By: David Schultz

Labels: Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, Rock Hall of Fame, The Hold Steady

By: David Schultz

Even though there are close to four months left in the decade, lists cataloging and memorializing the best of the aughts are already starting to pop up with increased frequency. Back in the 60s, people followed to every move made by Bob Dylan and The Beatles. In the 70s, it was The Rolling Stones, the 80s, Michael Jackson and the 90s belonged to U2. Doubt the impact an artist can have on a generation? Look at all the hoopla surrounding today’s release of Rock Band: The Beatles. Each and every move they made drew attention and received untold amounts of scrutiny as people searched for meaning and discoursed over its importance. Bono notwithstanding, we’re likely past the point where a musician will have the sociological impact if a John Lennon and Elvis Presley. That doesn’t mean there aren’t artists pushing music forward. Taking a peek ahead to the next decade (the tens? the teens?), here are the five musicians whose every move should be followed as they should be worth noting.

Beck: From a musical standpoint, Beck always stays at the forefront of the waves generated by any of his genre-melding pastiches. Recently though, Beck has started to explore the ability of a Web site as an outlet for creativity. In addition to streaming DJ sets, Beck’s Record Club features himself and assorted friends re-recording classic albums like Velvet Underground & Nico, Oar and Songs of Leonard Cohen and Irrelevant Topics sees Beck playing talk show host with the likes of musicians and movie directors. A superstar for the wireless decade, Beck could redefine the conception of what the public can expect and demand from an artist.

Jack White: The White Stripes can hardly contain the creative output that erupts out of Jack White. Whether it’s with The White Stripes and his erstwhile wife/sister/ housekeeper Meg, The Raconteurs with power-pop maven Brendan Benson, The Dead Weather with Allison Mosshart and Dean Fertita or simply creating a song on the fly just to show he can do it, the quality of White’s prolific output defies logic. Playing rock and roll’s future to The Edge’s present and Jimmy Page’s past in It Might Get Loud, White stands poised to be one, if not THE, most important guitarists of the next decade.

Greg Gillis: The next great battle over fair use will likely center around Girl Talk’s raucously festive mash-ups of classic rock, 80s cheese, gangsta rap and anything else that catches his fancy. So fun that it may not be legal, Gillis’ name-that-snippet style is what evolved from DJ Danger Mouse’s legally estopped Grey Album. It makes no difference on the dance floor but Girl Talk abuts the current limits of fair use, derivative works and the entirety of copyright law to the extent that makes the establishment slightly uncomfortable. Unless Gillis decides to find a new profession, he could be genre-changing and legal precedent setting player in the 10s.

Thom Yorke/Radiohead: Freed from the constraints of any semblance of a traditional recording contract, Yorke and Radiohead are singlehandedly destroying and redefining all of the music industry’s conventions about distribution and sales. The pay-what-you-will pricing scheme they utilized for In Rainbows will likely be the tip of the iceberg. One of the few bands with the renown, clout and incentive to explore the freedom of non-dependency on a record label, they may pave the road through the uncharted forest for many others to follow.

Craig Finn/The Hold Steady: In the last decade, Finn and The Hold Steady have brought literacy and humor back to rock and roll. Stringing witticisms and trenchant observations together while Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay and the rest reclaim the grandiose sense of arena rock from glam metal head bangers and emo rockers, Finn’s songs play out over time like chapters of a novel. There was a period of time when Robert Randolph could have been the savior of rock and roll but now that title seems within the grasp of The Hold Steady. For a band that details the folly of youth, it is appropriate that they are the dark horse contender for the band of the two thousand teens.

Labels: Beck, Girl Talk, Jack White, Radiohead, The Hold Steady

This week's Philadelphia live shows kick right off on Monday night at Kung Fu Necktie with a triple header bill of Serpent Cult, Gates of Slumber and Zoroaster. KFN follows up the next night with The Warlocks and Morning After Girls. Tuesday night also sees both Parachute and the Script at World Cafe Live.

Wednesday night presents a few different options. Aushua Blockley is at the Pourhouse, Franz Nicolay of Hold Steady fame is playing First Unitarian Church, NOMO is at the M Room and the Tin Angel welcomes Julian Velard.

Thursday night is ladies night (or tough chicks pretending on your perspective) at the Electric Factory as Akron's own Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders along with Juliette Lewis will be in town.

