Blog

(Excuse all spelling mistakes and crap sentances. I have yet to learn to check my work. This was clearly all written in one amphetamine fueled night)

50 Sleater-Kinney - One Beat - 2002
While most waited until it was a commercially acceptable and cool move to criticise the Bush Administration, Sleater-Kinney went right to it, less than a year after 9/11. Coming up with songs that included lyrics like “where is the questioning? / where is the protest song? / since when is scepticism un-American?”, “let’s break out our old machines now / sure is good to see them run again / oh gentlemen start your engines / and we know where we get the oil from” and “show you love your country go out and spend some cash” (all from one song - Combat Rock, by the way), Sleater-Kinney became the only noteworthy protest group talking about America, and hell, since we got on so well in those days, Britain too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GwaGaXdlA8

49 These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid - 2008
As mentioned in Elvis, “I can’t find the words.” Really, this album speaks for itself, I could tell you that it contains Garage influenced music, lyrics that were seemingly made with a lot of thought that contain a heavy use of repetition and a singer that might remind you of Mark E. Smith, but that description doesn’t sound like the record at all. Hmm. I hope I think of better things to say for the next 48 albums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzHwRcOsDNw

48 Karate - Pockets - 2004
I know next to nothing about this band. I found the song “Tow Truck” on a compilation around the time of it’s release, and decided to check out the album. Apparently the band used to be a lot heavier and then turned into a weird jazz band with this album? I don’t know, nor do I care, because I like the mystery. It’s a beautiful record, and “Tow Truck” is one of the greatest songs of all time. Shame I can’t find a Youtube video of it… the kids all use Spotify right? You know what to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOMdo5DgZfE

47 Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond - 2007
It was a huge surprise to find out that the original line up of Dinosaur, famous for their pure hatred of each other, were going to reform, then it was even more of a surprise that they would come out with a pure power pop record that was actually brilliant! If most of J Mascis’ songs were a bit samey, then it was Lou Barlow’s two compositions that saved the record from growing stale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omC6LS-F-Tk

46 The Young Knives - Voices of Animals and Men - 2006
Representing the League of Gentlemen side of Britain, The Young Knives always reminded me of the meat section of super markets. I can’t explain this and even if I could it wouldn’t make much sense anyway. They were an fantastic band though, and wrote some of the greatest anthems of the decade. This album, produced by Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, was sharp and sounded like a band who were already masters of their craft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5RhNbCMvYw

45 The Longcut - A Call And Response - 2006
A miniature post-rock album with an emphasis on dance-ability. The Longcut, I’m sure, would have been huge if they a) were American, and b) were trying to rip off some older genre. I figured through their lack of attention from the public they got disillusioned and broke up but the press tells me otherwise. Apparently they have a new album due in the first half of next year. Check the two videos, you may find that they were ahead of their time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDxTM7CtZ1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84sZiG52uMs&NR=1

44 Gruff Rhys - Yr Atal Genhedlaeth - 2005
A personal favourite due mainly the fun me and my friends had through assuming Gruff Rhys was some hilariously crazy obscure Welsh guy and not the singer of Supper Furry Animals who also happens to be a crazy Welsh guy anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56PZnOMBhYg

43 Radiohead - In Rainbows - 2007
Blah blah blah online download choose your price blah blah blah. Not everyone forgot that this was the most consistent Radiohead record ever made did they? The sound of a band fully escaping the clutches of critic’s hype.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5rxMQvSXUA

42 Neil Young - Living With War - 2006
For the first time in about 15 years, Mr. Young realised he makes the best records when he keeps things simple. So for Living With War, he wrote basic folk songs with very simple lyrics and chords, then cranked them with the band that accompanied him on the 1989 noise fest Eldorado. All songs were protests against the Bush Administration and while some of it might seem they’re slightly of it‘s time, the strength of the music holds it all together. He later toured the record with CSN&Y, resulting in the excellent fan vs. artist film Déjà Vu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5nVk5MU70

41 Fucked Up - Hidden World - 2006
Fucked Up spent the first half of the decade playing the greatest hardcore punk rock we‘d seen in years, with some hints at the experimentalism they wished to explore. On Hidden World, Fucked Up’s true purpose of fucking up conventions came clear, by extending the length of punk songs they hinted at ways future punk bands will be able to evolve instead of just playing music Minor Threat perfected 30 years previously. The long punk song thing became the albums weakness though, as it was all a bit too much of the same and not enough variety. The long song thing was perfected on 2007’s Year of the Pig single.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBI-PkUIp3A

40 Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno - Starless and Bible Black Sabbath - 2006
A tribute to King Crimson and Black Sabbath, with an album cover and intro in debt to the latter. This was the defining album of the Acid Mothers collective, out of about a million other albums, simply down to the fact it has the best riff(s) the band ever wrote, as well as a particularly inspired freak out from collective leader Kawabata Makoto.

