Favourite albums of the decade
 

It's nearing the end of the noughties, and lists like "Top 100 albums of the decade" are popping up everywhere.

I'm quite enjoying this one by FACT Magazine myself. It's more electronic/dance-centric so it's got less of the usual pop/indie-rock artists that seem to permeate every type of "Top album" lists in the past few years... I'm digging their picks quite a bit.

What are some of your favourite albums of the decade? Don't just write a list, write a little something about how that music has changed your life too. You're welcome to throw SR, TJ albums in there, but hopefully that won't derail the discussion too much. The idea is here is to spread the love about your favourite music!

I'll start with one of my picks...


I can't stress how much I love this album. If you asked me to name music that sounds truly "new", this would be it. It's an unusual amalgam of jazz, world music and dance music, the ethereal echoes of the hang (saucer-shaped percussion instrument) adding on to the sense of strange, with only the saxophone delivering beautiful melodies that brings a sense of familiarity to the music. I love the way they build up the tension in the compositions, slowly but surely, and they tease you a little bit before releasing the tension with a bang. This is also a beautifully recorded album... it's something I'll want to buy an expensive hi-fi for, because music this beautiful deserves all the respect it should get.

I like this Portico Quartet song. Have you ever listened to Bonobo or other artists on the Ninjatune label? I think Bonobo especially would be up your alley. There's a whole world of electronic music that lies outside of dance. My favorite album of the decade is SS (I'm predictable).

Big fan of Bonobo, he's excellent. NinjaTune is home to a fair share of my favourite music - Hexstatic, The Cinematic Orchestra, Jaga Jazzist, Rainstick Orchestra, Infinite Livez... I've got Andreya Triana and zeroDB on my "to listen" list...

SS is a good pick btw. I'd have picked that over KSK, just cuz of its pop sensibilities.

Unbelievable, considering how the publisher's list is so standard.

Finals are stopping me from making some in depth favorites/best write-up.

Van Hunt - on the jungle floor,
basically Van Hunt kills every kind of style he was influenced by from different decades as he sings and brings his soul out with the funk that would make stevie wonder and prince eek, I never heard anyone steer into so many directions without going off course, he even threw in some punk rock u would never guess he could do, everything he did is a highlight on the album, had one duet with Nikka Costa where the singing would turn a Dome into a Stadium because it blew the roof off,
this is just took me back in time when u really feel the rush build up when u first wanna ask a girl to dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkyWDJWoFnk


actually the album kind of reminds me of shouso strip because it combined so many styles into rock

Omgoodness, it's scary to think of all the albums that came out in the 2000s. Like, the ones right at the turn of the decade like, Britney Spears and Ayumi Hamasaki. It seems like ages ago. @.@ Even omgoodness Shoso Strip and KZK came out within that time frame.

The main picks that come to mind right now:

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)
I've said this before, but I fell in love with this album when it came out. However it was only with about half of the tracks. Darts of Pleasure and Michael were songs I played non-stop. It wasn't until this year, 5 years later, that I fell in love with the rest of the songs I didn't really pay attention to. Jacqueline, The Dark of the Matinée and my new favorite song by them Auf Achse... they're all so good I often think about that fact and am blown away by it all. However much I've tried to, I could never get into either their 2nd or 3rd albums, but it doesn't matter because this album has made me lifetime fans of them.

Aaaand:

Metric - Old World Underground, Where are You Now? (2003)

Omgoodness, I played this album soo much. Painfully catchy songs with basically nonsensical lyrics. This album defined a good portion of my Junior year of high school, and is perfect for the quiet times during a road trip.
Again, like FF, Metric hasn't really released an album that was up to par with this one, where all the songs were just that good. But because of this album, I have become a lifelong fan of the group.

the brilliant green - Los Angeles

Going through their discography, this album stands out as the only instance where one of their sonic changes between albums felt like a logical progression. The (relatively) heavy live arrangements during the tour preceding Los Angeles laid the foundations for this album's solid sound. They took what could have easily been a middling J-pop album in the wrong hands and made it loud, filthy, and super lush.

The best thing about this album is the disclaimer in the booklet informing consumers that, yes, all that noisy reverb was actually intentional.

I suppose that HASYMO are my inevitable favorites. When it comes to the history of Japanese electronic music, these three dudes are pretty much untouchable. And they continue to create stuff that pushes the edge of the envelope.

Fearless. Pioneering. Excellent.

um, KZK anyone? 2003, come on.

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