Friday night sees Pitbull takeover the waterfront at Penn's Landing, while Brookville and Trashcan Sinatras hole up in the Tin Angel. For those looking for some indie folk head on over to the North Star for Baltimore's Wye Oak.

Saturday night is filled with concerts all around town. Allison Weiss and Bess Rogers are at Tin Angel and Bill Harley is across town at World Cafe Live. Camp Kill Yourself invades South Street at the Fillmore and six time Grammy winner John Legend is at the Mann Center for Performing Arts. Looking back downtown, you can check out Lelia Broussard at Tin Angel or Spencer Day over at Chris' Jazz Cafe.

For the energetic who want to squeeze one more show in before the work week starts again you can catch Band of Skulls at the North Star.

Labels: Philadelphia, The Hold Steady, The Pretenders, Tour Dates

By: David Schultz

“We Are The Hold Steady.” It’s the coolest phrase in rock and roll; legitimately, it can only be said by five people and usually only lead singer Craig Finn needs to proclaim it. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or listening to Hot 100 radio, you’ve come across the Minneapolis fivesome that now calls Brooklyn their home. Since releasing Almost Killed Me in 2004, The Hold Steady have been almost single-handedly keeping the youthful spirit of rock and roll alive. If you’re no longer roaming grassy fields looking for a kegger or figuring out new ways to get loaded at a fraternity party, The Hold Steady will make you remember why that all seemed like fun. Like no other band, The Hold Steady make you feel young again.

This past week, Finn and the rest of The Hold Steady are taking a small victory lap around New York City, playing two shows at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom and two more at its Brooklyn doppelganger, the Music Hall of Williamsburg. It’s a return to their roots of sorts; on Tuesday night, Finn mentioned that they hadn’t played the Bowery in nearly 4 years. In deference to the realization, The Hold Steady played nearly every track off their 2005 masterpiece Separation Sunday, cruising through the gritty bounce of “Cattle And The Creeping Thing,” “Banging Camp,” and “Stevie Nix.” Knowing that there’s been enough cowbell already, Bobby Drake removed it from “Charlemagne In Sweatpants” and still made it awesome.

From looking at Finn, he seems like the overeducated, whip smart teenager that the cool kids taunted or ignored in high school. Only instead of getting his overly cinematic revenge by living well, Finn outshone everyone by becoming the coolest rock star on the planet. A jittery bundle of spastic energy on stage, Finn barks out his lyrics with the conviction of a bar room prophet. Like Kerouac riffing on Dean Moriarty tales, Finn has dozens of twice told tales of Charlemagne and Hallelujah perpetually stumbling their way through parties and life with a somewhat clueless ennui. He’s even found a way to add footnotes to his own songs, moving away from the mike and just adding in whatever emphasis he feels necessary.

In lauding the then-maligned Bonnie and Clyde as speaking for a whole generation, Pauline Kael noted that “once something is said or done on the screens of the world, once it has entered mass art, it can never again . . . be the private possession of an educated or ‘knowing’ group.” She could’ve been talking about The Hold Steady. Having just gone on a small European tour with the Counting Crows and about to pair up with the Dave Matthews Band for a few shows, its probably time we started to brace ourselves that we are about to lose this band. Their compendium of Springsteen-style narratives, the constant references to unified scenes and positive jams and Stay Positive’s timeless arena rock are destined to find an audience on a wide scale. No doubt, it will be frustrating. When the Hannah Montana fan outgrows the Achy Breaky spawn and starts talking about how killer parties nearly killed them, a small part of us may be thankful that the kids are going to be alright but a larger part is going to die that day.

At that point, The Hold Steady fans will have to make a choice: embrace the youngsters who won't care that you saw them on the Boys & Girls In America tour and create that unified scene Finn likes to reference or turn into the stereotypical hipster fan and dump the band cause they got too famous.

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT abhor camping or had that little pesky day job ruin your trip down to Manchester, Tennessee for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, AT & T has you covered. With iClips becoming a predominantly pay-per-view service, AT & T will be webcasting sets from the likes of Andrew Bird, Ben Harper & Relentless 7, Animal Collective, St. Vincent, The Decemberists and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. There are a couple late evening "to be announced" slots that you can only hope will be filled with live feeds of Phish and Springsteen. You can watch the Webcast by clicking here.

80s FOOTNOTE FAITH NO MORE reunited Wednesday night at London's Brixton Academy. Rolling Stone has the story. Not to give away anything but, brace yourself, they played "Epic."

