Boards.ie Readers List: Best albums 1998-Present

Tombo2001

Whats the definition of alternative and indie?

Anyway.

1. Toumani Diabate - New Ancient Strings
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
4. The Frames - For the Birds
5. David Gray - White Ladder
6. David Kitt - The Big Romance
7. Ryan Adams - Gold
8. Sigur Ros - Takk
9. REM - UP
10. Rokia Traore - Bowmboi

flyswatter

Blisterman wrote: »

1. Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor
2. Kanye West - Late Registration
3. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
4. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
5. Common - Be
6. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Whats the definition of alternative and indie?

I don't know but it seems to be very loose whatever it is!

Tombo2001

flyswatter wrote: »

I don't know but it seems to be very loose whatever it is!

OP actually mentions it doesnt have to be alternative/ indie. Only spotted that afterwards.

In which case I go for James Blunt.

notnumber

This is the alt/indie section hence it will be an alt/indie list...For it to be anything else it would need to posted in the other forums to be truly representative of boards.ie.
Does the OP wish to make this a general forum wide music list? Id say most posters here have posted by now and most of the lists are alt/indie type music like it or not.

flyswatter

notnumber wrote: »

This is the alt/indie section hence it will be an alt/indie list...For it to be anything else it would need to posted in the other forums to be truly representative of boards.ie.
Does the OP wish to make this a general forum wide music list? Id say most posters here have posted by now and most of the lists are alt/indie type music like it or not.

Yeah, I noted the name of the forum when doing my list and responded accordingly within the boundaries.

Can't imagine it would be too different if I had of known other genres were permitted (Blistermans top 6 for example) but there would have been the odd one or two that would have made it. I left them out cos I worked within the confines of the genre by and large.

smokedeels

I guess the issue with leaving the poll open to all genres is that it will be harder to reach a consensus, I imagine there will be a lot of albums tied at positions.

Blisterman

It's for the indie alternative forum, but open to all genres. Mostly because it's hard to pin down what exactly indie or alternative means, and also because a lot of people here's music tastes are quite broad. Additionally, there were no restrictions on the Pitchfork Poll, which inspired this. Hence why Kanye West scored so highly.

eyeball kid

My top ten in no particular order...

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Calexico - Feast of Wire
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Nick Case & the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Bonnie Prince Billy - Lie Down in the Light
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Modest Mouse - The Moon & the Antartica

That would probably change if I was to compile the list again tomorrow.

Haven't read anyone else's pick so very interested to see what everyone else has selected.

Miguel_Sanchez

Can we not let this descend into what is/isn't alt/indie again please. That's the most boring of conversations.

As stated, the albums can be from any genre that you like.

Thundercats Ho

The Strokes - Is This It? - 2000
The National - Sad Songs For Drity Lovers - 2002
Beck - Guero - 2005
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm - 2005
Fionn Regan - End of History - 2006
Scott Matthews - Passing Stranger - 2006
Radiohead - In Rainbows - 2007
Bon Iver - For Emma.... - 2008
Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely - 2008
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can - 2010

Almost
Air - Moon Safari
PJ Harvey - Songs From The City...
Manics - This Is My Truth...
Joan As Policewoman - Real Life
Foals - TLF

ctrl-alt-delete

1 Turin Brakes - The Optimist LP (2001)
2 Elbow - Asleep In The Back (2001)
3 Fionn Regan - The End of History (2006)
4 Doves - Lost Souls (2000)
5 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
6 Stereophonics - Performance & Cocktails (1999)
7 Stephen Fretwell - Magpie (2004)
8 Travis - The Man Who (1999)
9 Badly Drawn Boy- The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)
10 The Rifles - No Love Lost (2006)

Prettyblack

1. Sigur Ros - Valtari (2012)
2. Susumu Yokota - Sakura (2000)
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Adore (1998)
4. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5.55 (2006)
5. Paul McCartney - Chaos & Creation in the Backyard (2005)
6. Salvatore - Fresh (2004)
7. Ian Brown - Music Of The Spheres (2001)
8. Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey (2001)
9. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
10. Beta Band - 3 Eps (1999)

Sinfonia

1) Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)
2) Elliott Smith - XO (1998)
3) Sigur Rós - Ágaetis byrjun (1999)
4) Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
5) Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009)
6) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
7) Field Music - Field Music (Measure) (2010)
8) Rufus Wainwright - Poses (2001)
9) Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
10) QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf (2002)


I guess..

