1. Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
   I was pretty amused when I found out that Fountains of Wayne were up for a “Best New Artist” Grammy this year. It’s especially funny considering the fact that this is their third full length release, and their first not on a major label. Regardless, this is more of the same from a great power pop band. I’ve loved these guys since I first heard “Radiation Vibe”, and this album lives up to the standard set by their others. Standout tracks: “Bright Future in Sales” and “Mexican Wine”.
2. The Postal Service - Give Up
   A friend of Laura’s recommended this album to her, and I picked it up shortly thereafter. I knew her friend had very good taste in music, and this was no exception. Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and electronica artist Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel) actually collaborated on this project using the U.S. Postal Service (thus the name). Tamborello would send Gibbard CD-ROMs of electronica and Gibbard would write and add vocals, along with some additional instrumentation. The result is just some amazing new music. Standout tracks: “Such Great Heights” and “The District Sleeps Alone”.
3. Ben Folds - Speed Graphic/Sunny 16
   Okay, technically this isn’t an album. It’s two separate EPs, Speed Graphic and Sunny 16, that Folds released online. Add in the really cool 4-track side project EP The Bens (Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee), which is also available on iTunes, and you’ve got 14 great songs. I took Laura to see Ben Folds open up for Tori Amos last summer, and he absolutely stole the crowd. He’s an incredible live performer and I can tell you that a lot of Tori Amos fans left the show more enchanted with Ben than the artist they’d really come to see. Standout tracks: “Give Judy My Notice” from Speed Graphic, “All U Can Eat” from Sunny 16 and “Bruised” from The Bens.
4. The White Stripes - Elephant
   Okay, I admit it. Jack White shocked the hell out of me with this one. I’d sort of lumped The White Stripes into the same group of throw-away artists like The Hives and The Vines and figured that they’d never improve on “Fell in Love with a Girl“. I stand humbly corrected. I downloaded an early vinyl rip of this album and burned a CD of it for a long drive to visit my parents. It stayed in the CD player, repeating over and over for most of the trip. He’s a really impressive (and creative) guitarist and writes some incredible songs. Standout tracks: “Seven Nation Army” and “The Hardest Button to Button”.
5. Grandaddy - Sumday
   Grandaddy is a band I’d heard about for years and never actually listened to. I was really introduced to them while listening to Ethel on XM Radio and fell in love with the style of electronic indie pop that they make. One of my favorite new Christmas songs this year was their “Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland”, the title of which still makes me laugh even just to type. Standout tracks: “Now It’s On” and “I’m on Standby”.
6. Guster - Keep It Together
   Guster had a mild alt-rock hit a few years ago with “Fa Fa”, and that turned my buddy Chris into a fan of theirs. He’s been telling me for years what a great band they are, but it’s taken me a while to finally really check them out. They make great pop music that you just can’t get out of your head. If they weren’t bizarrely playing on a Thursday night (with John Mayer), I’d be going out to see them in Morgantown with Chris. Standout tracks: “Amsterdam” and “Homecoming King”.
7. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
   I’ve been listening to Death Cab for Cutie for a few years now, after my sister got me into them. The lead singer, Ben Gibbard (see The Postal Service above), has a really haunting voice that you swear reminds you of some great singer that you like, but just can’t place. Transatlanticism is easily their best album to date. I expect that this will be the record (along with the attention that The Postal Service is receiving) that finally broadens their audience and puts them into the mainstream consciousness. Standout tracks: “The New Year” and “Transatlanticism”.
8. Cursive - The Ugly Organ
   The first of two Saddle Creek Records artists on this list, Cursive has somewhat eluded me in the past. When I saw Bright Eyes last year in D.C., I was less impressed with Bright Eyes (okay, with lead singer Conor Oberst, who seemed to have had entirely too much to drink before the show), and really intrigued by The Good Life, which is fronted by Cursive singer/songwriter Tim Kasher. When I picked up the Good Life’s album Black Out, I liked it but it didn’t really keep me interested. This new Cursive record did, though it took me a few times listening to the whole album to really get into it. Standout tracks: “Art is Hard” and “The Recluse”.
