If I’ve been quiet over the last week or so, it’s because I’ve been insanely busy. Music Tech asked me to take over the news section once more, which is always a good way to kill the best part of a week, only it wasn’t the only work I’d taken on that week. I also had a couple of interviews and a big feature on the technical advantages of hardware DSP over software equivalents (more soon).

In the midst of all of this I’ve been thinking over my top ten albums of the decade. Pitchfork and Uncut magazine have already printed theirs, rather presumptuously, and I thought I’d have a go. It’s not easy though. Chatting it over with friends down at the pub we were able to list dozens of albums that would fit the bill, and narrowing it down is going to be tough, especially considering how wide my listening tastes are. How do you compare something like Aphex Twin’s “Drukqs” or “Chosen Lords” with an alt-folk record?

So far I’ve got one definite entry; Damon Albarn & Friends’ “Mali Music”. This was easy, released in 2002, “Mali Music” is one of my top ten albums of all time. It’s at the heart of my love of Malian music in general. And it’s this love of the country’s music that has spurred me on to go to Mali for my next holiday - over New Year. If it wasn’t for this album, I may never have heard Toumani Diabeté, Ali Farke Touré, Afel Bocoum or Tinariwen - all artists I adore.

While researching for this list (which will appear as a blog post nearer the New Year), I had a look through Pitchfork and Uncuts’ lists. They’ve both put “Is This It” by The Strokes in their top ten. I find this quite ridiculous, I like the album don’t get me wrong, but it’s not even a great album really is it? It’s got two or three pretty good songs, quite a bit of filler and nothing we haven’t heard done better before. Their’s the argument that it brought guitar bands back to the forefront of pop-music, but that’s rubbish too. When exactly did they go away? The 90s? So grunge and britpop didn’t happen? Even garage rock never really went away. “Is This It” was over-hyped and over-rated, but then hundreds of acts are every year. What’s surprising is that this has somehow stretched on so long. Most over-hyped bands drop off when people realise that they weren’t really as great as they thought. Shouldn’t The Strokes have gone the same way?

AND... that’s not the only problem I have with their lists. Pitchfork puts Sigur Rós’ “Ágætis Byrjun” in their top ten on a technicality, that despite being originally released in 1999, it had it’s UK release in 2000. I love this album. It would be an easy candidate for my top ten too if it had been released this decade. But it was released in 1999, so it’s not an option. I considered “( )”, but while it’s nearly as good as “Ágætis Byrjun”, it isn’t quite there and I can probably think of at least 9 other albums from this decade that I prefer. So, Sigur Rós, despite being one of my favourite bands of this decade, probably won’t make the list.

Mike