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Michaelangelo Matos’s 2002 A-Lists
First, some ground rules. These lists are not definitive by any means--are they ever? The top tens are in the Pazz & Jop database but the rest are prone to change at any time. Since I try and review every good new album I hear (and since plenty are good-not-great), most of what’s below has been written about in some way--usually a review, sometimes a feature, and in a few cases both (and in a couple more than once apiece). Also, albums are easier to keep track of than singles, at least for me. I did a bit of poking around for last-minute adds, but nothing too strenuous. (An n.b.: at the moment, the Rick Dees Top 40 only has the second half of the year-end top 100 (had the entire thing yesterday, wtf?) but as my friend Keith has pointed out, a LOT of that list is 2001-bound, and not in the on-a-2001-album fashion, either. I mean, “I’m Real”? “The Whole World”? Fucking “Fallin’”?!?!)
So because I’m tired from all the HTMLing and because I will undoubtedly find shitloads of great singles I missed (and add them whenever I’m able to, probably over the next week or two or so, however long I keep this as the blog’s main page before archiving it), the albums list is 1.5 times the size of the singles list--and this in a year I’ve been going around blabbing is the best for singles in forever, with not that many great albums ho-hum. Since you could very sensibly argue that many of my top ten albums--presented here w/P&J points attached--really aren’t albums at all, per se--if you can even get your hands on them, that is (a hint without a guarantee: try Othermusic.com)---maybe that’s not so hypocritical. But the truth is, were I constrained to include only legally-available items, I could happily have given points to any title down to no. 25, and a few below I wonder about the ranking of (Sonic Youth, for instance, 43rd, a lot lower than I’d expected to put it). Looking not only at my own lists but others’ as well, as well as the zeitgeist in general (he says with a barely straight face), 2002 felt like 1981 redux: fashion and postpunk rehash blah blah blah, but also in the way that there were scads of good albums that only occasionally felt epochal, and the way that singles of lots and lots of stripes felt like the lifeblood of…something, but not something I or very many other people seemed to be able to identify off the top of my/our head/s. This is confusing, but confusion is good; like the early 80s, this feels very much like an in-between era, with lots of potential fusions and definite subcultural fripperies all seeming to edge together, then break apart, then edge together again. As the great Tom Ewing points out, “We are all dilettantes now.” Especially the bootleggers.
If anything, it was a better year for singles for the simple reason that any of the first 40 or so entries on that particular list could have been in my top ten without my complaining. Last year I posted the ten singles I’d voted for in Pazz & Jop and nothing more. But the fact that I’ve included as many singles as seemed vote-forable over the past couple months, even for a minute, reflects my belief that that’s the kind of year it was, full of small surprises and short on an overall thrust--unless you count bootlegs, which I’m so close to I might as well, or what I’ve taken to referring to as rockisback, which I don’t. Like that Rick Dees list, it’s interesting that in a year that felt so forward-looking, its most newsworthy approaches were materially so retro. Not only are mash-ups old news in England (though they’re hardly dead there) but almost every rockisback band put its album(s) out well over a year ago (two in the Hives’ case). I wish rockisback felt as fresh as the alt-revolution of ‘91-4 did; as much as I like the Strokes/Stripes/Hives (not the Vines, who as Chris Herrington points out sound less like Nirvana than Bush or Silverchair), their acclimation seems less intensely felt than intensely settled-for: come on, we’re sick of boy bands, sayeth the press, and hey, presto, the solution, or something approximating it. (I should also point out that I disliked almost every alt-revolution band; rockisback has a higher batting average, if nothing else. Still, I had to work at liking the Stripes/Strokes--not the Hives--and there’s something draining about it; Nirvana I never had to work at doing anything at all with, starting with being amazed by and working from there.)
