Albums 30 –
21

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30.
Rufus Wainwright: Want One (Dreamworks)
You
may as well have placed him against a wall for the firing squad brought out
in reviews for this record, though perhaps we should’ve seen it coming a mile
away. Unlike Liz Phair’s attempt at commercial success, Wainwright’s half-assed
shot at commercial glory still manages to inhabit the type of songwriting
and operatic singing that have made him one of my favorite singer/songwriters
in the first place. The songwriting and production both seem like logical
progressions of Poses and while the gloss might sporadically distract
from what’s underneath (or, in the case of “Vibrate” and “Natasha,” what’s not underneath), Want One is far from the dive I feared
it would be after my cursory first listen.

29.
Manitoba: Up in Flames (Domino)
After
the terrific Stop Breaking My Heart, I doubt anyone really predicted
this would be what Dan Snaith would release next. Yet, for those paying attention
to his EP material (like the delightfully titled If Assholes Could Fly
This Place Would Be an Airport), it was a natural, albeit quick, progression.
The psych-pop flourishes of Up in Flames add a new dynamic to his music,
which still retains the kind of detailed production that made his past work
so exceptional and makes this an album worth coming back to again and again.

28.
Supersilent: 6 (Rune Grammofon)
I’ve
always had a fascination with albums that managed to creep me out with only
a handful of tools (though really a theremin usually does the trick) and this
record pulls that off quickly and thoroughly. Improvised in four days and
edited into its final product, 6 is another album on this list that
takes on far too much to describe with a single term, but its ambient feel
and free-jazz improvisational skill make it one of the best experimental albums
released this year and certainly the best Supersilent has been able to put
forth. If they continue with the same jump in quality that exists between
5 and 6, who knows what kind of heights they’ll be able to reach
with their next project.

27.
Sole: Selling Live Water (Anticon)
Though Sage Francis continued to let me down this year with more disappointing
successors to Personal Journals, fellow-Anticon ambassador Sole returned
with the best album of his career. Flawlessly produced (with help from cLOUDDEAD
producer Odd Nosdam and Themselves producer, Jel), the album’s only drawbacks
are Sole’s lyrics, which range from clever rhetoric (“I’ve been saving
up for a life like this/ Your God is booing you offstage/ And your heroes
don’t respect you”) to annoying “observations” (“The white
man’s the fucking devil”). Still, Sole is at the top of his game and
his flow has noticeably improved; now if he could just streamline his lyrics
and keep the production as interesting, he’d have a classic on his hands.

26.
Sufjan
Stevens: Michigan (Sounds Familyre/Asthmatic Kitty)
You’re
not likely to hear a more depressing or soul-sucking album this year and Michigan
wastes no time getting straight to it; “Lost my job and lost my room
and I pretend to try,” Stevens sings on the record’s opener, “even
if I tried alone.” His O’Rourke-ish attention to production detail adds
a beautiful flourish to the funeral marches, but its uniform drawl is difficult
to sit through in one listen unless you’re already manically depressed and
looking for a unique soundtrack for your festivities. As an homage to his
home state, this doesn’t say much for morale in the “Great Lake State,” but like fellow Flint-sympathizer and Michigan native Michael Moore, Stevens
makes the worst side of life as entertaining as possible.

25. Tamara
Williamson: All Those Racing Horses (Aporia)

I can really only describe this album as a pure winter record through and
through; the kind of desolate and cold collection of songs that manage to
be incredibly inviting in their mellow, introspective cast. With vocal hints
of Beth Orton, Chan Marshall, Lisa Germano and, at times, Bjork, Williamson’s
massive voice and incredibly apposite production (which she takes on herself),
now coupled with the kind of songwriting only hinted at with Unconscious
Pilot and Nightmare on Queen Street, combine to make
Horses Williamson’s first truly great album, and by far one
of the best Canadian releases this year.

24.
Outkast:
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (La Face)
Another
album that would’ve ranked higher if we’d made these lists earlier, even if
I only heard the album for the first time a few months back. I rarely reach
for the album (technically a quadruple record by vinyl standards) even now,
probably due to how inconsistent it has become. Speakerboxxx still
strikes me as the more cohesive of the two, and though Big Boi takes far more
risks than given credit for, the record’s momentum becomes awkward about half-way
through and never reaches the heights of first-half cuts like “Ghettomusick”
and “Unhappy.” The Love Below is the more “rewarding”
album, I suppose, though its rough spots make regular listening a chore, only
really overwhelming us with the four song succession of “Spread,”
“She Lives in My Lap,” “Hey Ya!” and “Roses”
(not to mention my personal favorite, “Pink & Blue”). It’s a
respectable outing and certainly one of the year’s most “important” releases, though one I’ll admit to being far more enamored with upon first
listening now that I’ve had a few months to let it sink in.

23.
Do
Make Say Think: Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn (Constellation)
Apparently
I was one of the few that loved & Yet & Yet enough to place
it as a top five of 2002 release, and I suspect that most bored by its uniformly
ambient feel will welcome Hymn‘s variety; the album is split into three
sections and with each the band explores a wide range of styles –ranging
from free jazz to ambient to post-rock, never once sounding like they’re attempting
something out of their league. Though the middle section (the jazzier third)
is by far the least interesting, the strength of the first (especially “Auberge
le Mouton Noir”) and third (“Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!” and “Horns
of a Rabbit” make this record what it is) more than help you look past
it. Their third straight great record.

22.
M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (Gooom)
If
we’d made this list six months ago, this probably would’ve been top ten material
for me. But, as time often does to even the best of albums, M83’s beautiful
mixture of electronic experimentation, wall-of-sound production and shoegazer-influenced
songwriting just doesn’t have the same impact it did nearly half a year ago
and seems to move me less each time I hear it. “Run Into Flowers,”
“In Church,” and “America” all still floor me with nearly
every listen, keeping it one of my favorite releases of the year, but making
it to the end now sometimes seems like a chore, even if the closer (“Beauties
Can Die”) is well worth wading through some of its less exciting moments.

21.
The Postal Service: Give Up (Sub Pop)
One
of the more dividing albums of the year, without question. Give Up
suffers marginally from Gibbard’s annoying self-loathing though his vocals
undeniably sound much more at home in Tamborello’s thick, wintry production
than the indie rock-isms of Death Cab for Cutie. The cheese is layed on thick,
and it’s frustrating that a lot of the potential is wasted due to said cheese,
but this stands as one of the better pop albums released this year, even with
Gibbard’s best attempts at making this just another cathartic side-project;
when it works, it works far better than its detractors are willing to admit.