The year 2000 wasn’t such a good year for politics or tech stocks, but it was a great year for music. Between free trade on Napster and the release of some of highly anticipated albums, like Radiohead’s Kid A, it makes you wonder how next year can possibly beat this unofficial first year of the century. It was tough, but the Current was able to compile the best of the best CDs put out in 2000. You may not own all these CDs, but you should. So without any further ado, here they are in no particular order.
Radiohead – Kid A
While it’s not exactly the art house masterpiece one was expecting, Kid A is still the most refreshing album from a mainstream band since Faith No More decided to go off the cliff with their esoteric “Angel Dust” record. Kid A is challenging, abstract, bold and, at times, utterly beautiful, stunning and wickedly weird. The record is definitely creative all the way through.The Delgados – The Great Eastern
In the vein of the recent indie rock turned orchestral prog (Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Mercury Rev), the “p-operas” of the Great Eastern are on par with the formers and arguably better by learning from their musical typos. Pianos, assorted keyboards strings and flutes color what is already an incredibly tuneful record. Usually this kind of ambition oversteps itself, but intimacy isn’t traded for grandiloquence and the record is truly brilliant.
Godspeed You Black Emperor – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
This collective of Montrealers use their trademark formula on this two-disk album – dark depressing chamber music with doomsday type samples, but the scope of this band is so large, their canvas so vast, you wonder just how much they’re capable of. They seem to have gained a real confidence over their year of touring the world. While still containing a lot of ambience, there are moments when the band actually “grooves.” Guitars and violins are given more freedom than just being noisy or atmospheric. Another great offering from another great band. – Angelo Colussi
Sigur R