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| Readers' score - 10/10 |
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| No. 20 Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Lightyears In The Belly Of A Mountain |
| It may have been a long wait for Sparklehorse fans, but Mark Linkous’s
return was thankfully a triumphant one. Dreamt
For Lightyears… is
again a desperately sad, affecting, yet somehow strangely uplifting
record from one of the best songwriters alive. Powerful but understated,
it takes a few listens to sink in, but few could deny the album’s
beauty. Let’s just hope the next record comes along a little
quicker. DT |
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| No. 19 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not |
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We all know the legend of their tender ages, gobby northern wordplay,
and Myspace hype. But where the Arctic Monkeys really excelled wasn't
in lyrics or Internet savvy. It was in rock dynamics. To find another
guitar pop band that's worked the whole quiet/loud, fast/slow, passive/aggressive
thang so effectively while keeping the melodies central, you'd have
to go all the way back to The Pixies. The album steals tricks from
metal, disco, blustery punk and chunky blooze-rock, then in Mardy Bum
and A Certain Romance they've written two of the most charmingly pretty
melodies in years. Few bands manage to scale the wall of hype and meet
people's expectations, but with WPSIATWIN the Arctic Monkeys pulled
it off. Only just, though: the follow up single was bobbins. MC |
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| No. 18 Dabrye - Two/Three |
| Dabrye proved that there is indeed forward-looking life in hip hop
outside of label owner, MC, radical producer and general all-round
superman El-P. Two/Three took the position of having a vast number
of guest artists MCing over Dabrye's sympathetic production. In doing
so, Dabrye provided lyrical variety that was still nailed to a consistent
mast of style which, in this case, was a raw, gritty and thuggish no-nonsense production aesthetic. SR |
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| No. 17 Immune - 1/f |
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Back in June I gave this album 10/10. If I was to re-write the review
today, I would give it the same. Rarely has a debut album hit me as
hard as this one did. Whilst the influences are still obvious, this
doesn’t detract from the sheer grandiosity of 1/f, it’s
like the unofficial soundtrack to the universe. And as pretentious
as that sounds, it’s something you have to hear to agree with.
Unfortunately, this album still hasn’t got the recognition it
deserves, at least not from the more mainstream rock press. Hopefully
it’s not something which looms forever in the ‘criminally
overlooked’ category. JB |
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| No. 16 Liars - Drum's Not Dead |
| Some bands, some albums, change how you think about music. This
year, for me, that band was Liars. Unfamiliar with their work, I went
and saw their shrieking, pulsing, tribal live assault and was transfixed
by the power and splendour they carved from the walls of noise, the
chanting, the shrieking, the pummelling percussion. Here was what music
could be: a challenge for creativity, a defiant cry amongst all the
order of my indie guitar comfort zone. Something simply refusing to
conform. 100 words is too little to eulogise with. This album surpasses
even that live show. All that noise and power is matched with a wonderful
emotional resonance and moments of staggering beauty. It’s everything
music can be. Stunningly savage. Stunningly beautiful. Everything.
MB |
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| No. 15 Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye |
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After Guided By Voices fizzled out at the start of the decade with
a series of below-par albums, Pollard’s debut solo offering From
A Compound Eye was an album many approached with some trepidation.
Thankfully, it went beyond the expectations of even the most optimistic
fan: a sprawling double album encapsulating everything that made GBV
a great band in the first place. Only this time the production, rather
than being lo-fi and distant, was massive. Unfortunately, October’s
follow-up Normal Happiness left a lot to be desired,
but for a moment there it was quite easy to believe Pollard was once
again the best songwriter in the world. DT |
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| No. 14 Sucioperro - Random Acts Of Intimacy |
| Sucioperro, the less cool best friend of Biffy Clyro, play to their
strengths in this their debut album. The caustic yet cathartic emotions
of RAOI writhe from out of the bedrock of jaggy bass and power riffs.
Of course there’s the essential screaming, staccato guitars and
general flailing of hair, so lovers of Scot-rock will not be disappointed.
