Part 3 - Top 50 Albums of the ‘00′s
Remember to click on the artist and album titles for a sneak peak at each record!
30 – *shels - Sea of the Dying Dhow (2007, Undergroove/ Shelsmusic)
*shels are a band who are as comfortable with ear crushing metal as they are with classical ambience and drone. Such a formula comes so natural to them that you would think after listening to debut SotDD that they have been expertly crafting and recording albums like it for years.
At the flick of a switch, the band turn anything they touch from intricate delicacy to crushing distortion. Beginning and ending with its two most powerful tracks, The Conference of the Birds opens with its loose trumpet jam while closer In Dead Palm Fields’ folk strumming, whispered vocals, dual crushing screams and smashing drums and ambience is a vivid turn from beauty to aggression.
On paper none of this should work. But *shels’ affiliation with their craft and heady variety of influences makes Sea of the Dying Dhow an essential contemporary metal record.
29 – Beach House – Teen Dream (2010, Sub Pop/ Bella Union)
As a dream pop band, Beach House are somewhat curious, dropping the usual goth influence that renders throughout the genre for something much more pleasant.
The record is fraught with lush vocals mixed with clean arpeggios and churning synth. While on first listen this can come across as monotonal, several listens later it becomes clear that Beach House exudes massive amounts of noise and dreamy energy, something that is repeated successfully on the live stage.
Its music that is gentile and easy to overlook, yet once discovered, its musical art that is difficult for anyone to switch off.
28 – Glassjaw – Worship and Tribute (2002, Warner Bros.)
Glossing over debut Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (the band still show distain for label Roadrunner) Glassjaw returned with a lesson in how to write exhilarating rock for the underground masses.
The songs are danceable and aggressive, the time signatures all over the place, the introduction of the wah pedal in Tip Your Bartender ‘un-hardcore’ and Daryl Palumbo’s chorus’ and chants shine throughout.
The title (perhaps unknowingly when first released) is also inducive of the records legacy as one of the important hardcore and rock albums of modern times and one which has influenced underground rock music the world over. A band who are largely imitated but rarely matched.
27 – Kanye West – Late Registration (2005, Roc-A-Fella/ Def Jam)
Kanye West, love him or loath him has a right to be cocky. His wife Kim Kardashian has a fantastic ass, but it’s more his musical and lyrical accomplishments along with his consistency as a great R&B writer that ensures his status as da man.
Flawless production throughout, smooth ass delivery and a plethora of hits including Heard ‘Em Say, Gold Digger and the addictive trumpet filled Touch The Sky, Late Registration was met with critical acclaim from the music world.
For those cruising down American boulevards, this is surely the soundtrack of choice. A true hip hop classic.
26 – Rinoa – An Age Among Them (2010, Eyesofsound)
There is something hugely depressing with the amount of British bands who release one or two great albums (often before they’ve reached their artistic peak) only to break up due to inner band differences, financial difficulties or touring struggles.
Rinoa may be counted towards being in this category. Yet with their only album An Age Among Them, they delivered an instant masterpiece of passionate, aggressive hardcore vocals and stunning, reverb laden riffs few bands are capable of first time round.
A combination of post-metal, post-rock and ambient hardcore, Rinoa are a band who few realise existed but whose album will influence many a band to come.
25 - Caspian – Tertia (2009, The Mylene Sheath)
Boston instrumentalists Caspian are best summed up in one word; texture. Such is the bands mixture of heavy reverb (and boy is it heavy), underlying cleanly picked riffs, prominent guitar swells and use of alternative instruments that they have created their own unmistakeable sound; at times dense, at others exceptionally crisp.
La Cerva’s swells are complimented by dark and fuzzy space rock while Malacoda’s simple drum pattern creates layers of character – simplicity is often the most effective formula. The tremolo of Vienna is reflective in its beauty and surpasses many of its post-rock equivalents.
For such a diluted genre where personal identity is often lost, Caspian have created something that sounds like no one but themselves.
24 – Thrice – Vheissu (2005, Island)
Thrice’s Vheissu is the perfect example of a band honing and perfecting a trademark sound, maintaining musical elements of old whilst feeding their artistic curiosities with new experimentation.
Thrice’s musical development of Radiohead-esque electronic and alternative instruments would influence later releases in the bands discography (notable The Alchemy Index’s), but it is with Vheissu that the band perfected their formula.
The post-hardcore of Hold Fast Hope perfectly fits beside the vocal harmonies and spacey guitar of For Miles, atmospheric piano and drums of Red Sky and the Japanese folk influenced Music Box.
Their uncompromising belief in the experimental has influenced scores of rock bands; the key to encouraging true creativity.
23 - Meet Me in St Louis – Variations on Swing (2007, Big Scary Monsters)
All over the place yet interconnecting beautifully, VOS could quite easily be viewed as the release that gave label Big Scary Monsters bragging rights as supreme indie progressive math connoisseurs.
MMISL not only combine schizophrenic, stop start time signatures with passages of dance-floor pop and bass playing masterclasses throughout, but also provide the most eloquent of lyrics (vocalist and lyricist Toby Hayes would go on to create acoustic project Shoes & Socks Off).
Musically, VOS is that bastard jigsaw with too many pieces that requires too much thinking time, effort and paracetemol. On completion and several listens later, you realise that at what first appears relentless chaos, is in fact a perfectly crafted puzzle.
22 – Mariachi el Bronx – Mariachi el Bronx (2009, Swami/ Wichita)
An album like none other on this list, The Bronx surprised everyone in the alternative music world when they released the first album from their Mexican influenced project Mariachi el Bronx.
From opener Slave Labor (“Live like a slave, with no holidays. How many ways, do you count the days.”) to the romantic Sleepwalking (“Electrify the night. Follow the moon. Islands don’t dream, of cities like you”) and runaway cowboy-esque Silver or Lead, the punk rockers demonstrate skill and authentism in a genre well removed from their musical origins.
You wouldn’t think they made their name in punk rock. But the results of their first mariachi experiment are wonderful. It may well get you listening to the wider field of the genre.
21 - Wild Beasts – Two Dancers (2009, Domino)
Two Dancers firmly asserted Wild Beasts as kings of indie pop, an album that would bridge the way from the aggressive Limbo, Panto to the later tranquil medium of Smother.
The mix of unusual falsetto vocals of Hayden Thorpe and baritone of Tom Fleming complement each other perfectly and with the use of offbeat bongo drums on the likes of We Still Got The Taste Dancin’ On Our Tongues, WB’s have formed a musical identity that is refreshingly unique.
TD’s in itself was a brilliant test in adapting the prominent guitar and basslines of earlier work with the dreamy soundscapes of the future- a truly unique release.