39 Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You - 2001
It must have been a huge surprise for all fans of Unwound, surely one of the most consistent but criminally underrated noisey groups of the 90s, that their first album of the 00s would be an ambient, restrained shoegaze album. That’s not to say the album wasn’t a great one, just incredibly difficult for new and old listeners. Perhaps the band were expecting too much from their fans though, as Unwound broke up after touring to promote it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXr1fAFmODM

38 Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets - 2008
Like an alternative universe version of the Ting Ting’s. Blood Red Shoes really came out of nowhere and while their album fell short of what it could have been for whatever reason, their ability to write a song as good as “You Bring Me Down” made me forgive them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jma0Rjdcmgc

37 Miss Violetta Beauregard - ODI PROFANUM VULGUS ET ARCEO - 2006
A crazy Italian woman who is living life to the fullest by the looks of it. She creates music that would make 99% of people go “uurgh that’s just noise made from five minutes on pro-tools, ANYONE can do that” and of course, that’s the best thing about it. It’s slightly less disturbing than her first record, “Evidentemente non abito a San Francisco” and all the better for it, it’s a lot more fun to listen to and even fun to sing a long to at times (or perhaps not).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbu1Sfa1g6w

36 The Flaming Lips - Embryonic - 2009
A noisy, free jazzy, Krautrock album with repeated musical themes and songs about egos and humanities primitivism. For the last twenty years, at the end of each decade, more or less, the Lips release an album that ,maps out their territory for the next ten years. If this is a hint at what we’re to expect, bring ear plugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmjJQojMTTs

35 LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver - 2007
Beginning with James Murphy creating the most perfect dance music on the Bowieish “Get Innocuous!” , LCD Soundsystem’s second album, a much leaner machine than the sprawling first, later heads into intensely personal territory with “Someone Great” and “All My Friends”, but always keeps focused on the music being tuneful and danceable. The title track is an anthem for all middle aged hipsters, that should help them realise that trying to act young and cool isn’t really a great thing for anybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL79-7oo9Xc

34 Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain - 2005
One of the greatest examples of horrible noise ever made. That’s all, really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hcw1C1AzQI

33 Future of the Left - Travel With Myself and Other - 2009
After the disappointing debut “Curses”, Falco and co were set out to prove they still had everything that made mclusky so great, and prove they did. From hilariously bizarre lyrics (“This one time, I was running through the fields / When I came across a dead guy with a letter in his hand / So I scanned it / And though the grammar was okay / There was such a lack of purpose / That it was difficult to care.”) to downright bad ass guitar riffs (see: every song on the album), this album had everything we wanted from these guys. I patiently await a follow up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCvCBkx50mI

32 Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles - 2008
A product of know-it-all, egotistical internet junk culture, I’d hate Scroobius Pip if he wasn’t so good at what he does. Through twelve Bizarro World rap songs influenced by The Streets, he and beat maker Dan Le Sac simply tell us their opinion on just about everything they feel like. It got 0.2 on Pitchfork, I can’t sum it up better than that fact.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4467CI4y0M

31 Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll - 2004
One man’s fantasy of what American life was like circa 1986 via a Scarface or Vice City-esque backdrop without all the seedy darkness. Essentially creating all 80s nostalgia for the rest of the decade and surely providing a feel good soundtrack to countless British TV shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoaTea06mG4

30 Gorillaz - Demon Days - 2005
Invading the pop charts with a manufactured pop band that felt less fake than everything else in the top 40. Genius, I suppose.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OATeJdRraBY

29 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago - 2008
Post-break up existential angst written and recorded with an acoustic guitar in a cold cabin in the middle of a forest. Seemed really just what the doctor ordered when it came out, now, slightly less so. Most of the songs are still achingly beautiful though, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it again during my next depression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jxP7dQYBb8

28 Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers - 2009
The ghost (probably) of Richie Edwards resurrected to provide an energy into the Manics not seen since he disappeared. Intelligent, full throttle power-pop. Possibly James Dean Bradfield’s most consistent music writing to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jcqIMuIc4

27 The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeroes - 2004
There is no better example of an album title summing up a bands mood anywhere else in this list. The Beta Band had gone from promising to no hopes in the space of a few years, perhaps they were too good for everyone else, perhaps no one really liked a band with a sense of humour anymore, perhaps they were cursed (more on that later). Well whatever it was, it didn’t stop the band from giving it one last shot. Heroes to Zeroes sees the band tighten up and right the perfect pop they’d always hinted at, but I guess that wasn’t enough for the masses. Exhausted and confused, the band broke up soon after.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-phgYN3GSC4

26 Boris - Pink - 2005
Always prone to surprising their audience with their journey through the many dimensions of noise rock, no one would have predicted that Boris would release the greatest riff rock album from the 70s never released, but they did, and it kicks like nothing else released all decade. It’s loud as hell too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkaeBZ1kGU

25 Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet - 2006
BYOP were a hellish mix of a teenage Yeah Yeah Yeahs and At the Drive-In who have just discovered beer with lyrics written without much seriousness in mind. It sounds like the craziest party of all time, and isn’t that all we could have asked for from these guys? “Fuuuuuun” indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUf5Me1sjZA

