extremely metal brother. the photo got cut in half, which just makes it better.

favorite records of 2003.

My fever broke! Then came back, briefly. I think I'm on the road to not sitting in front of the TV anymore. People do that every night?

It's time for My Favorite Albums Of 2003. This list is really "records I listened to a lot this year", so not everything on the list was released in 2003. I included Insound links so you can buy yer own copies. Yes, people still buy CDs! Crazy but true!

• Low, Trust (2002). A life-changer for me. I had never heard Low before this year, and this album floored me. I listened to it constantly for at least a month. Slow, quiet, beautiful, amazing. I went backwards in their catalog and Things We Lost In The Fire got lots of playtime too.
• And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Source Tags and Codes (2002). This record hasn't gotten old yet. Great live show too. And I like the new EP quite a bit as well.
• Massive Attack, 100th Window. More of a sleeper than Mezzanine but still a great record that holds up to repeated listening. These guys are head and shoulders above everyone else in their genre.
• Kudzu Wish, Reverse Hurricane. Giving the angular post-DC punk thing a good name. The formula might be familiar but Kudzu Wish combines it with great songwriting and actual rocking out. I love this record, I love seeing these guys live. Go spend $10 and support 'em, they're working their asses off.
• Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Grand Opening and Closing. Genius! Another sleeper but holy crap this record is brilliant. And I actually found them on emusic (before emusic offed itself via business model). Insound says this record came out in 2001. I thought it was a 2003 release. Huh.
• Muse, Absolution. (unfortunately only available as an expensive import in the US.) At first listen you're all "so it's Radiohead if Radiohead rocked more". But after a lot of listens I can't even hear the Radiohead similarity anymore. Over-the-top, really well-played without being self-indulgent, and just plain nice to listen to. Great production, great guitar tones, great songs. The main guy is 22?!?
• Cursive, The Ugly Organ. I had never heard Cursive before this year either. This record is "aggressive" without ever being "metal", and "smart" without ever being "wanky". Kinda that angular DC thing again, but vocals that are more Robert Smith than they are Ian Mackaye.
• Mars Volta, Deloused In The Comatorium. Indie rock never heard anything like this before, unless they owned Yes records when they were kids. I did own Yes records (uh, still do) so I guess I knew what to make of this stuff. Dense, adventurous, intelligent wanking. Good record. The Pitchfork two-word summary of this record still cracks me up: "Dream Theater?!?"
• Sparta, Wiretap Scars. The other half of ATDI. Another extremely "listenable" record -- the production is great. Songs are great too. What's with me and all the post-punk? Where's the metal?
• Jurassic 5, Power In Numbers. Everyone loves this record and so do I. All the bling-filled crap on MTV can kiss my ass, this is good, deep shit.
• Queens Of The Stone Age, Songs For The Deaf (2002). Okay, first of all, Kyuss was the greatest band ever. So for me, the first two QOTSA records were a big disappointment. John Garcia was kicking ass (however briefly) with Slo Burn so why couldn't Josh Homme pull it off? Mostly because he was a crappy singer, I think. Anyway, they pulled it off big time on record 3. Ass-kicking big rock. Dave Grohl reminding us why we all like Dave Grohl. Nice.
• Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson & Sigur Ros, Angels of the Universe. I've never seen the film, but this soundtrack stands solidly as its own body of work. Bleak and gorgeous. The Sigur Ros presence isn't really that important on here -- it's the other stuff that matters the most.
• Mudvayne, L.D.50 (2000). There's the metal. I can't stop listening to this stupid record, slap bass and all. Nobody understands why. My friends all laugh at me. But L.D. 50 is just so damn dense and heavy. Too bad their second record pretty much sucks.
• Botch, An Anthology Of Dead Ends (2002). Hey, more metal. Phew. Only an EP but a very satisfying one.
• Scissorfight. Lots of Scissorfight: mostly Mantrapping for Sport and Profit and the Potential New Agent for Unconventional Warfare EP. Goddamn, these guys. Heavy shit. So detuned, yet so sonically awesome. Best guitar tones I've heard in years. Yeah, they've listened to their share of Clutch, but I'm fine with that. Everyone go listen to some Scissorfight.

Okay, that's enough. Hey, that's 15+ albums. A good year!