I was and still think it's great. Probably the only think they did that was better was Roots and Crowns, but they've been remarkably consistent overall. Great band.

A lot of people seem to think they're really boring live or something, but I really enjoyed them.

Found my Shmoople:


Surprised that Califone wasn't on it. Must've bought it in '04, I guess.

Also, I STILL haven't heard that Canoe album.

Memory Girls was on my Top 50, but I don't have it anymore. I remember it being pretty good and listened to it a lot in the summer with whatever Pernice Brothers record came out that year. I should probably look into it again

Agreed. This was going to be one of the next I posted.



I love it just as it is. It's a strange record in that I think alot of the more casual Son Volt/Farrar fans dismiss it based on the space junk as Farrar's failed attempt to put out a Wilco style record after Wilco had hit it big, yet die hard Farrar fans rank it high in his catalog. I didn't like all the space junk transitions until I saw him perform them live and then they seemed just right. I like this more than Trace/Straightaways although I don't rank those as high as most.



I was initially going to post this when I looked at what I owned from 2003 via rateyourmusic but I went back looking for what I said about here at the time of release and discovered that I had it #1 in my 2004 shmoo poll based on the domestic release (I think it came out late in 2003 in Canada and in 2004 everywhere else). It was on your 2004 shmoo poll too. Great album though whatever year you say it's from.

+1's on:

Tim Easton
Beulah - Yoko (the only Beulah I like)
Pernice Brothers
Matthew Sweet
Sun Kil Moon
Rufus Wainwright
Joe Henry ( A BIG +1 - maybe the best album of the '00's)
Frank Black
Queens of the Stoneage
DBT's
MMJ
Damien Jurado
Cracker - Countrysides
Exploding Hearts
Kathleen Edwards

Some more:



Nicolai Dunger - Tranquil Isolation

Coming on the heels of Soul Rush, I think this was probably a disappointment for the folks that wanted him to continue sounding like a young Van Morrison. It's much mellower affair with a much more americana, folk sound. I love it though and its the Dunger album I reach for most frequently



Warren Zanes - Memory Girls

I'll let Radcliffe talk about this one since he turned me on to it but I'll just say it's real good and still one that gets regular spins from me.

There were also a lot of really good Brazilian and African releases in 2003 but even I'm only so interested in them now.

Just had to correct this... QOTSA's "Songs for the Deaf" came out in 2002.

I only know this by heart because they're my favorite band and I have an absolute man-crush on Josh Homme.

Another big +1 on Sun Kil Moon. A I recall, I came on that one late in the year, like December-late. It may get more play than any other 2K3 release. That Joe Henry still just makes me shake my head. I think I threw it on the ipod a few weeks ago to let it come up on rotation while driving, which I don't think has happened yet. All the love for that one baffles the bejeebers out of me.

Completely forgot about this one. I prefer Dunger when he checks his inner Van at the door. Still, good record.


I've always wanted to check this out but for some reason never made the effort. I need to fix that.



BIG thanks for turning me on to this Bill -

I have that Richard Thompson record but have never listened. I'll fix that tomorrow.

Kranks 2003, for better or worse.

1 - lightning bolt WONDERFUL RAINBOW
2 - devendra banhart BLACK BABIES
3 - the clientele THE VIOLET HOUR
4 - mogwai HAPPY MUSIC FOR HAPPY PEOPLE
5 - melt banana CELLSCAPE
6 - four tet ROUNDS
7 - nina nastasia RUN TO RUIN
8 - cat power YOU ARE FREE
9 - broken family band COLD WATER SONGS
10 - bonnie prince billy MASTER AND EVERYONE
11 - white stripes ELEPHANT
12 - yeah yeah yeahs FEVER TO TELL
13 - stephen malkmus PIG LIB
14 - belle & sebastian DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS
15 - the strokes ROOM ON FIRE
16 - james kirk YOU CAN MAKE IT IF YOU BOOGIE
17 - the thermals MORE PARTS PER MILLION
18 - million dead A SONG TO RUIN
19 - steely dan EVERYTHING MUST GO
20 - bad company uk SHOT DOWN ON SAFARI

here's my extra two cents:



Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site : Just as good as the previous two. And even if if it isn't, an under par Weakerthans album is better than most releases.



Dirt Bike Annie - Show Us Your Demons : One of my favorite bands from the late 90s/early 00s pop punk/Mutant Pop scene. Apparently they tried to get a producer who would help them make a hit record here. And there are some hits, for sure. It's strong and confident and more mature than anything else they did, but it lacks the fun and happy-go-lucky sound of their early 7"s. Still, I'd take this over just about any boy/girl punk combo of the decade. Adam from this band now does The Impulse International, a great garage/power pop band on Dirtnap. Mikey Erg from this band is now in every other punk/indie band touring today.



Charlie Brown Gets A Valentine - Dismissed : Criminally underrated. Too indie for the punks, too punk for the indie kids. They blended it so smoothly but very few wrapped their heads around it at the time. I think at the time I called it "smart punk" or something like that because the chords and melodies, while powerful, weren't the typical straight-ahead blasts one normally associates with the genre. Lucas from this band went on to form Dead Mechanical who released my # 2 of last year. Jon from this band is now in the A/V Club, a top tenner from 2007.



Damone - From The Attic: Female fronted fuzz pop/mall punk. Really thick production and good songwriting.

not sure if these cropped up yet.



Mojave 3 - Spoon And Rafter : A little more lengthy than I prefer but I still can't say no to this band. Neil Halstead's vocals are the best thing we have next to resurrecting Nick Drake.