24 Fugazi - The Argument - 2001
If this is the last we’ll hear of perhaps the most consistent band of all time, then at least we’ll know they left on (another) high note. Probably the most sombre Fugazi album since Steady Diet of Nothing, in terms of its sound rather than it playing, The Argument was an album that hinted at even further ways Fugazi could have expanded themselves, from the harmonies of “Full Disclosure“ to, the pop ending of “Epic Problem” to the dual drumming of “Ex-Spectator” that surely gave the Melvins an idea or two (heh heh).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7PlrBACrQI

23 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell - 2003
By toning down their noise and fucking obsessions (“Art Star” and “Bang“), the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were ready to unleash themselves to the world, proving to be the best (in terms of longevity) out of all the New York bands from the start of the decade.
Oh and “Maps” essentially killed their career, but that’s a theory for another day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOL-lzVT5Jc

22 Julian Cope - Black Sheep - 2008
The return of Julian Cope into my life, hadn’t seen the guy since Interpreter. Black Sheet is a masterpiece, quite frankly, and it’s equally scary (don’t pretend the Shipwreck of St. Paul doesn’t scare the crap out of you, oh and I wouldn’t fuck with the crew Cope seems to have with him on the inside cover either ) as well as being incredibly political. To cover every aspect of this album requires an essay, an essay I will one day write. Even if you haven’t heard much or anything by the arch-drude before, give this a listen, you never know, you might even enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ju8Wq12ypg

21 Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights - 2009
Now most people would have rated Wonderful Rainbow highest, or perhaps Hypermagic Mountain, but, in my opinion Lightning Bolt have simply improved with each release. I know that it’s early to tell whether the songs will stand the test of time, but for now it’s brilliant. Shorter than Hypermagic and arguably more melodic in places (you can sing along to “Colossus” can‘t you?) and featuring, for me, the definitive Lightning Bolt track - “Transmissionary”, for some this twelve minute finale will be pure bliss, for others it will be a Guantanamo Bay style endurance test.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okoc913fxx8

20 The Horrors - Primary Colours - 2009
No one could have predicted the follow up to Strange House would have contained songs like “Sea Within a Sea”, but somehow the Horrors did it, becoming one of the few new bands this decade to have actually improved with age (I’m looking your way, Arctic Monkeys). Primary Colours has been annoyingly seen by many as using bits and pieces of other peoples ideas and sticking them together to write songs, this is not true. Yes, the guitar on “Mirror’s Image” sounds a bit like “To Here Knows When”, the sequencer of “Sea Within A Sea” sounds a bit like Portishead’s “The Rip” (Geoff Barrowproduced some of the album anyway, so what’s the problem) and the bassline of “Scarlet Fields” does not sound like “Love Will Tear Us Apart” at all, the important thing is that they take these sounds and make some of their own with them, which they do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPVBH2D0n8

19 Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound - 2007
Yeah, the seven year wait was a hell of a long time, but it was worth it. Excellent… was consisted of Shellac’s most experimental song writing to date (including 1998’s Terraform’s opening twelve minute, two note track) with songs like “Elephant” deciding to have almost one minute of one drum in the middle, “Be Prepared” beginning with numerous fake false stops and “Genuine Lulabelle” featuring bizarre cameos from the likes of voice-over kings Ken Nordine and Hal Douglas. In contradiction to this, the songs themselves were Shellac’s most melodic and best yet. Making Shellac’s fourth album a difficult but ultimately listenable record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrOsqIKwdtE

18 Sleater-Kinney - The Woods - 2005
Another great band’s last album before going on indefinite hiatus (see 24), Sleater-Kinney decided to go out with one helluva bang that was louder, more distorted and groovier than anything they’d done before, just as most “indie” music was deciding to play it quieter and safer (which climaxed with Vampre fuckin’ Weekend). I really Sleater-Kinney come back, because they belonged to a community that is in server need of a distorted wake up call, all the better if the tight jean wearing men with their guitars up at their chests get slapped around by three women.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkiYkqGU6Y

17 The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost - 2008
The main problem with the Black Angels 2005 debut, Passover, was that due to all the songs being the same tempo, it was a struggle to get through. How did they overcome this problem with the next album? I would have assumed before hearing that they would add more variety, but they had bigger tricks up their sleeves. Yes, the tempo mostly remained the same, but this time the songs contained something that was quite a surprise- huge soaring melodic guitars! The album also hinted at further ways the band could expand, particularly in the noise epic “Never/Ever” and the 16 minute closer “Snake in the Grass”. If anyone wants some modern music that is genuinely psychedelic, this is what you’re looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I24lK2owxo

16 Grinderman - Grinderman - 2007
Was it a bitter reaction to the garage rock revival or just an excuse to write songs like “No Pussy Blues?” I don’t know, perhaps Mr. Cave doesn’t know either. It’s the best thing he’s ever put his name to though, I definitely know that. Take it with coffee and you’ll call it an underrated masterpiece, replace the coffee with Tequila and you’ll have a night that ranks with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with or without a suitcase of drugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuDP7c3Zd8I

15 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - 2002
Remember when everyone loved this album? Well nothing should have changed. Yoshimi.. might not have the huge, raw existential emotion that the Soft Bulletin had, but it was almost as good. A product of the 00s by design (note the pitch bending synth and modern drum machines) but with songs that ought to last forever. I don’t write cheesy sentences like that for just any old album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9saeLg_GQg

