Read and Appreciated in 2003
A Year’s Best List
Music
1. Best Indie UK Pop: The Violet Hour, The Clientele
Gorgeous, atmospheric chamber pop featuring shimmering guitars and dreamy, languid melodies. I fell in love with 2001’s Suburban Light on first listen (which, for me, is very rare) and this one is almost as good. I have no idea what their lyrics are about and couldn’t care less—it’s all in the beautiful sound.
Haha Sound, Broadcast
Intelligent pop that gives a sunnier psychedelic gloss to the retro electronica of groups like Stereolab. As good as if not better than their 2000 release, the excellent The Noise Made By People.
2. Best Indie US Pop: Her Majesty the Decemberists, The Decemberists
I’m not sure those folks who compare this band to Neutral Milk Hotel because of their ostensible surrealism are paying attention. The group’s lyrics are actually quite precise and the stories they tell often linear, it’s just that the offbeat subject matter (including ghosts, chimney sweeps, whalebone corsets, pirates and prostitutes) might seem odd to anyone who’s not an Edward Gorey fan. Colin Meloy is an excellent songwriter and he clothes his lyrics in pretty melodies whose sunny disposition is often at odds with the dark tales he tells.
3. Best Electronica: The Lemon of Pink, The Books
The Books take the essence of electronica—sampling—and move it one step further into collage. A few banjo licks are followed by a voice repeating a couple of phrases, then by natural noises, then more strumming and snatches of song. It has the feel of a performance art project but the strange thing is that after a couple of listens it grows on you and you want to play it again for pure and simple enjoyment. Unexpectedly pleasant yet mind-expanding at the same time, this took me entirely by surprise.
Lost Horizons, Lemon Jelly
Is there such a thing as upbeat downtempo? Lemon Jelly produce a bouncy, funny, playful album of lounge music and get bonus points for having the prettiest CD packaging I’ve seen in a long time, recapturing in miniature the lost glories of the LP gatefold sleeve.
4. Best Alt-Country: Chinatown, The Be Good Tanyas
Some of the best alternative country music continues to be made by non-Americans, like the Australian Kasey Chambers or this trio of Canadian women. This is a lovely album, with spare, acoustic arrangements of melancholy tunes forming a backdrop to the appealing, gently slurring voice of the lead singer.
