Best of the Noughties - Top 10 albums - Features - Music / Electronic Beats

Welcome to the sixth instalment of the “Best of the Noughties.“ After previously examining music blogs, public art installations, songs, documentaries and music trends, we’ve come up with a personal list of our ultimate albums of the decade. Of course this list is not complete: there are a huge number of amazing albums that we didn’t mention. Many of the ones we did are so classic that they seem obvious now; others flew under the radar but influenced music irrevocably. However, if you think this is a definitive list, you've missed the point. Enjoy our selections.

The Moldy Peaches – The Moldy Peaches (2000), Downloading Porn with Davo

More lo-fi than listening to your records through a needle and paper cup. It’s hard to believe there’s anything more fun than being drunk and singing “Downloading Porn with Davo". Like a kick in the balls from a naughty child, this is visceral, terribly produced, borderline offensive and brilliant. Probably not on many other lists, but it's on mine.

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (2004), 99 Problems

It's easy to forget the wave of mash ups that dominated clubland in the middle of the decade. In the UK at least, Eminem's rhymes were being attached to an increasingly bizarre selection of backing tracks almost every week. However, the fad quickly turned to novelty, and just when things were getting really silly, Danger Mouse dropped his Grey Album. Fusing Jay Z's Black Album with the Beatles’ White Album to stunning effect, Danger Mouse’s masterpiece was one of the first underground Internet hits. The Grey Album disappeared almost as soon as it arrived; only to be whispered about furtively in circles of music lovers and hip hop fans.

Clark - Totems Flare (2009), Future Daniel

The newest album on the list and the point where Clark finally combined the sonic forces he built over the course of the decade into something far beyond the sum of its parts. Eminently listenable, Totems Flare is one of those albums that changes and morphs into something totally different each time you hear it. The pinnacle of what Clark has done in the noughties.

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001), Frontier Psychiatrist

Sampling reached its zenith in the last ten years, and the debut album by the Avalanches is one of the best of its ilk; the words "that boy needs therapy" should be instantly recognisable to anyone who ever geeked out to “Frontier Psychiatrist” on a dancefloor. Maybe due to the rich musical thread running through songs like “A Different Feeling”, maybe because this was effectively a one-album wonder, Since I Left You still sounds great and never wears you out.

Matthew Dear - Asa Breed (2007), Don & Sherri

This album is a serious contender as one of my desert island discs. Probably one of the most infectious, life affirming, smiley, and frankly brilliant albums of pop music ever made, never mind the last ten years. Who would have thought a techno producer would make the best pop album of the decade?

Hot Chip - Coming on Strong (2004), Playboy

Hot Chip have distanced themselves from their first effort, saying that it was not representative of what they were trying to do. In fact, the success of their sophomore effort was so big, some people assumed this was its moody follow up - so small was the impact Coming on Strong made when it was released. Just as inventive, infinitely more charming, and lacking the polished precision of The Warning, Coming on Strong is the Hot Chip album everyone will have in 20 years time - you watch.

The Streets - Original Pirate Material (2002), Weak become Heroes

In all honesty, this was the only record of “urban” music that ever chimed with me. The first time I heard "Has It Come To This?", I thought it was a novelty record, but bemused interest soon developed into a full-blown love affair when I bought the album. "Weak Become Heroes", "Too Much Brandy" and "It's Too Late" are shining examples of Mike Skinner's genius. Say what you like about the man, or his recent material, but this is the album they will be studying in British universities in 2075.

M.I.A - Arular (2005), pt.1

Although she was not the first to dabble in Baile funk, this was the album that elevated the genre out the ghetto and into the hands of the hipsters, who accepted it as the distinctly tropical future. A canny choice of production partners, and a perfect sense of timing does nothing to detract from the impact of this album, which still reverberates today.

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (2005), Disco Infiltrator

An album so widely listened to, shared, copied and downloaded that it’s become a sort of musical wallpaper. There are no hidden gems or forgotten tracks here. Every song has been played to death, everywhere, by practically everyone. And that just doesn't happen unless something’s truly special. Words about this album are redundant – they’ve all been said before. It's just great.

Burial - Burial (2006), Night Bus

Having just moved from London to Berlin when this album came out, it made me pine for the perfectly captured foggy menace of an East End sunrise in winter. The album that signalled the point where the grimy music of an underground club culture spilt over into the mainstream and elevated a moody boy’s scene into a soundtrack of unequalled beauty and depth.

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BEST OF THE NOUGHTIES, Burial, Clark, Danger Mouse, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Matthew Dear, Mike Skinner, The Avalanches, The Moldy Peaches, The Streets

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Best of the Noughties - Top 10 albums

08/12/2009

text: Gareth Owen

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