14 Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life - 2008
By slowing down the tempos and adding countless guitar overdubs, Fucked Up’s second album sounded huge and at times almost pretty. It led some punks to ask “where’s the hardcore?” seemingly aware that the song writing was as vicious as ever. The lyrics and it’s topics can be summed up with the album title, literally analysing the chemistry of common life, specifically the old punk favourite - religion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwSnxIXank

13 Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy - 2000
From the darkness of 1998’s masterpiece Electro-Shock Blues, there was only one thing E could do, and that was to get happy, but not too happy. Daisies of the Galaxy is the forgotten gem of the Eels catalogue, perhaps due to overshadowing from Electro-Shock.. or perhaps because most fits into a samey sort of happy, sunny day singer/songwriter vibe. Either way it deserves more recognition, because it is equally as good as Electro-Shock… and much more fun and easier to listen to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Umu-7SAVTg

12 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf - 2003
You won’t find many metal records on this list, that’s because they’ve all been overshadowed by this. Essentially destroying any faith in anything Josh Homme and his crew would create due to it’s sheer perfection. This was the moment Queens’ mix of heavy repetitive “robot rock” and they’re love for a good melody game together in one bad ass fashion. You haven’t lived until you’ve taken a trip somewhere in the car with this album blasting, put it on the things to do before you die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUaD4K00rDY

11 Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel - 2008
The defining music of the copy and paste generation. An album made for GCSE and A-Level students with a short attention span who are scraping through their studies. LotP write music like people write Wikipedia articles, it’s all obscure reference points, general knowledge and different styles. If that makes no sense then that’s okay, ‘cause neither does the album. All I know is that there’s about a million different left turns and genre changes throughout that makes it all seem like one helluva rollercoaster ride, and, even better, once you do get used to it all, it becomes a sing-along pop classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz5Dei5O3xY

10 Foals - Antidotes - 2008
A new language for guitar invented right here? Possibly, but judging from the albums success, it was probably stolen. All the same, Antidotes is probably the defining guitar album of the decade. Here were a band who sensed that we were all getting sick of post-Strokes roughness and generic metal drop d riffs and headed to a different planet. It paid off though, “Cassius” was a huge hit, and rightfully so. In fact all the songs could have been hits, that is how consistent this album is. I’d like to think this album will have the same effect on the next generation of guitar bands in a similar way that Entertainment! did way back in 1979.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3oIGHMYP8

09 Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights - 2001
The very best of the decades early New York hype. Interpol had what a lot of those bands (and lots of bands these days anyway) lacked - atmosphere. This was mood music that was perhaps too easy to compare to Joy Division, but that was always going to be a notably unfair comparison for anyone who was paying attention. There was no way Joy Division would have wrote songs like Obstacle 1 and there’s no way Interpol would write Love Will Tear Us Apart. Both bands had similar visions, but their attacks were quite different. I don’t mean to bring up the old Joy Division comparison but I figure it’s important. Besides, if you haven’t heard this album yet, where have you been?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3z4mNDQj9E

08 mclusky - mclusky Do Dallas - 2002
They sounded like the bastard child of the Jesus Lizard and the Pixies but with a singer and guitarist you’d avoid eye contact with if you saw him outside Spar. It was a Welsh thing, I suppose - that whole fucked off about being the least noticeable part of Britain and being a joke, the original reaction was to be constantly uptight, but mclusky added a new swing to things, yeah they were pissed off, but they realised it was all something you could laugh at. Oh and laugh they did, but they were no comedy act, and that’s the key. mclusky Do Dallas is a thorough analysis of life, and how it’s all a bit shit. One of the greatest Welsh bands of all time, and by people you can be proud of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCrv3ofNL8U

07 The Streets - Original Pirate Material - 2002
Sharp Darts Spitting Masters , Spitting darts faster / Shut up I'm the driver, you're the passenger / I'll reign superior / The pressure blows the dial on your barometer / Do you understand or do you need an interpreter? /Now my style is distinguished / All fires are extinguished. / Ask yer girl to sing and she'll sing this / I'm a scientist / Have no prejudice, that's my hypothesis / Make your analysis, ever heard a beat like this? /I walk the beat like a policemen / No karma pedestrian / In 500 years they'll play this song in museums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGtlUMMkOU

06 Death From Above 1979 - You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine - 2004
The bass and drum combo was popular in the noughties, and I don’t just mean the drum and bass genre. Lightning Bolt may have been the ones were invented the manic drumming with heavy bassline thing, but until they released Hypermagic Mountain, It was DFA 1979 that most of us were tuning into. Starting off their career as standard hardcore retooled for two instrument, by the time of their first album they had mutated into an heavy disco hybrid. It was fucking awesome. Then they broke up, but hey, at least we got this out of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXOmF7FbEE

05 Portishead - Third - 2008
Eight years of suffering through a lot of mediocre, middle of the road albums made us forget the difference between bad music and risk-taking music. Some bands, most found on this list, were attempting to push things into the unknown, but most were happy with the familiar. Third has hopefully changed all that. After being on hiatus for the best part of ten years, Portishead returned with an album not in the vein of trip hop, but in the vein of horrible atonal noise. Suddenly the hipster indie crowd were reminded that not all music has to be a repeat of something that came before. If we keep this in mind, the next ten years could be promising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhLMz2vUldo

