I've been pretty far removed from both electronic music and hip hop for a few years and never ventured too far into the experimental side of it because I simply didn't know where to look. Judging by this 3 CD collection, I should have been looking at Coldcut's Ninja Tune label. Almost every track on here has something to recommend it, and a good deal of it is ridiculously good. This is cheating since almost none of these tracks are from this year, but whatever.

If there's a fault with this album it's that it's too long; there's some undeniable filler here. But the album as a whole is boyed by "The Shining" and "Fall in a River" which firmly place BDB in the class of excellent song writers to keep watching.

The first full-length Piano Magic album not partially made of up previous single/ep releases; as its obstensivly a (shock and horror) concept album dealing with love letters at the dawn of WWII, the songs drift together in a much more fluid manner than on previous efforts. Finally solidified into a stable band unit rather than one guy, a few other guys, and occasionally a girl fiddling with electronics and dropping aural TMC allusions, "artists rifles" is a fully rounded, beautifully realised work of art.

The hype machine worked hard to extinguish hopes for a number of anticipated records this year, and for a many people those albums came up short. In some cases they were right (Modest Mouse), and in some cases they were wrong (Kid A). I've argued with others that the album as solid as an experiment, but I know that I wasn't being honest and was couching the argument so I wouldn't have to justify the fairly baseless feeling that I love this record, every blip and bleep of it. I know it's Berlin/Bowie/Eno redux, I know it's warmed over Warp. But it shows a lot of variety and it doesn't go on too long. This is an album Radiohead likely had to make; OK Computer was a hard act to follow, and it couldn't be done without doing something entirely new (for them).

2000 was the Year of the Koz. His ugly mug a constant presence in Almost Famous as the bassist of fictional band Stillwater; Red House Painters' cover of "All Mixed Up" as the soundtrack to the holiday GAP ad bonanza; Mark memorialized by Mojave 3 on their most recent album as "Krazy Koz"; and, after a long silence due to label and tax problems, music! SF label Badman has released the Kozelek-driven Tribute to John Denver, featuring two RHP tracks, notably their roaring instrumental deconstruction of "Fly"; and this short album, the first of two, mostly solo reinterpretations of AC/CD songs (the second, "What's Inside of the Moon?" is due out early 2001). Kozelek's method of covers -- use the bad lyrics and set them to new, incontrovertibly Kozelek music -- is nothing he hasn't done before. And I admit it probably won't win any converts from the unconvinced. Still, his falsetto on "Ain't got a hold on me" was one of the prettiest sounds I've heard all year. "Ruth Marie" is a high water mark for Kozelek's songcraft, proof that he can indeed remove himself from his own miserablist personality long enough to write a song in another voice (and it's a beautiful song).

(Old Ramon, Red House Painters' long delayed 1997 album, comes out on Too Pure in March.)

This is British pop-music at its snotty, tongue in cheek best. Catchy tunes, exquisite arrangements, pretty girl. It helps that the subject matter is grim and the band is bleeding to death on the covers of the singles. The packaging is a nod to the Beatles in its packaging: remove the styling wrap and you inside get full technicolour shots of sides of beef. It's a heavy handed visualisation of what Luke Haines up to on these compositins: sugary melody and dire sentiment. If at times it sounds like Kate Bush fronting Saint Etienne (the creepy "Deverell Twins"), so be it. There's a lot of talk about driving on this album and after having visited London this past year and spent some time in cars there, I can see the morbidity inherent in the subject.

This is the fall's 29th studio album, although it's only the second release by this iteration of the band. Unlike The Marshall Suite, which sometimes sounded like an elaborate bombasitic studio experiment orchestrated by outsiders (which it was), here Julia Nagle and the other upstarts have acquired a more recognizable Fall groove. Most of the time, the Unutterable sounds like a cohesive band that's been playing together for a while, but not long enough for them to get sick of Smithy's attitude. The lead-off, "Cyber Insekt," stands along "Spinetrack" as one of the most infectiously catchy Fall songs of recent memory; the closer, "Das Katerer," the mock-deutsched band version of a piece that appeared on MES's spoken word effort "The Post Nearly Man" as a weird, out of key, tuneless thing, is transformed into a dance pop smash, like New Order with fits. Even the track Mark doesn't sing ("Hands up Johnny") is a good rave up. Of course the lyrics are more difficult to understand than ever (and probably not as good), but whatever. The Fall are punk rock's weirdest and longest running experiment. They succeed more often than they fail. This one doesn't embarrass.

1: death cab for cutie: we have the facts and we're voting yes and
forbidden love ep

Death Cab For Cutie have unfortunately been the recipients of a shit-storm of hype which, I think, unfairly turned off some people who would otherwise enjoy them. Their loss. The melodies and dynamics of both of this years DCFC recordings are the strongest I've heard in indie rock this side of Built to Spill, with lyrical dexterity and depth to boot. These were the kinds of songs I was certain would fall apart live; while not being obviously glossy, the playing seemed a little too perfect do not have been achieved through innumerable takes and overdubs. I was wrong. With the ep released late this year, DCFC have delivered the hardest driving, most ear-catching, melodically addicting song of the year: Song for Kelley Huckaby. Wherever she is, she should be proud.