LISTED: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009)
*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.
12. Silverchair - Young Modern (2007)
There were a lot of things happened in 2007, chief among which I was in love, Radiohead released their next studio album on the internet which I got mine for free (well, they GAVE the option and I don't have a credit card), and then I fell out of love. Somewhere along the line, Silverchair released their fifth studio album, Young Modern, which somehow at the time I couldn't care less about it, and now I couldn't figure out why. Probably something about their first leading single "Straight Line", but even that I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it was about Johns' new image which I thought looked gay, but then I digress.
Johns once said in an interview that Silverchair is only begun to be after the release of their difficult third album, Neon Ballroom. It was a heck of an album released on the cusp of the new millennium. It was stark raving mad adventurous and bite the spiny thorns of a hedgehog eclectic. I remembered after the whole bombast died out from my cheap walkman, my brain had melted entirely and is oozing out from my ears like a hot lava flowing out from Mount Pinatubo. It has got to be one of the most important record ever released to mark the dawn of the new millennium, which is turning out to be as mental as the album is.
Silverchair, when they first broke out into the scene, they were no more than just a bunch of 15-year-olds with access to musical instruments and lots of teenage angst went unchecked. Originally a knock-off of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, as the boys turns to fully grown-up men, in twelve years' time up to before the release of their last studio album, we have seen how their musical ability and stylistics has changed and evolved by leaps and bounds that only a true genius is capable of. And that evolution has finally reached its most critical point with this 2007 release. I'm afraid of using the term 'complete' here because their next release might surprise us even further.
Their previous two releases, and most especially the operatic progressive post-grunge 1999 release, though became the milestone in which the Australian three piece embarked on a sonic excursion, both was an uneven affair because they are still being peppered here and there with traces of their old root, the Seattle sound. In this latest album however, the band had come into full circle and settled down well and completely into a whole new stratosphere of muse. And this is no more apparent than in Johns' writings and singing.
What is pretty apparent from the get go (opened with the jittery pseudo dance "Young Modern Station") is that the old cries of a discontented heart has been replaced with one of a young, energetic, full of wits and charm, and wiser character. There is no longer songs that 'screams' at you, but now replaced with an assuring voice that murmurs at you softly, as if almost playful. Then, to make things even more interesting is that this voice is no longer backed by distorted guitar strummed on simple chords but furnished by a flurry of discordant orchestra, played out by a host of cherubs with their little fluttery wings, having a messy jam of ridiculous childishness. There are strings instruments falling at every place at a disorganized pace and tempo, leaving behind a complex symmetry of tune, but it's not a cacophony. This album, with its spectacular orchestra bombast, sounds huge enough for a giant concert in Heaven, but also complex enough to relegate its status as chamber music.
Never has a pop album (yes, this IS pop) sounds as ambitious and bombastic as how this master of pop music craftsmanship has successfully created.
*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.
12. Silverchair - Young Modern (2007)
There were a lot of things happened in 2007, chief among which I was in love, Radiohead released their next studio album on the internet which I got mine for free (well, they GAVE the option and I don't have a credit card), and then I fell out of love. Somewhere along the line, Silverchair released their fifth studio album, Young Modern, which somehow at the time I couldn't care less about it, and now I couldn't figure out why. Probably something about their first leading single "Straight Line", but even that I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it was about Johns' new image which I thought looked gay, but then I digress.
Johns once said in an interview that Silverchair is only begun to be after the release of their difficult third album, Neon Ballroom. It was a heck of an album released on the cusp of the new millennium. It was stark raving mad adventurous and bite the spiny thorns of a hedgehog eclectic. I remembered after the whole bombast died out from my cheap walkman, my brain had melted entirely and is oozing out from my ears like a hot lava flowing out from Mount Pinatubo. It has got to be one of the most important record ever released to mark the dawn of the new millennium, which is turning out to be as mental as the album is.
Silverchair, when they first broke out into the scene, they were no more than just a bunch of 15-year-olds with access to musical instruments and lots of teenage angst went unchecked. Originally a knock-off of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, as the boys turns to fully grown-up men, in twelve years' time up to before the release of their last studio album, we have seen how their musical ability and stylistics has changed and evolved by leaps and bounds that only a true genius is capable of. And that evolution has finally reached its most critical point with this 2007 release. I'm afraid of using the term 'complete' here because their next release might surprise us even further.
Their previous two releases, and most especially the operatic progressive post-grunge 1999 release, though became the milestone in which the Australian three piece embarked on a sonic excursion, both was an uneven affair because they are still being peppered here and there with traces of their old root, the Seattle sound. In this latest album however, the band had come into full circle and settled down well and completely into a whole new stratosphere of muse. And this is no more apparent than in Johns' writings and singing.
What is pretty apparent from the get go (opened with the jittery pseudo dance "Young Modern Station") is that the old cries of a discontented heart has been replaced with one of a young, energetic, full of wits and charm, and wiser character. There is no longer songs that 'screams' at you, but now replaced with an assuring voice that murmurs at you softly, as if almost playful. Then, to make things even more interesting is that this voice is no longer backed by distorted guitar strummed on simple chords but furnished by a flurry of discordant orchestra, played out by a host of cherubs with their little fluttery wings, having a messy jam of ridiculous childishness. There are strings instruments falling at every place at a disorganized pace and tempo, leaving behind a complex symmetry of tune, but it's not a cacophony. This album, with its spectacular orchestra bombast, sounds huge enough for a giant concert in Heaven, but also complex enough to relegate its status as chamber music.
Never has a pop album (yes, this IS pop) sounds as ambitious and bombastic as how this master of pop music craftsmanship has successfully created.
Labels: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009), silverchair
posted by Hafeez at 10:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home