Brian Eck's Favorite Records Of 2002

It was a great year for music of all types! My top ten are in order, but the next ten, the honorable mentions and the reissues/compilations [71-80 --ed.] are alphabetical.

1. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights (Matador)
   Evokes the sound of yesterday's faves without being an apish clone.
2. Dark Tranquillity, Damage Done (Century Media)
   Melodic Swedish death metal that's brutal and technical, yet accessible.
3. The Mountain Goats, Tallahassee (4AD)
   Irrefutable proof that sometimes more is more - as in more instrumentation and more production resulting in a lush, enveloping record that still packs plenty of emotional and lyrical punches.
4. All Girl Summer Fun Band, All Girl Summer Fun Band (K)
   Perfect summertime listening - playful and sunny with a healthy appreciation for the 60's girl group sound.
5. Pretty Girls Make Graves, Good Health (Lookout!)
   Cathartic, energetic punk rock. The last track is a swirling maelstrom that will have you hitting repeat.
6. Clinic, Walking With Thee (Domino)
   Weird, fractured indie rock that channels more than a little Pink Floyd.
7. Various, Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs To Benefit The West Memphis Three (Sanctuary)
   Ordinarily there's no room for compilations in my top ten because they invariably are hit-and-miss. This one is no exception, but the hits are strong enough to carry the rest, not to mention the sheer power of the source material and the eminently worthy cause. The Iggy, Slayer, and Motorhead tracks are priceless.
8. Badly Drawn Boy, About A Boy OST (XL)
   Unlike most soundtracks, this album can stand on its own. The instrumental interludes form a coherent shell around the pop gems inside.
9. Radio 4, Gotham! (Gern Blandsten)
   Every generation needs to (re)discover the Clash, and apparently this one likes to dance as well.
10. Dressy Bessy, Sound Go Round (Kindercore)
    Catchy twee vocals over top of fuzzy guitars might not be the newest sound around, but the formula works really well here.
11. 764-Hero, Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere (Tiger Style)
12. Anti-Pop Consortium, Arrhythmia (Warp)
13. Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My... (Young God)
14. Comets on Fire, Field Recordings from the Sun (Ba Da Bing)
15. High on Fire, Surrounded By Thieves (Relapse)
16. The Infinite X's, The Infinite X's (Chainsaw)
17. Ladytron, Light And Magic (Emperor Norton)
18. The Mountain Goats, All Hail West Texas (Absolutely Kosher)
19. Sleater-Kinney, One Beat (Kill Rock Stars)
20. Mary Timony, The Golden Dove (Matador)
21. +/-, Self-Titled Long Playing Debut Album (Teenbeat)
22. Arch Enemy, Wages Of Sin (Century Media)
23. American Death Ray Music, Smash Radio Hits (SFTRI)
24. Badly Drawn Boy, Have You Fed The Fish? (Twisted Nerve)
25. The Black Heart Procession, Amore del Tropico (Touch & Go)
26. Blackalicious, Blazing Arrow (MCA)
27. Botch, An Anthology of Dead Ends (Hydra Head)
28. Broken Spindles, Broken Spindles (Tiger Style)
29. Camera Obscura, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi (Elefant)
30. Cassetteboy, The Parker Tapes (Barry's Bootlegs)
31. Cephalic Carnage, Lucid Interval (Relapse)
32. The Fucking Champs, V (Drag City)
33. Consonant, Consonant (Fenway)
34. Crush Kill Destroy, Much Action Walking Distance EP (Makoto)
35. Desaparecidos, Read Music / Speak Spanish (Saddle Creek)
36. Destroyer, This Night (Merge)
37. Do Make Say Think, & Yet & Yet (Constellation)
38. EE, For 100 We Try Harder (Asian Man)
39. El-P, Fantastic Damage (Definite Jux)
40. Electric Wizard, Let Us Prey (Music Cartel)
41. Enon, High Society (Touch & Go)
42. Gold Chains, Straight From Your Radio EP (Tigerbeat6)
43. Hella, Hold Your Horse Is (5RC)
44. Hot Hot Heat, Make Up the Breakdown (Sub Pop)
45. Imperial Teen, On (Merge)
46. Isis, Oceanic (Ipecac)
47. The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, Homemade Drugs (Absolutely Kosher)
48. Liars, Fins to Make Us More Fish Like EP (Mute)
49. Liars, We No Longer Knew Who We Were EP (Sound Virus)
50. Lo-Hi, Say it More (Tiger Style)
51. Jason Lowenstein, At Sixes And Sevens (Sub Pop)
52. Mad Professor Meets Scientist, at the Dub Table (Ariwa)
53. Doug Martsch, Now You Know (Warner Bros.)
54. Mastodon, Remission (Relapse)
55. The Mooney Suzuki, Electric Sweat (Gammon)
56. Mudhoney, Since We've Become Translucent (Sub Pop)
57. NOFX, 45 Or 46 Songs That Werent Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records (Fat Wreck Chords)
58. Numbers, Numbers Life (Tigerbeat6)
59. Opeth, Deliverance (Koch)
60. Outhud, S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. (Kranky)
61. The Pacific Ocean, So Beautiful and Cheap and Warm (Teenbeat)
62. Quix*o*tic, Mortal Mirror (Kill Rock Stars)
63. Rumah Sakit, Obscured By Clowns (Temporary Residence)
64. Silkworm, Italian Platinum (Touch & Go)
65. The Sinking Ships, Out Of Key Harmony (Darla)
66. Sunn O))), Flight of the Behemoth (Southern Lord)
67. Tullycraft, Beat, Surf, Fun (Magic Marker)
68. Ugly Casanova, Sharpen Your Teeth (Sub Pop)
69. John Vanderslice, American Fourtracker (Barsuk)
70. We Ragazzi, The Ache (Self Starter)
71. The Fall, Remasters (Cog Sinister)
72. King Tubby, Majestic Dub (Culture Press)
73. Augustus Pablo, Gold (Jet Star)
74. Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted Luxe and Reduxe (Matador)
75. Lou Reed, Live, Take No Prisoners (BMG)
76. Run DMC, Greatest Hits (BMG)
77. Scientist, Wins The World Cup (Greensleeves)
78. Stockholm Monsters, Alma Mater Plus (LTM)
79. Various, 2 Many DJ's - As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Pt. 1-3 (Waxed Soul)
80. Various, 20 Years of Dischord (Dischord)