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| Top 10 of 2003Aubin's Picks2003 staff picks  Review by: Aubin See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on January 1st 2004
So here we are; another year has passed, and the muse of
music has proven itself capable of both giving and taking.
While we were given many unique, and unexpected recordings
over the past year, it bears repeating how much has been
lost. Personally important artists took their leave of us
this year, and while I could write paragraphs about the
number of people that will be missed, I don't want to dwell
too heavily on such sad things. Of course, the so-called "punk" scene both grew and contracted this year, with the NOFX-clones of old being replaced by metalcore whose most notable quality was a clean, whiny singer. While the majority of people embraced this and accepted their bullet-belt wearing brethrin, a glance at the comment boards on this very site shows that not everyone was quite so inviting. Like many of you, I did grow weary of this preponderance of one note wonders. I can be honest and say that if I hear one more half decent hardcore track ruined by a whiny, Chris Connely-esque "soft part" I am going to lose my fucking mind. That aside, I could describe this year as the one where I stopped caring about the "punk" rules. Some of the most bland and commercial recordings of the year arrived on independent labels, while some truly exciting music was delivered on the majors. The majors, however, have shown themselves to be both friends to the independent scene, but also as enemies to people who love music with their very public, and poorly executed attacks on children and the elderly. I'm hoping that 2004 will see an end to these cowardly tactics and more of an emphasis on opening an honest dialogue and communicating with consumers, be they obsessive CD junkies like myself, or devoted file sharers. My Ten Favourite Records of 2003:
The BledPass The Flask Fiddler Records An emotional and intense burst of rage and melancholy; lyrically driving and heavy as a Converge record. 
Every Time I DieHot Damn! Ferret Yes, Hot Damn does in fact rock. It reunites every element that makes Every Time I Die work, and pushes it further. It's heavy, fast, and chaotic. It's lyrically sarcastic, and vocally caustic. It's the most accessible and catchy record Every Time I Die has made, but it hasn't compromised anything that older fans care about. 
The Lawrence ArmsThe Greatest Story Ever Told Fat Wreck Chords A cleverly written concept record that combines Russian literature, pop culture references and gritty melodic punk. Not everyone "gets" the Lawrence Arms, but those who do understand why they're so special. 
Darkest HourHidden Hands of the Sadist Nation Victory Punk or hardcore only in ethic, but a stellar example of great strongwriting, and impressive musicianship. 
Murder by DeathWho Will Survive And What Will Be Left Of Them Eyeball Probably the most unusual selection on my list. Combining vast instrumentation with thematic concepts from movie soundtracks, hardcore, and classical music, Murder By Death excels are providing unexpectedly compelling music. 
Brand New Deja Entendu June 17 on Razor & Tie (Triple Crown) Sure, they've gained a following of Taking Back Sunday and Good Charlotte fans, but Brand New offers far more depth and maturity then their defacto contemporaries. Taking classic moody indie rock the likes of which has rarely been seen since Johnny Marr and Morissey were still friends, and injecting it with a modern edge has pushed Brand New far above their promising but thin debut. 
The Blood Brothers…Burn, Piano Island, Burn ARTIST Direct Records (BMG) It's hard to put a down what makes the spazzy fusion of sounds of …Burn, Piano Island, Burn so good, but suffice to say the combination of raging intensity, experimentation and balls out energy is as morbidly fascinating as it is darkly catchy. 
Against Me!as The Eternal Cowboy November 4 on Fat Wreck Chords Unequivocal proof that it will be almost impossible to pin down what makes a great punk record, except the proviso that you will know it when you hear it. And I knew it when I heard this. 
Joe Strummer & The MescalerosStreetcore Hellcat Records (Epitaph) As much as I loved and respect Joe Strummer, his solo work up to this point never seemed to work for me; of course, this was why this final work was so poignant. It was not the tragedy of his death that made this record, but the memory of his life that was so perfectly reflected. 
