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DANNY ROWE'S BEST OF 2003
| Best New Releases: | | 1 |  | Arab Strap - Monday at the Hug and Pint [Matador]
Three words: "The Shy Retirer". Somehow these Scots sum up everything in their previous masterpiece/novel Philophobia into one four-minute song with a catchy club beat that makes every stereo I own quake for mercy. "Fucking Little Bastards" once again proves that no band is as bitter as Arab Strap with lyrics like "I don't like the words that the birds are singing, I hate their ugly voices and the messages they're bringing." Is it a mere coincidence that these guys opened for Bright Eyes on their last US Tour? Of course not; Mr. Oberst (who plays on this album) probably brought them along so that he could look downright cheery by comparison. "Sex without love is a good ride worth trying, but love without sex is second only to dying." Simply charming!
Buy This Album | | 2 |  | Soviet - We Are Eyes, We Are Builders [Head]
Although this album isn't flawless, it does flaunt some of the most creative synth-pop tracks I've heard in decades. "Commute" is like a Kraftwerk song taken beyond the amusing novelty of contrasting the man with the machine. And the song "Marbleyzed" comes off like Erasure if you replaced Andy Bell with Ron Sexsmith. Then you have the fragility of tracks like "Sensitive." I swear, if Justin Timberlake covered this song, you'd lose a quarter of the teenage girl population to spontaneous suicides.
Buy This Album | | 3 |  | The Kills - Keep on Your Mean Side [Rough Trade]
From the opening of "Superstition," singer VV is already pushing the right buttons not really with what she says, but how she says it. This band takes the white-boy, bluesy garage sound on a short trip to the seventh circle of Hell with songs like "Hand" and "Fuck the People." "Black Rooster" is everything that the new White Stripes album failed to deliver, and they win my vote for best "The" band.
Buy This Album | | 4 |  | Pet Shop Boys - Disco 3 [Sanctuary]
Just because you've forgotten them doesn't mean that they're still not the best in the business. This third installment of the Boys' dancehall remix series "Disco" boasts 5 brand new tracks including some of the remixes and B-sides from their previous LP "Release." You get an instrumental reworking of "London" by Felix da Housecat and a piano ballad version of the same track that closes Disco 3 with a calm touch. Check out the oh-so-electro of "Somebody Else's Business" and "If Looks Could Kill," and try not to feel that techno-tingle with the club-anthem re-workings of "Here" and "Home and Dry."
Buy This Album | | 5 |  | Brief Candles - Brief Candles [Silent Film Soundtracks]
This band from Milwaukee has come up with a fabulous sound on this release that reminds me of some of my favorite British bands from the early 90s. The whole album is calm enough to make a perfect reading companion, but it is also worth engaging your full attention during songs like "June" and "The Blanket." Drowsy female vocals mix with a swirl of guitars and other harmonies which all serve to help me daydream my worries away.
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Read LOTD's Review | | 6 |  | Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own [Virgin]
These guys are perhaps one of the easiest bands in the world to knock for taking themselves a bit too seriously, but that's actually a crime that I wish more talented bands were guilty of nowadays. The songs here speak for themselves though, and if you can resist the grinding bass of tracks like "Ha Ha High Babe" and the squealing guitar and tempo breakdown of "Heart and Soul," then go ahead and hate them. Just don't be surprised when you get shot-up by a "Six-Barrel Shotgun" next time you're out in LA.
Buy This Album | | 7 |  | Mojave 3 - Spoon and Rafter [4AD/WB]
One of the few 4AD bands still left standing, Mojave 3 soldier on with another album of dreamy folk-pop that combines their mastery of the pedal steel with, oddly enough, a theremin to astounding effect. It's a bit more hit-and-miss than their last album, Excuses for Travelers, but Spoon & Rafter makes up for it with the glorious surges of harmony on songs like "Bluebird of Happiness" and "Starlite #1." The latter is quite possibly their catchiest track yet, and "Between the Bars" would feel right at home to anyone who dug Neil Halstead's recent solo release.
Buy This Album | | 8 |  | Shade - Forever Now, Nowhere Today [Psychodaisy]
These guys are from Pittsburgh, and they've come up with a pretty solid album here that at least pulls me in all the right directions. Like Screamadelica era Primal Scream, you feel a drugged up haze in your head just by listening to songs like "Smile" and "Chemicals & Criminals." Distortion, melodies, and piano drift in and out at a relaxed pace that few bands can pull off nowadays.
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Read LOTD's Review | | 9 |  | The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye [Merge]
This album wins the Twee-Pop competition despite the ferocious competition coming from Belle & Sebastian and Isobel Cambell's 2003 releases. I guess its just the freshness of their sound that does it for me and the fact that there's an ounce of rock substance to these orchestral flutters. Sort of like The Innocence Mission, or a perkier Mazzy Star, The Essex Green pulls off some timeless tunes here like "Lazy May" and "Old Dominion," which sound to me like they were written in the wagon of a 19th century American pioneer family.
Buy This Album | | 10 |  | Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People [Matador]
Since most of Mogwai's songs are instrumental, they're a pretty easy band to ignore, but if you've ever seen them live, I think you can recognize that Mogwai is anything but subtle. Even quiet interludes like "Boring Machines Disturb Sleep" are packed with so much layered tension that you can hardly wait for the heavy breakdown of "Ratts of the Capital." Another perfect album to listen to when you're curled up with a bad book, and it even comes with software that lets you remix "Hunted by a Freak." What a deal!
Buy This Album | | Best 7-Inch: | | |  | Skywave - Don't Say Slow [Amendment]
This release really takes Skywave's noise rock sound into a fabulous new direction. I can't think of any band that has such a peculiar and chaotic production. Three tracks of merciless sound piled right into your face, but somehow if you try hard, you can still make out most of the lyrics and even a hint of early Cure on the flip-side "Forever You.
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