49. Secret Machines – Now Here is Nowhere
Another band that fell by the wayside, ‘Now Here is Nowhere’ was their debut album which was released in 2004, clearly brought over as part of the New York music scene they received favorable reviews but never made the leap that many of the other bands at the time made. The rhythm section in the Secret Machines was always the focus of their superb songs, with most songs rocking out for more than 5 minutes its definitely one that once the rhythm section got you hooked you would waste the next 50 minutes of your life bobbing your head along to this album!
Listen To: Nowhere Again
48. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
When they first came over to the UK, I went to see them at the Borderline with my sister (cheers Imran for sorting us out with tickets). Their songs were infectious they made you feel like you were in the middle of summer, their African influenced guitar sound juxtaposed with Ezra’s American high pitched voice made this album the perfect start to a dreary 2008, it livened up January by filling a void after the X-Factor infested Christmas period and made people take notice of their superb songs.
Listen To: Walcott
47. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not
The excitement that surrounded the Arctic Monkeys debut album was second to none, they had gone to #1 in the singles chart and sold out a mammoth UK tour. When ‘Whatever People Say I am…’ dropped the country truly went crazy for the Sheffield lads, they sold 360,000 copies in the first week becoming the largest week 1 sales for a debut album. They were proud to sing in their northern accents and playing at 100mph, nobody could believe that these 18 years olds had written something so impressive as this album and it will be talked about in years to come.
Listen To: Fake Tales of San Francisco
46. Black Lips – Good Bad Not Evil
‘Good Bad Not Evil’ was Black Lips first UK full release, the album came out and made waves with their jangly surfer and weird lyrics. The raucous sound which they brought along with the album and coining the term ‘Psychedelic Punks’ just added to the hype surrounding their insane live shows, they finally captured it on this album bringing an explosive sound which not only will make you go to their next show but also consider getting involved in some of the crazy antics that happen at the shows!
Listen To: O Katrina!
45. Ali Farka Toure – Savane
This was Ali Farka Toure’s final album before he died in 2006, he is considered to be one of the most influential African musicians and this album, he was known as the ‘African John Lee Hooker’. This album was released after his death but you can hear that he wanted to be remembered for his amazing guitar playing and beautiful songs, he was suffering from bone cancer whilst recording it and thus stayed in Mali to record it. The laid back African blues that you hear is the finest you will ever hear on record and his voice soft and humble left us with the finest work of one of the finest African artists that will ever record.
Listen To: Soya
44. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarous, Dig!!
It took me a long time to understand the genius that is Nick Cave, I liked the occasional song but could never handle an entire album. When the Australian released ‘Dig, Lazarous, Dig!!’ something finally clicked, his voice rough and rocking songs made sense. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds made a return to form with this album, before this they seemed like they would fade out into mediocrity like most artists 14 album’s into their career would do, however here we have a superb album which will open a catalogue of gems to whoever listens to it.
Listen To: We Call Upon The Author
43. Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Texas band Explosions in the Sky released their fifth album ‘All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone’ in 2007, it took 2 years to record this album however the post rock instrumental tracks on this album make it in my opinion their finest work. With post rock being pretty inaccessible to the general population I felt that ‘All of a sudden’ was the genre’s most approachable album, the way that Explosions in the Sky have written the songs makes me believe that you would enjoy this album without the love of instrumental wig outs!
Listen To: So Long, Lonesome
42. Death from Above 1979 – You’re A Woman I’m A Machine
DFA 1979 only released this one album as a duo, one damn awesome album! It rocked soo hard, the line up was simple bass and drums! The songs were simple, absolute kickass hard rocking tunes! The bass riffs that Jesse Keeler produces on the album are second to none and definitely prove that sometimes there is just no need for the six string shotgun when you have four strings that make that sound! When they split up all that they left for us to remember them was this 1 album with its remixes, its something that needs to be owned before you can no longer find it.
