Update: The votes are in, the points have been awarded and the math has been done. More than 150 of you have taken the time to forward your Top 10 list for the Roadburn Album of the Decade.
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As the year and the decennium is coming to an end (and no, we are not getting into the discussion if the decennium includes 2010 as well) we at Roadburn HQ thought it would be a nice idea to let our readers, visitors, friends, acquaintances and people who just passed by accidentally put together a Roadburn Top 10 of the Decade, replete with stoner, doom, drone, heavy ‘70s, psychedelica, post rock and spacerock delights.
How does this work? Please put your top 10 of Roadburn-related albums in the comments and we’ll do the math just before Christmas. Your last chance to send in your lists will be Thursday, December 24th, and we’ll announce the definite list between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Starting off with our own lists:
Neurosis - Given To The Rising
Jurgen – Roadburn
Neurosis – Given to the Rising (2LP)
For me their return to form after my 90s favourites Enemy of the Sun and Through Silver in Blood.
Wolves in the Throne Room – Two Hunters (2LP)
Dark, warm and textured, black metal does not get any better than this for me. Is it true BM? Who cares!
Sunn o))) – Black One (2LP)
After a few Whites, Black One got to me more with it’s more diverse mixture of black, ambient and drones. Maybe Monoliths and Dimensions will top this one in time but for now this is the one that made feedback a proper artform.
Serena Maneesh – Serena Maneesh (2LP)
At the time My Bloody Valentine was a thing of the past but these Norwegians were the closest thing to pre-Loveless MBV you could get.
Electric Wizard – Witchcult Today (2LP)
Most bands deliver their best goods at the beginning of their career but for me WT is just as good or even better than Come my Fanatics or Dopethrone. The resurrection of the Wizard!
High on Fire – Death is his communion (LP)
HoF are true descendants of Motorhead and this album is where they show it best. Agression coupled with melody makes a mean potion in the hands of Matt Pike and co.
Various – John Barleycorn Reborn (2CD)
The odd one out in this list. JBR compiles dark and somethimes heavy psychedelic UK folk songs made by mostly unknown contemporary bands.
Down – Over The Under (2LP)
They know their craft and they do it well. Nuff said.
Jesu – Jesu 2LP
Envision shoegaze and dark pounding psychedelica meeting on the dissection table. Leave it to Justin Broadrick to find another niche of his own.
The Angelic Process – Weighing Souls With Sand (2LP)
Where My Bloody Valentine and Neurosis finally meet. Haunting and mesmerizing music, with a sad story behind it to boot.
A Silver Mt. Zion - Horses in the Sky
Leslie – Roadburn
A Silver Mt. Zion – Horses in the Sky
Difficult to choose just one by this thankfully prolific bunch. They kicked off the decade with what is now an eerily prescient declaration, “Let’s kill first the bankers, with their professional demeanor” and then went on to write the liner notes to the entire decade.
The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
Feel-good hit of the decade refrain: “I am gonna make it through this year, if it kills me!”
Rasputina – Oh Perilous World
I dream of the day that Melora C. manages to drag her cello over to these shores.
Celtic Frost – Monotheist
Too scary to play at home. Actually, the gig in San Francisco was a strong contender for best of the decade, except the overall vibe of the night left me pining for Dutch audiences. Social encounters included a teen Goatwhore groupie in Sarah Palin glasses droning about how “killer” they are, and a guy with eroded teeth pestering me for my email so we could “make mad bux sellin’ old punk flyers an’ shit in like Holland, and Germany, man, Germany” backed by the claim he had hung out at the Verbal Abuse house in the old days. I declined the offer.
Motorpsycho - Little Lucid Moments
The more than a decade-long affair was withering on the vine in 2004 and by 2006 the thrill was officially gone. “It’s not you, it’s me.” Then suddenly in 2008 it was time to dust off the old psychonaut suit and enjoy
the return of the sparks.
CocoRosie – Noah’s Ark
Light the candles, fill the tub with bubbles and trip away.
Low – The Great Destroyer
The VPRO documentary on the band was deeply disturbing and added an extra dimension to the already uneasy listening Low provides.
Marissa Nadler – Songs III: Bird on the Water
As my friend said after seeing her in concert, “I wanted to take her home and build her a little dandelion-filled graveyard out back to haunt.”
DoMakeSayThink - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
Tis the season to break this one out again. It’s like icicles and hot cocoa all in one. I can’t think of any other record that alternates between sparkling chills and comforting warmth with similar grace and charm.
