Albums: 2003

1. The Wrens’ THE MEADOWLANDS

2. Paul Westerberg's COME FEEL ME TREMBLE

3. Evan Dando's BABY I'M BORED

4. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's MASTER AND EVERYONE

5. Yeah Yeah Yeah's FEVER TO TELL

6. Stephen Malkmus’ PIG LIB

7. The Microphones’ MOUNT EERIE

8. Radiohead's HAIL TO THE THIEF

9. Buck 65's TALKIN' HONKY BLUES

10. Sufjan Stevens’ GREETINGS FROM MICHIGAN

11. The White Stripes' ELEPHANT

12. Cat Power’s YOU ARE FREE

13. Ryan Adams' LOVE IS HELL

14. Ryan Adams’ ROCK N ROLL

15. Broken Social Scene’s YOU FORGOT IT IN PEOPLE

16. Jorma Whittaker's JORMA WHITTAKER

17. Four Tet’s ROUNDS

18. Songs: Ohia’s MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.

19. The Decemberists’ HER MAJESTY THE DECEMBERISTS

20. Outkast’s THE LOVE BELOW

21. The Shins’ CHUTES TOO NARROW

Okay, I'm busted. This is something of a doctored list. For example, I wasn't THAT into The Wrens back in 2003, nor was I into that Dando record or even the Westerberg record. I only heard that Four Tet album last year for the first time. So, yeah ... busted. Not sure what I did with my original list, but it surely had FEVER TO TELL at No. 1, HAIL TO THE THIEF at No. 2 and HER MAJESTY THE DECEMBERISTS at No. 3. I remember buying CHUTES TOO NARROW on a day where I was particularlly desperate and out looking for work. I was having trouble paying rent after working some seriously dead-end jobs.

Before the end of January I was splitting time working at two record stores while also finally getting paid to write about music. So, yes, you could say that January of 2003 was one of my better months. Thing were still going strong with Carly and I was still young enough to spend my grocery money on albums and concerts. My apartment was decorated with LPs and posters. Music, by this point, had become the absolute No. 1 thing in my life. It'd felt that way before, but by 2003, it was absolutely all I ever did. Every friend I had was music-related, every conversation I had was music-related, every shirt I wore was music-related. I spent literally every spare cent I had on records. I remember getting my paycheck, figuring out exactly what I needed to do to get by, then spending the rest on music-related stuff and almost instantly being broke again. It was both wonderful and awful ... not unlike being an alcoholic.

I was hanging with Jason Rose a lot back in these days. More than anyone before, he seemed to share a lot of my tastes. We'd celebrate things together, e-mailing, calling, talking, etc. about albums and bands at length. He soon enough went off to grad school, but it was fun while it lasted.

Back in these days I was driving down to Bloomington, IN  a whole lot to see my girlfriend. They had some great fucking record stores in Bloomington back in those days. I recall one weekend where I spontaneously drove down to B-Town, forgot all my clothing (had to buy some essentials), accidently broke Carly's windshield, watching 25th Hour at Bear's and then, finally (and triumphantly) found a copy of my most anticipated album of the year - The Microphones' MOUNT EERIE - on stands three days before it came out. Needless to say, that was a memorable weekend that ended with an excellent sounding drive home. I still LOVE that record and wish more people would give it a chance.

This was one of the hardest years of my life, money- and resource-wise, but also one of the most important and memory-filled. I made some mistakes and found some trouble, but ended up coming out okay. And, damn, this was an amazing sounding year - still back when any 'ol record could reprogram your everything.