THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Silent Shout (The Knife) (2006):

from obscurity in Sweden to incessant blog hype, The Knife emerged in 2006 to rapturous praise for juxtaposing their cool soundscapes and wry lyrical content. The title track runs a tight gamut with a brilliant production and Karin Andersson’s vocals tagging along for an exhilarating ride. Neverland ups the funk and ditches more cheese simultaneously. Marble House is an arcane in-house tempo that works. What surprises here is how varied and great the results The Knife unearth. Like Bjork before them, they know that electronic music is more than just beats but there can be a connection to something real and danceable at the same time. The centerpiece though is We Share our Mother’s Health, an unrelenting collage of beats mashed up with vocals warbled and set in at the most appropriate places.

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Is This It (The Strokes) (2003):

it took a while for me to get into this record but one you get past the bland opening title track then one lands in a heavy purple patch of post punk-rock. The Modern Age is the first blast of cool, guitar-wielding magic. Soma is similar, just on a more submerged, basement-like feel to it. The Strokes are all about expressions hurled from a two chord background so a lot of these songs structure is similar but they manage to wield more emphasis on lyrical usage and not just loud guitars. Barely Legal dissects a doomed relationship with as much tenderness one can expect from a garage band.