Interpol

Another late one here, which I’d like to point out is through no fault of out very prompt guest writer but because I ate so much over the festive period my lap was too round to balance a laptop on. Dom Gourlay, who pens for sites like drownedinsound and contactmusic has been a great help and inspiration to the cock team over our few short years and we’re very pleased to finally be displaying some of his work. So without further ado I’d like to present his top ten records of the decade.

Lists. Dontcha just love ‘em? Come December its that time of year where everyone starts putting together their “Best Ofs”, “Worst Ofs”, “Should Ofs”…you know the drill. Except this time its slightly different as we’re less than a month away from reaching the end of another decade. Indeed its frightening to think that Millennium eve when every pub up and down the land charged extortionate entry prices for a pint of warm lager was ten years ago.

Its also been a fantastic decade for music; too good to be true in many cases. When the good people of Its Not For The Cock… asked me to write a piece on my ten favourite albums of the decade that will forever be known as “the noughties” my initial reaction was “piece of piss”. Then of course the hard work begins, such as trying to cull the final contenders down from an initial shortlist of 150 for starters. “Where are King Adora?” a lonesome voice asks. Apologies are in the post. It may also surprise some that many of this decade’s biggest sellers such as Radiohead, Muse, Oasis, The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Libertines have no place here either. In fact, with the exception of Matt Bellamy and co.’s ‘Origin Of Symmetry’, none of the aforementioned artists even made that top-heavy shortlist, so without further ado, let’s kick off that Top 10 in reverse order, starting with….

10. THE COOPER TEMPLE CLAUSE – See This Through And Leave (Morning Records, 2002). Although initially noticed because of their outrageous mullets haircuts and tight-fitting clothes (this was 2002 don’t forget), their growing reputation was already in overdrive courtesy of several low-key seven-inch releases and a blistering live show that saw them blow the likes of Embrace, My Vitriol and (yes folks, BELIEVE) Muse sky high during six heady months prior to the release of ‘See This Through And Leave’, their debut album. An eclectic mix of noise-rock, pop, beats and abstract electronica, it even spawned the odd hit single or two in ‘Film Maker’ and ‘Who Needs Enemies?’. Sadly, it would also represent the pinnacle of their career as the over-produced follow-up ‘Kick Up The Fire And Let The Flames Break Loose’ failed to ignite their status to the level of many of the peers they’d effortlessly usurped in those early days.

9. BLOC PARTY – Silent Alarm (Wichita, 2005). It’s strange what a difference five years can make. Turn the clock back to December 2004 and this London four-piece were the most eagerly awaited show about to hit town. ‘Silent Alarm”s preceding singles ‘She’s Hearing Voices’, ‘Banquet’ and ‘Helicopter’ only told a small part of the story. The rest was to be unveiled just a few months later in the shape of this Paul Epworth-produced masterpiece that while obviously taking inspiration from many past orators such as Gang Of Four and Wire, also sounded like the freshest, most inspiring slice of post-punk fuelled rock unleashed in years. That it influenced a host of copycats was no fault of its creators; that they subsequently fell into the trap of believing their own hype and released increasingly substandard records ever since sadly is…

8. THE TWILIGHT SAD – Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters (Fat Cat, 2007). Who would have thought that a little village on the outskirts of Glasgow would be the birthplace and inspiration for one of the most dynamic and devastatingly impacted records of the decade? Kilsyth-based four-piece The Twilight Sad were something of an unknown quantity outside their hometown, until a demo of theirs found its way onto Channel 4 Teletext’s ‘Planet Sound’ some two years prior to ‘Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters’ release. Even then, with most of the country’s labels’ fixations split between finding a successor to The Libertines or their post-punk angular take on Bloc Party, The Twilight Sad found themselves largely ignored except for ambitious south coast indie Fat Cat. Although only comprising nine songs in total of which two are mere interludes, ‘Fourteen Autumns…’ sheer intensity sets it apart from anything released under the post-rock/folk banner either before or after, James Graham’s unsettling brogue still sounding as menacing today on the likes of ‘Cold Days From The Birdhouse’ and ‘And She Would Darken The Memory’ as it did back then.

7. AT THE DRIVE-IN – Relationship Of Command (Grand Royal, 2000). For many, the Leeds Festival of 2000 will be remembered as the year Daphne & Celeste found themselves engulfed in a halo of piss and vitriol while Oasis appeared to be in meltdown having just released arguably their worst record to date and seemingly fallen apart onstage during their headline slot. To me, however, that year was my first experience of a term that called itself “emo”; my first encounter with a genuine cross-pollination of all things punk, metal and acerbic college rock. The hyperactive performance from one Cedric Bixler still goes down in legend, but their own hiatus culminating in eventual disintegration ensured their legendary status was created, and ‘Relationship Of Command’, their third and final album, was as fine a parting shot of an epitaph any band could need.