Listen To: Black History Month
41. Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
The boss has always been a personal favorite, when he announced that he was reforming the E-Street Band I was overjoyed. The result was an album that he felt had to be written about the terrorist attacks on New York in 2001. Rumor has it that he wrote the album when a stranger wound down his window of the car and told him “we need you now”, this inspiration has meant that Bruce has found the touch that made him such a great songwriter and continued this through several more albums since the Rising.
Listen To: The Rising
40. Kings Of Leon – Because of the Times
The Followill clan came to age on this third album, the songs had more depth than before and were clearly more relaxed when writing, the album is mellower but with a larger sound than was found before. Nathan’s drums really pound through the album as Caleb screams through the infectious ‘Charmer’. Its particularly hard to decide which Kings of Leon album is their finest work, I found that ‘Because of the Times’ showed the perfect transition from the rock and roll family travelling band to the successful Kings of Leon that we now know.
Listen To: My Party
39. The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die
The Prodigy used to be amazing, however after they released Fat of the Land in 1997 they started to loose their edge and became just another mainstream dance band. They returned back to their roots for 2009’s ‘Invaders Must Die’ with a heavier old school dance feel that they had lost. The beats returned to being heavier and the music faster and more intense than it had been on their previous two efforts, tracks like ‘Take Me To The Hospital’, ‘Omen’ and ‘Thunder’ were clear nods to their past, the album’s finale ‘Stand up’ is a perfect closer with the happy vibe closing off a perfect return to form.
Listen To: Warrior’s Dance
38. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Modest Mouse’s fame grew a large amount upon the release of ‘Float On’ however I felt that they finally produced their finest album to date with the release of ‘We Were Dead….’ It was their first album with new recruit Johnny Marr of Smith’s fame who was on guitar for this album, he clearly added some of his experience, the album’s nautical theme seemed to strangely make this more accessible and it went on to sell half a million copies and rightly so this album is a classic and I would say the starting point for anyone wanting to get into Modest Mouse.
Listen To: Dashboard
37. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s released Fever To Tell in 2003 and the album took a while to grow in popularity, however with their live shows being superb people were talking about Karen O and the YYY’s, ‘Date with the Night’ smashed onto the airwaves and brought more attention to the New York scene that seemed to be producing hits like Detroit was with Motown! They were the first female fronted band to come out of that scene that had songs, attitude and one of the most energetic live shows around as a result ‘Fever To Tell’ captures that energy and sound to form a gem of the YYY’s amazing sound.
Listen to: Y Control
36. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
Thom Yorke decided to release a solo album between Radiohead’s ‘Hail to the Thief’ and ‘In Rainbow’s’ he limited the promotion of the album to a number of appearances, but had written an album that would show us exactly why he is considered one of the finest musicians around. ‘The Eraser’ is heavily based on electro beats and sounds like it was written partly during the ‘Kid A’ era, the songs are once again dark but staggeringly mesmerizing.
Listen To: Harrowdown Hill
35. Beastie Boys – To the 5 Boroughs
The Beastie Boys were about to turn 40, they released an album that looked at the 5 boroughs of New York after the September 11 attacks. The result of this album was great it brought their first album for 6 years and showed that they still had what it takes to write great rhymes and execute them to perfection.
Listen to: An Open Letter to NYC
34. The Polyphonic Spree – The Beginning Stages Of
The epitome of summertime, the Spree are twenty-three members strong and recorded the most joyful album of the decade. Tim Delaughter and friends proceeded to record songs such as ‘It’s the Sun’, ‘Day’s like this keep me warm’ and ‘Hanging Around the Day’ which brought the pleasure of the summer sun into music, when they performed at Glastonbury in 2004 they had just been dropped but playing this upbeat music in the sunshine on the Pyramid stage meant that their record sales grew 200%, they have continued on recording but this is the perfect summertime driving album.
Listen To: Soldier Girl
33. The Music – The Music
Hailing from Leeds they are the true answer to music that the city was looking for, breaking through out of school The Music brought their dance, psychedelic groove to the masses. They released ‘Take the long road and walk it’ in 2001 which made them Britain’s most interesting unsigned band. Once they released their Eponymous debut album in 2002 they broke through to show the UK that we had an answer to the US bands that were coming over, with unashamable dance moves Robert Harvey grooved his way onto people’s radars, bringing this album into the forefront and the finest that this band have produced.