Kaada - Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time : Ok so this originally came out two years previously but apparently no one heard it then. I don't think it came up in our YSHT '01 thread. Ipecac gave it a wider release and it rules. One of the very rare times that I care about the process as much as the product. The way he created (or I guess in some cases re-created) his own samples and used them to form his album was pretty cool. It's familiar enough to just enjoy like you would an oldies station, but creative enough to snag your ear throughout.

Two I like a lot not mentioned:

Dump- A Grown-Ass Man

The Zephyrs- A Year to the Day

that warren zanes is so good

Awaiting my purchase from Amazon.

FWIW, I think "People That I'm Wrong For" is even better than "Memory Girls". Just that's an album from 2006 and this thread is about 2003.

i've seen that dump cover a million times (i think it's someones avatar) but i didn't realize it was a Dump cover.

(me bragging) we are label mates.

It arrived, and yes it's quite good. Needs more plays though. What I found interesting and unexpected was the mention of Daniel Tashian of The Silver Seas and his participation on the record. Apparently, he is all over it and Zanes gave him a special credit as the "Unstoppable Daniel Tashian."

What the hell, here's a few more:



Tora! Tora! Torrance! - A Cynic's Nightmare

Snotty punk (lead singer sounds a bit like Pete Shelley to my ears) mixed with a bit of the brooding theatricality/bombast of say a At the Drive In. It's not the sort of thing I normally would fall for but I really like the energy of it.



The Iguanas - Plastic Silver 9-Volt Heart

Iguanas sound a lot like what Los Lobos might if they were from New Orleans rather than east L.A. I prefer some of their earlier albums which a healthier dose of Latin and New Orleans R&B flavors in the mix but all of the Iguanas stuff is very good. This is worth the price of admission for the title track (co-written with Dave Alvin) and Mexican Candy alone.



Madlib - Shades of Blue

Hip Hop/Jazz fusion with Madlib remixing classic Blue Note tracks. I probably like the source material even more but this is still pretty cool for an occasional listen.



Little noticed (in the US at least) solo album by Vaselines front man, Eugene Kelly. Nothing spectacular but there's some well done catchy pop on here.



Manu Chao style rock/salsa/ska/rap/etc fusion from Spanish band Dusminguet. Great summer cocktailin' music.



Psychedelic Indie Country with a streak of darkness, quality male/female vocals and jazzy percussion. This isn't their best but there's always been something about their sound/vibe that I've dug.

Think it's about time for a new year.

I forgot about Shades of Blue. Good album.

There's also that Mike Ladd & Vijay Iyer album from 2003 - in that whole hip-hop/jazz hybrid vein - which I still really like, but I feel like I've talked about that enough on this board.

nothing out of the ordinary here, but a nice recap of the year.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/2003,55443/

Holy fucking shit, I don't know of anyone else who'd even heard of that record. Fucking love it.

Here's the review I did for CMJ NMM, on pg. 56

http://books.google.com/books?id=5ikEAA ... &q&f=false

BillyG-
Not sure if you've seen this or not.
It's been remastered & re-issued as an 11-track release with "new" alternate mixes, as well as removing all the "Space Junk".

"This latest release features an 11-track sequence, including 5 alternate mixes from the Terroir Blues session (“Cahokian”, “Fool King's Crown”, “Dent County”, “Out on the Road” and “Walk You Down”) as well as 6 re-mastered tracks from the original 2003 Terroir Blues release."

01. All Of Your Might (3:49)
02. No Rolling Back (3:15)
03. California (4:22)
04. Hanging On To You (2:51)
05. Hard Is The Fall (2:31)
06. Cahokian (4:47)
07. Fool King's Crown (2:20)
08. Dent County (3:55)
09. Heart On The Ground (4:22)
10. Out On The Road (5:01)
11. Walk You Down (2:23)

Here it is @ 320 -
http://laspikedelycmusic.bloguez.com/la ... s-2012-320

that's a really great list

One album that I enjoyed in '03, if not forgot it soon after, was The Band of Blackey Ranchette - Still Lookin' Good to Me, which was basically just a Giant Sand record gone more country with a sense of humor.

I also enjoy Do Make Say Think's Winter Hymn Country Hymn, which is one of the high marks of post-rock. And Soweta Kinch's Conversation with the Unseen is a great jazz album.

Oddly, I still listen to Alaska! - The Western Shore but never bought the whole album. Really liked one song yet never felt the urge to hear the rest of it.

That's all I got that is somewhat off the beaten path.

/(lasagna) thread

My shmoople-plus w/ the following designations:

+ Like it more now
- Like is less now
= Like it about the same

1. Wrens: Meadowlands =
2. Prefuse 73: One Word Extinguisher =
3. A Perfrect Circle: Thirteenth Step =
4. Grandaddy: Sumday -
5. White Stripes: Elephant =
6. Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism +
7. Lighting Bolt: Wonderful Rainbow +
8. Mars Volta: Deloused in the Comtaorium =
9. Calla: Televise =
10. Radiohead: Hail to the Thief -
11. Beth Orton: The Other Side of Daybreak =
12. Fire Theft S/T -
13. Madlib: Shades of Blue =
14. My Morning Jacket: It Still Moves +
15. Damien Jurado: Where Shall You Take Me? =
16. Minus 5: Down With Wilco -
17. Manitoba: Up in Flames -
18. Kaada: Thank You for Giving me your Valuable Time =
19. Paper Airplane Pilots: The History of Flying =
20. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell +
21. Flank Black: Show Me Your Tears =
22. Black Eyed Peas - Elephunk =
23. Soulive S/T +
24. Deftones S/T =
25. Pete Yorn - Day I Forgot =

+1 for King Geedorah (would be a top 5 now), Beluah, Four Tet, OutKast (Speakerboxx + "Hey Ya!"), Sufjan, Constantines, Explosions in the Sky