Lost Levels Forums

The time now is Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:15 am

2003: Year in Music
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Lost Levels Forum Index -> Off Topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Ballz
Staff
Staff


Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Posts: 610
Location: st. petersburg, florida

PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 11:31 pm    Post subject: 2003: Year in Music Reply with quote

Here's a needlessly convoluted thread! Give us your top picks of new music that came out in 2003! And like, talk a little bit about why you picked it. It can be a top 10, it can be a top 2, whatever. Just have it be released in 2003.

However, if you're like me, you don't keep up with everything that comes out, and it usually takes a while before you hear a CD. So in part 2 of this thread, list your favorite albums or whatever that have been spinning in your CD player that did NOT come out in 2003. It could be last year's System of a Down album, it could be some Robert Johnson album that came out 45 years before you were born. Don't matter, just talk about why you like it so much!

Best Albums of 2003

Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People
A brilliant accomplishment of trance-inducing psuedo-instrumental rock (there are vocals, but completely abstract and incomprehensible). The songs are tightly constructed and very well laid out, with none of the pretentiousness that some other post-rockish bands often fall into. Plus the CD has a program that allows you to completely remix the album's opening track, for all you aspiring DJs out there.
Notable tunes: Hunted by a Freak, Boring Machine Disturbs Sleep

Jonny Greenwood - Bodysong
Radiohead's spaced-out guitarist/keyboard dude branches out to make his solo debut, which not surprisingly enough, doubles as a soundtrack. Many of the tunes feature abstract rhythms and familiar synths that will remind the listener of Radiohead's Kid A or Amnesiac albums. The album has a broad range from the symphonic to jazz to trip hop to tribal drumming. An absolute masterpiece that requires countless relistening to be fully appreciated.
Notable tunes: Moon Trills, Splitter, 24 Hour Charleston

The Strokes - Room on Fire
Perhaps overshadowed by The White Stripes' Elephant LP, I still prefer the Strokes' sophomore release. While not really breaking new ground from their first album, the CD remains consistently excellent with a bit more 80's new wave style added in for good measure. The album's greatest downfall is it will leave the listener wanting more, as it clocks in at little more than a half hour in total length.
Notable tunes: Reptilia, You Talk Way too Much, The Way it Is

The Beatles - Let it Be... Naked
It's the Beatles. Duhh. I kind of liked the "overproduced" sound of the original Let it Be, but this alternate perspective is quite fascinating. The album was originally called to have a stripped down sound. Now, 30 years later, it finally lives up to that expectation.
Notable tunes: The Long and Winding Road, Across the Universe


Best Albums Bazzly rocked out to in 2003

Beck - Sea Change (2002)
Oh my shit, this is like, one of the greatest albums ever. Speaking of stripped down, this album has three things: Beck, an acoustic guitar, and a drum machine. The results are divine. An album of soft, sad, sleepy songs that has on a few occasions caused me to tear up. For added fun, compare this to his previous album, Midnight Vultures (which I was also tempted to add to this list). The two albums couldn't be more different from one another. Beck is genius personified as a weird British man. Note: the Japanese import has a bonus track that imo, is a much better album closer than found on other releases. Damn you stiff importing prices!
Notable tunes: Paper Tiger, Round the Bend, Already Dead

Bjork - Post (1995)
Well it took me about 7 years, but I'm now officially a Bjork fan. I've found her early stuff like this album to be particularly good, with a mixture of orchestral sounds and weird sampling. I don't jizz to her voice like some people do (I prefer the chick from Portishead instead), but she certainly can belt out a tune when she wants to. Also recommended: Homogenic.
Notable tunes: Army of Me, Enjoy

RJD2 - Deadringer (2002)
His name may be kind of stupid, but this album rivals DJ Shadow's Private Press on many levels. Basically, if you like teh trip hop, this one is an instant winnar.
Notable tunes: The Horror, Shot in the Dark, The Proxy

DJ Krush - Code 4109 (2000)
Can you guess what sort of stuff I listen to these days? This CD isn't so much a full-length album as it is a live DJ performance, serving as one continuous flow over the course of about 70 minutes. However, it's not nonstop, cut up scratching but instead a logically flowing ensemble of music from beginning to end. However, when Krush does bust out the vinyl scratching near the album's end, it's really something to behold.
Notable tunes: Four Elements/Yes to Life/Just Be Good to Me, Chie no Wa, Beataholic Reformatory
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
nateJC



Joined: 08 Nov 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 4:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One quick question before I begin: How could Jonny Greenwood have released a solo album without me knowing about it? I must buy that...

