ILM Top 100 2000-2004: ALBUMS

Points: 168
No. of votes: 6
No. of #1 votes: 2

Artist: JOHNNY GREENWOOD
Title: BODYSONG
Label: EMI
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/bodysong.jpg

Radiohead's maverick guitarist (amongst other things) takes time out to score Simon Pummell's lifecycle-themed film.

Comments: The album's opening track, "Moon Trills" seems portentous of some grand celestial event; its elongated Messiaen-inflected piano chords and Ondes-Martenot wails form and reform in a harmonic spectra that travels slowly toward a dark meridian. Later, the starlit melancholy of "Bode Radio / Glass Light / Broken Hearts" unfurls in vivid plumes of glass harmonica and strings, and is shot through with dissonant adornments not unlike those emblematic of Debussy. The drowsy fantasia of "Clockwork Tin Soldiers," reverberates like falling glass marbles aleatorically tinkling a ballet for mechanical dolls. "Convergence" begins with a clash and percolates into a percussive, clattering cacophony, fighting the hegemony of beauty and melody. The banjo-driven "24 Hour Charleston" echoes the adrenalin rush of a thief in the night, as dramatic electroacoustics envelop the discordant melody. And the monistic "Peartree" with its angular, Ligetian organ harmony resonates as though the music were dispersing in the higher vaults of a gothic cathedral. In "Milky Drops From Heaven," a hurried horn takes on an animal character, the music destructing and reconstructing itself from moment to moment, as if the jazz band were tumbling up and down invisible stairs, their tempo varying at the rate of their descent. On the closer, "Tehellet" (the Hebrew meaning of which roughly translates as "hope, expectation") a languid cello is made to sound like a choir of seraphim heralding an ascent.

Perhaps Jonny Greenwood is not one of the luminaries like Messiaen or Penderecki, but here, their light reflects upon him, like the sun upon the moon. Salvador Saca

Recommended tracks: Moon Trills

Points: 170
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: MOGWAI
Title: ROCK ACTION
Label: Southpaw
Year: 2001

ihttp://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/rockaction.jpg

Comments: For all the guff Mogwai took for the alleged monotony of 'Come On Die Young', they craft a perfect counterpart to the
previous album's searing depression with brooding optimism on 'Rock Action'. The album title misleads a lot of listeners, even though its islands of fuzzy warmth are punctuated by rousing, 8+ minute epics. Lee Wang

Recommended tracks: You Don't Know Jesus, 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong

No. 89

Points: 170
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: MOGWAI
Title: ROCK ACTION
Label: Southpaw
Year: 2001

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/rockaction.jpg

Comments: For all the guff Mogwai took for the alleged monotony of 'Come On Die Young', they craft a perfect counterpart to the
previous album's searing depression with brooding optimism on 'Rock Action'. The album title misleads a lot of listeners, even though its islands of fuzzy warmth are punctuated by rousing, 8+ minute epics. Lee Wang

Recommended tracks: You Don't Know Jesus, 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong

.....

Points: 172
No. of votes: 9
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: EXPLODING HEARTS
Title: GUITAR ROMANTIC
Label: Dirtnap
Year: 2003

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/guitarromantic.jpg

Comments: n/a (gmail me some if willing)

Recommended tracks: Rumours In Town

'Jonny In Wonderland Among The Talking Flowers

Jonny Greenwood loves the moon. When he performs as a member of Radiohead, the notoriously soft-spoken guitarist has been known to take a moment at outdoor concerts to silently point out its splendor to the otherwise oblivious audience. The music he composes is like the moon---arcane, otherworldy, and peculiar. Bodysong is infused with the same sense of wide-eyed wonder at the sublime.'