'Dialog on the 2' is probably the standout track (and also the most
danceable) but it’s closely followed by 'The Crushing of
the Little People' and 'Wolf Carnival'. SA |
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| No. 13 Pagan Wanderer Lu - The Independent Scrutineer EP |
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Rarely does an artist like Andy Regan come along, with pop songs
this perfect and lyrics this witty. The Independent
Scrutineer is
a glorious combination of the two, alive with ideas, electronic noises
and catcy choruses but never losing any of its affecting edge. Lyrically
outstanding, in equal parts genuinely funny and thought-provoking,
songs like ‘Repetition 1’, ‘Our New Hospital Sucks’ and ‘Knight
-> King 4’ will all become staples on your internal radio.
If this is only a scratch at the surface of what Pagan Wanderer Lu
has to offer, something very exciting could be on the horizon. DT |
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| No. 12 Mastodon - Blood Mountain |
| Despite being, arguably, the greatest metal band alive right now,
no one could quite have expected this. Whilst 2004’s Leviathan
was, perhaps, the most influential metal album of recent times, Blood
Mountain couldn’t possibly beat it. Right? Wrong. Blood Mountain
wipes the floor with Leviathan. Troy Sanders new cleaner vocals are
extraordinarily brilliant. Brann Dailor’s drumming is even more
chaotic than usual. And Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds’ guitars
play off each other perfectly and point, somewhat unashamedly, at classic
rock worship. This is eerie, visceral and primeval metal with awe-inspiring
prog tendencies. If Leviathan is the best metal album of this century,
this is the best metal album of all time. Probably. JB |
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| No. 11 Germlin - Youth Pixxel |
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Youth Pixxel sounds like a pipe bomb in a Nintendo factory. Like
your computer becoming self-aware and trying to destroy you through
sound alone. Like a masochist’s binary nightmare. I could go
on and on (and on), but finding an analogy that completely encapsulates
the warped genius that Germlin displays on Youth Pixxel would remain
out of my grasp. But for all the anarchy and dispelling of any semblance
of mainstream normality, the product is a brilliantly catchy and danceable,
bleeping and howling metallic beast. A staple album for anyone who’s
ever wished pop music could be
rebranded, repackaged and made immeasurably better. JH |
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| No. 10 The Sword - Age Of Winters |
| If Black Sabbath, Kyuss and Metallica had a dirty threesome in a
trailer park somewhere in the USA’s Deep South while playing
Dungeons & Dragons, their scientifically improbable offspring would
have formed The Sword. Unrelenting streams of lead-coated elephant-sized
riffs belt out of the speakers, accompanied by the finest Ozzy impersonator
in years rambling on about swords being forged in dragon’s arseholes
or something, but we don’t care because it sounds amazing, and
haven’t banged our heads so hard in a long time. On tour with
Clutch and Taint this spring – you’d be some sort of girly
bum-tickler to miss it. WM |
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| No. 9 Volcano! - Beautiful Seizure |
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If Liars opened my ears this year, then the band they opened them
for were Volcano!. Beautiful Seizure is an album
that defies categorisation. It defies description. It defies you not
to like its brutally discordant shimmers and noise. Just as you start
to think there’s nothing here beyond wilful avant garde posing,
the band pulls the rug away with some of the catchiest pop choruses
of the year before exploding away again in directions that leave you
dumbstruck. This is not an easy album. It rewards perseverance, and
it deserves it. Every new listen feels like discovering a new musical
world. Nothing is off limits and everything is up for grabs to be played
with, destroyed and discarded in favour of something new. The album
bubbles with that sense of joy. And it’s fantastic. MikeB |
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| No. 8 ISIS - In The Absence Of Truth |
| ISIS have travelled a long way from their 2000 debut Celestial,
inventing genres and influencing many in the metal world and beyond
on the way. This, their fourth long-player, sees them take post-metal
into new levels of complexity; though if anything, appears more accessible
than Panopticon on the surface. But delve deeper (and you’ll
have to in order to stop being mildly annoyed by Aaron Turner’s
on-the-loo-doing-a-poo vocals), and you’ll find the sprawling
orchestral heaviness takes you on a spectacular journey, the likes
of which none of their contemporaries seem capable of. In places more
melodic, yet in others far heavier than they have been before, ISIS
continue to evolve in a most pleasing way – long may it continue.
