Spectrum Culture: Best CDs of 2003

I was really excited for this assignment. Take a look back and figure out my favorite albums of 2003 and figure out which ones hold up today. It is an interesting take on the traditional “End of Year” list, and isn’t as contrived as taking a look at the ’60s and figuring out what the top 100 songs are.

2003 was a big year for me, in short I graduated from high school and started listening to real music. It was the first time I had an “actual” girlfriend and kicked off my journey with KSUA. All of these events had a great affect on my life since.

10. Libertines – Up The Bracket
9. Unicorns – Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone
8. White Stripes – Elephant
7. Strokes – Room On Fire
6. Decemberists – Her Majesty The Decemberists
5. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
3. Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
2. Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
1. Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site

I have listened to each of these albums over the past month without being told to rank my top 2003 albums. The Weakerthans are probably one of my favorite bands and at the last minute I was given the opportunity to do the write up for Death Cab For Cutie’s “Transatlanticism.”

Here is my write up that I got done over the course of an hour while Shayna was asleep on my bed. Please go to Spectrum Culture and check out the full list, you might even have some fun comparing how many of my albums made the list and which ones didn’t.

I’ll give Ben Gibbard this, he knows how to turn out album after album filled with clever lyrics and innuendo. Transatlanticism is more or less the artistic peak between Death Cab For Cutie’s musicality and lyric prowess. It marks the turning point when Death Cab matured into my generation’s version of The Cure and made it a college radio mainstay. Gibbard is clever. The album is all about a long-distance relationship. Simple enough. Many an artists could simply say, “Oh I miss you so much,” but Gibbard has the song “Title and Registration” kick off with “The glove compartment is inaccurately named. And everybody knows it.” Who talks like this? Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla are the hopeless romantics that we all wanted to be in high school. Pouring your heart out without sounding like a total tool while doing so.

To read the rest, go to Five Years Later: The Best CDs of 2003

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