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03-14-2010, 01:39 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Himself
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland
Posts: 1,325
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Loveissucide Dissects the 00's
Now that the 00's, in all their weird, violent, insane and overloaded glory are over, I plan on writing a journal to determine whether or not music stayed good, was the best music of the era overlooked, the impact of the internet, and whether or not there were any trends forming despite the complete collapse of consensus. Suggestions on what to review are always welcome.
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03-14-2010, 03:18 PM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Himself
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland
Posts: 1,325
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2000  What must be remembered about the year 2000 was how unsure and anxious everyone felt as we entered a new era.All the disaffection and apathy which had characterised the 90's began to turn into fear, as it became apparent that things were being transformed by innovations such as the internet in unprecedented ways, in particular the fact that music could now be obtained for free, a revelation that left the music industry terrifed. In addition to the rise of file-sharing came the rise of a new Right in politics and it's questionable morals, embodied by the person of George W Bush, a fundamentalist Christian who was controversially elected US President. A number of the key albums of this year embodied this millenialism, either in the form of the post-Millennium Bug sense of imminent catastrophe of seminal albums by Radiohead and Modest Mouse, the concern over the impact of this new technological revolution upon us of Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump, or the willingness to embrace the future seen in Primal Scream's XTRMTR and OutKast's Stankonia, both of which seemed to revel in the production advances of the new era. |
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03-14-2010, 03:33 PM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Himself
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland
Posts: 1,325
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Top 10 Albums of 2000.
10.
 Any Other City-Life Without Buildings This record here paved the way for the rediscovery of post-punk that would go on to characterise British indie rock for much of the decade, by recasting it as superb pop music. It's a real shame it continues to be overlooked, especially considering how much it paved the way for, for better and for worse. It's also great fun to listen to, most importantly. 9.  Badly Drawn Boy-The Hour Of Bewilderbeast Whilst Damon Gough has yet to fully fuffill the promise shown on this wonderful debut ( his About A Boy OST aside), this remains a warm-hearted pop joy, with genuinely wonderful arrangements, a delightful sense of humour and a much wider sonic vocabulary than anyone'd expect. An absolute pleasure which proved there was still an audience for rewarding, creative pop songwriting. 8.  Lambchop-Nixon In much the same vein as Badly Drawn Boy comes this delight, a record seamlessly fusing country with Curtis Mayfield-styled soul. The laidbackedness of it hides an appealing cynicism, and the songwriting is outstanding, making it a shame it was as overlooked by the public in the era of nu-metal and past-it's-prime Britpop. Nevertheless, it always brings a smile to my face, and the fact it has nothing to do with Nixon makes me love it all the more. |
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03-14-2010, 04:24 PM
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#5 (permalink) |
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why bother?
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,840
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Good to see a new journal kicking off in here - this place has died somewhat lately, so it's a welcome sight. Looks like this one'll last a while too.
Funnily enough, it was around 2000 when I was starting to listen to music but, as far as I can remember, it wasn nothing outside of all the shitty nu-metal all the other kids were listening to at the time. I remember Badly Drawn Boy from the airwaves around that time, and I probably heard a Lambchop tune or two somewhere as well. Anyway, enopugh about my patchy memory capacity - good-looking stuff so far. |
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03-14-2010, 06:24 PM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Himself
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland
Posts: 1,325
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Numbers 7-5 Whilst 10-8 would have a long term impact by either rejuvenating the alternative scene and proving there was still an audience for creative songwriting and singular artists, 7-5 would have more short term impact by functioning either as the end of an era or the beginning of another, more exciting one. It has to be remembered what a dull place the late 90's musical landscape was, with Dad-rock having become dominant and a blandness besetting the land, not to mention the endless nu-metal hordes with their samey, repetitive videos providing a staggeringly dull mainstream. Whilst the incredible innovations of R & B during this period provided a flood of great singles, even that momentum began to slow during 2000. Bearing this in mind, it is possible to see these records as the beginning of a backlash against the complacency into which music had settled.7.Whipping Boy-Whipping Boy Ireland's finest bid farewell with this slice of raw cynicism and despair, with the frustration of a career spent in limbo oozing from every second. This was the point when the hangover from the Celtic Tiger era in Ireland began to kick in, in addition to a growing sense of emptiness with all the material advances brought on by the 90's elsewhere in the world. There's a definite sense of finality to this record, with Fergal McKee's lyrics creating a sense of a country gone to the dogs, wasted lives and people having learnt nothing. The bracing cynicism of this record would have stuck out like a sore thumb at the time, which is probably why it was as ignored as Whipping Boy's other masterpieces. The bitter pill is hard to swallow, and this feels like a bitter end to the 90's as a musical era, with all it's angst having matured into bitter cynicism and resignation. 6.XTRMTR-Primal Scream Having spent much of the last 15 years of their time on the Creation label making everything from C86 to Madchester to Dad-rock to electronica, Primal Scream said goodbye to Creation in the noisiest, most agressive and irreverent way possible. With the label having aided the rise of the post-Britpop Dad-rock which was to blame for the blandness of the late 90's musical landscape, it was up to the label and it's flagship act to provide a hippie-slaughtering, terrorism-glorifying, syphilis-fixated blast of raw agression to counteract the bores and bozos. There is a sheer joy in chaos in this record that immediately sets it apart, with the likes of Kevin Shields and Bernard Sumner contributing to the madness. The record's other significance, in addition to standing as a statement against the blandness the music scene had lapsed into, was to regenerate interest in post-punk by successfully reviving not only the sonic extremities of groups such as PiL, The Pop Group and This Heat, but also by resurrecting the anarcho-revolutionary drive which drove these groups. What this record acheived was not only to create a resurgence of interest in the period, but also to spark a surge of new groups inspired by the post-punk era. And for that it more than merits it's place in the Top 10 of 2000
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www.last.fm/user/p-mccusker http://www.mixcloud.com/pmccusker www.valjester.wordpress.com Last edited by loveissucide; 03-18-2010 at 07:26 PM. |
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03-18-2010, 07:41 PM
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#9 (permalink) |
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Himself
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland
Posts: 1,325
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5.The Sophtware Slump-Grandaddy
 In 2000, most bands were trying to equal the critical success of OK Computer. Of these, many were ignored completely or simply regarded as derivative, but this stood out. What it is that differentiates this from the sea of Radiohead imitators is the uniqueness of it. Not many of the Coldplay/Muse/Travis bores would have responded by making it a concept album about an alcoholic robot and the impact of technology on the soul with numerous tracks spanning over 6 minutes in duration. God bless them for it, and for proving that pop music could still be unique and challenging.The music's very good too. 4. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea-PJ Harvey  Having spent the 90's moving constantly from one genre to another, creating some of the best albums of the decade, it came as something of a surprise when Miss Harvey released this startlingly straightforward guitar-pop record in 2000. However, it may just be her best work, on the grounds that it's easily her most accessible, and functions as a meditation on the relation between love and lust, alienation, and place. Whilst that sounds like heavy going, the album is also tremendously enjoyable to listen to, and contains several of her strongest songs. It also paved the way, along with the success of Cat Power, for a number of intelligent, articulate female performers to acheive commerical and critical success, and as a result I feel it more than earns it's place here.
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www.last.fm/user/p-mccusker http://www.mixcloud.com/pmccusker www.valjester.wordpress.com Last edited by loveissucide; 03-23-2010 at 07:04 PM. Reason: Incorrect numbering |
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Linear Mode
