2001: A Music Odyssey (Top 10 albums of the year 2001)

Member Name: Ian Proudfoot

Product:	Top 10 albums of the year 2001
Date:	10/01/02 (255 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's All Good, It's All Really Good, I own them all

Disadvantages: What are you mad, Ten is not enough, Money

What happened to 2001? There I was expecting the Dawning of the age of Aquarius, the discovery of giant black space monoliths and mankind’s evolution on to a higher state of consciousness (add your own 303 bass sounds here please). Sadly none of this events occurred, but at least the music was magnificent again. Even the bands who dominated the music press end of year polls were fairly good although extremely retro (The White Stripes and The Strokes) or Jive Bunnies for the new Millennium (The Avalanches). However as per usual with the insular ‘Indie Kid’ dominated music press ignored a lot of good music because it didn’t fit in with the current in scene or idiom. You wont find any angst ridden nu-metal or bling bling R n’ B in my top ten either,as both of 2001 in genres suffered from media saturation over content. Even Geri Halliwell who have blushed with the amount of over exposure they received.

Decided on what is going to appear in a top ten list is never an easy task and there were plenty of good albums that were released this year which nearly made it into my list and may have even made it on a different day of the week. However as I’m limited to a top ten so sacrifices had to be made and with no further fuss I present to you my Top Ten Albums of 2001.

10. Techno Animal – Brotherhood of the Bomb (Matador)

Not content with causing actual physical pain with their life performances the duo of JK Flesh (Godflesh, Final) and Kevin Martin (God, The Bug) produced perhaps the heaviest and devastating albums of 2001. Where the majority of rap rock as combined the most commercial and uninspiring elements of both genres, Techno Animal took the hardest and more abstract elements of both and shove them into a sonic multi blender to create music that sounded like the world was being ripped apart. Hip Hop loops are feed through distortion it till they became unchained monsters trampling through cities. Dub
bass lines were sunk lower than ever before, rattling foundations and body a like. However the killer move by Techno Animal was to bring in the talents of a various rappers from the hip hop underground. It’s the vocal input from the likes of El-P and Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox and Dalek lift Brotherhood of the Bomb from being a pure sonic attack to a more focused synergy of power, noise and words.

Stand out track: We can build you

9. Radiohead – Amnesiac (EMI)

A lot of people seem to have a problem with Radiohead’s new direction. Why I not quiet sure, maybe it’s because thy can’t get their heads around the way that Radiohead have stepped away from being a pure guitar band and moved into the worlds of elecrtronica and free jazz. Really Kid B than a clean break, Amnesiac continues the experimentation that dominated Kid A, but also showed moments closer OK Computer (the single Knives Out). What made Amnesiac a stand out album was that although being influenced by a wide range of genres it still sounded uniquely like Radiohead. As always with Radiohead the songwriting and construction was second to none. Thom’s lost child vocals and paranoid lyrics coming over as ghostly but touchingly beautiful. Amnesiac is also one of those albums that really needs to be listened to it’s entirety rather than as a collection of singles to understand it’s direction and purpose. Definitely an album to let yourself become lost in and also an album that proves that big bands can get away with experimenting in a constantly sterile music environment.

Stand out track: The Pyramid Song.

8. Fantomas – The Director’s Cut (Ipecac)

Mike Patton (Ex Faith No More) has always been someone whose liked to mess around with music and people’s minds. If his main pre/post Faith No More band Mr Bungle bemused and amused the listener then Fantomas make Mr Bungle seem almost normal. Fantom
as’ debut album had basically been the soundtrack to an imaginary film, in which Mike Patton rather than signing performed a strange collection of growls, shouts and grimaces. The Director’s Cut takes this process a stage further with Fantomas covering a collection of movie themes and songs in their own particular style. A style which blends thrash metal, lounge jazz, film score and the avant-garde into something that is all of them but none. Tracks spasm between styles, with more rhythm and velocity changes than the best sex session you’ve never had. We even to get to hear Mr Patton signing on a couple of tracks amongst the vocal oddities and general mayhem

Stand out track: The Omen (Ave Satani)

7. Assemblage 23 – Failure (Accession)

2001 was the year that the Industrial dance/ synthpop sound really began to dominate the darkwave scene. However the major players (VNV Nation, Apoptygma Bezerk and Covenant) were all noticeable only by their absence. To save the day stepped relative new comer Tom Sheer and his one-man project Assemblage 23 (A23). Failure managed to successfully combined the weighty techno rhythms of the best Electronic Body music with the song structures of the best synthpop. Not only did Failure get you feet moving on the dance floor but it was also an emotional journey through the thoughts of Tom Sheer as he came to terms with the suicide of his father. An issue most prominently dealt with in the song Disappoint. However rather than being a journey onto sorrow, Failure is an uplifted experience which sends a positive message as well as being tunefully and emotive. With Failure A23 stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlights.

Stand out track: Disappoint

6. Fugazi - The Argument (Dischord)

In the year that punk pop threatened to sully Punk’s good/bad name, only came Fugazi to show us the way that punk could have been and also a possible future for a genre whe
re image has defiantly destroyed content. The argument is Fugazi’s nth album in a career that has stretched back over a decade. Where as Fugazi’s previous albums have seen them experimenting more with guitar textures and ambience, The Argument sees them go back to their roots and produce an album with strong song structure and lyrical content. If anything The Argument is the logical progression from their classic Repeater album. Heavy on the rhythmic undertow that formed the backbone of that album, The Argument proves that you can produce hard hitting punk music with an attitude that is not reliant on two chords and a book of fart jokes. In a time when most guitar bands play it safe, we need more guitar bands like Fugazi to prove you can still write a memorable song whilst playing around with structures.

