Laura Veirs is yet another musician from Portland, who makes amazing singer-songwriter music. The songs on her fourth album are very melancholic and beautiful. The black and white cover picture illustrates beautifully these melodramatic tunes. Music seems like a light in the dark, comfort in the middle of grief. Laura Veirs has released really good albums, but also a bit indifferent ones. Carbon Glacier is in my opinion her best work to date and it's a shame to position her only on the tenth place, but it's already en honor to be on this list, since 2004 was a tough list to get in to. The title track is one of the many highlights on this album. Lay back and enjoy the dark beauty of Carbon Glacier. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Blonde Redhead is a trio playing dream-like melodies with despair and beauty. Kazu Makino and Pace brothers produce sound that is from another world. High vocals, clean guitars and organic sounding drums are full of sorrow. The album art is terrific. Elephant Woman and the title track are the highlights on this album. Massive sound and skillful playing combined. The 2007 album 23 is also fantastic but rest of the band's albums do not light the spark in a way that these two do. There's nothing particularly wrong with them but they just can't compare to these masterpieces. I should warn you that this album might be too much for someone who can't handle deep melancholy, but for the rest of you, enjoy! Listen to the album on Spotify.
This is in my opinion the best album by Rufus Wainwright. Only reason it's not higher on this list is that I've listened to it too much. Wainwright has one of the greatest singing voices in the world and Want Two is filled with beautiful baroque pop tunes ranging from bone chilling grief to flamboyant choruses. The album kicks off with Agnus Dei, a mystic song with christian symbolics. It is followed by a perfect pop hit The One You Love. This Love Affair is sorrowful and sad story of pain that love can cause. Antony from Antony and the Johnsons makes a visit in the last song Old Whore's Diet. These two sound beautiful together. The fairy-like front cover finishes the touch of this wonderful album. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Some people are annoyed by Ryan Adams' music because of too strong country music sound. Love Is Hell is probably his least country-sounding album. It's full of beautiful folk ballads, electric massive songs and of course pain caused by love. The record company first cut this album in half making two separate albums, because they thought the album wouldn't sell well enough as one. They were wrong, since this is one of the most succesful albums of Ryan Adams. After a year of original release, they put out the whole album in one piece. There are some fantastic moments on this album including I See Monsters, My Blue Manhattan and an amazing cover version of Oasis' Wonderwall. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Iron & Wine's first two albums are full of silent and beautiful folk melodies. This second album has become my favourite over time. It captures the silent beauty of the first album, but already shows signs of more versatile instrumentation heard in the later albums. Acoustic and electric guitars intertwine beautifully creating an atmospheric background for Sam Beam's beautiful singing voice. This album works beautifully for the lazy Sunday mornings as well as long walks in the park or forest. It's full of light and hope with some traces of dark sorrow. The album cover illustrates the calm and silent sound of the album. A bearded man resembling Sam Beam lies on the grass with eyes closed. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This is one of the most iconic albums in 2000's pop and rock music. This Glasgow band appeared out of nowhere and became one of the biggest bands in the world almost over night. Their first album is filled with hits that were played on the radio constantly. Fanz Ferdinand's music may be categorised as post punk revival, but the sound is closer to brit pop of the 90's than some other band's in that genre. Take Me Out, Dark of The Matinée and This Fire are still played in indie discos all over the world. The bands other albums are quite good as well but every album has still been worse than the previous one. I guess it was too hard to try to top such an amazing debut album. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Wilco is the master of alternative country music. Combining simple country and folk tunes into indie guitars and progressive beats makes their music highly original. Jeff Tweedy's laconic singing voice sounds beautiful. This album really doesn't work as just background music. It really needs to be listened to. There are some extremely silent moments that turn into loud noise. Less Than You Think is a 15 minute song with only a bit more than 4 minutes of music. The rest is what Tweedy says it sounds like in his head while he's having a migrane. Hummingbird is like a lost Beatles song sounding as it was written by John Lennon. The Beatles influences are really apparent. If you haven't seen the band play live, I strongly suggest you correct that wrong. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Organ is a fantastic post punk revival band from Canada. It's like a female version of Joy Division or The Smiths. Heavy basses and clean guitars sound perfect, dark and beautiful. Unfortunately this album remained their only album to the date. It's probably better though to have made one amazing album than many indifferent ones. Every song on this album could be a hit. Not many people have heard about this album which is a shame. This could have easily become number one in some other year, but the top two is too good this year. I want to emphasise that The Organ is one of the greatest sounding bands ever, so if you havent's heard of them listen to the album on Spotify.
The second album of Interpol is one of the greatest albums of all times. Dark and melancholic songs are at the same time raw and beautiful. This New York band made an amazing debut album but Antics, in my opinion, is even better. There are silent and beautiful moments as well as songs that make you jump up and down at an indie disco. Bass and organ are the main instruments with great support of organic sounding electric guitars and heavy drumming. Evil, Slow Hands and C'Mere are often heard in indie discos, but in order to really appreciate this work of art it's seminal that you listen to songs like Next Exit and Time to Be So Small. This is simply put an amazing album! Listen to the album on Spotify.
Morrissey's come-back album is the best album of his solo career. Every single song is absolutely brilliant. Morrissey speaks straight from his heart and lets America, Britain and journalists know what he thinks of them. The lyrics on this album are amazing. Pop music much too rarely portrays such a strong societal critique. Irish Blood, English Heart and First of the Gang to Die became massive hits. My personal favourite is probably The World Is Full of Crashing Bores. Confidence such as Morrissey's is found nowhere else in the world. He let's you know exactly what he thinks. Boz Boorer's and Alain Whyte's compositions work beautifully with Morrissey's lyrics. This album made me love Morrissey's music and only after this album I started to really appreciate The Smiths as well. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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