Number 29: The New Pornographers

Twin Cinema is aparantly the New Pornographers' "experimental" album. Well good. You can't advance very far from the most catchy melodies this decade (sorry James Mercer) and why the fuck would you want to?!

If Cheap Trick were alive today they would be an indie-rock band and they wouldn't be half as good at it as the New Pornographers. Then there's the side projects. AC Newman's excellent debut last year suggested perhaps Carl is as good alone as he is footed by Neko and Dan, and those guys are certainly not slacking themselves. But what we really wait for is there sinergy. The sound of Neko's voice picking up steam and pushing Newman's work over cliffs. The Sound of Newman reining in Dan Bahar's space cadet tendencies. I don't knwo where all this is going, listen to "Sing Me Spanish Techno." Feels significant doesn't it?

Number 30: The Strokes

If you didn't already knwo the album cover looks terrible. Like a P.O.D album cover. If you haven't heard "Juicebox" the first single from the new Strokes album not so universally loved. All signs point to the big fat drop off. The Strokes pedalling their wears to middle America.

There significance however lies in there backlash more than any other band in history(Eminem has em' beat I s'pose). It's not that there enemys make them stronger, they just make them seem like a substantially bigger deal then they would be without them. This album will be the comaprison piece for a million reviews that follow it. When Interpol or the Walkmen release their third albums they will be measured against First Impressions of Earth (I cringe as I type that title), this still could go eaither way. Right?