Stand out track: Cashout

5. Front Line Assembly – Epitaph (Metropolis)

After the world-wide chart success of Delerium it looked like Bill Leeb had forgotten the band that was the root his musical career that band was Front Line Assembly (FLA). Where as Delerium had always been primarily concerned about ambience and orchestration, Front Line Assembly has always been the polar opposite more concerned with aggression and power. The first thing that hits you with Epitaph is that is a break but also a continuation of the cyber electro sound that FLA have pioneered since the mid eighties. The classic aggro - industrial sounds remain in the heavy sequenced bass lines and the distorted snarling vocals. However this time Bill Leeb and companion Chris Petersen have welded some of the beat and melody structures of Delerium to FLA’s future noir sound. Epitaph is a massive in it’s production with layer after layer of sounds skilfully constructed to create an album that allows you to hear some new on repeated listening. The only problem is as the name suggests it could well be FLA’s last album as Bill Leeb centres his
work on the cash cow that is Delerium. However if it is the last album it acts as a fitting tribute that have always attempted to create something new with every new release.

Stand out track: Conscience

4. Aphex Twin – Druqkz (Warp)

The Druqkz certainly do work if your name is Richard D James the genius behind the Aphex Twin. Druqkz is a mammoth double album of around two hours of music that moves from aggressive mental man rave music to reflective piano numbers that recall Phillip Glass or the work of Satie, all done in that special Aphex Twin way. Initially like its title Druqkz seems to be a collection of absolute mismatched nonsense. Things are not helped by the track names, which read like word spaghetti, combined Celtic words with gibberish and computer commands. Given a few listens though and Druqkz begins to unravel itself as a album that at times is both amazingly complex and at others simple and beautiful. Being the cunning and comic git that he is Richard D James has claimed that Druqkz is not actually his work at all but is in fact that the work of other people claiming to be the Aphex Twin on the Internet. This of course should be taken with a pinch of salt as the words of a well-known wind up artist. No matter what the rumours and the half-truths surrounding this album are, it still remains a massively impressive and engaging release.

Stand out track: 54 Cymru Beats

3. Haujobb – Polarity (Metropolis)

Daniel Myer is a busy band not just content with releasing Polarity under his Haujobb persona, he also released albums as HMB (in collaboration with Victoria Lloyd of Claire Voyant) and Clear Vision (his Synthpop/Power Noise project) as well as doing remixes for all and sundry. Polarity continues Myer’s and Haujobb’s fixation on the future by combining the beats and rhythms of electronica and drum n’ bass to the cold electronics and ambience of the darker side of Inte
lligent Dance Music (IDM). Listening to Polarity conjures up images of future cities, circuitry alive with electricity and also like Kraftwerk the loneliness of life in a modern age of technology and mass communication can bring. Polarity is also one of those albums that is best listened to as a whole as the album flows together as a single entity. Although a workaholic it appears that Meyer can do no wrong at the moment and Polarity acts as a jewel in his crown.

Stand out track: Sinus Problem

2. OhGr – Welt (Spitfire)

OhGr is the collaboration between ex- Skinny Puppy man Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk (Ruby) and had been in the pipeline since the early nineties. Where as Skinny Puppy were renown for their Industrial sonic assaults, OhGr sees Ogre taking an approach that could almost be considered commercial. The music on Welt can be roughly described as a modern take on the classic early synth sounds of Pre Dare Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Fad Gadget feed through the sonic treatments of modern industrial rock and electronica to create something unique but familiar. Even Ogre’s famously distorted vocals have been cleaned to sound clear and defined and for the first time it is actually possible to understand cutup lyrics and diatribes. It is also easy to see the influence of Mark Walk on the proceedings as every beat and sample is exquisitely manipulated and produced making the album shine with a quality that puts it in a league of it’s own. It’s jut a shame that the album never received a proper release in the UK and hasn’t found it’s way into the hands of a greater number of people.

Stand out track: Cracker

1. Foetus - Flow (Noise-O-Lution)

There’s nothing that beats a good story and Jim Thirwell (aka Foetus, Clint Ruin) defiantly knows how to tell one as along as it involved murder, booze, drugs and hate. Although Foetus has been cranked out the same plot over his
twenty-year career, Flow sees him for the first time since the classic Nail album produce an album musically that equals the stories and characters his warped mind creates. The first noticeable thing about Flow is the clarity of the production. Where as the previous Foetus album Gash sounded like it was recorded in lo-fi, Flow sounds gloriously produced. This allows for the variety of Foetus’ music to shine through, be it the big band jazz of Cirrhosis of the Heart, the gospel blues of Grace of God or the Industrial rock monster mash of The Need Machine. Flow sees Foetus back to his best and once again leading the alt.rock brigades against the tides of weak uninspired and derivative nu-metal bands clogging up the so called alternative airwaves. Flow is also nicely companioned by a remix album by the name of Blow that sees the likes of Amon Tobin, Charlie Clouser and Pan Sonic take a sonic sledgehammer to Flow and twist into new radical shapes.

Standout Track: The Need Machine.

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