The other bookend of the poll, and admittedly I'm not really totally happy with my selection of nine albums because it DOES just seems like a bunch of indie rock bands this time. Still, the records I included are all fine records. I combed the lists for a good rap/hip-hop album to include, but I couldn't really find one but then again I'm not really THAT well-versed on my rap/hip-hop. I'm sure I left something important out. Anyway, I went with these.
Note: N*E*R*D is technically a 2002 release for very strange reasons
Many omissions:
# Hawksley Workman * (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves (Universal)
# Mercury Rev * All Is Dream (V2)
# Sparklehorse * It's A Wonderful Life (EMI/Parlophone)
# Ed Harcourt * Here Be Monsters (Virgin)
# Pulp * We Love Life (Uni/Island)
# Gorky's Zygotic Mynci * How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart (Mantra/Beggars Banquet)
# Super Furry Animals * Rings Around The World (Epic)
# The Czars * The Ugly People Vs. The Beautiful People (Bellaire)
# Eels * Soul Jacker (Dreamworks)
# Radiohead * Amnesiac (Capitol)
# The Dismemberment Plan * Change (De Soto)
# Steve Wynn * Here Come The Miracles (Innerstate)
# Four Tet * Pause (Domino)
# !!! (Chik Chik Chik) (Gold Standard)
# Otto * Condom Black (Trama)
# Opeth * Blackwater Park (Koch)
# Roots Manuva * Run Come Save Me (Big Dada)
# Max De Castro * Samba Raro (Trama)
# Blue States * Nothing Changes Under The Sun (ESL)
# Mark Lanegan * Field Songs (Sub Pop)
# Dub Pistols * Six Million Ways To Live (Universal)
# Cannibal Ox * Cold Vein (Ozone Music)
# John Vanderslice * Time Travel Is Lonely (Barsuk)
# Kaada * Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time (Ipecac)
# Mogwai * Rock Action (Matador)
# Tindersticks * Can Our Love... (Beggas Banquet)
# Le Tigre * Feminist Sweepstakes (Mr. Lady)
# The Boredoms * Vision, Creation, Newsun (WEA Japan)
# The Microphones * The Glow, Pt. 2 (K)
# Prefuse 73 * Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives (Warp)
# Orlando Cachaito Lopez * Cachaito (World Circuit)
# Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire * The Swimming Hour (Rykodisc)
# Sufjan Stevens * Enjoy Your Rabbit (Asthmatic Kitty)
# Explosions In The Sky * How Strange, Innocense (Temporary)
# Even Johansen * Quiet & Still (FiveOne)
# Nicolai Dunger * Soul Rush (Delores/Lakeshore)
# Hood * Cold House (Aesthetics)
# Sahara Hotnights * Jennie Bomb (Jet Set)
# The Liars * They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top (Mute)
# No Doubt * Rock Steady (Interscope)
# The Flaming Stars * A Walk On The Wired Side (Vinyl Japan)
# Nitin Sawhney * Prophesy (V2)
# Built To Spill * Ancient Melodies Of The Future (WB)
# Elbow * Asleep In The Back (V2)
# Circulatory System (Cloud Recordings)
# Pernice Brothers * The World Won't End (Ashmont)
# Jim O'Rourke * Insignificance (Drag City)
# Foetus * Flow (Thirsty Ear)
# Shannon Wright * Dyed In The Wool (Quarterstick)
# Stereolab * Sound-Dust (Elektra)
# Bilal * 1st Born Second (Interscope)
# Ben Christophers * Spoonface (V2)
# The Autumn Defense * The Green Hour (Broadmoor)
# Handsome Family * Twilight (Carrot Top)
# Unwound * Leaves Turn Inside You (Kill Rock Stars)
# Fridge * Happiness (Temporary Residence)
# Spiritualized * Let It Come Down (Arista)
# Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros * Global A Go-Go (Hellcat)
# The American Analog Set * Know By Heart (Tiger Style)
# Royksopp * Melody A.M. (Wall Of Sond/EMI)
# Stars * Nightsongs (Le Grand)
# Lali Puna * Scary World Theory (Morr)
# Stars * Nightsongs (LeGrand)
# Broken Social Scene * Feel Good Lost (Noise Factory)
# Thalia Zedek * Been Here and Gone (Matador)
# The Tyde * Once (Track & Field)
# Papa M * Whatever, Mortal (Drag City)
# The (International) Noise Conspiracy * A New Morning, Changing Weather (Epitaph)
# Moreno Veloso +2 * Music Typewriter (Hannibal/Natasha)
# Bardo Pond * Dilate (Matador)
# Thea Gilmore * Rules For Jokers (Flyin')
# Tom Ze * Jogos De Armar (Trama)
# Gigi (Palm Pictures)
# The Seconds * Y (5RC)
# Chris Lee * Plays & Sings Torch'd Songs, Charivari Hymns & Oriki Blue-Marches (Smells Like)
# Tortoise * Standards (Thrill Jockey)
# Enslaved * Monumension (Osmose)
# Rocket From The Crypt * Group Sounds (TVT/Vagrant)
# Tiga/Various * American Gigalo (International DJ)
# Animal Collective/Avey tare & Panda Bear * Danse Manatee (Cats Up Plate)
# Various * All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0 (ATPR)
# The Avalanches * Since I Left You (Sire/Modular)
# Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds * No More Shall We Part (Elektra)
# Fischerspooner * #1 (Ministry of Sound/Capitol)
# Katatonia * Last Fair Deal Gone Down (Peaceville/Snapper)
# R.E.M. * Reveal (WB)
# Rob * Don't Kill (Source Fr)
# Basement Jaxx * Rooty (XL)
# Manitoba * Start Breaking My Heart (Domino)
# Hector Zazou & Sandy Dillon * Las Vegas Is Curved (First World)
# Picastro * Red Your Blues (Pehr)
# Soundtrack Of Our Lives * Behind The Music (WEA)
# Natacha Atlas * Ayeshteni (Mantra)
# You Am I * Dress Me Slowly (BMG)
# Helio Sequence * Young Effectuals (Cavity Search)
# Life Without Buildings * Any Other City (Tugboat)
# Explosions In The Sky * Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever (Temporary)
# Playgroup (Source/Astralwerks)
# Joe Henry * Scar (Mammoth)
# Peaches * The Teaches Of Peaches (Kitty-Yo)
# Electric Company * 62-56 (Tigerbeat6)
# Soilent Green * A Deleted Symphony For the Beaten Down (Relapse)
# Kylie Minogue * Fever (EMI)
# Lucinda Williams * Essence (UNI/Lost Highway)
# Jim White * No Such Place (Luaka Bop)
# Femi Kuti * Fight To Win (MCA)
# Operator Generator * Polar Fleet (Man's Ruin)
# Autechre * Confield (Warp)
# Kreator * Violent Revolution (Steamhammer/SPV)
# Manu Chao * Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (EMD/Virgin)
# Rufus Wainright * Poses (Dreamworks)
# Tim Hecker * Haunt Me, Haunt Me Again (Substractif)
# Gillian Welch * Time (The Revelator) (Acony)
# Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP (Wichita/Touch And Go)
