So this was supposed to be the death of the music industry?

Number 7

'In Rainbows' by Radiohead

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 4 in 2007

UK Chart high : 1 in 2007

So, not really a surprise to find a Radiohead album in the Top Ten, but perhaps a bit of a one in that it's 'In Rainbows'.  It's also a shame that most of the chatter about the record focussed on the 'pay what you like' electronic release rather than the actual music.  As it turned out I paid £4.50 for it online and then bought the bloomin' thing when it was physically released a few months later - which must be why the poor music industry wasn't immediately killed by their rash actions.  I also couldn't stand the sanctimony spouted by middling artists seeking press exposure who accused Radiohead of recklessly starting something that would mean bands yet to make it would have to give away their music for free and live in poverty (or audition for X Factor).  Neither of which actually happened.  So, back to the music.  I love this record perhaps almost as much as 'OK Computer', which is odd because I wouldn't say it has any absolute classic Radiohead songs on it.  In fact, if asked to pick my favourite tracks of their's from the 00's, I doubt many would come from this album.  All of which probably has you asking why it's so high up the chart then.  Simple really, ten excellent tracks that complement each other, with none of the bizarre wig-outs that other Radiohead albums are prone to.  That said, there's still plenty of experimenting, it just seems that every note played is there for a reason.  One of those reasons might be that apparently several of these tracks had been hanging around for years, with the band unsure of how to complete them until finally road-testing them on tour rather than head-scratching labouriously in the studio.  In the case of 'Videotape' it's just as well they figured out what to do with it considering that the noun will be pretty much obsolete soon!  Musically, they start with another strong opening, the clattering, beat-driven '15 Step' with its pondering 'You used to be alright.  What happened?' and little children's choir at the end (yep, on a Radiohead track) followed by the electric guitar-laden 'Bodysnatchers' - one of the heaviest things they've done in years.  Next comes 'Nude' a beautifully tender song where you can literally here the atmosphere change after the intro - I mean how many bands actually make silence a musical instrument?  Then we're back into dance/jazz drumming territory with the hypnotic 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' and so on.  They manage to constantly shift the mood of the album whilst maintaining a fantastically high level of quality throughout, ending with the mournful 'Videotape' - a story of a man's last will and testament committed to VHS where once again the silence speaks volumes - and that's why we're at Number Seven and why Radiohead have been the best band of the decade.  But it's not why I can't share any audio delights with you...that unfortunately is because this album's not on Spotify (sad face).

Look at Jigsaw Falling Into Place ; Nude ; House of Cards ; Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Is This It? Not Quite.

Number 8

'Is This It' by The Strokes

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2001

UK Chart high : 2 in 2001

This is the album that changed everything!  That's not strictly true, I've just always wanted to start a review with that sentence.  'Is This It' probably did change an awful lot though in terms of the music scene - particuarly in the UK where it was all getting a bit tired and predictable, guitar bands being fairly out of fashion following Oasis' decline and the overabundance of all those laddish, boorish rock acts.  From over the pond then, we started hearing about this brilliant back-to-basics New York garage-rock band with killer tunes, bags of attitude and style by the tousled-haired bucketload.  Yes, they were fantastically hyped by our press, but I think we were all wanting desperately to have a band that we deeply cared for again - and here they were, perfectly packaged for us to clamour over.  Also US bands, and those from New York in particular, always have that added advantage of seemingly being doused in rockstardust to us Brits; moreso than say if Julian and the lads had hailed from Coventry (and that is probably the only time I'll ever compare The Enemy to The Strokes!).  I fell in love with this album when I first heard it.  I think I'd been expecting the band to be a bit hard to 'get' after reading a few reviews about vocal stylings and overplaying their garage sound.  What you are presented with instead is a bunch of incredibly catchy indie-rock classics that burst on the scene, race along with such energy and confidence and then stop before they have time to get repetitive, every chord and beat economical and precise.  There are also a few other reasons this record means so much and still stands out ten years later (nine if I'd written this Top Fifty when I should have).  It's a debut doing what great debuts should do, bursting with fresh, exciting sounds and promising so much; it has a classic referential cover which middle America were appalled by; it has a grammatically incorrect title (punk rock in my book!); the singles were incredible and album tracks only ever so slightly less so (apart from the beautiful 'Trying Your Luck' which one day I want to learn to play on the guitar), it made going to see a live rock band exciting again, it influenced about half the bands on this countdown and they simply say 'Thank You' in the liner notes.  Yes, there was the usual carping once they became massive about their credentials.  But so what if they were bright, privileged poshos - were we saying that rock music had to be made by the poor and/or stupid to be any good?  Nope.  Perhaps the only thing that has taken the shine off 'Is This It' is the band itself.  Even now there's a term called 'the Strokes effect' where a band emerges so fully-realised and perfect that there isn't really anywhere else for them to go subsequently.  Don't get me wrong, the follow-ups haven't been bad at all, but they've certainly been working on diminishing returns since 2001.  They still remain top on my list of 'favourite bands I've yet to see live' though, so if anyone gets any tickets, preferably in NYC...

