We're still a bit shell-shocked from all the end-o-the-year hubbub around these parts. Every December, we ask the hundreds of folks on our e-mail discussion list to vote on their favorites for the past year in music. Just click on READ MORE to see the full list of winners. If you need us, we'll be over in the corner, nursing our headaches and sore typing fingers.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

1. The White Stripes
2. The Polyphonic Spree
3. Outkast
4. Radiohead
5. Placebo

'Twas one heck of a contest between the Stripes, who owned 2003 with Elephant, gigs, and online surgeries... and the Spree, who toured the hell out of 2003. Sadly, this was the only major category that the Spree qualified for, due to their album being released in 2002...

THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:

1. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
2. Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own
4. The White Stripes - Elephant
5. South - With the Tides
6. The Pernice Brothers - Yours, Mine, and Ours
7. Elbow - Cast of Thousands
8. The Postal Service - Give Up
9. Blur - Think Tank
10. Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts
11. The Strokes - Room on Fire
12. The Thrills - So Much for the City
13. Grandaddy - Sumday
14. Muse - Absolution
15. British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
16. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
17. Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
18. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
19. Travis - 12 Memories
20. Longwave - Strangest Things
21. The Rapture - Echoes
22. Spiritualized - Amazing Grace
23. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
24. The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
25. Cat Power - You Are Free
26. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
27. The Libertines - Up the Bracket
28. The Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love
29. Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People
30. Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat
31. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
32. Idlewild - The Remote Part
33. Broadcast - Haha Sound
34. Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
35. Nada Surf - Let Go
36. The Dandy Warhols - Welcome to the Monkey House
37. The Darkness - Permission to Land
38. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
39. Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
40. Supergrass - Life on Other Planets
41. The Hidden Cameras - The Smell of Our Own
42. Mull Historical Society - Us
43. The Music - The Music
44. The New Pornographers - Electric Version
45. Mojave 3 - Spoon and Rafter
46. Massive Attack - 100th Window
47. Jet - Get Born
48. The Dears - No Cities Left
49. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Pig Lib
50. The Clientele - The Violet Hour

Wow, what an odd year in so many different ways. Two import-only titles in the Top 10 is a bit odd... but perhaps the oddest thing is the lack of success from many of our usual Top 10 suspects: Phantom Power only merited a #17 placement for the Super Furries... and 12 Memories only equals nineteeth place for perennial winners Travis... As for some other high profile albums that really flopped with you guys: Tim Burgess, who pretty much has a warm chair in our Top 10 with every album the Charlatans release, tries a solo release and only manages to make it to #71 this year. A band who used to be one of our favorites, The Bluetones, could only manage 94th place with Luxembourg. And two bands whose debut albums both did quite well on our poll in 2002, The Coral and Electric Soft Parade, only managed to make it to #67 and #152 respectively.

THE TOP 25 SONGS OF THE YEAR

1. Outkast - Hey Ya!
2. Junior Senior - Move Your Feet
3. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
4. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
5. Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy in Love
6. Belle and Sebastian - Step Into My Office, Baby
7. Blur - Out of Time
8. The Stills - Still in Love Song
9. Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
10. The Dandy Warhols - We Used to Be Friends
11. Kelis - Milkshake
12. The Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
13. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
14. Mark Gardener & Goldrush - Snow in Mexico
15. The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
16. Radiohead - There There
17. The Marlboro Chorus - Clock Puncher's Carousel
18. The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers
19. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Stop
20. The Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage
21. The Thrills - Big Sur
22. The Strokes - 12:51
23. Elbow - Fugitive Motel
24. The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button
25. Longwave - Everywhere You Turn

Wait... what? You people have... err... SOUL? Let's count... that's one... two... THREE??? Three hip hop songs in the Top 25? We're looking out the window for three flying horsemen. Hip-hop is usually universally ignored in these parts, but in 2003, you put Beyonce AND Kelis on the charts, and then you guys put Outkast in at #1, proving that (a) hell CAN freeze, (b) indie kids CAN get funky, and (c) nobody can mess with Outkast. "Hey Ya!" crossed every border imaginable in 2003, and we're just waiting for country stations to start playing it (hell, everybody ELSE is!)

