The Nicsperiment's Top Nine Albums of 2003

Talk about cognitive dissonance! I turned 21-years-of-age several weeks before the start of 2003, and then spent the vast majority of 2003 being more social and acting more age appropriately than I ever have in my life. I generally felt like I was experiencing one of the greatest years of my existence, until I read several year-end recaps from idiotic, perennially miserable pop culture rags like Rolling Stone, which declared 2003 as the worst year ever, and then thought, Huh, I guess it wasn't that great. Sure, I didn't like much of my country's foreign policy that year, but the "worst year ever?" Well, they said it, so I guessed it was true. Only, it wasn't true. 2003 was an absolutely great year. Some terrible stuff happened, but terrible stuff is always happening. Outside of 2020, pretty much every year has been a great year if that's your state of mind, and truthfully, my son considers 2020 to be his favorite year, so ANY YEAR can be a great year if that's your state of mind. With much accrued wisdom over the last 20 years, and having long rejected the obsolescent opinions of dying pop culture overlords, I've been able to reappraise 2003, remember all the fun I had, and most pertinently for this piece, reflect on how great the music was. Sure, a lot of 2003s music is as doom and gloom as those dreary periodicals were, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Here are my top nine albums of 2003, except, how could I choose only 9 this time? Ties abound!

TIE 9. The Appleseed Cast -- Two Conversations

The Appleseed Cast were my cool art rock/experimental rock band in the early 00s. No, I wasn't in The Appleseed Cast, but I felt like they were my band, which made it strange when the indie, relatively unknown band released a highly accessible album, easily classified as "emo," that my little sister likes. Two Conversations details the creation, break-up, and reunion of a romantic relationship, and wasn't what I was looking for from The Appleseed Cast in 2003, but 20 years later, I can see its greatness, the instrumentation still creative and stellar, the vocals warm and heartfelt, the real emotion still there, transcending any emo tags the album received. The album made The Appleseed Cast, who'd already released three perfect albums between 1998-2001, a major "scene" name, but I guess accessibility isn't necessarily bad...just different. In 2023, Two Conversations doesn't sound "accessible." It sounds revelatory.


TIE 9. These Arms Are Snakes -- This Is Meant to Hurt You

The post-hardcore band (I HATE THAT MONIKER), These Arms Are Snakes, never quite lived up to the promise of their first EP, This Is Meant to Hurt You...but hey, their first EP lives up to their first EP! It's awesome! It's also over 20 minutes long, so I'll give it LP status and include it on this list, as it's a furious collection of huge-sounding songs, full of huge riffs, thrilling twists and turns, gloriously winding instrumental passages, excellent late-night atmosphere, desperate vocals, bizarro lyrics, and an album-ending breakdown that has to be heard to be believed.


 TIE 8. Blink-182 -- Blink 182

I can't think of an album that sounds more 2003 than Blink-182. This self-titled album features the 90s pop-punk banding venturing to more experimental rock sounds, and against the odds, finding great success. Blink-182 is loaded with memorable, highly enjoyable songs, exploring the band's more melancholy side, while not completely ditching their punk roots. This results in the perfect mix of faster songs that highlight drummer, Travis Barker, and his incredibly dexterous hands and feet, and more laid back, moodier stuff, like the highly popular Smashing Pumpkins ballad-side-esque, "I Miss You." The allusions to war here are clearly being exuded due to the United States' conflict ventures into Iraq that year and Afghanistan the previous, with the post 9/11-darkness seen in much of the music from this period not so much creeping through as reigning sovereign. Often, the previous decade, in this case the 90s, will seep through for a few years before the new decade, in this case the 00s, establishes its identity. Think of the more gritty, urban 80s feel in early 90s cinema that soon gave way to the sunnier, post-Cold War optimism of the rest of the 90s. If one wants to look for one piece of early 00s pop culture where the 90s informally died, it's Blink-182. 


 TIE 8. Cursive -- The Ugly Organ

My first write-up for The Ugly Organ was long-thought and heartfelt, then my computer froze and I lost it. Attempt two is gonna be brief: this is an emotional album about feeling like you're failing everyone around you, but no one more than yourself, and trying to find some hope in that situation. It's mostly rowdy rock music with a lot of great cello accompaniment, and it ends with a cathartic, ten-minute track that just might be the best DON'T KILL YOURSELF song I've ever heard.

