2004-01-08 - 10:37 p.m.
i'm home, it's warm in here and i have a glass of wine, time for my best of lists for the year formerly known as 2003...get ready to scroll.
the best of music 2003 (in no order - i can't commit)...
1. radiohead - hail to the thief: what can i say? i'm predictable. good to note that thom and the boys are not. i've never wanted to shake my ass as much as the first time i heard "2+2=5".
2. the libertines - up the bracket: oh how i love drug-addled pete and his cronies. they are adorable and drunk and prone to tongue kissing on stage. oh yeah, and the music makes me want to dance around my room with their unique combination of skiffle and punk and rock.
3. my morning jacket - it still moves: a late entry into my top ten. perfect music to be stoned by or driving in a car on a balmy summer night with the windows down smoking cigarettes. they are neil young + flaming lips + nick drake + red house painters. can you argue with that equation?
4. missy elliott - this is not a test!: i'm such a sucker for a good missy elliott song. while the hit here doesn't have the punch of "work it", the rest of the album more than makes up for it. i'm partial to the slow jam "it's real", missy ain't half bad at sanging. she is still a full-on freak though, her ode to sex toys (the aptly named "toyz") makes me feel like i should be roller skating nude a la rollergirl.
5. ryan adams - rocknroll: the best cover album of original songs i've ever heard.
6. the strokes - room on fire: again, i never wanted them to reinvent the wheel. it's vintage strokes (wink). if i'm ever privileged enough to hear julian crooning "under control" live, i will throw my "hipster" panties on stage.
7. yeah yeah yeahs - fever to tell: the perfect late night soundtrack. and "maps" is the finest love song i've heard in years.
8. kelis - tasty: the female pharrell. and the successor to justin timberlake's party cd of hier. "sugar honey iced tea" is a rollicking ride of nasty funky bootyshaking groove.
9. rufus wainwright - want one: the great rufus is back tugging at my heartstrings and making me sigh. if there's a better song than "go or go ahead" this year, i'm not sure i've heard it.
10. the white stripes - elephant: for something i originally refused to buy, this has turned out to be a favorite. yes jack, you've "got [me] in your pocket", although i'm not sure there's room in your trousers (exaggerated wink). shout out to my halloween doppleganger meg, we all know you're the cooler one.
10.5 andre3000 - the love below: outkast gets a half for this slice of demented funk. andre3000 alternates between prince and rick james and dirty peanuts piano grooves. quite possibly the coolest man ever.
honorable mentions: the kills "keep on your mean side" (fuck and fight, in the basement); beyonce "dangerously in love" (uh oh uh oh uh oh oh no no); dj andy smith "the document II" (mixing kate bush, serge gainsbourg, and eric b and rakim); mary j. blige "love and life" (all hail the queen); the dandy warhols "welcome to the monkey house" (confidential to evan dando: why didn't you save "you were the last high" for your suckbag album); "lost in translation" soundtrack (welcome back kevin, we've missed you); erykah badu "worldwide underground" (the world DOES keep on turning).
the best of live music 2003 (i can commit):
1. iggy pop - harborlights: the best concert i've ever been to in my life. the best concert i will ever go to in my life. the yardstick against which all things are measured. front row, "i wanna be your dog", climbing up on the fence between me and my god, sticking my tongue out, out of control. i can't believe i kept my pants (well, skirt) on the whole time. (oh yeah, the yeah yeah yeahs ruled too)
2. the flaming lips - roxy: a party with a room full of strangers. gorgeous and poetic and thrilling. the most "at home" i've ever felt at a show in my life. i'm surprised there wasn't a big fat group hug when it was over. solution for world peace = flaming lips cds for all mankind.
3. the libertines - the paradise: boys kissing boys, girls dancing on stage, rockstars getting yelled at for smoking, drinking way too much, and getting my head bob dance move mimicked by pete himself. a true rocknroll night.
