Every Kid Gets An “A” When They Can’t Remember Most of The Music From 2000 and 2001 Like An Amnesiac

The clocks turned to 12, and everything stopped.  Yes, it was Y2K (and Kremlin Joe for you Futurama fans) that stopped everything. Y(orke)2k. Nobody cared about any of the music that came out “in the year two thousand” (Conan fans) because we were all on the Radiohead forums discussing what unreleased, once played as an encore, unbelievably interesting and oddly structured because I only heard it on someone’s mixtape that I couldn’t get a copy of, the song was going to be on the next Radiohead record. Just thinking about writing this list, I went a good five minutes before I could even name a record that came out prior to Kid A on 10/2/2000.  But that was only half of it! The earth-shattering news on the album’s press release was that it was only part one! They had written so many songs they had enough for two albums! Amnesiac came out some seven months later. Because of that, and maybe because everyone kept saying the new millennium didn’t technically start until 2001, the two years will forever be jumbled in my brain as one, especially when it comes to music.

So, here we are. 11 years after I wrote my list of my favorite albums of 1999 (it was such an experience that I needed more than a decade of restorative meditation), to celebrate the 24th and 23rd anniversaries of both records, it’s time to compile the list of the best albums of 2000 and 2001!

Please note: There were a lot of good records in 2000 and 2001. It’s stupid how many good records there were. This is my favorite list; I am by no means denigrating any of the records in the honorable mentions or if I missed something you loved. They are extremely important. I do love many of those artists and those records. But I tended to return to these more often because they just spoke to me a little more.

2000

  • Felt Mountain – Goldfrapp

In Q Magazine for 2000, four out of the five members of Radiohead had this record as their #1, and the fifth had it as their #2.  That was a pretty ridiculous endorsement. I found the record immediately, listened, and for a good time, I could not substitute anything else in my rotation. The moment “Lovely Head” starts with its hypnotizing whistle (I’m going on record as saying this is the best whistle put to record in my lifetime, sorry, Bobby Mcferrin and Andrew Bird), with such an intoxicating melody, you are immediately transported into another world of existence. Then, the moment Alison Goldfrapp releases her unabated, most sultry, commanding, and confident vocal, that world starts to unblur, as some secret World War II hidden spy network out of a Bond film.  Who is this voice? How old are they? Where have they been my entire life? Every song on the record is a masterpiece without a single wasted note. There are very few records I call perfect.  But the combination of violins, synths, harpsichords, and masterful seductive elegance shrouded in mystery was interwoven so well by Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp that I can’t help but declare they reached that pinnacle.

  • Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea – PJ Harvey

Written mostly while living in NY, PJ absorbed all the sounds, smells, buildings, and relationships the city had to offer, prompting her to write her most well-received record since To Bring You My Love, so much so that it won the Mercury Prize that year. Bringing back to life more of the gusto and back-to-rock basics that her subdued (but very excellent, see my 1998 article) previous effort lacked, PJ wrote about the struggles she saw on the streets and possibly some of the love she felt. It’s always difficult to know if any lyrics are truly personal, but there is a little more than an inkling that some of this record does reflect her personal life. I probably listened to this record more times than any record that year. It was a wholly satisfying emotional ride, with an exceptional song that Thom Yorke sings 90% of to boot. 

A side tangent: I saw her tour for this record in 2001, which she performed in San Francisco the very week of September 11, 2001.  It was by far one of the most emotionally charged and intense shows I have ever experienced.  She recalled that on 9/11, she was literally in a hotel room across the freeway from the Pentagon and saw the plane’s remains in shambles. One of the songs on the record is called “Kamikaze.” Anyone else would have refrained from performing this song, but she did. It is one of the most memorable moments I have experienced at a concert in my life.

