right, nearly there….slightly detoured by olympic mania…
in the meantime here’s another awesome rundown of the top 10 albums of the last 10 years, courtesy of steve.
My albums of the year:
Kid A
Radiohead
In Rainbows
Radiohead
OK Computer (reissue)
Radiohead
The Bends (reissue)
Radiohead
Pablo Honey (reissue)
Radiohead
Radiohead’s Greatest Hits
Radiohead
Just Kidding. I will make my list a Radiohead-free zone even though “Everything In Its Right Place” is such an incredible song it could make the list on its own, even if released as a four-minute album. Out of respect to the mighty ‘head, I am going to make that my song of the decade.
This is a ridiculous task so I’ve decided to make my list very personal. I fully accept that these aren’t the most important albums but they’re the ones that were either most played, most moved me or had pretty pictures on the cover. In making this a personal list so I can write about my experiences. So it’s really all about me. It’s 10 things about me that I’m going to make you read.
I’m not putting LCD Soundsystem in. Deal with it. I thought his first album had better tunes but somehow wasn’t considered a proper album and hence is largely disregarded. And there’s something about Murphy that annoys me. LCD are too knowing, too pretentious, too mannered, too hipster, too…oh I don’t know what it is.
I’m not going to put my albums in any order because it’s just ridiculous to attempt it. I’d put them in a different order next week and it was hard enough finding ten anyway. Stick that in your “Things to Deal With” file.
Blue Horse (2000)
The Be Good Tanyas
This album has all the ingredients for me. I learned one of the songs from this album which I play to Violet (Steve’s very young child – Ed.). This is always on my iPod and one of the reasons it appeals so much is because Jolie Holland’s incredible voice is never far away. These women harmonise beautifully but Holland is always the one I want to hear. When she does she steals songs but this album would be great even without her. I can’t remember when I first started to listen to it but it’s never far away. “The Littlest Birds” was played at our wedding and due to a volume malfunction loudly proclaimed, “Well I feel like an old hobo!” as Sarah took a moment to compose herself. The registrar looked bemused.
Time (The Revelator) (2001)
Gillian Welch
I had to have a Gillian Welch album in there because she’s a giant of an artist and songwriter and the Noughties was when I found her. Her guitarist and co-writer David Rawlings is an inspirational musician she wouldn’t sound the same without him. I play a couple of her songs and found her fascinating in the decade when I really fell for female singer songwriters. She has a cameo in O Brother Where Art Thou, you know. One of the things I find really interesting about Welch is that her self-penned songs can sound modern and relevant even though they’re frequently bluegrass chord progressions played on 1930s instruments. How do you get so much mileage out of G, C and D with the odd minor chord thrown in? How can two instruments sound so compelling? It’s testament to the quality of the writing and performing that they make it sound so simple.
The Blackened Air (2002)
Nina Nastasia
This was the album of my break-up with Branka around 2003/ 04. For some reason I found great comfort in listening to morose women like Nina Nastasia, Jolie Holland and Gillian Welch. This record is otherworldly. I don’t know if it’s the production (Steve Albini), the ambiguity of the songs or the way it seems to envelop me in darkness but I can lose myself in this album. It’s inseperable from that time in my life but I love it and found solace in its gloomy corners. Perhaps this is my album of the decade.
Milk Eyed Mender (2004)
Joanna Newsom
I realise she’s not everyone’s cup of tea and she does sound like Lisa Simpson but what a breath of fresh air. When I saw her on stage at Somerset House I thought “What a superstar.” She’s beautiful, talented and lyrically fascinating. In contrast to The Blackened Air, this album found me at an incredibly happy time. It was Christmas 2006, I’d moved in with Sarah in Battersea and we were preparing to entertain the whole family. I understand how she’s divisive but I can’t wait for her next album. She’s too beautiful to be a bearded lady. Ponda hates her because he hates beauty.
Destroy Rock n Roll (2004)
Mylo
This album had to go on the list. Ponda bought this in London in Fopp, a now-deceased record shop on the Tottenham Court Road. He bought it on a whim as it had decent reviews stuck to its cover. It soundtracked his visit but the record was a slow burner and didn’t really take off until the following year and of course it then provided the backdrop to a memorable year with Marc, an Ashes-winning summer and my first nights with Sarah who also owned it. “Drop the Pressure” is definitely one of my tracks of the decade.
Ruby Blue (2005)
Roisin Murphy
I had to put something by Matthew Herbert in and opted for this in the end. It’s his most accessible record and sounds bewitching, especially when remixed and played at Fabric for one of my most memorable dancefloor moments. The Noughties saw my retirement from the rave scene. I trust it will live on without me. Is it still going?
Illinois (2005)
Sufjan Stevens
Classic, innit.
Springtime Can Kill You (2006)
Jolie Holland
I liked Sarah’s description of Jolie’s voice: “a beautiful woman with a big nose.” She sounds like no one else. The way she slurs from note to note is unmistakable. It’s as if she’s drunk or stoned but it’s damned sexy and I’m pleased I got to see her live, even if Sarah did go off in a huff because I’d criticised a sketch she’d drawn of the crowd when we were waiting for Jolie to come on. This album reminds me of the heat of that summer, of my flat with Sarah in Battersea and it’s another record I can lose myself in. I managed to get the title track into the top spot of the Guardian music supplement’s Readers Recommend section. The subject that week: Spring.
Begin to Hope (2006)
Regina Spektor
Like Newsom, Spektor isn’t to everyone’s taste and I can sympathise with that. I get annoyed when she sings “So sweet and juicy!” in a mannered and affected way. Sometimes you get albums that are strong almost solely because they’re catchy and this is one of those. Although she’s the queen of the anti-folk scene this is pop really. It’s great though. I can’t stop playing it.
Rumpelzirkus (2007)
Kalabrese
This is an incredible-sounding record, full of tension and uses horns better than anything since the great ‘70s funk and soul acts. Reassuringly Teutonic, slightly sinister and immensely funky. This record uses its tricks sparingly and to great effect. This might be my most played dance album of the Noughties.
Honourable mentions to:
Dark Was the Night (2009)
Best comp
The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (2004)
Best reissue
Violet Byrne Randell
Best baby
