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The Best Albums of 2003
Clear And Refreshing writers' top tens
Dave Mix (no particular order) Nada Surf "Let Go" Anyone who dismissed this band based on...more The Weakerthans "Reconstruction Site" Brainy pop-rock brimming with literary a...more Sloan "Action Pact" Here is the catchiest, loudest, most rid...more Beck "Sea Change" So, technically, this record came out...more The New Pornographers "Electric Version" So it's not as good as their debut, "Mas...more Grandaddy "Sumday" Grandaddy are back to warn us about the...more The Dears "No Cities Left" Whoa. This is an epic. You might hate it...more Outkast "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" What can I say about this record that ha...more Joel Plaskett Emergency "Truthfully Truthfully" This is another obscure Canadian artist...more The Shins "Chutes Too Narrow" This is an awesome record. If you play i...more	P. Avon Super Furry Animals "Phantom Power" From the first listen it was clear that...more Clearlake "Cedars" Running the Super Furries close is this...more Blur "Think Tank" Not much to say about this really. There...more The Strokes "Room On Fire" An album that we've all just kept coming...more The Shins "Chutes Too Narrow" Possibly the shortest album of the year but...more The New Pornographers "Electric Version" More consistent follow-up to 2001s...more Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "Take Them On, On Your Own" Picking up where their eponymous debut l...more Jet "Get Born" Like Oasis, you know you aren't supposed...more Simian "We Are Your Friends" It's hard to pin down the charm of this...more The Electric Soft Parade "The American Adventure" Yet another great second album...more
Special K (In alphabetical order) Blur "Think Tank" This is Blur's 7th album. They are witho...more British Sea Power "The Decline Of British Sea Power" Their gig in Shibuya was weird and excit...more The Electric Soft Parade "The American Adventure" When I listen to this it feels like fall...more The Kills "Keep On Your Mean Side" Despite guitars being their only weapons...more The Raveonettes "Chain Gang Of Love" This album has all the features of garag...more The Stills "Logic Will Break Your Heart" Sad, painful, moving, bittersweet candyp...more Super Furry Animals "Phantom Power" Most albums have a few songs which are j...more The Strokes "Room On Fire" It has more variation than "Is This It",...more The White Stripes "Elephant" Cheap to produce but incredibly successf...more Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever to Tell" This is the album for every girl who's e...more	Special Achievement Award:  The Libertines Beginning the year by sending "Time For Heroes" into the UK top twenty they immediately launched into an eviction battle over their propensity for holding noisy private gigs at their house in London every Friday night. They were a hit in New York, then Pete got himself a busker's license from the London Underground for some reason. They took the carnival to Japan in the spring where Pete was caught trying to steal clothes from the dressing room (he made the mistake of trying to wear the trousers out of the TV studio underneath his ripped jeans. He then had a fight with drummer Gary Powell and started crying. Next up Pete quits the band or gets thrown out. While he's in and out of rehab they rest come back to Japan for Fuji Rock whereupon Pete is arrested for breaking into bandmate Carl Barat's apartment, spends a few weeks in prison (where it seems he behaved himself at least). In the meantime "Don't Look Back Into The Sun" is their biggest hit to date. Out at last there's a tearful reunion, some blinding shows then Pete and Carl sail off together in search of Albion. They end up in Wales writing songs for a new album. Carl takes a bottle of scotch to the bath with him and cracks his face open on the sink then crawls off to bed only to awake on a blood-soaked mattress. Driven to hospital by Poptones records boss Alan McGee (what was he doing there?) he is equipped with an eyepatch. They are set to finish the year with a special NME show. One to watch.

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