By Irishexaminer.com,Jim Comet

Copyright irishexaminer

1. Low, The Great Destroyer

I first came across Low about five years ago and I’ve since developed a fascination with them. The brainchild of Alan Sparhawk and his late partner Mimi Parker, both from Duluth, Minnesota – also Bob Dylan’s hometown – they strike me as more of a music co-op than a conventional band. The sound is like a melting pot of post punk, grunge and lo fi with a sugar coating of Americana, all moulded around the understated and sublime vocal harmonies. Released on the Sub Pop label this is their sixth album out of 13 and features their cynical take on the music industry Death Of A Salesman.

2. Antony And The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now

Sometimes you hear a vocal or piece of music that stops you in your tracks and you literally go “What did I just hear?”. That happened me with Antony. I heard this beautiful Nina Simone type voice with very subtle almost classical backing. The piano was doing most of the work and it created so much space for the vocals to expand and flourish. This album was everywhere when it came out but for me he never took it to the next level. He started working with Lou Reed which probably side-tracked him artistically and he had a lot going on in his personal life as well.

3. Depeche Mode, Playing The Angel

You have to hand it to The Mode, one of music’s great survivors. They carried on after the departure of their main songwriter Vince Clarke after one album, the departure of Alan Wilder after Faith And Devotion, Dave Gahan’s nearly fatal heroin addiction and, more recently, the death of founder member Andy Fletcher.

They were still a three piece on this album , their 11th , and they seemed to get better with each record. While sticking to the tried and tested sound – electronics mixed with guitar and live drums – they used only analogue synthesisers on the record. That explains the more abrasive old skool sound. Gahan’s Suffer Well is a staple of their live set, which I was privileged to witness at the 3Arena last year.

4. Queens Of The Stone Age, Lullabies To Paralyse

While I’m not a huge fan of heavy rock, if it’s done differently and cleverly it can be a very innovating and effective medium. QOTSA have this brilliant ability to combine noise and beautiful melodies to create a truly unique sound. When I first heard them I really felt they were channelling the spirit of Husker Du in a very positive way. By this, their fourth album,they’d acquired their very own genre, Desert Rock and it actually makes sense. Musically this album relies on wide expansive spaces and contrasting moods and tempos. Listen to the way the opener Lullaby explodes into Medication. Somewhere in the middle of the record is the atmospheric Lynchian” I Never Came” which is for me their best ever song.

5. Neil Young, Prairie Wind

The late 1980s and early ’90s saw Neil Young rejuvenate his career and make some of his greatest records. However, mid-90s he started to struggle a bit again so after four or five dodgy albums it was a welcome relief to see Neil back doing what he does best. What he does best is when he mixes country, folk and American roots music as he did on Harvest, Harvest Moon and Comes A Time with a stellar cast of Ben Keith, Spooner Oldham, Emmylou and many more, all who appeared on those early classic records.

It’s almost like he pulls it out of the hat one final time. For me , this is the last great Neil Young record. While he’s still prolific, and I admire that in any artist, sadly its now a case of quantity over quality. The live shows are still great, though.

6. Gorillaz, Demon Days

I never liked Blur. Damon Albarn obviously recognised their musical limitations as well, so he decided to invent a band where he would be the only actual member. Not a totally unoriginal idea but it gave him the freedom to explore musical ideas that he could never have done with the old band.

Gorillaz may have been categorised as trip hop, but they were so much more. There’s also a big jazz, world music, hip hop and 80s electronica thing going on. Last Living Souls has the same intro as Hiroshima Mon Amour by Ultravox, Neneh Cherry appears on Funky Kids With Guns, and Dennis Hopper also pops up.

Lyrically its spot on. Albarn has always had a social conscience and was never afraid to express his opinions, no matter how unpopular they might be or who they might upset. We need more artists like him today.

7. Rev Al Green, Everything’s OK

While he doesn’t inhabit the same planet musically as Curtis, Stevie or James, the Reverand Al is solid and reliable like an old skool central defender. He does exactly what it says on the tin. What it says on the tin is that classic early 1970s sound he created with producer Willie Mitchell that formed the backbone of his career.

He collaborated with Mitchell again in the early Noughties and released two albums on Blue Note Records. This is the second one and it could be straight from 1973. It blends so easily with his early records that it’s hard to tell the difference. The tour for this album was the first gig I saw at the Marquee in Cork.

8. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois

I think it was around 2003/4 when Sufjan Stevens decided that he was going to release an album dedicated to every state in America. There are 50 states in the US and this is still only the second one ( Michigan being the first) so it obviously hasn’t worked out too well for him. That, however shouldn’t detract from this album, which is a beautiful fusion of pop, folk rock and classical music, the latter which he’s obviously steeped in. He almost creates a sound that wraps its arms around you. It’s the musical equivalent of watching a really long arthouse movie on MUBI that’s going nowhere but you don’t want it to end. At the time of writing there are still 50 states in the US of A. Not too late to do the other 48.

9. The Raveonettes, Pretty In Black

There’s a certain New York street sound that I find irresistible. It probably began in the Brill Building and spread through to Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound, hopping over to Lieber & Stoller’s Red Bird records with The Shang Ri Las and The Jellybeans, before making its way to the Factory where it found The Velvets.

The Raveonettes are obviously fans of the same sound and on this their second album. As on the first, they wear their hearts on their sleeves. There’s no originality on this record but it doesn’t sound like it’s meant to be taken too seriously. However, the album does feature Ronnie Spector (Ronettes), Mo Tucker (Velvets) and Martin Rev (Suicide), so somebody was taking it seriously.

10. LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem

By the mid-00s the once refreshing club scene had seriously succumbed to outright commercialism and a lot of the artists had disappeared up their own noses. Many of crossover acts who had originally promised so much unfortunately delivered very little. James Murphy from Brooklyn decided to do it differently.

His vision was to merge dance music with punk, post punk and old skool electronica with an attitude that was very similar to some of the early Detroit DJs. He did things on his own terms and when he wanted to.

The resulting album is a bit like a cross between Nine Inch Nails and A Certain Ratio. While the hit single was Daft Punk Is Playing at My House, it’s the early ’80s influenced Tribulations that blows me away every time. I used to listen to music like that when I was in school.

Three that didn’t make it

Kate Bush, Aeriel: I remember the anticipation surrounding this release. Her first in 12 years and a double album.

Sigur Ros, Takk: Fourth album from the Icelanders. I love them but they’re an acquired taste.

Ry Cooder, Chavez Ravine: A concept album by Ry Cooder about a now disappeared Mexican/American community.