The first decade of the 21st century feels like my home territory. I spent my teenage years in the 1990s catching up with the 1960s and 1970s, so the 2000s were the first decade in which I actively engaged with new music.
In the 2000s music splintered further into sub-genres – it’s more difficult to find consensus favourites. Acts that I enjoy and would like to cover include Spoon, Girls Aloud, and Phoenix.
Arcade Fire Album Reviews
For a band, there are essentially two different career trajectories for a recording career. Like Radiohead or The Beatles, you can start your career with a promising album and work...
Vanessa Carlton Album Reviews
Vanessa Carlton is best known for the 2002 hit 'A Thousand Miles' and singing backing vocals on the Counting Crows' cover of Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi'. Her debut album...
Chairlift Album Reviews
Caroline Polachek formed Chairlift with her college boyfriend Aaron Pfenning. The pair initially planned to make music for haunted houses. Instead they were disappointingly conventional - recording an EP. In...
The Decemberists Album Reviews
The band most likely to win a Scrabble tournament, The Decemberists hail from Portland, Oregon, and are notable for flaunting their extensive vocabulary in song. Despite their American heritage, they're staunch...
Kathleen Edwards Album Reviews
Kathleen Edwards was born in Ottawa but spent part of her youth in Korea and Switzerland with her diplomat father. She grew up playing classical violin and enjoying the music...
The Hold Steady Album Reviews
Vocalist Craig Finn and guitarist Tab Kubler started their careers with the indie-rock band Lifter Puller. They formed The Hold Steady after watching The Band's The Last Waltz. But unlike...
Miranda Lambert Album Reviews
Miranda Lambert was born in Longview, Texas. Her parents were private detectives and then ran a shelter for abused women - both of these experiences feed into Lambert's songwriting. Lambert's...
Ray LaMontagne Album Reviews
Ray LaMontagne worked in a shoe factory in Maine. One morning he was woken by his alarm at 4 am for work. The alarm clock's radio served up Stephen Stills'...
LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem blurred the lines between electronic and rock music in the 21st century. Murphy's original career plan was to become a sound engineer or a drummer, but...
Jenny Lewis Album Reviews
When Jenny Lewis released her first solo album in 2006, it was her third high-profile career. She'd already enjoyed success as a child actor in the 1980s, appearing in movies...
M.I.A. Album Reviews
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born in London but spent most of her childhood in Sri Lanka, where her father was a Tamil activist. She originally planned a career in the...
A.C. Newman Album Reviews
Allan Carl Newman is best known as the driving force behind Vancouver's indie-pop supergroup The New Pornographers. Newman started a solo career because fellow New Pornographer Neko Case was working...
The New Pornographers Album Reviews
Canadian indie pop band The New Pornographers took their name from a 1966 Japanese anthropological film, The Pornographers. The term supergroup has always felt a little misleading for this conglomerate...
Paramore Album Reviews
Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams moved from Mississippi to Tennessee at the age of 13. She met Josh and Zac Farro in a program for home-schooled students. Drummer Zac Farro...
Josh Rouse Album Reviews
Nebraskan-born singer-songwriter Josh Rouse grew up inspired by British bands like The Smiths and The Cure. His music reflects the homespun feeling of the American Midwest and the introverted yet...
Sigur Rós
Iceland's most famous post-rock band is named after the sister of singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, who was born on the same day as the band was formed in Reykjavík in 1994....
Sufjan Stevens Album Reviews
One of the most consistently fascinating musicians to emerge in the 21st century, Sufjan Stevens is nominally an alt-folk artist, with his hushed, vulnerable vocals and predominance of acoustic instruments....
Transatlantic Album Reviews
Transatlantic are a progressive rock supergroup, plucking members from other successful neo-prog acts. Bassist Pete Trewavas has been a member of Marillion since 1982, while drummer Mike Portnoy is a...
The White Stripes Album Reviews
There are many examples in popular music of stripping away the superfluity and getting back to basics. But it doesn’t get much more basic than Detroit’s The White Stripes. Dispensing...
2000s Miscellany
This page collects miscellaneous reviews for artists who don't have their own page. ColdplayParachutesA Rush Of Blood To The HeadX and YDavid GrayWhite LadderThe Mendoza LineFull of Light and Full...
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
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