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Brandy's Top 10 Best CD's of 2002 Opinions by Brandy Furst 01/14/2002 Brandy Furst is a new contributor to Entertain Your Brain. She is a disc jockey for 90.7 KJHK, the college radio station for the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. In the future, she will have more CD reviews for Entertain Your Brain. Her tastes tend to lead toward the alternative, so you might find an album you've never heard of that you might like, or a new CD by an established alternative band that just isn't worth picking up. What better way to introduce her than by giving you her top ten favorites from 2002? Here is Brandy: This is a list of my personal favorite albums of 2002. Though I don’t necessarily think that all of them are “the best,” these are the ones that moved me the most.
10. Flogging Molly-Drunken Lullabies I had heard of Flogging Molly, but I had never heard them until I saw them in concert. Andrew WK was opening for them. I thought to myself, “AWK has a video and is mainstream…why is Flogging Molly the main act?” Ten seconds after they took the stage, I knew why. Imagine Celtic music, old bar songs, and rock, all rolled into one. That is Flogging Molly.
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9. Alpinestars-White Noise This is an overall good album. There are rock songs and electronic songs in the bunch. “Carbon Kid” is my personal favorite. I first heard this song during an episode of “Queer as Folk.” I had to know who the band was and I was surprised that all of theirs songs were decent.
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8. Blackalicious-Blazing Arrow Intelligent rap at it’s best. How can you not love a song about chemistry? [“Chemical Calisthenics” (featuring Cut Chemist)] They are a lot like Jurassic 5. J5 just isn’t quite as smart as these guys.
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7. Stars of Stage and Screen-Dying to Meet You When I first discovered this band at mp3.com, I was shocked. How could this band not have a label deal? With songs like “Silver Memories” and “Sallow,” this band is going to go somewhere.
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6. Sleater-Kinney-One Beat This album is a little overproduced and not quite as raw as Call the Doctor or Dig Me Out, but it’s still really good. Even though it came out in late August, it’s still in my car CD player. Carrie Brownstein sings a bit more than in previous albums as well. These girls…sorry…these women from Washington really know how to rock.
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5. Doves-The Last Broadcast The best way to describe this album is starry, dreamy, but still rock. My favorite track is “Pounding.” It’s the ballad of the album. If you like Remy Zero, Wilco, or The Flaming Lips, you’ll probably like this album.
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4. Cinerama-Torino This band gives songwriters a good name. The music is good, but the songwriting is even better. Most of the songs are about love, love lost, betrayal by a lover, etc. David Gedge’s voice and words make me want to sweep him off his feet and show him what it’s like to truly be loved. This was my favorite album in the songwriting category.
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3. Tapping the Vein-The Damage I have been a longtime fan of this Philadelphia based band. Heather Thompson’s voice one of the most powerful, poignant, and beautiful in rock-and-roll today. The rest of the band (Joe Rolland, Eric Fisher, and Mark Burkert) is equally as good with their instruments. TTV takes you on a ride that you never want to get off of. You can listen to this album no matter what mood you are in.
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2. Super Furry Animals-Rings Around the World Although released in the UK in 2001, this album wasn’t released in the US until 2002. For that reason, I am still keeping it on the list. The mix of psychedelic rock, rock, and songwriting makes this album absolutely amazing. It has great ballads, instrumentals, and pop songs. The title track, “(Drawing) Rings Around the World,” has a Beach Boys pop vibe; “Juxtaposed With U” is your more garden variety Brit-pop song; and “Run! Christian, Run!” is a wonderful ballad that I play over and over. Not all songs on this album are great, but the ones that are make up for the ones that aren’t.
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1. Sahara Hotnights-Jennie Bomb These Swedish beauties gave me my favorite album of 2002. They kind of remind me of a punk ABBA. ABBA only wishes that they could have been this good. Every single song is good and radio- worthy. In a live performance, this band is great and lead singer Maria Elisabeth Andersson has more stage presence than anyone I have ever seen. Meeting them was such a pleasure and I was pleased that they are so down to earth. Sahara Hotnights are the perfect combination of pop and punk. I can’t tell you what my favorite song on the album is because I think they are all great.
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Honorable Mentions: Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Beck-Sea Change, Coldplay-A Rush of Blood to the Head, Beth Orton-Daybreaker, Clinic-Walking With Thee, Manic Street Preachers-Forever Delayed, Jurassic 5-Power In Numbers, The Flaming Lips-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots What do you think of Brandy's choices? What would you choose as the best CD's of 2002? Please go to the Home Page and post your opinion on the Entertain Your Brain Message Board! |
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