TIE 7. Radiohead -- Hail to the Thief

I hate getting into politics on The Nicsperiment, but I guess I can't avoid them when they're Hail to the Thief 's major preoccupation. George W. Bush was the worst President of my lifetime, until he was surpassed by the most recent President, who is essentially George W. Bush with Dementia, so I understand the sentiments behind Radiohead's 2003 album. At the same time, it's tough to listen to all the hyperbolic, apocalyptic doom and gloom of the famed experimental rock band's 20-year-old album and not find it all a bit silly. Several Hail to the Thief songs, for example, "We Suck Young Blood," are so over-the-top in their calamitous, fear-mongering pessimism, they border on parody. With that said, there's no arguing against the artistic excellence and top-notch songwriting quality found in the vast majority of these 14 tracks. I made a top 100 songs list recently, and two Radiohead songs made the cut...they are both found on this foggy little rain cloud of an album.


TIE 7. The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band (with choir) -- "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing,

Somehow, Silver Mt. Zion manage to put their cards on the 2003 experimental rock table and tell Radiohead, "I see your hyperbolic doom and gloom, and I raise you," because This Is Our Punk Rock miraculously kicks the doomsaying up to an even more histrionic level. Hearing this albums lyrics, you'd think everyone in North America was being drug into the street and shot as their house burned down in 2003, but...HOLY COW, IS THIS IS OUR PUNK ROCK CINEMATIC. Raising the production value on their generally lo-fi rock sound and pairing it with stunning strings, A Silver Mt. Zion make a soundtrack for the greatest silent film that never existed.  While there's obviously less polish, and certainly more raw vocals here than what's found on Radiohead's album, all of that starving artist emotion A Silver Mt. Zion are capable of is put to its best possible use, and somehow, and definitely unlike Radiohead, the band leave all that end of the world lava downpour behind at the end of the album to conclude This Is Our Punk Rock in an incredibly personal and comforting place.


6. Explosions in the Sky -- The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place

While Explosions in the Sky were sometimes accused of not pushing the envelope enough in the instrumental rock genre, their huge, cinematic, and optimistic The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is actually revolutionary in the way it doesn't linger in the post-9/11 cultural malaise of the early 00s, but actively fights against it. These five huge songs feel like the rhythms of life, as the cacophonous celebrations of the opening two tracks give way to the darker meditations of the album's midsection before rising to a new beautiful peak in the final two tracks. These 45-minutes form an incredible emotional narrative that's resonant and timeless, outlasting much of the more in vogue work of the band's early 00s peers.

TIE 5. Howard Shore -- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (soundtrack)

Howard Shore's compositions for The Lord of the Rings' trilogy finale, Return of the King, not only tie together his phenomenal work from the previous two films, but introduce an entire arsenal of lovely new ideas. Utilizing diverse orchestrations, with distinct, memorable, complex themes rolling off the tip of his pen like the River Bruinen, rousing, inspiring music, horns, strings, percussion, choirs, flute solos, vocal solos, Shore forever cements his status as a maestro. This may be the greatest film score of all time.


TIE 5. Yasunori Mitsuda -- Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

"Of all time" is an often over-used phrase, but Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtrack for 1999's PS1 JRPG, Chrono Cross, compiled in totality and released in 2003, might be the greatest video game soundtrack of all time. While the game is divisive, a darkly depressing, overtly complex sequel to the uplifting Chrono Trigger, one of the most beloved video games ever created, Chrono Cross' soundtrack has deservedly drawn universal acclaim. Mitsuda, who also excellently scored Chrono Trigger, creates a world music/folk hybrid tableaux, presenting seemingly limitless character and regional themes while also expertly incorporating some of his finest work from Chrono Trigger. The results are absolutely stunning, fully presented across the length of this three hour album of music that works for both active listening, or chillout background noise, climaxing in Mitsuda's soul-crushing career peak, "Radical Dreamers," a piece whose vocal harmonies evoke a failed, unfulfilled spirit, finally rising up into eternity. Chrono Cross Soundtrack is a depressive person's aural paradise.


TIE 4. Deftones -- Deftones

Deftones mostly abandon the lush, immersive sound of 2000s legendary White Pony for a more streamlined, straightforward sound on Deftones. Songs here focus on drawn out grooves, with guitarist, Steph Carpenter, drummer, Abe Cunningham, and bassist, Chi Cheng (R.I.P), falling into a hypnotic lockstep that gives Deftones a remarkable staying power. Meanwhile, vocalist, Chino Moreno, provides his usual, unique blend of strange, sensual singing, and aggressive, piercing screams, reminding the listener just what year it is with lines about terrorism and war, over the band's darkly-tinged jams, filled out by Frank Delgado's ever-present keyboards. In 20 years, after complaining that the album didn't sound like White Pony, I've probably listened to Deftones more than any of the band's other 21st Century albums...except maybe White Pony.