CriteriaEn Garde Initial In spite of his background in Saddle Creek emo pioneers, Cursive, Stephen Pedersen turns in a raw and rocking record that ignores his pedigree and goes straight for the throat. Simple in concept, and wonderful in execution, En Garde was one of the most unexpected treats of this past excellent year. Honorable Mentions
Blink-182Blink-182 Geffen The new Blink 182 was pretty terrific. I confess that I expected very little from them, but was pleasently surprised by the rebirth of the band. Inspired by Bad Astronaut and Bright Eyes, the band turned in a dark, catchy and clever record from the least likely source. 
Alkaline
TrioGood Mourning Vagrant I was a little hard on the band in my review back when the album was released, and I stand by my original criticisms, but in spite of flawed nature of this recording, it's flaws were only glaring because of how damn good these guys are. It might be my least favourite Trio recording, but considered independently of their previous output, it's still a great piece of plastic. 
ThursdayWar All The Time Island Thursday's much anticipated follow up to their breakthrough Full Collapse was both a success and a failure. The band took too long to record the record and many of the tracks don't seem as focused as they should be, but simultaneously, Thursday has forged ahead of the genre they helped popularize and seems to be moving into a style all their own. Like the Trio release, flawed, but when considered independently, a success nonetheless. The 2003 Mixtape
Albums that Made a Whooshing Sound as they Flew Over My Head
I don't want to be a jerk about this, but what the hell is
with the love for the Mars Volta. I heard this kind of
self-indulgent, consciously artistic stuff from bands like
Jethro Tull and Dream Theater. The involvement of members of a
critically acclaimed punk/indie act doesn't impress me."De-Loused in the Comatorium" definitely earns my "Those who forget history are doomed to hear it over and over again for seven minutes at a time" award. The FutureAs I write this, 2004 beckons us forward. Music from some of my all time favourites like the Descendents, Social Distortion, Green Day and Bad Religion are promised in the new year. I'm hoping for a new Desaparecidos record if Conor and Denver can find the time. Of course, the new Statistics and Circle Takes the Square records (though I've heard and enjoyed both)I'm definitely anticipating the new Spider-Man movie written by one of my favourite modern writers, Michael Chabon, and the film version of Hellboy. I'm also hoping that we'll be able to launch an updated version of the website engine. I worked on maintaining as much of the flow of the site as possible, while cleaning up the code and the design. We're aiming for proper CSS and full support for accessibility features for our seeing and mobility impaired users. You should expect a much faster and cleaner site, while hopefully delivering the content that you expect from us. Thanks for another wonderful year working on this site, I love music, especially the music we talk about here, and the community of visitors who work on the site with us. I've said it before, but the best thing about working on this site is the contributers from all around the world who have opened my eyes to so much great music, and I hope we have done the same for a few of you. Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
Where is world/inferno live at hallowmas? "The turks have been broken up for quite a while, and im gonna go buy that new anthology thing they put out right quick." okay so i'm late and no one cares anyway but... burn piano island is simply amazing, and ambulance vs ambulance isnt even the best song, amazing as it may be, cecilia, usa nails, and 6 nightmares are all a higher degree of amazing. i apologize for repeated use of the word amazing, it is simply the only one that i can think of that approximates the brilliance of this cd, both lyrically and musically. What I meant by "conciously artistic" was not a criticism of people who make art for it's own sake, but people who make art for the sake of being called artists. The Mars Volta is good. The haters just cant accept that they like a band that sounds even more like rush then C&C. And the Blood Brothers are way better then them anywho. It's funny how its cool to hate The Mars Volta now... but the comments i read from people expressing their hate for this band, more than often have nothing to do about the music, its always "they're pretentious and arrogrant" or " self-indulgent and consciously artistic" The last two are the most bizarre... if you replace the mars volta with a artist/painter.. well im sure you all