  • Kid A – Radiohead

There is nothing I can say better about this record that someone else hasn’t already said. So, I will say that I was one of those folks on the Radiohead fan site message boards.  Looking for any updates or gossip and participating in the chatter, yearning to know what possible songs would be on the record. Yes, I had the bootlegs on cassette and CD-R with songs like “Lift,” or when they played a new song once as an encore like “Big Ideas” or another like “Egyptian Song” while soundchecking. I first heard this record at a pre-release listening party held in the planetarium at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with a glass of wine. From the moment “Everything In Its Right Place” started, the woah factor started, and you knew this wasn’t going to be OK Computer Part Deux, and the journey began.  A ton of haters wanted the sequel to OK Computer, but if you were a Radiohead fan, you had to know that was never going to happen. And, when you get once-in-a-lifetime unbelievable songs like “Idioteque” that no one else could have written in a million years, it’s more than OK. And more than any Computer could have come up with.

  • Faux Mouvement – Autour De Lucie

A band, most folks in the States, have never heard of matured immensely from their previous release and wrote a ridiculously fantastically gratifying record that pretty much went unnoticed. Definitely, a product of the sound of the late ‘90s, think a deeper and more interesting and exceedingly disconnected version of the Cardigans record in 98, and all in French; it’s an emotive journey of melody, electronic noise, and beautiful vocals that don’t overpower but always seem just enough because that’s the exact amount all the heartbreak allows you to muster. It always saddens me to think more haven’t listened to this record.

  • Bueninvento – Julieta Venegas

I hadn’t spent much time listening to Mexican artists prior to this record, aside from a few that popped up here and there. But I probably played this CD so much that it eventually had scratches. You don’t need to understand Spanish to comprehend how excellent this record is. 

A thundering voice with what seems like she has something to say? Check. 

Evolved and complex songwriting? Check. 

A boss singer/songwriter who plays accordion? Check. 

Extremely melodic hooks and bumpy, non-traditionally dancy tracks? Check. 

I can’t say enough about how much I still enjoy this record. It’s by far the most eclectic on this list. 

Julieta is a true creative force and deserves your attention.

  • Little Black Numbers – Kathryn Williams

There was a time back in the days of yore when you read music mags, ones that didn’t rate the album, and the great writers just talked about the record for a minute, allowing you to decide if you’d like to give it a whirl. I think I found this record on import only in a tiny blurb in a British music mag one night and decided to locate a copy. And wow, was I rewarded with a thoroughly confident experience written by a singer/songwriter who knew who she was?  Part of the folkish scene of the era, Miss Williams seemed a step out of that group, fully realizing she was more than just simple folk. Full of strings and other instruments, she created a fully developed, thoughtful, and emotionally draining but satisfying journey from “Soul to Feet.”

  • The Teaches of Peaches – Peaches

Oy, did the world ever need Peaches to show up at the party? We needed someone to save us. And we (and later Miss Piggy in one of the greatest internet videos of all time) just needed to “Fuck The Pain Away.” Her debut on the scene blurred and stomped over all the lines of social convention, with super raw, energetic synth tracks full of confidently sexy, I don’t give a fuck energy that we could mad dance to whether at the club or in our living room. At the time, it was clear that Peaches championed being in control of one’s own body. It’s so discouraging that 23 years later, things have gotten worse. We need Peaches more than ever now.

  • Lovers Rock – Sade

Ohh, how we waited.  Waited and waited for her next record after listening to Love Deluxe and Best of Sade over and over and over.  Sometimes, I think the best answer to the question of what artist’s catalog you would want to have on a desert island is Sade’s. It might not be the most musically complex or full of complex emotions, but her music is so unmatched regarding comfort, love, and healing. We hadn’t the faintest idea what her next record would sound like after six years, but I might argue that this was her most complete record. While containing unbelievably singular and satiable songs, her previous records did not satisfy as entire albums. This was a fully crafted set of songs about love, war, and the longing of the human spirit. My heart still tugs and aches every time I listen to this record. Very few artists seem to fully maintain their musical and creative integrity after receiving the amount of airplay and praise that Sade has received over the decades. The respect she is adorned with and should still be awarded is unparalleled and well-deserved. 

