Forrest L Norvell's Favorite Records Of 2002

I'll be putting together another best-of list for droneon that will probably look a little bit different from this one; I spent a good chunk of the year listening to extremely spaced out droney field recordings and classical music, neither of which really seem to fit in chugchanga-land. I'm only including the Nordheim because it's so good and is likely to disappear so quickly.

1. Larsen, Rever (Young God)
   Hard record to beat; more quality post-rock lunacy from M. Gira's capable hands.
2. Scion, arrange and process Basic Channel tracks (Tresor)
   Ten-year-old techno that still sounds fresh and new.
3. Low, Trust (Kranky)
   Another year, another Low album, another classic.
4. Mastodon, Remission (Relapse)
   I have no idea if this is good or not, all I know is that it lived in my CD player for several months.
5. China Chop, Daijushichiban (Velour's Voice)
   Japanese indie pop reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Sleater-Kinney without sounding like a clone of either one. A short, focused album that has no filler and only gets moderately silly.
6. Caligari, Caligari (Init Records)
   Kick-ass metalcore EP from a bunch of North Dakotan fools who put on a great live show for about 10 people in SF last summer.
7. Arne Nordheim, The Art of Arne Nordheim (Aurora)
   A 7CD retrospective of Norway's most famous living composer. If any of you have heard him, it's probably on either the disc of his electroacoustic works or the disc of remixes of same made by Biosphere and Deathprod, both on Rune Grammofon. The breadth and depth of Nordheim's talents are impressive, and I generally have one or more discs from this collection in my changer at all times. It runs the gamut from medieval-influenced atonal choral work through sound collage that still sounds fresh (if a little derivative of Xenakis) now. Most of all, even at its most out there it's accessible and fun. Endlessly listenable, at least if you like 20th century classical. Only 200 copies of this were made, so get it quick if you want a copy (available via Qualiton).
8. Neko Case, Blacklisted (Bloodshot / Lady Pilot)
   A huge improvement over her last album. Her voice is truly amazing, and she's finally written some songs to match it.
9. Botch, An Anthology of Loose Ends (Hydrahead)
   I wish they were going to be releasing more stuff.
10. Cream Abdul Babar, The Catalyst To Ruins (At A Loss)
    Easily the best metalcore band with a trombonist.
11. Mastodon, Lifesblood (Relapse)
    Almost as good as the album, only shorter
12. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights (Matador)
    Yeah, these guys got overhyped, and yeah, only half the album is any good, but the songs that are good are great and I actually like the guy's voice.
13. DJ Krush, The Message at the Depths (Sony Japan)
    Who knows when this will hit the States, but it's as good as anything Krush has ever done, with guest appearances from Anti-Pop Consortium, Anticon, and even Sly and Robbie on one track.
14. Mínus, Jesus Christ, Bobby (Victory)
    Not as glitchy as Atomsmasher, but plenty digitally tweaked post-hardcore by a couple of crazed Icelandic guys. The Einar Orn cameo's not even as annoying as it could have been, either.
15. Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head (EMI)
    See above entry re: Interpol, with even more violently skewed good / bad songs. However, I love both of the last two songs, and I've mostly gotten over the fact that I liked a Coldplay record.
16. Mr. Lif, I Phantom (Definitive Jux)
    Probably would have been higher if I hadn't gotten it so late in the year. The El-P record didn't quite do it for me, but Mr. Lif has it going on.
17. Scalene, Grafting From Instantaneous and Fragmental Fulfillment (H:G Fact)
    Really, really good Japanese metalcore on grindcore gods 324's label (the same label that released the Discordance Axis / 324 / Corrupted split last year, in fact).
18. Corn On Macabre, Chapters I & II (Magic Bullet)
    Oh, shut up. It's great even if the band name sucks. Short, concentrated bursts of metalcore, featuring Billups (from Darkest Hour, who'd be on this list if they'd released something this year, because they slay live and So Sedated, So Secure is metal made by indie rockers the correct way). Silliness reigns, from the haunting melancholia of "You're OK, I'm Undead" to "Shut Up and Play Something Evil". Almost as lengthy as Discordance Axis's "The Inalienable Dreamless".