Rock 'n' roll is certainly aging. If you're an undergrad, there's a fair chance that it's older than your parents. On the surface, the releases of 2001 don't show the artistic maturity you'd expect this aging to bring. However, once you start digging through stacks of releases, you'll get beyond that glossy outer shell of regurgitated pop and bear witness to a thriving world of shrewd underground music.
Rather than reveling in rock's lucrative status quo or making disposable commodities out of what is supposed to be expression, these albums really promoted the evolution of music by expanding the diversity of ideas and sounds, and they each did it in their own beautiful, challenging way.
(Kill Rock Stars)
Leaves Turn Inside You defies plain categorization, as Unwound dissolves its punk roots and explores new structural territory. With more than 75 minutes of sonic variety, this surprising release is powerful, raw and addicting.
(Matador)
Who? A Story In White barely made a sparrow's fart in the world of swirling, stinky wind that is the current state of rock journalism. And indeed, \silent but violent"" may be a decent marketing slogan for Aereogramme's astonishing spin on the old quiet/loud motif.
(K)
This is one of the best albums that has worn the K label, and yes, that's saying something. Textures range from heavy walls of distortion to catchy folk melodies, yet everything is coherently linked into one masterfully sculpted pop album.
(Kranky)
Probably Low's most intimate record to date. If you have the patience for the band's decidedly quiet, low-key style, by the time Mimi and Alan are slowly singing ""Hold me closer than that/Things we lost in the fire"" you'll likely be in tears.
(Dischord)
You can't go wrong with any Fugazi album. It's admittedly hard to compare The Argument to albums as different as their youthful early classics, yet Fugazi still boasts its distinctive intensity and has never sounded more musically and politically aware.
(Atavistic)
Michael Krassner of the Lofty Pillars rounds up an all-star team for this poignant revisitation of late-19th-century American music. While Two Brothers may take some time to digest, it is a staggering acoustic feat that truly speaks to the listener in gorgeous, striking ways.
(Capitol)
Sure, it will take a few years for the media frenzy dust to settle, but by that time critics will hopefully recognize Amnesiac for what it is'not pretentious electronic noodling, but an essential reference point for rock.
(Constellation)
While Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s music is often forceful and dramatic, this Godspeed-related project is a more fragile and cynical approach to similar topics on human emotion and power. Born Into Trouble describes the pendulum that swings between our doom and our hope.
(Arista)
Spiritualized let us come down from space as a follow up to 1997's excellent Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. The result'sweeping, atmospheric string arrangements give a feel to the album that is uniquely Spiritualized, yet somehow the songs are simpler and more emotionally direct than when we were still floating in space. Brilliant!
(Columbia)
Thankfully, not all dinosaurs are extinct.
(Kranky)
With its slow, repetitive guitar licks and electronic intervention, Fixed::Context scores high on the mellow factor (a.k.a. bong factor), although it's probably more useful to music geeks than to potheads.
(What Are Records?)
This is Frank's most inspired, engaging effort since 1994's Teenager of the Year. Still quirky after all these years...
(Reprise)
It's hard to believe that Nick Cave can still be pumping out musical masterpieces like this with so many already on his repertoire. And although he makes his job harder by continuing to cling to the lyrical themes of dead lovers and Christianity, he somehow manages to make it seem easy.
(Kindercore)
This sprawling beast of a record rests somewhere in the huge, ignored gap between Beach Boys-styled pop and Frank Zappa's eccentric compositional leanings.
(Matador)
Low Kick and Hard Bop is a sound collage of samples taken from lost and forgotten recordings. Solex (Elisabeth Esselink) managed to cut and paste some tasty grooves together on this surprisingly smart album.