Morrison J

1. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
3. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
4. The Charlatans - Us and Us Only
5. Ian Brown - Music Of The Spheres
6. The Strokes - Is This It
7. The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
8. The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
9. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
10. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR

Gillington

1 - Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
2 - Editors - The Back Room
3 - The National - High Violet
4 - LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
5 - Arcade Fire - Funeral
6 - Hot Chip - The Warning
7 - Interpol - Antics
8 - Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
9 - TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
10 - Damien Rice - O

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

jakobgallagher

1. Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows
3. Tom Waits - Mule Variations
4. Mark Lanegan - Blues Funeral
5. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
6. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
7. The Bees - Sunshine Hit Me
8. Gillian Welch - Time
9. Four Tet - There Is Love In You
10. Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness

Almost made it - lcd soundsystem sound of silver - flying lotus cosmogramma - todd snider east nashville skyline - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club brmc - Arcade Fire - Funeral

ElaElaElano

This is nearly impossible, even a top 100 would be hard to narrow down.

1. Elliott Smith - XO (1998)
2. The National - Alligator (2005)
3. Beach House - Bloom (2012)
4. Fionn Regan -The End of History (2006)
5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
6. Minus the Bear - Menos el Oso (2005)
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral (2005)
8. Menomena - Mines (2010)
9. Explosions in the Sky - Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place (2003)
10. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)

So difficult! Leaving out Belle&Sebastian, Carissa's Weird, Caribou, Villagers, Mountain Goats, James V McMorrow, Mogwai, Grails, At the Drive-In, Tallest Man on Earth, Modest Mouse, Postal Service, Twilight Sad, Owen..it goes on and on. I feel dirty

johnny_ultimate

Joanna Newsom - Ys
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
The Woods - Sleater-Kinney
Owen Pallett - Heartland
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Plumtree - This Day Won't Last at All
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Various - Lost in Translation OST

I don't even care if the last one doesn't count, that's how crazy I am for including a compilation album.

I was half-tempted to included Set Yourself on Fire by Stars because it includes my single-most favourite song from the period with Your Ex-Lover is Dead, but I'm sufficiently indifferent to the most of the rest of the album that it seems inappropriate.

Blisterman

I haven't forgotten about this. I've just been busy with exam revision.

I'm going to close the poll next Thursday the 4th October, so you have until then to put your votes in.

I'm beginning to realise there's a slight flaw with assigning 1 point to a 10th place album and 10 points to a 1st place album, in that an album which is ranked 10th by 9 people has less weight than one ranked number 1 by a single person, and it's a fairly small sample size as it is.

I know, for me, there's not a whole lot of difference between my 1st and 10th ranked albums, they're still my top ten out of hundreds of albums I own, and the rankings are mostly arbitrary.

So instead, I think a fairer way to rank it, in order to get a fairer reflection of boards.ie reader's tastes, it to rank them by number of lists they appear on, using the rankings as a tiebreaker.

I know it's a bit bad changing it so late in the game, but I think it's a better way of doing it, and I honestly haven't looked at the lists that have been submitted yet.

Miguel_Sanchez

I for one did not put mine in order so I think that's fairer.

Upstream

Just 5 so far from me

1. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs (1998)
2. Lift to Experience - The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (2001)
3. Shack - H.M.S. Fable (1999)
4. Turin Brakes - The Optimist (2001)
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1998)

Table Top Joe

I love these threads!