04 The Beta Band - Hot Shots II - 2001
Perhaps the “should have been huge” story of the decade. Cursed by bad luck and (possibly) bad management, the Beta Band never really stood a chance. I know nothing of their management, that was just an assumption but I am absolutely correct about that bad luck thing. Opening song “Squares”, as glorious and as a perfect pop as anyone had ever written was all set for release, ready to be a smash hit quite frankly, and what happened? Oh just a single released by an electronic act called I Monster used the exact same prominent sample for his song released just before. Cursed? Maybe. Maybe if this didn’t happen, the Beta Band would be filling stadiums with songs like “Al Sharp” and “Quiet”, songs with soaring choruses and intelligence, but what did we get instead? Fucking Coldplay. Fuck you world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz4WwYrGPSw

03 At the Drive-In - Relationship Of Command - 2000
Like most good bands, At the Drive-In picked a good time to call it quits, leaving a document of ridiculous power. They had been building up to this point for quite a few years, with albums that didn’t replicate the energy they possessed on stage, but with Relationship of Command, they did it. An emotionally and physically draining masterpiece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08qk_pMJFak

02 The Knife - Silent Shout - 2006
Electronics generating emotions. Blood cracking through the unseen holes of modern architecture. A computer getting it’s wiring mistaken for human nerves. A machine screams but hasn’t got the capability to generate sound. Neon lights invade a pitch black night. The music sounds just like this, really, it’s essentially the soundtrack to world like we see in Kyle Reese’s nightmares in the Terminator. With nightclubs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqeRMoYA5g

01 Primal Scream - Xtrmntr - 2000
A record that reminds you perfect doesn’t necessarily mean polished. A record that reminds you that a punk rock “fuck you” attitude doesn’t have to leave with age. A record that predicted the terror of the next ten years for anyone who was paying attention - war, blind patriotism, CCTV, ASBOs, the overload of consumerism creating hundreds of jobless, the BNP coming into sharp focus, it’s all here, and it's all sung through 11 distorted noise-dance-rock distopian masterpieces. Album of the decade, yo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3g8WLjkVXk

Nearly as hard as 2005 will be to choose

1. Antics - Interpol

2. The Libertines - The Libertines

3. Hot Fuss - The Killers

4. A Ghost Is Born - Wilco

5. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

6. You Are The Quarry - Morrissey

7. The Cure - The Cure

8. People Are Like Seasons - Sophia

9. You Forgot It in People - Broken Social Scene

10. Love Songs for Patriots - American Music Club

Runners-up: A Grand Don't Come for Free - The Streets, zombi - Kante, Kasabian - Kasabian, Good News for People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse, Bubblegum - Mark Lanegan, From a Basement on the Hill - Elliott Smith

1. Low – The Great Destroyer (2005)
2. Stars of the Lid – Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001)
3. Sonic Youth – Sonic Nurse (2004)
4. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
5. Lightning Bolt – Wonderful Rainbow (2003)
6. The Goslings – Grandeur of Hair (2006)
7. Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
8. Studio – West Coast (2006)
9. Religious Knives – Remains (2007)
10. The Rosebuds – Birds Make Good Neighbors (2005)

11. Boris – Pink (2005)
12. Sleep – Dopesmoker (2003)
13. Panda Bear – Person Pitch (2007)
14. Jay Reatard – Blood Visions (2007)
15. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
16. Fennesz – Endless Summer (2001)
17. of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping (2008)
18. Black Dice – Beaches & Canyons (2002)
19. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
20. Girls - Girls (2009)

I've read countless 'Top Albums of the Decade' lists over the past couple months (most notably Pitchfork's and NME's). I agreed with some and vehemently disagreed with others. Since it is now December 2009, the last month of the decade, I thought I should make my own list.

I initially tried to make a straight 1-50 list, but it was physically and emotionally exhausting trying to rank albums from different years. So instead I picked the best three records from each year (and in some years multiple records tied for 3rd place lol).

(Just to avoid confusion, "1." is the best record of that year.)

2000
3. Parachutes by Coldplay / Black Market Music by Placebo
2. Kid A by Radiohead
1. The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem

2001
3. The Blueprint by Jay-Z / Origin Of Symmetry by Muse
2. Stillmatic by Nas
1. Is This It by The Strokes

2002
3. Songs About Jane by Maroon 5 / A Rush Of Blood To The Head by Coldplay
2. By the Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers
1. The Eminem Show by Eminem

2003
3. Hail To The Thief by Radiohead / Absolution by Muse
2. Sleeping With Ghosts by Placebo
1. Room on Fire by The Strokes

2004
3. Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand / Antics by Interpol
2. Hot Fuss by The Killers
1. Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings of Leon

2005
3. Guero by Beck / Searching for Jerry Garcia by Proof
2. Late Registration by Kanye West
1. Demon Days by Gorillaz

2006
3. The Eraser by Thom Yorke / The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
2. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys
1. Meds by Placebo

