albums of the decade - 1. The National - Boxer (2007)

1. The National - Boxer (2007)

albums of the decade - 2. Radiohead - Kid A

2. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

This started everything for me. Music. Discussion. Friends. Yea, I was a Radiohead fan in school. We wore plain clothes though and we ate the occasional burger. We wore black sometimes, but that was mainly restricted to the 'other kids'. I used to talk about this and Jay-Z and The Strokes and stuff. I think everyone knows enough about Kid A to put up with some shit puns. "The anti-commerical album that your Auntie would hate" Or; "The Grandfather of rocktronica that's more paranoid than your Grandmother" It's hard to say what it means to me exactly, my music writing days are coming to an end. I pressed play in 2000 and 'Everything In Its Right Place' came raining down on me, it was amazing, it's like Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons in music form. Fuck, I'm listening now and it feels like I'm having the most addictive thing known to animals; it's crazy. 'Kid A' is the next song and that's the most progressive, cute song on the album. 'The National Anthem' still blows my mind with the brass and 'How To Disappear Completely' is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. 'Optimistic' is vintage Radiohead and then 'In Limbo' breaks out into 'Idioteque' and bang - Beats, paranoia, dark being beautiful. 'Morning Bell' smells like potassium in a chemistry lesson, it's dangerous but contagious and 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' rounds the album off like a Disney Film. I'm writing this like it's my album if the decade but it's for my head definitely and the one above has so much heart, it just about clinches it.

albums of the decade - 3. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001)

3. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001)

To sum it up in a word: 'samples'. To go off on a different tangent: All I want to do is travel and experience loads of good shit and this will be my companion. One minute you're on the beach in Spain and then you're exploring Korea and then you're in a Chicago nightclub having a cocktail: "Welcome to paradise" is the first thing you hear on this album and I've not heard a record that sets out its stall so early like this one. It's time to go on a bit of a rant: "Where the fuck are The Avalanches? Do you fancy coming back for a bit? Would be nice! It's been a few years you little punks, or should I say producers? Come on! Get your groove on! Oh shit, you already have! Well maybe it's time to do it again! Next decade? Coooome back!"

albums of the decade - 4. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR

4. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (2000)

The greatest DJ that ever lived was John Peel. He used to play Bulgarian folk and then Brazilian drum and bass. The clearest memory I hold onto though was his praise for this monster. He talked about how he had heard a lot of crazy stuff in over 30 years on the BBC, but that nothing had prepared him for this. It's total war, a fucking assault on your ears. 'Keep Your Dreams' is a beautiful ballad but apart from that, you have to be prepared. 'Exterminator' is almost like it pre-determined all the shit that was about to kick off over the next few years; it's incredible. It's basically the attitude of punk mixed with the execution of rock & roll with mad electronic shit going on all over the shop, and it's still not too heavy. 'Accelerator' is LOUD though. I think this album has single-handedly caused my tinnitus. Thanks John Peel. God bless.

albums of the decade - 5. TV on The Radio - Dear Science

5. TV on The Radio - Dear Science (2008)

Brings the funk. Talks about the state of the world. Does a whole lot of sheeeeeyit. I don't really wanna write about all these records anymore, I just wanna enjoy them but this list has been worth it. 'Dear Science' reminds me of Prince for the vocal ability and Radiohead for the innovation. I was first introduced to the band in 2002 with the debut 'Young Liars EP' and in 'Staring At The Sun' I immediately heard their gorgeous potential. Skip forward six years and they drop 'Dear Science,' the bands fourth and most melodious album. It may not be as progressive as 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes' or 'Return To Cookie Mountain' but it's that irresistible vibe that's made by influences HERE>>>>>>>>>> that seals the deal. I don't wanna write much more but there's only four to go now and it's been a whole lot of fun.

albums of the decade - 6. Daft Punk - Discovery

6. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)

In this stylish age, to come up with something that never came before is tough. Daft Punk implemented Kraftwerk, Bowie, Moroder and more into 'Discovery'. Ain't no thing. The best wine in the world will still be made with grapes and will perhaps have blackberries. Maybe not, maybe it'll some vanilla. I dunno. Daft Punk would probably put some garlic in there if they had their wicked way. What is absolutely certain though is that 'Discovery' is sui generis. In 2001, Daft Punk were all over Face Magazine as robots and everyone was going crazy. After 'Kid A' this was the next true heavyweight of an album for this decade, with kilo's and kilo's of hype behind it, and it was even better than that! On a personal note, the best year I ever had, was when I studied in Miami and spent a lot of time chasing around the city, going from art show to gig to bar in a car, and this was the album that united all the students in that crazy international car-chase of a year. More objectively: it's a dead heat between this and 'Homework' for best Daft Punk album. But it's like saying what's better: a donkey or a monkey?

