Influenced by the upcoming euro-election we begin today with a brief statement about the future of this column for the upcoming months. Next Sunday we are taking the day off as we are already preparing for a visit to Barcelona for the Primavera Sound festival. This, of course, means that in early June you'll be able to read here all the details of the three-day festival with bands like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth etc. (more details here). Also, for the duration of the summer season, our Sunday meetings will take place every fortnight. This way we'll be able to find the time to write our reports about the multitude of summer festivals and concerts coming up in the next two months.
Moving on to the subject of the day, we are going back 6 years to 2003, to remember some of the best records from a year that was particularly rich if you dig the sound of loud guitars. And if you also happen to be a fan of loud, overpowering female vocals, then it would be hard to ignore an album like "Coral Fang", the last, as it turned out, album of The Distillers. Brody Dalle, the wife of Queens Of The Stone Age leader Josh Homme, has combined her love for punk rock and her admiration for Courtney Love's Hole in an explosive record that it may not be the most innovative punk album ever made, but it easily wins you over thanks to its primitive, manic punk energy and Brody's powerful vocals. The Distillers burned very brightly, very fast and, naturally, burned out soon enough. Brody returns this year with her new band Spinnerette, where she cooperates with Alain Johannes from Queens Of The Stone Age, and you can listen to the results here.
If I want to be a bit more objective now (and usually I am not), then I have to say that the album of the year was "Elephant" by The White Stipes. Jack and Meg gave us an enormous sounding rock record (as the name implies) combining blues and country as well as hard rock, garage and punk elements, and made their own unique blend using only the most basic of tools (guitar, drums), an old studio in London with vintage recording equipment (protools be damned!) and endless reserves of inspiration and talent.
The year will also be remembered for the return, after a long time, of one of my all-time favorite bands, Throwing Muses (as I said, I cannot resist the combination of strong female vocals and loud guitars), while another long-standing obsession of this column, The Fall, also gave us a great album. The rest of the album Top 10 for 2003 is taken over by the new rock brigade, led by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Fever to Tell" was the debut of the year), The Strokes, The Rapture and Pretty Girls Make Graves, while Cat Power gave us perhaps her best work to date.
Moving on to the subject of the day, we are going back 6 years to 2003, to remember some of the best records from a year that was particularly rich if you dig the sound of loud guitars. And if you also happen to be a fan of loud, overpowering female vocals, then it would be hard to ignore an album like "Coral Fang", the last, as it turned out, album of The Distillers. Brody Dalle, the wife of Queens Of The Stone Age leader Josh Homme, has combined her love for punk rock and her admiration for Courtney Love's Hole in an explosive record that it may not be the most innovative punk album ever made, but it easily wins you over thanks to its primitive, manic punk energy and Brody's powerful vocals. The Distillers burned very brightly, very fast and, naturally, burned out soon enough. Brody returns this year with her new band Spinnerette, where she cooperates with Alain Johannes from Queens Of The Stone Age, and you can listen to the results here. If I want to be a bit more objective now (and usually I am not), then I have to say that the album of the year was "Elephant" by The White Stipes. Jack and Meg gave us an enormous sounding rock record (as the name implies) combining blues and country as well as hard rock, garage and punk elements, and made their own unique blend using only the most basic of tools (guitar, drums), an old studio in London with vintage recording equipment (protools be damned!) and endless reserves of inspiration and talent. The year will also be remembered for the return, after a long time, of one of my all-time favorite bands, Throwing Muses (as I said, I cannot resist the combination of strong female vocals and loud guitars), while another long-standing obsession of this column, The Fall, also gave us a great album. The rest of the album Top 10 for 2003 is taken over by the new rock brigade, led by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Fever to Tell" was the debut of the year), The Strokes, The Rapture and Pretty Girls Make Graves, while Cat Power gave us perhaps her best work to date.
Top 30 Albums
- Coral fang - THE DISTILLERS
- Elephant - THE WHITE STRIPES
- Throwing Muses - THROWING MUSES
- Take them on, on your own - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
- Fever to tell - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
- Echoes - THE RAPTURE
- Room on fire - THE STROKES
- You are free - CAT POWER
- The new romance - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
- The real new Fall LP (formerly 'Country On The Click') - THE FALL
- Send - WIRE
- Sumday - GRANDADDY
- Keep on your mean side - THE KILLS
- Fatherfucker - PEACHES
- Give up - THE POSTAL SERVICE
- Lovers - THE SLEEPY JACKSON
- You forgot it in people - BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
- Rock N Roll - RYAN ADAMS
- Strays - JANE'S ADDICTION
- Blackberry belle - THE TWILIGHT SINGERS
- La musica negra - VERBENA
- Electric version - THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
- Old world underground, where are you now? - METRIC
- Logic will break your heart - THE STILLS
- The Bronx - THE BRONX
- Rounds - FOUR TET
- Speakerboxxx / The love below - OUTKAST
- Hail to the thief - RADIOHEAD
- The New Folk Implosion - FOLK IMPLOSION
- This is the glamorous - NEW WET KOJAK
Top 25 Tracks
- Such great heights - THE POSTAL SERVICE
- She kissed me (it felt like a hit) - SPIRITUALIZED
- Drain the blood - THE DISTILLERS
- Crawl home - DESERT SESSIONS
- This is our emergency - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
- Say hello to the angles - INTERPOL
- Seven nation army - THE WHITE STRIPES
- Maps - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
- Stop - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
- First it giveth - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
- Bandages - HOT HOT HEAT
- 12:51 - THE STROKES
- My kind of soldier - GUIDED BY VOICES
- Fight test EP - THE FLAMING LIPS
- Dark wave - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
- Black is the color of my true love's hair - THE TWILIGHT SINGERS
- Just because - JANE'S ADDICTION
- Way out west - VERBENA
- Molly's chambers - KINGS OF LEON
- Kick it - PEACHES (ft. IGGY POP )
- Hey ya! - OUTKAST
- Bad day - REM
- Bring it on - NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
- You were the last high - THE DANDY WARHOLS
- Out of time - BLUR
Song(s) of the week : The past and present of Brody Dalle - "Drain the Blood" by The Distillers and "Ghetto Love" from Spinnerette .
The Distillers - Drain the Blood
Spinnerette - Ghetto Love
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