E-Mail This Article to a Friend Garageland and more The best local rock of 2003 BY BRETT MILANO

I owe the best local-rock moments of this year to a handful of entities: Zuzu, the Kimchee label, the Abbey Lounge, and whatever cosmic forces seem to dictate there being a garage revival every five years. Maybe that says something about the scene as a whole, maybe it doesn’t: things have gotten so fragmented that you can love your favorite half-dozen bands without giving a toss whether the local scene is healthy or not. Which of course means that it probably is.

1) Paula Kelley, The Trouble with Success or How You Fit into the World (Kimchee)

There’s something about a great hook that wraps up deep emotions in a beautiful way. Exhibit A would be the bridge that leads into the chorus of "I’d Fall in Love with Anyone" — a graceful high-note curl that speaks volumes about hope and longing. That’s my favorite moment on this disc, which is Kelley’s quantum leap into orchestrated baroque pop. But there are enough gems that you can pick your own.

2) The Downbeat 5, ism (Sympathy for the Record Industry)

The easy thing would have been to make a CD that sounds like any hot night at the Abbey — half of which have featured this band anyhow. Instead, the Downbeat 5 and producer Mike Mariconda opted for a sound that’s retro but sleek. This must be what the car radio of a vintage Thunderbird sounded like.

3) Dresden Dolls (Eight Foot)

The hyped-up success story of the year, but it deserves to be. If Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione weren’t so good at getting magazine covers, the musical invention and the punk-torch nature of Palmer’s singing would make them equally cultworthy. The image is a worthy part of the package, however: lots of people try to be sexy and strange, but few are this imaginative about it.

4) The Rudds (Sodapop)

It’s just not possible to make a bad album that opens with the line "So how you fuckers feel tonight?" Fueled by his love of Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, and Hall & Oates, Albany transplant John Powhida is a wizard and very nearly a true star, with barely a song in this bunch you won’t come away humming. In his world, it all comes down to finding the right girl to hang out with at the record store.

5) Consonant, Love and Affliction (Fenway)

This is a harsher, louder, and more Burma-like sequel to the homonymous debut that topped my list last year. In some ways, it’s also a better album, since Consonant sound more like a fully realized band and guitarist Chris Brokaw has found his rightful place in the mix. So why isn’t it higher up? Probably because we’re all starting to take the quality of Clint Conley’s work for granted — which, after all those quiet years, is a real pleasure to say.

6) The Shods, Tippy (Poorhouse)

Speaking of people who get taken for granted: the Shods manage to do something different on every album. This one’s sort of their Road to Ruin: a more thoughtful set that feels like a blast, even though there’s barely a happy song on it. But singer/writer Kevin Stevenson infuses these darker sentiments with dogged optimism and what-the-hell humor, and the band as always cover everything from reggae to rockabilly to arena rock.

7) Robin Lane & the Chartbusters, Piece of Mind (Windjam)

Now this is the way to make a comeback: you wait till you’re good and ready, reunite the band you’ve always had the best chemistry with, dig up some songs you’ve never recorded but should have, make a new album that sounds exactly like the old ones everybody liked, play a couple of hot shows, then go back home and leave ’em wanting an encore.

8) The Charms, Charmed I’m Sure (Sodapop)

No dark edges whatsoever here: this is AM radio as you’ve always imagined it, with singer Ellie Vee and company bringing you along on a rock ’n’ romance joyride. Extra points for a Farfisa sound that hasn’t been heard since the first Blondie album.

9) Francine, 28 Plastic Blue Versions of Endings Without You (Q Division)

Once you get inside the layered soundscapes, work out the subtle hooks, and become acquainted with Clayton Scoble’s clever wordplay, you start realizing that this is really a classic-model break-up album. And it’s where Scoble proves that something new and resonant can still be said about pop music’s most time-honored topic.

10) Kenne Highland & the Vatican Sex Kittens, Be More Flamboyant! (Stanton Park)

He’s been around forever, but I’ve never had a bad time seeing this band; what’s amazing is that this is Highland’s first full album. He’s a living monument to rock irreverence, and he’s soaked up all your favorite garage, punk, and glam licks. Those who get all the Inman Square in-jokes will love it all the more.