9. Jack Johnson - On and On
   When I heard Jack Johnson’s “Flake” (from his previous album, Brushfire Fairytales), I didn’t quite know what to make of it. I liked it, and it was very catchy, but it seemed pretty disposable. I didn’t know until later that he’d written my favorite G. Love and Special Sauce song, “Rodeo Clowns” (which Johnson’s recorded himself here). If I had, I might have had higher hopes for Johnson’s second album and not been as surprised at how great it is. Standout tracks: “Rodeo Clowns” and “The Horizon Has Been Defeated”.
10. Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-E (Reissue)
    I still feel really bad that I killed Jeff Buckley. I truly do. When I saw him open for Juliana Hatfield in Philadelphia several years ago, I didn’t know who he was. When he came out on stage looking very frail and started to hit the first high note in “Mojo Pin” with a few hundred adoring high school girls gazing up at him wantonly, I laughed out loud. I might have even literally pointed and laughed. If looks could kill, all those high school girls would now be serving 20 to life. An hour later, however, I really felt bad for having laughed. Jeff put on a great show and my reaction to that show him lasts to this day, that he’s an amazing artist. A few short weeks after the concert, Jeff’s body was found dead in Wolf River. If I could take it back, I would. Standout tracks: “Grace” and “Hallelujah”.
11. Howie Day - Stop All The World Now
    A running theme in this list seems to be artists I’d written off in the past. My sister used to talk about Howie Day when he played shows at her college a few years ago, and he seemed like a pretty typical alt/folk/rock type singer-songwriter, without a whole lot to distinguish himself from the pack. The fact that she thought he was cute as well sort of helped me not bother to find out anymore about his music. The first time I heard “Perfect Time of Day” on Ethel, I quickly found out how wrong I was. Standout tracks: “Perfect Time of Day” and “Collide”.
12. Azure Ray - Hold on Love
    Azure Ray is the second Saddle Creek artist that made the list this year. Saddle Creek’s bands are very incestuous; the artists on the label seem to constantly pair off for side projects before getting back to their original band. I first heard Azure Ray’s Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor on Now It’s Overhead’s self-titled debut a couple years ago, and picked up Azure Ray’s Burn and Shiver. I was immediately taken by the ethereal feel of the vocals and the starkness of the electronic backgrounds. Hold on Love picks up where that left off. Standout tracks: “Look To Me” and “If You Fall”.
13. John Mayer - Heavier Things
    My friend Bill got me into John Mayer after hearing “Your Body is a Wonderland” off Mayer’s debut album Room for Squares. Bill’s a musician, and has never really made a bad musical recommendation to me, so I had to check Mayer out. He has a very mellow singer-songwriter style that I like, and it’s great background music, but he’s a good enough writer that his music stands out on repeated listenings. The Dave Matthews comparisons are inevitable, but here’s hoping Mayer keeps making new and interesting music, instead of recording what seems like the same old stuff over and over again like Matthews. Standout tracks: “Bigger Than My Body” and “Only Heart”.
14. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
    When I saw Nine Inch Nails a few years ago with some friends in Philly, we didn’t rush to see A Perfect Circle open the show. At the time, a cheesesteak from Pat’s seemed like a much better option. I hadn’t yet heard their debut record, Mer de Noms, but I knew that they were a side project for Tool’s Maynard James Keenan. I’ve never been that into Tool, even though they seemed like a band I should really dig. It turns out what I didn’t love about Tool was everything Billy Howerdel added to A Perfect Circle. For this second album they brought in James Iha on guitar and they haven’t missed a step. Standout tracks: “Weak and Powerless” and “Blue”.
15. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
    While Hail to the Thief is far from my favorite Radiohead album, it squeaked onto the list by virtue of the fact that even a below average Radiohead album is still a very good album. Radiohead is another band I took Laura to see last summer, and we were both pretty blown away by the immersive live experience that they’ve put together. The image of Jonny Greenwood fiddling with cables and little noiseboxes off to the side of the stage will stay with me for a long time. They consistently put together music that just makes me sit back and listen, and yet half of the time at the show I couldn’t even sit down because I was bouncing along so happily to the music. Standout tracks: “Go to Sleep” and “There There”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2003 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Albums. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.