I have been participating in an ongoing music tournament for many years across multiple platforms. As the yearly focus of the proceedings has spiraled out from its origin of 1995, there has been a common complaint about the makeup of more recent years. Specifically, there is a perceived sense of same-ness among the albums that fall in the broadly-defined rock genre, which usually make up more than half of the competitors. Do I think some of this sentiment arises from the fact that much of the voting population is of the age that feels the same way about 2001 that I feel about, say, 2013? Absolutely. But I also think these commenters have a point. For every rock album from this time period that brings back special memories, or helped move the medium forward, or is just plain good, there are others in the field whose musical accomplishments are little more than the most basic recreation of superior sounds from the past. In my mind, the synthesis of these competing thoughts is not that 2001 or any subsequent years are necessarily worse than what came before. Rather, I think that the maturation and consolidation of the music industry led to a greater promotion of "safe" bets, which means that the albums we are familiar with (and subsequently nominate) tend to be less groundbreaking and interesting than they might have been for previous years. Put another way, I tend to think we would feel less ambivalent towards continuing on with the 2000s if we could replace at least some of the Travises who benefitted from those conditions with some of the Labradfords who did not.
To help break us out of this pattern of nominating records the majority of the participants feel ambivalent towards, I would like to make a concerted effort towards digging through all that "rock" in 2002 has to offer (for whenever we get around to it). After all, even my own initial instinct over what to nominate in recent years is affected by the same material conditions that gave us not one but two Ryan Adams albums in the 2001 bracket. I, like all of you, do not stand outside of history. And as I dug through albums from 2001 during the nomination period for that year's tournament, I found a bunch of things that I thoroughly enjoyed which I had never heard before, let alone experienced contemporaneously to its release. But because I did little with that effort other than informing my own nominations, many of those records got only a single vote, from me. In order to help stem this tide and convince at least some of you than the 2000s were fine (perhaps even "good"), I am going to catalogue my efforts over the coming months and years. Some notes on this:
- My area of expertise is, broadly defined, rock. I enjoy and appreciate much of the pop, hip hop, jazz, classical, and other music that appears in the brackets, but I don't feel as qualified to opine on those, let alone perform a deep dive to help influence future voting patterns. I invite anyone who feels differently about their own abilities to copy my exact efforts for other genres.
- At the same time, my goal here is not to cover the entirety of music that has guitars and/or a back beat. Rather, I am actively trying to steer our undying focus on rock towards what I find to be more interesting ends. So if your favorite rock album is not represented here, feel free to let me know, but also be aware that I might be purposefully disregarding it. Put another way, I love SOURCE TAGS AND CODES and YOU FORGOT IT IN PEOPLE and will be nominating/voting/agitating for them, but you will see no further mention of those albums here.
- Relatedly, the goal here is not to usurp or in any way step on @onetrueposter's efforts to catalogue all that is metal. There will be some overlap here with the sludgier/dronier sides of that genre, but I will leave most of that to him.
- I am going to divide my findings into the three categories below. The first is records that I absolutely think should be part of the backet. This will be limited to records I find "essential" to telling the story of underserved aspects of rock in 2002. The second is records that I think merit consideration without necessarily being "essential." The third is records I listened to, but didn't have strong enough feelings about to recommend. I cannot stress enough that this does not mean I think the records in this third category are bad. I will be nominating all of the first category and some of the second.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Carissa's Wierd, SONGS ABOUT LEAVING - If you find Band of Horses pretentious or off-putting or whatever, I suggest you try resetting your palate with the more minimalist outfit that came before. And if nothing else, you gotta hand it to them, these are quite literally songs about leaving. Also, this album might be the answer to the question you never asked but should have: what if Guided By Voices was sad all the time instead of drunk all the time?
