OUCH... my head hurts. I've been trying to turn 10 years' worth of music into a concise list - replaying albums, thinking about their impact, how the fans and critics raved. At the heart of it, I've tried to lay personal feelings aside and think objectively about the albums that shaped the Double-Os - the ones that shaped music, culture and really affected people. There's a couple of albums here I don't even like but can't ignore. But we all know deep down that musical taste is pretty subjective... oh well. Also I've limited each band to one entry only on the list so it doesn't fill up with Radiohead, Muse and Gomez albums.
And yes, this is taking a while. All those other publications that did similar lists had teams of people working on them... we have just the Musicology brains trust... which is mostly one guy.
31. Relationship Of Command - At The Drive-In (2000)
AS the new wave of hardcore bands made their charge at the start of the decade, At The Drive-In were the battering ram that cleared the path. The sonic equivalent of nerdy Bruce Banner bursting out of his clothes as The Hulk, this ferocious barrage is driven by seemingly haphazard guitar-lines, herculean drumming, riffs that jag and race, and afro-toting Cedric Bixler indecipherably cryptic scream-singing. They occasionally take their foot of the pedal, such as in the awesome Police-like break-down in Pattern Against User, but these guys are at their best pounding unlikely melodies onto songs that sounds like an out-of-control car careening down a forested hill.
32. Sunset Studies - Augie March (2000)
GLENN Richards has a way with words, no doubt about it. Just how he crafts these passages of prose-like literature into such sweetly sung near-colonial-era melodies beggars belief. But it's not just the narrative bon mots of Richards, nor his gift for hidden hooks that sneak out of the atmospheric folk-pop. The ambition of this album is monumental as the band strive for and reach something truly widescreen, as if you're hearing it as the soundtrack to a movie. Moody opener The Hole In The Roof creeps in, slowly bubbling away until it reaches it's transcedent boiling point, as does surprise slow-rocker Maroondah Reservoir. Tasman Awakens is like Elliot Smith playing Norwegian Wood, while the beautiful ache and fragility in There Is No Such Place, Asleep In Perfection and Heartbeat & Sails is all the more amazing for those moments when the songs burst into bloom.
33. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT (2007)
THESE guys were never going to stay indie secrets for long - their strangely vainglorious debut is too full of danceable mid-tempo pop songs that bop their way into your mind's ear without even trying. But that's selling it too short. The best moments - which come in their childhood anthem Kids, their hydro-electricity ode Electric Feel, and their extravagantly sordid fame wishlist Time To Pretend - are delivered on a rainbow of catchy synth and vocal melodies, backed by dazzling arrangements and productions that sparkle and shine in all the right places. There's also a hint of Flaming Lips-ish and Ween-esque eccentricity (Pieces Of What, 4th Dimensional Transition), except with more cocaine and less LSD or weed.
34. Leaders Of The Free World - Elbow (2005)
ALL four of their albums - all released this decade - are brilliant but this is the best of the bunch. A self-produced slow-burner filled with Guy Garvey's resplendent poetry and enveloping melodies, it's the perfectly arranged mix of delicate and anthemic, such as Picky Bastard's whispering verses compared to the bombast of single Forget Myself's chorus, or the whole of the gorgeous The Stops, which is both at the same time. Each song draws you in, not just sonically but through Garvey's way with words. And that's a great band should do, right?
35. Demon Days - Gorillaz (2005)
DAMON Albarn put on his cartoon character mask once again and delivered an equal to the vibrantly eclectic debut. The emphasis this time was on pop, with a healthy helping of freak and a dash of hip-hop, but the elements making these hooky slow-grooves were weird and wondrous. Kids choirs, Dennis Hopper, Beach Boys cues, wistful melodies, party moments, bizarre samples and the occasional strange sense of doom beneath the Midas Touch production of Danger Mouse. A more beautiful and concentrated effort for the cartoon monkeys, but only marginally less bonkers.
36. Like Drawing Blood - Gotye (2006)
AFTER years of bashing away on the skins with The Basics, Wally De Backer's bedroom side project bore surprising fruit with this homemade masterpiece. The drummer/singer turned out to be a master producer/arranger, multi-instrumentalist and even a dab hand at songwriting, particularly on the cinematic shuffle of Heart's A Mess. The blend of feels and genres makes this an impressive and confident album, never putting a foot wrong as he tackles heady soul-funk (Learnalilgivinanlovin), dub-reggae (Puzzle With A Piece Missing), '90s-ish sample-groove (A Distinctive Sound), and dancey pop (The Only Way).
37. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures (2009)
ALBUM of the year? Best supergroup since The Travelling Wilburys? Yes please. Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and the quiet Zeppelin pound and wrangle hard rock into intriguing new shapes big on sweet and sour sounds. As Homme croons and falsettos over his trademark guitar brilliance, rhythm section de resistance Grohl and John Paul Jones play like they're having the time of their life. TCV swaggers like few recent rock albums, throwing in curly time signatures and rhythm changes to keep you on your toes, between pulsing head-boppers and texturual intricacies. It's got it all.
38. The Eraser - Thom Yorke (2006)
DON'T call it a solo album, Radiohead's madman/genius Yorke said. Ah, sorry Thom, but it is. Big on glitchy beats and over-effected samples, The Eraser combined the electronic elements that had entered Radiohead's sound since Kid A, almost getting them entirely out of his system in time for the more live In Rainbows. But Yorke wiped out the usual accompanying humanity here - fitting given his lyrical pre-occupation with climate change and the end of the world, as evidenced by Stanley Donwood's linocut fold-out cover of a man trying and failing to hold a great flood back from wiping out English landmarks. An experimental and thoughtful (but not unexpected) album from the ever-challenging Yorke.
39. Real Gone - Tom Waits (2004)
WHILE the eclectic eccentric growler has never done things the conventional way, Real Gone was still something of a diversion. Out was the piano and in were the turntables, with the rest of the music provided by his usual bang-and-clatter percussion and some overdriven guitars and basses that threatened to jump out of the speakers at you. All the while, Waits' hot-gravel voice swings from menacing to rustic, lonesome to defiant. He even flexed his rarely used political muscles on tracks such as Hoist That Rag, The Day After Tomorrow and Sins Of My Father. Almost four decades into his career, Waits remains an innovator.
40. Notes From A Ceiling - The Mess Hall (2005)
WHO needs bass players, eh? That was one of the '00s mottos, thanks to the garage-blues-stompers of The White Stripes and The Black Keys. Australia's answer The Mess Hall wasn't far behind, drumming and strumming up a two-man storm on this, their ball-tearing debut. A lesson in the power of dynamics and the value of a simple riff, this was a wiry thump of energy and electricity. Every song rules, from the dirty rock-blues of opener Diddley to the epic ballad closer Red Eyes & Sunshine.
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