NME’s top 100 greatest albums of the decade

The Strokes

What a day! Not that this is relevant to what to do in Sydney, but I just can’t resist not publishing NME’s hot-off-the-press top 100 albums of the decade list. The list, which is made of albums released between January 2000 and December 2009, was voted for by NME staff, and a selection of musicians and industry figures. Here are the first 50, but for the full list and more detail, head to NME. While I love the fact that two amazing ladies, Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing at Hordern Pavilion on Friday 8 January) and Polly Jean Harvey, are in the top 10, I’m a little disappointed only two Australian albums have made it in. At number 45 are the Avalanches with their 2000 debut Since I Left You and at number 92 sits Sleepy Jackson with the beautiful 2003 album Lovers. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds anyone?

1. The Strokes – Is This It
2. The Libertines – Up The Bracket
3. Primal Scream – XTRMNTR
4. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
6. PJ Harvey – Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
7. Arcade Fire – Funeral
8. Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
9. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
10. Radiohead – In Rainbows
11. At The Drive In – Relationship Of Command
12. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
13. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
14. Radiohead – Kid A
15. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf
16. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free
17. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
18. The White Stripes – Elephant
19. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
20. Blur – Think Tank
21. The Coral – The Coral
22. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
23. Klaxons – Myths Of The Near Future
24. The Libertines – The Libertines
25. The Rapture – Echoes
26. Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner
27. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
28. Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around
29. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around The World
30. Elbow – Asleep In The Back
31. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
33. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
34. Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
35. Babyshambles – Down In Albion
36. Spirtualized – Let it Come Down
37. The Knife – Silent Shout
38. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
39. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
40. Ryan Adams – Gold
41. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
42. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
43. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
44. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
45. Avalanches – Since I Left You
46. The Delgados – The Great Eastern
47. Brendan Benson – Lapalco
48. The Walkmen – Bows and Arrows
49. Muse – Absolution
50. MIA – Arular

Festivals and sideshows

Grizzly Bear

The New Year’s Falls Music & Arts Festival, Pyramid Rock Festival, Field Day, Days Like This!, Big Day Out, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Good Vibrations and the list goes on. Nothing like summer festivals to get out there and check out some extraordinary bands. If you’re going to any of these, lucky you. If not, you might want to consider the odd sideshow or two. I am heading to Lorne Falls Festival again this year and can not wait to kick my boots off and lie in the sun. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Editors and Grizzly Bear are my festival favourits. All of them are doing sideshows in Sydney in early January. Yeah Yeah Yeahs will hit Hordern Pavilion, while Grizzly Bear have just announced the date for their third show at the Recital Hall, as part of Sydney Festival. Second time around, I’m quite keen to see Moby, also performing at Sydney Opera House, and the very fun live  Norweigan electro rockers Datarock. The Temper Trap, Sarah Blasko, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Dappled Cities and Yves Klein Blue are my local favorite picks. And as always, I can’t wait to hear bands I haven’t quite had the chance to hear yet like The View, The Phenomenal Handclap Band and White Rabbits. White Rabbits are doing a side gig at the Oxford Art Factory in the new year as well.

Cat Power

Now, Days Like This! is not necessarily my type of festival, but boy was I happy to see Cat Power on the performers’ bill. I’m a sucker for female singers with breathy voices, and hers is one of my favourites. I will see Cat Power backed by the Dirty Delta Blues (with Jim White from Dirty Three) perform at Waves in Towradgi as her only Sydney (or 60 km south of) side gig.

The Decemberists

I have never been to Big Day Out, but I have managed to catch a few sideshows in the past. This time around I’ll be seeing the Portland, Oregon-based rock band The Decemberists. It’s been a while since I started tracking their tour schedule expecting to see some dates for their, I believe, first ever down under tour. I can not wait to indulge in their theatrical indie folk extravaganza. They will not be doing the Hazards of Love show, which is completely understandable, but a bit sad since I have placed it to sit comfortably within my ‘top 10 albums of 2009’ list. The Decemberists will play at the Metro Theatre.