Also, I may be an aspiring journalist, but I suck with the music reviews. If you're even remotely interested in either of these albums, go download them. Better yet, buy them legally, ya cheap bastich! :)

Sigur Rós - ( )
All pretentiousness aside (and there's a lot of it), this is really a crowning accomplishment in ethereal rock music. Wailing guitars combine with simple, yet powerful synth and piano melodies, reminiscent (to me) of the masterful rock opuses of the 70's. Finishing off this combination are the high-voiced, not quite human sounding vocals of Jónsi Birgisson. Many fans have viewed this as the perfect soundtrack, but cannot agree on the soundtrack to what. Personally, I view ( ) like a door to the imagination. It's the kind of album you can turn on, lie back and just think. A vast improvement over the overly-sugary pop tunes on Agætis Býrjun

Stuff not from 2003 that Nate is currently grooving on:

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue vols. 1 and 2 (1998, 2000)

I hadn't really heard of Woody Guthrie before I bought this album, nor did I imagine that I'd grow to like music from the 1940s-50s. However, Billy Bragg and Wilco have done an amazing job of updating Guthrie's classics with a new sound that's also true to its roots. Bragg provides most of the vocals and acoustic guitars, while Wilco chimes in on a few songs with bass guitar, synth and the occasional piano. "Walt Whitman's Niece" sounds just like what it is: a song about being drunk. Bragg and Wilco pull off a beautiful "drunken sailor song with a guitar twang" that really complements the lyrics. Bragg's expertise in folk music lends itself well to "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key" although it could have done without Natalie Merchant on backup vocals. "Blood of the Lamb", one of the few songs sung by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy features a stomping bass beat and ethereal synth that nicely livens up an old hymn. Great new (old) music from two great artists.

Stuff Nate likes but is too damn tired to write a mini-review on:
Hayden - Skyscraper National Park
SIANspheric - The Sound of the Colour of the Sun
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Radiohead - (just about anything by Radiohead, really)
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead... - Source Tags and Codes
Toshack Highway - Toshack Highway
Swervedriver - 99th Dream
Strung Out on O.K. Computer: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead
Radio Free Vestibule - Sketches, Songs and Shoes
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 5:19 am    Post subject: I'll bite. Reply with quote

-=Kitsune's best albums of 2003=-
Not surprisingly, they're the only two albums I bought this year.

Counterfeit2 - Martin Gore
In Martin Gore's second solo album, he takes the music he's perfected in nearly twenty years of work with Depeche Mode and takes it one step further: his combination of instrumental violin and guitar, synthesized music, and his often eerie voice give his songs a lot to look for. The best songs are perhaps "In my time of dying", based on an old European folk song, "I cast a lonesome shadow", and "Loverman".

Paper Monsters - Dave Gahan
Dave Gahan's first solo outing, Depeche Mode's main vocalist follows a more calm approach, based more upon instrumental music. The rhythm is also decidedly different, using a much calmer mood than his usual songs. The most interesting songs are "Dirty Sticky Floors" (which was the main single) and "Bottle Living", a song about alcoholism (it seems).

-=Stuff from before 2003 that the fox enjoys=-
Peace & Love, Inc. - Information Society
The prototype "hacker band" evolved into something different and tried to walk away from their earlier synthpop origins, with a little bit of social commentary, at least in their music videos. Vocalist and main composer Kurt Harland sings "Peace & Love Inc", the title single, and "Where would I be without IBM", one of the album's stronger pieces. "To be free", sung by another of the band members, is a semi-realistic look into... god, I dunno, a lonely person's life?

HACK - Information Society (1990)
THE definitive "hacker" album, hah. Most of the songs dealt with technology in some form or another. The main single off the album, "Think" is a strong song, about a person that ... well, complains to his ex, who leaves him. It's hard to explain. Other interesting songs include "Fire tonight", and "Mirrorshades".

American McGee's Alice - Chris Vrenna
Original soundtrack to the hit PC game. The music is similar to Nine Inch Nails' pieces, but I dunno if it's true or not. Most songs are athmospheric pieces, fitting with the game's gothic theme.

now youre playing with powar 1 - 3 - temp sound solutions
... I ordered these albums on a whim. NES music remixed via IT modules and other things. And they only cost me like $5, I think. Well, I like it.

---
Other stuff
Double Dragon II Arranged- Kazuhiro Hara & Nobuhito Tanahashi
Go early 90's pop!

Grandia II Original Soundtrack Vol.1 - Deus, Vol.2 - Povo - Noriyuki Iwadare
So sue me, this is perhaps my favorite soundtrack ever.

