Lists are bullshit, but God, they're fun to read, aren't they?
10. Nada Surf: Let Go (Barsu) Hip-rock fans who actually remember the Brooklyn outfit's decade-old moment in the sun via "Popular" won't let them live it down — during their superlative set at this year's South by Southwest conference, some asshole loudly and repeatedly requested the song, to the delight of his equally cretinous friends. Since they buzzed and burned in the mainstream, though, Nada Surf have morphed into ace providers of thoughtful American guitar-pop. The long-delayed sophomore effort The Proximity Effect was unbelievably good, and Let Go is even better, an eclectic, introspective collection of harmony, hook and earnest lyrical philosophy. (www.barsuk.com)
9. The National: Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (Brassland) Five guys from Cincinnati (two sets of brothers and a friend) relocate to Brooklyn and begin releasing music that owes little to any of the bands currently emerging from NYC's coolest borough, or any NYC band since The Velvet Underground, for that matter. Singer Matt Berninger's bare-nerve descriptions of deteriorating relations and the music's dirty, dynamic slow-motion buildups to the breakdown create a combination of modern groove and timeless vibe all their own. It's a smart, poetic and resonant soundtrack for anyone wanting to savor, rather than shatter, that pensive fugue that descends when good times go bad. Think of them as the anti-Dandy Warhols. (www.brassland.org)
8. Double Helix: Soundpr%f (Peripheral) The best top-to-bottom hip-hop record I heard this year came from right here in town. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for some of their obvious influences, like A Tribe Called Quest. Maybe it's because so much of the hip-hop on the radio is infuriatingly cookie-cutter. Maybe I'm just giving them more credit than they deserve, because they're from here, and obviously good enough to hang with national acts. Whatever. This disc forgoes both contemporary mainstream trends and the bombastic white-noise production of the best independent stuff by mixing easily flowing elements of the old school with a little bit of an accent and a whole lot of talent. (www.peripheralrecords.com)
7. Pelican: Pelican (Hydra Head) This long EP was hands down the best metal release of 2003. No vocals, just crafty, textured use of the old guitar-bass-drums combination. While almost every visionary heavy act uses moody instrumental passages as intros, outros and mid-song caesuras, Pelican builds ominous down-tuned, down-tempo atmospheres, then sustains them for tense minutes on end without growing tiresome. Plus, they're not afraid to exhibit a little of the less pummeling rock genres' melody and dissonance in the interest of keeping things, well, interesting. It's not stoner metal, exactly, but rather something simultaneously alien and warm, like Tool on quaaludes, jamming while Maynard's off on tour with A Perfect Circle. (www.hydrahead.com)
6 TIE: Strike Anywhere: Exit English (Jade Tree)/Against Me!: As The Eternal Cowboy (Fat Wreck Chords)
Two completely different takes on punk rock, proving that originality, conviction and top-notch songwriting still exist within the style. Richmond's Strike Anywhere ply anthemic, socially conscious, melodic hardcore with brains and hooks, and Exit English is every bit as worthy as their previous, scorching Change Is A Sound. Gainesville residents Against Me! work an altogether rootsier sound, amping up The Pogues to a hoarse, beery snarl, channeling the earlier, less dub-inflected populism of The Clash, and even breaking out the acoustics as often as they please. Their first full-length, the No Idea release Reinventing Axl Rose, was an earth-shaker, and their brand new one lives up to the expectations it fostered. (www.jadetree.com, www.fatwreck.com)
5. The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop) It's on just about everybody's Best Of list, and with good reason — every song is perfect, mixing traditional pop touchstones with surprising hairpin shifts in arrangement with smart, personal lyrics. Chutes Too Narrow should come off as self-consciously cute 'n' clever, a la far too much of the Dead Milkmen and Violent Femmes catalogs, but never falls short of achieving its ambitions. The Pavement comparisons are warranted, in terms of impact if not style, but designating The Shins a gently cool, hip-culture updating of the spirit of The Beach Boys seems somehow more apt. (www.subpop.com)
4. Willie Nelson: Crazy/The Demo Sessions (Sugar Hill) Early Nelson demos from the '60s, when he was selling songs and selling blood for a living. On some he's sparsely accompanied, and some are just voice and guitar, live in the booth. Previously unreleased versions of well-known tunes abound. It's untouchable, required listening for any and every fan of, well, anything, really. (www.sugarhillrecords.com)
3. The New Pornographers: Electric Version (Matador) Another disc taking up space on year-end roundups worldwide. Why? Because it's big rock but still fresh, and infectious pop but still unpredictable. Canadian co-op The New Pornographers is something of a supergroup, if, by "supergroup," one means "an ongoing concern composed of hyper-talented indie musicians and songwriters that most people have never heard of." The presence of insurgent-country icon/Mekons associate/Playboy pictorial woo-ee Neko Case garnered a lot of ink, but the music, and former Zumpano principal Carl Newman, are the band's not-so-secret weapons. (www.matador.com)
2. Cursive: The Ugly Organ (Saddle Creek) The idea of a band whose main songwriter puts his private hurt into his public work doing a concept album about a band whose main songwriter puts his private hurt into his public work sounds patently ridiculous. But Cursive's Tim Kasher is a man well known for thinly veiling his personal life in urgent, vaguely mythical musical catharsis, and The Ugly Organ is the band's most expansive and compelling record to date. From the throbbing soundtrack to some circus of the damned to tracks that jaggedly reinvent danceable New Wave (an association inspired in no small part by Kasher's Robert Smith-esque wailings), The Ugly Organ pulls it off by juxtaposing earnest soul-searching with multi-layered metaphor and some black comedy. (www.saddle-creek.com)
1. The White Stripes: Elephant (V2) What can I say? It's a flawless retelling of how skinny white British dudes stole the music of poor black Americans and turned it up really, really loud, only to have bored, unwashed people from Middle America rediscover it decades later, steal it back and strip it of most of its latter-day excesses. There's not a minute of filler here. Plus, how long has it been since we've been treated to an outfit so completely over the top in terms of image, and also so insanely good? (www.v2records.com)
Plus, 10 Albums That Would've Tied for Number 11
The Pernice Brothers: Yours, Mine & Ours (Ashmont); Vic Chesnutt: Silver Lake (New West); Ester Drang: Infinite Keys (Jade Tree); The Constantines: Shine A Light (Sub Pop); The Weakerthans: Reconstruction Site (Epitaph); Holopaw: Holopaw (Sub Pop); Grandaddy: Sumday (V2); Dwight Yoakam: Population Me (Audium); The Jealous Sound: Kill Them with Kindness (Better Looking); The Drive-By Truckers: Decoration Day (New West).
Contact Music Critic Scott Harrell at 813-248-8888, ext. 109, or by e-mail at scott.harrell@weeklyplanet.com.
This article appears in Jan 1-7, 2004.