Listen To: Getaway
32. Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds
Owen Pallet wrote the string arrangements for The Arcade Fire, also working with The Last Shadow puppets he is highly regarded for his strings. However its Final Fantasy which is his solo project which makes people realise the genius that can be found within his music. He writes a perfect mixture of classical and contemporary music, his songs build up making the most beautiful arrangements in popular music, live he plays everything himself using recording loops. This album has some of the finest music that will be found over the decade and is definitely worth a listen.
Listen To: This Lamb Sells Condos
31. Justice - †
French electro duo Justice released ‘†’ to critical acclaim in 2007, the album took a while to build but they have become the largest Ed Banger Records band in the time since their release. They remixed Simians ‘Never Be Alone’ to bring a hit that brought them prominence in the UK in 2006 paving the way perfectly for the release of ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ to build for one of the largest songs of 2007, paving the way perfectly for the massive release of ‘†’. The album meant they were able to record one of the strangest touring films ‘A cross the universe’ which documented their US tour and is one of the most amusing documentaries on modern music, definitely worth a watch!
Listen To: TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY
30. The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Damon Albarn just can’t stop working on new albums, after Blur he formed Gorillaz, following that stint on with a supergroup featuring Paul Simonon (the Clash), Simon Tong (Verve/Gorillaz) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti’s drummer). They recorded this one album before splitting the project but it stands as one of Albarn’s most interesting work, much more laid back the songs have clearly been written by a mature Damon Albarn who has gained pop success for the past decade, this album showed that there was more to his recordings than just commercial pop songs.
Listen To: Herculean
29. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends
Returning after a hiatus, they came over to the UK to play All Tomorrows Party. They returned to the studio and recorded their first album in several years, the result was outstanding. Their break had clearly worked in giving them a new found excitement in songwriting and meant they released an album that was far more accessible than their previous efforts. The album mixes some calmer indie tracks with some harder rocking tunes and makes this their finest album to date.
Listen To: Patty Lee
28. The Distillers – Coral Fang
I love Brody Dalle, she is the coolest woman in rock, has now married Josh Homme and recorded some of the best punk music in the past decade. ‘Coral Fang’ was their first album on a major label, most of their original fan base found that this was a weaker album than their previous efforts. I personally preferred this album to their previous efforts, Brody’s voice smashing over the top of the album making it one of the more exciting recordings the Distillers made.
Listen To: Die On a Rope
27. The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God
‘Machina’ brought Jimmy Chamberlin back into the lineup after accidentally overdosing years previously and killing the keyboardist. This album brought the Pumpkins back to what they did best which was to record a variety of musical styles with amazing parts keeping and Billy Corgan’s voice whining over the top. The album is a perfect example of what makes the Smashing Pumpkins one of the finest bands that has ever played. It was a shame that they split up and were unable to reform with James Iha and Melissa Auf der Maur several years later.
Listen To: The Everlasting Gaze
26. Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope
Regina Spektor has become one of the most interesting female solo artists, she has developed an amazing style of songwriting as well as retaining the edge which makes her acceptable for any musical background. ‘Samson’ has to be one of the finest tracks to ever be recorded, its beauty will transform you into a Regina fan. ‘That Time’ brings us one of the stranger recordings that Regina has performed but shows the chameleon character that she beholds.
Listen To: On The Radio
25. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
Dropping his Brummy accent faster than Tiger Woods hits on a chick at a bar, Mike Skinner recorded ‘Original Pirate Material’ and released it trying to take garage into the mainstream, he explains this on ‘Let’s push things forward’. He also performs two different walks of life on ‘The irony of it all’ telling the story of a law abiding citizen who likes to get drunk and into fights, and the pot smoking student who is taking the illegal drums with no recorded deaths. ‘Original Pirate Material’ is definitely Mike Skinners finest work, it was nominated for a Mercury Music award and should have beaten Miss Dynamite for the award.
Listen To: Weak Become Heroes
Merry Christmas and see you in the new year!