As far as the lists are concerned, I wish my singles didn’t feel so conservative; surely I could have gone further afield, and surely I will in the days/weeks/months to come just in terms of backtracking ‘02 stuff. (I’m two discs into best-of-02 CD-R comps that I’m hoping will reach eight and am afraid will probably be more like ten. Those will be posted when finished.) But for now I’m happy to put the homely things up. And will note a change from my approach last year. 2002 was a year that resisted definition; even if it were possible to reprint relevant essays/reviews of the top ten albums the way I did for ‘01, it would feel like cheating, especially since I either wrote too much (the Streets) or too little (I never reviewed my no. 5 properly) to excerpt satisfactorily. So I found everything I’d written that was either available online or I wasn’t ashamed of and linked it. Have fun; god knows I did.
Update: just to make things even more fun, I am in the process of composing haiku for each of the singles, and am adding more to both lists as I discover/think of things. Enjoy.
Albums:
1. Boom Selection_Issue 01 (Boom Selection import) 30
2. The Streets: Original Pirate Material (Vice) 30
3. Sleater-Kinney: One Beat (Kill Rock Stars) 5
4. 2 Many DJ’s: As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 1 (Waxed Soul promo import) 5
5. The Best of Boom Selector Vol. 2 (bootleg) 5
6. Clipse: Lord Willin’ (Star Trak) 5
7. Playgroup: Party-Mix Vol. One
(Playgroup promo) 5
8. 2 Many DJ’s: As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 3 (Waxed Soul promo import) 5
9. 2 Many DJ’s: As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 (Pias import) 5
10. The Best Bootlegs in the World Ever (No Label import) 5
11. The History of Township Music (Wrasse import)
12. The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious (Sire/Burning Heart/Epitaph)
13. DJ /rupture: Minesweeper Suite (Tigerbeat6)
14. Luna: Romantica (Jetset)
15. Kylie Minogue: Fever (Capitol)
16. Scarface: The Fix (Def Jam South)
17. Orchestra Super Mazembe: Giants of East Africa (Earthworks)
18. Ellen Allien: Weiss.Mix (Bpitchcontrol)
19. Playgroup (Source/Astralwerks)
20. Clinic: Walking with Thee (Domino)
21. Missy Elliott: Under Construction (Elektra)
22. The Music in My Head 2 (Stern’s Africa)
23. Swayzak: Groovetechnology v.1.3 (K7)
24. Lifter Puller: Soft Rock (Self-Starter Foundation)
25. African Salsa and Rumba (Sonodisc, France)
26. Akufen: My Way (Force Inc.)
27. Digital Disco (Force Tracks)
28. Pantytec: Pony Slaystation (Perlon)
29. Herbert: Secondhand Sounds: Herbert Remixes (Peacefrog, UK)
30. Luna: Close Cover Before Striking (Jetset)
31. D’Afro Disco: Garri-Mix (Codek)
32. The Best of DJ Quik: Da Finale (Arista)
33. Alfie: A Word in Your Ear (Beggars Banquet)
34. Triple R: Friends (Kompakt)
35. Ballboy: Club Anthems (Manifesto)
36. Neko Case: Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
37. Playgroup: DJ Kicks (Studio !K7)
38. The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee (4AD)
39. NOFX/Rancid: BYO Split Series/Vol. III (BYO)
40. Arto Lindsay: Invoke (Righteous Babe)
41. Steinski: Nothing to Fear: A Rough Mix (Soul Ting)
42. Felix da Housecat: Kittenz and Thee Glitz (Emperor Norton)
43. Dope & Glory: Reefer Songs of the ‘30s and ‘40s (Trikont, Germany)
44. Atmosphere: God Loves Ugly (Rhymesayers Entertainment/Fat Beats)
45. Rough Trade Shops: Rock and Roll 1 (Mute, UK)
46. Nettle: Build a Fort, Set That on Fire (theAgriculture)
47. Sonic Youth: Murray Street (DGC)