REISSUE/COMPILATION/SOUNDTRACK OF THE YEAR:

1. Ride - Waves
2. Original Soundtrack - Lost in Translation
3. The Beatles - Let It Be: Naked
4. Suede - Singles
5. Doves - Lost Sides
6. Spiritualized - The Complete Works, Vol. 1
7. Various Artists - Flirt!
8. Underworld - 1992-2002
9. Pet Shop Boys - Popart
10. Original Soundtrack - Kill Bill Vol. 1

Whereupon we give up this charade of being a non-biased indie music webzine and reveal ourselves to be the Ride fanzine we've always been. That's right, folks - you're seeing history - Ride may be gone, but this is the THIRD consecutive year they've taken this award home, this time for their fantastic BBC sessions compilation, Waves. Thus also proving that Ride are, in fact, bigger than the Beatles, and this year, we've got the numbers to prove it, as the Fab Four minus the murderous mix (no pun intended) of Phil Spector on Let It Be: Naked falls two positions behind. Also, just to make it clear, we WILL be awarding brownie points to everyone who voted for our own compilation, Flirt! - the line forms on the left.

YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS (STILL AROUND:)

1. Radiohead
2. Blur
3. Coldplay
4. Belle and Sebastian
5. Doves
6. Oasis
7. The Charlatans
8. Spiritualized
9. The Cure
10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Last year, you told us Coldplay. This year, it's Radiohead. Interesting is that in what may prove to be their final year of eligibility for this category, Suede drops off the top 10 for the first time in the history of our poll... to make way for... The Cure? What spawned that, folks? Too many of those "Pictures of You" ads on TV this year?

FAVORITE NORTH AMERICAN ARTIST

1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
2. Interpol
3. The Dandy Warhols
4. The White Stripes
5. The Flaming Lips
6. The Strokes
7. The Pernice Brothers
8. Grandaddy
9. Sun Kil Moon
10. Death Cab for Cutie

Not a whole lot to comment on with this category... The Flaming Lips drop from 1 to 5, while BRMC jump from 4 to 1... and meanwhile Interpol stays right where they were in 2002 at #2.

BEST DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR:

1. The Postal Service
2. The Stills
3. The Raveonettes
4. Death Cab for Cutie
5. The Pernice Brothers

Insert copy here. If there were anything interesting to say about this category. Well, I suppose we could wax poetic for a bit about how Ben Gibbard seemed to pick up a fan or two this year, as you guys discovered not ONE, but TWO of his projects (The Postal Service and of course Death Cab.)

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR:

1. Blur - Think Tank
2. Spiritualized - Amazing Grace
3. Travis - 12 Memories
4. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
5. The Strokes - Room on Fire

Wherein Blur go to Africa to find themselves, and instead find one less guitarist and one more crap album. And Spiritualized go garage rock about two years too late. And Travis work on perfecting their new patented brand of music: BoringRock. And Radiohead put out (yawn) another eclectic, experimental, (snore) avant-garde masterpiece. And The Strokes decided they liked Is This It so much that they decided to record it again.

BRIGHTEST HOPE FOR THE FUTURE:

1. The Stills
2. Franz Ferdinand
3. Keane
4. Broken Social Scene
5. Assassins

Voting for this category was pretty close all the way through and seemed to change every time we looked at the results... but in the end Montreal's Stills took the category home. Canada represented well in the indie world this year... and according to you guys it's only going to get better. Cheers mate... oh wait that's England eh?

