Albums Of The Decade

It's taken me a while to round up my thoughts, but spurred on by being asked my favourite British albums of the last decade - and thus realising all my favourites were not applicable. Here are some thoughts:

Listen to all my albums of the decade on a Spotify playlist here

YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT

Wilco (2002)

Never has an album encapsulated me from first listen as much as this. Again, the love is possibly heighetened by the "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" documentary, but there are so many tunes that mean so much on this album

Listen to 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' on Spotify here

PLEASE BELIEVE IT

The Party Of Helicopters (2003)

Odd choice, but POH are simply the best live band I ever saw, and my love for this album is near unrivalled. Just ask anyone I subjected it to while on the road with Forward Russia.

Listen to 'Please Believe It' on Spotify here

THE TEXAS-JERUSALEM CROSSROADS

Lift To Experience (2001)

Such scope and vision, my heart lifts and sags with every crescendo and swell of Josh T Pearson's voice

Listen to 'The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads' on Spotify here

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE

Low (2001)

The perfect Low record. Which is pretty perfect really

Listen to clips of 'Things We Lost In The Fire' on Last.fm here

Download tracks from 'Things We Lost In The Fire' from the Kranky website here

THE MEADOWLANDS

The Wrens (2003)

Existing as if from nowhere, it's a mish-mash of indie slants that shouldn't works, yet does, better than you can imagine

Listen to 'The Meadowlands' on Spotify here

YOU FORGOT IT IN PEOPLE

Broken Social Scene (2002)

A blueprint for pretty much every great band of the last x number of year. Pretty much. Unrivalled

Listen to 'You Forgot It In People' on Spotify here

MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.

Songs: Ohia (2003)

Hard, but tips the Molina scale for me, if just for "Hold On Magnolia" and "John Henry Broke My Heart"

Listen to 'Magnolia Electric Co.' on Spotify here

DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES

Tv On The Radio (2004)

Again, how do you weigh up 3 TVOTR albums, but this album as a statement of intent

Listen to 'Depserate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes' on Spotify here

SET YOURSELF ON FIRE

Stars (2004)

The other side of the Broken Social Scene coin, a wistful explosion of sugar coated morose pop midget gems

Listen to 'Set Youself On Fire' on Spotify here

Soundtrack to this post: M83

Atlas Sound + The Wrens

My two favourite albums at the moment are:

ATLAS SOUND- Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

THE WRENS - The Meadowlands

Links and why being professional chefs and musicians are similar in the relationship with their amateur counterpart... when I have more time

Soundtrack to this post: Santogold + Why?

Busy Bees

I've had a busy week, hardly spent a minute in the house over the back end of last week. Most pronounced by a trip to Preston on Wednesday to do a Forward Russia photoshoot. 

Danny North - photographer extraordinaire, picked an abandoned asylum as our location. Very crazy

    

And so far this week, I've been working on some remixes, and re-discovering old ones. Last year, I did a remix for the new BLOC PARTY record, that I think got lost in a huge pile of Bloc Party remixes. 

I've put it on my 'remix' MySpace (Constructicons Form Devastator) and linked to it below, with my favourite remix from the new album - Where Is Home? by Burial. Which I bizarrely heard on Panaroma the other night

MYSPACE---> Bloc Party - Uniform (Constructicons Form Devastator Remix)

BLOG SEARCH---> Bloc Party - Where Is Home? (Burial Remix)

Other than that, I've been constantly enjoying listening to the new YOUTHMOVIES album 'Good Nature' and re-listening to THE WRENS, who my dad once said was like a cross between Forward Russia and Coldplay....

MP3---> Youthmovies - Archive It Everywhere (Live At ATP)

MP3--->Youthmovies - If You'd Seen A Battlefield (Live At ATP)

MP3---> Youthmovies - Last Night Of The Proms (Live At ATP)

MP3---> The Wrens - Everyone Chooses Sides (from The Meadowlands LP)

If you can't tell, I still haven't worked out the best way to link to the music on this blog, suggestions welcome. Myspace links, blog searches and links to available downloads seem like the future

In the meantime, here's a download I feel good about linking to, the first fruits of a new Leeds band PULLED APART BY HORSES, available to download from Myspace for a limited period of time

MYSPACE / MP3---> Pulled Apart By Horses - High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive

FINALLY, and most importantly, GRAND ARCHIVES have released a sneak preview of their upcoming album via Pitchfork - the opening track Torn Blue Foam Couch. Enjoy

MP3---> Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch

Soundtrack to this post: These New Puritans / Grand Archives / Die! Die! Die! / El Guincho