Marcus Hamblett's (Sons Of Noel And Adrian) albums of the decade
There are so many people involved in Sons of Noel and Adrian and the Willkommen Collective and everyone has really diverse tastes, so no one of us would be representative of the whole. The artists of the last decade we more or less all agree on are probably be Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Calahan, Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke, though I'm only really in to Tortoise from that list. I'm rubbish at choosing favourites and I found it impossible to whittle down to ten. So this is actually a top twenty in (a very unsubtle) disguise. Disclaimers aside, here they are:
More words on
I'm sorry to be boring and blow three of my ten choices on one band, but what a band... all three of these albums inspired me so much and I think I've probably sat at home and worked out how to play every single song on all three. On top of the perfect songwriting, the breadth of sonic textures and interesting arrangements is overwhelming.
A concept album made up of sonic portraits of inspirational homosexuals... sounds pretentious on paper but Matmos have a great sense of humour and manage to blend high and low, art and pop, so successfully that you can enjoy the album on an immediate level without any knowledge of the conceptual foundations. Then when you start to appreciate those as well it takes the album to another level. The portraits of Wittgenstein and Burroughs are particular highlight.
They've made at least three other masterpieces this decade which I only didn't include because I used up so many choices on Radiohead: Trust, The Great Destroyer, Drums and Guns. They're heartbreaking songwriters but also they have balls and rock out when necessary. They reinvent themselves with every album too.
The best album of this decade of one of the best bands ever. All the best bits of krautrock, dub, ambient, jazz and post-rock - like Conny Plank, Lee Perry, Rudy Van Gelder, Joe Meek and Steve Albini gave birth to a beautiful monster.
Her best albums were probably in the 90s but the quality of her output this decade has been consistantly very high. Vespertine, Volta and Medulla are all fantastic but if I had to choose one I'd probably be forced to go with general consensus and pick Vespertine. Lots of big tunes and lots of Matmos collaboration. Medulla has some great Robert Wyatt on there though and Volta has some great Chris Corsano. Her openness to collaboration with fresh blood is part of what has kept Bjork vital.
An excellent band who still always produce the goods. The guitar solo on Unmade Bed (from Sonic Nurse) is one of the best of the decade.
One of the most inventive bands of the decade, always creating new sonic landscapes but with a solid melodic backbone. Their next album, Sisterworld, will surely be one of the best of the next decade.
Portishead - what a ridiculously amazing reinvention, after a couple of great but somewhat limited albums, Portishead returned with a completely unique masterpiece that combined their trip-hop roots with all the best bits of stoner metal, krautrock, avant garde electronica and experimental rock. In fact, it sounds like all the bands who played the ATP they curated rolled into one.Dirty Projectors - one of the best live bands of the decade.
At The Drive-In - this one flushed out my ears when I was younger.Shellac - another of the best live bands of the decade, and some of the best producers. Blistering riffs, mathy rhythms and a dry, Beefheartesque sense of humour.
Ornette Coleman - How this man is still this innovative eludes me. Sound Grammar is very, very hard hitting and relentless.Sigur Ros - Along with Godspeed, Sigur Ros had quite a big effect on me. It's a shame their style has been slightly cheapened by becoming the ubiquitous sound of wildlife documentaries and other such television epics, as well as bands like Explosions in the Sky reducing it to a formula and churning out album after album of it. But this album is a solid masterpiece.
Other artist's top tens
All these lists were compiled into one Artist's top ten albums of the decade poll. But here are all the individual lists that went into it...
Add your words...