The album's opening track, "Moon Trills" seems portentous of some grand celestial event; its elongated Messiaen-inflected piano chords and Ondes-Martenot wails form and reform in a harmonic spectra that travels slowly toward a dark meridian. Later, the starlit melancholy of "Bode Radio / Glass Light / Broken Hearts" unfurls in vivid plumes of glass harmonica and strings, and is shot through with dissonant adornments not unlike those emblematic of Debussy. The drowsy fantasia of "Clockwork Tin Soldiers," reverberates like falling glass marbles aleatorically tinkling a ballet for mechanical dolls. "Convergence" begins with a clash and percolates into a percussive, clattering cacophony, fighting the hegemony of beauty and melody. The banjo-driven "24 Hour Charleston" echoes the adrenalin rush of a thief in the night, as dramatic electroacoustics envelop the discordant melody. And the monistic "Peartree" with its angular, Ligetian organ harmony resonates as though the music were dispersing in the higher vaults of a gothic cathedral. In "Milky Drops From Heaven," a hurried horn takes on an animal character, the music destructing and reconstructing itself from moment to moment, as if the jazz band were tumbling up and down invisible stairs, their tempo varying at the rate of their descent. On the closer, "Tehellet" (the Hebrew meaning of which roughly translates as "hope, expectation") a languid cello is made to sound like a choir of seraphim heralding an ascent.

Perhaps Jonny Greenwood is not one of the luminaries like Messiaen or Penderecki, but here, their light reflects upon him, like the sun upon the moon.

Points: 176
No. of votes: 7
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: HOT SNAKES
Title: AUTOMATIC MIDNIGHT
Label: Swami
Year: 2002

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/automaticmidnight.jpg

Comments: n/a (gmail me some if willing)

Recommended tracks: Salton City

Points: 186
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: CALEXICO
Title: FEAST OF WIRE
Label: City Slang
Year: 2003

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/feastofwire.jpg

Comments: So easy to listen to, so transporting. Spaghetti western varmints on the spit and noodling tape-loops never tasted so good.
Swing

Recommended tracks: Sunken Waltz, Quattro (World Drifts In)

Points: 191
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: STEPHEN MALKMUS
Title: STEPHEN MALKMUS
Label: City Slang
Year: 2003

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/stephenmalkmus.jpg

A brief "Song by Song" explanation by Stephen Malkmus (as found on the Amazon.co.uk listing!)

1. heavy blindness
2. perky whimsy
3. gawky fun
4. emotional gravestone
5. exile on indie street
6. thin lizzy meets wire
7. spazz out and run
8. protest song against colonialism
9. sad condom ad
10. russian reggae
11. tom petty is always in
12. i said this was supposed to sound like"heroes" when we mixed it

Recommended tracks: Jo Jo's Jacket, Jenny And The S Dog

Points: 191
No. of votes: 13
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Title: RATED R
Label: Polydor
Year: 2000

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/ratedr.jpg

The brash guitars and driving drums are present and correct, but where you'd expect snarling venom, you get tuneful howling - Josh Homme a more despondent yet philosophical wolf rather than a raging one. Strangely it kinda works, QOTSA's knack for a catchy retro-metal hook (stuttering is always good) combining with some grim wit, devilish flair and energetic sass for a relatively refreshing debut avoiding most of the cliches atypical of the genre (why...why was I programmed to write PR blab).

Recommended tracks: Feelgood Hit Of The Summer, The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

Points: 202
No. of votes: 10
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Title: PIG LIB
Label: Domino
Year: 2003

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/piglib.jpg

The naysayers were wrong - Stephen Malkmus just bounces back brighter each and every time. This album was streamlined to the point of perfection, despite being at the very heart of things, a prog album. The subtleties and intricacies of Pig Lib only reveal themselves upon extended listenings, but boy are they worth it. His most solid work since Wowee Zowee and up there in the best releases of his career. dog latin

Recommended tracks: Animal Midnight

carry on

WASHING A-MASCIS FUCK

PS: I think Cadillac on 22s is so overrated. There are such better songs on that album. like a PYAAAAAMP

The music he composes is like the moon - lifeless, pale and when you get up close it's basically a load of rock.

I'm not being defensive, because you have your right to like and dislike whatever you want, but I'm interested in knowing: have you even heard the record? What do you mean by "lifeless" and "pale" (refer to certain pieces or methods of his)? Do you mean "rock" figuratively? I hope so, because the record is "basically a load of modern classical." There are NO traces of "rock music" in Bodysong.

Actually, the critiques of Kiid A and Amnesiac suffered from the same problem of musical ignorance (not to sound arrogant, but if you're going to whine about something formally, at least do your homework / research). People whined about Radiohead "ripping off Aphex Twin, the whole Nothing catalogue" when it BARELY sounded like them, and actually literally STOLE bits from modern classical and jazz. And, to my ears, it worked wonders. And people should get over it. Nothing is completely authentic.