10. Supergrass: In It For the Money
Supergrass do something that seems impossible in this era of Win Butler and Conner Oberst led indie mopers: they actually have fun. Supergrass is one of few bands who create great music without seeming to care; they seem so comfortable in their skin, totally relaxed and chill about everything in the world. This seeming apathy and fun-loving spirit often paints the band in a bad light; they become the band you listen to when you don't care, the band you listen to when you don't want to think about what you're listening to and it's a crying shame because when this happens the bands considerable talent is lost in the shuffle. A trio at the time of this release (they would later add a full-time keyboardist) the band is well known for their standard guitar/bass/drum set-up accented by various types of keyboards, strings, and horns. Unlike bands with built in non-rock instruments, Supergrass never over uses them, they add horns to some, organs to some, piano to some, spreading it out and creating more diverse arrangements. Diversity is something that Supergrass excels at, but theirs is a diversity of influence and approach rather than of blatant genre and styles; each track has the same root but a different feel. "Richard III" has a dark gothic punk feel, "Going Out" has a poppy feel, "Cheapskate" has a bluesy feel, all are classic rock rooted indie rock but each is an individual in it's own right. In fact, besides the music, the thing that makes this album so great is that it never runs together but is a solid, complete, cohesive album. This album and all of Supergrass' work is criminally underrated, never receiving the credit it's due while obvious ripoffs like the Arctic Monkeys are undeserving given critical acclaim, yet another sign that buzz blinds.9. Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene
Even if it wasn't a spectacular album, Broken Social Scene's self-titled 3rd album would be an achievement none the less. The fact that twenty distinguished artists, critically acclaimed in their own right, could come together and make an album that comes anywhere close to cohesive is incredible. But in this case, it's the fact that 20 artists could come together and make one of the best albums in the last ten years that is most relevant. Central to the success of the album is the perfect balance of technically proficiency and superb songwriting. The skill of the bands multiple guitarists, their drummer, their bassist, and their brass and string players is undeniable, but this would mean nothing if the arrangements were weak, but they're not. Every song is planned out meticulously and main songwriters Kevin Drew and Brenden Canning make use of all the assets at their disposal. The very first thing that you notice when you listen to the album is perhaps the most important thing to their sound: the production. It's the muddy, distorted production that allows Drew and Canning to make use of all these assets, with a different production style it wouldn't work, it would sound like a mess but as it is, it doesn't. It sounds perfect. From the screeching distortion of "Ibi Dreams of Pavement" and "Superconnected" to the upbeat, nearly pop sound of "7/4 (Shoreline)" and "Fire Eye'd Boy" to more experimental songs like the psychedelia meets jazz of "Hotel" to the beat-centric, hip-hop infused "Windsurfing Nation" Broken Social Scene spans a tremendous amount of sounds using many different vocalist, sometimes as many as five in one song. The album ends on an extremely high note with "It's All Gonna Break" which pulls out all the stops and effectively reminds you of everything on the album that's great.8. Red House Painters: Songs For a Blue Guitar
Mark Kozelek's ratio of quantity vs. quality is among the very top in the history of music. Each one of his thirteen or so albums (with Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, and solo) is a stuffed to the brim with top-notch indie folk/rock. His signature combination of intricate folk songs and shrieking ten minute-plus guitar jams has become synonymous with his name and his penchant for bizarre cover has become the stuff of legends. Every one of his albums with Red House Painters is spectacular but none of them have his sound and trademarks down quite as perfectly as Songs For a Blue Guitar. The album is so good that it even approaches Sun Kil Moon's folk masterpiece Ghosts of the Great Highway, which is the peak of Kozelek's work. This album has the folk tracks: "Have You Forgotten" "Priest Alley Song" "Revelation Big Sur" it has the rock tracks "Make Like Paper" "Long Distance Runaround" and the things in between "I Feel the Rain Fall" "All Mixed Up" but most notably, it has perhaps the most ridicules of Kozelek's covers: an eleven minute electrified jam version of Paul McCartney & Wings "Silly Love Songs". This album is a nearly perfect rendering of Kozelek's tortured muse, his lyrics match his pathetic and mournful voice exactly and the music only enhances it even more, even the electric guitar jams are sad sounding. The album is at its very best when Kozelek mixes his murky tales with vivid descriptions of the events and places, and thankfully that happens on almost every track.7. Deerhoof: Apple O'