6. PORTISHEAD – Third (Island, 2008). Who says reunions and reformations should be kept away from the recording studio? The Bristol-based trio of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley may not have written or worked together in eleven years but no one would have noticed as ‘Third’, their (obviously) third studio album outdid both of its predecessors in the most accomplished of fashions. Whereas other notable artists from a similar era (hello The Verve) failed miserably in trying to continue from where they’d last left off, Portishead simply set about achieving what they’d always done best, mapping out the future via a plethora of musical creations that sounded like no others on earth. Take the album’s lead single ‘Machine Gun’ for example. Its almost complete reliance on abrasive, repetitive percussion beats assisted by nothing more than Gibbons’ strained, harrowing vocal stands out as one of the decade’s most defining musical moments. Roll on 2019 for the follow-up I guess…

5. WILD BEASTS – Two Dancers (Domino, 2009). It would be wrong to suggest standards have deteriorated over the course of the decade, and ‘Two Dancers’ by Kendal-cum-Leeds quartet is a perfect example. Recorded over a three-week period at the beginning of the year, ‘Two Dancers’ combined a perfect blend of eccentric, ambiguous and ultimately inventive pop music that not only reinforced pop music as a credible option once more, but also surely acts as a standard bearer well into the next decade.

4. A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS – A Place To Bury Strangers (Killer Pimp, 2007). The term “noise rock” often found itself mis-interpreted by those more akin to associate it with pretentious and unlistenable symphonies mostly constructed up the anal passages of their creators. However, this self-produced beauty was coming from a different stratosphere entirely. A Place To Bury Strangers’ main driving force Oliver Ackermann had spent most of the previous decade as one-quarter of ubiquitous shoegazers Skywave, but having recently developed his own successful effects pedal sideline ‘Death By Audio’, it was time to engage some of those products amidst his other main passion, making music. What makes this record so unbelievably authentic is that it was initially little more than a collection of demos recorded over a three-year period dispatched around several labels in the hope of a reaction. That Killer Pimp immediately offered to put the songs out as the band’s debut album speaks volumes, a facet Ackermann and his band know all about. Quite possibly the most astounding shoegaze-tinged record since ‘Loveless’. Yes, that good.

3. ARCTIC MONKEYS – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Domino, 2006). The legacy of the Arctic Monkeys exploits on Libertines forums and MySpace will be talked about for many a year. The fact many promoters had them booked to play – yours truly included – and then duly cancel on the back of an unexpected wave of unprecedented success also leaves a less charming taste lingering in the mouth, yet at the same time, who in their right minds could begrudge them the plaudits deservedly received for ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’, their initial record-breaking foray into album territory. Mixing Alex Turner’s tales of everyday Sheffield life and its assorted characters with a simple but effective musical backdrop that spawned a million tenth-rate imitators nationwide, the Arctic Monkeys place in rock’n'roll’s historical archives was signed, sealed and delivered in one glorious, forty-one minutes encompassing instant.

2. THE ARCADE FIRE – Funeral (Rough Trade, 2005). “Blame Canada!” sang the cast of Southpark at the tail end of the previous decade, no doubt in jest, but one can imagine to the disdain of those North Americans lambasted by Trey Parker and Marc Shamain. One can imagine Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, the husband and wife centrepiece behind The Arcade Fire spitting fury at their television set in anger. The band itself may have only been formed in the early stages of the noughties but already the potential was evident by way of their first eponymous EP, released a year before ‘Funeral’. That their groundbreaking debut album would actually be inspired by several tragedies occurring in the everyday lives of its band members was even more remarkable, particularly as the general musical vibe was of a decidedly upbeat nature. Since the release of ‘Funeral’, many lesser artists have tried and failed to replicate its untouchable demeanour and unwavering spirit. As for the band themselves, ‘Funeral”s 2007 follow-up ‘Neon Bible’ was almost as inspiring in its own way, and having spent almost the entire period since on the road, a third album is pencilled in for 2010. Will it encapsulate this? I’d like to think so but very much doubt it.

1. INTERPOL – Turn On The Bright Lights (Matador, 2002). Released on the 19th August 2002 – a week before my birthday – my girlfriend bought me the best surprise present of the decade; a ticket to go and see Interpol support The Tyde at Nottingham’s Social. Having driven her mad about this band from New York whose EP had landed on my doorstep a few weeks earlier, it was the proverbial next step to go and see them in the flesh if the opportunity ever arose. Thirty minutes later, I’d purchased pretty much the entire merchandise stand, ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’, their inaugural long player included, and ever since rarely a day has gone by without its eleven pieces of elegant beauty featuring at some point. A rarity among records from any generation in that it doesn’t contain one single bad track, from the assured perfection of ‘Untitled’ and the way each instrument effortlessly enters the fray to the pulsating climax of ‘Leif Erikson’, ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ isn’t just the best record these ears have become accustomed to this past decade, its undoubtedly one of the greatest collections ever made.

Through the magic of internet and science here’s this list as a nice spotify playlist missing a track from Arcade Fire’s Funeral which you should have heard anyway. But if you haven’t, please have a go on Haiti (Live).