Look at Someday ; Hard to Explain ; Last Nite ; The Modern Age
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

You Can't Make a Top Ten Record Without Breaking Egg

Number 9

'It's Blitz!' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 3 in 2009

UK Chart high : 9 in 2009

I was biting my tongue when folk were saying they would have 'Fever To Tell' (the Yeah Yeah Yeah's debut) higher up the list than 29, wanting to say 'they'll be back' but also knowing this will probably be a nice little surprise.  Sure, most rank the debut much higher than this, their latest release, and to be honest there's not really _that_ much difference on this here Top Fifty between 29 and 9 - I mean I love all these fellas (just not exactly equally - a bit like how your parents view you and your siblings).  So why do I favour the youngest of three over it's eldest sibling?  Despite the fact I'm the youngest of three too, it's because to me this is where they've been heading ever since their first EP.  Thrashing about in a frenetic punky stylee is all well and good but folk can't keep on doing that and keep everyone's attention, so as much as I love that side to them I want a little light with my shade - or maybe I just need time to stop for a breath after pogoing for ten songs straight at my age...yeah probably that.  The other point about this album is the damnable lie that this saw a move away from guitars.  I mean, before this was released I was having palpitations thinking that Nick Zimmerman was going to have to crouch onstage by a stylophone like Jonny from Radiohead rather than blast through another set of songs like the fabulous axeman that he is.  Thankfully the shift to keyboards only really saw them rise up in prominence rather than take over completely.  I mean, you have to be deaf not to hear the electric guitar in the demonic 'Heads Will Roll' or 'Dull Life' (which is anything but).  Though lead single 'Zero' with its Donna Summer vibe certainly added to those rumours.  Once again, Karen O either completely tears through the songs here or softly pours over them in turn, switching from ferocity to tenderness as fast as you can say 'bonkers frontwoman wearing a Native American headress' or even combining them strangely like in the sublime and not in the least hysteric 'Hysteric'.  I'm also very glad to say they finally got the attention they deserved on the festival circuit (even if the Beeb kept playing only the one track each time they graciously 'featured' them on screen) and that must in part be due to the grander scale and ambition of the tracks here - that and a pair of huge inflatable eyeballs being thrown into the crowd obviously.  So we get the same high level of performance, arresting videos, theatrics, intensity and tenderness just ramped up to...no I'm not going to say eleven.  We also get tracks like 'Dragon Queen' that are so far removed from where YYY's were when they debuted that you've got to tip your headress to them.  One final point, there's few albums that I own where I feel I know some of the tunes already even though I've never heard them before - and that's not the same as them being ripoffs of other ones.  I'm not sure whether other people experience this or if it's just another of my weirdisms - but this happened a few times here and made listening to 'It's Blitz!' all the better for it.  Oh, and live they have a herd of bagpipes to play out 'Skeletons' - you can't argue with that, people!

