Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

When Funeral turned the music world on its head in 2004 it seemed impossible that music could possibly have existed without Arcade Fire. Come 2007 the whole world is ready, and the whole world is waiting, could they do it again, dare I say it could they top it? Of course not, not even close, how could anybody, but what Win Butler and co did do is release one hell of an album. It was darker, it was grimer, an at times it was terrifying. One listen to Black Mirror and I bet alot of Guardian and Telegraph readers where thinking what the fuck? But stick around give it a few spins and a jabbing, thursting, bludgoning anthem was revealed. Neon Bible was a perfect title, as this album, combined with the live show, saw Win Butler become the wild eyed preacher deriding the neon house of flith. Now you might be thinking this sounds pretty insane, but fear not the beautiful arrangements and monsterous anthems that turned us on to the Fire in the first place are still there in the form of Keep The Car Running, Intervention and No Cars Go. They made not have shined so bright, but how on earth do you shine brighter than a supernova? Funeral or not this is a worthy successor and in Windowsill they had a track that could sit along shoulder to shoulder their best work.

When this album came out it seemed improbable to think just how far Kings Of Leon would go, they seemed doomed to always be the brides maid, playing below Muse and Razorlight twice! But one listen to this album and it was apparent that these boys were going places. Whether it was the southern stomp of King Of The Radio, the shout-scream-pogoathon of Four Kicks, the subtly beauty of Milk, Soft and Razz or whether it was the smash hit The Bucket it was clear that Kings Of Leon were destined for world domination. You could jump up and down, mosh, cry, put your arms around your best mates and sing along, shout your lungs out, or play it to your little sister or one of your Atomic Kitten loving mates and they could sing everyword. The stand out track was undoubtably Milk soulful and sublime even if it did borrow from Santana, Caleb's howl never sounded better or more tragic.

Back before he was the status quo Timberland was very much the outsider making delicious funky pop music. When he combined forces with Missy Elliott they simply created the best pop music in the world at that point in time. It would take five years before Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Madonna would catch on to the awesomeness of Missy's off the wall rap/dance/pop and Timberland's slick production. While I have to admit I rarely go around blasting out Missy Elliott records these days, but back in 2001 there was literally no alternate, Rock was wank, Pop was wank, Metal was wank, Dance was pretty good, and well the Strokes were just begining to catch fire. Thankfully we had Missy Elliott to provide the funkiest, catchiest, most danceable party tunes ever imaginable. Her style may seem dated now but after a decade of innovation Missy earns her place in this list with an album of monsterous tunage.

The late 90s weren't good for much but they were good for Dance music, Daft Punk were blowing up and redifining the very essence of awesomeness, The Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx seemed to come out with a brand new club banger each and every week, however in the back ground while all this was going on The Avalanches released Since I Left You. A landmark record at the time, as the art of sampling and creating a track out of basically nothing was just about to peak and the Avalanches did it better than any, while DJ Shadow made beautiful music the Avalanches said fuck that and brought you some stomping sing along fun, so what if it had more than just a little whiff of fromage, just remember back to when you first heard Frontier Psychariatrist and you'll damn sure know why this album makes the list.

So if your American you haven't really had much to shout about this century, all your best bands seem to have gone largely unappreacaited in America and instead come to the UK to play in front of huge crowds who sing back every word. Artistically however the US has had many triumphs an Animal Collective fall firmly in that catagory, working tireless producing a impressive body of work culminating in this most recent release. Psychodelia is back! On the one hand you have Panda Bear and Animal Collective turning out great albums and on the other you have MGMT bring their wide screen psych-pop to the masses and ruling the charts. It's once again cool to be a hippy. Animal Collective string together on Merriweather... one

of their longest and most impressive albums, but also one of their most accesible, the arrangements are constantly delightful, uplifting and incredibly well layered. It brings back fond memories of The Beatles or The Beach Boys tripping and laying down some wonderfully creative wacky but always catchy music. Complex yet Immediate, a staggering work.

So what was the most Pussy Whipped Genre of the noughties? Don't know? Times up....punk, seriously could there have been a more pathetic genre than Punk, it had lost all of its spirit and rebelious attitude that had been taken by Rap a long long time ago. So what did we have then? So Cal Pop Punk; Offspring were fading, Green Day were basically U2, Blink had the common sense to pack it in, and what was left.....Simple Plan, New Found Glory, Sum 41....ugh. Honestly give Sound Of The Underground by Girls Aloud a spin they conjure more punk rock spirit in a pre produce four minutes than any punk record had in ten years. So thank the lord when Gallows emerged from the dirty, sweaty, smelly abyss in 2006, finally some angry, agressive punk that was hardcore and best of all people loved it! They'd been waiting for a record like this for so long, Gallows went on to steal the show at every festival they attended with these ripsnorting anthems. One listen to the 3;41 seconds of Adbandon Ship and everything that had gone before was killed dead, Hardcore had its new Heroes.

The Strokes with Is This It had turned the world on its head and made New York City again the world centre of cool. But could there followers live up to the keep their torch alight? Of course they could enter Interpol and enter Miss Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Show Your Bones the Yeah Yeah Yeahs second LP truly showcased the greatest weapon in their arsenal Karen O's voice, going with ease from Haunting anthems (Gold Lion), Pop Stompers (Cheated Hearts), Disco Diverism (Honeybear) however this album was desperately lacked Karen's primal scream. Regardless Show Your Bones was a triumph a smoothing out of the rough and ready energy of the Yeahs into a smooth catchy and accesible album. Not their most exciting, but certianly one of their best loved, that's loaded from top to bottom with sublime tracks. And of course Nick Zimmer providing the coolest riffs in indie rock, not convinced? Check out the well...phenomenal Phenomena.

I do wonder how James Allan is still alive honestly, how can he have such tragic, depressing and heart wrenching stories swirling around in his head and not commit suicide. Because there has never been such a heart breaking debut in rock history this is just moving music. Stripped down, europhic anthems, heartbreak really never has sounded so good. The album is more than just one dimensional ballads however there's the U2eske monster rocker of Geraldine, has there ever been a better written throwaway single than this, the story of Social worker, it's loaded with jaw dropping lyricism "When You Said That I Am No Good Then I Felt Like Walking, I Hope You Know That's Just The Prescription Talking". Then there's the terrace romp of Go Square Go, but lets not kid ourselve this album is all about the ballads the brilliant Daddy's Gone, It's My Own Hearting Heart That Makes Me Cry and best of all the bravest single in modern musical history Flowers and Football Tops. Emotional, Visercal, Hearkbreakingly and anthemic, Glasvegas are a special band, how Starsailor can even exist after this is beyond comprension. Glasvegas are peerless.