# Adult * Resuscitation (Ersatz Audio)
# Trilok Gurtu * The Beat Of Love (Blue Note)
# Rachid Taha * Made In Medina (Mondo Melodia)
# Tool * Lateralus/Systema Encephale (Volcano)
# So Solid Crew * They Don't Know (Independiente)
# The Fire Show * Above the Volcano of Flowers (Perishable)
# Sloan * Pretty Together (Murder)
# Jay Farrar * Sebastapol (Artemis)
# Scout NIblett * Sweet Heart Fever (Secretly Canadian)
# Summer Hymns * Celebratory Arm Gesture (Misra)
# Beachwood Sparks * Once We Were Trees (Sub Pop)
# The Coup * Party Music (75 Ark)
# Missy Elliott * Miss E . . . So Addictive (WEA/Elektra)
# Kevin Tihista's Red Terror * Don't Breathe A Word (Blanco Y Negro)
# Burning Airlines * Identikit (DeSoto)
# Erase Errata * Other Animals (Troubleman)
# The Kingsbury Manx * Let You Down (Overcoat)
# Bobby Conn * The Golden Age (Thrill Jockey)
# Trembling Blue Stars * Alive To Every Smile (Sub Pop)
# Firewater * Psychopharmacology (Jetset)
# Fanfare Ciocarlia * Iag Bari (Piranha)
# The Faint * Danse Macabre (Saddle Creek)
# Krishna Das * Breath of the Heart (Triloka)
# Willard Grant Conspiracy * Everything's Fine (Rykodisc/Slow River)
# Califone * Roomsound (Perishable)
# Black Rebel Motorcycle Club * B.R.M.C. (Virgin)
# Simian * Chemistry Is What We Are (Source/Astralwerks)
# Love As Laughter * Sea to Shining Sea (Sub Pop)
# Shelby Lynne * Love, Shelby (Island)
# Tara Jane O'Neil * In The Sun Lines (Quarterstick)
# Bob Dylan * Love And Theft (Columbia)
# Music For Mapmakers (Grenadine)
# Vue * Find Your Home (Sub Pop)
# Old 97's * Satellite Ride (Elektra)
# Beulah * The Coast Is Never Clear (Velocette)
# Her Space Holiday * Manic Expressive (Tiger Style)
# Ida * The Braille Night (Tiger Style)
# Mouse On Mars * Idiology (Thrill Jockey)
# Labradford : Fixed::Content (Kranky)
# Matmos * A Chance to Cut Is a Chance To Cure (Matador)
# The Rapture * Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks EP (Sub Pop)
# Radiohead * I Might Be Wrong (Capitol)
# 16 Horsepower * Hoarse (Checkered Past)
# Daft Punk * Discovery (Virgin)
# Set Fire To Flames * Sings Reign Rebuilder (Alien 8)
# Talvin Singh * Ha (Island)
# Dilated Peoples * Expansion Team (Capitol)
# Karsh Kale * Realize (Six Degrees)
# Cex * Oops, I Did It Again! (Tigerbeat6)
# Lift To Experience * The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (Bella Union)
# Scarlet Life * Sugar, Spice, Saccharin & Cyanide (DivaNation)
# Karma Sutra * Prana (Invisible/DivaNation)
# Angels Of Light * How I Loved You (Young God)
# Badmarsh & Shri * Signs (Nutone/Nettwerk)
# Tim Easton * The Truth About Us (New West)
# Burning Brides * Fall of the Plastic Empire (V2)
# Tweaker * The Attraction To All Things Uncertain (Six Degrees)
# Isis * Celestial (7)
# Godflesh * Hymns (Earache)
# Entombed * Morning Star (Music for the Nations)
# The Haunted * Made Me Do It (Earache)
# Che * Sounds Of Liberation (Man's Ruin)
# The International Noise Conspiracy * Survival Sickness (Burning Heart/Epitaph)
# Fantomas * The Director's Cut (Ipecac)
# Whiskeytown * Pneumonia (Universal)
# The Cash Brothers * How Was Tomorrow (Uni/Zoe)
# Kelly Hogan * Because It Feel Good (Bloodshot)
# Clutch * Pure Rock Fury (Atlantic)
# Lamb * What Sound (Mercury)
# Zeke * Death Alley (Tee Pee)
# Spain * I Believe (Restless)
# Timbaland & Magoo * Indecent Proposal (Virgin)
# Jay-Z * The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella)
# DJ Krush * Zen (Red Ink)
# Motorhead * Bastards (Steamhammer)
# Aesop Rock * Labor Days (Def Jux)
# Cesaria Evora * Sao Vicente (World Circuit)
# Sheila Chandra * This Sentence Is True (Shakti)
# Susheela Raman * Salt Rain (Narada)
# Temple Of Sound & Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali * People's Colony No. 1 (Real World)
# Felix Da Housecat * Kittenz And Thee Glitz (City Rockers)
# Vinicius Cantuaria * Vinicius (Transparent)
# Joi * We Are Three (Real World)
# Radio Tarifa * Cruzando El Rio (World Circuit)
# Cheb Mami * Dellali (Mondo Melodia/Ark 21)
# Neil Michael Hagerty (Drag City)
# The Butchies * Three (Mr. Lady)
# Rainer Maria * A Better Version Of Me (Polyvinyl)
# Anita Lane * Sex O' Clock (Mute)
# The Frames * For The Birds (Overcoat)
# Teenage Fanclub * Howdy! (Thirsty Ear)
# Zoot Woman * Living In A Magazine (Parlophone)
# Fruit Bats * Echo Location (Perishable)
# Clem Snide * The Ghost Of Fashion (spinART)
# Superchunk * Here's To Shutting Up (Merge)
# Low * Things We Lost In The Fire (Kranky)
# Portastatic * Looking for Leonard (Merge)
# Howe Gelb * Confluence (Thrill Jockey)
# System Of A Down * Toxicity (American)
# Cutthroats 9 (Man's Ruin)
# Old Time Relijun * Witchcraft Rebellion (K)
# The Dictators * D.F.F.D. (Dictators)
# Sea Of Tombs (Gravity)
# Julie Doiron * Desormais (Jagjaguwar)
# Love Life * Rose He Lied By (Troubleman Unlimited)
# Calexico * Aerocalexico (Our Soil, Our Stength)
# Stephen Malkmus (Matador)
# The Chamber Strings * Month Of Sundays (Bobsled)
# DJ Swamp * Never Is Now (Decadent/Lakeshore)
# Nebula * Charged (Sub Pop)
# The Sultans * Ghost Ship (Swami/Sympathy FTRI)
# Dante's Voodoo Cabaret * Songs For Saints And Sinners (Voodoo Cabaret)
# Death Cab For Cutie * The Photo Album (Barsuk)
# Pixeltan (Troubleman)
# Hope Sandoval & Warm Invention * Bavarian Fruit Bread (BMG/Sanctuary)
# Macy Gray * The ID (Epic)
# Stereo Total * The Automatique (Bobsled)
# The Gossip * That's Not What I Heard (Kill Rock Stars)
# Air * 10,000 Hz Legend (Astralwerks)
# Old Man Gloom * Seminar III: Zozobra (Tortuga)
# Transglobal Underground * Yes Boss Food Corner
# Stina Nordenstam * This Is Stina Nordenstam (Independente) (UNI/Ark21)
# Electric Wizard * Dopethrone (Rise Above)
# Slayer * God Hates Us All (American/Columbia)
# David Byrne * Look Into The Eyeball (Virgin)
# Richard Hawley (Setanta)
# Shiner * Egg (De Soto)
# Zao (Tooth & Nail)
# Orthrelm * Asristirveildrioxe EP (Grenadine)
# Edith Frost * Wonder Wonder (Drag City)
# Preston School Of Industry * All This Sounds Gas (Matador)
# The Pharmacists * Ted Leo/Rx Pharmacists (Germ Blandsten)
# Kings of Convenience * Versus (Astralwerks)
# Chocolate Genius * Godmusic (V2)
# Trailer Bride * High Seas (Bloodshot)
# Kings of Convenience * Quiet Is The New Loud (Source/Astralwerks)
# The Lack (Troubleman)
# Ursula Rucker * Supa Sista (Studio !K7)
# The Nerves * World Of Gold (Thrill Jockey)
# Bigg Jus * Plantation Rhymes (Sub Verse)
# Lambchop * Tools In The Dryer (Merge)
# Mary J. Blige * No More Drama (MCA)
# Busta Rhymes * Genesis (J Records)
# Angie Stone * Mahogony Soul (J Records)
# Quasi * The Sword Of God (Touch & Go)
# Warhorse * As Heaven Turns To Ash... (Southern Lord)
# Rammstein * Mutter (Universal)
# My Dying Bride * The Dreadful Hour (Peaceville/Snapper)
# Ex Models * Other Mathematics (Ace Fu)
# Chestnut Station * In Your Living Room (Drag City)
# The Great Crusades * Damaged Goods (Glitterhouse)
# Maxwell * Now (Columbia)
# Jill Scott * Experience (Sony)
# Evil Beaver * Lick It! (Four Alarm)
# Buddy & Julie Miller (Hightone)
# Gorillaz (Virgin)
# ABCs (Troubleman)
# Dungeon Family * ...Even in Darkness (Arista)
# The Donnas * The Donnas Turn 21 (Lookout!)