Look at Zero ; Heads Will Roll ; Skeletons ; Skeletons (live at T in the Park with added bagpipes)
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

It wouldn't be a TTT without 'em...

Number 10

'Turn on the Bright Lights' by Interpol

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2003

UK Chart high : 101 in 2002

So with the 21st century came my unhealthy adoration of Interpol (unhealthy in the sense that I kept putting their albums in first place on my year end countdowns whether they really deserved it or not).  For the most part they absolutely did - particularly this, their debut, even if I did purchase it a little too late to make it into the 2002 chart when it was released.  Sometimes reading the music press about a band can be useful, to get you interested in someone you might not have picked up on, and sometimes it does more harm than good.  I really didn't want to give much time to a bunch of gloomy New Yorkers trying to copy Joy Division, but then I actually heard their music.  These chaps really seemed to get what being in a rock band was all about - carefully crafted music, oblique lyrics that could have many meanings or no meaning at all, arty videos and a fantastic image.  And Paul Banks made school jumpers trendy, he really did.  Four albums in and I can't really see where all the Joy Division comparisons came from  - other than it just being 'the thing to say'.  Yes, 'NYC' is rather gloomy and atmospheric and Paul's vocal style often verges into the tone of Ian Curtis but other than that they've really made their sound their own.  I guess the single and album artwork didn't help, just adding the colour red to what could have come straight from Joy Division/early New Order's back catalogue but I didn't really hear that mentioned at all.  They also kept up a bit of mystery around themselves which was refreshing in the 'tell all' days we were heading into and had that essential mystique that made you want to find out what they were really like backstage - drugs, booze and supermodels and the works.  But strip away all the image and media malarky and you're left with an intriguing debut album that rewards with repeated plays - that wasn't instantly catchy and then forgettable - and that has aged surprisingly well.  And yes I know it's only from 2002, but this is in the age where Xfm call Artic Monkeys' debut 'from the archive'.  So we have moody, late night observations about their hometown ('NYC' - where the subway is a porno apparently), tales of butchers with sixteen knives called Roland and divers called Stella who was always down and an ode to the first European purportedly to land in North America ('Leif Erikson').  Couple that with a broad range of styles from melancholic to downright pounding and you've got the first top ten entry on the list.  I'm pleased to say it also did pretty well in a load of much more legit countdowns too - making it to eight in the NME's top fifty of the decade.  So if both Trotter and the NME tell you to buy it I bloomin' well hope you will.

Look at Obstacle 1 ; NYC ; PDA ;
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Top Fifty Albums of the Noughties : 11-20

You know that we started this Top Fifty in July don't you? JULY!  When it was warm and sunny when you finished work.  We've not even gone Top Ten yet, though we're about to do that with the entry after this one.  Before that, a customary catch-up due to the lightning pace that I've been throwing these at you (and if you haven't got used to this by now, that was sarcasm).

So with seven from 2007-09 and the rest from the other end of the decade, we have a selection that is probably not to anyone's taste but mine - but that's sort of the point isn't it?  A couple of self-titled debuts, a couple of career altering sophomore releases and everyone's favourite reality tv show runners-up.  We'll be seeing some of these folks crop up again soon I'm sure.

20 ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’ by Coldplay (2002)
19 'Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea' by PJ Harvey (2000)
18 'Vampire Weekend' by Vampire Weekend (2008)
17 'No More Stories...' by Mew (2009)
16 'Neon Bible' by The Arcade Fire (2007)
15 'Tangled Up' by Girls Aloud (2007)
14 'Kid A' by Radiohead (2000)
13 'Carnavas' by Silversun Pickups (2007)
12 'Primary Colours' by The Horrors (2009)
11 'Friendly Fires' by Friendly Fires (2008)

As well as the Spotify playlists with a selection from each album so far (11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50), there's also a shorter one for those of you like me with short attention spans (Noughties Shorts) here.