albums of the decade - 7. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

7. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)

'Singer-songwriter' implies someone sat down with a guitar in Starbucks. That would be too risqué for that slut of a coffee-house anyroad. Sufjan is a composer. When you listen to the orchestral arrangements in 'Come on! Feel the Illinoise!' the positive energy that bounds around the room- let alone down the corridor during my first year at university - is gargantuan. The lofty ambition to release an album for each American state is a funny joke and even if it keeps the fans hanging on to the artist's every last move, then so what if you speculate what Hawaii would sound like? 'Illinois' meanwhile sounds just like the state itself, and - Yes! I haven't been before! Or, should say it sounds like a novel? Or, an history article in that Sufjan researched a whole boatload of culture for? Maybe it's a live performance waiting to happen? Maybe he'll play this at the Albert Hall in order one day or maybe or maybe. Maybe he'll top this. I'll make the leap now: I dare say he will. Or as they say in America: "He Weeyil: When he releases his dark masterpiece he sure weeeeeeeyilll."

albums of the decade- 8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights

8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)

Interpol are a democracy, meaning that they are not friends, but they are in the band for the music and everyone has an equal say. I only found this out recently, but it puts 2002 in perspective when I saw them play live and at the afterparty, each member was on his own getting drunk. Well 'on their own,' as in surrounded by indie girls. Their peculiar personalities are all shadowed together in a debut that sounds like it could be a band five albums in, never mind just starting out. The conviction here is unparalleled. The atmosphere created is brooding and confiding. Discovering Interpol is like hearing a dark secret and the longer time goes on, the stronger the widsom it departs, not that the record makes that much sense, as the lyrics are often very abstract like in 'Obstacle 1':

"We can cap the old times, make playing only logical harm
We can cap the old lines, make playing that nothing else will change"

Often compared to Joy Division and The Cure,Interpol are sat somewhere between the two. Not as dark as the former and not as poppy as the latter. They have their own angular, choppy standards that is so New York, no wonder they're so unique. Will make the top-spot with many.

albums of the decade 9. Cyne - Evolution Flight

9. Cyne - Evolution Flight (2007)

I miss Stylusmagazine and it's a shame it became defunct in 2007. Here's what they had to say about the best rap album of the decade:

"The kind of album that seems like an old favourite within a matter of days, Evolution Flight never becomes too comfortable, trading complacency for an innate listenability that continues to thrill and surprise well beyond the usual sell by date. Portraying their homeland as a prostitute in “a tight mini-skirt with scandals in her hair,” dolling out hand-jobs for oil and gold on “Fuck America,” Cyne emit a resigned acceptance rather than a militant mindset, a position immediately juxtaposed on “Growing”; wherein a well worn batch of clichéd, self-help bollocks are twisted into a veiled call for arms. Elsewhere Cyne plagiarise some Prefuse (or even Jackson Fourgeaud) production with their Tyler Durden rant of “clever ringtones define me…” on “Automaton,” whilst “Fallen Stars” is just happy to gleefully reference Kraftwerk over a broiling electro-soused sample that collapses in a fit of breezeblock breaks when the finish line swings into sight. Self-assured as opposed to unappealingly cocksure, Evolution Flight would be a towering achievement based on any criteria you chose to elect"

albums of the decade - 10. The xx - The xx

10. The xx - The xx (2009)

The idea sounds so simple at first. How has this never been done before? It's not that simple though. The xx sound so settled without being too cosy. If this album were upholstery, it would be a nice hard bed. It's like pure, pure water but won't mug you by costing as much as a beer in a corporate titty bar in the city. 'The xx' is like 'Blue Lines' that Massive Attack debuted at the top of the 1990's in that it creates a duvet kind of ambiance without being too fluffy like Jamiroquai or a soft bed. The male and female vocalists work together with such classic duality; as great individual voices bound by opposing forces attracting one-another. The production is minimal. Guitars twang quality(er, do you mean quietly? - ed) Little beats slip around into one-another. The tone belongs to London, much like Burial's 'Untrue'; lonely; alienated; let's stick together. Confusion. Clarity. Lovely. There are many different sensations you can get from this accomplished piece of work and I haven't got half of them yet.

albums of the decade - 11. Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank The Cradle

11. Iron & Wine- The Creek Drank The Cradle (2002)

This could be called lo-fi, introspective folk, a lover whispering in your ear at night, many things in fact. But it's more like poetry to guitar. Dustedmagazine examined up Sam Beam's songwriting approach better than I ever could:

