Best Songs of 2003...so far

[nobody]

I know the year's not up yet, but I'm still throwing this out there. You don't have to overanalyze it. I'm sure there will be a few songs that are better coming out before the year's out, and I'm sure I'll still be catching up on good stuff well after the year's out anyway. Hell, I'd probably make a different list in an hour or a day anyway. But here are about a dozen songs I've really liked so far this year:

Car Crash - Tricky
Gay Bar - Electric Six
Sedatives - TSOL
Molly's Chambers - Kings of Leon
Where is the Love - Black Eyed Peas
Hey Ya/The Way You Move - Outkast
Back in the Day (Puff) - Erykah Badu
OK with My Decay - Grandaddy
Get Busy - Sean Paul
Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
Faded - Muggs

A pretty mainstream list all in all. Remember, just talking about songs...great albums from the year like Four Tet and Prefuse 73 didn't feature, and some of the songs I like wouldn't likely see the albums on a top of the year list for me, the Black Eyed Peas track comes to mind there. I better stop before I start revising the list too much, aleady thinking about adding something from Songs:Ohia or something off the Verve remixed 2 disc.

So....what songs got to you this year?

[DariusNYC]

I'll mention one 'cause I gotta run:

Radiohead's "The Wolf at the Door" is probably my favorite song so far this year.

[Mike]

which I'm sending out to a few people. It's near enough for me, here's my tracklist

1. Tosca - Gute Laune (4:54)
2. The Coral - Pass It On (2:13)
3. Blur - Moroccan Peoples…(3:01)
4. Kings Of Leon - Happy Alone (3:56)
5. Radiohead - Scatterbrain (3:17)
6. Beth Gibbons - Drake (3:50)
7. David Bowie - Days (3:17)
8. Dido - Stoned (5:48)
9. The Thrills - Big Sur (3:02)
10. Elbow - Fugitive Motel (5:48)
11. Grandaddy - The Warming Sun (6:07)
12. Martina Topley Bird - Stevies days of a gun (4:28)
13. Super Furry Animals - Liberty Belle (2:50)
14. Stereophonics - Getaway (4:05)
15. The Neon Handshake - Retreat (3:41)
16. The Strokes - Reptilia (3:34)
17. Athelete - Shake Those Windows
18. Cooper Temple Clause - Blind Pilots (3:59)
19. Jet - Come Around Again (4:30)

Incidentally that Grandaddy album is my album of the year.

Cheers
Mike

[Davey.]

Hmmmm, best song is kind of a tough question for me because I do tend to think more in album terms. But I am in the process of putting together a year-end comp of my favorite albums, so I do necessarily have to think of the best songs to represent those albums, or at least the ones to make a good sounding comp. It's still not a best songs of the year list, more like a favorite songs from my favorite albums list. And the way it is shaping up right now is something like this .....

Wheat - This Rough Magic
Beulah - Landslide Baby
Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes
Head of Femur - Acme: The Summit of a Mountain (probably The True Wheel too)
British Sea Power - Remember Me (works well here but favorites are Apologies To Insect Life, Carrion, Fear of Drowning)
Califone - Michigan Girls (tied with Horoscopic Amputation Honey)
Songs: Ohia - I've Been Riding With the Ghost (tied with Farewell Transmission)
Holopaw - Pony Apprehension
Cat Power - Shaking Paper
Radiohead - There There
Calla - As Quick as It Comes/Carrera
The Twilight Singers - Esta Noche
Laika - Girls Without Hands
Martina Topley-Bird - Ilya
Super Furry Animals - The Undefeated
The Shins - Young Pilgrims

Some other good ones that probably won't be on comp
Okkervil River - It Ends With a Fall (but something from this CD will likely make the comp cause it's just too good not to)
Blithe Sones - The Oldest Living Things (nice CD but 18:04 play time keeps this one off comps :-))
My Morning Jacket - Master Plan (a few really good ones on this CD, might squeeeze one in somewhere)
The Wrens - Happy (still not sure how much I like this CD but some very good songs)
Damien Jurado - Texas to Ohio
Over The Rhine - Long Lost Brother
Manitoba - Jacknuggetted (Yo La Tengo Sugarcube soundalike on this one)
Joe Henry - Dirty Magazine
Nina Nastasia - Superstar
Josh Ritter - Snow Is Gone
Fruit Bats - When U Love Somebody (nice happy closer Sloshy used on his comp)
Calexico - Black Heart
Kinski - I Think I Blew It

I guess it's kind of obvious that I don't listen to the radio enough anymore :)

[Troy]

Grandaddy's psychedelic ode to getting old and not being able to bounce back from partying like you used to "OK with My Decay" also comes to mind very quickly for me. I love it's BeAtlesque progressions.

A couple of others:

King Crimson's "Level 5", a monster odd timed instrumental of pure power. Sucker just roars!

Super Furry Animals "Piccolo Snare", pure psychedelic power pop with a great big grooving fade-out.

Calexico "Pepita" just says desert to me. I totally dig the acoustic twang, hollow bass drum and draggy groaning bass with this track. The whole tone is just right.

The Tangent's "Canterbury Sequence" is a great big 70s prog homage packed with weird time, jazz flute, heart stoppingly deep bass and minor key mandolins. Too bad the rest of the album falls flat . . .

I do know this, I only have about 10 2003 releases and at this time last year, I didn't have many 2002 releases either, but now I have almost 30.

Give me at least 5 years to catch up. It's just too soon to call.