Cowbell Bashing, Pool Jumping and Dad Dancing

Number 11

'Friendly Fires' by Friendly Fires

Trotter’s Top Ten position :  4 in 2008

UK Chart high :  21 in 2009

I can't tell you how close Friendly Fires got to making it into the Top Ten dear reader, as I'm currently replaying their debut and rediscovering how brilliant it is.  However, competition is fierce and I've had to stand coldly back and re-examine it in its entirety while wearing my best 'pondering face' and stroking my beard.  If not for a couple of album tracks this would have sailed into the top fifth of this chart I can tell you, that and for cheekily re-releasing the album around a year later after a Mercury nomination and 're-packaging' with a few extra tracks.  That one of those tracks is the wondrously sunny, technicolour 'Kiss of Life' is reason enough to forgive them though.  So what is 'Friendly Fires' made of?  A masterful blend of funk, ambience, pop and electronic perfection with a liberal dash of samba drums, cowbells and guitar riffage.  Much like 'Vampire Weekend', this is a debut that has sunlight streaming out of its jewel case (unless you purchased online in which case it doesn't).  There are sections, such as in the euphoric 'Jump in the Pool' that just make you want to get up and boogie - or whatever the kids are doing these days - or just, well, jump in a pool  - or songs that simply make you wonder how anyone can squeeze such expertly crafted pop wizardry into three and a half minutes such as in 'Paris' and 'Strobe'.  It's a couple of tracks in particular that really show off this young group's talent though.  First, their debut single 'On Board' which starts off with a simple enough slap bass (yes, that's right) and within a few minutes is partying with a multitude of instruments before exploding with a quite scarily funky guitar solo.  I just didn't imagine it would soundtrack an awards ceremony for a mascot piggy-back 100m dash though (see charmingly home-made video below and get on down from about 2:40mins).  Finally, there's 'Skeleton Boy' which sums up their white-boy, funk/geek chic to perfection and demonstrates how cool dad-dancing is in its video.  Live performances have seen them beef up their sound with whole armies of drummers and assorted percussionists, as they tinker with their music with abandon.  This certainly helped them shape the sound of last single 'Kiss of Life' and without a shadow of a doubt will ensure they continue to develop their tricks for their eagerly awaited second album.  For the effort and care they obviously pour into making what is essentially 'just' pop music and the little worlds they build up within each song I'm declaring them the Pet Shop Boys' successors and placing the future of intellegent British pop in their dainty little mitts.

Look at Skeleton Boy ; Paris ; Jump in the Pool ; Kiss of Life ; On Board
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Primary Coloured Goth Rock?

Number 12

'Primary Colours' by The Horrors

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2009

UK Chart high : 25 in 2009

I don't suppose The Horrors often get compared to Coldplay but that's exactly what's going to happen here.  Like I said with Chris and the boys back at Number 20, there's nothing better than getting a second album and being shocked by the creative leap that's occured between the debut and this one.  'Primary Colours' took me completely by surprise - that's not to say I wasn't expecting a decent album, having lapped up single 'Who Can Say', but I just wasn't expecting this type of album.  To be honest The Horrors were in danger of becoming a bit of a joke band - goth throwbacks with made-up stage names getting tied into the bizarre 'tweenie-gig' phase of the mid-Noughties where gig doors would be thrown open to Sunny Delight drinking Tarquins and Jocastas while their parents popped to Waitrose in their 4x4's before picking them up and going to Granny's for Sunday lunch.  So, to come back with an album that contains the aforementioned single - all whirlitzer organ, Motown vibes and spoken-word section declaring how 'you're too good for me so I'm walking away' in cold sentiment - and the frankly stunning eight minute electronic epic 'Sea Within a Sea' was probably the surprise of the year.  Cheekily tagging on the track 'Whole New Way' a few months later following building critical acclaim can be forgiven purely for the accompanying video which showcased their 'us against the world/band of brothers' vibe that any group worth its salt should have in spades.  I'm not sure how much of this inventive u-turn was down to producers Geoff 'Portishead' Barrow and Chris 'scary music video director' Cunningham but it certainly did no harm whatsoever.  Whether they are to your taste or not, there's certainly no denying after this that The Horrors aren't taking things seriously.  This record opens up a massive variety of creative possibilities for this band in a way that we haven't really seen since Radiohead thrust 'Kid A' upon us at the start of the last decade.  It wouldn't surprise me if we were talking about The Horrors in exactly the same way ten years from now.

