it's the best one, blows boys & girls away.

The only bands I can think of are Elbow and Goldfrapp. If we *had* been able to choose solo artists, I would have said Bowie.

me neither but I did recently order it from amazon.

anybody say New Pornographers? Twin Cinema is definitely borderline but I like everything else a LOT.

The only bands I can unbiasedly say are:

Foo Fighters
New Pornographers
The Shins
Arcade Fire

and biasedly say:
The Cult
Collective Soul

Really? Even some of the 80s stuff like Tonight & Never Let Me Down?

I haven't heard the first couple of Drive By Truckers CDs, but can't imagine they're duds.

Also...Pernice Brothers.

I've heard the first couple of DBT albums aren't that good. Pernice Bros. is a good call though.

Twin Cinema borderline? You been smokin' the happy weed too much.

National

Kings of Leon

Sigur ros

You make a good point, and yes, those are sub-par albums... I suppose the good far outweighs the bad, but if we're going by the distinct definitions of no sub-par albums, then yes, Bowie would have to be out of the running.

Sloan
Spoon
LCD Soundsystem
Wilco
Clipse
Kanye
Deerhoof
Doves
Walkmen
French Kicks
LSF
Sufjan (I'm not a big fan, but he's pretty consistent in having enough quality per release I'd say)
Flaming Lips (since Priest, the highs may not always be as high, but I look forward to every release...and what are the Lips without a few misfires here and there...)

Oh and...

The Wrens.

Ahem.

Paint huffer of the week award goes to: ZEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!


It's good, but c'mon man.

Yeah. Seriously.

Crooked Fingers

(I haven't heard that Snakes one, I don't think)

i'm with z, the hold steady's debut is better than the other two. the lyrics on the others just got a little too knowingly smart for their own good.

i will say that their live show has gotten better since they added the dude on keys.

This isn't exactly what Billy is asking for but it's close enough. All of the following are still active.

Bands from this decade who have more than three albums with Konstantiranks of 7.00 or above (i.e albums rated "good" or above).

Belle & Sebastian 3 out of 3 owned (don't have Story Telling)
Broken Family Band 3 out of 5 owned (other two albums, both in the 6.80's, are by no means terrible)
Laura Cantrell 3 out of 3 owned (don't have 'radio sessions' album)
Neko Case 3 out of 3 owned (don't have the live 'Tigers' album)
King Creosote 3 out of 3 owned (don't have his first album)
Mogwai 3 out of 4 (I don't like 'Rock Action' much but everything else this decade is good)
Nina Nastasia 3 out of 4 owned (current album just misses out with a 6.90, don't have 'Dogs')
Sonic Youth 3 out of 3
The Strokes 3 out of 3
White Stripes 5 out of 5

P. J. Harvey and Two Gallants both have 2 out of 2, with new, third albums this decade either newly released or about to be released, so they could possibly join the list in the near future.

apples in stereo
beck
moby

all have great albums ranging from brilliantly excellent to par. none that are subpar.

another band to mention (new album was released this week) is the Weakerthans. their latest is very good, not as awesome as the previous three, but still better than 99% of the pop/rock/emopunk population.

oh and billy g, i have the knife in the water album Plays One Sound And Others. it didn't grab me at all back in the day but i'll spin it again. are the more recent ones any better or different?

Yo La Tengo
Sigur Ros
Lambchop
Mary Timony
Spiritualized
Tortoise
Stereolab
Wilco
Bjork
GYBE!

twin cinema does nothing for me, but i love the first two albums. i never got why everyone busted a nut over it. i'd agree with the original assessment.

Song duds, or album duds? I presume you mean album duds.

Gary Numan (yes, he's still around, still recording, and still relevant, IMHO, and I have most of his studio albums, including the last couple, Pure and Jagged, although Mutate and Hybrid are borderline disposable)

EDIT: Yeah, gotta agree with Tool, good call. Too bad, A Perfect Circle have only two albums out.

That said:

Rush (and contrary to a lot of my recent posts, I do not listen exclusively to classic rock, that's just where my memory goes)
Dream Theater
Lacrimosa (although their earliest releases are a little raw, they're still on my wishlist)

I agree with quite a few that have been named already, so I'm just throwing out some new suggestions:

Queens of the Stone Age
Tool
Gomez

The Go-Betweens. Not technically active anymore since Grant died, but their last album was only a couple years ago.

oh, and m. ward

It's all subjective, I suppose... but I find Twin Cinema to be great both cohesively, and on an individual song basis.

Electric Version is the album that makes me feel borderline. (Although since it was my first NP album, it certainly gets fond memories from me.)

most of these are good...I would add Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to the bunch

I think the first one is their best.

The only artists I can think of right now for this list are Crooked Fingers and Spoon. Bands always let me down. Or they have an early subpar album.

Thanks. I didn't want to be a broken record.

And I have to say it: Animal Collective. Danse Manatee is a little weak, but it predates them using the Animal Collective moniker. Even if you want to be all revisionist, you could just look at it as a bonus disc/add-on to Spirit They're Gone. I don't have their live album, but I don't think it should necessarily count either.

Angels of Light have been really consistent. Other People is their worst album, and it's still pretty good. I really like a few songs on it, and it has some great playing from Akron/Family. (I think they could qualify for this as well.)

If you only count the "proper" releases, Jackie-O Motherfucker has been really consistently great.

Thus far, Manitoba/Caribou has 4 releases and no duds. Not a big favorite of mine, though.

I was going to agree with Stereolab and Spoon, but then I remember that I didn't really like Fab Four Suture or Gimme Fiction. I also haven't heard Telephono. Both come really close for bands that have been around a while, especially Stereolab.

Oh yeah, and Mission of Burma.