Isis, OCEANIC - The album of the year. If we want to skip all the nominations/seeding/voting and just declare this the best album of 2002, that's fine. In all seriousness, it's hard to describe why I find this album to be so great. I revisited the best albums project I did during my pandemic madness, and while a lot of the other blurbs I wrote are useful, this one comes across as more wooden and technical. Maybe you just need to listen to the first minute of The Beginning and The End (possibly the best start to any album ever) and let it wash over you. Maybe you need to, like me, get over yourself and finally accept that Carry is the best metal song ever written. Or maybe you need to appreciate the funniest and yet most appropriate music placement ever to appear in a network show.
Land, OPUSCULE: MEMOIRES DE JULES B. (1917 - 1924) - This one stands far apart from all the other ambient I listened to for this exercise. If you are scared of the genre (or just dislike it) I recommend trying just this one for 2002. It's not just that it's appropriately haunting (obviously); it's more how every single track sneaks up on you. Literally—at the start of every song I found myself thinking this is going to be where it gets too hokey and predictable to have the desired effect, and every time I was wrong.
Plastic Tree, TRAUMEREI - Some real straightforward rock competence, with just enough subversion of the form through its shifting dynamics, off-kilter vocals, and well-placed minor chords to keep the listener on their toes. I don't have the vocabulary nor the knowledge of music theory to fully describe this, but I feel like this album is what would happen if you took church hymns and filtered them through a "make good music" machine. If only all "alternative" "rock" was as committed to both of those words.
The Sleepwalk, PHANTASMAGORIA - In theory I like shoegaze, but in reality there is so much bad shoegaze that I almost reflexively shudder when something is described as such, as though my body is preparing to be disappointed. That...did not happen here. Furthermore, this is additional confirmation of my theory that all good shoegaze is either vomited up in a single afternoon at the studio or fretted over by one guy for literal years (this is the latter).
Sweep the Leg Johnny, GOING DOWN SWINGIN' - What if some crazy white boys made a Mars Volta album? Alternatively, what if Karate got real weird with it? Strained comparisons aside, neither of these really do this one justice so I recommend going in with as empty of a mind as possible. Founding members Steve Sostak and Chris Daly join Ted Leo in the small group of fellow Domers whose apparent coolness make me slightly less embarrassed to be one.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Agalloch, THE MANTLE - Ignore the instinct to try to classify a unicorn like this one and just appreciate it for what it is; a wonderful collection of songs that are a bit longer and sound a bit different than your average tune.
Autumn's Grey Solace, WITHIN THE DEPTHS OF A DARKENED FOREST - Nothing groundbreaking at all about this record, but it exudes a certain level of confidence and skill in songwriting to execute something as basic as this without feeling the need to complicate matters for no reason.
The Books, THOUGHT FOR FOOD - Let's rank all the Mogwai songs on a scale of weirdness, take the top 10% of that chart, and use them as inspiration to make some sort of folk album. Does it work? I don't know...but it might!
Neko Case, BLACKLISTED - This just sounds really good. Listened to this and was like...that's music. Scratches almost exactly the same itch as the Geraldine Fibbers record from the 1995 tourney, even though its approach is a bit more sparse and melancholy.
Centaur, IN STREAMS - In some ways, this is the missing link between Hum's earlier work and their 2020 magnum opus, INLET. In other ways, this is a sui generis work borne out of unspeakable tragedy. Either way, Matt Talbott and friends manage to take fairly normal ingredients (detuned guitars, confessional lyrics) and make something borderline transcendent. As much as anything on this list, I feel like highlighting something like this is the point of this whole exercise. A lot of 2002 albums could be lumped in together with this one, at least superficially, but few could pull off the affect and focus on display here.
City of Caterpillar, CITY OF CATERPILLAR - Torn because there's a lot of "throwing stuff against the wall" that doesn't necessarily cohere, but also that's probably the point and most of it sounds pretty good anyway. One of those ones I'll need to revisit a couple times; until then, it fits here.
