Matthew Stone's Best of 2003
contributing writer, BTV mailorder slave/guru

top ten:
01. Sufjan Stevens- Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lakes State [Asthmatic Kitty/Sounds Familyre]
(This brilliant album has no peers this year.)
02. Manitoba- Up In Flames [Domino]
03. Iron & Wine- The Creek Drank The Cradle [Subpop]
04. Four Tet- Rounds [Domino]
05. [[[[VVRSSNN]]]]- s/t [K]
(Adam Forkner of Yume Bitsu's solo project. Everything he touches is gold.)
06. Prefuse 73- One World Extinguisher [Warp]
07. Erlend Oye- Unrest [Astralwerks]
08. Aspera- Oh Fantastica [Jagjaguwar]
09. Clue To Kalo- Come Here When You Sleepwalk [Mush]
10. Pulseprogramming- Tulsa For One Second [Aesthetics]

two amazing songs on mediocre records:
01. Mint Royale "Dancehall Places" (Mellow dance head bobber featuring Damien Jurado on vocals.)
02. Ryan Adams "So Alive" (The only memorable song on Rock N' Roll.)

released too late last year to be noticed on any top 10 list last year:
01. Guitar- Sunkissed [Morr]
02. Stars Of The Lid- Avec Laudenum [Kranky]

honorable mentions:
01. Rainer Maria- Long Knives Drawn [Polyvinyl]
(Kudos for them for making a half decent album following up its completely horrid predecessor.)
02. Dosh- s/t [Anticon]
03. The Books- The Lemon of Pink [Tomlab]
04. Colleen- Everyone Alive Wants Answers [Leaf]
05. Aarktica- Pure Tone Audiometry [Silber]

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2002 White Elephant Productions