# John Hammond * Wicked Grin (Virgin)
# Ghostface Killah * Bulletproof Wallets (Epic)
# Bonnie 'Prince' Billy * Ease Down The Road (Palace Records)
# Le Tigre * From The Desk of Mr. Lady EP (Mr. Lady)
# The Bigger Lovers * How I Learned To Stop Worrying (Black Dog)
# Garbage * Beautiful Garbage (Mushroom)
# Black Crowes * Lion (V2)
# Tom McRae (BMG/Arista)
# Monster Magnet * God Says No (A&M)
# Pete Yorn * Musicforthemorningafter (Sony)
# Muse * Origin Of Symmetry (Mushroom)
# Rollins Band * Nice (BMG/Sanctuary)
# Kool Keith * Spankmaster (TVT)
# Bullfrog (Ropeadope)
# Rizzo * Phoning It In (Sympathy For the Record Industry)
# Nick Lowe * The Convincer (Proper)
# Ryan Adams * Gold (Lost Highway)
# Weezer * The Green Album (Geffen)
# The Cult * Beyond Good & Evil (Lava/Atlantic)
# Tricky * Blowback (Island)
# Tori Amos * Strange Little Girls (Atlantic)
# Graham Parker * Deepcut to Nowhere (Razor & Tie)
# Leonard Cohen * Ten New Songs (Columbia)
# The Moldy Peaches (Sanctuary)
# Khanate (Southern Lord)
# Tomahawk (Ipecac)
# Acid Mothers Temple * New Geocentric World (Squealer)
# Akercocke * The Goat Of Mendes (Peaceville/Snapper)
# Alabama Thunderpussy * Staring At The Divine (Man's Ruin)
# Alpha * The Impossible Thrill (Melankolic)
# Anathema * A Fine Day To Exit (Koch)
# The Apes * The Fugue In The Fog (French Kiss)
# Aphex Twin * Drukqs (Warp)
# Arab Strap * The Red Thread (Matador/Chemical Underground)
# Aria * Haze (Bleep)
# Ashley Park * The American Scene (Loose)
# Ass Ponys * Lohio (Checkered Past)
# Aterciopelados * Gozo Poderosa (BMG Latin)
# Atomsmasher (Hydra Head)
# AB Baars Trio * Songs (Geestgronden)
# The Bad Plus (Fresh Sound)
# Bathory * Blood Fire Death (Black Mark/SPV
# Howie Beck * Hollow (Easy Tiger)
# The BellRays * Grand Fury (Vital Gesture)
# Ben & Jason * Ten Songs About You (Go Beat)
# Biosphere * Substrata/Man With A Movie Camera (Touch)
# Biota * Invisible Map (Import)
# Bis * Music For A Stranger World (Grand Royal)
# Brant Bjork & The Operators * Cocoa Butter (Man's Ruin)
# Frank Black & the Catholics * Dog In The Sand (What Are Records?)
# Blectum From Blechdom * Haus De Snaus (Tiberbeat6)
# Bluetip * Post Mortem Anthem (Dischord)
# Bonnevill (Mick Turner) * Pelican (Instinct)
# Bran Van 3000 * Discosis (Grand Royal)
# Brassy * Got It Made (Wiija)
# Brokeback * Morse Code in the Modern Age: Across The Americas (Thrill Jockey)
# Bronx Casket Co. * Sweet Home Transylvania
# Buck 65 * Man Overboard (Anticon)
# Cake * Comfort Eagle (Columbia)
# Capitol Years * Meet Yr Acrews (Full Frame)
# The Charlatans * Wonderland (UNI/MCA)
# Chicago Underground Quartet (Thrill Jockey)
# The Clean * Getaway (Merge)
# Clearlake * Lido (Dusty Company)
# cLOUDDEAD (Mush/Big Dada)
# Cockeyed Ghost * Ludlow 6:18 (Karma Frog)
# Comas * A Def Needle In Tomorrow (Plastique/Yep Roc)
# Constantines * The Constantines (Three Gut)
# The Convocation Of... * Pyramid Technology (Tiger Style)
# The Creatures * Sequins In The Sun
# The Crystal Method * Tweekend (Interscope)
# Cypress Hill * Stoned Raiders (Sony)
# The Damned * Grave Disorder (NIT)
# De La Soul * Bionix (Tommy Boy)
# Delerium * Poem (Nettwerk)
# Depeche Mode * Exciter (Warner)
# Dhol Foundation * Big Drum Small World (Shakti)
# Ani DiFranco * Revelling: Reckoning (Righteous Babe)
# Dimitri from Paris * Monsieur Dimitri's De-Luxe House of Funk (Razor & Tie)
# The Distillers * Sin Sin Death House (Hellcat/Epitaph)
# The Divine Comedy * Regeneration (Parolophone)
# Dntel * Life Is Full Of Possibilities (Plug Research)
# Sara Dougher * The Bluff (Mr. Lady)
# Graeme Downes * Hammers And Anvils (Matador)
# The Dum Dum Project * Export Quality (Grooovy Sounds Unlimited)
# Edan * Mic Manipulator (Lewis Recordings)
# Ekkehard Ehlers * Plays Albert Ayler (Staubgold)
# Mark Eitzel * The Invisible Man (Matador)
# Electrelane * Rock It To The Moon (Mr. Lady/Let's Rock!)