The amazing thing about Deerhoof is that several of their albums could have made it on this list; Halfbird, Reveille, Milk Man, The Runners Four or even last year's Friend Opportunity easily have been here, each of those albums present a slightly (or occasionally not so slightly) different version of the band but I picked my personal favorite and what I consider to be their best as for this list. Apple O' is, I consider, the bands peak of their noise/math rock style, after this album the band started to experiment more with broader arrangements and more instruments. The beginning signs of this change is found on the album with things like the horns in "Sealed With a Kiss" or the acoustics of "Adam+Eve Connection" but for the most part the band stays true to their dueling tech-crazy guitar and wispy female vocals. The most incredible thing about this album is how the band can go from quiet, ethereal tracks like "Apple Bomb" and "Blue Cash" and then on the very next track explode into riotous guitar jams. This is amazing because on paper, the bands noisy, oddly structured arrangements combined with Satomi Matsuzaki's high vocal delivery shouldn't even work one way, let alone two. But it does.6. Low: Things We Lost in the Fire
This is the album that took Low from pioneers to masters of more than just their founding genre. Together with American Music Club and Red House Painters, Low's first four albums were a driving force in the so-called "slow-core" style of music (which in fact, is just dark indie rock with a slow tempo) in the early 90s. With their fifth album, Things We Lost in the Fire, Low proved (much like Red House Painters did with folk-rock) that they were so much more than just a slow-tempo, downbeat band. While Low never really speeds things up, they add so much to their music with a variety of instruments. Sometimes they delve into folk, other times grand symphonic tracks or noise rock, but they keep it all rooted in one important thing: Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's absolutely stunning vocal arrangements. Their vocals are so heart-wrenchingly beautiful, together they can make you feel love, sorrow, isolation, peace, fear, and joy. Sometimes all at the same time. Parker's famous minimalist drumming and Sparhawk's incredible musical versatility are a perfect combination; you can listen to their arrangements repeatedly and be any less fascinated by them. The whole album is more like one piece of music conveniently divided into 13 sections; while you are aware that one song ends and another begins, the songs carry such a power and such related theme, both musically and lyrically, that even though a song ends, it's resonance carries on into the next track and so on. This album is one of the easiest to listen to yet most challenging in existence, and while it will constantly surprise you it's an album that you'll want to return to as soon as you leave it, to once again dive into Low's dark, sparse, beautiful land.5. Belle & Sebastian: Tigermilk
This may be an unconventional call on my part, to pick this Belle & Sebastian album since If You Feeling Sinister is widely considered Belle & Sebastian’s masterpiece, and while the greatness of that album is incalculable, it is inferior to the album that precedes it, Tigermilk. While the poor low-quality recording may at first lead the listener to believe that Tigermilk isn’t up to Sinister’s standards, after repeated listens one realizes that it is a perfect combination of pop sensiblities, lush arrangements, and Stuart Murdoch’s most competent lyrics form not just Belle & Sebastian’s best album, but one of the best of all time. The albums hooks are not only irresistibly catchy but varied in their construction, the jangle pop of “The State I’m In” builds up with simple verses to a hook-laden chorus that doesn’t come until about halfway through the track and signals a radical change in the song. “Expectations” has catchy verses but no true chorus, it is instead replaced by very memorable trumpet melody, that is just as effective at getting stuck in your head as any pop hook. “She’s Losing It” is a fusion of the catchy verses and trumpet melodies used before for another completely different effect. “You’re Just a Baby” is even more in the way of pop, the band takes the straightforward mold of pop and bends it to their will and “indiefing” it, for lack of a better word. The albums arrangements, though effected slightly by the bands low budget at the time of recording, are the epitome of indie pop, setting a bar for the genre that has never been surpassed. The brilliance of the music comes from the perfect combination of pop structure and diverse instrumentation. Keys and strings color the sound give it depth behind the guitars, bass, and drums that form the foundation of the music. The band uses as the lead instrument, playing the main melodies, bridges, and instrumentals. It’s this blend of the familiar and the creative, the pop structure and the diverse arrangement that makes the album’s arrangements so spectacular, you have the feeling of familiarity and comfort mixed with edgy instrumentation. It’s all so seamless that it hardly seems like it’s happening, it’s so easy to simply take for granted what you hear and never analyze the music that is so simply and perfectly comprised. Murdoch’s lyrics shine out as one the best pop songwriter of this generation, his wit, intelligence, and fearlessness of are unmatched. The albums last three tracks contain his best songwriting in all its facets, “My Wandering Days Are Over”, show his best winsome pop side, “I Don’t Love Anyone” is his most wit-filled track, and the self-referential “Mary Jo” is his best dark love tune. It’s the combination of these three things, pop structures, diverse instruments, and brilliant lyrics are blended perfectly into the essential indie pop album.4. Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted
