Pitchforkmedia fans -- did you see their top 50 albums of 2003?

Cafe Society
1

Grrr, after losing my post, here’s a shorter re-type of it.

After browsing through Pitchforkmedia.com’s top 50 albums of 2003 , I feel like I have stepped out of my body, and looking back at myself I see my grandmother trying to program the VCR. “What’s this thing do? … What are they talking about?” If PFM has their ear to the ground with what is new and hip, then I con only conclude one thing:

I am officially “out of it”. I guess it was bound to happen. I turned 30 this year. Time to resign myself to an adulthood of Babs’ CDs and Lawrence Welk shows.
Back on topic – looking at their top 50 albums for 2003, here goes the mathmatical breakdown for what I know/own/like/don’t like:

Albums on the list that I Own:
#34 Cat Power’s “You are Free”. One of my fav’s of the year. Loves me some Chan.
#29 The Postal Service “Give Up”. Meh, decent record but it never grabbed me. Probably only listened 3 or 4x.
#22 : Outkast “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” – Just got it for Xmas, haven’t digested it yet.
#4 Radiohead’s “Hail to the Thief” – solid record.

Heard snippets, and want to own/hear more of:
#9, Broken Social Scene
#7, The Shins
**Don’t want to hear or own: **
#41 The Darkness – ugh, I hate this band.

21: Songs: Ohia – Will Oldham has recorded every song you’ve ever written.

#17 Jay-Z He was garbage way back when and the fact that he has supposedly “matured” doesn’t mean anything to me. You can’t polish a turd.
#11 The Strokes – nothing bad to say about this band, just not sure why they make every critic cream their pants. They’re ok.
#1 The Rapture – I’ve heard two singles – “House of the Jealous Lovers” (cool music but ANNOYING vocals) and “Sister Savior” (borrr-ring).
I’ve heard of 'em, but have no opinion:
#33, My Morning Jacket
#26, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Have no clue what they are talking about:
ALL the rest of them. THIRTY-FUCKING-SEVEN records they have listed and I am sitting here scratching my head.
Does anyone have a Mario Lanza record I can borrow? :frowning:

2

I have the Radiohead, and have listened to the Strokes, but the rest… I don’t even recognise the names.

3

I recognized and have heard maybe 20 of them. The rest, no clue. And I’m only 23 and try to stay in touch with what the cool kids are listening to.

4

Pitchforkmedia has a pretty distinct pro-indie rock feel, so don’t expect to see many Top 40 hits on any list of theirs. Not that I mind- “Top _____” lists that feature more obscure albums/ movies/ books frequently expose me to some stellar work that I never would have heard of otherwise.

5

I was pleased that I knew a whole lot more of Pitchfork’s top 50 list than I did last year (or any other year). Sure, some of it is obscure, but I don’t mind. It’s my best way of exposing myself to new music, and although they can get somewhat elitist, I’m just grateful for a music reviewing site that will review the music I care about and will do it intelligently. It’s also refreshing to see a year-end list that doesn’t look like all the others out there - no Coldplay for a start!

Here’s my breakdown:

Albums on the list that I Own
#29 The Postal Service “Give Up”.
#22 Outkast “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”
#12 Dizzee Rascal “Boy In Da Corner”
#11 Strokes “Room On Fire”
#4 Radiohead’s “Hail to the Thief”

Heard snippets, and want to own/hear more of:
#37, DM and Jemini
#36, Junior Senior
#35, 31, The Decemberists
#30, Aesop Rock
#27, Ellen Allien
#26, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
#25, Viktor Vaughn
#21, Songs: Ohia
#19, Non Prophets
#17, Jay-Z
#13, Mu
#10, The Unicorns
#9, Broken Social Scene
#7, The Shins
#5, Manitoba
#3, Sufjan Stevens
#2, The Books
#1, The Rapture

I’ve heard of 'em, but have no opinion:
#47, George
#42, Broadcast
#41 The Darkness - I haven’t actually heard anything, but they sound pretty awful
#38, Califone
#33, My Morning Jacket
#28, TV on the Radio
#18, The Wrens
#15, Four Tet
#8, M83
#6, Prefuse 73

So, if I counted correctly, my WTF total is 12, although really, I only own a few more of those albums than you do (though, I’ll point out that the only reason I don’t have The Shins yet is because my vinyl hasn’t arrived). A hell of a lot of it is music that I like but I haven’t heard the full album yet. I’ll probably get a lot of it this year - I’m always a little slow with these things.

If you want to get back in, I’d recommend trying The Decemberists. I don’t know if it was just that I started listening to it at the same time as I started listening to the Shins, but I think that fans of one should appreciate the other.

6

Albums on the list I own:

#4, Radiohead - Hail to the Thief Good album

#5, Manitoba - Up in Flames

#7, The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow Great album, I love the Shins

#9, Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People Meh… I don’t find this interesting, and I don’t listen to it

#13, Mu - Afro Finger & Gel

#16, Deerhoof - Apple O’ Highly recommended, fun to listen to

#23, Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow I like this a lot, but I like all the noisy Boredoms albums too

#24, The Clientele - The Violet Hour I find this more charming than The Postal Service, I go to sleep listening to this often

#25, The Postal Service - Give Up A going-to-sleep album like Violet Hour, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t make me want to listen to it again

#32, Menomena - I Am the Fun Blame Monster Cool music, kind of annoying vocals, overall thumbs up

#34, Cat Power - You Are Free I like pretty much everything by Cat Power

Heard part of:

#1, The Rapture Cool, but I’m not that interested in hearing more

#3, Sufjan Stevens Probably really good, but I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to more

#8, M83 I definitely want to get this, but because of the price I had to…

#11, The Strokes

#14, Exploding Hearts Loved what I heard, I’ll definitely get this one

#18, The Wrens

#21, Songs: Ohia Songs: Ohia is not Will Oldham, though they are similar

#31, The Decemberists

#42, Broadcast

So that’s 11 that I have, 9 I’ve heard parts of, and 30 I haven’t heard any of (though I’ve heard of a lot of them).