The Top 100 of the 10s, part 5

We are half way. 50 Albums into the list we are getting closer to the final instalment. Yet you have four more days to go after this one. Let's continue the countdown. On the radio the Top 2000 is slowly continuing its countdown. For the first time Wo. voted for the #1, instead of 'Somebody To Love' by the same band. Everyone wants to be a winner sometimes....


50. Mannequins. Monster Cat (2011)
An EP from a band could be downloaded for free on a Dutch website that has disappeared into history long ago. A band from Singapore nonetheless. The five song EP was mysterious, yet so melodic and adventurous. Sometimes I simply get totally surprised and listening to Mannequins was one of those times. There is an interview with the band somewhere on this blog in the very early days. Go and find it.

49. Maggie Brown. Maggie Brown (2014)
Erwin Zijleman republishes posts from his own blog 'Krenten Uit De Pop' on WoNoBlog, having moved with the PDF magazine to the blog. Thus I regularly make some discoveries. Somehow I just know when I have to listen because of what he writes. Maggie Brown was one of those times. Again an album by a band that ought to be in loads of households, but is not for reasons I can't begin to fathom. Pop and alternative rock meet in a perfect mix. And this is only the first album. Stick around, folks.

48. Rammstein. Rammstein (2019)
Ten years of silence proved worthwhile in the end. Rammstein returned, all the live shows aside, with a video that shocked and surprised the world. It encompassed the whole history of Germany it seemed. The album is everything Rammstein should be and then this little bit more. Better comeback albums have seldom been made.

47. Jen Cloher. Jen Cloher (2017)
Mrs. Courtney Barnett released a new album a few years ago that, to me, was better than any of Courtney's. It is so much more focussed, more direct and melodically often stronger. So what is the difference in popularity? Image and panache on stage? The faint Grace Slick association I have with Courtney? It may well be. On record I am a bigger fan of Jen Cloher as you can see on this list.

46. Rest. Charlotte Gainsbourg (2017)
One of the albums that kept growing after its release. Rest simply is a very pleasing album. It has a high pop feel, yet different enough to stay away from the mainstream and has a few songs in the top category. The surprising ending, with the third Gainsbourg generation joining in, is a gem of a song. All together I think Rest is a feast for the ears.

45. Marble Skies. Django Django (2018)
The first album did not keep its position with me. The second album became better and better through the years and only just did not make this list, with 'Giants' as one of my favourite songs of this decade. On Marble Skies it all came together it seemed. The disco, 80s synthesizer, alternative pop feel blended perfectly making Marble Skies a great and fun album to listen to.

44. Simulation Theory. Muse (2018)
The album after which I finally got to see Muse, in Cologne this year. Again the band fully delivers on its new album. Yes, it all is becoming a little more formalistic, but at such a high level that I can't complain in any way. The band still manages to rock out in all the right places and hold back in time as well. A formula it was trying to find in the 00s and not always succeeded in. In the 10s there is no need to experiment any longer. This simply is it.

43. Soliloquy. Lou Doillon (2019)
With her third album Lou Doillon reached for the sky and went beyond what she may have expected ever to reach for. Soliloquy is a beautiful and great album all in one. She manages to play in between genres and styles yet be totally one. Her voice is fantastic and so is the music she made with a host of writers and producers. Quite the album.

42. Heavy Flowers. Blaudzun (2012)
The oldest album and highest spot for Blaudzun in this list. The album I got to know him by is still my favourite. To my ears everything seems just this little more lighter and spontaneous making it, ever so little, more pleasant to listen to. Five albums in this list is an extremely good score, I'd say.

41. 1974. Mountaineer (2015)
Mountaineer is the name singer and songwriter Marcel Hulst of Maggie Brown recorded a solo album under. Again an album filled with these beautiful songs. From beginning to end Hulst presents us pop songs that are pure gems. Lighter in sound than with his band he shows another side of himself. It seems that the two sides come together in the most perfect of ways on the final contribution in this list. Again your patience is called for ....

TBC

Wo.

Like I already wrote, I was bound to forget some records. Here's another two:

Everything Now. Arcade Fire. It could have ended up circa #47.

Perhaps Downhearted Blues. Eilen Jewell could have found a place among the last albums, ca #96.