Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th, 8-9pm and later on Mixcloud.com.

2003 was a year of transition. The last echoes of the ’90s blurred into the digital age, guitars met glitching software, and the world’s mood tilted between anxiety and euphoria. From electronic melancholy to garage revivalism, these tracks map a time when everything felt newly possible — and quietly haunted.

Here’s a playlist that captures that restless, early-21st-century energy — a collision of emotion, distortion, and imagination.

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Placebo – “Bulletproof Cupid”

From: Sleeping With Ghosts (2003)

Opening Sleeping With Ghosts with pure velocity, Placebo unleash a fuzz-drenched instrumental anthem. Wall-of-sound guitars, distorted bass, and machine-like drums create a post-glam charge that feels both defiant and desperate — a perfect overture to an album obsessed with vulnerability and survival.

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Massive Attack – “What Your Soul Sings”

From: 100th Window (2003)

With Dot Allison’s ethereal vocal floating above glacial synths and minimal beats, this is Massive Attack stripped to pure atmosphere. The track pulses with slow-motion melancholy — all icy rhythm and digital ache, like trip-hop’s final ghost drifting into the new century.

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Kings of Leon – “Talihina Sky”

From: Youth and Young Manhood (2003)

A hidden gem tucked at the album’s end, this loose, gospel-touched lament reveals the Followill brothers’ Southern roots beneath the swagger. Acoustic guitars, lazy harmonica, and a drawling vocal turn a rustic confessional into something timeless and strangely cinematic.

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Radiohead – “We Suck Young Blood”

From: Hail to the Thief (2003)

A haunted cabaret dirge built from handclaps, jazz piano, and funereal pace. Thom Yorke’s sardonic vocal transforms a skeletal arrangement into a gothic satire of fame, greed, and modern decay — fragile, beautiful, and deeply unsettling.

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Muse – “Thoughts of a Dying Atheist”

From: Absolution (2003)

Fast, fierce, and existential — Muse deliver a power trio masterclass. Matt Bellamy’s fuzzed-out riffs, driving basslines, and arena-sized drumscollide with lyrics about mortality and meaning. A concise blast of adrenaline from an album obsessed with apocalypse.

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Jay-Z – “Lucifer”

From: The Black Album (2003)

Built around Kanye West’s soulful sample of Max Romeo’s “Chase the Devil,” this track is a smooth yet sinister meditation on revenge and redemption. Jay-Z delivers verses like confessionals, framed by gospel-tinged production that blurs the sacred and the profane.

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OutKast – “Prototype”

From: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

André 3000 goes full Prince-meets-parallel-universe soulman. Slinky bass, spacey synths, and breathy falsetto create one of the most tender and futuristic love songs of the decade — a moment of calm in a record full of joyous chaos.

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Paddy McAloon – “I Trawl the Megahertz”

From: I Trawl the Megahertz (2003)

McAloon’s stunning solo piece (originally recorded while losing his sight) is a cinematic meditation for strings, radio voices, and hushed narration. “Fall from Grace” sits at its heart — fragile, romantic, and painfully human. An overlooked masterpiece of ambient storytelling.

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M83 – “Cyborg”

From: Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (2003)

M83’s early soundscape — equal parts shoegaze and sci-fi — surges with vintage synths, looped distortion, and echoed drums. “Cyborg” feels like being trapped inside a malfunctioning dream: a world of beauty breaking apart in digital noise.

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The Postal Service – “Brand New Colony”

From: Give Up (2003)

The perfect balance of indie sincerity and laptop pop. Ben Gibbard’s wistful lyrics glide over Jimmy Tamborello’s skittering beats and Nintendo-bright synths — a love song built from code and heart.

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The Strokes – “Meet Me in the Bathroom”

From: Room on Fire (2003)

Tight, tangled guitars and Casablancas’ muffled drawl make this the Strokes’ most intimate snapshot. The band’s precision grooves and lo-fi chic feel like a late-night city confessional — detached, messy, and irresistibly cool.

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The White Stripes – “Black Math”

From: Elephant (2003)

Jack White at his most feral — ripping fuzz guitar, pounding snare, and garage-punk energy collide in a burst of raw analog fury. Proof that two people and a handful of vintage gear could still sound like a revolution.

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David Bowie – “Bring Me the Disco King”

From: Reality (2003)

A haunting, slow-burn jazz piece built on spare piano, brush drums, and Bowie’s weary, commanding voice. Written years earlier but perfected here, it’s a reflection on aging, fame, and the ghosts of the dancefloor — elegant, fatalistic, and final.

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Linkin Park – “Session”

From: Meteora (2003)

An instrumental detour of scratched samples, electronic percussion, and cinematic build-up. “Session” highlights the band’s hybrid genius — merging nu-metal aggression with ambient, soundtrack-like textures.

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UNKLE – “In a State”

From: Never, Never, Land (2003)

A hypnotic fusion of breakbeats, deep synth pads, and Richard File’s ghostly vocals, this track captures UNKLE’s cinematic melancholy. It’s a mood piece for late-night highways — anxious, emotional, and utterly magnetic.