"One of the album's overt preoccupations is with animals, and they're examined with a child's sense of wonder and association. For Beam, love hides in lion manes, cuckolding men swoop down like birds stealing bread, and worry slinks like a snake in the creek bed. But these things eclipse metaphor, existing as parts of a tangible patchwork of birds and beasts, hard times and good, all unfolding in an immediate southern landscape. In "Faded From Winter", a gently autumnal guitar melody carries Beam's voice as if on a gust of wind – only very quietly and self-effacingly there at all – as he attempts to unravel the secrets of a family member, "a poem of mystery / the prayer inside me", by way, in part, of the dog sleeping on the floor beside them. It's one of many cases in which every word feels purposeful, and the mentioned texture of "needlework and seedlings" offsets perfectly the wonderful overdubbed harmony of Beam's vocals. Because he very smartly doesn't perceive the need to overstep and add flourish to his rudimentary approach, Beam concentrates very skillfully on the cadence of each word, the resonant twang of each note, and affects in a way that too many miss in over-reaching."

albums of the decade - 12. The Strokes - Room On Fire

12. The Strokes - Room On Fire (2003)

The production's turned up louder,everything is bigger, brighter and better for this album that finds the best dressed band around hit their 20's and still experience some angst but really get things rolling as per '12:51':

"We could go and get 40s

Fuck goin' to that party
Oh really, your folks are away now?
Alright, let's go, you convinced me"

The Strokes were not just media darlings in 2003. They were forced to refine their sound. They pulled out some new-wave and reggae influences. They rocked out a lot harder on 'Reptilia' and sounded like a prom-band on 'Automatic Stop.' One of the most influential bands of the decade;they got the whole buzz-band thing going. Julian Casablancas and company were on top form on their second effort, creating a great, great going-out album.

albums of the decade - 13. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030

13. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2005)

albums of the decade - 14. David Holmes - Bow Down To The Exit Sign

14. David Holmes - Bow Down To The Exit Sign (2000)

This is a concept album in the sense that it's a soundtrack for a film that never was. The styles ooze from vintage soul to psychedelic rock and the aesthetic is grainy and gritty like a great film. It's Holmes' ode to NYC and he quite frequently would go downtown with a dictaphone and record the eccentric characters and then add his beats and melodies to proceedings. There are a wealth of guests to add their own footprint. Bobby Gillespie from primal Scream sounds all punky and barks like a dog on heat in 'Sick City', Carl Hancock Rux, who appears elsewhere on this list, sings a very psychedelic soul song called 'Compared To What' and Jon Spencer features on the severe and damaging heartsickness of 'Bad Thing.' It's a dark experience but the climax of 'Hey Lisa' offers a beacon of light on a raw album of stunning virtue.

albums of the decade - 15. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

15 - Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (2008)

albums of the decade - 16. Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi

16. Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi (2002)

Maybe the most sinister album of all time, Boards of Canada are not as obviously frightful as Aphex Twin and don't exactly need to make a music video like 'Windowlicker' to show it. Instead, Geogaddi incorporates compressed children's voices counting over geometric beats, along with unnerving robotic voices and it's like those bad childhood dreams, where you'd wake up and not be able to get back to sleep. This album had an OCD with Mathematics as well with song titles such as 'The Smallest Weird Number' and 'A is to B as B is to C' and the satanic running length is 66:06. To make things even more fucked up, if you listen to the album on drugs, you're supposed to be transported to a place of jumbo absurdity.

albums of the decade - 17. Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life

17. Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life (2007)

People say that this sounds like the blues. That's true, the blues began in Africa though. It's interesting how music can project itself onto a continent and then back again. From Africa to North America and vice versa. Tinariwen use electric guitars, which a Westerner wouldn't expect from a band from Mali, and one chord often suffices in their music and it's this that reels the listener in. 'Aman Iman' sounds silmultanously joyous and heartbreaking, the affection here is very intense. Not understanding the language and discussions needn't matter either. The range and emotion in the music carries the conviction. The band have been active from 1979 and that's incredible. They met in a refugee camp and courtesy of Wikipedia "they sing about the suffering and exile of their people, the semi-nomadic Kel Tamashek of the southern Sahara, and about their beauty of the desert home". They have a story to tell and here it is to cherish.

