking at all the other stuff that came out this year, I can't say I still think this is the best of 2003 but it's a hell of a ride all the same. They had a way with energy, these guys. It translated well from At The Drive-In because they were able to harness crazy amounts of energy and then unleash it in such a beautiful way.

The Mars Volta "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)"

The Rest of the Honorable Mentions:

• Hail to the Thief by Radiohead was the other album I put up on top of my list at the time, maybe at #2 or 3 or 4. The other one I listened to when I wanted to get away from all the "pop" stuff. Good and political and stuff. I liked the politicalness of it.
• I don't know where to put Feast of Wire by Calexico. It is awesome and probably deserving of being #1 on some list somewhere. #1 Calexico? Maybe!!
• Early Okkervil River! I got a song off of Down The River of Golden Dreams once upon a time because I liked their name. I liked that song. I looked for their stuff everywhere and eventually gave up. The song was "The War Criminal Rises and Speaks." I still love that song. Eventually they got very popular and I became more of an official fan.
• Is Apple O' Deerhoof's best? I think of it as quintessential Deerhoof-from-before-I-knew-them.
• Janelle Monae's debut Audition gives just the faintest hint about what she would go on to achieve.
• Poodle Hat was Weird Al just throwing it all out the window. That's what I felt when I heard what the album would be called and saw the cover. Is that his most random cover? Might be. Just might be. In general it may be a slightly lesser Weird Al album, but that might just be my opinion. But there are some gems, especially "Bob." Doing an artist parody of Bob Dylan and making every line a palindrome is one of the most poetic things one could do. I still can pull out random lines from that song to demonstrate palindromes. A Toyota's a Toyota. Do Geese See God? Do Nine Men Interpret? Nine Men, I Nod.
• Yeah, Goldfrapp was neat too.
• So was The National!
• And Beaulah. Yoko was their last album! It was funny, it took me forever to get Yoko even though I loved the band because I'd found an exclusive indie record store "demos" version of it, so I already had and knew all the songs, just in demo version. When I finally got the album, I think I decided I liked the demo versions better...
• Hey, early Dirty Projectors!
• Where else do I put Elephant by The White Stripes? This seems so wrong to put them way down here! But they did get their due. I remember tons of magazines and such put this as their #1 album of 2003 so who cares if my little blog throws it down here? I didn't really get into The White Stripes until their next album. "Seven Nation Army" is a classic tune though. And it seems like they're having fun. Expanding their palate a bit. 
• Oh, if I only had known about TV On The Radio in 2003. The Young Liars EP came out and would have blown me away. I waited until they had a full-length album before finding out about them though.
• The New Pornographers - Electric Version. Because they are fun!
• Is Transatlanticism the best Death Cab for Cutie album? Please discuss.
• Elvis Costello doing piano based love songs! North is the name of the album. Pretty good, but I like everything he does.

What Happens Next?
I'm glad you asked! After 2003 comes 2004. 2004 includes music from the likes of Annie, Arcade Fire, Battles, Black Black Ocean, Black Eyes, some album from Brian Wilson called Smile, CocoRosie, Descendents (!), DeVotchKa, a double Elvis Costello release, The Ex, Franz Ferdinand, The Go! Team, Jens Lekman, some kid named Kanye West, Le Tigre, Madvillain, Modest Mouse gets huge, Scissor Sisters, TV On The Radio, and !!!. Among other things.