Condor44, DB - There is truly a little bit of everything in this one. Not everything works, but the highs are high and I appreciate the effort nonetheless. I promise I am not including every Japanese record I listen to.
Cymbals, SINE - The lighter version of the Plastic Tree album, with a similar variety of layered sounds in a completely different package. The end product sounds completely out of time in a good way, effortlessly combining pop sensibilities of the seventies with subtle tweaks that wouldn't sound out of place even now.
Ewa Braun, STEREO - Do they fall victim to the post-rock tendency to noodle a bit and not necessarily develop their songs as much as you might like? To a degree, yes. But this slight defect is outweighed by a fantastic sound, driven by the bass line as much as anything. And I think the minimalist approach to some sections actually works to the band's advantage, as it lends an air of confidence and purpose to the proceedings that a busier compositional style might trample all over.
Funeral Diner, DIFFERENCE OF POTENTIAL - If we're gonna get some raw, uncut screamo in the mix, this feels like a good choice. Yeah, the vocals are a lot and there are some particularly punishing sections throughout (both of these aspects I like, to be clear), but that attack on the senses is balanced with enough softer touches and purposeful songcraft to make this a reasonable entryway into the genre.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, YANQUI U.X.O. - Steve Albini's reputation is well-earned, but there is a certain irony in the mixed quality of his one-off work with bands. I do think there's some truth to the idea that struggling bands brought in Albini to do admirable work under the conditions, and I suspect that's what happened here. There is no such thing as a "bad" or even "mediocre" Godspeed record, but this one is a bit more sterile than both what came before and what came after. And hey, at least we've got the first seven minutes of "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls," which absolutely rips.
Hella, HOLD YOUR HORSE IS - I remember watching this video one million years ago and upon digging it up I can confirm it still rips. Finally listened to this whole album for this exercise and I can also confirm that it rips. Don't know the best way to put this, but the only way something as thrashy as this can work for me is if it has the structure that Hella does. Basically, if I squint my ears I can imagine each of these songs as something much simpler that coheres just as well. That fundamental reducibility seems to be the foremost thing that separates Hella from the other extreme math acts for me.
Hot Snakes, SUICIDE INVOICE - After a couple of tracks I didn't think this one was going to get me but it sure did. It helps that the best run is near the middle (the title track to LAX, specifically). It also helps that this is roughly what I would expect/hope to get if you somehow merged At the Drive-In and Unwound.
Karate, SOME BOOTS - Not my favorite of theirs, but c'mon I'm not going to not put them here. Even when they're indulging themselves a bit too much (which they are here), there's still a clarity of both sound and intent that I wouldn't dare take for granted.
Knut, CHALLENGER - If you want to earn my good graces in metal, you gotta sludge it up. This one reminds me of Rosetta with slightly less bombast and slightly more, let's say, mathiness. Also, there is a passage in one of the later tracks (58.788) that sounds disturbingly like part of one of my favorite songs of all time (Isis - So Did We), which was released in 2004....sooo that's awkward.
Loveliescrushing, GLISSCEULE - Aside from the Land record in the previous section, I'm not quite sure how to address ambient/drone in this space. I am inclined to include the more guitar-focused efforts that I deem "worthy" and minimize the rest. You'll see a few of these in the next section, but none were as dynamic and moving and FULL as this. Plus I just had to get something else from Numero in here.
Mirah, ADVISORY COMMITTEE - I don't quite know why Mirah gets cred from this group that frequent collaborator Phil Elverum doesn't, but....I kinda get it? Like her previous record from the 2000 tourney, everything here is a little more restrained and smooth than the more bombastic approach of The Microphones. But this restraint does not come at the expense of musical variety or dynamics, which allows most of the album to straddle that middle space of "indie" rock that makes the "genre" worthwhile.
Myslovitz, KOROVA MILKY BAR - This one really lured me in, bit by bit. My "oh no another Britpop album" radar may have sounded at first, but this is sharp enough and goes in enough interesting directions to merit inclusion here.