Labels: Bonnaroo; Faith No More, The Hold Steady

By: David Schultz

Their name’s The Hold Steady but people call them Sonny Bono; they’re one half of an odd pairing that people just seem to love. At first blush, a twin bill featuring the whip smart indie-sensation that now calls Brooklyn, New York their home with the (mostly) Alabama born and bred Drive-By Truckers seems like a mismatch and in all honesty, it’s supposed to. Part of the allure of the ongoing Rock and Roll Means Well tour is the ability to see two bands that have had critics tongues wagging since the turn of the century. Scratching beneath the surface, the two bands aren’t that dissimilar: both make bank on phenomenally well written songs that capture a breadth of emotion and tell a powerful story in a modicum of words. Last week, the two powerhouses came to New York City for a pair of shows at Terminal 5, flip-flopping the headlining spot like Mitt Romney currying political favor.

Their name’s The Hold Steady but people call them the Dean Martin; they’re the epitome of retro cool. If this were the Fifties, The Hold Steady would look like one big bad band of hipsters; nowadays, it’s hard to believe that the coolest band in the world has members that don Buddy Holly style glasses, wear neo Zoot-suits and dance the dork-shuffle like Franz Nicolay. It’s in their earnest lack of style that they are the most stylish. Finn delivers his lyrics in a dry sardonic voice, narrating a story as much as singing a song, selling it with the same verve as poet raging for justice in a smoky basement full of radicals. His empathic knack for succinctly capturing the follies and hormone-fueled rampages of adolescence customarily draws comparisons to Bruce Springsteen. On stage though, he’s much more Elvis Costello than The Boss. As for the music, Tad Kubler (guitar), Nicolay (keyboards), Galen Polivka (bass) and Bobby Drake (drums) deliver relatively uncomplicated licks, owing a heavy debt to choppy punk rock and Fifties rock and roll. For their seventy-five minute set, they mixed in equal parts of Separation Sunday’s guitar onslaught and Stay Positive’s arena rock bombast with Kubler’s guitar work ranging from deadly incisive to Van Halen quality ironic cheese.

Their name’s Drive-By Truckers but people call them William Faulkner; they’re astute chroniclers of the plight of the South. Where Finn populates his songs with inebriated youths ineffectually stumbling towards the next high or away from the effects of the last one, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley fill theirs with blue collar, backwoods kindred souls. They passed the lead vocals back and forth between them throughout their set, balancing Cooley’s incisive vocals on songs like “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac” with Hood’s insistent pleas on “Putting People On The Moon.” Not possessed of Finn’s quick wit, Hood and Cooley bare their souls, able to provoke an emotional response not with a fine turn of a phrase but with simple words and great honesty. Before launching into “Sands Of Iwo Jima,” Hood expressed his amazement over Obama’s election by telling the story of his great uncle, a staunch Southerner, who after years of racial politics went into a voting booth at 88 years of age and cast his ballot for an African-American. If you need the significance spelled out for you, then these might not be the bands for you.

Their name’s The Hold Steady but people call them Mugsy Bogues; they like to play with the big boys. One of the biggest differences between the two bands became clear when Craig Finn reemerged during for the Truckers encore of “Let There Be Rock.” Gazing longingly at one of the Costco-sized bottles of Jack Daniels that are never far from the Truckers side, Finn beckoned towards bassist Shonna Tucker with a gesture that asked, “May I?” The blonde bassist’s response seemed akin to something along the lines of, “Fuck yeah Bubba, do some damage.” Finn’s eyes may have been bigger than his liver: in contrast to the healthy gulps taken by Hood throughout the night, Finn sips were extremely dainty. He meant well though.

Their name’s Drive-By Truckers but people call them Tony Tarasco; they were done in by the partisan hometown crowd. For the Thursday night show, The Hold Steady helmed the opening slot but played the set as if they were headliners, populating the early part of their set with favorites like “Stuck Between Stations,” “Sequestered In Memphis” and You’re Little Hoodrat Friend,” the latter receiving a nice wailing chorus from Hood. After the Steady, the Truckers set was a relatively average affair, owing in part to having to follow the hometown heroes but primarily due to its similarity to their Terminal 5 set from last March. The Truckers set came alive when Finn, Kubler and Nicolay returned for a shambling version of “Let There Be Rock” and a raucous romp through Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died.” While Cooley prowled anxiously, Finn minced around the stage and the good-natured familiarity between the two bands became quite evident when Hood evinced wild delight at catching Finn mocking his expansive arm gestures behind his back.