get the point. It's about fucking time that someone else realizes that "The Mars Volta" FUCKING SUCKS!! I fucking can't take the fact that this insignificant garbage exists! How much more boring can music get than The Mars Volta? Well, Grateful Dead & Phish are pretty boring, but who can actually sit & listen to this? I don't even get the At the Drive In fascination! Sorry planet Earth, The Mars Volta is the new definition to the word: BORING! "The turks have been broken up for quite a while, and im gonna go buy that new anthology thing they put out right quick." Punk isn't supposed to be "Artistic" that's about the one rule about punk there is, don't be an arrogant prick that thinks they're making "MUSIC" what's wrong with artists being concsiously artistic.It's their job. Mars Volta kick ass. That music is amazing My god...I agree with this anonomous exactly...i think his top 10 picks kicked the shit out of all three ofscott, adam and aubins picks...*claps* not that it really matters but here are my fav albums of 2003 note the many fuckings, that means youre picks fucking sucks by everyone on here. Even the posters that are subposting their top albums. Fuck all you guys and all these picks by our loving gods that run this page. Streetlight Manifesto rules the fuck out of alot of those bands. BRAND NEW?? wtf dude, Maybe top 20 but over Streetlight? Did you guys even listen to the fucking cd. Those lyrics are fucking real music. I'm not a fan of many of these bands...but Brand New in a top ten of the year list? COME ON. The turks have been broken up for quite a while, and im gonna go buy that new anthology thing they put out right quick. FUCK YES! "Destroy Oh Boy" isn't just one of the best punk albums ever, it's one of the best albums ever. period. A big chunky red/black period all over yer mom's ugly white sofa. If you don't own this mother fucker on vinyl, then you should just go swallow a shotgun right now. Damn kids and yer black hoodies with hardcore cursive writing on 'em. that guy way below is right about "Destroy, Oh Boy!", and I hope the Turks aren't breaking up And by the way, that last person was me. Maybe he said that because the mars volta writes 8 minute songs that consist of nothing more but 3 parts and spacy sounds, where as the blood brothers use something I like to call "creativity" when they found the need to write long songs. Ironic that you rip on Mars Volta for being self indulgent, yet yo put Blood Brothers on your list... This is my score for people who feel the need to post there top 10 lists on all 3 threads. this score is for the blood brothers CD. yeah Irish Joe, the ones i've heard would in fact be a better title. I'm just surprised no one has commented on the list. Observational question #4: i feel 2003 was a pretty good year for music, not the greatest but reasonable. most of the bands that i checked out this year sounded pretty good. that score is for the music of 2003. I think that list is pretty rad. Several bands I don't know that much of. New Bomb Turks. Did they reall break up? Um, I guess none of you heard that Crypt has re-released the debut album by the New Bomb Turks, "Destory Oh Boy!" on 180-gram vinyl. This belongs in the best punk albums of all time. more like top 100 albums in modern music(that ive heard) He picked Darkest Hour! I like the layout of how you guys put your top picks..... You all should try different layouts with the entire site. well, haggard, i'll explain. i loved 'progress' but disliked the new bandits due to the near complete absence of ska. i know they were never a pure ska band, but they seemed to just move into the direction of , ya know, the whole 'screemo' or 'heartcore' or whatever. it was seemed to me to be a very pretentious album, like they're trying to make the listener feel guilty for the way they live their life if its not exactly the anti-materialist life their singer leads. to depressing , overbearing, pretentious and political, but stupid political, like the third song on the cd. i do remember liking track 5, i sold the cd, so i dont' remember names. "Fuck Yellowcard, and give me the Black Keys over the White Stripes any day." Fuck Yellowcard, and give me the Black Keys over the White Stripes any day. How can you make Yellowcard a honorable mention but call the new Rx Bandits a dissapointment? 