Look at Who Can Say ; Whole New Way ; Sea Within a Sea
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Shoegazing Drycleaners of Grunge

Number 13

'Carnavas' by Silversun Pickups

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 2 in 2007

UK Chart high : 110 in 2006

So now we have the answer to that age old question 'What would a band sound like if you genetically spliced Scritti Politti with the Smashing Pumpkins?'.  Silversun Pickups are also the only band on this countdown to be named after a US dry cleaning service (unless Vampire Weekend have something to tell us).  As much as folk may slag off music television there are a fair few bands that I've latched onto via being worn down by repeated plays of new singles on MTV2 and these chaps are one of those examples.  Specifically this was 'Well Thought Out Twinkles' and whilst I had no clue as to what the song title was on about, their video did showcase a very important rock staple i.e. every good rock drummer should have shaggy long hair to throw about while pounding the skins.  The tune was also catchy too of course; even I'm not as shallow as to like a band just for their haircuts (well, actually I am, and I do, but not in this case).  Effect-laden guitars, quiet-loud-quiet bits and plenty of feedback buzzing around whispered/screamed American-accented vocals - my idea of a good time!  What was more impressive was how much this release stood out in what was a great year for music - eight of the top ten from that year are present in this top fifty - and that was mainly because of the uncomplicated, catchy melodies and hooks making a genuinely-impressive post-grunge rock record.  As well as coming to this record late, I also did them a disservice with their follow up album 'Swoon' which I just hadn't listened to enough and didn't put in that year's top ten.  Stumbling on it on shuffle this year I've found it to be every bit as good as 'Carnavas' so I've included a few links to tracks from that release too - including the excellent video for 'Substitution' which mixes Musical Chairs, America's Next Top Model and indie - which again is everyone's idea of a good time.  The band still remain overlooked over here but as long as they don't get dropped I'm happy for them to stay a bit of a secret (just don't tell anyone about them, okay?).  As an aside, when I reviewed this in 2007 I wistfully pined for the grungy, shoegazing, buzzing guitar sounds of Sonic Youth, Ride et al and said the only thing that could make it better was Pavement reforming.  Clearly Pavement must have read my TTT of that year and decided to do exactly that!  At least someone must read these ramblings.

Look at Well Thought Out Twinkles ; Lazy Eye ; Little Lover's So Polite ; Panic Switch ; The Royal We ; Substitution
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Are You Kidding?