albums of the decade - 18. M.I.A. - Kala

18. M.I.A. - Kala (2007)

Near genius with the occasional misfire, 'Kala' takes so many risks, it divides opinion like the capitalism it attacks. It shrouds itself in bling, yet makes a mockery of global enterprise in 'Paper Planes.' Maya Arulpragasm's second LP is a record of many contradictions, many continents and many voices - even abroriginal schoolkids rapping on 'Mango Pickle'. It's an album of colour, an album that shreds up the Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' into something that recycles the original so much that it isn't classed as a cover on '20 Dollar' and an album we shouldn't pigeonhole. On 'Kala,' M.I.A. is as daring, courageous and as vital a cultural icon as anyone else in modern art.

albums of the decade - 19. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

19. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (2007)

One humongous rollercoaster. One big dance-off. One catalogue of influences from The Fall to Daft Punk to The Sonics. One great shakedown. One fashionable album. One more from NYC. One guy who's not afraid to shift styles like a lizard changes colours. One great champion. One of the best middles of an album ever in 'Someone Great' and 'All My Friends'. One great producer. One great frontman. One that's inspired by the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and that reflects this decade perhaps like no other. One that distils musicology into something funky and fertile. Here's the treasure.

albums of the decade - 20. Port-Royal - Afraid To Dance

20. Port-Royal - Afraid To Dance (2007)

From Cokemachineglow:

"If Afraid to Dance favours technique and production over the development of actual songs it nevertheless finds the band far enough ahead of most post-rock that they actually point towards new directions for the genre. I still feel as if there are two sides of this band fighting for precedence; one trying for a more updated version of ambient house, and one steering towards something more abstract and drone-based. The fact that the band incorporates both into their style keeps the music from being either too lulling or too rote and mechanical, giving the listener something that's warm, elegant, and mysterious all at once"

From my own Wonderful Place blog:

"This changed the way I perceived the idea of an album...Afraid to Dance instead employs a sonic ethic in that everything binds together, it's all about texture here. Embraced in its electronica are the ideas of Godspeed, Sigur Ros and Spiritualized. These Italians do beats and melodies to a stunning degree on their second album. Soak it up"

albums of the decade - 21. Juana Molina - Segundo

21. Juana Molina - Segundo (2003)

Extract from the review of 'Segundo' from Stylusmagazine, December 2003:

"The beautiful thing about this record, and what makes me continue to eject it from it’s spot on my shelf between Mirah and Morrissey are the little treasures: the sudden appearance of harmonizing male vocals on “Martin Fierro”; the shaker that pops up halfway through “¿Quién?”; the squiggling synths dancing to Juana’s “la da da’s” on “Mantra del Bicho Feo”; Juana quietly whispering “don’t be so dense” underneath the Spanish vocals on “El Desconfiado”; the reverberating echo on the beautiful piano ballad “Vaca Que Cambia de Querencia”; the sonaric bubbles surfacing on “Sonamos”; and the four minute extended bass thumping instrumental closing the record.

And so here I am repenting for my curses against Juana’s ancient tongue. I am penitent, I am ashamed, I am still not sure why the language has so many forms of “to be” or why it inverts question marks and exclamation points, but I am sorry. I still prefer Arabic, though"

albums of the decade - 22. Deerhunter - Microcastle

22. Deerhunter - Microcastle (2008)

A bleak, paranoid album that is one of the most rock & roll projects made in this wild ten years that we call a decade. Highs, lows, lots of restraint, rock and roll that doesn't brag a lot. Here, look at the lyrics as the album starts with 'Agoraphobia:'

"Come for me
You come for me
Come for me
Comfort me

Come for me
Cover me

Come for me
Comfort me"

This brings inevitable rumours about heroin and coming back from the brink, along with comparisons with My Bloody Valentine. But this is far from shoegaze. It's the sound of a band who should soundtrack the wildest of dreams; a lucid tapestry.

albums of the decade - 23. Caribou - Up In Flames

23. Caribou - Up In Flames (2003)

One of the best live performances I have ever seen was at the Coronet Theatre in London, where Dan Snaith and his band took to the stage in cat masks and played a psychedelic set of folktronica. There was a lot of bleeps and squiggles and a set of great vocals that was sheer fun. 'Up In Flames' finds Four Tet, The Beach Boys and Lynrd Sknyrd all put into a blender to offer a sugary, yet dusty record. The album opens with 'I've Lived On A Dirt Road All My Life' that sounds crickets, lots of drums and what could be a travelling circus. Next track 'Skunks' brings more wildlife as the track finishes up with croaking frogs. There's a largely playful element to'Up In Flames' and Caribou's second album is a major kaleidoscopic ride through the back-roads of America.

