I was disappointed to leave Regina Spektor's 2010 album Far from the list, but it was a tough year to get into. Begin to Hope is fortunately at least as good an album. Spektor's singer-songwriter music portrays a wide array of interesting songs. The compositions are fairly simple but work brilliantly. Personally, I think that Samson is the best song on the album. Piano takes the biggest part in the instrumentation, but strings and synth sound-effects are used in moderation to bring that extra spice in the sound of the album. You can always trust Spektor's songwriting skills, but albums are more of collections of different songs than whole works of art and that's why Spektor is only in 10th position on this list. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Yo La Tengo is not a band for radio and hit singles. The best songs from this band are usually over ten minutes long and filled with psychedelia. Brilliantly named 11th album of the band is my personal favourite. The songs are completely different from each other, but I just have to love a band that can bring about all of this. The starting track Pass the Hatchet, I think I'm Goodkind is in my opinion the highlight on the album full of great material. I am so excited that in just about two month's time I can see this band live at Barbican. I think it will be a show to remember. Rock, psychedelia, horns, piano ballads and latin rhythms all come together in this great album. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Finnish Magenta Skycode doesn't sound Finnish at all. If I would've just heard some of their songs on the radio, I would've never guessed they were from Finland. Their Debut album IIIII features beautiful post rock songs with clear guitar sounds and hypnotic melodies. The black and white cover is absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure where the photo is taken, but it looks a lot like the hall at Tate Modern. Magenta Skycode is not strictly speaking a band, since Jori Sjöroos plays all the instruments on the album and has written all the songs. This is one of the best Finnish music projects ever and it's a shame that not many people outside of Finland have ever heard about it. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Many people have gotten to know the band quite recently after the release of their newest album Kaputt. I must say that compared to this and its predecessing album, Kaputt is a piece of crap. Destroyer's Rubies portrays lo-fi sounds and pure guitar sounds and there are no traces of electronic monstrocity of later Destroyer. Frontman Dan Bejar's singing voice is one of a kind. He's got totally original way to tell stories by combining singing and talking. Destroyer's indie pop is occasionally very simple but there is a lot of sentiment involved, which makes this album worthy of its position in among the best albums of 2006. If you like wuss-pop and shoegaze influences, this is an album for you. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Scottish Mogwai is one of the greatest instrumental bands on the face of the earth. Most of their albums are very similar and it's hard to remember which is which. Mr. Beast, on the other hand, stands out of the rest in my opinion. The combination of silence and noise is carried out perfectly on this album. The sound changes from the tiniest pure sounds to the biggest noise of fuzzy guitars. Glasgow Mega-Snake is the best example of the terrific sound that Mogwai can bring about. The band is at its best when seen live on a big stage, but earplugs are absolutely essential. You can't speak of post-rock in the 2000's without mentioning Mogwai. Crank up the volume and let the music take you to hypnosis. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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Badly Drawn Boy a.k.a. Damon Gough is an English singer-songwriter, who writes beautiful pop songs about love and life. His fifth album Born in the U.K. deals with his relationship with his home country. The special edition CD was published in the form of a passport and the title track was released as a limited edition vinyl in a fish & chips packaging. Unlike some singer-songwriter albums, this one is heavily orchestrated and produced. Melodies are endearing and the impression is deepened with the sound. In my opinion the highlights of the album are the title track with a part of Land of Hope and Glory in its beginning and a beautiful ballad Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I don't usually like music that's really happy, but the sunny feel and beautiful melodies of The Magic Numbers is an exception. This English band comprising two pairs of brothers and sisters is an excellent pop band for happy thoughts and dancing. The singing harmonies work perfectly. Take a Chance is one of the greatest pop hits of all times. It always puts a smile on my face. The bass line is excellent! You can hear the influence of the melodic pop groups of the 60's such as The Beach Boys but the production is as good as it gets in the 2000's. This album has some outstanding compositions. If the music industry wasn't so weird these days, The Magic Numbers would play on the radio all the time. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I am a huge fan of Jack White and Brendan Benson so when these two got together in a same project I was very excited. The Raconteurs is not as good as The White Stripes or Brendan Benson on their best albums, but Broken Boy Soldiers is still a great album with outstanding rock songs. Steady as She Goes was of course the biggest hit and the only song that people usually remember from this band, but there are a lot of other good songs as well. Even though the sounds are pretty heavy on this album, they maintain organic quality. For those that only know the one hit from this album I recommend to listen to the closing track Blue Veins. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Radiohead is one of my all time favourite bands so I was obviously very interested in Thom Yorke's first solo album. It's not as good as the Radiohead albums from the golden era, but in my opinion it beats all the Radiohead albums that came after this. The sounds are not as dark as on the Radiohead albums and there are probably even more electronic instruments. The album cover is brilliant at least in the vinyl edition. You can feel the waves on the cover with your fingertips. In the back there's a picture of London drowning. Harrowdown Hill is an absolut highlight on the album, but every single song works beautifully in this whole album. Hypnotic sounds and light melancholia par excellence! Listen to the album on Spotify.
This is one of the best albums ever. It took me a while to really understand it, but when I did, there was no question about it. Joanna Newsom has a unique singing voice and the storybook-like songs are accompanied by a harp and strings. The album has only five songs, but considering their length it's enough.The whole album has a dreamy fairy-tale feel to it. The lyrics are really mystical and it's not the easiest of tasks to find the meaning behind them. This doesn't matter because the sound alone hypnotises the listener into another world. On this album there's a visit from Bill Callahan whose deep baritone plays beautifully alongside Newsom's dreamy and high voice. Unfortunately this album can't be found on Spotify, but here is a link to Youtube list of live versions of the album.
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