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.

8. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (2007)


Since we're still on the topic of 'things from the previous decade', I feel compelled to also include something that was really big in the early half of the Aughts - professional wrestling. I don't have a detailed note on when did it all started (well, here in Malaysia obviously) but when I picked it up and became a huge fan of the game, WWF (now WWE) was already a household name. Every testosterone-charged, adrenaline junkie boys I knew back in school could name at least a few dozen professional wrestlers and their signature moves, with Stone Cold Steve Austin being the 'king' of them all; some even to the extent of copying the said moves on their friends. Of course they're all done in the good name of fun. While the more adventurous type, this writer included, ventured away from the popular brand and found WCW, where the alcohol-drenched middle finger flashing enthusiast shorty meet his match with the family-viewing friendly Canadian giant Bret Hart. If none of these is making any sense to you then I'll gladly move on to number 8.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, to those who are unfamiliar with this territory, a fair bit of warning though: if you don't like your music very loud, and very trashy, then D.E.P. is as much a band that you will never fancy in your lifetime as any other noisy-trashy bands. However, unlike almost every other noisy-trashy bands (shitty term I know, but to the clueless, this helps a lot) that your thirteen years old 'troubled' brother might be listening at the moment, this New Jersey mathcore band kicks more asses than all of the rest combined are ever capable of. To put this in a much easier perspective, D.E.P. put all hardcore-based bands to shame; beat them up to pulp, then let them flee away while trembling helplessly, peeing in their pants, crying like a baby for their mommy. Or in a much much more easier perspective, they are totally the badass. This distinction is very important because or else they won't make it as high as number 8, or in fact in this list alone.

The term mathcore in itself is already badass enough because as the name goes, it combines the hair-ruffling effect of math rock and the violent head-nodding effect of hardcore. Which is to say, this unholy marriage is actually a lot more complex than anyone could properly figure out because one music type is for you to listen while sitting down, while the other music type is when you're standing up, and smashing yourself to the nearest amp with your ears bleeding and two of your front teeth scattered on the floor. It is the marriage of two extreme opposing polars between the calm one and the highly volatile one, like between Mentos and Coca Cola - you know it will end in tears. But not for the Plan... oh God, that sounds terrible. I'm sorry. But not for the Dillinger-fucking-Escape-fucking-Plan. Yeah...

After the release of their second album, Miss Machine in 2004, their fans were divided. Some didn't like the more experimental approach in their composition where they prefer the band to just stick to the pretty straightforward scream fest of Calculating Infinity, while the braver souls with open minds embraced this whole new (well, not whole new actually, but just new) sound and, as I would imagine, giddy in their bed every night before they go to sleep, excited at the prospect of an even 'braver' sound in their third album. But then again, this is what other music critics say about D.E.P.'s sophomore, and I actually didn't really agree on that, mainly because I still don't see a lot of difference between their debut and the follow-up. Although the second album is found to be a bit more melodious, but the approach is pretty much still the same - mindless screaming.

D.E.P.'s third album however, Ire Works, expands a lot further, musically, than the last album, and is now at last sounds like a proper experimentation. But they were still very clever and careful about it, preferring to kick things off with the pretty simple in-your-face "Fix Your Face" and followed by another two minute relentless attack of "Lurch". It was by the third track however where the electronic experimentation starts to flourish; but still only in a faint distant right after the second verse. And the other remarkable thing that happened in "Black Bubblegum" is that suddenly you realize that Pucciato actually has a nice melody to his voice. Then right after they have registered the new sound in the listener's head, they go full blast on "Sick on Sunday", leaving the whole music arrangement into a messy electronic glitch disarray, before Pucciato again surprising listeners by gently singing his lines emphatically, crying out "Don't you ever go...".

