Album of the Decade - Is This It?

Schonberg sent out a message on Facebook asking for people's Album's of the Decade. I thought I'd post the results up here, I hope you find them interesting. Not one album featured in every list but The Strokes album Is This It? featured many times. We'd love to hear your albums of the decade, add yours as a comment, oh and don't cheat like Rich and include a re-release...

Terrance:

2000 - Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
2001 - Elbow - Asleep in the back
2002 - DJ Shadow - Private Press
2003 - White Stripes - Elephant
2004 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
2005 - Kate Bush - Aerial (Very closely followed by Elbow "Leaders of the Free World")
2006 - Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
2007 - The National - Boxer
2008 - Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago (again tough call with Elbow "Seldom Seen Kid"- being a fan, but I'm keeping one eye on variety here)
2009 - Florence + The Machine - Lungs

James:

2000: PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
2001: The Strokes - Is This It
2002: Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
2003: Four Tet - Rounds
2004: Arcade Fire - Funeral
2005: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
2006: TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
2007: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2008: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2009: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Mark:

2000 The Charlatans- Us And Us only.
2001 Spiritualized- Let It Come Down.
2002 The Music- The Music
2003 Spiritualized- Amazing Grace
2004 Ian Brown- Solarized.
2005 The Ravonettes- Pretty In Black.
2006 The Sunshine Underground- Raise The Alarm.
2007 Jamie T- Panic Prevention.
2008 Glasvegas- Glasvegas
2009 The Horrors- Primary Colours.

Rich:

2000 The Charlatans- Us And Us only.
2001 Spiritualized- Let It Come Down.
2002 The Music- The Music
2003 Spiritualized- Amazing Grace
2004 Ian Brown- Solarized.
2005 The Ravonettes- Pretty In Black.
2006 The Sunshine Underground- Raise The Alarm.
2007 Jamie T- Panic Prevention.
2008 Glasvegas- Glasvegas
2009 The Horrors- Primary Colours.

Andy:

2000 At The Drive In - Relationship of Command
2001 The Strokes - Is this It
2002 The Beggining Stages of... - The Polyphonic Spree
2003 Kings of Leon - Youth and Young manhood
2004 The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
2005 The Go Team! - Thunder Lightning Strike
2006 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say, that's what I'm not
2007 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
2008 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2009 Florence and the Machine- Lungs

John:

2000 Coldplay- Parachutes
2001 Muse - Origin of Symmetry (makes it three different Muse albums to be picked, I think?)
2002 The Music - The Music (the Libertines came close...)
2003 Ray Lamontagne - Trouble
2004 The Killers - Hot Fuss (just beating Green Day and American Idiot)
2005 Arcade Fire - Funeral
2006 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say, that's what I'm not
2007 Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
2008 Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
2009 Florence and the Machine- Lungs

Mine:

2000 Doves - Lost Souls
2001 The Strokes - Is This It
2002 Electric Soft Parade - Holes In The Wall
2003 Elbow - Cast of Thousands
2004 The Killers - Hot Fuss
2005 Arcade Fire - Funeral
2006 Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
2007 The Pigeon Detectives - Wait For Me
2008 The Courteeners - St. Jude
2009 White Lies - To Lose My Life

Schonberg's

2000: Coldplay - Parachutes
2001: The Strokes - Is this it
2002: Interpol - Turn on the bright lights
2003: White Stripes - Elephant
2004: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
2005: Editors - The back room
2006: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say, that's what I'm not
2007: The Cribs - Men's needs, women's needs, whatever
2008: Glasvegas - Glasvegas
2009: White Lies - To lose my life

Yours:

Home

I've just arrived home from a white Christmas up north and so I'm hoping to catch up on some blogging over the next few days.

At the album release party for their debut "Up From Below" at LA's Roosevelt Hotel in July, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros raised money for the Gulu Widows Group of Uganda. The women used the band's donation to start a farm to sustain their community. They recently had their first harvest; to celebrate and show the band their appreciation they made this video in which they sing the band's song "Home."

"Home" in Gulu from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

MP3: Home - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

I hope that someone gets my...

I've really enjoying all the retro stuff that 6music are playing in the run up to the New Year. They have had whole days dedicated to the end of the last four decades (1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999). Don't know much about 1969 (I wasn't born) but the two days covering 1979 and 1989 have brought back some great memories of what must be two of the most classic years ever in music. By contrast, however, 1999 was crap. Go on, I dare you to suggest anything exciting that came out of 1999...

Anyway, the day on 1979 reminded me that it is now 30 years since I bought my first 7" single. I remember going down to Rotherham town centre on the 140 bus (2p for the trip) and walking up to The Sound of Music to buy my copy of The Police's 'Message in a Bottle'. I was 8 years old then, and really at the mercy of Radio Hallam (the local radio station) for my musical taste - probably why my next purchase a week later was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. Still, The Police track was a fairly decent start, and it was followed by lots more classics from 1979 - if Jal lets me, I may do a Top10 playlist like I did for 1989.