WM |
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| No. 7 The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes |
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A surprisingly divisive release, this, which was warmly welcomed
equally by lady journalists and small children, but which provoked
a lot of awfully tedious “THEIR MUSIC IS CRAP BUT THEY ARE FIT
HURR LOL!!!!!”-style commentary on various web so-called forums.
We, of course, responded in a much more thoughtful manner on the release
of We Are The Pipettes back in the long hot summer,
observing perceptively that “The Pipettes are one of the
most interesting and wonderful bands of the hour, and everyone should
rush out and buy this album before they are appropriated by the style
supplements”. Classic stuff. The record was good too. MB |
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| No. 6 Absentee - Schmotime |
| There’s something about Absentee’s mix of wistful melancholia
with effervescent, fizzy guitar pop that lends itself perfectly to
the summertime. Bittersweet and delicious, Schmotime
was my own personal soundtrack to the hotter months of 2006. Absentee’s
brand of carefully understated, brass-inflected jangle-pop has found
the perfect foil in Dan Michaelson’s surly growl. His grizzly
vocals take the band’s toe-tapping indie rock somewhere dark,
compelling but eminently pleasurable. I defy anyone not to be charmed
by this band. TP |
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| No. 5 Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me |
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After a 3 year absence, Brand New returned in 2006 with an album
of maturity and progression. An album that sees Brand New take a one-way
side-step from the emo scene. Who could have imagined that after 2003’s
masterpiece, Deja Entendu - which most of the songs were based around
the problems of finding yourself in the world – Brand New would
return with an album of religious and emotional anguish. The songs
themselves sit, rather uncomfortably, in-between Modest Mouse, Mogwai
and Thursday. Brand New have the world at their feet… JB |
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| No. 4 Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist |
| Defying all odds, nu-metal’s strongest survivors re-entered
the decade with as dense a slab of melodic metal as they’ve
managed yet. It may not have the frenzy of the early records, but
what Saturday Night Wrist lacks in teeth it more
than makes up for in grandiose textures, enormous choruses and sonic
invention. And let’s not forget the riffs, oh, the riffs. If
the last minute and a half of ‘Beware’ doesn’t
get your head banging, your pulse racing and your mouth exlaiming “Yes!
.. Yes!” à la Butthead, you’re either dead or,
like, Jeremy Vine or something. TP |
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| No. 3 Mogwai - Mr Beast |
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It's hard to summarise Will McLaren's review of this album, but
suffice to say that Mr Beast was a buttock-eviscerating
ride through loudness with the occasional unfriendly seagull to ruin
a perfectly good meal. From the album's tightly crafted high rolling
point of 'Glasgow Mega Snake' to the slower moments, Mr
Beast represents
Mogwai's wide emotional range in one silvery circular package. SR |
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| No. 2 Thom Yorke - The Eraser |
| This isn’t a solo album apparently. Or a side project. “So
what the cunting tit-face is it then?”, I hear you ask. Well,
it’s the Radiohead front man’s attempt to further develop
the electronic experiments first encountered on Kid A, Amnesiac and
to a lesser extent Hail to the Thief. The result is a set of nine variously
energetic, touching, mellow and politically charged songs that manage
to beautifully combine Thom’s oft lauded voice with his ear for
a good old fashioned tune and a nice glitchy beat. The stunning stripped
down TV performances of ‘Analyse’ and ‘The Clock’ prove
that he’s far from abandoned traditional instruments though,
and perhaps promise even greater things for the forthcoming Radiohead
album. L |
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| No. 1 Champion Kickboxer - Perforations |
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It is rare to hear an album that sounds so unlike anything that
has come before it, but Sheffield’s Champion Kickboxer have produced
just that. Names could be bandied about, but nothing would come close
to the truth – CK are in a genre all of their own. Quirky yet
never clichéd, constantly inventive yet never obtuse, Tom Bates’ innocently
poetic musings on life are wrapped beautifully around enchanting melodies
and backing vocals, understated yet effective instrumentation, and
a drummer who can’t seem to sit still. A truly magical album
that any self-respecting music lover should not be without. WM |
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| Tom Pegg |
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Name:
Lurch
| Date:
09/03/07 | Reply
I ain't heard most of these, but the top three are reet proper good. And what I voted for. Woo!