Their name’s The Hold Steady but people call them the Fountain of Youth; they will make you feel young again. The Drive-By Truckers: they’ll get your blood pumping too.

Labels: Drive By Truckers, The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady has been delivering a refreshing brand of indie rock for the past few years that has had the nerve to offer often brooding hipsters of that scene the chance to have a little fun (and Stay Positive!). The AP has a nice article on how the Hold Steady are "one of the few bands to bridge the gap between an angst-ridden indie scene and pure populists who want you to enjoy yourself at the expense of thinking."

Imagine that...going to a rock show to see a band who is enjoying themselves onstage! Maybe even the crowd would have fun too? It's ok hipsters, let loose a bit...no one will judge you. If you haven't seen them yet, visit the Hold Steady Myspace page for tour dates, including what should be some great shows with the Drive By Truckers.

Labels: The Hold Steady

By: David Schultz

Despite the fact they are old enough to be the creepy old guys at many of the events they sing about, there are no better chroniclers of the hormonally-charged, inebriated follies of adolescence than The Hold Steady. Their current album, Stay Positive, is the latest chapter in the band’s ever-evolving saga of exquisitely told stories romanticizing the antics and misadventures that befall the young, drunk and stupid. Carried by a fine ear for arena rock guitar riffs and lead singer Craig Finn's dry wit and sardonic vocals, The Hold Steady, with their boozy bar-band swagger, have transcended hip. They accomplish the ultimate feat in music: listening to them makes you feel young again.

A masterful lyricist, Finn populates his songs with impulsive teenagers who suffer at the hands of their own impetuousness as well as poor decisions typically motivated by drugs or alcohol. Like a novelist, Finn brings back characters and themes from past albums, girls are still going to go with whoever’s going to them the highest, there will always be consequences – good or bad – to getting loaded and someone always seems to be on their way to or from Ybor City.

Finn’s colorful style customarily draws comparisons to the early work of Bruce Springsteen but for as much of a debt that Stay Positive owes to The Boss’ idiosyncratic style of storytelling, it also writes an IOU to Journey and Peter Frampton. Giving life to arena rock by reinventing and reinvigorating many of rock and roll's familiar clichés, Franz Nicolay has an uncanny knack for finding the perfect spot to insert his keyboards and even though Tad Kubler and Finn’s guitar work isn’t going to conjure up images of guitar heroes, they’ve mastered the art of the soul-grabbing riff. They’ve also mastered how to structure an album. After the relatively restrained “Two Crosses,” the title track simply leaps out of the speakers.

On Separation Sunday and Boys And Girls In America, the Steady told their stories with a wizened, non-judgmental point of view. On Stay Positive, they haven’t become preachy but they now deal with some of the consequences of careless decisions. In “Sequestered In Memphis,” a feisty date who in bar light, looks all right but in day light, looks desperate, produces a gloriously raucous sing along about subpoenas when the date results in some form of litigation, in “One For The Cutters,” the lawyers do the talking for a girl who resorts to hanging out with the townies and in namechecking John Cassavetes, we learn that for some reason the actress sometimes gets slapped.

Along with the new My Morning Jacket album, the music literati (or uptight snobs as others may call them) have been eagerly awaiting the release of Stay Positive for many months. Anyone worried that the increased attention would affect the band’s vision or style need not worry; Stay Positive is a worthy entry into The Hold Steady canon.

Labels: The Hold Steady

[Ed. Note: Earvolution's artist development and production side of the business has a few tricks up its sleeve for 2008 as well; new Pawnshop Roses coming soon and expect a major announcement involving the marrying of new media technology with one of the most revered brands in American music history.]

Labels: Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Drive By Truckers, Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz, Licorice, North Mississippi Allstars, The Black Crowes, The Hold Steady, U-Melt

The Arcade Fire is set to take on the dust bowl that can be Randalls Island. The show takes place October 6th, so the weather may be better than for some of the summer shows. The Fire are bringing some friends along for the ride. Wild Light, Les Savy Fav, Blonde Redhead and LCD Soundsystem will share the bill.

You may recall us featuring Demander back in January. The New York trio are still going strong and the buzz will likely only increase this fall as they join both the Hold Steady and Art Brut on the road for a series of shows and then going abroad for some dates with New Model Army. Just before hitting the road the band will release their new cd The Kindness of Ravens on October 2nd. Check out some tunes and get all the tour scoop on their Myspace page.