# Elysian Fields * Queen Of the Meadow (Flower Shop)
# Embrace * If You've Never Been
# Emperor * Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise (Candlelight)
# Elejandro Escovedo * A Man Under the Influence (Bloodshot)
# The Ex * Dizzy Spells (Touch & Go)
# Explosion Robinson * The Luxury Leader (Slabco)
# Faithless * Outrospective (Arista/Kinetic)
# Fear Factory * DigiMortal (Roadrunner)
# Field Mob * 6:13: Ashy To Classy (MCA)
# Firebird * Deluxe (Music For Nations)
# Ben Folds * Rockin' The Suburbs (Epic)
# French Kicks * Young Lawyer EP (Star Time)
# Fuck * Cupid's Cactus (Smells Like)
# Fushitsusha * Origin's Hesitation (PSF)
# Future Pilot AKA * Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea (Geographic)
# Rebecca Gates * Ruby Series (Badman)
# Warren G * Return Of The Regulator (Uptown/Universal)
# The Get Up Kids * Eudora (Vagrant)
# Goldfrapp * Utopia (EP) (Mute)
# Godhead * 2000 Years Of Human Error (Posthuman)
# Goldie * Goldie Co UK
# Green Velvet * Whatever (Musicman)
# Gridlock * Trace (Unit)
# Luke Haines * The Oliver Twist Manifesto (Hut)
# The Heavy Blinkers * Better Weather (Brobdignagian)
# Arve Henriksen, Sakuteiki (Rune Grammofon)
# Herbert * Bodily Functions (!K7)
# HIM * New Features (Bubble Core)
# Holger Hiller (Mute)
# Beth Hirsch * Titles And Idols (!K7)
# His Name Is Alive * Someday My Blues Will Cover The Earth (4AD/Beggars Banquet)
# The Human League * Secrets (Papillon/Chrysalis)
# I Am Kloot * Natural History (We Love You)
# The Icarus Line * Mono (Crank!)
# Idaho * Levitate (Idaho Music)
# Jackie-O Motherfucker * Liberation (Road Cone)
# Bill Janovitz * Up Here (spinART)
# Freedy Johnston * Right Between The Promises (Elektra)
# k * New Problems (Tiger Style)
# Karma To Burn * Almost Heathen (Spitfire)
# Katatonia * Last Fair Deal Gone Down (Peaceville/Snaper)
# Alicia Keys * Songs In A Minor (J)
# Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Sony/Legacy)
# Kinski * Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle (Pacifico)
# Ladytron * 604 (Emperor Norton)
# Bill Laswell * Carlos Santana - Divine Light (Columbia/Legacy)
# Melissa Lefton (Jive)
# Lightning Bolt * Ride The Skies (Loud)
# Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez * Cachaito (Nonesuch)
# John Oswald * Plunderphonics 69/96 (Seeland)
# The Locust * Flight Of The Wounded Locust (GSL)
# Patty Loveless * Mountain Soul (Epic)
# Lowgold * Just Backward Of Square (Nude)
# Lowsunday * Elesgiem (Projekt)
# Ludacris * Southern Hospitality (Def Jam)
# The Lucksmiths * Why That Doesn't Surprise Me (Drive-In)
# Billy MacKenzie And Steve Aungle * Eurocentric (Eurocentric)
# Marmoset * Record In Red (Secretly Canadian)
# Stephan Mathieu * Frequencylib (Ritornell)
# Paul McCartney * Driving Rain (Parlophone)
# Nathaniel Merriweather Presents Loveage * Music To Make Love to Your Old Lady By (75 Ark)
# Milemarker * Anaesthetic (Jade Tree)
# Minders * Golden Street (Spinart)
# Minus 5 * Let The War Against Music Begin (Malt/Mammoth)
# Roy Montgomery * Silver Wheel Of Prayer (VHF)
# Alan Moore & Tim Perkins * The Highbury Working (Re:)
# Jason Moran Trio * Black Stars (Blue Note)
# Mark Mulcahy * Smile Sunset (Loose)
# Mull Historical Society * Loss (EastWest)
# Toshimaru Nakamura & Sachiko M * Do (Erstwhile)
# Nectarine No. 9 * Received, Transgressed & Transmitted (Beggars Banquet)
# Nataraj XT * Tandava (Nutone)
# New Order * Get Ready (WB)
# The New Year * Newness Ends (Touch And Go)
# Nagisa Ni Te * Songs for A Simple Moment (Geographic)
# Jeb Loy Nichols * Just What Time It Is (Rykodisc)
# Nas * Stillmatic (Columbia)
# Neurosis * A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse)
# No-Neck Blues Band * Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones (Revenant)
# Noonday Underground * Self-Assembly (Bar/None)
# North Mississippi Al Stars, John Medeski & Robert Randolph * The Word (Ropeadope/Atlantic)
# Heather Nova * South (1/2)
# Laura Nyro * Angel In The Dark (Rounder)
# Of Montreal * Cocquelicot Asleep In The
oppies (Kindercore)