TIE 4. Starflyer 59 -- Old

Jason Martin's morphing, ever-changing Starflyer 59 project reached its critical zenith between 2001's lo-fi masterpiece, Leave Here a Stranger, and the driving alternative rock of 2003's Old. On Old, Martin is able to cash in on his impeccable cultural cache to draw Frank Lenz and Richard Swift, two highly talented multi-instrumentalists, into the fold, along with a returning and quite prominent, Jeff Cloud, on bass. The result is a delightful ten track opus, featuring a kitchen sink production approach and perhaps Martin's most charismatic vocal performance to date. Old is an incredibly fun, highly listenable, timeless album by a guy who's always seemed to be the title of this album, even when he was making music in his early 20s. He's not even old yet here, in fact, he's younger on Old than I am now, but that acerbic, self-deprecating old guy charm Martin has always possessed has perhaps never been stronger. Also, Old and Deftones were released on the SAME DAY, May 20, 2003, and I bought them together that day at the local FYE. See: 2003 was a great year!


3. Linkin Park -- Meteora

"Disposable music in a highly ephemeral genre" they called it. "Too much like their first album," they said. Hey, at the time, I said it too. 20 years later, frontman dead for six years, no new music anywhere on the horizon, and Linkin Park are still drawing 40 million listens a month on services like Spotify, based upon the strength of albums like their sophomore effort, 2003s Meteora. The band's ridiculous dedication to rap-rock perfection, crafting and sifting through and dicing up hundreds of permutations of these songs until they had something they knew would stand the test of time pays off dividends. These 12 tracks flow together in a living landscape that, as most of the best albums from 2003, sound absolutely of the time, and absolutely timeless. Unlike many of the albums from 2003, though, Linkin Park are able to find hope and optimism through a dedication to personal responsibility and positive change that feels almost foreign in 2023. I've probably listened to this album 100 times over these last two decades, and its impact has only greatened with each listen (also, the recent vinyl re-release is amazing, turning up the bass and adding some space in the mix that somehow makes this classic album even better). Also, the below video has 2.1 billion views. 2.1 BILLION!

2. Zwan -- Mary Star of the Sea

Smashing Pumpkins are fine, and some of their singles are my favorite songs ever, but I've never connected to any of their albums like I do that of Billy Corgan's 2003 side band Zwan's lone full-length, Mary Star of the Sea. The album takes a page from the 70s, featuring the huge interplay of three guitars, a roving, aggressive bass, lovely female harmonies from bass player, Paz Lenchantin, and Jimmy Chamberlain's constantly rolling, all-timer drumming performance. I think what really pushes this beautiful album near to top of the 2003 heap for me though, is Billy Corgan's spiritual positivity, as he uniquely reaches above the post 9/11, early 00s haze of negativity and grabs a shining ball of optimistic energy with his hippy-dippy lyrics and religious longing. Also, having Paz in you band doesn't hurt.

1. The Mars Volta -- De-Loused in the Comatorium

I grew up hearing my parents' stereo blasting Yes, while my mom would often try to paint pictures of the legendary progressive rock band's trippy album covers in her spare time (her attempt at Tales from Topographic Oceans still hangs in the laundry room). I had been primed to have a progressive rock band all my own, and in 2003, The Mars Volta happily obliged, providing their stunning debut full-length, De-Loused in the Comatorium, which features virtuosic musical performances, wailing vocals, and absurdist, science fiction and fantasy fueled lyrics, often at the service of something too personal to put into plain language. The overall album fits together marvelously, full of unique, living atmosphere, slowing down to breathe at all the right moments, all engines go at all the right moments, and often.