Number 14

'Kid A' by Radiohead

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2000

UK Chart high : 1 in 2000

Narrowly edging out Girls Aloud, it's time for another pop-filled extravaganza from Thom and the boys...or not.  One of the best things about doing this countdown is going back and listening to albums that you've not heard for a while and seeing how they sit with you now.  Bizarrely, a lot of 'Kid A' now seems rather mainstream, though by no means pedestrian, which is very weird considering how much of a leap into the unknown it was considered to be at the time.  I wasn't entirely comfortable when news of what 'Kid A' would sound like was written in the press.  It seemed that Radiohead were deliberately being difficult so as to shed a few stadiums-worth of fans after the phenomenal success of 'OK Computer' and that to me is just as big a sellout as going for the U2 jugular in a way; neither approach being an honest representation of what you actually want to sound like as a band.  However, the years have proven that this wasn't a knee-jerk, belligerant reaction but a genuine development in their musical style.  That a lot of it sounds 'perfectly acceptable' now is, I think, testament to how much this band have done to bring the world round to their way of thinking and why they are probably the most important band around today, even if it does mean I now have a cd in my collection with jazz trumpets.  'Kid A' also displayed for the first time how much in tune with dance music this band actually are, 'Everything in its Right Place' and 'Idioteque' standing out amongst the tracks and wiping the floor with most otherwise-formulaic dance music of the time.  Clearly they were bored with the standard indie-rock band schtick and wanted to try something different, even if it meant taking the guitars away from two of the most talented guitarists of their generation in Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien and having them sit on the floor playing with radios and Rolf Harris's stylophone.  If I was being pretentious, which I never am (!), I'd compare them to Picasso who felt he'd done all he could with realistic, traditional painting by the time he was 16 and developed something else entirely.  Thankfully they would show restraint and not go down a completely unlistenable path, but this way of working clearly enlivened the band again and probably explains why they are still around today making great music.  It's also not completely devoid of guitars either, 'The National Anthem' displaying one of their best, intense riffs of all.  They only approved one music video for 'Kid A' other than snippets for MTV trailers and that was setting the beautiful 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' appropriately enough to 'Heart of Darkness'.  To showcase the other standouts tracks I've included a link to what many believe to be one of the great Glastonbury performances, their headline slot in 2003.  And it's Penelope Cruz's album of the decade - what more could you ask for?  Apart from an even better album of their's to come, that is.

Look at Glastonbury 2003 - The National Anthem (14:15) ; Everything in it's Right Place (1:08:11) ; Idioteque (1:03:34) ; Motion Picture Soundtrack
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

A Mariah Carey Moment and a non-Mariah Carey Moment

Number 15

'Tangled Up' by Girls Aloud

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 6 in 2007

UK Chart high : 4 in 2007

For some years now I've been looking out for the perfect pop album.  For some reason no-one's ever really given this a serious try, content to pad their manufactured poppet's record with filler around a few hit singles leading to major disappointment and one justification for buying tracks individually on iTunes (or singles at Woolies in the good (?) old days).  Well, Xenomania and their (co-opted) reality-tv assembled hybrid of Spice Girls and All Saints just about cracked it with 'Tangled Up' after a couple of admirable attempts with previous releases that fell down on 'sumptuous' Mariah-lite balladry and rip-out your ear-drum ill-advised cover versions ('Jump'? Yes, off a cliff, after hearing that monstrosity thanks).  Mercifully 'Tangled Up' just goes for the jugular, 12 stomping singles-in-waiting and not a cover in sight.  Granted they can't help sneaking in a ballad at the last, but mercifully you don't even have to hit 'skip' just 'off'.  So, while Girls Aloud's inclusion in this countdown is the traditional Trotter's Mariah Carey Moment (tm), their album consists of anything but.  I've given far too much thought to pop music over the years, but do think pop can be a science, that you can craft the perfect pop moments by using the right ingredients in the right recipe.  Xenomania's factory-line approach to assembling a pop record (several writers coming up with snippets to be melded into one tune) coupled with the public selection of the nation's favourite girl group is as good an example of this you're ever likely to get.  Similarly there's a bell curve charting any pop group's popularity and cool/kitsch factor, where they rise in popularity and potentially pick up indie-cred along the way but then either lose their fan base or their (non)ironic element by starting to take themselves far too seriously.  GA are probably on the wrong end of the curve right now, but here they were standing proudly at the top laughing at the many different versions of the Sugababes below them.  All of which is pretentious fancy-talk for 'bloody fine pop album from start to finish'.  Not only that, but they very cleverly and gently push the boundaries of what you can get away with on a pop album - one that gets better with repeated listens, no photos on the cover, pounding dance backing on 'Sexy No, No, No' (and ridiculous song titles also demonstrated), dancehall - and suspect lyrics - on 'Control of the Knife', sheer genius on 'Call the Shots' which should be in anyone's Noughties singles countdown and the musical equivalent of an all-conquering computer virus that is 3:45 minutes of 'Damn'.  We'll return to the usual indie/rock gubbins with the next entry.  Oh, and Cheryl's album was Number 51 by the way ;)