albums of the decade - 24. Burial - Untrue

24. Burial - Untrue (2007)

London. This is the sound of urban subtlety that can be both grainy and urbane. 'Urban' here isn't defined by skin colour, choice of clothes, or a visual aesthetic - even Milton Keynes has beauty within its ugliness -no, urban is the whole city. 'Untrue' wouldn't dismiss the suits. Hell no. When you walk home from a shift at Abbey National and it's teeming it down with rain and you have no change for the bus and you turn up your i-pod and find comfort in an Usain Bolt Nike poster as you'd like to run home as fast as he could. The city. You can hear London in this LP. The smog, the loneliness, the traffic. Crisp beats speak with with the texture of pure vinyl in record of anonymity. "Once upon a time it was you I adored" sings the unknown vocalist on 'In Mcdonalds' in a reflective tone that stays consistent. It even rains a few times on Untrue, most beautifully in 'Shell Of Light,' that makes it feel like you're walking through the city.

I've tried to mimic the artist's own words in an interview with pastemagazine he explained his outlook:

"I like putting uplifting elements in something that’s moody as fuck. Make them appear for a moment, and then take them away. That’s the sound I love…like embers in the tune…little glowing bits of vocals…they appear for a second, then fade away and you’re left with an empty, sort of air-duct sound…something that’s eerie and empty. Like you’re waiting just inside a newsagent in the rain…a little sanctuary, then you walk out in it. I love that" - Burial -

albums of the decade - 25. Edan - Beauty and The Beat

25. Edan - Beauty and The Beat (2005)

This was another one of my Number 1 albums of the year at the time so I'll let the past version of myself take it away. Lifted from my other 'Wonderful Place' blog:

"A psychedelic spree involving lucid rhymes, dynamite production and trips into new territories of funk, rock and verbiage that innovates and arises something new on even the five hundredth listen...Beauty and the Beat meant that Boston based Edan zoomed to the top of the pile of producers and microphone controllers, making his sophomore record a lost classic already. It got mass praise in reviews right across the spec. and stays phenomenally consistent thoughout its short and sweet 34 minutes. Edan's confounding ability to mix in the splashes of colour that stems from the visual art that inspires him is nothing short of staggering on 'I see Colors' and 'Beauty' especially. Signing off is always important if you wanna make a classic, and the (self-proclaimed) 'Humble Magnificent' delivers, in beautiful closer 'Promised Land' - confirming Edan as the Henry Matisse of hip-hop, if you like."

albums of the decade - 26. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

26. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)

This album could soundtrack a Wes Anderson film. It's so bright and breezy, it could sail all day, sailing its own little ship, docking into the port of New Jersey, not giving a regard for an Oxford Comma. Yea it's a real hoot, it's like a student party where rich kids party because they are safe in the knowledge that they're bright, they're not arrogant, just privileged and you can't blame them. If you gave a Mcdonalds worker the offer of a scholarship at Yale, they'd probably take it, not that they'd be able to hack the assignments, they should be able to hack the pace though as they have to serve up Whoppers and wash their hands to the bell at lightspeed. Whoppers, whoops that's Burger King. This album is a whopper, but it's not greasy, it's not that meaty either, but it's addictive like fast food can be. It is fast too, zips by in just over half an hour and you're left wanting more, more, more. Vampire Weekend galore!

albums of the decade - 27. Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet

27. Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet (2006)

This is a staggering album of white noise and it shimmers and breathes and floats and rocks back and forth and I can't put it into better words than brainwashed.com:

"Harmony in Ultraviolet is Tim Hecker's sixth album. It is a continuation of Hecker's interest in spectral communications, noise, impressionist musics, thresholds of listening pleasure/pain, and the limits of digital composition. This album is a significant development of his song-craft, challenging the usefulness of descriptors such as ambient, drone, metal, noise and even electronic music. If references are necessary it could be described as a sonata for the elements, songs of crackling embers, tidal pools, spruce skylines and autumn winds. Gerhard Richter's abstract paintings are also a fair orientation. Materially speaking, it is a record of whirring drones, whispering fissures, dense disintegrating chords, late-night noise and truth-telling harmonics. Yet this record follows no overarching process, no underlying narrative. It is both a homage for the Italian partigiani and also not at all. It is songs about ghost writing and midnight whispers but then again it isn't. In many ways this album can be viewed as a work of total destruction, embracing indeterminacy as an aesthetic ideal.

albums of the decade - 28. Bjork - Vespertine

28. Bjork - Vespertine (2001)

Lifted from the blog Trouserpress: Bjork wrote to the newspaper I interned at - The Reykjavik Grapevine - during the summer of 2008 while I was there on an internship to comment on sexism in modern music and we responded. The coverage was just as brilliant as her greatest and incredibly textured album 'Vesperine':