48. Aesop Rock: Daylight EP (Definitive Jux)
49. Bhundu Boys: The Shed Sessions (Sadza, UK)
50. DJ Hell: Electronicbody-Housemusic (React)
51. The Reputation (Initial)
52. Oh-OK: The Complete Recordings (Collectors’ Choice)
53. Mr. Lif: I, Phantom (Definitive Jux)
54. DJ Shadow: The Private Press (MCA)
55. The Rough Guide to Youssou N’Dour and Etoile De Dakar (World Music Network)
56. Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
57. N*E*R*D: In Search Of… (Virgin)
58. J-Live: All of the Above (Coup d’Etat)
59. Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel (Island)
60. Matthew Shipp: Nu-Bop (Thirsty Ear)
61. Meshell Ndegeocello: Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape (Maverick)
62. Roberto J. Rodriguez: El Danzon de Moises (Tzadik)
63. Future Bible Heroes: Eternal Youth (Merge)
64. Mekons: OOOH! (Quarterstick)
65. Kid America & the Action Figures: Bandy (Plug)
66. Super Rap: Original Rap & Hip-Hop from Harlem’s P & P Records (Landspeed)
67. Hakan Lidbo: 06.10.60 (Mutek)
68. Rjd2: Deadringer (Definitive Jux)
69. Jean Grae: Attack of the Attacking Things (Third Earth)
70. Dap-Dippin’ with…Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (Dap-Tone)
71. Michael Mayer: Immer (Kompakt)
72. Joey Ramone: Don’t Worry About Me (Sanctuary)
73. The Apples in Stereo: Velocity of Sound (spinART)
74. Drive-By Truckers: Southern Rock Opera (Lost Highway)
75. Yondo Sister: Agenda (Sonodisc, France)
76. TTC: Ceci N’est Pas un Disque (Big Dada)
77. True Spirit (Tresor)
78. Crooked Fingers: Reservoir Songs EP (Merge)
79. Spoon: Kill the Moonlight (Merge)
80. Tiga: American Gigolo: The Best of International Deejay Gigolos (Turbo)
81. Murz and Slug: Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci (Access Hip-Hop)
82. The Only Blip Hop Record You Will Ever Need Vol. 1 (Luaka Bop)
83. Ill Ease: Live at the Holiday Sin (Smilex)
84. Imperial Teen: On (Merge)
85. Fabriclive 07: John Peel (Fabric, UK)
86. Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections (Arista)
87. My House in Montmartre (Astralwerks)
88. Musiq: Juslisen (Uni/Def Jam)
89. Ivy: Guestroom (Minty Fresh)
90. Soma 10 Anthology (Soma)
91. Africa Raps (Trikont, Germany)
92. Cornershop: Handcream for a Generation (Sire)
93. Globus Mix Vol. 6: Dave Tarrida Plays Records (Tresor)
94. Raphael Saadiq: Instant Vintage (Pookie/Universal)
95. Love Songs for New York (Village Voice)
96. Fatboy Slim: The Pimp: 3 (Astralwerks)
97. ESG: Step Off (Soul Jazz, UK)
Singles:
1. Kylie Minogue: “Love at First Sight” (Capitol)
The most seductive
video, airiest hook:
disco-pop bliss-out.
2. The Streets: “Let’s Push Things Forward” (Vice)
“I make bangers, not
anthems,” but don’t let him fool
you--Skinner makes both.
3. Shakedown: “At Night” (Defective, UK)
Always trust Euros
bearing synth hooks who gotta
dance away their blues.
4. Lo Fidelity Allstars: “Feel What I Feel” (Skint/Columbia)
Meat Loaf meets big-beat--
chick sounds like Ellen Foley!
Should’ve been a hit.
5. The Streets: “Weak Become Heroes” (Vice)
Remembering rave
at a coffeehouse with a
tear in his mind’s eye.
6. Freelance Hellraiser: “Smells Like Booty” (No Label, UK)
Beyonce rocks out--
Nirvana was ready for
her jelly, it seems.
7. The Hives: “Hate to Say I Told You So” (Sire/Burning Heart/Epitaph)
Swedish suit-wearing
platinum hook-bearing sneerers
bring big guitar fun.
8. Pink: “Don’t Let Me Get Me” (Arista)
Self-loathing never
sounded so universal.
Alanis wishes.
9. Clipse: “Young Boy” (Star Trak)
Pharrell’s greatest hook.
Beats tick-tock like alarm clocks.
What more do you want?