BEST ELECTRONIC ALBUM:

1. Kraftwerk - Tour De France Soundtracks
2. UNKLE - Never Never Land
3. Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
4. Massive Attack - 100th Window
5. Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
6. Four Tet - Rounds
7. Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat
8. Postal Service - Give Up
9. Peaches - Fatherfucker
10. Ellen Allien - Berlinette

Electronic music is supposed to be the Trend of Tomorrow. The Way of the Future. And who better to show it to us than a bunch of grey-haired Germans old enough to be your dad? Nah, we're just foolin', Kraftwerk are super fab. We just find it a bit odd that you guys put the Postal Service as the #8 Album of 2003, but only give it the same rating for the electronic category (hmm...) And somebody ought to hurry to Denmark and tell Junior Senior that they're electronic artists. Pretty cunning of all of you to see through the charade of their guitars and drums to the pulsing electro-beast that lay within.

FAVORITE ELECTRONIC ARTIST:

1. The Chemical Brothers
2. Underworld
3. Fischerspooner
4. Basement Jaxx
5. DJ Shadow
6. Massive Attack
7. Felix Da Housecat
8. Kraftwerk
9. The Aphex Twin
10. Junior Senior

So we've figured out what the best way to succeed as an electronic artist of the year is: take the year off. Oh, and maybe put out a Greatest Hits record... as the Chemmies and Underworld did in 2003.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR:

1. Dave Fridmann
2. Timbaland
3. Nigel Godrich
4. The Neptunes
5. Trevor Horn

The guy who helped take the Flaming Lips to 5.1 this year NARROWLY avoids losing Producer of the Year honors to Missy Elliott's right-hand man and avid Coldplay fanatic Timbaland. Again, folks, you're scaring us with your open-mindedness: that's TWO hip hop producers in your top 5. We're impressed...

FILM OF THE YEAR:

1. Lost in Translation
2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
4. 28 Days Later
5. Finding Nemo
6. American Splendor
7. School of Rock
8. Bend It Like Beckham
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
10. A Mighty Wind

Which just goes to show that my idea about soccer playing clownfish who raise enough money drawing comic books to hitch a ride on a pirate ship to Japan so they can recruit a classroom of little kids to play folk music while fighting zombies, ninjas, and orcs would make for one BITCHIN' movie.

TV SHOW OF THE YEAR:

1. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
2. The Simpsons
3. The Office
4. 24
5. Six Feet Under
6. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
7. The O.C.
8. Alias
9. Survivor
10. Arrested Development

Finally, The Simpsons have been dethroned. Not that we hate the show or anything, but come on, this category's gotten pretty damn boring 'cause they're always a shoe-in for the gold. But all it takes is 5 gay guys to sort THAT mess out (and they'll give you fashion tips while they're there to boot!)

BOOK OF THE YEAR:

1. Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs
2. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
3. John Harris, The Last Party: Britpop, Blair, & the Demise of English Rock
4. Nick Hornby, Songbook

Amen to this category. Yeah, it's good to be impartial and all, but Chuck Klosterman wrote one hell of a fun book this year, a book that micro-analyzes pop culture to the point that your head spins. A worthy choice indeed, my friends.

BEST SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR:

1. Junior Senior, "Move Your Feet"
2. Outkast, "Hey Ya"
3. Johnny Cash, "Hurt"
4. Radiohead, "There There"
5. White Stripes, "The Hardest Button to Button"

So last year your favorite video was made out of Legos. This year your favorite video looks like it was made on an Atari 2600. We're waiting for a video made entirely from Tinkertoys to take home 2004...

ALBUM ARTWORK/PACKAGING OF THE YEAR:

1. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
2. Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts
3. Spiritualized - Amazing Grace
4. Kid Koala - Some of My Best Friends Are DJ's
5. Bjork - Live Box

Liz here... as the resident artist I've been asked to comment on the outcome of this category. Bunch of bollocks really. The paint by numbers Radiohead cover may have won your hearts... but the true art can be found in the Kid Koala comic/album release. Pfft.