# OOIOO * Feather Float (Birdman)
# Orange Peels * So Far (spinART)
# Oranger * The Quiet Vibration Land (Poptones)
# Oval * Commers (Thrill Jockey)
# Oxide & Neutrino * Execute (East West)
# Pan Sonic * Aaltiopiiri (Blast First)
# Pep Love * Ascension (Hiero Imperium)
# The Pets * Love And War (Endearing)
# P.G. Six * Parlor Tricks And Porch Favorites (Amish)
# Phatt Pussycat * Phatt Life (Glasgow Underground)
# Grant Lee Phillips * Mobilize (Zoe/Rounder)
# Piano Magic * Seasonally Affective 1996-2000 (Rocket Girl)
# Plaid * Double Figure (Warp)
# Pleasure Forever (Sub Pop)
# Iggy Pop * Beat Em Up (Virgin)
# Praxis * Warszawa (Innerhythmic)
# Prefab Sprout * The Gunman And Other Stories (EMI)
# Rajna * Ishati (Projekt)
# Red House Painters * Old Ramon (Sub Pop)
# Marc Ribot * Saints (Division One)
# Christina Rosenvinge * Frozen Pool (Smells Like)
# Rovo * Imago (Incidental)
# Scorn * Greetings From Birmingham (Hymen)
# Senor Coconut * El Gran Baile (Emperor Norton)
# Matthew Shipp * Matthew Shipp's New Orbit (Thirsty Ear)
# Beanie Sigel * The Reason (Roc-A-Fella)
# The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra And Tra-La-La Band * Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward (Constellation)
# Sizzla * Rastafari Teach I Everything (Greensleaves)
# Slumber Party * Psychedelicate (Kill Rock Stars)
# Smog * Rain On Lens (Drag City)
# The Snow Patrol * When It's Over We Will Still Have To Clear Up (Jeepster)
# Snowpony * Sea Shanties For Spaceships (Dead Pan Alley)
# Soilent Green * A Deleted Symphony For the Beaten Down (Relapse)
# Solex * Low Kick & Hard Bop (Matador)
# Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK * Now, Listen! (Ninja Tune)
# Son Ambulence * Euphemystic (Saddle Creek)
# Spearmin * A Different Lifetime (Hitback)
# Squarepusher * Go Plastic (Warp)
# Stars * The Comeback EP (LeGrand)
# Starsailor * Love Is Here (Chrysalis)
# Taku Sugimoto * Italia (A Bruit Secret)
# Sebastien Tellier * L'Incroyable Verite Record Makers (Astralwerks)
# Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 * Bob Diners and Laarry Noodles Present Tubby Terdner's Celebrity Avalanche (Communion)
# Billy Bob Thornton * Private Radio (Lost Highway)
# Tindersticks * Trouble Every Day (Beggars Banquet)
# Jenny Toomey * Antidote (Misra)
# To Rococo Rot & I-Sound * Music Is A Hungry Ghost (City Slang)
# Town And Country * It Has All To Do With It (Thrill Jockey)
# Travis * The Invisible Band (Independiente)
# Turin Brakes * The Optimist LP (Astralwerks)
# US Maple * Acre Thrills (Drag City)
# Vandermark 5 * Acoustic Machine (Atavistic)
# Caetano Veloso * Noites Do Norte (WEA/Nonesuch)
# Caetano Veloso * Omaggio A Federico E Giulietta (WEA/Nonesuch)
# Varnaline * Songs In A Northern Key (E-Squared/Artemis)
# Volta Do Mar * At The Speeeed Of Light Or Day (Arborvitae)
# The Von Bondies * Lack Of Communication (Sympathy FTRI)
# Wagon Christ * Musipal (Ninja Tune)
# The Walkabouts * Ended Up A Stranger (Glitterhouse)
# Walker Kong * There Goes The Sun (Magic Marker)
# M Ward * End Of Amnesia (Loose)
# The White Octive * Menergy (Initial)
# Witness * Under A Sun (Island)
# Jah Wobble & Evan Parker * Passage to Hades (Blueprint)
# Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell * Radioaxiom (Palm/Axiom)