10. Freelance Hairdresser: "Marshall’s Been Snookered" (BoomSelection.com)
Making Eminem
a Max Fleischer character
was a masterstroke.
11. Royksopp: “Eple” (Wall of Sound/Astralwerks)
What a pretty tune.
Like snowbirds singing to the
frosty beat angels.
12. Sugababes: “Freak Like Me” (Universal)
Strongest argument
for mash-ups as blueprints, not
just ends in themselves.
13. The Rapture: “House of Jealous Lovers” (DFA)
Disco not disco.
Indie rock not indie rock.
Whatever. Get dowwwn!
14. No Doubt: “Underneath It All” (Interscope)
Gwen has a soul pout?
And her boys’ skank has muscle?
Who’d have even guessed?
15. Clipse: “Grindin’“ (Star Trak)
Piccolo beats, trunk-
slam snares, handclaps as hi-hats--
drum theory as groove.
16. Neko Case: “Deep Red Bells” (Bloodshot)
Her vowels stretch like
train tracks across the open
countryside. Shiver.
17. Kylie Minogue: “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (Capitol)
Catchiest piece of
self-fulfilling prophecy
possibly ever.
18. Braces Tower: “Special Child” (BoomSelection.com)
Two defining hits
reduced to readymades, then
joined like fate planned it.
19. Tweet: “Oops (Oh My)” (Atlantic)
The most eccentric
Timbaland beat of the year.
Yay masturbation!
20. Missy Elliott: “Work It” (Elektra)
Tim and Missy go
electroclash? Someone tell
Larry Tee the news.
21. Soulwax: “Public Prince” (BoomSelection.com)
Party jams with a
message united; stupid-
fresh bootleg results.
22. Ultra 396: “Rock the Party” (BoomSelection.com)
“Rock the Casbah” plus
“Get the Party Started”--a
match made in heaven.
23. Cam’ron: “Hey Ma” (Universal)
Piano flourish?
I hear a symphony. Cross-
talk hook priceless, too.
24. Tata Pound: “Badala” (Trikont, Germany)
Malian dirty
south: acoustic guitars, quick-
stepping 808.
25. Queens of the Stone Age: “No One Knows” (Interscope)
Stomp that riff out, boys.
And that doubled-back chorus?
Rock power erupts.
26. Nas: “Made You Look” (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Not just his rhyme book
I’m a slave to “Apache”
breakbeats, sirens, chants.
27. Soulwax: “Dreadlock Child” (BoomSelection.com)
Here’s an idea:
Beyonce should do all her
songs with reggae tracks.
28. Snoop Dogg: “From the Chuuuch to the Palace” (MCA)
“Snoop Dogg!“ Pharrell yells.
And look--Snoop actually flows
and doesn’t sleepwalk.
29. Benzino: “Rock the Party”
What planet did they
get that beat from? Are there more?
Can we hear them, please?
30. Nelly: “Hot in Herre” (Universal)
Butts getting big, poles
in friends’ basements, that slinky
grind-groove: the good life.
31. Girls on Top: “I Wanna Dance with Numbers” (BoomSelection.com)
Whitney’s never been
so convincing besides when
she said “Crack is wack.”
32. X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne: “Lazy” (Skint/Columbia)
Sneaky club anthem
with surprise guest vocalist.
Wicked, lazy, nice.
33. The Streets: “All Got Our Runnins” (Locked On, UK)
Being broke sucks, huh?
Oh well--at least he got a
good song out of it.
34. Felix da Housecat: “Silver Screen Shower Scene” (Emperor Norton)
Having sex with her
famous friends in a limo
blowing smoke at you.
35. Khia: “My Neck, My Back” (Artemis)
What a girl wants? No,
what a girl demands, over
cheap, dirty funk beats.
36. Eminem: “Without Me” (Aftermath/Interscope)
The only time his
beats matched his lyrics all year
except on bootlegs.
37. No Doubt: “Hella Good” (Interscope)
“Just keep on dancing?”
Yes ma’am! Right away, ma’am! Just
bring that hook back, please.