The End of Evangelion - Various Artists
Soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Favorite track? Komm, susser TOD.

EVANGELION VOX - Various Artists
Favorite track: 2, The Image of Me - vocalize by Loren.

Portishead - Portishead
Crappy 128kbps encode. Still doesn't change the fact that they kick ass. Right, Red?

Sour Times (Nobody Loves Me) - Portishead
... I don't know what this is. A single? I dunno, all I know is that 'Theme from "To kill a dead man"' rocks my socks.

I'll stop now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 4192
Location: Oakland, CA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 6:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You need Dummy. Yes, Sour Times is a single. To Kill A Dead Man was a weird little short film.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I need to buy all three albums! I HATE this crappy 128kbps encode, but no one I know owns the album...

And by three albums I mean Portishead, Dummy, and Pync. Or P'ync. I dunno.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 4192
Location: Oakland, CA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PNYC, I think. New York City performance.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
lugnut
Staff
Staff


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 147

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Beck is genius personified as a weird British man.


Since when is Beck British? Maybe I missed something in the overall context.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Yahoo Messenger
kap
Minister of Paranoia
Minister of Paranoia


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 2103
Location: I hate you.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beck is from Los Angeles.

I hate Best Of Music threads with a hot, fiery passion, they always turn into I Am So Much More Indy Than You.

Back to my punk compilations by labels and bands none of you losers have ever heard of.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am 500% more Indiana Jones than ALL OF YOU!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
BMF54123
Staff
Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 743
Location: Henderson, NV

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Screw you all and your mainstream music.

*goes back to his MODs*
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Ballz
Staff
Staff


Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Posts: 610
Location: st. petersburg, florida

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kap wrote:
Beck is from Los Angeles.

I hate Best Of Music threads with a hot, fiery passion, they always turn into I Am So Much More Indy Than You.

Back to my punk compilations by labels and bands none of you losers have ever heard of.


Wow, I thought Beck was British. I feel dumb now. I know DJ Shadow is American tho, yay me.

I made this thread because I was curious to hear what other people are listening to, so I might check 'em out myself. If you don't feel like contributing, don't bother replying.

btw Nate, did you know the String Quartet put out another Radiohead CD? Their rendition of National Anthem is nifty. But if you like classical-style Radiohead covers, you really should check out Christopher O'Riley's "True Love Waits" album. It's quite glorious.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
kap
Minister of Paranoia
Minister of Paranoia


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 2103
Location: I hate you.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awww, I was kidding :(

Do you have more than the one Mogwai album?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nateJC



Joined: 08 Nov 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

didn't know about that second string quartet radiohead cd. i'll have to look for it at the music store. do you know the name of it, by any chance?

i've heard of "true love waits", for some reason never bothered to buy it though. i'll look into that too.

thanks for the suggestions man. :)

-n
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Smeg
Staff
Staff


Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 1600
Location: beneath enemy scrotum

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the Radiohead tip, Brad Mehldau recorded a fairly nifty cover of Paranoid Android. Not that I like that sort of thing.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
PopaSmear
Staff
Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 178

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

2003-
I honestly don't know... I got Johnny Cash - Unearthed. That's a pretty sweet box set. Four new discs, and a Best of American disc. Lyric's Born - Later That Day is a fun little hip-hop record, as were Kid Koala's two releases, Nufonia Must Fall (which is just an EP soundtrack to his comic of the same name) and Some of My Best Friends Are DJs. Sadly, neither of these albums have a version of Asteroids on the CD like his first record did.

AND BEYOND:
Don Ellis Orchestra - Electric Bath. This record is SO FUCKING GOOD. Amazing avant jazz that has all the complex time signiature work that people shit themselves over, while actually being pleasing to the ear. More of his stuff needs a CD release.

AC/DC - Back in Black. HELL'S BELLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist - Brain Freeze. An amazing live performance by two of my favorite hip hop DJs (there is no such thing as trip hop, and if there was, Shadow would STILL be a hip hop DJ). Composed primarily of old and rare funk 45s, this set is really only available bootleg now. Oh well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
lugnut
Staff
Staff


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 147

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't really heard anything from 2003 that I really fell in love with. But I guess these are mostly what I was listening to this year, in no particular order:

The White Stripes - De Stijl (2000) - InVerse sent me this, along with their other 3 albums and some b-sides and such, but I have to say, this is a better album than this year's "Elephant." Or maybe it's just me.