4. the dandy warhols - the paradise: pulled out all the stops, sang EVERY song, and took requests. i need "white gold" on cd stat!
5. the polyphonic spree (the first time) - the paradise: a transcendent experience. the closest thing i've ever had to going to church at a nightclub.
6. the detroit cobras (the first time) -tt's: the lead singer was formerly a butcher and a stripper and has a voice that sounds like cigarettes, whiskey, and ronnie spector. their garagey 50s-60s sound makes you dance like possessed person, in a good way.
honorable mention: radiohead @ great woods (not what i expected); the kills @ the middle east (i truly thought they were gonna "fuck and fight"); iggy and the stooges @ newbury comics (not a proper concert, because i couldn't see my lord and savior, but the greatest stripped down sex infused version of "i wanna be your dog" i've ever heard); chris isaak @ harborlights (i want to have his rockabilly babies. dirty rock filtered through a squeaky clean image); the information, the information, the information ad finitum (the best band i saw the most this year. and i'm not even saying that because they're some of my best friends. see them soon because in 2004 the biggest things are going to happen!).
biggest disappointments: field day (fuck you riverhead!); david lee roth (i so wanted to see the assless pants in person!); scene creamers (r.i.p. the make-up); evan dando (you're over); spiritualized (please don't die jason!); kings of leon (i expected more from lynyrd strokes); jane's addiction (catch-22, worst concert, best ever after concert fun).
best song you didn't hear this year...
richard x featuring jarvis cocker -"into u": jarvis croons a love song over a sample of mazzy star's "fade into you", makes me wanna pass out and die.
the best of movies 2003 (in order, i think)...
1. lost in translation - one of my top five movies ever. sofia and bill and scarlett = class couple 2003.
2. x-men2 - 2004, the year i become a mutant.
3. pirates of the carribean: the curse of the black pearl - now i wanna be your pirate wench!
4. spellbound - i-l-o-v-e-d-t-h-i-s-m-o-v-i-e. do i sound like a robot?
5. lord of the rings: the return of the king - call me mrs. legolas.
6. thirteen - the most well-done afterschool special ever.
7. kill bill: volume one - welcome back tarantino.
8. mystic river - if bill murray doesn't get the oscar, throw sean penn a bone.
9. cold mountain - squinty-eyed zellweger steals this movie, except when my husband jude law is on the screen.
10. the magdalene sisters; a mighty wind; better luck tomorrow - a cage match between irish girls locked in a nunnery, folk heroes making a comeback, and asian teens gone wild.
the best of books 2003 (out-of-order and also probably not all released this year, if i found them this year, they count)...
1. my life in heavy metal - steve almond: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll whack off.
2. atlas of the human heart - ariel gore: a true life account of a 16-year-old girl who leaves home and travels the world.
3. the last party - john harris: behind the scenes of britpop in its heyday with queen justine and king damon presiding.
4. black, white and jewish - rebecca walker: a fascinating account of growing up trapped between two worlds.
5. the lives of the muses francine prose: the truth about the greater women behind some great men.
6. the chelsea whistle michelle tea: a gritty memoir about growing up in chelsea, massachusetts.
7. 3 julie hilden: pulpy beach read about a couple obsessed with threesomes.
8. special bella bathurst lord of the flies, girly stylee.
9. breaking open the head: a psychedelic journey into the heart of contemporary shamanism daniel pinchbeck: the author travels high and low in search of the truth behind the mysticism of psychedelics.
10. random family adrian nicole leblanc: this is the true story of gangsta life in the streets through the eyes of women.
11. crawling at night nani power: a quiet city love story between a drunken down on her luck waitress and the aging sushi chef who desires her.
12. serge gainsbourg: a fistful of gitanes sylvie simmons: moi je taime, non plus.
if you've made it to the end, congratulations. here's to hoping 2004 brings all the culture i can stand, hopefully featuring a new album from pj harvey, a tour from mary j., and my wedding to iggy pop.