Anyway, here's a hot-link to The Police's Message in a Bottle to keep you going until Jal's next post.

Happy New Year!
Schonberg.

MP3: The Police - Message in a Bottle

Cold War Kids + The Futureheads Free Tracks

Record Label, sorry RCDLBL are giving away new tracks from The Futureheads and Cold War Kids. The Futureheads come back with a track that starts off sounding like Kaiser Chiefs (sorry to tell you this Schonberg) and by the end Struck Dumb is sounding like Super Furry Animals, download it off RCDLBL's web site or stream it here (in theory, I've not tried this before so hopefully it will work):

Cold War Kids are not topping the bands I look out for but a band that have produced some decent stuff in the past. Give it a listen and see what you think. Again you can download it from RCDLBL's web site.

We Have Band Free Track

When I posted We Have Band's track 'Oh!' earlier this year I thought it would be similar to a lot of the tracks I post, a decent amount of downloads but clearly missed by half the people who visit the site. However, I miss judged We Have Band, they're more popular than I realised. Oh! is one of the most downloaded tracks and thankfully it was one they were giving away, if memory serves me, to promote their appearance at SxSW. They are now giving away another track, will you all take to it like the last one? Only time will tell...

MP3: Honey Trap - We Have Band

Christmas - Home Alone

Singing in to a hair brush, stood in front of a mirror in just a towel is probably not how you want to be remembered by millions of people but when you hear this track you can't help but think of Macaulay Culkin, sorry Kevin MacAllister, as he relaxes in the knowledge he has made his family disappear.

MP3: White Christmas - The Drifters

Christmas - Barenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies' take on Christmas and 'the holidays' is pretty hit and miss. I wasn't expecting much when Pia, my Canadian blind date (don't worry wife if you're reading this it was purely a music fling briefly last Christmas) sent me my Christmas CD that was peppered with Barenaked Ladies tracks. However God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen stood out straight away. While they may be a band that don't take themselves seriously they did for this track and it works so well - OK maybe there was a small bit of tongue in cheek. Anyway enjoy God Rest Ye... and the other end of the scale with Carol of the Bells.

MP3: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies and Sarah MacLachlan

MP3: Carol of the Bells - Barenaked Ladies

Christmas - Scrooged

Scrooged has got to be up there with the best Christmas films and the opening music sets the scene perfectly, a Christmas feel with a hint of terror, well mild peril. No surprises then that the music features on an album called Music For A Darkened Theatre Vol 1...

MP3: Scrooged - Soundtrack

Christmas - Glasvegas

As it's Schonberg's birthday I thought I'd post a track by one of his favourite bands. This was a track given away by the BBC last year and was one of the most downloaded tracks off this web site in 2008. So for those of you who haven't got it enjoy Glasvegas' version of East 17's 'classic' Stay Another Day.

MP3: Stay Another Day - Glasvegas

Christmas - Elf

As Elf hits our screens today I thought I'd post the main theme from it. I got hold of this after my Elf post last year so I've not posted it before. Don't worry after some Christmas themed posts I'll return to the debate that's been raging on Facebook, Album of the Decade!

MP3: Main Title - John Debney (Elf Soundtrack)

3WTM's MySpace Find of the Year

Myspace has the ability to frustrate and amaze you. Clicking on a Myspace link can take you to average land as someone just playing around with music posts their tracks online. Yet, what you always hope for is to be led to something new, an artist, a track that will brighten up your day.

When I came across this band I thought they were good, after a few listens I thought about writing about them. Not many more listens later and I couldn't get their tracks out of my head. So What Wrong With The Mainstream's Myspace find of the year is Yes Cassette.

MP3: Rewind To Kickstart - Yes Cassette

3WTM's Freebie of the Year

Have I gone on about this track enough? I don't think so. It's got so many elements to it, one second a great bit of bass and then next second I think I hear a bit of Suede. A track like this is just the reason I got in to writing this blog, a song that without reading blogs I wouldn't have discovered and that, because of the way the music industry works, is not being played in the mainstream. My aim has always been to share tracks I like that aren't getting the attention they deserve. Sit up and take notice, this should be in your collection.

MP3: The Price - Dappled Cities

Important Interuption

Before another post for our end of year awards I thought I'd better point out that The Courteeners are back with a new track and their new album 'Falcon' is out in February. Speaking on Zane Lowe's show on Radio 1 Liam said it was the fastest song he's every written, saying he'd written it on the piano in 5 minutes when taking a break from the band.

It's an unexpected sound and definitely a change of direction. Zane was quick to point out that while it was a more mature sound it wasn't necessarily a reflection of the new album as a whole. A friend of mine described the first album of The Courteeners rock 'n' roll by numbers, as most rock stars probably can't count it's probably no surprise that the well educated Fray is the only one able to complete all the numbers. I also remember similar comments being made about Oasis at their peak yet no one was able to replicate their success.