Bjork:

"It could be that this is some degree of sexism. m.i.a. had to deal with this with the respected website pitchfork.com where they assumed that diplo had produced all of her kala album without reading any credit list or nothing , it just had to be, it couldn’t have been m.i.a. herself! it feel like still today after all these years people cannot imagine that woman can write, arrange or produce electronic music. i have had this experience many many times that the work i do on the computer gets credited to whatever male was in 10 meter radius during the job. people seem to accept that women can sing and play whatever instrument they are seen playing but they cannot program, arrange, produce, edit or write electronic music"

Trouserpress:

Pitchfork responded. So did Valgeir, and blogger after blogger. But is it all just a storm in a soundboard? Sveinn Birkir Björnsson, the editor of The Reykjavík Grapevine, seems to think so. The latest issue runs the following response alongside Björk’s original letter:

Grapevine:

Dear Björk,

After carefully reviewing past issues of the Grapevine, I have reached the conclusion that you are referring to a list in the back pages of Issue 10, where DJ B Ruff is asked to name his favorite albums. At number three, he names your album Vespertine and his full answer goes: “A little heavy but it’s really impressive how well Björk’s voice mingles with Valgeir Sigurðsson’s instrumentals. My favourite Björk album.”

Seeing as this is a direct quote to DJ B Ruff, we have a hard time correcting him, without directly misquoting him. It is our policy to rather let people be wrong than misquoted.

The Grapevine has never claimed that Valgeir Sigurðsson was directly involved in the creative process of your album. In fact we have in the past published interviews with Valgeir where he directly refutes this.

But I do hope that this input from you will finally correct what seems to be a common misconception.

Editor

It’s a bit embarrassing to criticise people for not doing their research properly and then be caught out doing the same. But regardless of whether she’s right or wrong on the specifics, Björk has a point. And that’s just one reason why Wears The Trousers exists, and one more reason to love her.

(as if we needed another…)

albums of the decade - 29 The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

29. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (2007)

Alex Willner looks like a modern Hitler:

Thankfully his electronica is even more modern sounding. Here's what it might look like:

albums of the decade 30. - Fever Ray - Fever Ray

30. Fever Ray - Fever Ray (2009)

Swedish duo The Knife created one of the most unique and eerie sounds of the decade. Pitchfork temporarily labelled it "haunted house" but that tag didn't stick. It's a shame it didn't really as with a bit of fine-tuning, Fever Ray, aka. Karin Dreijer Andersson of said band made something consistent and even more concentrated in its hauntedness. There are shades of Bjork in 'When I Grow Up', early Madonna in 'Seven' and Brian Eno in 'Keep The Streets Empty For Me, but it's Andersson's own identity that's most paramount in this highly filmic classic that's scary but definitely not a horrorshow!

Exc. 'Seven'

"Accompany me by the kitchen sink

We talk about love, we talk about dishwasher tablets, illness
And we dream about heaven

I know it, I think I know it from a hymn
They've said so, it doesn't need more explanation
A box to open up with light and sound
Making you cold
Very cold"

albums of the decade - 31. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

31. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun (2000)

A masterpiece. When I first heard 'Svefn-G-Englar' in 1999 on a free CD, it took my breath away, I couldn't put it into words, so here I let the critics do that for the album it came off:

"Each song drifts in and out of focus like snatches of street noise on a half-awake Sunday morning - no need to get up, just lie there and listen quietly" - Armchair DJ -

"Agaetis Byrjun stands up in overall artistic merit to any record ever made." - Nude as the News-

"Sigur Rós effortlessly make music that is massive, glacial, and sparse..... They are the first vital band of the 21st Century" - Pitchfork-

"As foolish as it seems to say that any music is 100 percent new, I've never heard anything like this before." - Popmatters-

albums of the decade - 32. The Rapture - Echoes

32. The Rapture - Echoes (2003)

Punk funk. Call this what you want. This fuses so much into one tight dynamite listening experience. Their following album was called 'Pieces of The People We Love' but they should have called this that. This is the ultimate in postmodernity, taking little bits from here, there and everywhere and adding extremity, intensity and technicolour shades on its denim sleeves. This record defined a whole summer, even though it sounds more autumnal, as I played it on the road, travelling the UK, doing street fund-raising, back when it wasn't quite so annoying to be stopped on the street. We actually did really well, taking in Belfast, Brighton and Manchester to name but three cities. I even made some Rapture jeans with loads of song titles from 'Echoes' doodled on with fabric paints. I have only just dug them up from my garage and I think I'm gonna cut them up and use them as patches as I have loads of jeans that need mending as I always end up with gaping holes in the right knee from silly nights out.