NOTABLE RELEASES IN MY WORLD:
Aarktica's Pure Tone Audiometry is just an absolutely lovely experimental rock album, featuring a warm, enveloping sound, and an all-time great song with "Ocean." After seeing then new band, Anberlin, put on a raw, great rock show, I was at first disappointed in the overly polished nature of their debut album, Blueprints for the Black Market, but I have since warmed to its charms. Bleach's Astronomy is a fun little rock album. With Brave Saint Saturn's sophomore space rock effort, The Light of Things Hoped For, I'm finding I connect less and less as time goes by, outside of that insanely powerful closer, though I still think it's quite a good album, overall. Cool Hand Luke have to be one of the most underrated Christian rock bands of the early 00s, and Wake Up, O Sleeper's lovely, experimental alternative rock sound is emblematic of their stellar musicianship and songwriting skills. Drive-By Truckers' Decoration Day leans a little more into the band's "sit down and I'll tell you a story" side than their "we're gonna burn this mother down" one, but it still sits comfortably atop the mid-tier of the storied South Rock band's records. While How to Start a Fire was my least favorite of the original trio of Further Seems Forever albums, Jason Gleason's turn behind the microphone has grown on me a little bit every year, and I've come to enjoy it so much, it almost made this top nine. Furthermore's bizarre She and I is probably the whitest hip-hop album in history, but if the second half was as stunning and lyrically proficient (and prophetic) as the first, it might have made my top nine. Speaking of whitest hip-hop, John Reuben's Professional Rapper might be the most fun Christian rap album of the early 00s, featuring excellent instrumentals, deep, but not overly-indulgent or pretentious lyrics, and a delightful performance from Mr. Reuben himself. Kaki King's  unique, virtuoso guitar-picking-centric Everybody Loves You is a wonderful chillout album. The Juliana Theory's Love is an over-bloated affair that killed their burgeoning rock career. Kashmir's Zitilites shows the incredible promise of this Danish rock band that would rattle off three alternative rock classics immediately afterward. Academy Award-winning composers who score Pixar, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Batman movies have to get their start somewhere, and Michael Giacchino burst on the scene scoring the first season of the ABC spy drama, Alias, with a brilliant, highly listenable mix of orchestral, techno, and world music that's lovingly curated on the Alias (Original Television Soundtrack) disc released in 2003. Nocturama proves that even a weak Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album is worth listening. MxPx's Before Everything and After, along with The Julianna Theory's Love, prove that 2003 was a bad year for Tooth & Nail bands to try to go mainstream. Speaking of MxPx, the band I'd always considered their little brother, Relient K, surpassed them in 2003, with Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...But Three Do, a fun pop-punk album that's even more fun 20 years later, now that I don't feel too cool for school to listen to it. Skillet's Collide is a hard rock dream--John Cooper distilled Linkin Park (minus the rap), P.O.D., and Godsmack's sounds into one of the best hard rock albums of the year. Slick Shoes breaks the pop-punk band leaving Tooth & Nail curse with the fantastic, far more tech-punk than pop-punk Far From Nowhere, by jumping to a slightly bigger label instead of a major one. Stellastarr*'s self-titled debut is a very fun foray into 80s new wave revivalism. Sufjan Stevens' slightly over-bloated Michigan is a great dry-run for 2005's Illinois, though its orchestral folk with Vince Guaraldi overtones make for a solid album in its own right. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Fever to Tell isn't my favorite album ever, but it was and still is a lot of fun, and one of the few of those early 2000s garage revivalism albums to actually live up to the hype. Sigur Rós' take "Untitled #1" from their 2002 album ( ), release it as a single, and create an entire mini-album of new material around it called Vaka, a 20 minute mini-opus that's a freezing ocean of massive waves of emotion--my mind used to make too much dopamine back then, and it overwhelmed 2003 me, but I can enjoy it now. I've mentioned that several albums in my list are perfectly emblematic of a certain 2003 vibe. The big trilogy closing films from that year followed suit: The Matrix Revolutions and The Return of the King are both apocalyptic in tone, and feature burned out and smoking dystopic landscapes. One album, released on November 4, the day before The Matrix Revolutions' release date, may actually be most emblematic of the cultural change between the first 21 months of the 21st Century, and post 9/11: P.O.D.'s Payable on Death. In 2001, P.O.D. released their epochal Satellite on 9/11 itself. The album, obviously recorded before that day, features unbridled optimism and positivity, and its lead single, "Alive," is a joyous celebration of life. Payable on Death is an absolute downer. The band's main songwriter, guitarist, Marcos Curiel, had been inexplicably kicked out of the band just before its recording, and while new guitarist, Jason Truby, acquits himself very well, Curiel's latin-tinged jammy style is completely missing from the album. Instead, the songs are dark, 3.5 minute hard rock songs, dropping just about any of the earlier rap-rock, nu-metal, and Latin rock designators the band previously held. With that said, it's still quite good, with Truby adding some ethereal touches, along with his guitar hero, Phil Keaggy, who shows up in some guest spots. I enjoy the resulting album so much, it almost made this list. It might be a downer, post 9/11 album from a band previously known for positivity, but it's pretty damn good. And hey, that's 2003 in a nutshell.