2007
3. Oracular Spectacular by MGMT / Because of the Times by Kings of Leon
2. Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys
1. In Rainbows by Radiohead

2008
3. The Virgins by The Virgins
2. Hercules And Love Affair by Hercules and Love Affair
1. Only by the Night by Kings of Leon

2009
3. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand / The Resistance by Muse
2. Relapse by Eminem
1. Battle For The Sun by Placebo

20. Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Cendre

Zwischen den Guitar-Drones von Christian Fennesz und den Kompositionen des japanischen Ausnahmepianisten Ryuichi Sakamoto kommt es bei deren zweiter Zusammenarbeit endlich zu dem erwarteten Meilenstein, den viele schon beim ersten Album ersehnt hatten. Hässlich tiefe Gitarrenspuren werden konterkariert von luftig leichten Klavierfiguren. Sehr passend für den Herbst.

19. Celtic Frost - Monotheist

Das Combackalbum bildet zugleich den letzten Sargnagel für die Metalinstitution aus der Schweiz. Dabei schaffen es die Mannen um Tom G. Warrior sich gänzlich neu zu erfinden und zu zeigen, dass der Leichnahm "Metal" noch nicht ganz verwest ist. Ohne dieses Album wäre der Durchbruch der Heerscharen von Metalbands mit Ambient-Einschlag (u.a. Wolves in the Throne Room) nie möglich gewesen. Dadurch wurde Metal kulturell endlich wieder relevant.

18. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones

Dass die Wahl auf Show Your Bones gefallen ist, kann man als Konzessionsentscheidung werten. Alle drei Alben wären es wert, unter die besten 20 der abgelaufenen Dekade zu kommen. Fever to Tell ist räudig wild, It's Blitz poppig-tanzbar. Show Your Bones jedoch vereint alle Stärken der Band - vom glam-infizierten Rocker wie Gold Lion zu traurigen Perlen wie Way Out. Außerdem ist Karen O wohl die heißeste Rockröhre, die auf diesem Planeten wandelt.

17. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now

Wieder eine Konzessionsentscheidung. Denn The Crying Light aus diesem Jahr ist keinen Deut schlechter, als das Durchbruchsalbum von Antony Hegarty und seinen Mannen. Aber dieses Album machte Hegarty zu dem meistgefragten Künstler der letzten 10 Jahre. Er arbeitete u.a. mit Marianne Faithfull, Björk, Lou Reed und Yoko Ono zusammen und lieh seine Stimme auch dem Dance-Projekt Hercules & Love Affair.

16. Ulver - Blood Inside

Ein fast schon unhörbares Album. Zu viel passiert hier: Klassik wird mit Trip-Hop verbunden, orchestrale Arrangements mit Metal. Dazu Texte vom multitalent und okkultisten Julian Cope. Jedoch ist dieses Album das beste, was Ulver je veröffentlicht haben.

15. Daft Punk - Discovery

Ein Konzeptalbum einer Danceband? Unmöglich! Aber die verrückten Franzosen schaffen es, eine Geschichte um den Planeten Interstellar 555 zu schreiben und dabei Klassiker wie One More Time und Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger zu produzieren.

14. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

Elephant war perfekter, Get Behind Me Satan ausgeflippter, Icky Thump rockiger - aber White Blood Cells ist roher, ungeschliffener. Alle Songs, knapp unter der 2 Minuten Grenze führen zu einem riesigen Zappelfaktor mit Hitpotenzial. Bestes Album dieses ungewöhnlichen Duos!

13. Isis - Oceanic

Post-Metal ist tot, da dürfte es kulturhistorisch keine Zweifel geben. Ob dieser Pfad des Musizierens eine Randnotiz bleibt, ist noch nicht geklärt. Solange darf man gerne zu den Klassikern des Genres greifen: Isis' Oceanic (wer es ausgefeilter mag: Panopticon), Cult of Luna's Salvation und quasi jedes Neurosisalbum. Meiner Meinung nach bildet jedoch Oceanic davon die Speerspitze, da es keine andere Band schafft, unbändige Metalriffs, riesige Melodiebögen und Konzept so zu vereinen wie hier. Allein die ersten 10 Sekunden von The Beginning and The End reichen um alle Zweifler zu überzeugen.


12. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

Rick Rubin deutete es schon an, da gab es noch nicht einmal einen Namen für das da erscheinen sollte: "Dieses Album wird die Musikwelt verändern". Hardcore, Salsa, Prog, Pop - alles zusammen gibt das Potpourri aus dem die Musik von The Mars Volta besteht. Heute kann man der Aussage von Rick Rubin ohne zu Zögern zustimmen, muss aber anerkennen, dass es The Mars Volta danach nie mehr geschafft hatten, wie hier auf den Punkt zu musizieren. Ihnen ist die Kontrolle über ihre Einflüsse abhanden gekommen. Hoffen wir, dass irgendwann wieder Rick Rubin seine Hand an die Kompositionen der beiden Wuschelköpfe legt, sonst verkommen sie zu Belanglosigkeiten.