1.afi Top 100 cds of modern music (my opinion) My Definitive Top 10 Cds of the 2003 My meaningless voice will now point out that after reading all the "e-editor" reviews; none included TURBONEGRO. Re-releases of the classic Ass Cobra and Apocolypse Dudes, and the hard-hitting Scandinavian Leather has lifted the Norse Gods to "Denim Greatness." I bet HANK is pissed...... What the hell happened to Streetlight Manifesto and Paint It Black? awww the sad sad people and their misconceptions F MINUS- WAKE UP SCREAMING! Best Record Of The Year best shows of 2003: ok no strike anywhere in all 3 top of 2003.. this is fucking ridiculous here's my top 20, in no particular order i must say, i like the term "douche mongrel" fuck all three of you, all three of you have some of the worst taste in music, who'd of thought that PUNK news would be run by a bunch of emo/poppy douche mongrels rxbandits wasn't mentioned on a single one of these top tens, oh well. REELPUNX4LIFE: "Bang Bang" is only a sort of 2003 song, because, well, I didn't hear it till 2003 on the Kill Bill soundtrack. I liked it a lot, and thought it would be a neat way to start the "slow" side of my mixtape. why didnt anyone close their mix tape with "redemption song" by joe strummer? c'mon, thats one hell of a heartfelt closer. good list, but what about rise against and thrice?? also, im glad that you pointed out that although good mourning is not alkaline trio's best work, it is still a solid cd. but the new blink 182 is overrated. Aubin, you're bad at listening to music. And also, why is "Bang Bang..." on a 2003 mix tape? Is it 1966 all over again? And am I the only one who realizes the laughability (Yeah, it's a made up word, big whoop, wanna fight about it?) of that new Blink 182 single? So many people who's musical taste I respect have someone fallen into that trap. "I'm feeling it!" And I don't see very many music videos but I've seen that one twice and it's surprisingly, uh... Godawful. This isn't some silly "BliNK 182 R PoZErZ N NT 4 PNX!!!" This is "Sweet lord, Blink 182 shouldn't be allowed to listen to those fucking emo records anymore because they're getting some really awful ideas." Mars Volta is good. and i agree with the mars volta comment. who needs a band to put on your shirt so people think you're arty or in the know. i just want something worth listening to. this is def a good list. nice its about fucking time someone mentioned alkalne trios album, I dont care what people say, I enjoy it as much as the other albums The guy bellow is right, your lists suck. 1) The F-Minus album wasn't on the list because that record blew HARD. where the hell does that band get off doing a 4 minute song? seriously! Top 10 Best (No Order) streetcore is not that great. global a go-go is a much better and coherent record. STARING BACK & STRETCH ARM STRONG= GOOD Yay, my turn... fuck the rediculous amounts of overhyping, RA still is the most influential album of the year. Aubin, I agree with you about bad metalcore, but not about the Mars Volta (which I find to be very emotionally compelling, while bands like Dream Theater are not) murder by death came out on eyeball records, but we won't tell anyone. Top 5: sorry to dissappoint you anti poppers, even though these bands arent all poppy, OVER IT (by far totally amazing), STARING BACK, RUFIO, YELLOWCARD, STRETCH ARMSTRONG, and maybe even Senses Fail (if you wanna count them) so yeah, eat it. a7x and lawrence arms too. mama. good riddace and anti flag wasnt bad either. RUFIO MOTHERFUCKERS!!! RUFIO! that was a brilliatn cd! strike anywhere!! SUM 41!? cmon! those were brilliant cd's! give some credit! Oh shit yeah, and Break The Silence in February! In no particular order (except AFI): i am right with you on that critera album. wow and i thought i was the only one who liked the nancy sinatra song mars volta owns a colostomy bag. they are shit. Bad fuckin list the mars volta is twice as talented as any band on your pathetic list 1. and you went to absolutepunk because....? This list was three-thousand, million times better than absolutepunk's 'Best of 2003' list. what the hell is "the coalesce"?? Other things cool to watch for in 2004: Just like honey has always been a classic, Lost in Translation or not. I think a Kevin Shields track would have been more appropriate My list, since you all care: top 10 albums aubin, maybe i should mention that if you find the time, fixing duplicate posts would be cool too... hehehehe... no F-minus in any of them. wow. aubin, maybe i should mention that if you find the time, maybe there should be more reviews visible per page than there are now, maybe 3/2 to 2x as many as there are now. oh, shit, there went 2003 and i didn't even notice... whojd aubin, maybe i should mention that if you find the time, maybe there should be more reviews visible per page than there are now, maybe 3/2 to 2x as many as there are now. oh, shit, there went 2003 and i didn't even notice... whojd My list: where the hell is A7X on these lists ok, i'll just type these up before i get too drunk... |
