Top 100 Albums of 2000-2009: #75 - #71
Five more!
---#75---
Carla Bozulich - Evangelista
(singer/songwriter, gothic-country)
2006
Evangelista kicks off with the lengthy "Evangelista I", which is simply one of the most gut-wrenching, intense and emotionally powerful songs of the decade. It opens the album with such force and conviction that all the remaining tracks - wonderful as they are, particularly centrepiece "Baby, That's the Creeps" - can initially feel like something of an afterthought. Bozulich's brand of gothic folk/country is immediately unique, taking a select few recognisable influences and then submerging them in a dark wash of seasick strings, spare guitar melodies, drifting organs, distant, brush-based percussion, pseudo-industrial sound collaging, liberally-applied distortion and spacious, labyrinthine song structures, all of which lend the album a constant sense of dislocation and unease, as though the songs might be swallowed up by darkness at any moment. Bozulich's ghostly vocal style wavers along the various stages between a barely-there, ethereal whisper and a gutsy, attention-holding howl, making for an amazing performance, as she purges her deepest emotional turmoil on every track to create something that's often harrowing, yet also strangely beautiful and moving. What it boils down to is that Evangelista is one of the decade's most idiosyncratic, unforgettable recordings - this is music that stays with you long after the album rolls to a close.
---#74---
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
(drum 'n' bass, IDM, turntablism)
2000
Many people would simply label this "drum & bass" and avoid the headache they'd get by trying to further categorise Amon Tobin's work within the many sub-genres of electronic music. Truth be told, Supermodified is really an amalgamation of swing music, found sounds, ambient textures, occasional sci-fi vibes and jazz instrumentation, all combined with the pulse-raising percussion that D&B is known for. What on Earth do you call that, jazzy-cyber-swing & bass? Tobin has been doing this sort of thing since 1997's Bricolage, and he remains one of electronic music's brightest leading lights. Supermodified stands as the best album in his catalogue, striking a perfect balance between catchy, memorable tunes and eccentric, creative touches, with some generous dashes of futurism and nostalgia peppered throughout. Highlights here are numerous, particularly on the album's first half: "Get Your Snack On" burns up the floor with it's propulsive rhythms, "Four Ton Mantis" showcases smooth funk with Eastern tinges, "Precursor" is an exercise in jittery lunacy, "Keepin' it Steel" shows some very creative twists on metallic percussion and the smooth 'n' sultry "Slowly", with its smokey lounge vibes, is just marvelous - in my opinion Tobin's single finest moment.
---#73---
Kandia Kouyate - Biriko
(Malian music, singer-songwriter)
2002
Kandia Kouyate is widely considered to be Mali's best female pure vocalist, and verges on being a national treasure for it. Biriko is a near-exhausting showcase of her profound ability, as Kouyate unveils passage after passage of simply amazing vocal-work across the album's eleven lengthy tracks (only two of them clock in at less than five minutes), ranging across fragile melancholy, soulful grooves and robustly commanding hollers. The backing instrumentation - played almost solely on traditional African instrumentals such as the kora - is pleasingly melodic (sometimes playfully, sometimes more restrained), yet is subtle enough to avoid distracting the listener, allowing the focus to remain solely on Kouyate's vocals 90% of the time, the remaining 10% being comprised of finely played instrumental introductions or interludes. For fans of exceptional vocal showcases - regardless of their attitude towards "world" music - Biriko is downright essential.
---#72---
Air - 10,000 Hz Legend
(electronic)
2001
10,000 Hz Legend is Air's "rock album", so to speak, augmenting the French duo's electronic music with guitars, foot-tappy melodies, prominent vocalists and an absence of the group's trademark, floaty "loungetronica" for about 90% of the album. With it's surreal lyrics and more hard-edged electronic effects, it could be said that the album is weirder than Moon Safari, but it arguably has more mainstream appeal - the aptly-titled "Radio #1" works well as a singalong single and the charismatic guest appearances by Beck, Jason Falkner and Buffalo Daughter help several the songs to avoid sounding faceless. The humour present in tracks like "How Does it Make You Feel" and "Wonder Milky Bitch" are a welcome delight, never detouring into novelty but instead injecting the songs with a touch of humanity that's sorely lacking from albums both before and since. The couple of ambient tracks play out with a new twist, too - the Egyptian-sounding themes of "Radian" are like nothing else the group have created yet, and closing track "Caramel Prisoner" is like wading through syrup (or floating in space, I still haven't decided). With many regarding it as something of a sophomore slump, my love of 10,000 Hz Legend makes me feel a bit like the solitary flag-waver in an otherwise empty parade. I'll keep on waving my flag, though - albums with this much personality are worth it.
---#71---
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
(hip-hop)
2000
Perhaps moreso than any other hip-hop album I've heard, Supreme Clientele sounds like a spectacle. The production is robust and attention-grabbing, with sampling so big, bright and unmistakable that it hits like a Mack truck. Meanwhile, Ghostface himself is a larger-than-life beast, delivering emcee work that's punchy, rapid-paced and utterly commanding, and his regular outpouring of free-flowing non-sequiturs is something of a marvel ("Hit Poughkepsie crispy chicken verbs throw up a stone richie" indeed). Just check out the explosive, widescreen attacks of songs like "Apollo Kids" and "Nutmeg" - the latter of which, incidentally, is a probable victor for "best rap song of the decade" honours. In a genre that's so often anchored around braggery and oneupsmanship, albums like this one make everything around them seem timid and uncertain. It's not uncommon for rappers to spend an album sounding like they want to conquer the world, but when Ghostface Killah does it he sounds like he's going to succeed so effortlessly.
