In part four of our series of posts dedicated to the best music of this decade, we present today our 30 favorite albums and singles of 2003, a very rewarding year for those of us who enjoy loud guitars, strong female voices and discovering exciting new music.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who released the best debut of the year, had all those elements in place and so did
The Kills.
Karen O and
Alison Mosshart are undoubtedly two of the most talented rock singers of their generation, while
Nick Zinner and
Jamie Hince are among the top guitar slingers. Other promising newcomers who released superb breakthrough albums in 2003 included
The Sleepy Jackson,
Metric,
The Stills,
The Bronx and
The Rapture (who actually released their debut in 1999 but it was “
Echoes”, their second LP, that put them on the map).
The Postal Service, the project that came about through the collaboration of
Death Cab For Cutie’s vocalist
Ben Gibbard and
Jimmy Tamborello of
Dntel, released “
Give up”, their first and only LP, that proved to be one of the best electro-pop albums of the decade.
The Strokes,
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club,
Pretty Girls Make Graves,
Peaches and
Broken Social Scene all released excellent sophomore records,
Cat Power delivered perhaps her best work ever with “
You are free”, while the old school was represented by amazing albums from
The Fall and
Wire.
For our top 3 albums of the year, I’m quoting from the original end-of-the-year review posted in the old
Cool Music Central site (our previous World Wide Web incarnation):
“
Coral Fang” by
The Distillers: “The third
Distillers album in just 4 years has been a true revelation, establishing
Brody Dalle as the most powerful, inspired and inspiring front-woman in rock since the heyday of
Courtney Love. “
Coral Fang” is the disturbing, yet cathartic sound of
Brody slashing herself up, sucking the venom out of her blood and spitting it back to the face of her detractors. The most gloriously manic punk rock album in years from a band that burns bright and fast! Let’s just hope they don’t burn out too soon.” (unfortunately, they did).
“
Elephant” by
The White Stripes: “If we try to be objective for a moment, and we rarely are, “
Elephant” is the obvious choice for Album of the Year. “
White Blood Cells” put them on the map, but “
Elephant” is their defining moment, their very own “
Nevermind”.
The White Stripes managed to take blues influenced garage rock, that has been there forever as an underground movement, mix it up with country, punk and their very own rock ’n’ roll energy and spirit and turn it into a worldwide mainstream phenomenon. The garages are buzzing with life again and it’s all thanks to a soul brother & sister team!”
“
Throwing Muses” by
Throwing Muses: “There have been many reunions lately, but none as necessary or deeply gratifying as this one.
Kristin Hersh brought her old band together (including prodigal Muse
Tanya Donelly) for one last (?) time and delivered an album as good as anything they've ever done - in other words, an instant classic! How many bands do you know that have at least one classic album in three different decades? The doors of our own private Rock ’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame are wide open! As for the future,
Kristin is ready to start all over again with
50 Foot Wave. Respect!”