No Knife, RIOT FOR ROMANCE! - Zero way to prove this obviously, but this feels roughly like where Drive Like Jehu would have ended up had they stayed together. This album doesn't quite reach the same highs as that outfit did, but that's a way higher bar than is needed to appear here.
Number Girl, NUM-HEAVYMETALLIC - I don't fashion myself as any sort of expert on J-rock (yet), but this feels like a happy medium between the sensibilities of indie rock that we're all used to (positive connotation) and the purposeful genre-bending of acts like Boris. This does not hit as hard as the Plastic Tree album for me, but YMMV.
Paatos, TIMELOSS - One of the benefits of this exercise is that otherwise I would have had no idea that I needed a Swedish prog/trip-hop outfit in my life. Please listen to determine if you need that as well. I particularly loved how the instrumentation ranged from "extremely cheesy" to "absolutely necessary" and sometimes even both of those things at once.
Porcupine Tree, IN ABSENTIA - One of those records where the songwriting and the crispness of the production are both so good that I don't mind the lack of friction. About as good as such a thing can be.
Queenadreena, DRINK ME - Can I interest you in a post-hardcore Cardigans? The result may be uneven at times, but there's enough fun ideas and nifty grooves here to keep me interested. And regardless of everything else, the band always seems to understand how to play off of the full range of KatieJane Garside's vocals, which is a surprisingly rare compositional skill that I like to highlight whenever possible.
Sigur Rós, () - On one hand, I don't think there is another band that has fallen further in my personal preferences over the past decade than everyone's second favorite Icelandic artist. For whatever reason, their main gimmick just doesn't work on me anymore. On the other hand, this album has Untitled #8 on it, which is immune to all criticism and backsliding. No idea how much I'll support this one, if at all. Luckily I have literal years to decide!
Something Like Elvis, CIGARETTE SMOKE PHANTOM - First comment on the YouTube video sums it up better than I can: "This is how cinematic stoner post rock should sound." And I swear I'm not just picking everything from Poland just because my name is Polish.
Songs: Ohia, DIDN'T IT RAIN - I know we're all waiting until 2003 to crown Jason Molina the king of the bracket (I mean, we had better be), but this one might be my second-favorite of his oeuvre, and is distinct enough to merit its own celebration.
Steve Von Till, IF I SHOULD FALL TO THE FIELD - I now understand what precipitated the seemingly sudden change in tone of Neurosis' THE EYE OF EVERY STORM. Embarrassing I never caught this until now, but well, that's part of why I'm doing this.
EVERYTHING ELSE
12 Rods, LOST TIME
90 Day Men, TO EVERYBODY - Close but no cigar
Alexisonfire, ALEXISONFIRE
Antonia Font, ALEGRIA
Archive, YOU ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME
Art-School, REQUIEM FOR INNOCENCE
Auction, ETO MAMA
Benton Falls, GUILT BEATS HATE
Bohren & der Club of Gore, BLACK EARTH
Boris, HEAVY ROCKS
Buckethead, ELECTRIC TEARS
Bunbury, FLAMINGOS
The Caretaker, A STAIRWAY TO THE STARS
Clann Zu, RUA - First two tracks hooked me, but it was merely fine after that
The Church, AFTER EVERYTHING NOW THIS
Coaltar of the Deepers, NEWAVE - "How Smooth" and "Sweet Voyage" almost got me to put this one on the list, but it's "best album" not "best couple of tracks"
Coil, THE REMOTE VIEWER
Craw, BODIES FOR STRONTIUM 90 - Juuust a bit too same-y and predictable for the genre. Still rips
Current 93, MUSIC FOR THE HORSE HOSPITAL
Deadboy & the Elephantmen, IF THIS IS HELL, THEN I'M LUCKY - Way better than I would have assumed
The Delgados, HATE
Design19, TRIGGER - Reasonably good Deftones/Tool clone that suffers for the comparison. At least Glassjaw did something a little different
Destroyer, THIS NIGHT - Doesn't hit as hard as the 2001 album but still pretty good