  • Quality Control – Jurassic 5

What was going on in hip-hop at this point? I don’t know. After a lifetime of listening to hip hop, outside a few artists, I had lost interest without even noticing. I started drifting where I found good music, and I just hadn’t been coming across hip-hop that was speaking to me anymore. Opening up the time machine with a nod to the Jurassic period of hip hop, J5 brought it back to basics of bumpin’ beats, tight tracks, and freestyle-like flow that made things fun again. The collective + Cut Chemist intently realized at the time that hip hop needed some quality control inspectors. Thank you, “Inspected by J5”.  (Side Thought: T-Shirt Idea – “Quality Control Inspected by: J5”)

  • The Noise Made By People – Broadcast

Sometimes you listen to a record and think, how could anyone not like this? While not exactly full of the most whistleable songs in history and containing several art school-esque instrumental movie tracks that would play during scenes to build intrigue and add exposition, just like with Goldfrapp, Broadcast seemed to transport you into a time warp into the past but somehow with a futuristic sound.  It was a time when people started to fall in love with robots, and the feelings were all too real and heartbreaking. Still, the only possible consolation would be the voice of Trish Keenan, accompanied by warm synths and effervescent soundscapes. I am thankful I saw them live at least once back in 2003. (My favorite of their records is the next one). If you don’t listen to any of the records on this list, at least take this advice. If you like a band, see them, because you don’t know if they’ll ever return.

  • Parachutes – Coldplay

Well, before this came out in the States, a good friend of mine (Anne Gleason, I miss you so much <3), who always found every new British import and never steered me wrong before, suggested I listen to this new band Coldplay.  We’ve all heard “Yellow” in 15 different languages, but this record is full of complete and well-written Britpop songs with fab riffs and singalong hooks.  You’re fooling yourself if you say this album blows. I can’t speak to any other subsequent records released, but this one still stands as their best.

  • The Hour of Bewilderbeast – Badly Drawn Boy

I found it on recommendation from a good friend (Wayne recognition here); there is nothing badly drawn about this guy or this album.  It is a personal-sounding and thoughtful exploration of songwriting that just seems to build the further you delve into the record.  An easy breeziness emits from the songs, eventually making you want to sing along. Still, the cacophony of diverse multi-instrumental and background vocal tracks almost seems to make this a history lesson of pop and rock music since the 60s. I compare this to walking through an art gallery of music with a cheeky and engaging tour guide.

  • Lost Souls – Doves

Seemingly thrown into the boat of Britpop bands from the era, Doves weren’t exactly sailing in the same vessel. A bit less in-your-face asking for attention, but more developed instrumentation across songs that lasted an average of four and a half minutes filled with a subdued repetitive feeling of longing and love loss full of the highs and lows that can bring. It is a quality record that still stands as a good listen over two decades later.

  • Passenger – Tara Mclean

I saw Tara back at Lilith Fair in 1998, acoustic on the small side stage, and to be honest, I didn’t see a better performance that day.  I had the chance to talk to her then, and then later in 2000, when I saw her several times during the tours for this record, and she was just the sweetest, most wonderful person. But that first performance I saw in 2000, as much as I liked this record, the live version, consisting of just one guitar and half of a drum set, completely blew me away.  Tara’s absolute fire and passionate fervor living in these songs unleashed something that wasn’t there in the first album. A friend of mine (I really miss you, Drew <3) recorded that show, and that recording was probably in my top 5 played CDs that year.  

  • Veni Vidi Vicious – The Hives

I’m going to listen to this record because I wanna.  I will put it in my top 15 list because I wanna. Everyone seems to think the rock revival of the early aughts started with the Strokes, but ummmm, excuse me, I hate to say I told you so. It was The Hives that planted the flag first. This exceptional record of songs, mostly shorter than three minutes each, reminded us what punchy, catchy head nodding rock could be, as it had been sorely missed.  Leave it to a group of well-dressed Swedes with Brobdingnagian personalities and an extremely charismatic, larger-than-life lead singer to show us the way back to simple rock’n’roll.