Look at Call the Shots ; Can't Speak French ; Sexy No No No
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Making Good Use of a Big Organ

Number 16

'Neon Bible' by The Arcade Fire

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 4  in 2007

UK Chart high :  2 in 2007

There was probably only one way to go for The Arcade Fire in terms of following up their debut and that was to 'go grander, darker and include a church organ'.  Reacting to the times (towards the end of George W Bush's presidency) and perhaps to a relentless, tiring touring schedule, there's a feeling of doom and end of the world paranoia that permeates throughout 'Neon Bible', both at the global level ('Windowsill's environmental catastrophe message or 'Intervention's scathing attack on religion's role in mobilising the populace to fight their wars) and the personal (such as '(Antichrist Television Blues)' tale of a pushy parent wishing talent show stardom on their kids to plug a gap in their empty life).  All of that doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs and, well, it isn't, but it does make for a moody, thought provoking record.  Some AF staples are still there - the dramatic key changes and elegaic 'everything plus the kitchen sink' crescendos - though the gloom does mean it's not an album I've returned to that frequently.  Indeed their recent, brilliant headlining slot at Glastonbury saw them only play three of the tracks from here (those linked to below) perhaps because the atmosphere they created on this record was so effective that it's tricky to fit any more into the rest of their otherwise upbeat set.  That said, it certainly was amongst my most anticipated albums of the decade and so I suppose was always going to fall a tad short of my incredibly high expectations.  They also sail a bit too close to mimicry when it comes to their Springsteen influences for my liking (The Boss appearing onstage with them whilst on tour to play 'Keep the Car Running').  Oh, and ITV used 'Black Mirror' to advertise Midsomer Murders bizarrely - though I guess it's when a track is used to advertise Bergerac that they really have to start worrying.  Seriously though, in terms of creating a body of work that evokes such a powerful atmosphere (and which ironically puts church organs to effective use whilst decrying the downside of organised religions) this album is second to none.  However, they didn't make any videos for this record and also don't seem to have allowed Spotify to host any of their music so we'll just have to make do with a few live performances (which for them is no bad thing) and a bit of Spotify-related radio silence!

Look at Keep the Car Running ; No Cars Go ; Intervention
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Magic Cars, Violent Children's Choirs and Danish Indie-prog

Number 17

'No More Stories...' by Mew

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 4 in 2009

UK Chart high : 110 in 2009

Yes, Number 17 stormed into the UK charts at number 110 last year...sigh.  Mew are probably my favourite under-promoted, little-known band.  I just don't know whether I prefer them to remain under the radar or annoyed that they aren't as big as they deserve.  Yes, they can sound like each band member is playing a different song at the same time, but they also have a keen ear for catchy, poppy hooks amongst the chaos.  And their sometimes-complex sound can pay off big time after you really 'get it' after a few listens - who wants all music to be formulaic and derivative after all?  'No More Stories...' is the Danish 'indie-prog' band's fifth studio release and contains some blissful moments - singles 'Beach' with its sunny chorus and the stomping 'Repeaterbeater' being standouts.  There's also a sense that something is going on beneath the surface of everything that Mew put out, perhaps due to melding dreamy, falsetto vocals with unsettling lyrics that seem perfectly innocent at first until you notice what they're actually talking about.  Perfect example here being on 'Sometimes Life Isn't Easy' which even throws in a children's choir to join in for good measure to sing 'Hold my arms back when they beat me, leave me in the ditch when they kick me'...aaah how charming.  Despite these darker moments the mood of the album as a whole is inventive and playful and never too straightforward much like the videos to their singles - proving that you can't beat a good '80's-style storyline with a few minutes of chat before the song starts.

Look at Introducing Palace Players ; Repeaterbeater ; Beach
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Everyone's favourite White American Afro-beat superstars...

