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2003 as summed up in a trivial list MADE LIFE WORTH LIVING: - Isis / 27 European tour - Daughters live and "Canada Songs" CD - Goldfrappe "Black Cherry" - Mars Volta "Deloused..." - OMG / Scissorfight / Oxbow show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco - Aquarius Records - Lord of the Rings "Return of the King" - "Lost in Translation" - Anna's Taqueria in Brookline, MA - Melt Bannana "Cell Scape" - Sonic Youth reissues - Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" (book) - These Arms Are Snakes "This is Meant..." Ep and live - The discovery and subsequent kidnapping of Paul Jeffrey - Battles live - Khanate "Things Viral" - Jesu rough mixes - Tim Hecker "Radio Amor" - Cursed "One" CD - Dostoevsky's "the Brothers Karamozov" - Growing "The Sky's Run Into the Sea" - Enslaved "Below the Lights" - Paul's roomate stories - Moving to Los Angeles, and as a result missing a really cold winter in New England - Mogwai live and "Happy Songs..." CD - Tacos Villa Corona in Atwater Village, CA - seeing Danzig and his bald spot on numerous occasions - not dying - XBOX - "Champions of Sound" tour - Danger Mouse and Jemini "Ghetto Pop Life" - sunshine THINGS I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT: - The death of my grandfather SB Rymer Jr - The continued reign of George W. Bush, his dynasty, and all that that implies - The Govenator - Hydra Head/personal disaster Jan 03 - Coheed and Cambria (and whoever told me these guys were a good prog/HC band) - The fact that scores of bands recycled early and mid nineties HC/emo and got HUGE doing so - From Autumn to Ashes live - Fests - The lack of good Indian food in LA - Going back to New England for one of the worst storms of the winter and shoveling my car out of the same spot twice - The death of Scott Jernigan (The Whip) - Isis show in Lyon, France - well, not the whole thing - just the food and that asshole that told us we forgot where we came from and all that other bullshit - Cold - Discovering the name "Champions of Sound" was already taken - Outkast 2XCD and everyone that told me I would love it cuz it's so weird - Metalcore, noisecore, and every other core term - Tour food - Losing stuff |
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The Year 2003 in Good Things
10) Getting new roommates that aren't insane (at least not in that "severe mental illness" way) 9) The Books "The Lemon Of Pink" CD 8) Danger Mouse & Jemini "Ghetto Pop Life" CD 7) Baby Blak "Once You Go Blak" CD 6) Daughters "Canada Songs" CD + West coast tour dates 5) These Arms Are Snakes "This Is Meant To Hurt You" CD 4) Themselves "Live at the Echo Lounge" (hands down the best show this year) 3) Outkast "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" CD 2) All things Hydra Head/Tortuga (Including all the new shit from OMG, 27, Harkonen, etc, etc, etc) 1) Mark and Aaron hiring my sorry ass, bringing me to the other side of the country and pretty much turning my life upside down (thanks dudes) |
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12 recordings released in 2003 that deserve to be on a 10 best list, even if I am forgetting others that deserve this as well. In no order: - The Bug "Pressure" - Tim Hecker "Radio Amor" - Eluvium "Lambent Material" - Gorgoroth "Twilight of the Gods" (In Conspiracy with Satan) - Keelhaul "Subject to Change Without Notice" - Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways - Daughters "Canada Songs" - Pelican EP and "Australaisa" - Polmo Pompo "Like Hearts Swelling" - Kopernik "Kopernik" - V/A "Painted Black" - Melt Banana "Cell Scape" My favorite release of the year was the "Terra Nova EP". Think about it: if you're not in your favorite band, why be in a band? A few recordings that I have not yet heard and so did not make it onto this list, but if you are pissed you can send them to me to set me straight: The new stuff by Anaal Nekrotush (or however they spell it) The Whip 7" The Loincloth 7" The new Boris CD Misery Index - "Retaliate" Radio Java on Sublime Frequencies 10 things that I learned in business school so that you don't have to (in no order) 1. Just because you are good at something does not mean that you would be good at supervising people doing that same thing. 2. If you want to make a businessperson look bad, you can do it by investigating the sources of their information and assumptions. They usually don't dig too deep. 3. Tomorrow's chief executives are taught that total free trade is both desirable and inevitable. 4. If you can boil things down into quantifiable measurements, people will usually be impressed and acquiescent. (See point 2 above). 5. Those daily columns that explain why the market did what it did yesterday are almost entirely bullshit. 6. Conspicuous consumption gains respectabilty if you call it a "lifestyle investment". 7. There is truth in the clichè - If something sounds too good to be true, it is. 8. If you apply the scientific method to your professional life, you are almost guaranteed success. 9. Accounting and Marketing are two equally invalid forms of alchemy that appeal to different personality types. 10. 99% of the people that I ran into secretly harbor an unfounded and blind faith that Alan Greenspan is right. There, I just saved you $60,000. = Justin Foley, unemployed. |
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BEST of 2003 (In no specific order) - Italy in July - Joseph Stalin - Bee and Flower - My unparalleled insensitivity - www.skullgame.com - cash - crystal meth - hookers with hearts of gold - OXBOW - and finally, my dreams of plenitude. |