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989) - Yeah, yeah. After over a decade of hearing how this is the greatest hip-hop album ever recorded, I finally broke down and bought a cassette copy that I found for a dollar at a flea market just to check it out. Holy shit. So I ended up playing it repetitively for like 2 months in my car, but then the tape snapped. Whooops. Guess it's time to go buy a CD.

Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003) - Yes, Jay-Z. The epitome of "commercial rap." So what? The beats are k-rad. Reminds me a lot of "The Blueprint" album from a couple years ago, and that's never a bad thing.

The Beatles - Let it Be...Naked (2003) - Stupid title aside, I've been playing this a lot, but I can't really decide if I like it. I'm with Ballz, I didn't think the original Spector mix was all that bad in the first place. The whole project seems just a little pointless when you consider that these aren't the original "live mixes" that the album was originally planned to have - a lot of the "Naked" tracks are still overdubbed/pieced together, they've just been de-Spectorized.

The Streets - Original Pirate Material (2002) - I think there's a term for this type of music, but I'm not hep enough to know what it is. The album's got plenty of weak spots, but there's enough good here to override it.


I could probably think of more, but there's no point. I feel so old and unhip looking at you guys's lists of 90% shit I've never heard of. Oh well. That RJD2 album is indeed the shit, by the way.

On second thought, I guess I have heard of most of it. I just haven't listened to most of it. :P
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Yahoo Messenger
ClamIAm



Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Posts: 139
Location: the frozen northland

PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I should like, check out some of the bands mentioned here. Yeah. I guess I could say I finally got a led zepplin album (IV), and it's...pretty cool. Also, I got into some anniversary album of some obscure label that I'm not really familiar with. I think it was released in '98 or so.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ballz
Staff
Staff


Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Posts: 610
Location: st. petersburg, florida

PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 5:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PopaSmear wrote:
2003-
DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist - Brain Freeze. An amazing live performance by two of my favorite hip hop DJs (there is no such thing as trip hop, and if there was, Shadow would STILL be a hip hop DJ). Composed primarily of old and rare funk 45s, this set is really only available bootleg now. Oh well.


Aren't there two versions of this? My roommate has a British import that's now out of print (as far as I know, it's legit). Two tracks, but like, over an hour in length. It's awesome.

Wasn't DJ Shadow the first to be labeled as "trip hop"? I mean, I don't like it very much myself, but I have a hard time categorizing much of it myself. I've seen his stuff in sections labeled hip hop, trip hop, electronica and techno (!!!).

Maybe there should just be a DJ-specific category for all DJ goodness.

And incidentally, RJD2 is coming to UVA in about two weeks. I am so fucking going.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
PopaSmear
Staff
Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 178

PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There's Brainfreeze (if it's a UK import, it's bootleg. The originals were only sold at the shows, and then through hiphopsite) and the sequel Product Placement, which is good, but not AS good.

As for genre... Shadow calls himself a hip-hop DJ. The term trip-hop was invented by english music journalists who didn't want to admit there was some really interesting hip hop being made. It was then extended to people like tricky, or portishead, or tipsy. Honestly, I don't know what to call those people, but trip-hop has always seemed like a fabricated marketing term to me.

Actually, stranger still, Kid Koala (who is a straight up scratch DJ) is often filed under techno by people who don't know what he's doing and assume it's computers. Silly music store clerks.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nixon
Staff
Staff


Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Northfield, MN

PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the subject of other good music from the year 2003:
(though not nessicarily released in 2003)


Hella - Hold Your Horse Is - First heard these guys while closing up a coffee shop and being played at loud levels. You listen and wonder how two guys can make that much noise, but have it still be a coherant piece as well. Excellet. Though not for everyone, and I've heard they are amazing live. Bonus here is that the guitarist of hella is the drummer for "The Advantage" Another NES cover band, that does takes the original songs and redoes them note for note on their instuments. Their Mega Man 2 Airman is great, as well as their Duck Tales - Moon.

Badly Drawn Boy - Hour of the Bewilderbeast - One of the easiest to listen to albums in a long time for me, with great replayability and damn well crafted songs that arn't shit.

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Their self titled debut up here in Seattle is damn great chick led rock. I don't like female singers usually, but this band does a damn good job.

The Fire Theft - Do you remember Sunny Day Real Estate? Yea, they broke up and got back together and released a few more albums and then vanished. This is the three core members back with a new band, a great sound and the vocals of Jeremy Enick who you either like or think is annoying.

And more I suppose, but I don't have my CD's here in front of me to really take a look at what I've bought.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Lost Levels Forum Index -> Off Topic All times are GMT
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

RSS


Powered by phpBB 2.0.23 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group