Honorable Mentions That Are More Than Just Honorable: (Alphabetical Order by Artist) (And yes, I think it’s amusing I’m including this many)

Mer De Noms – A Perfect Circle

Come to Where I’m From – Joseph Arthur

Alone with Everybody – Richard Ashcroft

Community Music – Asian Dub Foundation

Relationship of Command – At The Drive-In

Mama’s Gun – Erykah Badu

Selmasongs – Bjork

Fevers and Mirrors – Bright Eyes

Suburban Light – The Clientele

Internal Wrangler – Clinic (This was rated as #2 by all members of Radiohead, except 1, who rated it #1 in that same article)

Like Water for Chocolate – Common

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia – Dandy Warhols

The Great Eastern – The Delgados

Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030

The Marshall Mathers LP – Eminem

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed! You Black Emperor

The Sophtware Slump – Grandaddy

Jazzmatazz: Vol III – Guru

Beautiful Creature – Juliana Hatfield

Bow Down To The Exit Sign – David Holmes

100 Broken Windows – Idlewild

Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park

Music – Madonna

Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo – Aimee Mann

The Moon & Antarctica – Modest Mouse

Excuses For Travellers – Mojave 3

Return of Saturn – No Doubt

Furnace Room Lullaby – Neko Case

Mass Romantic – The New Pornographers

Stankonia – Outkast

United – Phoenix

XTRMNTR – Primal Scream

Rated R – Queens of The Stone Age

Who Is Jill Scott: Words and Sounds Vol 1 – Jill Scott

All Hands On The Bad One – Sleater-Kinney

2001

  • Vespertine – Bjork

Before this record came out, everyone talked about the swan dress. The swan dress. The swan dress. It wasn’t that terrible a dress! And hello? Why doesn’t anyone want to talk about the music from the most fantastic artist ever? The artwork for this album did contain a swan, but something else it contained was a complete change in temperament from Homogenic. This record embodied the last song of Homogenic: “All Is Full of Love.” Written with her new relationship at hand, it was filled with lush melodies and intricate heart-plucking instrumentation, warm-feeling lyrics, heavenly background vocals by the Greenland Girls Choir, and a library of noises and beats made from scratch by the electronic wonder duo Matmos.  Songs like “Aurora,” “Pagan Poetry,” and “Cocoon” stand out as some of the most intriguing songs ever put to tape.  The entire record is a masterpiece and slowly became my favorite Bjork record. Every time I listen to Vespertine, it makes my heart expand and grow three sizes, with wonder and a giant checklist of things that make the world an easier place to live in. Few records make me feel more at ease and happy to be alive than this record.

  • Amnesiac – Radiohead

Part two of the equation of Y(Yorke)2k gave us a more human, personal, and, in my opinion, more satisfying partner to Kid A. A reasonable man might argue that can’t be the case with a song like “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” in there.  But if you get off his case, pretend that song isn’t there. And that you could have one of the best five consecutive songs in a row on any album ever recorded: “Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box,” “Pyramid Song” (Sorry, one of the greatest songs ever written), “You And Whose Army,” “I Might Be Wrong,” and “Knives Out.”  The playfulness of the melodies and structures of these songs very much became the blueprint for what they would put out after this record. The album ends with one of the most interesting songs they’ve ever done, collaborating with jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, with a feeling that it was done all in one take while in the moment. There is so much to discuss with this record, but there is no shortage of articles that put it better than I would, so read them!

  • Long Distance – Ivy

Already having released two previous complete and utterly superb indie pop records, this talented trio evolved even further as songwriters, leveled up, and finally gained some notoriety. The album is stacked, one after the other, with expertly crafted songs holding equal parts dreamy, rich melody, and refined pop hooks, all with a touch of the subdued sadness that a lot of us just seem to hold on to daily as we walk through our lives. Maybe it helps that lead singer Dominique Durand is French, but you can’t help but jettison yourself into your past with songs like “Disappointed,” with an unforgettable guitar riff and a chorus of “I could never be you wanted to me. I’m just gonna leave you disappointed.”  It doesn’t mean we don’t love and open our hearts, but it’s ever so therapeutic to have remarkable albums like this to hold our hands as we stroll those desolate streets. Other songs like “Edge of The Ocean,” so expertly composed, ended up on a few TV commercials, which I would never have expected for a band like Ivy. After 22 years, this album remains a staple in my rotation of indie pop gold.

  • Simple Things – Zero 7

Have you ever listened to Moon Safari and thought you wanted a little more oomph? A little more pizazz? A little more flavor on the vocal tracks? Well, two guys (Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker) who perform on stage wearing bathrobes, with a few talented vocalists (one now much more famous than they are), delivered on all those thoughts and truly became the chill playlist for dinner parties for the next few years. From the moment the supple bassline starts on the first track, “I Have Seen,” you know you landed in the right place. Armed with Rhodes keyboards and synths full of strings, they created a fruitful and engrossing landscape for Mozez, Sophie Barker, and Sia to sing over. This was Sia’s coming out party, though several years before her first solo release, with her two songs, “Destiny” and “Distractions,” being the absolute highlights of the record. The instrumental tracks may have a big nod to Air, but how can anything from this era not give a nod to them?