Number 18

'Vampire Weekend' by Vampire Weekend

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2008

UK Chart high : 15 in 2008

And with this entry, the completely coincidental run of five TTT Number One's come to an end.  I never expected to have a decade top ten made up of each of the years' top picks, but I also didn't think some years would emerge with much more strength in depth - but enough of them later, on to the matter at hand.  Vampire Weekend had the distinct disadvantage of being one of those NME start-of-the-year hype bands that you read about in print and think 'don't like the sound of that!'.  Their white-boy preppy look didn't quite gel with what the press was terming an 'afro-beat' sound.  It all just sounded a bit too manufactured, or at least 'posh boys in NYC play at being something they're not'.  But then you listen to their first single 'A-Punk', with its genius chiming guitar intro and infectious 'ey-ey-ey-ey' refrain and any worries you might have had are burnt away by the sheer bright and breeziness of it all and the amount of joy spilling out of the speakers.  The whole album hangs together perfectly, building a care-free, sunny atmosphere that is just pure FUN for both the band and the listener.  And in a decade where we had our fair share of angst and gloom (which is fine in its place) and in the very year when the slightly-less-than-joyous recession hit hard this just set them apart from the rest of the pack.  That and their completely incomprehensible lyrics of course.  But any band who manages to namecheck Provincetown bears, sing about coal reserves, architectural features and English grammar is bloomin' marvellous in my book!

Look at A-Punk ; Oxford Comma ; Mansard Roof ; Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa ; Kids Don't Stand A Chance (live)
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Ten things about New York

10 The Rose Center for Earth and Space is probably the best in...well, Earth and Space
9   Chambers hotel off 5th and two blocks from Central Park - thoroughly recommended with fantastic 'rainforest' showers
8   You can get a Mr Whippy at midnight at Rockefeller Center (and no that's not a euphemism)
7   It takes four visits to drugstores to find Valerie's Rain Bath
6   When spotting Rachel Griffiths in SoHo I can only blurt out 'I loved you in Six Feet Under' (though at least I didn't say 'Brothers and Sisters')
5   The Jamaican Commonwealth athletes won't win many medals by wolfing down McDonalds at JFK
4   Rosa Mexicano at the Lincoln Center - fab guacamole freshly made at your table
3   Staten Island Ferry at night - more impressive at night, definitely
2   The Yanks really do customer service better than anyone
1   Obama stayed next door but we could never co-ordinate our diaries to meet up

Big things in small packages

Number 19

'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea' by PJ Harvey

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2000

UK Chart high :  23 in 2000

So here's another Mercury Prize winner (and one that didn't enjoy an uplift in sales by the looks of things considering it never got higher than its criminally low first week chart position of 23 - shame on you Britain).  Without a doubt Polly Harvey has one of the best voices I've ever heard live and, rarely, one that actually sounds better live than on record.  'Stories...' saw her move away from charming tales of drowning babies in the river or beheading her lover to a deceptively simpler collection of love songs wrapped around her experiences in New York (the city) and of her home in the west country (the sea).  In terms of being a rock and role model its worth remembering that the likes of Karen O, Florence, Marina, KT, Coco and Ellie Goulding owe a lot to PJ's trailblazing - a strong woman in control without having to flash the flesh.  On the album, there's a ridiculous amount of standouts; the brilliant overlapping duet with Thom Yorke ('This Mess We're In') who alarmingly sounds almost tender here (steady girls!), the pounding 'Good Fortune' where she only ever actually sings of bad fortune and then there's the hypnotic, sublime 'We Float' which leads into the acerbic 'Wicked Tongue' to close the album.  Polly would subsequently shy away from the heavier electric guitar sounds of this album on future releases and instead dress up like a Victorian ghost and whisper at a pian - which to me is a great shame given how iconic an image and sound she created here, thanks in part to the brilliant relationship she developed with director Sophie Muller.  It's an equally great shame that PJ Harvey seems all but forgotten nowadays particularly in the music press.  You could do a lot worse than pick up this album and the rest of her back catalogue to remind yourself of what a driving force she's been to British female-fronted rock.

Look at This is Love ; Good Fortune ; A Place Called Home ; You Said Something (live)
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version