1.Brian Wilson - Smile(2004)
2.Bob Dylan - Love & Theft(2001)
3.Mercury Rev - Deserter Songs(1998)
4.Radiohead - In Rainbows(2007)
5.Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation(2010)
6.Richard Hawley - Trueloves Gutter(2009)
7.The National - High Violet(2010)
8.Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes(2008)
9.Johnny Cash - A Hundred Highways(2006)
10.Beach House - Teen Dream(2010)



Had to edit to include Beach House's "Teen Dream"...which meant Tom Waits "Real Gone" had to leave,funnily enough most of my favourite artists didnt appear here despite releasing very stong material during the time period,R.E.M is my favourite band,"Collapse.." and "Up" both came close...but not close enough,Leonard Cohen,Tom Waits,David Bowie and Dylan are my heroes,id take them over anyone....but only Bob made it,Toms released some amazing albums since 98,Bowie made the fantastic "Heathen" and some other fine records too,Cohen had "Ten New Songs" and "Old Ideas" but what can i say?!......probably should have made it a top 50!

larrykinney

1 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
2 Sleater Kinney - The Hot Rock (1999)
3 ...and you will know us by the trail of dead - Source Tags and Codes (c2002)
4 Loose Fur - Loose Fur (2003)
5 Jim 'O Rourke - Insignificance (2001)
6 Steven Malkmus - Steven Malkmus (2001)
7 Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for my Halo (2010)
8 Mogwai - Come On Die Young (1999)
9 Massive Attack - Mezzanine (1999)
10 Lambchop - Is A Woman (2002)

ironictoaster

1. Sigur Ros - Takk (2005)
2. The Avalanches - Since I left you (2000)
3. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (2002)
4. DJ Shadow - The private press (2002)
5. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
6. Explosions in the sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (2007)
7. Doves - Lost souls (2002)
8. Incubus - Make yourself (1999)
9. Deftones - White pony (2002)
10. Air - Talkie Walkie (2004)

cherryghost

Took me ages to decide...

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Blur - 13
3. Beck - Modern Guilt
4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
5. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
6. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
7. The Maybes? - Promise (can't believe they never made it to the big time)
8. Ash - Meltdown
9. The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
10. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations


EDIT: Almosts, The Strokes - Is This It, Arcade Fire - Funeral, The Holloways - So this is Great Britain, The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious, Blur - Think Tank, Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand, The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan, Bonobo - Black Sands

Choochtown

1. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
2. Hamell on Trial - Choochtown (good name!)
3. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
4. Josh Rouse- 1972
5. The Mendoza Line- Lost in Revelry
6. January- I heard myself in you
7. Jinx Lennon- Know your Station Gouger Nation
8. Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I am, that's what I'm Not
9. David Kitt - The Big Romance
10. Ballboy- Club Anthems 2001

JamJamJamJam

Indefinite and in no particular order because that's impossible.. Also I have a tendency to spend ages listening to just a handful of bands before moving on, so these aren't necessarily the best albums, but I only have so many!

Biffy Clyro - The Vertigo of Bliss
Beach House - Teen Dream
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
Battles - Mirrored
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am..
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Villagers - Becoming a Jackal
James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning


Would have liked to include these but I haven't been listening to them for long enough or they didn't come to mind quickly enough. You snooze, you lose..!
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
The White Stripes - Elephant
Admiral Fallow - Boots Met My Face
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
The National - Boxer

bogmanfan

In no particular order:

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of ...
Ben Frost - By the Throat
At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
American Football - American Football
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Rachel's - Systems/Layers
Do Make Say Think - Goodbye Enemy Airship, The Landlord is Dead

dots03

bogmanfan wrote: »

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

a modern masterpiece!