Side tangent: If you ever meet me, ask me about the time I met Sia for the first time! 😉

  • White Blood Cells – The White Stripes

The Hives started it, but these two “siblings” and the Strokes in 2001 put the rock revival on the map.  “Fell In Love with a Girl” reminded people that sometimes all you needed was 1 minute and 50 seconds filled with a few catchy chords to get your mojo going.  An awesome Lego video also goes a long way. (Side note: one could argue the video could have been the kick-starting point of Lego taking over the world again). Go listen to it. Go relive Jack’s great guitar riffs and Meg’s power-packed drums. Go relive your feelings where you thought, man, this sounds simple! Could I possibly write songs like this, too? And then tried and failed miserably.  And hey, since every song on the album is so unbelievably short, you’ll probably finish it before you read this article! 

  • Aaliyah – Aaliyah

It’s more than bittersweet to talk about this record, but there is no denying the effect Aaliyah has had on the music. The work on her previous record, One In A Million + the single “Are You That Somebody” were landmarks, ushering in the work of Missy Elliot and Timbaland as producers. More mature in voice, style, and song structure, her third and final studio album was a much more advanced production. Tracks matched the evolution of neo-soul from the era. Still, it was more than that, pulling influences from past R&B and hip hop, funk, alternative rock (Aaliyah famously contacted Trent Reznor asking if he would collaborate, as she was a huge fan), and various types of music from around the world. (i.e., “More Than A Woman notably samples Mayada El-Hennawy’s “Alouli Ansa.”) One can’t help but wonder how large of a figure she would have become if allowed to continue on her creative path. Considering the amount of growth in a relatively short amount of time and how humble she seemed to be, the ceiling would have been limitless. We really miss you, Aaliyah.

  • Toxicity – System of a Down

You might have done a double take here if you’ve read my previous lists, as I am not shy to say I usually don’t listen to a lot of heavy metal. I have heaps of respect and can appreciate it very much, but it can be a lot to take in and can be exhausting to me. Ok, I might be biased. Yes, I’m Armenian. But there is something different about System of A Down. And it wasn’t just me who thought so. Years later, I read that famous producer Rick Rubin, who signed the band, said: “They were my favorite band, but I didn’t think anyone was going to like them apart from a small, like-minded group of people like me who were crazy. No one was waiting for an Armenian heavy metal band. It had to be so good that it transcended all of that.” They WERE that good. The political and social themes of the lyrics were front and center from the start, and the underlying place the music was coming from really pushed the true humanity and sincerity in Serj Tankian’s distinct voice. But above all, what stood out was the musicianship in extremely interesting song structures using scales not normally heard in popular music, and full of the juxtaposition of soft and hard/fast instrumentation and singing that created a fascinating emotional tugging experience of disorder that wasn’t very toxic at all.  

  • Is This It – The Strokes

As noted, along with “Fell in Love with a Girl,” The Strokes’ “Last Night,” in basically less time than it would take to finish a cig or even a Jack and Coke, declared rock n’ roll was back and it was going to sleep on your couch for a good while. The Strokes became the poster for the revived rock scene. Well-dressed boys, but with that slight messiness from partying all night, seemed to rule the day. For many of us, it was a welcome sight as they seemed to be pushing the boy bands of the world to the teenage margins of passe. You all know The Strokes and this record; I don’t need to say more.

