pavement- slow century dvd/ slanted and enchanted luxe and redux- anyone who knows me knows that thiese were easily my two favorite releases of the year. do I even have to explain why??? pavement is the best of them all. these are proof!

superchunk- clambake series volume 1- this is the reason i love superchunk so much... they do these cool things for their fans. this was a collection of acoustic in stores on the HTSU tour. Clambake 2 is on the way... an instrumental performance the chunk performed live to some old french movie.

Dylan bootleg series volume 5 Ride- Best of Ride- shoegazing rules... james bonney is the biggest closet shoegazer in town! crooked fingers- reservior songs ep pixies- purple record superchunk - art class ep- 2 classic chunk b-sides, one rocker and one casio fueled heartbreaker

Our Band Could Be Your Life- anyone into underground rock must read this! it is like a behind the music for us. amazingly well-written and extremely interesting. i couldn't put this down. as i read it, i needed to listen to each of the bands i was reading about. Essential!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR ugly cassanova (c'mon isaac, you can sign great bands for sub pop, but you can't write anymore!!), godspeed you black emperor - are they just gonna keep saying the same thing? go back snowball( good record but not as good as a collaboration between mac and pollard should be!), belle and sebastian "storytelling"- weak soundtrack for an even weaker movie!

favorite live shows of 2002
Great year for live shows- here are a few faves...
bob dylan- msg- november gillian welch and david rawlings- town hall theatre- july beck and the flaming lips-beacon theatre-october ryan adams- beacon theatre-october (acoustic) ryan adams- rainbow room, philly- March (big rock show) mogwai- warsaw- june neil halstead- fez under time- february ...and you will know us by the trail of dead- bowery ballroom- february breeders- bowery- july (super fun time- kim was wasted! borrowed bonney's lighter) crooked fingers- novemeber stephen malkmus- warsaw-december

Now, here it is, my favorite records of the year... first, notable releases, then the top 10!!!
notable releases- lambchop- is a woman, sleater-kinney- one beat, doug marstch- now you know, eric bachmann- short careers, interpol- turn on the bright lights

10 FAVORITE RECORDS OF 2002

10. the breeders- title tk - just a good rock record, more in line with the style of pod than last splash. of course, any follow up that takes 9 years isn't gonna live up to the hype, but it is great to hear the Deal sisters rocking again. more jagged guitars and drum driven songs than the power chord rock of last splash.

9. neko case- blacklisted- like last year's silver jews record, this is one that makes you think country might be cool, until you realize it isn't. but she does have an amazing voice and she writes most of her own music. she is a siren for sure.

8. neil halstead- sleeping on roads- nice acoustic pop from the mojave 3/slowdive guy. new mojave 3 record comes out this years. he seems like a cool guy too.

7. flaming lips- yoshimi battles the pink robots- another classic, weird pop record from wayne and co.

6. sonic youth- murray street- sonic's best in a while. interesting guitar work and nice arrangements. i don't think you can underestimate the effect of jim o'rourke.

5. ...and you will know us by the trail of dead- source codes and tags- a timely reminder of what made me love this type of music in the first place. these guys don't do anything new, but take the best of sonic youth, unwound, and others and create a fine, noisy mess. i won't even mention their hectic live show, i witnessed the bassist break his ribs!

4. ryan adams- demolition- say what you will, he is a chesseball, but he writes classic songs like no one else today. whether he is writing folk, bluegrass, country, or rock, ryan adams possesses a uniquely original voice(in an unoriginal way).

3. iron and wine- the creek drank the cradle- amazing lo-fi acoustic music from some cinema professor from miami. this was one of isaac's signings to sub pop, and what a job he did. beautifully recorded on four track, this record has it all, amazing lyrics, great melodies/music, and all the hiss you now miss. plus i love anything with a banjo these days!

2. beck- sea change- beck finally gets sincere and makes one of the best records of his career. i hear beck's lady of 7 years dumped him and this record was the result. the same thing happened to me, and all i did was lose some weight, most of which has come back!!!! what gives?!?! a nice break up record with some of the bleakest lyrics you could get.

1. wilco- yankee hotel foxtrot- i think enough has been said about this record. i wasn't even much of a wilco fan prior, but this was easily, by a longshot, the best record to come out this year. could it be the help of o'rourke again? amazing, amazing record. classic pop(Kamera) to f-ed up, sad, weird songs(radio cure, ashes of american flags). what can i say? you need this record!

well, those were my favorites for the year. i hope you enjoyed this long, silly e-mail. there is more though...

reasons to be excited for 2003: records by: crooked fingers, stephen malkmus, radiohead, bonny billy, ryan adams,mogwai live show by johhny marr- who cares that his new rocord sounds like 4th rate oasis?!?! this is johnny marr!!!!!!!! of the smiths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe certain people aren't going!(OLSEN!)

okay, that is all. if you read this all, thanks. hope everyone had a great 2002 and i hope 2003 is even better. well, if you disagree with me, or just want to make fun, e-mail me, otherwise, hope to see everyone around. take care!

bernie