tommo

---#30---

Jill Scott - Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1
(soul, r&b)

Appealing and slinky contemporary soul/r&b that boasts a level of enjoyment and replay value that belies it's apparently simplistic sound. Scott's voice is lovely, expressive and very smooth, while the instrumentation and production is quite elegant, all graceful strings, soft percussion and subtle piano lines. A very pleasant surprise indeed.

---#29---

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
(alt-country)

Having first heard Adams' more recent, scattershot efforts like Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights (which weren't bad, they just weren't that great either), I found myself really pleased with Heartbreaker. It's a well-balanced, constantly great album of alt-country tunes, all of which turn the genre's twangy cliches up just enough that it constantly rides on the good side of the line between lovable and outright cheesy. "Come Pick Me Up" is especially great - a "screw me over and I'll ask for more" anthem that's become a new personal favourite.

---#28---

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(post-rock)

The opening dozen minutes of Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (aka "Storm" parts 1 and 2) is quite possibly the best stretch of music on any album released in 2000. The build up and crescendo of Part 1 and the soaring midsection of Part 2 are so uplifting, powerful and beautifully played that, even after dozens (probably hundreds) of listens, they send a huge shiver down my spine. The remainder of the album is a little overlong and unfocused, making it my least favourite effort in the Godspeed catalogue, but there's so many good bits hidden throughout it's near 2 hour runtime that it still stands head and shoulders above 95% of post-rock.

---#27---

Quasimoto - The Unseen
(experimental hip-hop)

With its pitch-shifted vocals, near-incomprehensible background murmurs, bountiful sampladelic weirdness and severely fractured structure, The Unseen, Madlib's debut under his Quasimoto alias, presents a brand of abstract hip-hop so liquid and hazy, it feels as though it must have been recorded direct from Quas' weed-fueled dreams.

---#26---

Tim Perkins and Alan Moore - The Highbury Working
(spoken-word, electronic, experimental-rock)

Comics madman Alan Moore rants his way through an impassioned spoken-word narrative of the secret, mystical history of London's Highbury area, backed by Perkins' boggy, noirish instrumentation. As a renowned author, Moore obviously has a way with words, and there's a certain delight to the way he delivers lines like "Highbury wasn't at Death's door, it was halfway down Death's passage, hanging up its coat." His voice seems like an awkward fit for a music album - his vocals more or less match the way he talks the rest of the time, as though he's speaking through a thick layer of mud while someone walks along his vocal chords - but it works, and as the story unfolds his delivery becomes increasingly intense. By the time the triumphant finale of "The Angel Highbury" hits, it's become downright thrilling.