albums of the decade - 33. The National - Alligator

33. The National - Alligator (2005)

People will throw recommendations all over the place at everyone and most of them will stink. Sometimes ears prick up and once in a lifetime a suggestion will hit the spot just like Sudocrem. One not-so-gentle-gent I know put this CD in my direction in York one day in late 2006 and I was wary, not of him like I am of his play-fights, but of something I'd never considered listening to. Why then, when I take pride in getting out the comfort zone in many things in life, could I not apply this attitude in accepting a band that's absolutely suited to fit? It's all here: abstract lyrics, sizzling energy, various shifts in tone and mood, layered guitars, a voice that's been drinking and an outlook that contains a wallop of wit. One of the songs of the decade is contained within, in the form of 'Mr. November' which punches President Bush in his silly face in a fast, spiky track with great words: "I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders" is one line, that fits in with the bragging nature of the biggest calamity ever known to mankind. There's plenty more where that came from too, way too much to mention, and now I recommend this to you.

albums of the decade - 34. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World

34. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (2001)

Some of the loopiest shit ever. This shit should save the world. This shit should be played to all the boys and girls. This futuristic sounding album puts the beams around the world. It's not the end of the world. This album means the world. This album is one of the best things in the world ever. This album contains some of the best and loopiest songs ever like 'Juxtaposed With U' in which they tried to get Brian Harvey from East 17 to guest on but he refused HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Exc. 'It's Not The End Of The World'

"When you fall asleep
Before the end of the day
You start to worry

Like when the taxi comes
To take you away
When you're in no hurry

Yet as our hair turns white
All the stars still shine so bright, above
At least...

...It's not the end of the world"

albums of the decade - 35. Eels - Daisies Of The Galaxy

35. Eels - Daisies Of The Galaxy (2000)

I don't know many that have been through the turmoil that Mark E. Everett has. If you read his stellar autobiography Things The Grandchildren Should Know you will get a sense of surrealism at the sheer amount of people - not just his family - that fall dead around him, it's almost like black humour the way he tackles it in his writing, and at times in his music too. 'Daisies Of The Galaxy' best captures the bottom line of the book, in that we have to make the most out of all the shit we have been through and it's incredibly upbeat and joyous compared to his previous two LP's 'Beautiful Freak' and 'Electroshock Blues.' Picking a favourite Eels album is like picking the cutest animal or a favourite country, there are quite a lot of goodies to choose from. He's as good as Johnny Cash and I know that's a bold statement. This is maybe not the most affecting, but it's extremely sunny and took one of the most underrated bands of all time onto a brilliant, new level.

albums of the decade - 37. Hjaltalin - The Sleepdrunk Sessions

36. Hjaltalin - The Sleepdrunk Sessions (2008)

To see a band grow from a seed into a tree is amazing. The autumn of 2008 in Reykjavik, Iceland and I was sent to review Hjaltalin at the Airwaves Music festival. I felt that their use of brass was great compared to Benni Hemm Hemm and that the band had potential to shine in the future. I didn't expect such a fast development but after seeing them twice just a few months later in Brighton and getting incredibly drunk at a houseparty with them, it was clear how became clear that things were less laboured, that they have more fun on stage and had become so tight together that their live shows were mega and mesmerising. This debut record too captures the feeling of summer magic and being young. It has a fairytale like quality that's absent in a lot of modern music and is the best sleepily great album since Mercury Rev's 'All Is Dream.'

albums of the decade - 36. TV on The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

37. TV on The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain (2006)

In which TV On The Radio cemented themselves as one of the most forward thinking bands around, along with Radiohead and Sigur Ros. 'Return To Cookie Mountain' was a great vocal band going a bit rough around the edges, opening with the lyric "I was a lover before this war" in 'I Was A Lover'. As the album title suggests, this was one grand new journey in which atmosphere and texture split out from every which way from the speakers as another line summed up the sentiment "Love is a province for the brave" in 'Province' which nicely included David Bowie. In my hyper little blog over on Livejournal, I listed this as my favourite record of 2006 and here is how I felt at the time:

"The vocals are just one element of the incredible sound aesthetic that Tunde Adebimpe and company pull off here in a beautiful execution. It's not until the clarinet comes in, in the stunning 'Tonight' though that you know that one of the best records of the decade has been signed, sealed and delivered. Well and truly top of the rocks"

albums of the decade - 38. Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light

38. Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light (2009)