BEST LIVE ACT OF 2003:

1. Radiohead
2. The Polyphonic Spree
3. Coldplay
4. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
5. Blur
6. Mark Gardener
7. Sigur Ros
8. Placebo
9. Spiritualized
10. Interpol

We Will... We Will... Electrobore you? Mark Gardener returns stateside after nearly 10 years and he makes #6. Go figure. Polyphonic Spree manage to fit half of Texas onto some of the tiniest stages this side of a puppet show... and they still make #2. Can't hold back the Radiohead adoration apparently. At least J. Spacemen never stood up on this tour and deserved #9.

BIGGEST LOSS OF THE YEAR:

1. Elliott Smith
2. Johnny Cash
3. Suede

R.I.P.

MOST IMPORTANT NEWS STORY/EVENT OF THE YEAR:

1. The death of Elliott Smith
2. 2003 Coachella Festival
3. Glastonbury 2003
4. Mark Gardener & Andy Bell reunite on stage in Sweden
5. Graham Coxon quits Blur

The passing of Elliott Smith seemed quite a shock to the system of every indiefan out there... and horrifying still that the drama continues.

SECOND BEST WEBSITE OF THE YEAR:

1. www.friendster.com
2. www.nme.com
3. www.pitchforkmedia.com
4. www.homestarrunner.com
5. www.theonion.com

Oh hell what to say about Friendster? More than just a new website... it has become a social phenomena. It's a rare bar that you walk into without hearing the 'f-word' dropped here, there and everywhere. This was becoming the NME award but I guess you all fancy the opposite sex more than music.

INDIEBOY OF THE YEAR:

1. Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service)
2. Jack White (White Stripes)
3. Justin Hawkins (The Darkness)
4. Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)
5. Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian)

Hi folks, Shane the Admin here. You'll note that last year, when posting the results, I couldn't help but notice that neither myself nor fellow admin Ajay took home any nominations in this category. This year, I can't help but notice that AJAY received a nomination, yet I did not. I'll just be over here, assuming that a technical mix-up must have erased all of my votes. You can feel free to make renumerations via either sexual advances or large boxes of chocolate to the usual address.

INDIEGIRL OF THE YEAR:

1. Chan Marshall (Cat Power)
2. Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
3. Bjork
4. Alison Goldfrapp (Goldfrapp)
5. Mira Aroyo (Ladytron)

Strangely this year Chan Marshall and Karen O replaced a constant presence on this list. It just goes to show that Saint Etienne should put out an album every year... since in the first time in forever Sarah Cracknell didn't make the Top 2? Every bit deserved though as Cat Power and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been the overwhelming indie darlings of the year.

INDIEGIT OF THE YEAR:
(henceforth otherwise known as "The Liam")

1. Jack White
2. Ryan Adams
3. Damon Albarn
4. Pete Doherty

A bunch of Von Bondies fans on this list, eh? What'd Jack ever do to YOU? Meanwhile, you've got Ryan Adams cussing out Chicago Sun-Times reviewers, Damon Albarn dragging his band willy-nilly into the African sunset, and Pete Doherty pillaging his own band's equipment for smack money... A good year for indie twats, then.

THE EXCELLENT ONLINE 2003 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES:

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
SUEDE

After years of near misses to our Hall of Fame, Liz finally wins and Dusty makes it onto the list. We've got an artist who didn't write her own material and some boys who spent years writing about concrete. At first glance they'd have nothing in common but wait... ummm... right they're all English eh? Dusty and Suede join The Clash, The Velvet Underground, Ride, Stone Roses, The Beatles, Jesus & Mary Chain, Joy Divison, The Smiths Adorable, The Jam, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, The Verve and the Boo Radleys in one hell of a rounded list.

Thanks as always to everyone who participated. Contest winners will be notified via e-mail. Now don't just stand there, we've got 2004 to get to, GET A MOVE ON!