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Hi Darren! I've not heard Hood but I'll definitely check them out. For me, the album of this year was Haughty Melodic by Mike Doughty. Fantastic songs like I Hear the Bells and Busting Up a Starbucks are up there with the best of his work with Soul Coughing, even if the arrangements don't have Soul Coughing's quirkiness. The news earlier this year that Soul Coughing had reformed and were going to tour the US (I really hope they make it to Britain!) meant much more to me than this morning's announcement that a couple of Mancunians have decided to stop arguing long enough to count the money.

Great review! Very well put

Are you sure about Tom Hays playing on the 41 album? He wasn t credited, and as far as I know only played on the tour. Also John Dettman, as far as I know only played on the Well album, not the first one. I m in the middle of listening to your review of this album I love very much. Was pretty surprised to find anyone reviewing Swell. So Kudos to you!

I recently rewatched this video (it was one of the first I saw from your channel), and it occurred to me.... I build pedals as a hobby. My most refined one is a modded MXR Distortion+ with a Rat tone control added. Since I gave up on selling them, I'd like to give you one for the hundreds of hours of entertainment your channel has given me. If you are interested, let's start a conversation to get it across the pond to you.

One more comment for 2004. Something I only stumbled on lately... in 2004 Metallica released a documentary "Some Kind of Monster". This is just over 2 hours of the most hilarious and insane music documentary footage you will ever see. My wife and I can't decide if it is perhaps the most brilliant mockumentary ever made or if these guys are the single dumbest collection of people to have played in a band. I could write an essay about how hilarious and mind blowing this thing is. A few tidbits....JH skips his daughter's first birthday to go to Russia to shoot a HIBERNATING bear. They record a song, think it will open the album and they play it to the drummer's dad and he says "delete that". How rock and roll to ask your dad and to have him tell you how rancid your music is. The scene with Dave M from Megadeath is so pathetic and hilarious, you cannot believe it. They have the dumbest most petty passive aggressive fights with each other. In almost every scene it is totally clear they have zero ideas or vision for their new album. It is like watching a dim football player write a poem for homework. And the lead guitar player is so dumb that I feel cruel laughing about him. Please, anyone reading this...watch this. It is free on RUclips. We have watched it several times and never cease to be awed by it. And when we settle down we say "and why would they choose to have filmed this and show it to the world?". Intentional or not (clearly not) this is probably the most incredible piece of music related art to have been produced in 2004. I challenge anyone who has watched it to disagree.

The year I started listening to music properly again. Pleasing to see some of that years discoveries come up.

Absolute love Hood, followed em since I've Forgotten How To Live. Good to see em here. On point as always

2005 for me is absolutely Low "The Great Destroyer" that you mentioned. "When I Go Deaf" may be my favorite Low song of all time, the explosive guitar at the end gets me every time and I have often said might be my favorite distorted guitar sound I have ever heard on a recording!

I’d have to pick LCD. Also really liked Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Also, Antony and the Johnsons I am Bird Now was fantastic.

Wow, barren year. Low aside, looking through a list of albums from 2005 only really yielded the first Editors record (inspired by a lonely night's Jules Holland. Still have a guilty soft spot for those initial 2 CDs) and Anthony and the Johnsons. Sadly the year's list did nothing but remind me of things I should've probably mentioned in the past 😢

The year my daughter was born 🌟 My 2005 favorites include: Smog - A river aint,,,, Black Taj - Black Taj Truly - Feeling you up Shipping News - Flies the fields Jonathan Wilson - Frankie Ray Spoon - Gimme Fiction And my top favorite would be Sufjan Stevens’s ‘Illinois’ Cheers Darren and thanks once again🌟🎶

Nice pick :) I'm admittedly not quite as cozily familiar with it as you but will give it another spin soon, thanks to your warm description! I'm a bit of a sucker for Sleater-Kinney phase 2, so for me the Woods may be this year's pick, also a swan song album but they DID come back. I think I'll leave it at that. Congrats also on your son's exultant exam experience!

LCD is so good but this year belongs to Against Me’s! ‘searching for a former clarity’. I can’t remember too much about this year. I’d seen the Bronx the summer before at the leeds festival and sworn to lead a band like that. I think this year was that idea writ large. I wrote dozens of songs and we got off the ground. mansions of glory was up and running and I think we were ok.