In fact, I'm going to go and listen to it right now.

fluke

1. Pearl Jam – Binaural (2000)
2. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
3. Elliott Smith – From A Basement On The Hill (2004)
4. Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
5. The Killers – Sam’s Town (2006)
6. The Frames – For The Birds (2001)
7. Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew (2008)
8. Queens Of The Stone Age – Lullabies To Paralyse (2005)
9. Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
10. Chris Cornell – Euphoria Morning (1999)

Honourable mentions:
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump (2000)
Ray Lamontagne – Till The Sun Turns Black (2006)
Jimmy Eat World – Futures (2004)
Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999)
Eddie Vedder – Into the Wild (2007)
Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope (2006)

Blisterman

And the winners are:


1 - Arcade Fire - Funeral
2 - Radiohead - In Rainbows
3 - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
4 - Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
5 - Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
6 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
7 - Radiohead - Kid A
8 - Sigur Ros - Takk
9 - The National - Alligator
10 -Beach House - Teen Dream

Thanks for taking part everyone!

S.M.B.

Solid (and probably quite predictable) list with all 10 being in my own music collection and 6 out of 10 being in my personal top 25 of the past 14 years.

Sinfonia

Blisterman wrote: »

And the winners are:

Rothko

Blisterman wrote: »

And the winners are:


1 - Arcade Fire - Funeral
2 - Radiohead - In Rainbows
3 - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
4 - Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5 - Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
6 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
7 - Radiohead - Kid A
8 - Sigur Ros - Takk
9 - The National - Alligator
10 -Beach House - Teen Dream

Thanks for taking part everyone!

Pretty good list. Reminds that I have to listen to that Bon Ivor album

Blisterman

Blisterman wrote: »

And the winners are:


1 - Arcade Fire - Funeral
2 - Radiohead - In Rainbows
3 - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
4 - Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5 - Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
6 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
7 - Radiohead - Kid A
8 - Sigur Ros - Takk
9 - The National - Alligator
10 -Beach House - Teen Dream

Thanks for taking part everyone!

For comparison, the Pitchfork top 10, excluding albums from 1996 and 1997 is

1. Radiohead - Kid A
2. Arcade Fire - Funeral
3. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
4. The Strokes - Is This It
5. Radiohead - In Rainbows
6. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
7. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
8. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
9. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
10. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Surprised The Strokes did so badly in the Boards poll. I think they only got one vote.

cherryghost

Decent list though surprised Sound of Silver wasn't up there. I seen 4 votes for it

Blisterman

To get into the top 10, an album needed at least 5 votes.

flyswatter

Predictable list and no surprises whatsoever but some great music on it no doubt. I've heard 5/6 of those in full and songs here and there off the rest.

Gonzovision

The only one I don't own is Interpol, must check it out.

cherryghost

Blisterman wrote: »

To get into the top 10, an album needed at least 5 votes.

Aye I see now, Beach House was nominated 7 times, LCD 6. Didn't count earlier but all is clear

S.M.B.

Actually, there isn't enough controversy surrounding the results.

Scandalous that Joanna Newsom didn't make an appearence!!!!

S**te List!

notnumber

neutral milk hoyel where mentioned a good few times as well..but am too lazy to check back.But I'm broadly happy with the list.
Joanne who now?

RikkFlair

Only one from list I don't have is Sufjan Stevens. Will give it a listen.

The Scratcher

disappointed Joanna Newsom didn't make it onto the list. Have one on me is a masterpiece.

Other than that I can't complain really.

Captain Graphite

Looks like a good list. Have 7 of the 10 albums and I put three of them I put in my own top 10. The ones I've yet to listen to are For Emma Forever Ago, Illinoise and Alligator (I have both Boxer and High Violet but haven't gotten around to Alligator yet.)

Only disappointment is that no-one else nominated Fever Ray.

Gonzovision

Ye Joanna is awesome.......ye are all cretins

syngindub

I have to thank this thread. I have discovered Bon Iver today.. Blown Away !!..Can't believe i let these slip a few years ago..lesson learned

Xavi6

Only one I don't like in any way is Fleet Foxes, it's awful dour stuff imo.

Other than that, a solid top 10 so well done!

eyeball kid

I think the only albums from that list I haven't listened to is the Beach House and National albums. Have newer albums from both of them so must check those out.