🎵 What was 2003?

The soundtrack of 23 years old. Full of confidence and dreams and naïveté. For me, it was 2003. That summer I learned how to design websites and started a blog. That fall I graduated from college and bought my first iPod. I spent countless nights meticulously transferring my CD collection to my iTunes library and iPod. In December, I quit my barista job at the best coffeehouse ever, packed up my car, and drove from San Diego across Arizona and Texas to my new home in Monterrey, Mexico.

My entire music collection was on a shiny white device that fit into my pocket. Just the thought of It made me giddy. What else did I need in life?

2003 was the year that electronica married indie rock: The Postal Service, Yo La Tengo, Erlend Oye, The Flaming Lips, American Analog Set, Cafe Tacuba, Broken Social Scene, M83, Four Tet, Stars, Caribou, The Books.

It was the year that country, americana, bluegrass, and indie rock merged into a new genre, Alt-Country: Wilco, Iron & Wine, Sun Kil Moon, Okkervil River, the Be Good Tanyas, Camera Obscura, Songs: Ohia.

Yes, 2003 was the year that music moved from stereo speakers to iPod headphones. But it was also the year of some epic rock albums that sounded like nothing that had come before: Elefant’s self-titled debut, Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle & Sebastian, Fever to Tell by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs; Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers by The National, Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie, You Are Free by Cat Power. Each of those albums laid the first paving stone for at least a decade of imitation.

And then the hip-hop: three of the most transformational rap albums of all time came out in 2003: OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Phrenology by The Roots & JayZ’s The Black Album.

In 2003, the music was too good to be true. We all read Pitchfork every week, hungry for reviews about the latest releases in order to search them out on Napster and Limewire. Maybe everyone’s 23rd year is their greatest year of music. Maybe it’s simply the soundtrack of freedom, the first step of true adulthood. You tell me. For now, I leave you with two hours and twenty minutes of music from two decades ago.

A note about the structure: I left out the hip-hop for its own future playlist. Instead, it starts with some of 2003’s greatest indie anthems, then gets into more experimental indie-electronica, and ends with some softer, lyrical hits of alt-country. And while it might not transport you back to your first year of adulting, I hope you still enjoy the tunes.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, we’re one week from the shortest day of the year, and then a couple more minutes of daylight to look forward to with every passing day. Have a lovely week,

David

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