btv top ten lists

btv friends and family top 10s 2002/2003

Just for kicks, here are some of our top 10 lists. Our pal Jared from Jetenderpaul always though thattop ten lists didn't much matter for the current year, but only the year before. So, really 2003 lists are meaningless and 2002 is really where it's at. Looking back, it seems to me that 2002 was a great year for the rokk. As always, btv artists are intentionally left off my lists, unless there's a special dispensation given, as you will see. Here they are in no particular order.

:::scott::

From Dr. Randall Stephens, guitarist/songwriter for Jetenderpaul, PhD in History, btv resident obscure pop historian, and DC party animal:
Best of 2002.
1. Brendan Benson - "Lapalco"
2. Badly Drawn Boy - "Have You Fed the Fish?"
3. Ron Sexsmith - "Cobblestone Runway"
4. Super Furry Animals - "Rings Around the World"
5. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - "Behind the Music"
6. Radar Brothers - "And the Surrounding Mountains"
7. Elf Power - "Creatures"
8. Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
9. The Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"
10. Neko Case - "Blacklisted"
Best reissues of 02:
Various - "Nuggetts II," The Action - "Rolled Gold," The Byrds - "The Preflyte Sessions," Morrissey - "The Best Of," Orgone Box - "Things That Happened Then," Pavement - "Slanted and Enchanted," Honeybus - "She Flies Like a Bird: The Anthology"

Best of 2003:
1. The Shins - "Chutes too Narrow"
2. The Jayhawks - "Rainy Day Music"
3. The Pernice Brothers - "Yours Mine Ours"
4. The Libertines - "Up the Bracket"
5. The Lilys - "Precollection"
6. Belle and Sebastian - "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"
7. Grand Champeen - "The One That Brought You"
8. Rufus Wainwright - "Want One"
9. The New Pornographers - "Electric Version"
10. The Jessica Fletchers - "What Happened to the?"
Honorable Mentions of 2003:
Grandaddy - "Sumday"; The Essex Green - "The Long Goodbye"; Mull Historical Society - "Us"; Ed Harcourt - "From Every Sphere"; The Sleepy Jackson - "Lovers"; Beulah - "Yoko"; The Thrills - "So Much for the City"; The Ladybug Transistor - S/T; The Rosebuds - "The Rosebuds Makeout"; Starflyer 59 - "Old"
Some Great Rehashes from 2003:
The Clean - "Anthology"; Teenage Fanclub - "A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub"; New Riders of the Purple Sage - S/T; Guided By Voices - "Hardcore UFO's"; Vulgar Boatmen – "Wide Awake"

From Matt Doty, guitarist/songwriter for Saxon Shore, guitarist for Elkland, and Broken Factory label operator:
Best of 2002:
1)Mum - Finally We are No One
2)Godspeed - Yanqui UXO
3)Sigur Ros ()
4)Bjork - Greatest Hits
5)Six Parts Seven - Things Shaped in Passing
6)The Who - The Ultimate Collection
7)Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
8)Rosie Thomas - When We Were Small
9)Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
10)Minus the Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
Best of 2003:
1)Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
2)Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People
3)Four Tet - Rounds
4)Nada Surf - Let Go
5)Songs;Ohia - Magnolia Elecric Co
6)New Order - Best of: International
7)Forget Cassettes - Instruments of Action
8)Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
9)Bonnie Prince Billy - Master and Everyone
10)Radiohead - Hail to the thief

From Matthew Stone, sometimes Saxon Shore guitarist and always btv mail order slave:
Best of 2002:
1) Guitar-Sunkissed
2) Yume Bitsu-The Golden Vessyl of Sound
3) Ms. John Soda-No P. or D.
4) Stars of the Lid-Avec Laudenum
5) The Flaming Lips-Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
6) Low-Trust
7) k.-Goldfish
8) Loch Ness Mouse-Key West
9) mum-Finally We Are No One
10) Sigur Ros- ()
Best of 2003:
1) Sufjan Stevens-Greetings from Michigan, The Great Lake State
2) Bonnie Prince Billy-Master & Everyone
3) Manitoba-Up In Flames
4) Iron & Wine-The Creek Drank The Cradle
5) Johnny Cash-American IV: The Man Comes Around
6) Four Tet-Rounds
7) Landing-Passages Through
8) Prefuse 73-One Word Extinguisher
9) The Books-The Lemon Of Pink
10) Aspera-Oh Fantastica

From Scott Hatch, owner/operator of burnt toast vinyl:
Best of 2002:
1. Múm - "Finally We Are No One"
2. Sigur Ros - "( )"
3. The Polyphonic Spree - "Beginning Stages Of"
4. Low - "Trust"
5. Early Day Miners - "Let Us Garlands Bring"
6. Yume Bitsu - "The Golden Vessyl of Sound"
7. Gloria Record - "Start Here"
8. Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
9. Destroyer - "This Night"
10. Gybe - "Yanqui U.X.O."
Best of 2003,
1. Johnny Cash : Unearthed box set
2. Bonnie Prince Billy : Master and Everyone
3. Damien Jurado : Where Shall you Take Me?
4. The Microphones : Mount Eerie
5. Aspera : Oh, Fantastica
6. The White Birch : The Star is a Sun
7. The New Pornographers : Electric Version/ Grandaddy : Sumday
8. U.S. Maple : Purple on Time
9. The Unicorns : Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
10. The Trouble with Sweeney : I Know You Destroy!/ Unwed Sailor : The Marionette and The Music Box
i would be a liar to not include the last two btv releases on my list. i think i've worn out the cd copies of them, but i can always open new ones, my perk not yours. Iam worried about including the newest records from The New Pornographers and Grandaddy, their previous efforts were much better, in my opinion and i've only listened to them extensively to give variety to my record listening. I left off the new Mogwai record for the same reason.
i'd like to say that i love the song "Piazza, New York Catcher" from Belle & Sebastian (though I detest that jerk Mike Piazza), but don't like Dear Catastrophe Waitress enough to actually own or post on my top 10 list. take that. Ialso love the lead track from Mojave3 : Spoon and Rafter, "Bluebird of Happiness" but it again isn't worthy of owning or putting in my top ten list.

And, finally, from Cakeater, beloved friend of the label, nursing student, lap steel player:
Best of 2002 (in no particular order)
Johnny Cash- American IV
Mum- Finally We Are No One
Sigur Ros- ()
Early Day Miners - Let Us Garlands Bring
The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Godspeed- Yanqui UXO
Iron and Wine- The Creek Drank the Cradle
Rosie Thomas - When We Were Small
Lucero- Tennessee
L'Altra- In the Afternoon
Best of 2003 (thus far and in no particular order)
Four tet: Rounds
Erlrnd Oye: Unrest
Books: the Lemmon of Pink
The Album Leaf: Seal Beach EP
The Shins: Chutes too Narrow
Iron and Wine: The Sea and the Rhythm
The Postal Service: Give Up
Radiohead: Hail to the Theif
Saxon Shore: Four Months of Darkness
Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People