2002 - Wheels and I quit our jobs and then got married. Definitely an interesting strategy. Another nice year for tunes.
KG'S TOP 12 ALBUMS OF 2002
#12 Hem - Rabbit Songs - Featured earlier this year as an Oldie but Goodie. If you have forgotten or didn't have a chance to check it out previously, listen to Sailor.
#11 The Coral - The Coral - How would I characterize this group? Classic Rock? British Rock? Pirate Rock? How about a Doors cover band playing Pirate songs? Bingo. Fun fact, I skipped their concert because they came on the Sabbath but had I ventured out I would have discovered sooner a young group of brothers (and a cousin) from TN. That band? Kings of Leon. Luckily for me Flanksteak discovered them shortly thereafter.
#10 Jason Mraz - Waiting For My Rocket to Come - Wheels and I saw Mraz open for Gomez about one month before this album hit the shelves. We had never heard of him but were blown away by him and his bandmate Toca's harmonies. Mraz is better live than on his polished albums so go see him if you are ever given the opportunity.
#9 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head - The opening track Politik might have been my favorite song of the year.
#8 Brendan Benson - Lapalco - Another Oldie but Goodie selection from this year. Great album.
#7 Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle - I have discussed Iron and Wine at length on the Skog Blog. This was the first album of Sam Beam's that I ever purchased and definitely wasn't the last. Loaded with excellent folky songs, this album is haunting.
#6 Eels - Souljacker - For better or worse, this was the album that unleashed the Dogfaced Boy on the world. Eels crank up the guitars on this album and proceed to rock our socks off.
#5 Ben Kweller - Sha Sha - One of the benefits of being unemployed as mentioned above, was that I had a lot of free time on my hands. My pal, Colin, was also out of work at the time so he and I were able to see Ben Kweller perform at the local Graywhale during the middle of the afternoon. Kweller was as nice as could be and even gave me free tix to his concert that night. Sha Sha is the perfect mix of Ben Folds and Weezer and is still a Skog favorite today.
#4 Doves - The Last Broadcast - Doves always have several unbelievable songs per album but Broadcast is their masterpiece. Pounding is a song that means a great deal to me and there are plenty more quality songs to be found here as well.
#3 Sondre Lerche - Faces Down - Another Skog Blog favorite that has been previously featured. If you don't love this album then I fear for your soul.
#2 Gomez - In Our Gun - I'm sure nobody wants to be bored with another "KG hearts Gomez" tale. I'll leave it at this - top 3 album of theirs, best concert of theirs was in support of this album and Shot Shot is one of their greatest opening tracks.
#1 Beck - Sea Change - Apparently 2002 was a great year for music because Beck's perfect album was also already featured as an Oldie But Goodie. What might have pushed this album to the top was seeing it performed live twice, the first of which in a tiny venue on the 2nd row with Wheels and Vanwarmer. Not a bad track on this album and would make my list of the Top 12 of the Decade.
Honorable Mentions
Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy - Soundtrack to the film. Listen to A Minor Incident.
Weezer - Maladroit - Weezer's last hurrah. Great effort. Everything since has been crap.
They Might Be Giants - No! - An album for kids that adults can also enjoy. Beats listening to the Wiggles.
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane - Just missed the cut. These songs were severely overplayed but I suppose it was for a reason - they were really good.
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - Another that just missed the cut. The Lips played as Beck's backing band during his Sea Change tour and Wheels and I fell in love with Yoshimi.
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf - Flanksteak will be angry that I didn't put this album on the list. The best songs on this album are fantastic but there are a few that haven't held up as well.
Hot Hot Heat - Makeup the Breakdown - Bandages is an awesome song. One of the better garage band revival groups.
Foo Fighters - One By One - Another sign that 2002 was a good year is that I left off albums by some of my all time favorite bands. One By One fits that criteria.
Phantom Planet - The Guest - Once upon a time Phantom Planet was just a nice little band with a drummer who played the main kid in the film Rushmore. Then their song became the theme for The O.C. and they became a one hit wonder. Do not be afraid, this album is great and is definitely no one hit wonder.
The Mooney Suzuki - Electric Sweat - Not as good as their second album but still very good. I really loved me some Garage Rock back in these days.
Duncan Sheik - Daylight - I have an autographed copy of this album sitting on my shelf. If I took it off my shelf more frequently it would have cracked the top 12 because it is loaded with pop gems.
Monday, December 21, 2009
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2 comments:
You listen to weird music.
Just kidding (mostly) - that was a good list (but not as good as 2001).
The Coral sounds like if Spongebob's band started rocking.
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