Dilate, GRAPE BLUEPRINTS POUR SPINACH OLIVE GRAPE
Do Make Say Think, & YET & YET - Everyone's second-favorite Canadian post-rockers are less of an albums band and more of a songs band. So an album is rendered good only if it has a preponderance of good songs. "Soul and Onward" is great but isn't quite enough on its own
Down, DOWN II: A BUSTLE IN YOUR HEDGEROW
Downy, NO TITLE 2
Dredg, EL CIELO - The slightly lesser American version of the Porcupine Tree record
The Drones, HERE COME THE LIES
Kevin Drumm, SHEER HELLISH MIASMA
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, HORSE OF THE DOG
Ekkaia, MANOS QUE ESTRECHAN PLANES DE MUERTE Y SOMETIMIENTO
Enon, HIGH SOCIETY - Enjoyable enough, but I preferred the 2000 record from the play-in tournament
The Failsafe Device, THE FAILSAFE DEVICE - Stretching the limits of what I would consider submitting to this tournament (positive connotation)
Finch, WHAT IT IS TO BURN
For Against, COALESCED - Lesser Galaxie 500. Galaxie 250, if you will (editors note: the better comparison is The Sundays, but Mike thought this joke was better so I let him have this one)
Frou Frou, DETAILS
Glassjaw, WORSHIP AND TRIBUTE - I came reeeal close to elevating this one as something of a "we have Deftones at home" sympathy vote, but the slickness of the production and the odd vocal choices run up against each other too often for my own tastes (let alone the tastes of the electorate)
Grazhdanskaya Oborona, ZVEZDOPAD
Guitar, SUNKISSED
Helio, ...UNTIL I WAKE UP BLEEDING... - Not going to foist much nu metal on this group, but this is pretty good if you're interested in such a thing
The Hellacopters, BY THE GRACE OF GOD
Honeydip, GROOVY INDIAN SUMMER
Hopesfall, THE SATELLITE YEARS
The Hunches, YES. NO. SHUT IT.
Jaime Sin Tierra, ...LO QUE VA A ENCANDILAR ES EL DIA
Lech Janerka, FIU, FIU
Joshua Fit For Battle, TO BRING OUR OWN END
Jupiter Apple, HISSCIVILIZATION
Lambchop, IS A WOMAN - Similar to their 2000 record, in that I like it but also don't feel there's quite enough there
A Long Winter, I'M SO BAD WITH GOODBYES
Loscil, SUBMERS - About as good as the formless, progression-less type of ambient can get...which only gets you here I guess
Love Lost But Not Forgotten, UPON THE RIGHT, I SAW A NEW MISERY
Lucero, TENNESSEE
Majority Rule/pageninetynine, DOCUMENT 12
Mclusky, MCLUSKY DO DALLAS
Merzbow, AMLUX
MewithoutYou, A TO B LIFE
Migala, RESTOS DE UN INCENDIO - Real close to greatness, but the swelling crescendos are slightly too paint-by-number. I may revisit this
Mono, ONE MORE STEP AND YOU DIE - Perhaps the most "Mike should be into them" band that has never taken for me. There's nothing wrong here; it's mostly that it comes off as a lesser Mogwai. The penultimate track "Halo" does stand out, at least
Mucc, HOMURA UTA
Mum, FINALLY WE ARE NO ONE
Murder by Death, LIKE THE EXORCIST, BUT MORE BREAKDANCING - Interesting combo of post-rock and something folkier. Don't know if it "works" but at least I wasn't bored. Some real bad song names though lol
Jay Munly, JIMMY CARTER SYNDROME
Nada Surf, LET GO
Tavito Nanao, HEAVENLY PUNK: ADAGIO
Nina Nastasia, THE BLACKENED AIR - Love how she accomplishes the most delicate possible "wall of sound" effect on many of the tracks, but it's ultimately deployed in support of some mediocre songs
The Notwist, NEON GOLDEN - Some nice touches here and there, but not quite enough
Okkervil River, DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH EVERYONE YOUT SEE
Opeth, DELIVERANCE
Orchid, ORCHID - Juuuust slightly too raw...might come around to this give it time
Owen, NO GOOD FOR NO ONE NOW
Oxbow, AN EVIL HEAT - Wish the songs were better showcases for the guitar tone. Any time there is an interesting idea, they move on too quickly for their own good
Ozma, THE DOUBBLE DONKEY DISC
Thanasis Papakonstantinou, AGRYPNIA
The Paper Chase, HIDE THE KITCHEN KNIVES
Pedro the Lion, CONTROL - What if Bedhead kept going but found God and got worse?