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Name:
Dan
| Date:
10/03/07 | Reply
I'm sorry but no. Mastadon? General concensus when they supported Tool in Nottingham was that Tool were awesome and Mastadon really weren't. Again. I don't get what everyone thinks is so good about them, they just sound like...well, rubbish.
And The Eraser is also rubbish.
I really want to get the Champion Kickboxer album though.
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Name:
Will
| Date:
10/03/07 | Reply
I don't get Mastodon either. The drummer is pretty good (but certainly not as good as some people make him out to be), but that's about it.
I think The Eraser is good though. And Perforations really is that good. Stupid music buying public...
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Name:
James
| Date:
10/03/07 | Reply
You all smell.
Mastodon are the most incredible metal band right now. If you listen to the metal genre, and I mean 'metal', there's barely 5% of bands doing anything different, intelligent or worthwhile.
Mastodon are. The drummer is brilliant too, especially live he doesn't stop for an hour - he must be knacked.
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Name:
Will
| Date:
10/03/07 | Reply
ISIS, The Sword and Deftones are leagues ahead of Mastodon - hence why their albums rank higher in our Top 20.
OK, so none of those three are strictly "metal", but do you have to always be listening to something strictly "metal" - perhaps the genre in its pure form is in a stale period at the moment - hence the reason why peope are turning to metal-with-flavour-of-Doom/Post-rock/Emo/Hobbits.
Albums that consistently rank highly in my internal top lists are either genre-definers, genre-defiers, genre-leaders or genre-mixers. Mastodon are none of these - they are merely a pretty average metal band in a fairly drab current scene.
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Name:
Dan
| Date:
10/03/07 | Reply
Mastadon't.
Just wanted to get that in.
James, listen to the second Twin Zero album.
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Name:
James
| Date:
11/03/07 | Reply
They don't define genres but they don't do what other people do either,perhaps the only other band I've heard that sounds like Mastodon is High on Fire. And that's only sometimes. I can see what your saying, I just don't agree. Their sound, for me, is perfect. :)
RE: Twin Zero - I have the second album. It's ace.
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Name:
Tom
| Date:
11/03/07 | Reply
I've only heard Remission, and that's pretty good I think. I do wish the drummer would sit still occasionally though -- but then I suspect the songs would suddenly sound like they had a lot less to them.
Dan, The Eraser is not rubbish. You're rubbish. In the face.
I think this is quite a worthy and interesting top 20, although it does go a bit wilfully obscure up at the top there.
Can I just add that I'm really digging this new interface. It's suddenly easy to comment, and read reviews, and everything. Gosh.
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Name:
dan
| Date:
11/03/07 | Reply
yeah, it's ace. although when there're a lot of comments it's a pain to scroll back up to the top to reply.
'rubbish in the face' - nice work.
ok then james, listen to the first tz album.
and then remedy lane by pain of salvation.
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Name:
James
| Date:
12/03/07 | Reply
I have the first one too. Never heard of Pain of Salvation though. I'll check them out.
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Name:
Dan
| Date:
12/03/07 | Reply
to be fair they're nothing like TZ, and the songs on their myspace are shit for some reason.
Check out the song 'Idiocracy' if you can.
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Name:
Tom
| Date:
12/03/07 | Reply
Credit where it's due, "in the face" is a Will-ism.
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