Mink, the New York based power-gritters, are hitting the road with Perry Farrell's Satellite Party (who we caught in Austin). Sounds like a great matching of high energy bands and worth seeing. Their new self-titled record, produced by Sylvia Massy (Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers) & Chris Shaw (Dylan, Wilco), came out yesterday. You check out Mink's video for the "Talk to Me" over on YouTube and get the show dates on their MySpace page.

Mp3 Offerings:
They Might Be Giants (new record out now): "Careful What You Pack"
Cannonball Jane (this is not the Adrock remix): "Take It To The Fantastic"
Division Day (starts of good, not sure about ending): "Tigers"
Tim Williams (new record in October): "Novel"
The Hot Springs (another Montreal act to watch): "Headrush"

The Decemberists are hitting the road for what they are calling "The Long and Short Of It" tour. The name refers to the idea that the band will play longer songs on some nights and shorter songs on others. The band will play two nights in each city so seemingly you could go to both shows and see two entirely different sets. Laura Veirs, who appears on The Crane Wife, will open.

Natalie Merchant and some friends are banding together to help the homeless. A benefit cd titled Give US Your Poor features new songs by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Madeleine Peyroux, Sonya Kitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant, Michelle Shocked, Keb’ Mo’ and others. Merchant even recorded a song written by 15-year-old Nichole Cooper when she was homeless. You can check out a clip from a related documentary here. The record comes out September 25th on Appleseed Recordings.

Labels: Arcade Fire, Art Brut, Bruce Springsteen, Demander, Mp3s, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady, The Hot Springs

A Lily Allen parody is buzzing around the internets and apparently it has even struck a chord with Ms. Allen herself. The tune "LDN is a Victim" parodies Allen and some of her crew on the London music scene. Allen doesn't seem amused and a comment was left by her MySpace profile saying "So what if w'ere (sic) middle class? Just cause your mum was too lazy to get her fat ass up off the sofa and make some cash . I shouldn't be able to make tunes yeah? (which is more than you're doing by the way.)" Someone a bit touchy?

Ozzy Osborne has reportedly enlisted Britney Spears producer Kevin Churko to polish up his latest record Black Rain. Ozzy apparently thinks the record will be some of his "darkest work" is quoted as muttering: "I just thought there's so much f**king bad news, the only way I can release it is to put it in a song." The disc hits stores May 22nd.

The NY Post says Jessie Malin "is the successor to Lou Reed's crown as the lord of The City's underground." Be that as it may, Jessie is popping his head above ground in a couple of weeks for "Storytellers" type gig at the Apple Store Soho. Talk about a walk on the wild side...

In between listening to their Tom Waits and Neil Young records, Backyard Tire Fire are set for a busy spring tour and then summer playing just about every major festival. As a bit of preview check out some live video: Blood on the Strings and Crack Alley.

Speaking of great live music, the Pawnshop Roses will hit the main stage of Philadelphia's Trocadero Theatre on May 10th for a cd release party for Let it Roll the band's full length debut on Earvolution Records. Ok, I'm a little biased, but you'll definately want to check this out! As a sneak peak, I've put the title track in the mp3 offerings below.

Mp3 Offerings:
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Ah Mary
Pawnshop Roses: Let It Roll
The Hold Steady: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Medeski and Martin: Crustaceatron
The Brakes: Hotel Lobby

Billy Martin and John Medeski of Martin, Medeski and Wood fame put out a new cd called Mago on Billy's own Amulet Records. It is in stores now and you can check out the video for the single "Crustaceatron" here.

Neil Aspinall, one of a few "Fifth Beatles", stepped down from Apple Corps after reportedly becoming upset with the policy direction of the Apple board. Apple politely wished Aspinall well stating "had been with John, Paul, George and Ringo for a spectacular 40 plus years, during which he played an indispensable role for the four. He was there since the inception of the band in Liverpool and has meant so much to the Beatles' family for all these years and still does." But, Aspinall is quoted as saying he didn't like the way the band's legacy was being turned into a "cash cow." No worries for Apple, as McCartney is still around to assist in the milking.

Labels: Beatles, Lily Allen, Mp3s, Pawnshop Roses, The Hold Steady

NYC's Demander are readying their new full length effort The Unkindness of Ravens. The band consists of Karen Correa (vocals/bass), Jared Scott (guitar) and Sivan Harlap (drums). When naming them band of the day, Spin compared them to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. However, Demander has their own unique brand of rock that'll get you up out of your seat.