Always enjoyed the odd bit of Hood but never delved - will definitely now starting with this. 2005 was the mid-point of my 20s and a pretty good year for youthful upbeat chaotic fayre - Animal Collective's 'Feels' and Deerhoof's 'The Runners Four' in particular, along with my favourite of the year: 'Kore Ga Mayaku Da' by Afrirampo' - the best live band I've ever seen - the album captures some of the magic of the interplay and seamless flow between grind, psychedelia, pop punk and playful improvisation. Also enjoyed the intensity of M83's 'Before the Dawn Heals Us' before they went hipstery poseur for a couple of decades. Malcom Middleton's 'Into the Woods' is one of my favourite straighforward confessional records and MIA's 'Arular' was tremendously exciting when it first came out.

Ok, you got me. I'll have to listen to that Hood record, then. On you go. But really, it's the Great Destroyer for me by so far that measuring it would be foolish. When I go deaf does that huge, noisy textured ending, but Low make it about something entirely different than a noise-out gesture or a pose. How can a song called Pissing break me in the feelings? The whole record, really, in short. It's one of my favourites of theirs even though I think the cool kids look down on me for that. Speaking of not being cool, there's one other 2005 record I adore, but you're not going to like it, and even I wasn't sure why I loved it at first given that, whisper it, it's a bit prog in places. It's Black Mountain's first record, featuring the bloody wonderful Druganaut, as well as some far less accessible noodling. I love Stephen McBean, I love his Pink Mountaintops stuff (Outside Love is a stunningly delicate thing) as well as the far more unashamed rock of Black Mountain and their sublime first two records. And the thing is, for all that it does a bit of the old Big Riffs, they also have all the hooks and melancholy of people who have lived a life in music and are as at home in hardcore as the 70s. It's a slab of joy, but no, I don't see this on at yours.To answer the immortal question, then: Riffs? Yes, Mr The Poppies, I can and sometimes do dig them thank you very much for asking. And this is the musical point in the noughties when things start looking up again for me, but gladly I don't think you have to be a fan of peculiar Canadian guitar stylings to agree. More Canada to come as well this decade, too

Looking forward to listening to the Hood album. I think I created my longest shortlist this week with 11 albums. But Bloc Party, The National and Editors miss out because I didn't buy/listen to any of them in 2005*. Cutting to the chase, just for the vibe, particularly on "I see you, You see me" with its understated instrumental outro, my choice is the debut by The Magic Numbers. * You guessed it, Alligator would have won, standout track All the Wine

Hood imho are the best English band of all time

You always make these albums sound so fascinating. There are definitely some that I have been really glad that I checked out, so thank you for turning me on to new music (thanks also for the recommendation on the Futureheads, by the way, I enjoyed that album thoroughly). I don't know if I have a favorite for 2005. There were definitely some albums that I listened to a lot that year, but nothing that really stuck around in my regular rotation. I know that I gave Elevator by Hot Hot Heat a lot of spins that year, and it still holds up, so maybe I'll go with that? I'd like to say Twin Cinema by New Ponographers, but I am pretty sure I didn't discover that until 2006, and I always skip the Dan Bejar songs, so that means I'm not even experiencing the full album. But I will give this a listen, for sure! See you next week!

Prolapse eh, who knew they'd still be touring in the 2020s. It started in 2015 when they decided to do a few UK gigs, which they did, people loved it, and so it went on from there...a reformed (and still highly potent) Prolapse touring when they felt like it, y'know, nothing too stressful, haha. We're going to see them at Lewes Con Club Sept 27th, and there's a show at New River Studios London the day before, Sept 26th (support from Kylie Monologue). They even have a brand new lp in the pipeline. I think I need a lie down. xD

Hell yes!!!! Love that The New Year album!!!!

Hi Darren! Another year where there wasn't much new music that appealed to me. Hot Snakes nearly topped my chart again, but Heart Ache by Jesu wins by a nose. It's described as an EP but both tracks are around twenty minutes long so I consider it to be an album, it's probably longer than most of the albums in my collection! I've been a fan of pretty much everything Justin Broadrick-related since I first saw Godflesh back in the dark ages, and I think Heart Ache's second track Ruined is one of the best things he's done. The combination of heaviosity and melody is just fantastic.

Gosh it's been 20 years since he passed away !! RIP

Honourable mentions to: American Idiot; Franz Ferdinand; Hot Fuss (another for the One and Done category); and from left field Scissor Sisters. Another 2 horse race. Interpol’s Antics is there. Another discovery from a Q mag CD, and having bought the album I was surprised to hear Evil being played in the opening sequence of an episode of The O.C. 😀 But it doesn’t win… 2 albums in, for me they haven’t yet hit their peak. So 2004 winner for me is a marmite choice - Up All Night by Razorlight. Reflects one of my musical happy places - albums to sing along to in the car on the way home from a hellish day at work.

