Time to turn the bright lights on 2002 for the third chapter of our tribute to the music of this decade Take Me Out To The Zeros . What were the albums and singles that impressed us the most in the only palindrome year of the 21st century?
The most impressive album of the year came from yet another emerging band from New York City. After the excellent debut of The Strokes the previous year, it's time for Interpol to "Turn on the bright lights" and bring back the elegant dark sound of the early '80s. The influences from groups like Joy Division and The Smiths are obvious, as is the band's ability to weave them into their own sound and create music that feels just as inspired and timeless as that of their heroes. Further evidence of the spectacular rise of the New York scene is given by the flood of exciting new bands emerging from the City that Never Sleeps - names that soon enough will leave, to a greater or lesser degree, their mark to the music of the '00s: LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Radio 4, Liars and of course Yeah Yeah Yeahs who release their explosive first EP.
American rock is doing extremely well outside of New York City too, proving the point that the worse that things are going socially and politically, the better is the music created in response. So we also have excellent albums from Queens Of The Stone Age, ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips and Breeders. NY scene veterans Girls Against Boys and Sonic Youth also return with great records. From the UK, the albums that stand out the most come from '80s veterans Primal Scream (their second great release for this decade) and Mike Skinner with his debut as The Streets. This impressive start of his career didn't have the progress we were hoping for and the same goes for Australians The Vines. The best hip-hop albums of the year are "Fantastic damage" by EL-P and "Phrenology" by The Roots.
The most impressive album of the year came from yet another emerging band from New York City. After the excellent debut of The Strokes the previous year, it's time for Interpol to "Turn on the bright lights" and bring back the elegant dark sound of the early '80s. The influences from groups like Joy Division and The Smiths are obvious, as is the band's ability to weave them into their own sound and create music that feels just as inspired and timeless as that of their heroes. Further evidence of the spectacular rise of the New York scene is given by the flood of exciting new bands emerging from the City that Never Sleeps - names that soon enough will leave, to a greater or lesser degree, their mark to the music of the '00s: LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Radio 4, Liars and of course Yeah Yeah Yeahs who release their explosive first EP.American rock is doing extremely well outside of New York City too, proving the point that the worse that things are going socially and politically, the better is the music created in response. So we also have excellent albums from Queens Of The Stone Age, ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips and Breeders. NY scene veterans Girls Against Boys and Sonic Youth also return with great records. From the UK, the albums that stand out the most come from '80s veterans Primal Scream (their second great release for this decade) and Mike Skinner with his debut as The Streets. This impressive start of his career didn't have the progress we were hoping for and the same goes for Australians The Vines. The best hip-hop albums of the year are "Fantastic damage" by EL-P and "Phrenology" by The Roots.
Top 20 Albums
- Turn on the bright lights - INTERPOL
- Songs for the deaf - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
- Source tags and codes - ... AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
- One beat - SLEATER-KINNEY
- Yoshimi battles the pink robots - THE FLAMING LIPS
- Evil heat - PRIMAL SCREAM
- Highly evolved - THE VINES
- Original pirate material - THE STREETS
- You can't fight what you can't see - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS
- Title TK - BREEDERS
- They threw us all in a trench and stuck a monument on top - LIARS
- Gotham! - RADIO 4
- Fantastic damage - EL-P
- Murray street - SONIC YOUTH
- Suicide invoice - HOT SNAKES
- Chat and business - IKARA COLT
- Good health - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
- Plastic fang - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
- Kill the moonlight - SPOON
- Walking with thee - CLINIC
Top 25 Tracks
- Hands around my throat - DEATH IN VEGAS
- Losing my edge - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
- House of jealous lovers - THE RAPTURE
- Miss Lucifer - PRIMAL SCREAM
- PDA - INTERPOL
- Everywhere with helicopter - GUIDED BY VOICES
- Black rooster EP - THE KILLS
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
- Speakers push the air - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
- Get free - THE VINES
- Fell in love with a girl - THE WHITE STRIPES
- Relative ways - ... AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
- No one knows - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
- Sister surround - THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
- Do you realize?? - THE FLAMING LIPS
- Jonathon Fisk - SPOON
- We laugh indoors - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
- Dance to the underground - RADIO 4
- The seed (2.0) - THE ROOTS
- Let's push things forward - THE STREETS
- Attack of the ghost riders - THE RAVEONETTES
- Walking with thee - CLINIC
- Morning has broken - THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER
- Used for glue - RIVAL SCHOOLS
- All my life - FOO FIGHTERS
Song of the week : We wish a Happy Easter to everyone with one of the best songs of 2002, and of this decade as well, "PDA" by Interpol from "Turn on the bright lights":
Interpol - PDA
Interpol - PDA
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