11. Sigur Ros - ( )

Was soll man über ein Album schreiben, welches keinen Namen trägt? Was soll man über Stücke schreiben, die keine Titel tragen? Was soll man über Kompositionen schreiben, die in ihrer Traurigkeit keinen Anhaltspunkt bieten? Sigur Ros sind so einzigartig, dass jeder Vergleich konstruiert wirkt. Als Warnung sollte folgendes (nur im Sinn wiedergegebenes) Zitat dienen: "Müsste man dieses Album rezensieren, also eine Kaufempfehlung aussprechen, müsste man ausdrücklich davon abraten, es sei denn, man wolle sich nach dem Hören von einem Hochhaus stürzen."

10. Burial - Untrue

Burial ist das größte Enigma der heutigen Musikwelt. Ein DJ, dessen Konterfei man nicht kennt, der sich jeglicher Kontaktaufnahme verweigert, aber von Radiohead, über Tool bis hin zu klassischen Komponisten zu fesseln weiß und remixen darf, was Rang und Namen hat. Seine eigenen Stücke hingegen sind in tiefen Bässen, unwirklichen Geräuschen und eine düsteren Industrieanlagen-Atmosphäre verwurzelt. Wer jemals mitten in der Nacht auf den Bus gewartet hat, kann vielleicht nachvollziehen, wie dieses Album klingt.

09. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

Dieses Album schlägt eine Brücke zwischen Black Metal, Guitar-Drones, Ambient und Modern Komposition. Allein die Gästeliste lässt erahnen, dass Sunn 0))) sich von ihren Wurzeln gelöst haben: Julian Priester (Miles Davis) spielt Trompete, Oren Ambarchi (Electronic-Künstler) lässt die Synthies knarzen, Eyvid Kang (Komponist) arrangierte die gesamte Platte und fügte einen gregorianischen Chor zu den Stücken hinzu.

08. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

Das beste Indie Rock Album dieser Dekade! Zitatreich wird gerockt: Elvis Costello und John Lennon sind hier die Säulenheiligen. Zudem gibt es mit The Way We Get By die Sommerhmyne Nr. 1 - noch vor Weezers Island in the Sun.

07. Arcade Fire - Funeral

Ohne dieses Album hätte es die Fleet Foxes oder Bon Iver nie gegeben. Nicht, dass es vorher keinen guten Indie Folk gegeben hätte, aber die Franco-Kanadier zeigen, wie man es richtig macht. Außerdem wäre es ein Frevel, würde man diese Band nicht als wichtigste Band der Neuzeit zählen, bei der langen Liste der Bewunderern.

06. The Strokes - Is This It

Haut enge Jeans, Nietengürtel und abgeranzte Lederjacken waren die Uniformen der Gefolgschaft um diese New Yorker. Dass nebenbei durch dieses Album die erste Hypewelle losgetreten wurde, braucht nicht mehr näher erwähnt werden. Was man festhalten muss, ist, dass The Strokes und ihr musikalisches Talent schmerzlich vermisst werden, blickt man auf die ganzen Versuche diesen Sound zu kopieren.

05. Tool - Lateralus

Perfek - das war das Adjektiv der Stunde, als dieses Album das Licht der Welt erblickte. Die Songs waren komplexer, die Texte tiefgründiger, das Konzept schlüssiger als bei allen anderen Veröffentlichungen der Band. Sobald man das Anwerfen einer Maschine am Beginn von The Grudge hört entfaltet sich schon diese bestimmte Atmosphäre, welche die Songs umgeben. Eben perfekt. Nicht ganz, wie man beim Nachfolger gesehen hat: dieser ist zwar nicht so spektakulär anders (man darf gerne auch vom Selbstzitat sprechen), dafür Glänz er mit einem herrlich differenzierten Gitarrenklang, der die Kälte der Bottrillschen Produktion auf Lateralus als Makel darstehen lässt.

04. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights

Wieder New York, wieder Baustelle Retrorock. Diesmal Jedoch weniger The Beatles und Rolling Stones, als viel mehr Joy Division und Bauhaus. Unter einer meterdicken Schicht aus Reverbgitarreneffekten erheben sich Stücke zum Traumwandeln in den dunklen Gassen von New York. Viele sehen die anderen Alben als hässliche kleine Brüder des Debuts - was jedoch deren Perfektion verkennt (was der Band im Falle Our Love To Admire auch passiert). Diese Platte brachte jedoch den Stein ins Rollen und steht deswegen ganz oben auf dem Stapel der besten Platte der Dekade.

03. Tocotronic - Kapitulation

Es ist tatsächlich passiert. Ein deutschsprachiges Album rauscht an der internationalen Konkurrenz vorbei. Tocotronic haben mit Kapitulation ihr Meisterwerk abgeliefert. Die Texte sind herrlich verschwurbelt, die Gitarren jaulen und mit Sag Alles Ab gibt es gar einen 2 Minuten-Rocker vom Feinsten. Wer noch nie etwas mit intelligenter deutschsprachiger Musik anfangen konnte, wird hier wie immer "Studentenmüsli" rufen - alle anderen sind herzlich eingeladen den eigenen Ruin als Boot zu feiern, durch feuchtes Gras zu gehen und sich schließlich in Luft aufzulösen.