# Work Of Saws * Motivation and Watertown Grammar (Thick)
# Wu Tang Clan * WW II (Loud)
# Yesterday's New Quintet * Angles Without Edges (Stones Throw)
# Zero 7 * Simple Things (Ultimate Dilemma)
# Rob Zombie * Sinister Urge (Geffen)
The Strokes - Is This It
Quote:
Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype from the British press, the Strokes prove to be one of the few groups deserving of their glowing reviews. Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences -- Television, the Stooges, and especially Lou Reed and the Velvets -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them -- they remake them in their own image. On The Modern Age EP, singles like Hard to Explain, and their full-length debut, Is This It?, the N.Y.C. group presents a pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk, complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat.
Spoon - Girls Can TellQuote:
Time may not exactly heal all wounds, but it can lend the perspective and strength to channel pain into something positive. Such is the case with Spoon; their perennial indie rock underdog status and disastrous stint on Elektra have focused and tempered the trio's brash energy instead of crushing it. Their third full-length, Girls Can Tell, reflects the group's lean, hungry stance in its spare, spiky, immaculately crafted songs. "Take the Fifth" and "Take a Walk" take Spoon's smart, bouncy, slightly tough signature sound to another level; while the ghosts of the Pixies, Nirvana, and Elvis Costello still haunt songs like "Lines in the Suit," Girls Can Tell's sharp wordplay, barbed guitars, and appealingly raw vocals prove that the group embraces their influences without becoming slaves to them.
Fennesz - Endless SummerQuote:
With a title and cover artwork so obviously referring to the Beach Boys, one had to anticipate that this 2001 full-length CD by Fennesz would be more melodious than usual. It is, but you'll only get as close to surf music as the imagination of an experimental electronica artist from Vienna, Austria, will allow you to -- and that's still quite far. Fennesz puts the emphasis on sunny melodies and a somewhat lighter atmosphere, but drowns them in glitch textures. The result strikes and disconcerts. Easy solutions do not fill this man's cup of tea. The melodies are never played throughout, but dismembered, notes assigned to different instruments or electronically cut up and reassembled...Scoffing the fan, the album closes with the long (11 minutes) "Happy Audio," a typical example of Fennesz's magic experimental ambient touch. Endless Summer is brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed, but the listener comes out of it with mixed feelings and many questions left unanswered. Isn't that the sign of important art?
The White Stripes - White Blood CellsQuote:
Despite the seemingly instant attention surrounding them -- glowing write-ups in glossy magazines like Rolling Stone and Mojo, guest lists boasting names like Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson, and appearances on national TV -- the White Stripes have stayed true to the approach that brought them this success in the first place. White Blood Cells, Jack and Meg White's third effort for Sympathy for the Record Industry, wraps their powerful, deceptively simple style around meditations on fame, love, and betrayal. As produced by Doug Easley, it sounds exactly how an underground sensation's breakthrough album should: bigger and tighter than their earlier material, but not so polished that it will scare away longtime fans. Admittedly, White Blood Cells lacks some of the White Stripes' blues influence and urgency, but it perfects the pop skills the duo honed on De Stijl and expands on them.
