New Adventures in Technology

I don’t really know where to start when trying to draw up a list of songs or albums that sum up the last 10 years. 2000 was a long time ago (10 years, in fact), and I’m not sure I can be truly objective when comparing things I’m listening to now and records that I remember being at least as important at various other points in the last 10 years. I love the new Flaming Lips album, but is it really better than Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots? Is In Rainbows better than Kid A, or was it just released more recently? And is it really possible to sum up a decade in a list of records?

My gut instinct is that no record released this year should make the list. Just because I’ve not had time to assess their importance. But at the same time I don’t think that’s fair to an album like The Hazards of Love, which I reckon I’ll still be listening to in 2019.

So without further ado, a first stab at a list of records from the last 10 years that I think people should own, and that in some way sum up the decade for me.

Radiohead – Kid A (2000) – To me this record redefined what a big selling record could sound like, and did a great job of sounding like everything I was currently listening to at the time (Tortoise, Jim O’Rourke, Miles Davies and a few even more esoteric things). Everything they released this decade would get into my top 100, but this is where they laid down the blueprint for what was to come. I bought this album the day I had my first interview to work at the University, and to me it perfectly sums up 2000.

Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) – The album that introduced me to Wilco, and that marked them out as something more than just an alternative country band. It was also the first album (I think) that was streamed to listeners before it was released, and marked the first of four consecutive great albums they released between 2002-09. It was hard choosing between this, A Ghost is Born and Wilco (the album), but I think YHF just shades it, and is the one I’d recommend people start with.

The Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004) – They seemed to come out of nowhere, and to be critically acclaimed without ever being fashionable. This album was the one that really introduced me to them, and made me realise that there was something coming out of Canada that wasn’t 24 minutes instrumental masterpieces or trite pop songs. I played this album to death in 2004, and still dip into it every now and again, and it is something I would recommend to anyone who likes music.

The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (2005) – I didn’t discover this band until their 4th album (Stay Positive), but soon fell in love with their second effort from 2005. They are described as a bar band, but I see them as the 21st century version of Jack Kerouac and the best storytelling band ever. The music is loud and simple, the lyrics are narrative and hilarious, and the fact that something made in 2005 topped my listening charts for this year just goes to show it is something special.

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) – Last year’s album of the year by a mile, and something I keep going back to when I want to be reminded of 2008 (which was generally a good year). I’ve been a fan of theirs for a while, but this is the first album where I would recommend every single song.

Calculated using the same algorithm as the last two years, and only including albums actually released this year.

1. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
2. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
3. The Horrors – Primary Colours
4. Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist
5. Florence and The Machine – Lungs
6. Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
7. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
8. Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
9. Doves – Kingdom Of Rust
10. Maxïmo Park – Quicken The Heart
11. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – The Century of Self
12. Robyn Hitchcock – Goodnight Oslo
13. Editors – In This Light And On This Evening
14. Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
15. Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
16. Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
17. Fresh Body Shop – The Ugly Army
18. Atlas Sound – Logos
19. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything that Happens will Happen Today
20. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Oddly enough, three of my most played (and favourite) albums of 2009 were released prior to 2009. They slot into the top 5 as follows:

1. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
2. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
3. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
4. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
5. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

Nothing else from before 2009 got anywhere near the top 20 (American Demo by The Indelicates being the closest by some distance).

Albums of the last 3 months (as a follow on from the first three months of the year):

1 Maxïmo Park – Quicken The Heart
2 Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
3 The Horrors – Primary Colours
4 Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
5 The Wind Whistles – Animals Are People Too
6 Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
7 The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
8 Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
9 Crazed Outlook – Double Talk
10 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

And then looking at everything from 1st Jan – 30th June:

1 The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
2 Maxïmo Park – Quicken The Heart
3 The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
4 Frank Turner – Love Ire & Song + The First Three Years
5 The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
6 Modern Skirts – All Of Us In Our Night
7 And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – The Century of Self
8 British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
9 Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
10 The Horrors – Primary Colours

So yes, I’ll do this again at the end of September.

Posted largely because I’m far too brain dead to finish any of the half-started posts about computers and/or music that I’ve started over the last few weeks.

1. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
2. Frank Turner – Love Ire & Song + The First Three Years
3. Maxïmo Park – Quicken The Heart
4. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
5. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
6. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
7. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – The Century of Self
8. Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
9. Modern Skirts – All Of Us In Our Night
10. Robyn Hitchcock – Goodnight Oslo

Ok, so some of these are not from 2009, but I think it’s a fair indication of what I’ve been listening to recently. Although Jarvis Cocker’s new album would be on the list in about 2 weeks I think (the stats come from last.fm and the album is very new).

As always, these are determined by number of plays per track, divided by number of tracks (with anything available for free hyperlinked).

1. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
2. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Sunday at Devil Dirt
3. Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Momofuku
4. The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
5. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
6. R.E.M – Accelerate
7. The Charlatans – You Cross My Path
8. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
9. The Wind Whistles – Window Sills
10. Okkervil River – The Stage Names
11. Bob Mould – District Line
12. Abscondo – Midnight Snow
13. Mercury Rev – Snowflake Midnight
14. Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
15. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
16. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
17. Black Francis – Svn Fngrs
18. The Rest – Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour
19. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
20. The Killers – Day and Age

See also 2007 and 2006

I’ll be doing a top 20 free/Creative Commons list later today (in theory).