This year I got married, quit my job, moved from Tokyo to Berkeley and started grad school. It was a good year that left me with very little time or money for music. Plus, I sold my turntables when I left Japan and when my cd player arrived in Cali it was busted, so for about four months I could only listen to old mixtapes and MP3s on my laptop.

Still, around this time of year music geeks like me start compiling silly lists to celebrate the past year of good music, and this year will be no exception. That said, here is my top ten of 2003 (in no particular order):

The Bug: Pressure
Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell
Various Artists: Idol Tryouts
Sole: Selling Live Water
Lightning Bolt: Wonderful Rainbow
Woven Hand: Blush Music
Tim Hecker: Radio Amor
New Pornographers: Electric Version
David Sylvian: Blemish

Pressure finally gets the super hardcore dancehall sound right. Summer sun sees YLT turn down the guitar and get jazzier. I didn’t want to like Fever To Tell but I do. I never thought I’d buy another electronica compilation but I’m glad I bought Idol Tryouts. Selling Live Water is primo emo hiphop. Wonderful Rainbow is aural antihistamine. Blush Music takes one of my fave albums from 2002 and, incredibly, improves it. Radio Amor is its digital doppelganger. Electric Version is no Mass Romantic but it’s damn good. Blemish made me appreciate the human voice again.

I left out compilations and reissues, though there were some good ones, notably Wild Dub, Microminiature Love, Harvey Milk: The Singles, and Nice Up The Dance.