atlantamoi

In my quest to be the LAST person to hear the best of 2003 albums I finally picked up a ton of killer CD's from last year.

Decemberists
Death Cab for Cutie
Broken Social Scene
Thrills
Sleepy Jackson
Clearlake
The Stills
M83
Elefant
Ted Leo and Pharmacists
Guster
Damien Rice
Drive-by Truckers
Manitoba
Twilight Singers
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Appleseed Cast
My Morning Jacket

I believe most of these are from 2003, but I'm not keeping track.
I LOVE this Mull Historical Society CD. What a nice find. And Guster... how did I never hear of this band before? From what I read I sense they might have sort of a frat following like DMB (wrong?). Who cares?! "Keep It Together" is a marvelous recording.

printerati

Guster's following has taken a turn for the worse (read: more of a frat following) with the latest album, though the annoyance level is nowhere near that of DMB proles. I think "Keep It Together" is their worst effort to date; it feels like they've abandoned much more than the bongos.

I assume you picked up Mull Historical Society's "Us". I like "Loss" better, but they're both solid efforts.

atlantamoi

Yeah, I have "Us". I'll try and check out the other as well.

I think "Keep It Together" is a catchier record than the previous effort. And minimizing the bongos was a pretty good idea. I can understand how a fan from their earlier work might be disappointed, but for me hearing their last two recordings at the same time it was apparent that the new one has catchier songs... and that's what I like. While not sounding like Crowded House, it did remind me of that band. Melodic pop-rock with some quirk thrown in.

Giles

"Reach out your hands
Where it lies is where it lands take home..."

wow, you just discovered them? Isn't MHS fantastic. Try to find the single for the "The Final Arrears" not only is the album cut great, but the single edits it into a shorter grandiose song.

atlantamoi

Yeah, I'm incredibly out of touch with a lot of current music. I usually end up reading little indie websites and see what their top records for the year are and go from there. There's too much to keep up with... especially when I like talk radio more than music radio and don't have the money to buy everything that looks interesting. But hearing Mull for the first time is certainly a treat.

I'll search out the single.

BDB

Final arrears is amazing I love it.

A great cd, I picked it up early last year, maybe even created a thread, just missed his show in sf by a day.