  • Gorillaz – Gorillaz

So, was I ever excited about this record? Can I say it again? Was I ever EXCITED about this record? At the time, I worked for Virgin Records, the label, and got an advanced single of “Clint Eastwood” without hearing anything about what this artist was. “Wait, is this Damon Albarn?!?!?… Wait, Del?!?!?…“What?!?!?!? This is amazing!!! In my estimation, this is where I thought music would be going after UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction in 1998 (See the Best of 98 list!).  But the true organic genre-fusing records are like treasure. They aren’t easy to come by. Dan The Automator, who released the Deltron 3030 record (see 2000) the previous year, along with Del the Funky Homosapien, made their mark on the collaboration clear.  The cartoon band members are a super fun aspect of the project, but what set this apart was the music Damon was allowed to explore outside of Blur, dipping his toes in hip-hop, dub, electronica, and world music, among others. Even though Del opened the song with “Finally someone let me out of my cage,” I think Damon truly felt that.

  • The Impossible Thrill – Alpha

If you read my list from 1998, Alpha’s debut record was my favorite record that year. I can’t speak enough about how much I love the first two albums from this duo of Corin Dingley and Andy Jenks. Filled with subtle, slow, brooding, and warmly aching vocals from the same three singers: Wendy Stubbs, Helen White, and Martin Bernard, the songs build a supple forest much more melodic and heartbreakingly romantic sounding than most in the post-trip-hop scene. I liken their music more than most to a warm blanket on a cold night that is so satisfying that it makes you want to stay in that spot forever.  Massive Attack knew what they were doing when they signed them as the first artist to their now-defunct label.

  • Rooty – Basement Jaxx

I wasn’t sure if they had a second record in them, but Basement Jaxx came through with a super fun and super high-quality sequel to the critically acclaimed Remedy. While the first was much lo-fi and held true to its UK house roots, they seriously upped the ante. All the booty-shaking grooves, phat beats, and earworms sing-along from the first record showed up on Rooty in a much more refined way, as a nonstop ride of very slickly produced tracks with serious hooks. And I have to repeat that: serious hooks. A massive collection of music styles garaged into one parking spot is not something for someone of the faint of heart to accomplish. When you think you have reached the pinnacle of pop perfection on “Jus 1 Kiss” to rival Daft Punk, the next song, “Broken Dreams,” tops it and throws in mariachi and jazz trumpets! I don’t think I stopped dancing once at their live show that year. It never fails to put me in a good mood when I put this record on.

  • Discovery – Daft Punk

Again, this list is personal, not the “Most Important Albums of 2001”. And if that were the case, this album would be way higher. Its profound effect on pop music still can’t be defined. Several articles go into it, and they are super interesting reads. So go find them! Without sounding like recycled material, this record blew the roof off of electronic music in the mainstream and finally allowed something that sounded too poppy to be just pure fun. To me, that is what this record is: pure fun. While something similar to what Basement Jaxx was doing is happening here, it was larger, simpler (that doesn’t mean easy), and more accessible to the masses. For that reason, I have it lower on my list. Being a bit repetitive sometimes, I just couldn’t do repeated listens with this record before I wanted to move on. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t truly harder, better, faster, or stronger than just about everything else…

One great read about this record: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/daft-punk-discovery-anniversary-changed-music-9539516/\

  • Miss E…So Addictive – Missy Elliot

This is where Missy really took off.  While she already had two records under her belt and multiple revolutionary producing credits in her corner, this seemed like her coming out party, as the confident and self-assured artist Missy Elliot knew exactly what she wanted as the maestro. To solidify what I just said, in 2021, “Get Your Freak On” appeared at #5 on Rolling Stone’s list of all-time songs. Yes, you read that correctly, ALL TIME. Regardless of how that was polled, that is no small feat. Whether you realize it or not, Missy has permeated all of popular culture. The impact this record had on future hip hop, popular music as a whole, and helping level the playing field for women in the industry can’t be calculated. One of the most interesting thoughts about Missy is that instead of playing the male rapper game, she turned everything on its head and did her own thing. Basically, inventing her own style of hip hop, unconforming to the old rules that predecessors had to contend with. There are a ton of articles that go in-depth on this record; find them! Holla!

  • Oh Inverted World – The Shins

James Mercer appeared to put a sort of new Americana here from his basement, free from the machismo and expectations of traditional rock. Pulling influences from everything he’d ever listened to, from the ‘60s sunny pop and The Beach Boys to 80s and 90s British bands and everything in between, a wholly original and pretty for an indie record was born. It was definitely cool to say for a good while that if someone asked you what you were listening to, you should say The Shins. So much so that it ended up in the movie Garden State. But notoriety and social standing aside, just put the record on with headphones and get lost in good songwriting and a few banging low-fi guitars.

