2003: Favorite Moments in Music

I really can’t say enough about the music that was released in 2003. For me, it is by far the best of my lifetime. A few titles that just missed my Top 10, Guster’s Keep It Together, Dave Matthews’ Some Devil, Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism and Ryan Adams’ Rock N Roll, are all albums that are full of incredible songs and in any other year would not only be on the list, but near the top. I’m not even mentioning a few albums from bands I really like; this year has at least 20, maybe 30 good titles I knew of and probably just as many that I don’t know.

In fact, The Starting Line’s Make Yourself At Home EP probably would be 2 or 3 if it were an LP. When the worst song on the album is an acoustic version of arguably their best hit, it speaks loudly to how spectacular the EP is.

All that being said, here is the Top 10:

• 10. Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave
• 09. The Postal Service - Give Up
• 08. Blink 182 - Blink 182
• 07. Brand New - Deja Entendu
• 06. John Mayer - Heavier Things
• 05. The Format - Interventions and Lullabies
• 04. Damien Rice - O
• 03. Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
• 02. Josh Rouse - 1972

What makes 2003 so remarkable is that it was followed with what I would argue is the worst year in music in my lifetime. Any album in 2003’s Top 10 would be #1 in 2004.

Look at my 9-7; those albums are fantastic and I am flabbergasted by anyone who doesn’t like them.

The fact that John Mayer and The Format, my 2 favorite artists come in at #6 and #5 respectively should tell you something. We’ve heard from JM in this series and I’m fairly sure we’ll be seeing The Format again (maybe, kinda, twice).

#4-2 could be arranged in any order for me and I would agree with it. 1972 really took hold of me this past year and jumped over the other 2. O used to be my favorite album, and the fact its #4 in 2003 is really surprising to me. And as for A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar, I really think anyone who “hate” DC need to listen to that album and tell me they feel the same way after it.

And then there was my number 1…

Matt Nathanson: Beneath These Fireworks

I won’t go through track by track but I will say that Beneath These Fireworks has this wonderful flow that seems to only be present in classic albums. Matt’s mix of Folk, Rock, and Pop is on display throughout the album. He’ll hit you with a delicate song like “Little Victories” and follow it up with an up-beat sarcastic number like “Lucky Boy” and it feels right. The album feels like a drive through Matt’s life over the past year year or so; through all the beauty and the pain.

My two favorite songs on the album are Bent and I Saw. These songs are perfectly intertwined in my mind. Bent representing a sense of hopelessness and frustration you feel when someone leaves you and I Saw feels like its natural sequel, as it speaks to the positive spirit in all of us. It’s like Bent is the “logic and reason” in his brain, telling him he is better off, and I Saw is the other side, constantly hoping that everything will be okay.

Beneath These Fireworks is a beautiful journey through loss, regret, hope and love. And it’s a masterpiece.

By: Ryan Hoffman

A Second Opinion

Brand New: Deja Entendu

2003 saw the freshman releases by two of my favorite bands, Steel Train and The Format. While each band’s future releases will figure greatly in this series (probably), their early efforts did not make the cut. Guster’s Keep it Together and Blur’s Think Tank were the closest contenders but neither came anywhere near the absolute perfection that is Deja Entendu.

Deja Entendu is French for “already heard”. I can confidently say that I have never heard anything like this before. The album begins with Tautou which lulls the listener into a false sense of security. You believe for a second that the entire album will be as slow paced as a lullaby, but then Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades kicks in and you realize “Oh. So that’s how it’s gonna be.” With a relentless, haunting bass line and almost whispered vocals, every verse just sounds like something is coming and it’s out to get you. That something of course is the chorus which features singer Jesse Lacey screaming and singing his heart out. The song follows their tried and true formula of quiet verses and loud choruses. The track screeches to a halt and flows right into I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light, an acoustic driven number which continues the delicate balancing act between loud and soft.

Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t and The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows are powerful single material but don’t really add anything different to the album. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot is another interesting acoustic driven song. Jaws Theme Swimming and Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis feel like their own section of the album, and I feel the two strongest tracks on the album. Guernica has the similar kick of earlier tracks Sic Transit and Quiet Things, and it features the loudest and hardest chorus on the album.

Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die begins with a strange effect of noise and slumps into the longest song of the record at 7:01. Guitars come at you from both sides and a driving chorus takes you all the way to the brink of aural realization. The track never feels like it’s lagging on and only gets better as it continues. Play Crack the Sky closes the album with a story of a ship at sea that doesn’t fare too well. After the stimulating Good to Know, Play Crack the Sky drops you from that high back to the surface. And thus ends Deja Entendu. (I also enjoyed the Sgt. Pepper’s reference that closes the album.)

Deja may not have won any awards. It may not have been well known or sold well upon release. All that said, I think will be an album that is finally recognized for its greatness 10, 20 years from now. Critics praised Brand New’s follow up album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me but dismissed Deja as a mere “transition” album. Ok. You know what else was considered a “transition” album? Revolver, The greatest album of all time (Editor’s Note: I vote Rubber Soul or Abbey Road as best Beatles album). Think about it, or better yet, listen to Deja Entendu. I guarantee you’ve never heard anything like it before.

By: Cameron Baker