Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (January 12th 2009, Domino Records) With Merriweather Post Pavilion, it finally became easy to love Animal Collective as they finally produced an accessible album which showed off their truly captivating and innovative approach.

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (January 28th 2008, XL Recordings) Vampire Weekend is really not an immediate album. It requires patience, especially for those who normally come out in hives at the sight or smell of anything vaguely preppy.

Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (March 5th 2007, Sonovox) Did you think that Funeral was melodramatic enough? Well, Arcade Fire certainly didn’t, so you might want to steer clear of Neon Bible in that case.

Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit (February 6th 2006, Rough Trade Records) Produced by Tony Hoffer, The Life Pursuit, like a number of recent albums, is a wormhole into the 1960s – from the pretty girls on the album artwork to the frequent whirls of Hammond organ, descending scales and male/female vocal harmonies aplenty. [...]

Arcade Fire – Funeral (February 28th 2005, Rough Trade Records) Funeral is a piece of theatre – from the lamenting piano at the opening of this album to Régine Chassagne’s soaring voice at the close of In The Backseat. There’s gentle moments, like Chassagne’s poignant vocal turn on Haiti, but in the main this is [...]

Franz Ferdinand – S/T (February 9th 2004, Domino Records) Franz Ferdinand’s eponymous debut was the musical equivalent of an esteemed member of the aristocracy launching a bottle of champagne against a ship; their collection of brooding four-minute tours de force single-handedly relaunched indie as a fashionable, Radio 1 A-List genre after a couple of years [...]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell (April 28th 2003, Polydor Records) Fever To Tell is one of those albums you’ll love or hate. At first, my relationship was one of hate, but hearing Maps for the first time changed all that. One of the singles of the decade (if not the single of the [...]

Doves – The Last Broadcast (April 29th 2002, Heavenly Records) The Last Broadcast is the pinnacle of Doves’ career. Richer in sound and in scope than their melancholy debut Lost Souls, almost every track leaves an indelible mark.

The Avalanches – Since I Left You (April 16th 2001, XL Recordings) The wait for The Avalanches’ second album flatters Axl Rose’s reputation as a superb timekeeper, and when they produced a first album of such high quality as Since I Left You, it’s no wonder, really.

Doves – Lost Souls (April 3rd 2000, Heavenly Records) The first of many debut longplayers in this top 50 of sorts, Doves made their breakthrough with a downbeat yet beautiful record that still managed to evoke the same sense of euphoria as their Sub Sub days.