A Perfect Kiss, IN SPITE OF ANGELS
Piebald, WE ARE THE ONLY FRIENDS WE HAVE
Jang Pil-soon, SOONY 6 - Could be swayed on this yet...in the same "competent as hell" family as Autumn's Grey Solace
The Pillows, THANK YOU, MY TWILIGHT
Ariel Pink, HOUSE ARREST - We have Guided By Voices at home
Poison the Well, TEAR FROM THE RED - Probably the epitome of something that is "pretty good" where I'm not going to advocate for it or clamor to listen to it again, but also if it made the tourney I would crack a slight grin
The Postman Syndrome, TERRAFORMING - This would have really hit had I discovered it in 2002. Alas...
Pretty Girls Make Graves, GOOD HEALTH - Better than your average post-punk, at least
Psychea, A HERO OF THE GENERATION VELVET
Psychea, KAZHDUYU SEKUNDU PROSTRANSTVA
Racebannon, IN THE GRIPS OF THE LIGHT
Reigning Sound, TIME BOMB HIGH SCHOOL
Steve Roach, DARKEST BEFORE DAWN
Sasha, AIRDRAWNDAGGER - I didn't include much EDM in this exercise, but I did pull a few albums from the more ambient side of the genre. This was my favorite of those
Scianka, BIALE WAKACJE - A few really nice sounds in here, but the songs aren't quite enough
The Shadow Ring, LINDUS
Sixteen Horsepower, FOLKLORE - Prefer the Sixteen Horsepower record from the 2000 tourney but this is still good
Snapcase, END TRANSMISSION
Spinvis, SPINVIS
Spock's Beard, SNOW
Stepa, STEPA
Supercar, HIGHVISION
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, RECKLESS BURNING
Tenhi, VARE
Thrice, THE ILLUSION OF SAFETY
Tocotronic, TOCOTRONIC - Some good energy that gives way to entirely too much corniness and/or nothing
Today is the Day, SADNESS WILL PREVAIL
Trespassers William, DIFFERENT STARS - Almost right up my alley
Troum & Yen Pox, MNEMONIC INDUCTION
Underoath, THE CHANGING OF TIMES - I am broadly speaking open to screamo, but this one has every single thing I don't like about the genre
The Used, THE USED - One of those records from the past that brings up fond memories, but I also have zero interest in revisiting. It's fine for what it is, though
Keith Fullerton Whitman, PLAYTHROUGHS
Woven Hand, WOVEN HAND - Also prefer the 2000 Sixteen Horsepower record to this
Xiu Xiu, KNIFE PLAY
Yakuza, WAY OF THE DEAD - Check out the names of the related artists on RYM. "Chicago Typewriter" almost comically alternates between good section of music and bad section of music
Susumu Yokota, THE BOY AND THE TREE - Fun variety of percussion
Zemfira, CHETYRNADTSAT' NEDEL' TISHINY - Reasonably straightforward pop rock with enough nice flourishes to offset the forgettable melodies