As an early Christmas present the band have made the song available for free and if you go on their web site you can get tickets for their gigs ahead of the crowds and an exclusive pre-order offer for the album

MP3: Cross My Heart and Hope to Fly - The Courteeners

3WTM's EP of the Year

As always with the blog, I comment on music as it comes to my attention, it doesn't matter whether it was recorded 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, if I'm playing it now then I talk about it. What's Wrong With The Mainstream's EP of the Year only came to my attention this year but I believe it was released last year. Who cares.

We get quite a lot of EPs sent to the 3WTM inbox and there certainly has been competition for this accolade. However, this EP has three tracks that are so good that if they were on a ten track album you'd pick these as the singles. I believe The Twang's earlier EP had Wide Awake and Either Way on, I just hope this EP can lead on to the same success as The Twang's did.

You, dear regular reader, are totally aware of this band as we have mentioned Kalenko on here many times BUT I've saved the best for this post. 12 (Twelve) is the track that got me in to them and originally all I had to post was a cover of the track, now I have the original version. Enjoy and get in touch with Kalenko and get hold of their EP, there is still one track off it I haven't posted.

MP3: 12 (Twelve) - Kalenko

3WTM's Album of the Year

Deciding on the album of the year has been a difficult one this year, some years an album just takes it by a country mile. This year it's not been so simple, no one album has stuck out that much for me. There have been a lot of notable albums from already established artists such as Doves, Muse, Kasabian, Reverend & The Makers, The Maccabees, Jarvis Cocker and returning The Prodigy. Add to that debuts from Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros , La Roux, Florence and the Machine and The Airborne Toxic Event. It gave me a whole heap of albums to look at. Before you say anything I was disappointed with Green Day and Arctic Monkey's latest albums, I hope you are enjoying them more than me, that's all I can say.

Anyway on to the album of the year, in fact for me this band pick up two awards, album of the year and live band of the year. The second title being an unfair contest as I have been to very few gigs this year and that tips it in their balance. If you haven't guessed yet the winner is White Lies, early promise was matched with a cracking album, one that had a consistent theme throughout yet the songs were varied. Seeing them live just impressed on me even more what good artists they are, from the lead singers voice to the sound they created. Not always easy in the not-so-good O2 Academy in Bristol. To celebrate them winning I thought I'd post the cover they played at the gig, Heaven, originally by Talking Heads. This recording is from their gig in Berlin this year, thanks to Just Music That I Like for the track, Jessica you're a star.

If you don't own White Lies album you know what you need to do...

MP3: Heaven (Talking Heads Cover) - White Lies

What's Wrong With The Mainstream November '09 Playist

Ah the last playlist of the year as December always gets devoted to best lists and Christmas tunes. This months playlist really came together in the final days as people start to post their end of year lists early. We've also got tracks from Sheffield Music Scene's birthday compilation give away, if you've not checked out this magazine you really should. As far as I can work out it's a not for profit online publication that is put together by music fans giving up their time to do the reviews and design work for free.

Anyway back to this months playlist. First up we've got Kalenko's latest release, recorded recently and this is the first mix they have made available. If you've read this blog before you're probably aware of my love of Kalenko's work and I will have another track for you next month so stay tuned...

MP3: Berliner Pt2 - Kalenko

When You Walk In The Room - Fyfe Dangerfield

The man behind Guillemots is blessed with a good, maybe even great name. Why he even bothered being in a group with a name like that I don't know. I always felt Guillemots were over hyped in the blog world and other than Trains To Brazil never really came up with the goods. In his solo project Fyfe keeps the jangling, bouncing along style of Trains To Brazil but his vocals are more raw, not dissimilar to that of The Cribs.

MP3: When You Walk In The Room - Fyfe Dangerfield

A Funny Thing - Penguin Prison

I think what attracts me to this track is something in it that reminds me of The Chemical Brothers track Golden Path. I'm sure it's just me and that it doesn't sound that much like it but let me know what you think.

MP3: A Funny Thing - Penguin Prison

Newest News - Color Radio

I think this track would make a good finale to Color Radio's album when it comes about. It's the first track on an EP they sent to me but dragged out a bit longer it could make an epic ending.

MP3: Newest News - Color Radio

Lust For Life - Girls

I've not posted this track before as it's the lead track off Girls album and I didn't think they'd be up for giving it away for free. However I notice Insound have listed it in their top 50 free downloads so here you go, the third track from Girls we have featured on this blog. I guess that tells you about how highly we rate them.

MP3: Lust For Life - Girls

Belated Promise Ring - Iron & Wine

I can't believe I've not bought an album by Iron & Wine yet, with such a soothing voice you are just drawn in to the music. I've had this track for a while and this is another one that's made Insound's top 50 free MP3s of the year.

MP3: Belated Promise Ring - Iron & Wine