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80. In Rainbows. Radiohead (2007)
There has to be a Radiohead album in here, shouldn't there? Admittedly, I have no active recollection of In Rainbows, just the feeling that it is really good. I promise to play it again in the coming days. That will tell if my choice was correct and if not, in which direction my mistake must be found.
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The slow voice of The National's singer shines even more on his solo album. On an album produced by soul legend Booker T. Jones, Berninger shows himself more than on his band's albums. I could also say that Serpentine Prison was my way in to The National's recent oeuvre. (I never made it back past 2013 yet.) Serpentine Prison wins out easily though. An album to play late in the evening when nothing else is called for except for a cup of tea or a glass of red wine. Usually the first. This albums really winds me down in a very positive way,
Supergrass was always more about enthusiasm than really it was good and producing consistent albums. Until Life On Other Planets, as far as I'm concerned. 'Zazazaza', I just love how the band sings together. This is the pinnacle of its career. 'Road To Rouen' followed and perhaps one or two more, but this was it for me. Several realy great singles in the 90s and Life On Other Planets.
My first Blaudzun album and favourite. More good albums followed. In fact, the 'Jupiter' series was one of the final albums to not make it to this list. On Heavy Flowers everything seemed to come together for Blaudzun. This album should have made him a household name in a lot of countries. The album is varied, has passion, and the songs show it. Listen closely, and you will hear the influences from which Johannes Sigmund built his signature sound but you also soon forget about them, as Blaudzun is Blaudzun. A close to unique sound.
A late addition to the list, in part because I cannot really judge yet how good 'Romance' is going to be in some years. That put me on the tail of Skinty Fia and that it deserved a spot in this list. Two years after its release, I'm still returning to it, more than to 'A Hero's Death'. (I never got into 'Dogrel'.) Skinty Fia can still be called postpunk but you can hear a band searching for what it wants to be. In some of the lyrics the band is repeating lines like it has come in fashion for some in this decade. The message is rammed home. Looking back on the band's career so far, it may be that we are looking at postpunk's "winner", the band that will grow bigger and bigger. Skinty Fia is a significant step in that process.
The band that came and went. Although there was a mysterious online album, if I remember correctly. I do not think it as good as I did twenty years ago, but after Franz Ferdinand, this was my latest hot band at the time. That U.K. mix of pop and rock with an alternative post punk twist really tickled my fancy. Great songs to sing along to, to wonder about, "how did they do this"? Although the final songs on the album are not as good as the rest before it, the band has scored a few classic songs that should be heard on the radio regularly, but are not. 'Lounger' and especially 'I Love You Cause I Have To' are among the finest songs this century so far. If you don't know this band, check it out.
One of the superstars of the 10s and 20s, is the mysterious Lana del Rey. On her second album, under her alias, she worked together with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. It paid off, as this is an album where she comes forward more directly. It can't be called rock, but in Ms del Rey's universe it is. Auerbach made her explore a side of herself she must dislike, as she never went back to it. The albums afterwards are becoming more interchangeable, but as you will find out, there's one that is not.
There is not a band that I came closer to ever than The Hackensaw Boys, once from Charlottesville, Virginia. Visiting backstage, hang out together in the streets, my then 10-year old being taught 'Blackbird' in the dressing room and playing it in another circa ten years later after David Sickmen returned to the band. Played on the same guitar a well Friends is a big word, but certainly close. It all started with a show in the Q-Bus in Leiden, two years after the release of Keep It Simple. Bluegrass in a mix of traditional and modern, fast and slow, like an engine's pistons pumping. Keep It Simple holds it all. Many of its songs still highlight the band's shows today. The title song, 'Jonah, 'Ruby Pearl', 'Dance Around' and 'Nashville' are great songs.
The Maureens' second album on this list. The most recent and its best. The songs simply are next level. The blend of music seems to come together just this little bit more, the melodies are stronger, the harmonies even better. The band took its time releasing the new album, but said goodbye to its lead-guitarist after the recordings. The years it took to make this album were well spent, as Everyone Smiles is an album that puts a smile on the face of everyone listening to it.
Madrugada's second album. Although I only got to know the debut album 'Industrial Silence' this century, the official year of its release is 1999. On The Nightly Disease the band's sound is just more suave. The recording better. Not that it is perse the better album. However, with songs like 'Dead End Mind' on board, a place in this list is secured. The show following this album, I think in the Melkweg in Amsterdam was the best I ever saw by the band. The sound was so well balanced and not too loud, that all shows afterwards were a little disappointing because of it. Four more albums followed, including the comeback album of a few years ago. They all did not make it to this list, although for two it came very close.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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