Not a good year for rock. Not only do the kids not really care about it (except for a few exceptions more about the hype than the music), but Beyonce and Outkast have reminded us of the joys (and musicianship) of a well-crafted pop single. But I’m not willing to go the route of seemingly every printed music critic and throw my fandom behind Justin or 50 Cent. I like rock too much. Besides, there were some bright spots this year.
1. New Pornographers – The Electric Version. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have predicted that it would end up on the top of my list, but the album has grown on me the more I listen to it. Great, understated hooks one after another.
2. Cinerama – Holiday. Debatable whether this qualifies as this year or not (UK release was 2002, US 2003) and it’s just a singles comp anyway. But the B sides are so terrific, better than the A sides even — and exactly the kind of perfect indie rock gems you don’t come across often these days.
3. Supergrass — Life on Other Planets. A fine return to form after the middling self-titled LP. (Again the stateside release was a year later). No longer ground-breaking, sure, but the band has found its post-Britpop groove and the results are exhilarating start to finish.
4. Shins — Chutes Too Narrow. sometimes called “folk” but it seems to share the 60s pop streak of Elliott Smith more than the Nick Drake side.
5. Cat Power – You Are Free. The deadpan delivery, the down tempos, and the clinky piano parts could all go horribly wrong, but they don’t here. I found it a haunting album.
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Take Them On, On Your Own. The mid-tempo becomes them more than the dirge material of their first album. Which I liked as well.
7. Evan Dando – Baby I’m Bored. This one grew on me as well, a surprise considering that I (perhaps unfairly) never followed the Lemonheads oeuvre.
8. White Stripes – Elephant. I don’t think this one holds up to repeated playings as well as White Blood Cells did, but otherwise it was a good follow up.
9. the Stills – Logic Will Break Your Heart. Unfortunate title and boring album cover, but the reverb and the layered guitarwork more than compensate.
10. Consonant — Love and Affliction. New band from the Mission of Burma guy, with backup from various local music names. Uneven, but they carry the postpunk torch without the archly retro quality of the new crop of New York bands.
Honorable mention: The Strokes‘ LP faded before the halfway mark even, but before that happened they managed a few great songs, with Cars-era production. Adult.’s Always Anxiety delivers a couple of strong electroclash songs. Electrelane came out with a superb Raincoats-esque single as a teaser for their upcoming album. Also, there were those releases from 2002 that didn’t make it on my radar til 2003. Ladytron (Light & Magic) was one of my favorites and it was a pleasure to see “Seventeen” become something of a crossover hit. Hot Hot Heat (Make Up the Breakdown) gave me reason to go back and listen to those old XTC and Joe Jackson albums gathering dust, and deserves more than the alterna-radio following it has. Deerhoof’s Reveille is fun avant-rock pastiche; I still haven’t heard their newest.
In a year in which indie rock seemed dominated by the crop of retro-80s acts - the Rapture, !!!, Erase Errata - the absence of an up-and-coming New York-scene (and I’d add the Yeah Yeah Yeahs here) from the list isn’t from a sheer contrarian streak. Despite a good song here or there, I found these bands overhyped and really not all that good. At least Interpol could make a great album and wasn’t all schtick. (I’ll reserve the Most overhyped title for Peaches — uninspired music peddling genderfuck to those who are in fact quite gender normative.) Hence, the presence of two Boston acts — and not one but two Canadian bands!
While we’re at it, this year’s Most Embarrasingly Bad Album award is a tie between Liz Phair’s self-titled monstrosity and Blur’s Think Tank. If I were the sort of person to read into these things, I’d say that each was a symbolic nail in the coffin of American indie and Britpop, respectively. But I’m not that sort of person.
Any more nominations for year’s best? Add your thoughts to the comments….
No comments have been added to this post yet.