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Album of the Year 2003

Modern, moving, suburban-semirural acoustic pastoralism. Probably etched his way into your brain via the Dead Man's Shoes soundtrack. But no happy ending for him 😥
 
DaveCinzano said:
The Playwrights - 'Good Beneath The Radar'

www.allmusic.com

The Playwrights Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & ... | AllMusic

Explore The Playwrights's discography including top tracks, albums, and reviews. Learn all about The Playwrights on AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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Ben Shillabeer did a lot of hard graft to support grassroots Bristol bands (Sink & Stove Records really is worth your time in checking them out), but his own music often got overlooked, which frankly is an injustice.

The only time I ever got black-out drunk was the night I met him. Not his fault, mind.
 
DaveCinzano said:
Goldie Looking’ Chain - ‘The Manifesto’
nb There’s no full YouTube playlist but half of the album was recycled into 2004’s major label release ‘Greatest Hits’ which has got one

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Cf Pitman - WE HAD FUN DAMMIT

Unexpected headline stars of Ashton Court Festival 2004 - big old school hip-hop noggin-knocking energy 🔥
 
Spandex said:
In 2003 I went to the Sonar Festival in Barcelona. I went for the techno but had a road-to-Nazareth style conversion to the electroclash scene while I was there. One of those moments where you don't know you're looking for something new, but find it anyway and then it's hard to believe you'd been missing it.

And to an extent I had missed it. By 2003 the initial electroclash scene of basic synthpop with a DIY punk attitude was all but over. But I came back from Barcelona and dived into the exploding scene it had influenced. It's hard to remember now how unremembered the pre-house 80s dance scene was at the beginning of the 00s, as in the last 20 years almost every aspect of the 80s has been rediscovered, reissued, played to death and most people are sick of hearing it again. But in 2003 it all sounded fresh after 15 years of non-stop house/techno/trance/DnB/garage/breakbeat music all night long. Much of the 90s dance scene had been commercialised and/or siloed into micro-genres that had nothing to do with each other. And then along came DJs like 2 Many DJs, Erol Alkan and James Murphy who were playing anything goes sets. Where you were as likely to hear Motorhead, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or Devo, or Liquid Liquid, or Sonic Youth, or Kylie, or Beyonce as you were the latest dance tracks from Berlin or Belgium or NY, all thrown together onto a glorious drug fuelled messy dancefloor with a total mix of saucer eyed people devoid of dance music tribalism.

There were compilations coming out like New York Noise (Dance Music From The New York Underground 1978-1982), Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm, or Teutonik Disaster (which came out at the end of 2002, but only got a vinyl release for DJs in '03), making long out of print pre-house dance music available for DJs to play.
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I absolutely was not listening to any of this stuff in 2003, but I had been thinking that New York Noise would be one of my top albums of 2003 if it wasn't fatally disqualified by all the songs on it having been recorded and released by 1982.
 
hitmouse said:
I absolutely was not listening to any of this stuff in 2003, but I had been thinking that New York Noise would be one of my top albums of 2003 if it wasn't fatally disqualified by all the songs on it having been recorded and released by 1982.
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Typical bloody smallprint legal loophole situation yet again 🙄
 
www.discogs.com

The Detroit Experiment - The Detroit Experiment

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for The Detroit Experiment by The Detroit Experiment. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.
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Kind of a supergroup album put together by Carl Craig came out on Planet E...recorded quickly over only 5 days supposedly, its a nice collection of covers, reinterpretations and originals jams, leaning towards 70s jazz-funk in tone, but with modern (2003) production....the roster features trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, sax from Bernie Maulpin, keys from Amp Fiddler and loads of other people I hadn't heard of

I never knew there was an album, or that it was part of a series with Philadelphia Experiment and Harlem Experiment making it up. Think Twice came out as a 12" with remixes a few years later (the Henrik Schwarz mix is great)



Its a really good album I think, these kinds of projects have a tendency to fall flat, not quite have the singular voice of an album of one act, and though it can be a bit baggy in places overall its a really enjoyable record and doesnt feel as rushed as the five day recording window might have made it. More a background album than frontline I would say. Some really great moments on it though

(seems to have been a promo knocking around in 2002 but official release dates is 2003)
 
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Asian Dub Foundation's Enemy of the Enemy is worth a listen especially the expanded version released last year. It was the first album after the rapper/vocalist Deeder Zaman left. Whilst it misses his lyrical craft and a bit of punch occasionally in delivery, this album is a great set of their unique mixture of Indian samples, bhangra, breakbeats, dub expertly mixed by Adrian Sherwood. It also has this gem :


 
A lot of stuff I was listening to a lot in 2003 I really don't like now - M83, Postal Service, Manitoba.... find it so dull now.

For Tet's Rounds album was a big one and I still really rate that. I remember seeing him play live at The End at the time it came out and it was exquisite. I've not been arsed about anything he's done since but Rounds was a cracker.



I was well into the singer-songwriter stuff at the time.