  • Melody A.M. – Royksopp

Finally, Norway shows up on one of my lists! Like the title of the first track on the album, it was “So Easy” to love this record. I’m not usually enamored on the first listen of any record. Still, if the ambient, downtempo fusion of that first track didn’t lure me in, the tapered, dripping electronic beep melody of the second track, “Eple,” hooked me. I just wanted to listen to that sound, made by whatever combination of music-making machines over and over and over again. While not gentle, all of the instrumental tracks have a softness to them that makes them very sweet, conjuring up images of melting icicles at the end of winter, with the first few birds chirping as the sun starts to shine through the clouds. (Maybe the electronic version of “Morning” by Edvard Greig? Who also happens to be Norwegian? And their most famous composer?) The vocal tracks like “Sparks,” “Poor Leno,” and “Remind Me” (which you might remember from a commercial), while they all fall into similar tropes of the downtempo tracks of the era, are all distinctly memorable.  Unlike Discovery (#13 on the list), this record may not be groundbreaking, with a profound effect 20 years later. I could keep this on repeat all day and all night until melody A.M.

  • B.R.M.C – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Finally, there was a band from San Francisco to get on board with. Cited with huge influence from Led Zeppelin, you could distinctly hear the influence of psychedelic rock from the 90s through the record. I think the line I used the most while promoting this record was, if you like Jesus and Mary Chain, you’re really going to dig this. The entire record is lined with well-written, fully thought-out rock compositions, with seemingly deliberate strokes of guitars at every turn. While sometimes droning, they created this spacy cacophony of distorted floating sound that still kept a specific punch. Staying in the boxing motif, this was one of the better counterpunches if you weren’t on board with the no-bones-about-it rock The Strokes and The White Stripes brought into the mainstream.

  • Quiet Is The New Loud – Kings of Convenience

Woah, more Norwegians! I had to include this record simply because it was such a curveball to me when it came out. Astralwerks was one of the labels I promoted, and being such a groundbreaking electronic music-focused label, when I got the advances for Kings of Convenience and Turin Brakes, I stopped in my tracks.  An acoustic guitar folk duo with introspection in one hand and delicate melody in the other wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. For a debut record, the songs were extremely developed and accomplished. I absolutely love the intimacy of a solo acoustic, quiet small room show, and this record comes about as close to that as any. Putting on this record after a long day as you try to wind down just makes for such a lovely convenience.

Honorable Mentions That Are More Than Just Honorable: (Alphabetical Order by Artist) (And yes, I think it’s amusing I’m including this many)

Songs in A Minor – Alicia Keys

Free All Angels – Ash

Confield – Autechre

Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi – Camera Obscura

Survivor – Destiny’s Child

Asleep In The Back – Elbow

The Argument – Fugazi

Sunny Border Blue – Kristin Hersh

The Blueprint – Jay-Z

604 – Ladytron

No More Drama – Mary J. Blige

A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure – Matmos

Fever – Kylie Minogue

Yesterday Was Dramatic – Mum

Origin of Symmetry – Muse

Stillmatic – Nas

In Search of – N.E.R.D.

Rocksteady – No Doubt

Missundaztood – Pink

Run Come Save Me – Roots Manuva

Bavarian Fruit Bread – Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

It’s a Wonderful Life – Sparklehorse

Go Plastic – Squarepusher

Just Enough Education to Perform – Stereophonics

Genetic World – Telepopmusik

Lateralus – Tool

The Optimist LP – Turin Brakes

Lucinda Williams – Essence

Musicforthemorningafter – Pete Yorn

Read Also:

Let’s Go Crazy With The Best Albums of 1999! – https://spinningplatters.com/2013/12/23/lets-go-crazy-with-the-best-albums-of-1999/

Who Needs New Music? My top albums of 1998! – https://spinningplatters.com/2012/01/09/who-needs-new-music-my-top-albums-of-1998/

Gift Guide For Music Nerds: The Best Records of 1997 – 

https://spinningplatters.com/2009/12/16/gift-guide-for-music-nerds-the-best-records-of-1997/