Here’s my simple breakdown of Pavement’s albums: all are great, the last two are criminally underrated, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is the most influential, Wowee Zowee is my personal favorite, and Slanted and Enchanted, is the best, which is why it’s the Pavement album I chose for this list. I’m honestly incredibly surprised that Pavement is as well known as it is, I mean lets face it, they’re not exactly the most immediately appealing band in the world; what makes them great isn’t readily apparent to the listener, and even when the average music fan discovers their genius, I’d suspect them to be placed more in the “appreciate but don’t listen to” category by most. This is opinion is just another example of how wrong I can be, Pavement’s fanbase and praise, by critics and fans alike, has never been greater. Pavement seems to be more and more lauded with each passing year and my only opinion on the fact it that it’s more than deserved. Pavement’s albums are a treasure-trove of spectacular music, and non is more so than Slanted and Enchanted. Steven Malkmus’ vocals and lyrics are sharp and cutting as well as sarcastic and surreal, the bands arrangements are a refreshing take on the tried and true guitar/bass/drum set up. Their mix of fuzzed out distortion mixed with quieter picked clean guitars, steady yet still flashy drumming and throbbing bass influence countless hundreds of artists that followed them, which is somewhat surprising because as groundbreaking as it is, it’s not flashy or extravagant, it’s just original and perfectly executed. Even though it is the weirdest of Pavement’s albums, it still contains the pop melodies that the band later perfected on their next four albums. The melodies are buried beneath a lot of noise and somewhat sabotaged by Malkmus’ quirky, off-kilter vocals, but they are still there and are no less brilliant. In fact, it’s the combination of these eccentricities with the genius lyrics and songwriting that makes Pavement so great and these effects are never more present then on Slanted and Enchanted making it their best album. 3. The Olivia Tremor Control: Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle
The Olivia Tremor Control knows that there is a balance between accessibility and experimentation all great bands must walk. This balance is the definition of indie rock, the so-called “thinking man’s music”, and no band does it better then Olivia Tremor Control and never is it better done than on the awkwardly titled Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle. On this album, the band blends catchy pop, fuzzed-out guitars, surreal dream-influenced lyrics and electro-folk collages. Take the first three tracks for an example, 60s pop influenced tracks “The Opera House” and “Jumping Fences” bookend “Frosted Ambassador” a minute long ambient track. Likewise later in the album, a series of poppy tracks lead up to the epic, 9-track “Green Typewriter” suite, a sort of trippy mid album deviation that is equal parts noise rock and electo acid trip. The bands music is rather indefinable, it has clear 60s pop influence in some of the guitar work and drumming and the Beach Boys and Beatles are clearly heard in some of the vocal melodies, but the entire album has such a hazy feel that it seems more like a mono-tastic dream of pop than anything else. Each song is rooted in the same recording sound but the structure and performance of the instruments is so varied from song to song that is at once seems so different yet oddly similar. The only thing that appears in every non-instrumentals is the stunning vocal work of Bill Doss and Will Cullen Hart, together they both harmonize and contrast each other, depending on the mood of the track. Together with the music they form a sort of musical multiple personality disorder, that sometimes happens several times in one song, such as on “Holiday Surprises 1,2,3” which about halfway through changes almost completely in style then changes back then changes back again and then again. Even at its poppiest the band is still experimenting, you can always hear a squeal or a squeak from some effects-laden guitar or overdriven synthesizer. The band takes more risks with the listeners sensibilities and as a result gains more from the overall experience, instead of playing it safe they made the music they wanted to make and thankfully for the good of music, they have the ability, talent, creativity, and genius to pull it all off completely.
2. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
Many bands can be diverse, diversity isn’t hard, any band could play any number of styles without even trying, their attempts might be horrible sounding but as long as they play the style they are “diverse”. Yo La Tengo is diverse, perhaps the most diverse I have ever heard, but that’s not what’s amazing, what’s amazing is that they are masters of all these genres. Let us take the first 8 tracks of the bands masterpiece I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One as an example of their diversity, “Return to Hot Chicken” is drone, “Moby Octopod” is down-tempo funk, “Sugarcube” is noise pop, “Damage” is art-folk, “Deeper Into Movies” is shoegaze, “Shadows” is dream-pop, “Stockholm Syndrome” is folk-pop, “Autumn Sweater” is organ-driven indie pop and that’s just the first half of the album. The reason the band can pull off so many different styles is because they have an obvious appreciation for the main artists of the styles, but they don’t just appreciate them, they embody them, study them, learn their formula, and learn what makes it work. They take the knowledge they gain and mix it with their own considerable creativity and talent, giving it their own original spin. What sets them off from their influences is singer/guitarist/keyboardist Ira Kaplan and his wife Georgia Hubley, who not only plays the drums but harmonizes with him on almost every track, as well as taking the lead occasionally. Their harmonies, similar to those of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, show not only beautiful voices and vocal talent but a kind of chemistry and realism that could be only found with a husband and wife. On their instruments, together with drummer James McNew, the band is more than competent, they are excellent; never too flashy or flaunting, but technically and creatively brilliant. Each piece of music is so thought out and well written, every instrument sounds absolutely necessary to the song, making the very though of an organ or tambourine being left out unthinkable. Basslines don’t just provide rhythm support, they play lead, keyboards don’t just enhance the song, they are they song. Every verse, every instrument, every vocal note, every emotion is a part of the song as a whole, without any one of those things each song wouldn’t be the same.1. The Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs
Albums like 69 Love Songs only come along every decade or so, but when they do they leave a mark on music that is incalculable. The album is, to say the least, a momentous and incredible achievement. Regular length albums with no bad tracks are rare enough but an album with 69 tracks that has no bad tracks? That’s unthinkable. Unthinkable, that is, if you’ve never heard this album. The album really begins and ends with Stephin Merritt, he wrote all the songs and sings most of them, so to say that he is the album isn’t much of a hyperbole. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the album is a collection of 69 songs (yes, about love) divided into three parts. There really isn’t much difference between the parts except for easier reference. Disc 1 is the best of the three, even though the thought of any of the tracks on any of the albums being excluded is unthinkable. The first disc’s first seven songs is perhaps the best run of seven songs in the history of music. Each track, from the neurotic “Absolutely Cuckoo” to the heart wrenching banjo ballad “Reno Dakota” to the Joy Divisionesque “I Don’t Want to Get Over You” spread themselves out over several styles and vocalists, but all tied together by Merritt’s brilliant songwriting: “I guess I could should take Prozac right and just smile all night to somebody new, someone not to bright but sweet and kind who’ll try to get you off my mind I could leave this agony behind, which is just what I’d do if I wanted to, but I don’t want to get over you” or “We don’t have to be stars exploding into the night, or electric eels under the covers, we don’t have to be anything so surreal lets just be lovers” or “Reno Dakota I’m reaching my quota of tears for the year, you know you enthrall me and yet you don’t call me, it’s making me blue” or any number of examples from any number of the tracks. Merritt covers every emotion, feeling, and view of love over the course of the album; musing on lust (“Underwear”) loss (“Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits”) longing (“Come Back From San Francisco”) regret “All My Little Words”) pride (“When My Boy Walks Down the Street”) and a million other things. Tracks like “Love is Like Jazz” show that he’s not just a clever lyricist but a genius writer “Love is like jazz you make it up as you go along and you act as if you really know the song but you don't and you never will so you flaunt your mistakes and you make them until they make you”