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A list of 2003 impressions off the top of my rift-addled brain (some existing prior, but I encountered during that year) - BORIS "Feedbacker" CD - Keiji Haino "To Start With, Lets Remove the Color!" CD - Enslaved "Below The Lights" LP - Miles Davis "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" 5CD box - The Neptunes "Present..." CD - Autechre "Draft 7.30" 2LP - Growing "The Sky's Run Into the Sea" 2LP - Supersilent 6CD - Pelt Pearls From the River CD - Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore Black Earth - Witchcraft s/t CD - Led Zeppelin DVD - CAN DVD - The League Of Gentlemen Series 1 & 2 on BBC (DVDs) - Ireversable (film) - 28 Days Later (film) - Power Trip (film) - My Architect (film) - Elephant (film) - Scott Slimm's immense Haino live recording archives! - "Englands Hidden Reverse" (book) - The Sons of TC Lethbridge "A Giant" 2CD - ATP 2003 - Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day Festival - Jophn Fahey "Vampire Vultures" (book) - Osamu Tezuka "Phoenix Dawn" (book) - Paul Bowles "A Distant Episode" (book) - Daniel Pinchbeck "Breaking Open The Head" (book) - Steve Aylett "Shamanspace" (book) - Haruki Murakami "Dance Dance Dance" (book) - SUNN O))) PS-20 (preamp) - Travis Bean 1200S (guitar) - Malata DVP-520 (multi-region DVD player) Past Life Regressions: - Taj Mahal Travellers ( >>> ) - Univers Zero ( >>> ) - Amon Düül 2 ( >>> ) - Nurse With Wound ( >>> ) - Les Rallizes Denudes ( >>> ) |
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In no particular order... - skateboarding - aurora snow - Cursed "1" - Pelican "Australasia" - Sun Kil Moon - Christmas! - Soyrizo - Blindly hating almost all music - Levi's with a big E - My wife |
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1) lightning bolt 2) the fireplace in my bedroom 3) getting another European tour 4) not mixing the new album ourselves 5) having all the bands we wanted to play your cd release show blow us off 6) the huge sack I got for Christmas 7) my Ryobi 18volt cordless drill 8) new wool socks 9) the baked tofu my girlfriend makes 10) Greek colosus olives marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper. Ayal knows what I'm talking about |
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In no order whatsoever... - Judas Priest "Sin After Sin" remastered - Moxy "Ridin' High" -- Grade A 70s Canadian hard rock - Mercyful Fate "Melissa" -- godly - "Too Hot to Handle" VHS -- The story of British rockers UFO - Khanate "Things Viral" - Lair of the Minotaur demo - Staying at the Austerity Program house, well Justin's house really, in New York - Riot "Narita" -- the missing link between 70s metal and Iron Maiden - "21 Grams" -- the film. I cried. Yes I did. - Trevor's ridiculous mustache |
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It was a rough year... 1) Fennesz "Live in Japan" (Headz) 2) Desormais "iambrokenandremadeiambroken..." (Inter_version) 3) Growing "The Sky's Run Into the Sea" (Kranky) 4) Pelt/KeenanLawler/Eric Clark "Keyhole II" (Eclipse) 5) Khanate "Things Viral" (Load) and live 6) No Funeral live and unreleased recording 7) Set Fire to Flames "Telegraphs in Negative/Mouths Trapped in Static" (Alien8) 8) Songs:Ohia "Magnolia Electric Co." (Secretly Canadian) 9) Mono "One Step More and You Die" (Arena Rock) 10) Dakota/Dakota "Shoot in the Dark" (Arms Reach) and live HONORABLE MENTIONS - Hydra Head moving operations to California just in time for Schwartzenegger to become their Governor - The increasing inevitablity of the fall of the United States' empire - Jason Hellmann's sensitive side - Explaining to my befuddled bandmates how Pelican is a punk band (or postpunk at the very least) |
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1) Year of the Rabbit s/t 2) Radiohead "Hail to the Thief" 3) Keelhaul "Subject to Change Without Notice" 4) Mogwai "Happy Songs for Happy People" 5) Mono "One More Step and You Die" 6) Boris "Amplifier Worship" reissue 7) Khanate "Things Viral" 8) Breather Resist "Only in the Morning" 10" 9) Harkonen "Dancing" ep 10) Corrupted "Paso Inferior" LP reissue |
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- Khanate "Things Viral" - Sunn0))) "White1" - Growing "The Sky's Run Into the Sea" - Mogwai "Happy Songs for Happy People" - Enslaved "Below the Lights" - Radiohead "Hail to the Theif" - Daughters "Canada Songs" - Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore "Black Earth" - Boris "Akuma No Uta" Ep - Burst "Prey on Life" - Denali "The Instinct" - The Mars Volta "De-Loused in the Comatorium" - The Angels of Light "Everything is Good Here, Please Come Home" - Massive Attack "100th Window" - Opeth "Damnation" - Metallica "Garage Days Re-Revisited" Despite the fact it's been 16 years since it's release, it still remains one of my favorites - Pelican, Keelhaul, Harkonen, The Austerity Program. . . HH/TR releases, bands, projects, tours and the 3,000 miles between M Thompson and me - Björk / Sigur Rós live - Múm live - Led Zeppelin 2XDVD - Björk "Live at Royal Opera House" DVD - "Open Range" Robert Duvall is tremendous. Don't ask about Costner. - Andee & Aquarius Records - Michael Moore "Dude Where's My Country" Thanks Mike, your book arrived just when I needed a laugh. - Tandoor - The Fairfield Diner, their generous Tempeh Reuben, chili, and chocolate cake - Steve Jobs & Apple for getting it mostly right with the G5 - Nikon Super Coolscan 8000ED ( scanner ) - Epson 2200 ( printer ) - JMorgan / CSwirski & all at MM / RC & all at RP - KEssex NO THANKS TO - Kodak's mysteriously fogged film x 40 rolls and their inability to take appropriate actions - The cost of p&d for the above 40 rolls of useless film |
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