Fugazi - The ArgumentQuote:
It's unfortunate that a band so forward looking as Fugazi has been criticized over and over for not remaking "Waiting Room" or "Repeater." Some have called them sellouts, regardless of the band's integrity and class, while others consider them elitists, "guiding" the Washington, D.C., scene. This could not be further from the truth. As the film and soundtrack to Instrument proved, this is a band that is only concerned with musical growth, with each album improving on its predecessor. But no album they have put together has the jump ahead that The Argument has. Being both ear-shattering and spine-tingling at once, this is Fugazi at their "musical" best. Incorporating melody with texture and their signature angular approach, the band has raised the bar for themselves and others once again.
Bjork - VespertineQuote:
But Vespertine isn't so much a departure from her previous work as a culmination of the musical distance she's traveled; within songs like the subtly sensual "Hidden Place" and "Undo" are traces of Debut and Post's gentle loveliness, as well as Homogenic and Selmasongs' reflective, searching moments. Described by Björk as "about being on your own in your house with your laptop and whispering for a year and just writing a very peaceful song that tiptoes," Vespertine's vocals seldom rise above a whisper, the rhythms mimic heartbeats and breathing, and a pristine, music-box delicacy unites the album into a deceptively fragile, hypnotic whole.
Guided By Voices - Isolation DrillsQuote:
Isolation Drills sounds like the real rock album GBV have always wanted to make; Pollard's hooky-but-rollicking melodies pay audible tribute to his great love for mid-'70s rock throughout, while Doug Gillard and Nate Farley's guitars finally crunch as much as they chime, making the band's rock moves as credible as their pop gestures ("Glad Girls" and "Chasing Heather Crazy" even finding them managing both at the same time, to superb effect). And Guided by Voices has never made an album this consistently strong from start to finish; with the possible exception of "Frostman" (which appears to have been processed to sound like it was recorded on four track), every song here matters, with Pollard's vocals at the top of their form (it helps that most of his lyrics actually make sense for a change -- sounds like Bob's been having relationship problems again) and the band sounds tight, forceful, and emphatic throughout. God knows if the indie rock audience will ever forgive him for such obvious craft, but the side of Pollard's personality that thought touring with Cheap Trick was a great idea finally gets the album he's been waiting for with Isolation Drills.
The Shins - Oh, Inverted WorldQuote:
Beginning with "Caring Is Creepy," which opens this album with a psychedelic flourish that would not be out of place on a late-1960s Moody Blues, Beach Boys, or Love release, the Shins present a collection of retro pop nuggets that distill the finer aspects of classic acid rock with surrealistic lyrics, independently melodic basslines, jangly guitars, echo laden vocals, minimalist keyboard motifs, and a myriad of cosmic sound effects. With only two of the cuts clocking in at over four minutes, Oh Inverted World avoids the penchant for self-indulgence that befalls most outfits who worship at the altar of Syd Barrett, Skip Spence, and Arthur Lee. Lead singer James Mercer's lazy, hazy phrasing and vocal timbre, which often echoes a young Brian Wilson, drifts in and out of the subtle tempo changes of "Know Your Onion," the jagged rhythm in "Girl Inform Me," the Donovan-esque folksy veneer of "New Slang," and the Warhol's Factory aura of "Your Algebra," all of which illustrate this New Mexico-based quartet's adept knowledge of the progressive/art rock genre which they so lovingly pay homage to. Though the production and mix are somewhat polished when compared to the memorable recordings of Moby Grape and early-Pink Floyd, the Shins capture the spirit of '67 with stunning accuracy.
My Morning Jacket - At DawnQuote:
On its second album for Darla Records, My Morning Jacket is perfect. That is to say, they haven't changed a bit, and we like them that way. At Dawn is full of the same strumming acoustic guitar, hauntingly treated vocals, country, blues, and everything else that made The Tennessee Fire a magnificent country, rock, and Americana stew. When Jim James (singer and group leader) sings, "We start this time with open ears," you know you're heading into familiar territory. Open ears were what you needed the first time you took this trip with James and the rest of My Morning Jacket. Open ears led you through the stark and beautiful landscape of The Tennessee Fire, and now they take you on a very similar trip. A little bit of sunshine in "Lowdown," "The Way He Sings," and "Just Because I Do," and a little bit of rain in "If It Smashes Down" and "I Needed It Most." At Dawn finds a very young band hitting their stride. Echoes of Galaxie 500, For Stars, and classic Americana (Neil Young, the Band, Dylan, the Velvet Underground, etc.) find their way into this record to varying degrees, but they seem to float along lending help and comfort, rather than showing themselves directly. Like Belle & Sebastian, My Morning Jacket's songs have remained essentially the same -- just the way we like them.