38. Scarface: “On My Block” (Def Jam South)
Sunshine piano,
the neighborhood as macro
and microcosm.
39. Dntel: “This Is the Dream (Superpitcher Remix)” (Plug Research)
40. Aaliyah: “More Than a Woman” (Blackground/Atlantic)
More than mourning for
her, what gets me about this
are the backward strings.
41. Pet Shop Boys: “Home and Dry” (Sanctuary)
As comforting as
whatever you find to be
the most comforting.
42. The White Stripes: “Fell In Love with a Girl” (V2)
Possibly the year’s
two best videos--Legos
and Punk Kittens both.
43. Soulwax: “Body Movin’” (BoomSelection.com)
First the JB’s, then
“Fight the Power,” then fuckin’
EMF? Genius!
44. Future Bible Heroes: “I’m a Vampire” (Instinct)
Claudia’s so cool,
especially when she raps
about craving blood.
44. Moony: “Dove (I’ll Be Loving You)” (EMI)
Bright sparkly beat and
piano, jaded singer
yearning to believe.
46. Clipse: “When the Last Time” (Star Trak/Arista)
Nice neo-rave riff!
Beltram wants his royalties.
I love it, of course.
47. Freelance Hellraiser: “Nelly vs. Grange Hill” (BoomSelection.com)
At first I thought it
was Little Feat, but it’s a
British TV theme.
48. Soulwax: “No Diggity” (BoomSelection.com)
49. Cam’ron: “Oh Boy” (Universal)
Will I ever tire
of squeaky falsettos and
beats together? Nope.
50. Elvis Costello: “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s a Doll Revolution)” (Island)
He roars, sure, but he
also seems to wink: “I’d forgot
just how fun this is.”
51. Dsico: “Love Will Freak Us” (BoomSelection.com)
Does Missy ever
listen to Joy Division?
Cos they fit so well.
52. Nappy Roots: “Awnaw” (Atlantic)
53. Akufen: “Deck the House” (Force Inc.)
Herbert rip? Nah, Todd
Edwards meets Kompakt. (Thanks to
Andy B. for that.)
54. Atmosphere: “Modern Man’s Hustle” (Rhymesayers)
His whole woman-as-
devil thing gets old, but this
has his best hook yet.
55. The Streets: "Give Me Back My Lighter" (Locked On, UK)
The king of the B's?
In two thousand and two, the
answer is yes, mate.
56. Closer Musik: “Maria” (Kompakt)
57. El-P: “Stepfather Factory” (Definitive Jux)
His oddly stilted
phrasing is perfect for the
pitchman he portrays.
58. Kurtis Rush: “Get Ur Faith On” (BoomSelection.com)
Missy should get with
acoustic guitars more often.
She matches this one great.
59. Daniel Bedingfield: “Gotta Get Thru This” (Island)
The English Justin
Timberlake, killer first hook--
who could resist him?
60. The Rapture: “Olio” (DFA)
First they were the Gang
of Four, now they’re the Cure. More
disco both times, yay.
61. Golden Boy with Miss Kittin: “1234” (Emperor Norton)
Her message: men should
know about fashion like girls do.
Like those beats, you mean?
62. DJ /rupture: “Rumbo Babylon” (Broklyn Beats)
Coiled, ready to jump
jungle cut-up as seething
action painting.
62. Osymyso: "Intro Introspection" (BoomSelection.com)
Wait a second--what
was that? And that? And that one
there? I am confused.
64. LCD Soundsystem: “Beat Connection (Extended Disco Dub)” (DFA)
Postpunk not postpunk?
When they catch a groove like this,
call it what you want.
65. Musiqe Concrete S.A.: “Third Edition” (white label)
Neneh Cherry goes
“Careering.” There’s no postpunk
like the old postpunk.
66. Daniel Bedingfield: “James Dean (I Wanna Know)” (Island)
Ambitious, isn’t
he? Likable and hooky,
too. He’ll stick around.
67. Pet Shop Boys: “The Night I Fell in Love” (Sanctuary)
Eminem really
is the new Elvis--see all
these songs about him?
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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