[Davey.]

I've just finished my year end comp which I'm sending out to a few people. It's near enough for me, here's my tracklist
Wow, that is a nice looking comp Mike. Looking forward to it. I kind of forgot about Beth Gibbons since I got it last year, but that is a stellar album. Quite a few on yours that I haven't heard yet :)

[Mike]

I posted one for you at the weekend, it should be with you soon. Of course if I was you I would reserve judgement until you've heard it!

Cheers
Mike

[Dave_G]

Best song?

I have a hard time just listing songs.

Hell, I can't even remeber a 2003 cd that I like.

The new TFK cd has a few good songs on it.

Dave

[MindGoneHaywire]

I was thinking of doing a comp myself. Here's my list:

D4—Party, Running On Empty
The most rockin' album of the year.

Electric Six—Dance Commander, Gay Bar, She’s White
The second most rockin' album of the year. The White Stripes album is real good, too, but these two hit me a little harder. I should go & see which White Stripes songs I'd name, but I'll have to do that later.

Mike ‘Sport’ Murphy—No Fair

Eve 6—Hey Montana, Still Here Waiting
A band I never expected to like.

Fountains Of Wayne—Halley’s Waitress, Hung Up On You
Two GREAT songs on an album full of filler.

Rufus Wainwright—I Don’t Know What It Is
Not a big fan, but there's something about this...

Badly Drawn Boy—Born Again

Junior Senior—Move Your Feet

Grandaddy—Lost On Yer Merry Way, El Caminos In The West
It's Troy's fault this is the most overrated album of the year, but these songs have remained in heavy rotation here.

Articolo 3—1Come una Pietra Scalciata (Like a Rolling Stone)
A brilliant rap version of Like A Rolling Stone, in Italian. The album Masked & Anonymous also has a Japanese version of My Back Pages that's real good, although more conventional.

Ugly Duckling—The Drive-Thru (Meatshake)
Both albums by these guys are very Beastie Boys-like--not quite as good, but definitely in the same vein.

Rooney—Blue Side
Great harmonies & a nice tune.

Bright Eyes—Trees Get Wheeled Away
Great alt-country, a gem otherwise hidden on a Lost Highway comp called Lost & Found.

Oh, there is no good music anymore. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

[tentoze]

Here's some that stick out in my head:

Jay Farrar, Heart On The Ground
Vic Chesnutt, I'm Through
Richard Thompson, A Love You Can't Survive
Songs: Ohia, Southern Cross Hotel (or Farewell Transmission or...)
J. Armatrading, Less Happy More Often
Lucinda, Those Three Days
Holopaw, Teacup Woozy
Belle & Sebastion, Step Into My Office, Baby
British Seapower, Fear of Drowning

and a bunch more. list subject to change by the hour.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Farewell Transmission - Songs: Ohia (or is it Magnolia Electric Co. now?)

Apologies to Insect Life - British Sea Power

Remember Me - British Sea Power (Carrion & Childhood Memories are also really good.)

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

There There - Radiohead

July, July - The Decemberists

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Not Even Stevie Nicks - Calexico

Guero Canelo - Calexico

Cause = Time - Broken Social Scene

Game Over - Antelope

[Davey.]

I posted one for you at the weekend, it should be with you soon. Of course if I was you I would reserve judgement until you've heard it!
Thanks Mike, I'm sure it will be a good one. I've had to rethink mine a little after hearing how good Sloshy's is. Guess I should've just done it and moved on, but now I think it needs to be better so it's just been sitting around for awhile on my computer, waiting for some divine inspiration I suppose :)

Or just a couple fresh songs.

[mad rhetorik]

Johnny Cash: "Hurt" and "Hung My Head"
The Mars Volta: "Televators" (not so much sad but creepy)
Opeth: "Windowpane" and "In My Time Of Need"

Other less somber songs:
Anthrax: "Safe Home" and "We've Come For You All"
A Perfect Circle: "The Package" and "Weak And Powerless"
King Crimson: "Dangerous Curves" and "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With"
Radiohead: "2 + 2 = 5" and "There There"

[Troy]

Grandaddy—Lost On Yer Merry Way, El Caminos In The West
It's Troy's fault this is the most overrated album of the year, but these songs have remained in heavy rotation here.

Oh yeah, all because of me. Note that 75% of the posters in this thread picked a track (or 2 in your case) from that disc. Not only that, but most picked different songs, the sign of an excellent album.

[Jim Clark]

I'm not so good recalling song names so I can just recall a few without looking.

Kinky-Mas
T. Raumschmiere and Miss Kittin-The Game Is Not Over
Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1-Lemon/Lime
Chemical Brothers and the Flaming Lips-The Golden Path
Mosquitos-Boombox
Potal Service-Such Great Heights

I'd also need one off BSP, one off Seal, one off Pat Matheny's, and none off Grandaddy. I personally didn't like it a great deal although it's ok. I got some work to do before I even think about my year end comp.

jc

[Slosh]

Guess I should've just done it and moved on

Yep. First instincts are usually right :)

Actually, I didn't like my 2002 very much so I wanted this year's to be better and I didn't want to use more than one song per album. I was gonna use a shorter Malkmus song so I could get something else on there as well but it just felt right at the time so... ;)

Also, not all of those songs are my favorites from the albums but ya gotta go for the flow sometimes (that and I already used a bunch of my faves earlier in the year).

I'm absolutely sure yours will be killer! :)