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#30 Air - 10,000Hz Legend (2001)

Air's second full-length (not including their soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides) marked a huge change of direction for the band, replacing Moon Safari's sexy, sophisticated lounge music and floaty ambience with quirky humour, prominent vocals and clunky robotic effects. Each of the tracks on 10,000Hz Legend features an electronic backing, only each one has a different musical style laid over the top. From the folk of "The Vagabond" to the stumbling pop of "Radio #1" to the utter bizzarity of "Sex Born Poison," the tracks feel absolutely distinct from each other, while remaining consistent through their common foundation.
#29 Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)

Calling Joanna Newsom's voice "interesting" or "unconvenional" is a bit like calling the Grand Canyon large - it's true enough, but can't really begin to give people a solid impression of what they have in store. Newsom's voice is raw and shrill (at times very shrill, such that use of the word "banshee" wouldn't be inappropriate), yet something inexplicable happens when listening to the gentle folk and harp combo of The Milk-Eyed Mender - it just stops mattering. Within seconds of listening to the opening track, Newsom's beautiful lyrics and charming style melt away any possible resistance. Highlight tracks like "Sadie" and "Cassiopeia" put her alongside Devendra Banhart as one of the most charismatic singer/songwriters in the "freak-folk" movement. Anyone who can't get past her voice gets only pity from me. They can't possibly know what they're missing.
#28 Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People (2003)

Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie-rock outfit, with a rotating ensemble of around 15 members. Every song on You Forgot It In People features a slightly different lineup than the one before it, as the group's members substitue in and out of tracks, alternating on various backing instruments and even changing the lead vocalist at times. Such a concept runs a very high risk of the band sounding inconsistent, and there are certainly one or two weak tracks on the album, but around 90% of the time Broken Social Scene get it right, and when they do, it's downright spectacular. The sound is incredibly dense - imagine a group the size of Godspeed You Black Emperor playing three and a half minute pop/rock songs - and immensely catchy. Album highlights include the thumping, start-stop guitars of "KC Accidental," the dreamy "Anthems For a 16 Year Old Girl" and the punk-tinged anthem "Almost Crimes."
#27 Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004)

Sung Tongs feels a little like a spiritual companion to The Books' The Lemon of Pink, sharing its electro-folk aesthetic and joyous, optimistic tone. Avey Tare and Panda Bear write songs that quite simply make the listener feel really good, and at times listening to the innocent celebrations on Sung Tongs can feel like travelling back to childhood to go to a huge birthday party - streamers, party hats and all. It's hard not to fall in love with Sung Tongs youthful charm, as Animal Collective manage to evoke the dizzy euphoria and limitless imagination of the best bits of childhood, which makes every track on the album feel like anexciting discovery. Easily the album's highlight, the oddball campfire singalong of "Who Could Win a Rabbit" could carry a guarantee to put a smile on any listener's face.
#26 Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)

Wow, this one was tricky. Initially culled from the list in favour of younger brother Hail to the Thief, repeated listens revealed just how strong Amnesiac is, and next thing it's clawed its way into the top 30? Everyone who came down hard on Radiohead after deciding that this followup felt like The Kid A Outtakes hasn't given Amnesiac the chance it most definitely deserves (yes, I'm also talking about myself here). The seasick violins and stretched vocals of "Pyramid Song" and the deceptive happy-sad melody on "Knives Out" make those songs as good as any of the other singles Radiohead has released to the adoring public over their career. Meanwhile, the claustrophobic opener "Packt Like Sardines In a Crushd Tin Box," as well as "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and "Like Spinning Plates" continue Radiohead's progression into the surreal. The reworking of "Morning Bell" is better than you've probably led yourself to believe, too.
#25 The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (2003)

If this were a list of the top fifty relationship albums, Tallahassee might well have been number one. On his major label debut, John Darnielle tracks the course of a doomed relationship, from it's optimistic first days to its bitter end. Darnielle doesn't so much disect the relationship, though, as simply display it openly for all to see, with opinions and frustrations being aired on both sides (although primarily from the male, which makes you wonder if the story is entirely fictitious). It's a great idea for a concept album, and with Darnielle's usual razor-sharp wit in effect, there's some really fantastic lyrics to enjoy. On "International Small Arms Traffic Blues" Darnielle compares the relationship to international warfare, singing "Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania / trucks loaded down with weapons / crossing over every night," and that's one of the nicer ones. The absolute highlight is "No Children," a hillariously black look at the future of a relationship that is destined to continue on, no matter how bad it may get - best lyric: "I am drowning! / There is no sign of land! / You are coming down with me! / Hand in unlovable hand!"
#24 Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands (2004)

Devendra Banhart is pretty much the poster boy for the freak-folk movement, and there's a good reason why. His scratchy, lo-fi recordings, uniquely quirky voice and twangy instrumentation suggest that perhaps Banhart was born during the wrong half of the last century. Listening to Rejoicing in the Hands feels, more than anything else released in the last few years, like you're listening to a decades-old relic that was dug out of the attic, and is just now being dusted off and played for the first time in years. There will always be people who find his springy vocals irritating, but there's little doubt that nobody else in music today sounds like Devendra Banhart.
#23 The Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (2001)

Yes, it's the one with "Bohemian Like You" on it, but 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia has so much more to offer. The album's structure is particularly interesting, opening with a distinctly serious trifecta (the introspection and dense instrumentation of "Godless," "Mohammed" and "Neitchze"), only to shift into unashamedly goofy territory (including the twangy "Country Leaver" and the hipster groove of "Solid," "Horse Pills" & "Cool Scene") for the albums main body, with only the dreamy instrumental timeout of "Sleep" for a half-time breather. It's a strange touch, but the decision to group the serious songs together at the beginning makes things feel not so much inconsistent, as charmingly lopsided. The second section reveals one of 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia's greatest strengths - the junk-pop songs here feel so disposable, yet are so infectious, that nearly every one of them could be released as a perfect radio single (Beck's Midnight Vultures is a similar example). The Dandy Warhols take themselves seriously just long enough to be credible, and then simply cut loose, resulting in one of the most replayable albums of the past decade.
#22 The White Stripes - De Stijl (2000)

The one you might not have heard. White Blood Cells turned the Stripes into superstars, but its predecessor is still their greatest achievement. From the thumping jams of "Hello Operator" and "Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?" to the hokey southern humour of "You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)," to the rollicking pace of "Let's Build a Home," De Stijl is a perfectly realised and impossibly catchy garage-revival masterpiece. Anyone who owns the last two releases and never got around to investigating the Stripes back catalogue needs to get themselves organised.
#21 Sonic Youth - Murray St (2002)

Lacking the rampant experimentation and indulgent noise bursts (other than the one tacked onto the end of "Karen Revisited") typical of much of their previous work, Murray St was hailed as Sonic Youth's most accessible album in years. Of course, this is Sonic Youth we're talking about here, so there's still plenty of slighly-mad creativity at work, but at no point does it feel like the group are engaging in the avant-garde for no reason other than to satisfy their own artistic addictions. Complicated sections are restricted to being the fine touches which complement the songs, and the result feels a lot like a collection of the most easily enjoyable bits from thier previous works - innovative and entertaining, yet never out of reach to the listener. This makes it an invaluable addition to the Sonic Youth catalogue, as a must for fans and an excellent starting point for newcomers.

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