Most Christmas music is shit but there are a few good ones from The Pogues, Eels and Grandaddy. I don't feel I have to listen to Christmas music to feel christmassy either. 'The Crying Light' is rich and sumptuous like delicious dark chocolate and every time listened to, it feels like deep indulgence, much like the festive season itself. Antony divides a lot of opinion, I've heard people saying that his voice is too forced, that his singing is too wet, or that he's a bit strange. I reject these accusations. His voice is an instrument and all singing voices are modified to sound a certain way. His voice isn't wet or dry, it's just a bit damp. And, nah he's not a clone, those are the ones that are weird. As for his third LP with the Johnsons, I feel it's more expanded in quality and diversity than 'I Am A Bird Now,' which though justifiably took a lot of plaudits midway through the decade, the artist really made his presence felt at the end of it, when we were awaiting and not hyping him so much.

albums of the decade - 39. The Strokes - Is This It

39. The Strokes - Is This It (US Version) (2001)

Everything. From the great ambiguity of lacking a question mark in the title, to a culturally groundbreaking band, to dressing the kids like they used to dress yesterday, to the lo-fi, tinny recording, to thinking I was king of the world on a speedboat with 'The Modern Age' playing in my head, to seeing The Strokes play 5 days before this came out in the UK and meeting Julian, Fabio and Nick to dancing nearly 100 times to 'Someday' in Indie discos, to been the perfect band to grow up to, to experience teen angst to, to winning NME's album of the decade and everything, everything, everything and they were to get even better still.

albums of the decade - 40. MF Doom - Mm.. Food?

40. MF Doom - Mm.. Food? (2004)

Akin to a good meal, Doom cooks up a great record with, of course, an edible concept. The production here is just delicious. I walked through the streets today with it on phones and laughed out loud, clicked my fingers, did a shimmy, got hungry and plenty more. His rhymes are again off-kilter, unorthodox and invigorating in their wit and ingenuity. Most heads will point to the Madvillainy project that Doom collaborates on with Madlib but for me, this is the zenith for his talent, it's all Doom and it's all food. Yum fucking yum.

Exc. 'Rap Snitch Knishes'

A little grease always keeps the wheels a spinnin / Like sittin on twenty threes to get the squealers grinnin / Hittin on many trees, feel real linen Spittin on enemies, get the steel for tin men / Where no brains but gum flap / He said his gun clap, then he fled after one slap / [Pat!] son shut your trap, save it for the bitches / Mmm...delicious, rap snitch knishes

albums of the decade - 41. Outkast - Stankonia

41. Outkast - Stankonia (2000)

The influence of Parliament and Funkadelic on Outkast is too incredible to be true. If there is a more fun and relevant force in music today, then I'm a duck's Daddy, I'm an anteater's Auntie, I'm a cuckoo's second cousin. They mix up 70's soul, 80's electronics and 90's politics on a 2000 release that set the bar not for hip-hop, but for the party overall. In general, Big Boi and Andre 3000 are generous. Their follow-up double-album 'Speakerboxxx / The Love Below' could also be on this list, it's all over the place, but like eating too much chocolate, it gets a little too rich. My favourite dream of all time though was my life as a musical, I must have been in love at the time but Andre 3000 came and said "Happy Valentine's Day!" and roses flew everywhere, it was like something from Moulin Rouge and it lasted a good hour. An even better hour though would be if 'Stankonia' could soundtrack one night soon, if it did it would be popcorn and party-poppers flying everywhere.

albums of the decade - 42. The Antlers - Hospice

42. The Antlers - Hospice (2009)

At the time of writing, this is so fresh in the memory as another great band from New York have made a modern classic. This one is about loss, mourning, bleakness and trying to make the most of things in tough times. The music is very cathartic and it directly addresses the pain of someone deteriorating to the point of no return in a poignant grace that demands candles and your total attention. This has been one of the best discoveries of recent times, and The Antlers seem to have everything to come because while this concept records may be one the most delicately arresting rock records made in an infinity, their horizons will gather even more scope soon, I can really feel it.

Exc. 'Kettering'

But something kept me standing

By that hospital bed

I should have quit but instead

I took care of you

You made me sleep and uneven

And I didn't believe them

When they told me that there

Was no saving you

albums of the decade - 43. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

43. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)

Braggadocio (rap)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Braggadocio is a type of rapping where the MC is bragging about his rap skills. Braggadocio can refer to physical badness, fighting ability, lovemanship, or coolness.^[1] Rap's braggadocio—unlike other bragging by young men about sex, wealth, and physical strength—can also be about the rapper's artistic or poetic ability.^[2]