---#75---
Carla Bozulich - Evangelista
(singer/songwriter, gothic-country)
2006
Evangelista kicks off with the lengthy "Evangelista I", which is simply one of the most gut-wrenching, intense and emotionally powerful songs of the decade. It opens the album with such force and conviction that all the remaining tracks - wonderful as they are, particularly centrepiece "Baby, That's the Creeps" - can initially feel like something of an afterthought. Bozulich's brand of gothic folk/country is immediately unique, taking a select few recognisable influences and then submerging them in a dark wash of seasick strings, spare guitar melodies, drifting organs, distant, brush-based percussion, pseudo-industrial sound collaging, liberally-applied distortion and spacious, labyrinthine song structures, all of which lend the album a constant sense of dislocation and unease, as though the songs might be swallowed up by darkness at any moment. Bozulich's ghostly vocal style wavers along the various stages between a barely-there, ethereal whisper and a gutsy, attention-holding howl, making for an amazing performance, as she purges her deepest emotional turmoil on every track to create something that's often harrowing, yet also strangely beautiful and moving. What it boils down to is that Evangelista is one of the decade's most idiosyncratic, unforgettable recordings - this is music that stays with you long after the album rolls to a close.
Click to view---#74---
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
(drum 'n' bass, IDM, turntablism)
2000
Many people would simply label this "drum & bass" and avoid the headache they'd get by trying to further categorise Amon Tobin's work within the many sub-genres of electronic music. Truth be told, Supermodified is really an amalgamation of swing music, found sounds, ambient textures, occasional sci-fi vibes and jazz instrumentation, all combined with the pulse-raising percussion that D&B is known for. What on Earth do you call that, jazzy-cyber-swing & bass? Tobin has been doing this sort of thing since 1997's Bricolage, and he remains one of electronic music's brightest leading lights. Supermodified stands as the best album in his catalogue, striking a perfect balance between catchy, memorable tunes and eccentric, creative touches, with some generous dashes of futurism and nostalgia peppered throughout. Highlights here are numerous, particularly on the album's first half: "Get Your Snack On" burns up the floor with it's propulsive rhythms, "Four Ton Mantis" showcases smooth funk with Eastern tinges, "Precursor" is an exercise in jittery lunacy, "Keepin' it Steel" shows some very creative twists on metallic percussion and the smooth 'n' sultry "Slowly", with its smokey lounge vibes, is just marvelous - in my opinion Tobin's single finest moment.
---#73---
Kandia Kouyate - Biriko
(Malian music, singer-songwriter)
2002
Kandia Kouyate is widely considered to be Mali's best female pure vocalist, and verges on being a national treasure for it. Biriko is a near-exhausting showcase of her profound ability, as Kouyate unveils passage after passage of simply amazing vocal-work across the album's eleven lengthy tracks (only two of them clock in at less than five minutes), ranging across fragile melancholy, soulful grooves and robustly commanding hollers. The backing instrumentation - played almost solely on traditional African instrumentals such as the kora - is pleasingly melodic (sometimes playfully, sometimes more restrained), yet is subtle enough to avoid distracting the listener, allowing the focus to remain solely on Kouyate's vocals 90% of the time, the remaining 10% being comprised of finely played instrumental introductions or interludes. For fans of exceptional vocal showcases - regardless of their attitude towards "world" music - Biriko is downright essential.
---#72---
Air - 10,000 Hz Legend
(electronic)
2001
10,000 Hz Legend is Air's "rock album", so to speak, augmenting the French duo's electronic music with guitars, foot-tappy melodies, prominent vocalists and an absence of the group's trademark, floaty "loungetronica" for about 90% of the album. With it's surreal lyrics and more hard-edged electronic effects, it could be said that the album is weirder than Moon Safari, but it arguably has more mainstream appeal - the aptly-titled "Radio #1" works well as a singalong single and the charismatic guest appearances by Beck, Jason Falkner and Buffalo Daughter help several the songs to avoid sounding faceless. The humour present in tracks like "How Does it Make You Feel" and "Wonder Milky Bitch" are a welcome delight, never detouring into novelty but instead injecting the songs with a touch of humanity that's sorely lacking from albums both before and since. The couple of ambient tracks play out with a new twist, too - the Egyptian-sounding themes of "Radian" are like nothing else the group have created yet, and closing track "Caramel Prisoner" is like wading through syrup (or floating in space, I still haven't decided). With many regarding it as something of a sophomore slump, my love of 10,000 Hz Legend makes me feel a bit like the solitary flag-waver in an otherwise empty parade. I'll keep on waving my flag, though - albums with this much personality are worth it.
---#71---
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
(hip-hop)
2000
Perhaps moreso than any other hip-hop album I've heard, Supreme Clientele sounds like a spectacle. The production is robust and attention-grabbing, with sampling so big, bright and unmistakable that it hits like a Mack truck. Meanwhile, Ghostface himself is a larger-than-life beast, delivering emcee work that's punchy, rapid-paced and utterly commanding, and his regular outpouring of free-flowing non-sequiturs is something of a marvel ("Hit Poughkepsie crispy chicken verbs throw up a stone richie" indeed). Just check out the explosive, widescreen attacks of songs like "Apollo Kids" and "Nutmeg" - the latter of which, incidentally, is a probable victor for "best rap song of the decade" honours. In a genre that's so often anchored around braggery and oneupsmanship, albums like this one make everything around them seem timid and uncertain. It's not uncommon for rappers to spend an album sounding like they want to conquer the world, but when Ghostface Killah does it he sounds like he's going to succeed so effortlessly.