#GreatAlbums2000s - #TheDrones - Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By (2005). Australia's noise lords channeled pure angst on this raw and powerful set of bloodcurdling anthems. Singer Gareth Liddiard is like Neil Young and Thurston Moore rolled into one manic presence, spitting bile-filled riffs from his Fender Jaguar like his soul were in peril. "Shark Fin Blues" was voted greatest Australian song ever by a panel of the group's musical peers.
#GreatAlbums2000s - #Powderfinger - Odyssey Number Five (2000). This Australian band, fronted by the charismatic Bernard Fanning, refined their earlier alt-rock for a more arena-friendly set full of melodic rock bangers. "Waiting for the Sun," "My Happiness," and "These Days" all combined solid writing with the kind of relatable guitar-driven anthems that would become a rare commodity in the 2000s. A touch workmanlike? Sure -- but craftsmanship this solid deserves props.
#GreatAlbums2000s - #Powderfinger - Vulture Street (2003). This highly regarded Australian band stripped their sound back to basics on this set designed to bolster the group's hard rock chops for the international market. Frontman Bernard Fanning had the vocal chops to pull it off, while tunes like "Rockin' Rocks" and "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" kicked like a mule. Not the band's strongest album, but a fun rock and roll ride all the same.
#GreatAlbums2000s - #Wolfmother - Wolfmother (2005). This Australian power trio channeled elements of old school metal, psychedelia, prog, and stoner rock into a superheated blend that made them international stars in the mid-oughts. "Joker and the Thief," "Woman," and "Mind's Eye" were fuzzed-out slices of retro rock made convincing by strong songwriting and Andrew Stockdale's Ozzy-meets-Robert Plant wail. Louder than the White Stripes and more fun than Jet.
#GreatAlbums2000s – #Interpol – Our Love to Admire (2007). These indie rock gloomsters refined their sound ever-so slightly on their third album (the first for a major label). But the dark cinema of Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler’s guitars and Carlos Dengler’s serpentine bass only gain resonance through the lusher arrangements on “Mammoth,” “Pace is the Trick,” and “Rest My Chemistry.” An emotionally-charged band at the height of their powers.
#GreatAlbums2000s – #Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights (2002). The weight of 911 hung heavily on this New York band’s debut, making their retreat into gloomy post-punk (Bauhaus and Joy Division in particular) feel existentially profound. “NYC” has the requisite elegiac tone, but it’s the rockers like “Observation 1,” “PDA,” and “Say Hello to the Angels” where the darkness feels as impenetrable as singer Paul Banks’ cryptic lyrics.
#GreatAlbums2000s – #KingsOfLeon – Youth & Young Manhood (2003). Plenty of young bands plundered the classic rock canon in the 2000s, but the Followill clan (three brothers and their cousin) understood that it was important to swing and shuffle while punching out the Stones and Allmans riffs. “California Waiting” and “Molly’s Chambers” are standouts on a set so full of promise the Kings’ attempts to slicken-up their sound on later LPs could only disappoint.
#GreatAlbums2000s – #Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump (2000). Grandaddy’s low-key magnum opus sounds like a bizarre collision between Pavement and Pink Floyd – if Stephen Malkmus suddenly made Isaac Asimov his spiritual guru. Main Grandaddy Jason Lytle has a keen ear for pathos in songs about ill-fated robots and confused cosmonauts trying to make solid ground. The mood is a bit like OK Computer, minus the bombast and with a thick glaze of irony.
Great_Albums