The Bad Penny (beta)

1. The Mars Volta, De-Loused in the Comatorium(Universal): A perfect hour’s worth of death-defying, acrobatic saga rock by the most ambitious rookie squad in years.
2. Electric Six – Fire (Beggars XL): Novelty and frivolity reach frighteningly infectious heights on this guilty treasure. Blondie would be jealous.
3. Mastodon – Remission (Relapse): Devastating, kiloton riffage strewn over a battlefield of metal weaponry and felled Nordic warriors. This year’s Reign in Blood.
4. Calexico – Feast of Wire (Quarterstick): Mystery lies around every corner on this Southwestern gem, from Latin and folk flavors to ventures in smooth space rock.
5. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Arista): That the country’s most creative musical duo is so commercially successful is both a rarity and a blessing.
6. These Arms Are Snakes – This Was Meant to Hurt You EP (Jade Tree): A spotless five-song collection by the latest hopefuls in two-axed noise rock. Propulsive punk with a venomous after bite.
7. Killing Joke – Killing Joke (Zuma/Red Ink): The industrial-punk posse’s hatred of Western government is as white-hot as its latest cartel of Grohl- and Gill-assisted paeans.
8. Pleasure Forever – Alter (Sub Pop): A dark, atonal anomaly on a roster filled with indie bright lights, this is Sub Pop’s most fascinating mutant spawn.
9. The White Stripes – Elephant (V2): Reinventing the same song fourteen times and making each version sound equally precious is the mark of a true genius.
10. Lucinda Williams – World Without Tears (Lost Highway): Williams’ bottomless tales of heartache penetrate the soul with every slow and slurred step she takes.

Reissue: The Who – Who’s Next (MCA): A revelatory swatch of early performances at the Young Vic and pristinely remastered sound bolster classic rock’s finest studio masterstroke.

Originally published as part of RollingStone.com’s “Our Critics Top Albums of 2003” list.

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More lists:

Best Albums of the 2000s
Best Albums of 2009
Best Albums of 2008
Best Albums of 2007
Best Metal Albums of 2007
Best Albums of 2006
Best Albums of 2005
Best Albums of 2000
Best Albums of 1909

This entry was posted on 12/30/2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Lists with tags Calexico, Electric Six, Killing Joke, Mastodon, OutKast, Pleasure Forever, the Mars Volta, the White Stripes, the Who, These Arms Are Snakes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.