Firewater – The Golden Hour
The soundtrack to the only blog I followed from start to finish during this decade. Observations by Tod A. include “most of Calcutta ain’t much worse than the Lower East Side on any given Sunday morning following a
Lower East Side Saturday night. You would just have to add a few cows to the picture.” [source: http://postcards.blogs.com/postcards_from_the_other_/]
Bonus
Best gig of the decade: Neil Young, Antwerp’s Stadsschouwburg, 11 February 2008. There he was, all by himself on stage in that big theatre during the acoustic half of the gig, singing “Ambulance Blues.” Beautiful.
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
Drew – Roadburn
Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
35007 - Phase V
The Heads – Everybody Know We Got Nowhere
Entombed – Uprising
Boris – Flood
Pharaoh Overlord – The Battle of the Axehammer
Church of Misery – Master of Brutality
Agents of Oblivion – Agents of Oblivion
Graveyard – Graveyard
Gorilla – Maximum Riff Mania
Walter – Roadburn
Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
Earthless - Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky
OM – Conference of the Birds
The Heads - Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere
Celtic Frost - Monothiest
Down – Over the Under
35007 – Liquid
Neurosis – Givin to the Rising
Witchcraft - S/T
The Hidden Hand - Mother, Teacher, Destroyer
Tags: A Silver Mt. Zion, album of the day, doom, drone, electric wizard, heavy 70's, Krautrock, Low, Neurosis, post core instru-mental, post rock, psychedelica, Rasputina, Roadburn, Roadburn Festival, spacerock, Stonerrock, The Mountain Goats, Top 10 album of the decade, Top-10
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-Neurosis – Given to the Rising
-Isis – Oceanic
-Sunn O))) & Boris – Altar
-Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
-Long Distance Calling – Avoid the Light
-The Atlas Moth – A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky
-Mastodon – Blood Mountain
-Baroness – Red Album
-Cult of Luna – The Beyond
-Tomahawk – Mit Gas
Neurosis Given to the rising
Eye Hate God Confederacy of ruined lives
Electric Wizard Witchcraft today
YOB The unreal never lived
Om Pilgramage
High on Fire Death is this communion
Mastodon Crack the skye
Neurosis A sun that never sets
Wolves in the Throne Room 2 hunters
Red Sparowes At the soundless dawn
[1] across tundras – Lonesome Wails From the Weeping Willow (is it really out now?
)
[2] kylesa – Static Tensions
[2] across tundras – Dark Songs of the Prairie [2006]
[3] across tundras – Lonesome Wails From The Weeping Willow/Western Sky Ride [2008] (points split)
[x] neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
[x] neurosis – Given to the Rising
[x] electric wizard (the wizaard…) – Dopethrone
[x] tool – 10,000 Days
[x] cult of luna – Somewhere Along the Highway
[x] isis – Oceanic
sorry forget the []s.
rank just top down…too much scotch!
1 – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart (for me, it’s psychedelic.)
2. Tool – Lateralus
3. Neurosis – The Eye Of Every Storm
4. Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
5. ISIS – In The Absence Of Truth (hard decision)
6. Amplifier – Amplifier (Airborne! What the f…?)
7. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs for The Deaf
8. The Mars Volta – De-Loused In The Comatorium
9. Crippled Black Phoenix – A Love Of Shared Disasters
10. Melechesh – Emissaries
1. Sunn o))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
2. Boris – Amplifier Worship
3. Cult of luna – Salvation
4. Neurosis – Given To The Rising
5. Sunn o))) – Black One
6. Isis – Panopticon
7. Om – Variations On A Theme
8. Pharaoh Overlord – PO4
9. Neurosis – A Sun That Never Sets
10. Ufomammut – Idolum
1. Isis – Panopticon
2. Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
3. Pelican – Ephemeral
4. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs for The Deaf
5. Bohren & der Club of Gore – Black Earth
6. Torche – In Return
7. Rosetta – The Galilean Satellites
8. Old Man Gloom – Christmas
9. Fall of Efrafa – Owsla
10. Mouth of the Architect – Quietly
1. Subarachnoid Space – The Red Veil
2. Yob – Ctharsis
3. Eagle Twin – The Unkindness of Crows
4. Capricorns – Ruder forms survive
5. Unearthly Trance – Execution
6. Kylesa – Static Tensions
7. High on Fire – The Art of Self Defense
