Doug Orleans's Favorite Records Of 2002

The top 30 are in order, the rest alphabetical.

1. Rush, Vapor Trails (Anthem/Atlantic)
   This doesn't sound much like any other Rush album, which is good because they hadn't really made a solid album in the 20 years before this. This thing is monstrous, with driving guitars and catchy but dissonant riffs—it could almost be an Arcwelder album. I do still miss the side-long epics of their 70s albums, but I'm pretty happy with what they're doing now. Now if only they'd hire Steve Albini to fix up their drum sound...
2. Chemical Brothers, Come With Us (Astralwerks)
   I'm a sucker for wall-of-sound techno—well, wall-of-sound anything, really—especially when it's got lots of old-school touches like this one. And I don't mean Exit Planet Dust old-school, I mean ex:el old-school.
3. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Source Tags & Codes (Interscope)
   Neither as vicious nor as dreamy as Unwound, but they mine similar territory. I was unimpressed at first, but these songs really got under my skin.
4. Motorpyscho, It's A Love Cult (Stickman)
   Norwegian psych boogie with a sweet pop side. They're fantastic showmen live, and they made a great album too.
5. Phantom Planet, The Guest (Epic)
   Power pop with some nicely subtle quirky touches. The whole world needs an anthem...
6. High On Fire, Surrounded By Thieves (Relapse)
   RAAAAAAAAAAAR
7. The Fucking Champs, V (Drag City)
   Air on a G-string... huh huh, get it? I like these quotes from the All Music Guide: "...they can't decide if they want to be Megadeth or Moroder....The swirl and bombast of guitars bring to mind images of muscle cars and drag races, Transformers rolling out, and cheesy 1980s heavy metal posters." Hats off to music!!
8. Major Stars, Distant Effects (Squealer)
   I can't put it any better (or worse) than Forced Exposure: "Major Stars aim to take higher-key improvisational wizardry and clobber you on the head with it while simultaneously caressing your mind."
9. Dixie Witch, Into The Sun (Brainticket)
   Southern-style heavy rock. Ends with a James Gang cover, how can you argue with that?
10. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
    Not as amazing as Rated R but it similarly infests itself in your brain.
11. Rye Coalition, On Top (Tiger Style)
    Honky, please!
12. Golden, Apollo Stars (National)
    Further explorations of post-boogie rock.
13. Yume Bitsu, The Golden Vessyl Of Sound (K)
    Epic tales from an echoey floaty dreamworld.
14. The Cancer Conspiracy, The Audio Medium (Big Wheel)
    Shoegazer prog?
15. Skye Klad, II (Mutant Music)
    Not as great as their debut, but still smokin' space-rock.
16. The Nationale Blue, A Different Kind of Listening (Iodine)
    Boston-based progcore.
17. Helms, McCarthy (Kimchee)
    Formerly known as The Swimmer. I used to think the band name and album name referred to Senators, but it's just the last names of the band members. Anyway, this is great Slint-heritage rock from Boston.
18. Dälek, From Filthy Tongue Of Gods And Griots (Ipecac)
    Shoegazer hip-hop? I saw Oktopus wearing a My Bloody Valentine shirt...
19. The Warlocks, The Phoenix Album (Birdman)
    Ex-Charles Brown Superstar, but it sounds more like Brian Jonestown Massacre. But more satisfying.
20. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights (Matador)
    The first half of the record is fabulous, but then it starts to drag and overstays its welcome. There aren't any bad tracks, but some of them might have worked better as B-sides.
21. The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious (Warner Brothers)
    This came out on Epitaph in 2000, but no one noticed (or at least I didn't). Then Warner rereleased it and they were on the MTV VMAs (with shirts spelling H-I-V-E-S) battling the Vines. It's just ear-candy garage-punk, but it's still pretty hot stuff.
22. Jucifer, I Name You Destroyer (Velocette)
    Shoegazer sleaze-metal?
23. Concentrick, Lucid Dreaming (Emperor Jones)
    Synth-based Champs side project.
24. Maserati, The Language Of Cities (Kindercore)
    Shoegazer post-rock?
25. N.E.R.D, In Search Of (Virgin)
    The Neptunes are all over the place these days, but here on their own time they're at their most evil-sounding.
26. Jennifer Gentle, Funny Creatures Lane (Sillyboy)
    Wacky Italian psych-pop.
27. Milemarker, Frigid Forms Sell (Lovitt Records)
    Rerelease of their first album from 1999. Sort of an emo Faith No More: lots of overdramatic keyboards and histrionic vocals, but still pretty crushing.
28. Lovesliescrushing, Voirshn (Projekt)
    Shoegazer!
29. Olneyville Sound System, Freedumb (Hospital Productions)
    More crazy lo-fi Providence noise, although this is particularly groovy, reminding me of Bablicon.
30. Melvins, Hostile Ambient Takeover (Ipecac)
    Even a mediocre Melvins album kicks ass.
31. Ampbuzz, This Is My Ampbuzz (Strange Attractors Audio House)
    Minimalist Kinski side project.
32. Bardo Pond, Purposeful Availment (3 Lobed)
33. Bardo Pond, Vol. 3 (self-released)
34. Bardo Pond, Vol. IV (self-released)
35. Neko Case, Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