What is truly remarkable about this album is that despite of all the talk about the band going the way of Radiohead after the release of Miss Machine, it didn't scare them off, prompting them to return to the relatively safe ground of familiarity. They instead pressed forward and released an album equivalent of pushing the envelope, breaking into a new territory by merging their already new territory of mathcore with the drill'n'bass sound of Aphex Twin. If there is one album that should already deserves a legendary status, Ire Works is it because of one very simple reason - this album now proves that you can listen to a hardcore band without people around you calling you a brainless maniac.

Plus, I have to agree on this with David on this one: the closer track, "Mouth of Ghosts" is absolutely epic. The track has a real nice build-up before it bursts into a distorted guitar frenzy all the way to the end. Possibly the best closer track ever in a record.

REVIEWED: Option Paralysis by The Dillinger Escape Plan



If there is one thing that I would like to complain about, for the moment, it is going to be about the cafeteria at my office. Starting from August this year, a new operator had taken over the running of the cafeteria at the college, and as such, anticipation was quite high among all lecturers because we figured it is about time we get to eat delicious (and should I add quality) food. The previous operator was pretty decent, but because (I suspect) they had ran out of ideas of what else to serve, the last four to five months of their tenure at the cafe was an excruciating exercise in serving basically almost the same thing everyday. Safe, yes, but pretty bland. Thus when the new operator came in, our expectation was understandably (hopefully) high. For the first three to four weeks, their food was excellent. All the dishes look inviting, they all tastes amazing - it's all very exciting. Come October though, something drastic happened. All the fantastic dishes that they used to serve pre-October is there, but the excitement is no longer there. They still serve the same food, but what makes the October food not as good (or any good) as those served pre-October is the difference in taste - or the lack of it.

Now, why the Hell am I on about the cafe food at the college is because I would like to use it as an anagram to describe what I think and felt about Dillinger Escape Plan's latest offering, Option Paralysis. To review the band's fourth full-length studio album, I have to compare it with their previous album, Ire Works. Ire Works for me is like the cafe's pre-October food - they are genuinely amazing. You feel excited and giggle like a small child in unbridled joy; you marvel at its' amazing quality; you secretly believed that the future is shining brightly like the sun over Sahara for them - you wanted the future to be even better with them. When the third album was released, I felt all the fore-mentioned emotion because it was such a huge leap for the band musically. Before that album, they are just another band in the shout-whatever-the-Hell-you-want-nobody-gives-a-fuck-as-long-as-it-sounds-awesomely-ear-shredding music movement; or the one that I like to call it as the 'awesomely pointless' music. With Ire Works, the band had taken a long, hard look at sounds, pauses, breaks, beats, loops, samplings, and most importantly, melody - and not just odd time signature and killer riffs. For once, Dillinger Escape Plan sounded like they had actually carefully planned and diligently crafted the album so that the whole package feels solid, and wholesome. It doesn't sound like a car that has been chopped to pieces and held back together again using gaffer tapes. The album feels complete, sounds complete, and for once actually makes complete sense.

Which then brings us to their follow-up, the fourth album. This new one is like the October food at the cafe. Some of the ingredients that makes up pre-October food is still there, used to a good effect, but it feels half-hearted, it tastes half-cooked, and it looks like a half-witted buffoon. The opening track, and probably incidentally, their first single off the album, "Farewell, Mona Lisa" sounds convincing enough to make you believe that it was a continuation of the great third album. However, you are only going to be fooled for five and a bit minutes when the song ended because by the time you hit "Good Neighbor", the second track, all Hell suddenly breaks lose. There are no more clarity in their effort, no focal sense of direction, no feel for the art that they have so successfully created before. It doesn't thrill you, or amaze you, or left you giggling in awe. It feels like as if the band decided "ah fuck it, to Hell with it" with this album.

There are a number of good moments like for instance "Chinese Whispers" (which I strongly believe is the only stand-out track) but they come very rarely and very far between. Please do not get me wrong - it is not an entirely rotten album either. It is a good effort, but on its own. Put it in perspective with Ire Works and suddenly this album sounds like they had just demolished the Louvre, then glued all the pieces together using paper glue, using the logic of Wacky Tunes. It's rubbish.