8. Bloody Panda – Summon
9. Rose Kemp – Unholy Majesty
10. Iota – Tales
1. Mastodon – Leviathan
2. Neurosis – Given To The Rising
3. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf
4. Clutch – Blast Tyrant
5. Brant Bjork & The Bros – Saved By Magic
6. Amenra – Mass IV
7. Isis – Celestial
8. Church Of Misery – Master Of Brutality
9. Lento – Earthen
10. Sourvein – Will To Mangle
My list:
CORE “THE HUSTLE IS ON”
QOTSA “RATED R”
UNIDA “COPING…”
NEBULA “TO THE CENTER”
SPIRIT CARAVAN “JUG FULLA SUN”
ON TRIAL “NEW DAY RISING”
THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX “I”
COLT 38 “S/T”
THAT’S ALL FOLKS “SOMA…”
GOATSNAKE “I”
1. At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command (2000)
2. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (2002)
3. Isis – Panopticon (2004)
4. Kylesa – Static Tensions (2009)
5. Battle of Mice – A Day of Nights (2006)
6. Shora – Malval (2005)
7. Gojira – From Mars to Sirius (2005)
8. Tool – Lateralus (2001)
9. Ulver – Shadows of the Sun (2007)
10. Oxbow – The Narcotic Story (2007)
1.Isis-Panopticon
2.Breach-Kollapse
3.Converge-You Fail Me
4.Neurosis-Given to The Rising
5.Ufomammuth-Snailking
6.Pelican-The Fire of Our Throath Will Beckon the Taw
7.Cult Of Luna-Somewhere Along The Highway
8.Jesu-Conqueror
9.Nadja _When I See The Sun ALways Shines on TV
10.Red Sparowes-At Soundless Dawn
1. Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
2. Bongzilla – Gateway
3. Earth – Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
4. Queens Of The Stone Age – R
5. YOB – The Illusion Of Motion
6. Church Of Misery – Houses of the Unholy
7. Boris – Pink
8. Brant Bjork And The Operators – S/T
9. Acid King – Busse Woods
10. Fu Manchu – We Must Obey
Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
Queen Elephantine – Surya
Sourvein – Salvation
Electric Wizard – Let us prey
Burning Witch – Rift canyon dreams
Bongzilla – Gateway
Sleep – Sleep’s holy mountain
Iron Monkey – our problem
Bongripper – Great Barrier Reefer
Teeth of lions rule the divine – Rampton
Grand Magus – Monument
Mastodon – Leviathan
Isis – Panopticon
Neurosis – The Eyes Of Every Storm
Ulver – Shadows Of The Sun
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Madder Mortem – Deadlands
Electric Wizard – Witchcult Today
Cult Of Luna – Eternal Kingdom
U.S. Christmas – Eat The Low Dogs
1-wolves in a throne room – two hunters
2-Yob – the unreal never lived
3-electric wizard – come my fanatics
4-xasthur – subliminal genocide
5-tragedy – vengeance
6-torche – in return
7-abandon – in reality we suffer
8-laudanum – the coronation
9-jesu – jesu
10-kyuss – …and the circus leaves town
1. Tool – Lateralus
2. Om – Conference of the Birds
3. High on Fire – Blessed Black Wings
4. Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
5. Ufommamut – Idolum
6. Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder
7. Jesu – Jesu
8. Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
9. Crippled Black Phoenix – A Love Of Shared Disasters
10. Hypocrisy – A Taste of Extreme Divinity
1. Tool-Lateralus
2. Queens Of The Stone Age-Songs For The Deaf
3. Isis-Oceanic
4. Nebula-Charged
5. Dozer-Through The Eyes Of Heathens
6. Nightstalker-Just A Burn
7. Spiritual Beggars-Ad Astra
8. Krux-Krux
9. Melvins-A Senile Animal
10. Los Natas-Corsario Negro
1.Electric Wizard – Witchcult Today
2.Bardo Pond – Ticket Crystals
3.Colour Haze – All
4.Karma To Burn – Almost Heathen
5.Los Natas – Munchen Sessions
6.Earth – Hibernaculum
7.Probot – Probot
8.Witchcraft – s/t
9.Acid King – III
10.Grand Magus – Iron Will
Oh darn, [2.Bardo Pond] should have been “on the ellipse” not ticket crytals…
gloomy sunday- beyond good and evil
lazarus blackstar-funeral voyer
graves at sea, asunder split
high on fire-death is this comunion
graveyard-s/t
brain doner-drained boner
church of misery-second coming
witchcraft-the alcamist
trouble-simple mind condition
fu manchu-we must obey
1. Ufomammut – Snailking (2004)
2. Celtic Frost – Monotheist (2006)
3. Tool – Lateralus (2001)
4. Wolves in the Throne – Two Hunters (2007)
5. Om – Conference of the Birds (2006)
6. Electric Wizard – Dopethrone (2000)
7. Earthless – Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky (2007)
8. Mammatus – The Coast Explodes (2007)
9. Yob – The Illusion of Motion (2004)
10. 5ive – Hesperus (2008)
Best gig of the decade : St Vitus, Hellfest 2009