Interpol was probably the most impactful. I had just met my future wife at the end of 2003 and we moved in together in 2004. We had just become aware of Interpol after seeing them as part of the Cure's touring festival. Interpol was a constant in the music rotation while we repainted and moved into what would be our home for the next decade, so there are very fond memories wrapped up in their music. Modest Mouse was maybe the other big one, but my prefernece from them will always be the Moon and Antartica.

Franz Ferdinand was a very good album. Joanna Newsom also very good. With the perspective of 20 more years, I’d say Madvillainy was the standout album.

I also considered Arcade Fire for the top spot, but ultimately chose against it. Likewise, I contemplated giving this year to my then regular customer Ray LaMontagne with Trouble (oops, sorry, let me pick up that name I just dropped). But, for me 2004 goes to Mark Knopfler with Shangri-La. Easily my most listened to new release that year, and a masterclass in songwriting as storytelling. The way he embodies the characters in his songs is astounding; he even makes Ray Krock, founder of McDonald's, seem interesting and sympathetic. Per usual, I have some homework to do. I'm especially excited about The Futureheads, as I am very fond of early Wire and XTC. But mostly, I've got a certain archive of a 7" single to go listen to....

The struggle continued for me. 'Last Exit' by The Junior Boys had its moments, and had probably my favouite track of the decade which was 'Teach me How To Fight; which is the great lost synthpop tune of the eighties. 'Madvilliany' by Madvillian is for many people the greatest hip hop album ever...I wouldnt agree , but its decent. The DFA label compilation had its moments

Was about to post this in your 2004 drop when I double checked the release date and noted I had it incorrectly marked it as 2004, so I am going to back track to here as it was a 2003 release - The Sleepy Jackson and their album Lovers is outstanding and was the first vehicle of the great Luke Steele

Another No.1 I dont know and will listen to- thanks. I was definitely searching around in 2004 and fell into Prog and loved it, I fell out later but have returned to these and still love them and feel my falling out might have had more to do with being self concious of others tastes - the stand out is Karnivool and their album Themata, more main stream The Butterfly Effect - Begins Here both wild live. Speaking of live for those indifferent to Midnight Oil, the follwing is your best chance of liking them - their Best of Both Worlds - Oils On the Water - is a double live recording and gets as close to capturing their real appeal as any live recordings I've seen of other bands - the Live at the Capitol is the better one imo, it covers some of their earlier material- this isnt easy to find on streaming because they were recorded and released by the ABC - again if you are ever going to like the Oils its through these. Try and find video not just audio if you can. Otherwise 78 Saab - Crossed Lines is a ripper. All the above are Australian. I really liked Ambulance and their album LP and Kanye - The College Dropout

Arcade Fire, Interpol and Franz Ferdinand sounded very cool to me in 2004 and have held up quite well. Although admittedly, at the time I also liked Keane... erm... oh well. Pleasure Club's second album The Fugitive Kind is one I'd rather go back to now though. Nick Cave's double set felt like a refreshing new start, awesome stuff, despite Blixa leaving. Also glad to have a last Blue Nile album, Brian Wilson finally being able to finish Smile. Bittersweet to get a final posthumous album from Elliott Smith. Even Morrissey was back! Yay! How would he look on the cover of a new album, if he ever "is allowed" to make another one? Would he be cheekily dressed in a stylized black uniform?... Joanna Newsom, Sam Philips and Of Montreal had great albums this year. The Knife was getting there.

Dear friends the Futureheads debut was the winner for me. This lot, Field Music and This Aint Vegas (as well as a whole load of other Sunderland bands) were propping up the bills we were putting on in Newcastle. Heady times. Other bangers - Hot Snakes ‘Audit In Progress’, Probot ‘Probot’, The Blood Brothers ‘Crimes’, Converge ‘You Fail Me’,

So 2004 wasn't an amazing year, but it did cough up Iron and Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days, an absolutely beautiful album about life, love and mortality with none of the sentimentality, hyperbole and drivel that usually ensues. That album still takes my breath away in places, with its lyricism and depth and poetry. The Woman King ep after was a marvel and then, honestly, I don't like another thing he ever recorded - also one of the most saddening gigs I've ever been to (he's welcome to have a new soft jazz radio direction, but not on songs that have moved me to tears of loss and joy). So yeah, that, for me, is 2004. Can't think of another record from the year that did me any decent beans at all, though. I think I was mostly drunk or listening to funk and soul and electronica because really, screw the noughties music scene