    Sexiest indie-rock babe, according to a Playboy poll. Her music's not half bad either!
36. Cave In, "Lost in the Air"/"Lift Off" (Hydra Head)
    I still haven't heard the new major-label full-length, except for the first single, which I disliked. I like these songs a lot, though.
37. Charalambides, Being As Is CD-R (Crucial Blast)
38. Charalambides/Scorces, Tour CD-R 5.03.02 (Wholly Other)
39. Cody Chesnutt, The Headphone Masterpiece (Ready Set Go)
    Marvin Gaye meets Robert Pollard?
40. Common, Electric Circus (MCA)
    Shoegazer rap? Guest vocals from Laetitia Sadier... Makes a good double-feature with The Roots Phrenology (see below).
41. Curve, The New Adventures of Curve (Curve)
    Yep, they're still around!
42. Darin Gray, St. Louis Shuffle (Family Vineyard)
    Ahh, the good old Chicago post-rock mafia. Solo bass musique concrete. It's either genius or annoying, depending on my mood. Usually I'd rather listen to Brise-Glace.
43. Davis Redford Triad, The Mystical Path of the Number Eighty Six (Holy Mountain)
    Rerelease of their first album. More abstract than Ewige Blumenkraft, but still nice and fried.
44. The Dipsomaniacs, The Tremolo of Her Mind - The Strings of Her Soul (Free City Media)
    The dark and drony side of these Norwegian pysch-popsters.
45. Enon, High Society (Touch and Go)
    I forgot I had this until just now... I should listen to it more! It's great, sort of next-generation Girls Against Boys. Sort of. Anyway, Touch & Go can do no wrong by me.
46. The Fantomas/Melvins Big Band, Millennium Monsterwork (Ipecac)
47. Holy River Family Band, Earthquake Country (The Wild Places)
    Spacious Mind side project.
48. Jens, Standing In The Trees I Get Lifted By The Leaves (Goddamn I'm A Countryman)
    Solo project from the Spacious Mind keyboard player. Real nice rural hippie pop.
49. Kid 606 vs. Dälek, Ruin It EP (Tigerbeat6)
50. King Missile III, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (self-released)
    Yes, they're still going, but considerably less rock (and more R-rated) than the '90s incarnation (aka King Missle II). The highlights are the Pain Series:
    1. Hot Coffee
    2. Hammer Thumb
    3. Papercut
    4. Cold Pool
    5. Stomach Cramps
51. Landing, Fade In/Fade Out EP (Strange Attractors Audio House)
52. Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt (Load)
    Rerelease of their first album.
53. Jason Loewenstein, At Sixes And Sevens (Sub Pop)
    These songs went over my head in concert, but they're much more accessible here. What you'd expect from his latter-day Sebadoh songs, i.e. great stuff.
54. My Dad Is Dead, The Engine Of Commerce (Vital Cog)
    Lots of his older stuff is available in full from http://mydadisdead.com/. But this is good too.
55. The Nationale Blue, Jaune-Bleu EP (Iodine)
56. Nebula, Peel Session (self-released)
57. Ousia, Face The Robot (Mutant Music)
    Hey, remember Seefeel? This is pretty much like that, but even more ambient. Great sleepytime music, but not as epic as Why Is That A Four?
58. Radio Vago, Black and White Photo Enterprise (Buddyhead)
59. The Roots, Phrenology (MCA)
    A psychedelic funk & soul smorgasbord. "The Seed" might be my pick for single of the year.
60. The Sheila Divine, Secret Society (Arena Rock)
61. The Solarflares, Look What I Made Out Of My Head (Big Beat UK)
    Modern freakbeat. Not as convincing as The Embrooks, but still pretty great.
62. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Behind The Music (Universal)
    I don't see what the hubbub is; most of this is pleasant but forgettable. Their live performance on The Late Show was convincing, though.
63. The Spacious Mind, Live Volume One - Do Your Thing But Don't Touch Ours, Skogsnäs 26-10-99 (Goddamn I'm A Countryman)
    Very drony instrumental jam stuff, similar to their Terrastock 5 performance. Much different from their studio albums (and their T3 performance).
64. SubArachnoid Space, Play Nice (self-released)
    Tour CD-R. Some tracks show up in finished form on Also Rising.
65. Sugababes, Round Round (US single) (Universal)
    Manufactured pop group, but it's a real catchy tune, and the remixes on this are great—one samples "I Feel Love", "Blue Monday", AND Animotion's "Obsession"; another sounds a lot like Add N To (X).
66. Supergrass, Life On Other Planets (Island)
67. Various Artists, Get Yer Pots Out - POT 31 (Ptolemaic Terrascope)
    This one got shuffled under some pile of papers before I got to listen more than once. Can't go wrong, though, with the usual suspects like Bardo Pond, Kinski, Damon & Naomi & Kurihara, Acid Mothers Temple.
68. Various Artists, The International League of Telepathic Explorers (Free City Media)
    Fantastic power pop tune from Bitter Little Cider Apples, and a bunch of other cool stuff too.
69. Various Artists, POT 32 (Ptolemaic Terrascope)
    An extra-dreamy edition, with Charalambides, Surface of Eceon, Landing.

Once again, plenty of records I never got around to hearing... including a short stack of vinyl that's waiting for me to unpack the turntable. This year I'm going to try to be a little more proactive about hearing the new music I want to hear; we'll see how it goes.