Here's my contribution to the annual poll:

Top 29 CDs: (yeah, I know only the top 20 count, but I
included more because they're all really good, and
also because the exact order in which numbers 16-29
fall tends to change a lot from day to day...the order
I have them in for polling purposes is the order in
which they seem to fall most often over the past month
or so)...

1) The Bangles-Doll Revolution
2) Badger-C'mon Girls!
3) The Rhinos - Year of the Rhinos
4) The Singles - Better than Before
5) Boss Martians - The Set Up
6) The Effection - Soundtrack to a Moment
7) Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
8) The Contrast - Wireless Days
9) Maple Mars - Circular Haze
10) The Gurus - All the Children Sing By (8 song 2003
self released version.  It's my understanding that the
twice as many song Rainbow Quartz version is not yet
released, even though a few people on this list
-sadly, not including me - have managed to get their
hands on it in December.  If the new songs are as good
as the current ones, I'm guessing the Rainbow Quartz
version may rank even higher on my list of top CDs for
2004!)
11) Jet - Get Born
12) The Syrups - s/t
13) The Waking Hours - The Good Way (If this CD had
finished as strong as it started, it probably would
have ended up higher on the list!  I've heard rumors
there's a new CD planned for 2004, and that some of
the new songs are even better than some of the best
ones on this CD...anyone know if there's truth to this
rumor?)
14) Rooney - s/t
15) Neil Traynor - August Sun
16) Snow Dogs - Deep Cuts, Fast Remedies (This CD is
also the winner of the "don't judge a CD by it's cover
art" award.  If you only check out CDs that have been
recommended by a friend, or after you hear the band
play live, or if the cover art "looks pop", you're
missing out! It only takes a few seconds to check out
a song from whatever happens to be in the listening
booth...if you don't like the first 60 seconds, move
on; if you do, check out another song, and another,
and another...there's some great music out there
waiting to be discovered, like I bumped into this one!
 By the way, have any of you noticed that more and
more of the CDs placed in listening booths have
stickers on them or signs next to them that use the
*p-word* to describe them? I guess the industry
finally figured out that if they say something is
"pop" people will know it's good, and it will actually
sell!)
17) Stereo 360 - Enjoy Your Life Poolside
18) Steadman - Revive
19) Mr. Encrypto - Secret Identity Crisis 
20) The Sounds - Living in America
21) Peachfuzz - About a Bird
22) Chris von Sneidern - The Wild Horse
23) The Thrills - Too Much for the City (If the latter
half of this CD was not all slow draggy songs, it
would have probably ended up higher on the list)
24) Useless ID - No Vacation from the World
25) The Color Bars - Making Playthings
26) Gigolo Aunts - Pacific Ocean Blues
27) The Kennedys - Stand
28) Lucy Woodward - While You Can (I don't recall
anyone on this list mentioning this one before...it's
kind of like Sheryl Crow with just a touch of the
young/pre-constant-scandal Britney Spears...it may
sound a bit weird, but it actually works!)
29) Wendy Ip - A Different Kind of Life

A few more (in no particular order) that probably
would have ended up somewhere in the top 29 if I'd
gotten them yet:

Jupiter Affect
Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings
Spymob
Farrah (which will probably be on my list of top CDs
for 2004 if it's anything like their last
CD....hopefully it will be released or at least easier
to find in the US in 2004, and therefore
qualified!Mike, any early ruling on this?)

Top 7 songs of 2003:
1) Fountains of Wayne - Bright Future in Sales
2) Mr. Encrypto - Rock and Roll is Killing Me
3) Snow Dogs - Popstar (Love this)
4) Wendy Ip - What's Normal anyway?
5) Roscoe Project - Bipolar
6) The Gurus - It's Only Love
7) Lisa Mychols - Rocket to Mars (A really cute song,
and as it turns out based on Pres. Bush's speech
today, timely!  Is there something Lisa knew before
the rest of us?  Hmmm....I wonder....)

anyway, that's my list(s) for this year!  thanks to
everyone who is posting their list to audities and
giving me all kinds of cool ideas of CDs I don't have
that I probably need to check out!

-shosh 

 

  

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