You can check out two preview tracks here: Lovelife and Hollis. They also have an interesting animated video for Hollis. As an added bonus, Franz Nicolay from the Hold Steady is featured on a couple tracks of the new LP as well. The band will head west in February for some California dates and come back to the East Coast and work their way south in March toward SXSW. I hope to catch them somewhere along the line, and suggest you do the same.

Labels: Demander, The Hold Steady

E-Music conducted both a writers poll and a users poll to compile the best independent discs released in 2005.

The writers poll had Konono on top:

01 Konono No. 1, Congotronics (Crammed Discs)
02 Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
03 Animal Collective, Feels (Fact Cat Records)
04 Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty)
05 Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss Records)
06 Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (4AD)
07 Annie, Anniemal (Big Beat)
08 Various Artists, Run the Road (Vice Records)
09 Slits, Cut (KOCH Records)
10 Bettye LaVette, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti Records)
11 Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge Records)
12 New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador Records)
13 Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
14 Bobby Bare, The Moon Was Blue (Dualtone)
15 Danger Doom, The Mouse & The Mask (Epitaph)
16 Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (Vice Records)
17 Supersystem, Always Never Again (Touch & Go Records)
18 James Blood Ulmer, Birthright (Hyena Records)
19 Decemberists, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
20 Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart (Yep Roc Records)
21 Eels, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (Vagrant Records)
22 John Doe, Forever Hasn't Happened Yet (Yep Roc Records)
23 Deerhoof, The Runners Four (5 Rue Christine)
24 Washington Phillips, Key to the Kingdom (Yazoo-Shanachie Records)
25 Clientele, Strange Geometry (Merge Records)
26 Gang Gang Dance, God's Money (Social Registry)
27 Of Montreal, Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl Record Co.)
28 Blackalicious, The Craft (Anti Records)
29 Albert Ammons, Hey Piano Man (JSP Records)
30 Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punks (Side One Dummy)
31 Lyrics Born, Same!@#$ Different Day (Quannum Projects)
32 Nortec Collective, Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 (Nacional Records)
33 The National, Alligator (Beggars Banquet)
34 Black Mountain, Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar)
35 Iron & Wine/Calexico, In the Reins (Overcoat Recordings)
36 Yo La Tengo, Prisoners of Love (Matador)
37 Cocorosie, Noah's Ark (Touch & Go Records)
38 Isaac Hayes, Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? (Fantasy/Stax)
39 So Percussion, Steve Reich: Drumming (Cantaloupe Music)
40 Vasti Bunyan, Lookaftering (Dicristina)
41 Serge Gainsbourg, Love And The Beat Vol. 1: Love Gainsbourg's Way
(Sunnyside Records)
42 Ladytron, The Witching Hour (Rykodisc)
43 Dave Douglas, Mountain Passages (KOCH Records)
44 Attileo Mineo, Man in Space with Sounds (Subliminal Sounds)
45 Various Artists, Sun Spots: The Story of Sun Records (Sun Records)
46 Blueprint, 1988 (Rhymesayers)
47 Dr. Dog, Easy Beat (National Parking)
48 Horace Andy, Dance Hall Style (Wackies)
49 Various Artists, Thai Beat A Go-Go 2 (Subliminal Sounds)
50 Fieldwork, Simulated Progress (Pi Recordings)

Sufjan Stevens topped the readers poll:

01 Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty)
02 New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador Records)
03 Decemberists, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
04 Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge Records)
05 Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (Vice Records)
06 Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
07 Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss Records)
08 The National, Alligator (Beggars Banquet)
09 Josh Rouse, Nashville (Rykodisc)
10 Danger Doom, The Mouse & The Mask (Epitaph)
11 Great Lake Swimmers, Great Lake Swimmers (Misra Records)
12 Lemon Jelly, '64 - '95 (XL Recordings)
13 Echo and the Bunnymen, Siberia (Cooking Vinyl)
14 Sun Kil Moon, Tiny Cities (Caldo Verde Records)
15 Ladytron, The Witching Hour (Rykodisc)
16 Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
17 Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs (Or Music)
18 Iron & Wine/Calexico, In the Reins (Overcoat Recordings)
19 The Pernice Brothers, Discover a Lovelier You (Ashmont Records)
20 The Frames, Burn the Maps (Anti Records)

Labels: Art Brut, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, Dr. Dog, Gogol Bordello, Of Montreal, The Hold Steady