Songs:Ohia's Magnolia Electric Co. - magnificent:



I think 2003 may have been when I first came across Bonnie Prince Billy - Master of Everyone wasn't perhaps his best - but it was my gateway:



And Smog too - Supper was my intro to Bill Callahan's dulcet tones too:

 
braindancer said:
A lot of stuff I was listening to a lot in 2003 I really don't like now - M83, Postal Service, Manitoba.... find it so dull now.

For Tet's Rounds album was a big one and I still really rate that. I remember seeing him play live at The End at the time it came out and it was exquisite. I've not been arsed about anything he's done since but Rounds was a cracker.



I was well into the singer-songwriter stuff at the time.

Songs:Ohia's Magnolia Electric Co. - magnificent:



I think 2003 may have been when I first came across Bonnie Prince Billy - Master of Everyone wasn't perhaps his best - but it was my gateway:



And Smog too - Supper was my intro to Bill Callahan's dulcet tones too:

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Like that Smog album
 
On a similar tip - and this one's a bit of a cheat as it was a mix - though maybe it was released on CD

DJ C's Junglist Bashment.

Great time for jungle revival....

 
braindancer said:
On a similar tip - and this one's a bit of a cheat as it was a mix - though maybe it was released on CD

DJ C's Junglist Bashment.

Great time for jungle revival....

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DJ C did at least one full length mix for every strand of upfront having-fun style 2000-2010 :D

Heartily recommend his Boston Bounce stuff. Ditto DJ Sega's Philly Bounce 👍
 
I've not listened to the whole album for some reason, but some of the tracks of this are great. Broken beat, jazz, latin, etc

www.discogs.com

Trüby Trio - Elevator Music

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2003 CD release of "Elevator Music" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

I'll give it a proper listen today.

 
braindancer said:
Rinse out!

Man, we caned these tunes to death round mine in 2003 :cool::cool:

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also on a similar tip the Remarc album has some classics on it, but this is a Remarc comp of older tunes really, doesnt feel right to vote for it
www.discogs.com

Remarc - Sound Murderer

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for Sound Murderer by Remarc. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.
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ska invita said:
also on a similar tip the Remarc album has some classics on it, but this is a Remarc comp of older tunes really, doesnt feel right to vote for it
www.discogs.com

Remarc - Sound Murderer

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for Sound Murderer by Remarc. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
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Ooh yeah - that too - that was on Planet Mu if I remember rightly. A cracking comp.

And talking of Planet Mu - the uziq album Bilious Paths was a scorcher from 2003 - melodic ambience through to brutal breakcore - something for everone....

 
braindancer said:
I was well into the singer-songwriter stuff at the time.

Songs:Ohia's Magnolia Electric Co. - magnificent:

Click to expand...

When I was first getting into Songs:Ohia I pretty much stopped short at Didn't It Rain, because Didn't It Rain is amazing and everything I read about the stuff from Magnolia onwards made it sound like some Bruce Springsteen ZZ Top Kiss bollocks. But I suppose at some point I should give it a listen and make my own mind up, and now's as good a time as any. I have managed to develop quite a fondness for the Hold Steady, so I suppose I do have some ability to tolerate Bruce Springsteen ZZ Top Kiss bollocks.
 
Another laid back jazzy, broken beat thing from Ursula Rucker. It's 'solid' rather than amazing. Well worth a listen, but I doubt it'll trouble anyone's top whatever list.

www.discogs.com

Ursula Rucker - Silver Or Lead

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for Silver Or Lead by Ursula Rucker. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.
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Produced by King Britt, Jazzanova, 4 Hero and others, with appearances from the Roots and Louie Vega, it's as classy as you'd expect.

 
hitmouse said:
When I was first getting into Songs:Ohia I pretty much stopped short at Didn't It Rain, because Didn't It Rain is amazing and everything I read about the stuff from Magnolia onwards made it sound like some Bruce Springsteen ZZ Top Kiss bollocks. But I suppose at some point I should give it a listen and make my own mind up, and now's as good a time as any. I have managed to develop quite a fondness for the Hold Steady, so I suppose I do have some ability to tolerate Bruce Springsteen ZZ Top Kiss bollocks.
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Do give it a spin. Very different vibe to Didn't it Rain - but I love it nevertheless. Springsteen comparison seems fair but Kiss and ZZ Top? Nope. Neil Young's the most obvious comparison I'd think....
 
ska invita said:
debut from Quantic...UK afro-influenced funk...another really good mainly instrumental background album
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Wasn't so background when it was blasted out at the Phonic:Hoop clubnight, which gave rise to the Tru Thoughts label. That was a great friendly little night that I ended up at a few times. Funky music, a tiny basement venue, a packed dancefloor, smiling dancers and sweat dripping off the ceiling.
 
mnml techno got a bad rep in the 00s. Partly that's because someone decided to change what it was called from 'microhouse' to 'minimal techno' and that name was already taken, leading to some world class harrumphing from the Proper Techno blokes - if I had a pound for every time someone typed "call that minimal techno? you should check out some Robert Hood!" on the internet in the 00s I could've retired by 2008. Partly it was because the good to shit ratio leaned increasingly towards shit as it became more popular. But at it's best there were some fascinating and wonderful tracks. And one of the best mnml albums was Ricardo Villalobos' Alcachofa, which has a complexity, attention to detail and variety that few others could match.

 
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