02. Portishead - Third

Third, ein Album, welches mit tausenden Mythen und Legenden umrankt ist - Fakt bleibt jedoch: elf Jahre nach dem letzten Studioalbum und insgesamt knapp zehn Jahre Produktionszeit vermag es dieses Album der vergangenen Dekade ihr Leitmotiv zu geben: "I'm so unsure" aus Threads. Die gesamte Atmosphäre dieser elf Stücke beschreibt eine gebrochene, zerstörte Welt: in Machine Gun fühlt man kalten Stahl auf der Haut, in Small sieht man überirdisches Geschehen, in Deep Water begegnet man vergangenen Zeiten als leierndes Gospel-Sample. Es hat nichts mehr mit der urbanen Welt aus Dummy oder dem selbstbetitelten Nachfolger zu tun, es spiegelt eine Welt voller Kriege wieder. Man mag die Platte deswegen weniger oft auflegen, wenn man es dennoch tut, wird man staunen, dass es ein solches Album überhaupt geben kann.

01. Radiohead - Kid A

Das Album, welches die gesamten letzten zehn Jahre in sich vereint. Jeden Stil, jeden Hakenschlag vorwegnehmen wird: Radiohead und ihr Kid A. Hier verschmelzen Indie Rock mit Electronic. Pop mit Modern Komposition, Rockkonzert und Installations-Kunst. Es ist der Urknall der modernen Popmusik, der Zeitpunkt Null. Es gibt eigentlich kein davor. Alles was heute erscheint und sich auf "davor" beruft, ist retro - alles was Kid A als direkte Referenz ausweisen kann, wird zum Zeitgeist. Es wird dekonstruiert und die einzelen Teile neu zusammen zu setzen. Das ist Bastard-Pop, DIY, Remixkultur. Wer wissen will, was die Dekade der Nullerjahre ausmacht, hört das bitte auf Kid A nach.

First, make a list of your top-20 artists overall. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, count up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 9 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.

1. Muse (9)
// Franz Ferdinand
// Placebo
// Kasabian
// Radiohead
// The Killers
// Arctic Monkeys
// Kaiser Chiefs
// Keane

2. The Strokes (17)
// Julian Casablancas
// Albert Hammond, Jr.
// Little Joy
// The Libertines
// Kings of Leon
// The Last Shadow Puppets
// Moptop

3. Arctic Monkeys (20)
// The Rascals
// The Kooks
// Milburn

4. Radiohead (26)
// Thom Yorke
// Jonny Greenwood
// Coldplay
// Interpol
// Blur
// Beck

5. The Beatles (35)
// John Lennon
// George Harrison
// Paul McCartney
// Ringo Starr
// Paul McCartney & Wings
// Wings
// The Who
// The Rolling Stones

6. Oasis (43)
// Noel Gallagher
// The Stone Roses
// The Verve
// Stereophonics
// Richard Ashcroft
// The La's
// Ian Brown

7. Franz Ferdinand (45)
// The Fratellis
// The Rakes

8. The Cribs (53)
// The Maccabees
// Jamie T
// Bombay Bicycle Club
// Good Shoes
// The Paddingtons
// The Courteeners
// Johnny Foreigner

9. M83 (62)
// School of Seven Bells
// The Radio Dept.
// Slowdive
// Maps
// The Album Leaf
// Air France
// Hammock
// Eluvium

10. We Are Scientists (69)
// The Futureheads
// Maxïmo Park
// Boy Kill Boy
// The Automatic
// Bloc Party
// Mystery Jets

11. Nine Inch Nails (78)
// Modwheelmood
// Trent Reznor
// Marilyn Manson
// Tweaker
// Halo33
// Black Light Burns
// Puscifer
// KMFDM

12. The Presets (87)
// Pnau
// Midnight Juggernauts
// Grafton Primary
// Van She
// Cut Copy
// Muscles
// Bag Raiders
// Simian Mobile Disco

13. Foals (93)
// Maths Class
// Late of the Pier
// These New Puritans
// Friendly Fires
// Youthmovies

14. Hot Chip (100)
// LCD Soundsystem
// Junior Boys
// Metronomy
// Fujiya & Miyagi
// Lo-Fi-Fnk
// Grovesnor

15. Howling Bells (109)
// The Duke Spirit
// The Joy Formidable
// Giant Drag
// The Long Blondes
// Waikiki
// The Grates
// Little Birdy
// Sky Larkin

16. Friendly Fires (114)
// Passion Pit
// Jack Peñate
// The Temper Trap
// Frankmusik
// Delphic

17. The Last Shadow Puppets (115)
// The Little Flames

18. Glasvegas (123)
// White Lies
// Broder Daniel
// The View
// Timo Räisänen
// Kent
// The Twilight Sad
// Laakso

19. Rage Against the Machine (132)
// One Day as a Lion
// Audioslave
// Zack De La Rocha
// Street Sweeper Social Club
// The Nightwatchman
// Limp Bizkit
// Red Hot Chili Peppers
// Incubus

20. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (140)
// Metric
// The Kills
// Be Your Own Pet
// Arcade Fire
// Florence + The Machine
// The Gossip
// Bat for Lashes