I missed Mogwai's 'Happy songs for happy people' and 'A song to ruin' by Million Dead last year, right? Dammit!! The Futureheads are a damn good choice. Didn't find Arcade Fire til 'Black mirror'. Much loved and missed? 'Our endless numbered days' by Iron & Wine, which took me back to 'The creek drank the cradle which is frankly magnificent and historically heartbreaking in equal measures. Probably why I ended up with Converge's 'You fail me' on almost constant repeat later. Also listened to the Cure's S/T an awful lot this year which in retrospect feels a bit off somehow. Interpol's second. Would love to say Richter's 'The Blue Notebooks' or Basinkski's 'Disintegration loops' but those discoveries were some way into the future (Yes, cheating, i know 😉

Very Pixies dervivative but Beachbuggy with Sport Fury as I was just searchinig for more Pixies like music, I think the Australian album debut the Vines Highly Evolved still holds as a favourite at the time

Something White and Sigmund by Love Outside Andomeda and Thousand Yard Stare by the Fauves or the MArs Volta Album Deloused......

I think Lactating Purple is the real Helios Creed solo masterpiece but Boxing the Clown is pretty solid. The Helios, Z and Paul core were just a little tighter and more coherent which propelled Helios through the 90s until he resurrected Chrome.

Another album from 2003 that really is a compilation of sorts is Frengers by Danish melodic prog rockers Mew, (again) containing perhaps their prettiest song ever "Comforting Sounds". Their singer, Jonas Bjerre, has a gorgeous high voice. Broadcast and Catpower also released some very fine albums this year. Warren Ellis plays on one song on I Am Free, while Mick Turner and Jim White featured on the earlier Moon Pix. Cale and Wire sound very interesting... off my radar for the new millennium, though, funnily (!?) I was watching the Wire around this time..... 🙄

Hi Darren! I haven't heard that Cale album, I must check it out. I went to see him last year, he's still great live. My favourite from 2003 is Damnation by Opeth. They dropped the growling and chugging, and took influences from seventies prog to come out with an album that is introspective and beautiful. I still listen to it regularly.

2 of my previous winners get honourable mentions - Elbow’s Cast of thousands, and Placebo’s Sleeping with ghosts. 3 bands I discovered for the first time in 2003 vie for the prize: The White Stripes’ Elephant, The Kings of Leon’s Youth & Young Manhood, and Snow Patrol’s Final Straw. Snow Patrol takes it. Partly because it still gets played more often than the others today. But also because it falls into a category I call “One and done” - debut albums that shine and are never matched (in my view) by later releases. Other notable examples are Yazoo’s Upstairs at Eric’s, and The Wombats debut A guide to love, loss and desperation (I may have given away a future winner)

Cave In - ‘antenna’ wins 2003 I think. Runners up: Twilight Singers - ‘ Blackberry Belle’, The Shins - ‘chutes too narrow’, The postal Service - ‘give up’, The Cardigans - ‘long gone before daylight’, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - ‘hearts of oak’, Cursive - ‘the ugly organ’, The New Pornographers - ‘electric version’, The Weakerthans - ‘reconstruction site’, The Locust - ‘Plague Soundscapes’. Remember this year being infused with the disco punk sounds out of NYC. Lots of dancing. Started putting DIY gigs on with my best friends. No reference for John Cale’s work. Will give your pick a listen for sure.

Dengue Fever had their debut album, check out Lost in Laos

'The Earth is not a cold dead place' 1000%

VU aside, I got interested in Cale through some Yo La Tengo covers and eventually found my way over to 1919 and Fear. Barracuda really stood out to me the first time hearing it. Amazing how much great music he's done over the decades.

Great video, as always, Darren! For my money, 2003 brought the most perfect epitaph in the form of Joe Strummer’s Streetcore. While there were lots of other great Rock records that year, as demonstrated by your list plus many others, nothing hit me like the final statement from the man who fronted my favorite band ever. As it turns out, there were a ton of albums released that year that would go on to be some of my favorites, but I didn’t discover them until much later. And, this time I have two discs to check out, since I have not dug fully into Wire's discography, though I have liked most of what I have played.

Nice choice. I saw Dirty Three in Boston on that same tour. My pick would be Echoes by The Rapture. That album is fantastic. I saw them play shortly after it was released and they were amazing. One of those shows where the band could play any song at it would be exciting.

Thankyou so much. There are a few tracks impossible to find from Secret Box, still on a mission...

Wow. He got it redone, Thanks Fan of The Chills and Martin P, rip moit. We remember in Memory :)

Thanks for all your Wire videos. Excellent stuff.

One of my favourite albums of all time

Thanks for introducing me to this album. First track in and already sold!!