Escape Artist's Top 50 albums of the 21st Century Part 3: The Top Ten

10. Fugazi - The Argument (Dischord, 2001)

As engrossingly ear-splitting as hardcore punk can be, it's a genre that has always been constrained by its limitations. After all, it's hard not to become desensitized, musically and lyrically, when the volume dial is permanently switched to maximum. So a permanent hats off to Ian MacKaye, Guy Picciotto and Fugazi for consistently innovating in a genre that's often rabidly resistant to change.

Fugazi has been on hiatus since 2002, the band keeping busy with other projects and MacKaye industriously beavering away with DIY punk label Dischord and generally performing the duties of a DC punk legend. They did leave us with a rather special gift before dispersing to the four punkwinds*, however. The Argument is one of those rare, great punk albums which functions equally as a right-on, chest-beating pogo marathon and as an armchair chin-stroker. 'Full Disclosure' and 'Epic Problem' offer up anthemic, driving choruses for those looking to lose themselves in the squall, the latter such a dynamic piledrive of stunning riffs and guitar breakdowns that if it hits your headphones on the Tube, you're virtually obligated to make a dick of yourself. But beyond the categories in which we've always known Fugazi excel, The Argument pushes and strains to deliver delights rarely offered on a punk record. The smooth licks and handclaps of 'Life and Limb'; 'The Kill''s strangely detached glimpse into ultranationalism and martyrdom, complete with spooky death-rattle denouement; the dual-drum percussion opening of 'Ex-Spectator'. If hardcore as a genre is held back by the constant need to prove something (whether musical, political or lyrical), then The Argument is a classic precisely because it was made by a band who, after 15 years of keeping the faith, have absolutely nothing left to prove.

*Like normal winds, except if you get too close they'll kick you in the crotch and give you a fierce lecture about how many children lost fingers to make your jeans.

9. Tomahawk - Tomahawk (Ipecac, 2001)

In my MOJO piece on this album, I described ex-Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton as "chameleonic". It's a suitable way of describing Patton's hyperactive genre-skipping, his career taking in thrash metal, hip hop, country, folk, jazz and funk, with Patton's elastic voice stretching itself to fit the mood. But I failed to acknowledge that there's something, whether with FNM, Fantomas, Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle or any of the other multitude of Patton's projects, that ties together his performances. There's always a smokescreen of silliness disguising a hint of murder. The particular strain of silliness deviates between records, from Mr. Bungle's absurdist carnival to the flights of pulp fantasy in evidence throughout Fantomas' discography. But no matter the atmosphere, there's always a snake lurking in the long grass.

A loose concept album, exploring the fetid mind-swamp of an archetypal rural serial killer, Tomahawk is the album where this murderous impulse is truly set loose. With his bandmates (comprising a sort of underground supergroup, with members from The Jesus Lizard, Helmet and The Melvins), Patton employs layers of deranged guitar noise, ambient electronics and mad lyricism to create an atmosphere that plays on the common nightmare of dark cabins in dark woods populated by dark, delusional creatures. On 'Malocchio', frenzied buzzsaw guitars accompany Patton's triumphant beast: "And now that I'm standing, nervous organs dangling from you/ I'm blushing like red roses, the earth is my whorehouse. My zoo." The album was recorded in Nashville and it feels like Tennessee's subtropical humidity has seeped into its bones, with 'Jockstrap' and 'Cul De Sac' providing sneering twists on southern rock and bluegrass respectively. The thing that separates this album from all the other experimental novelties, however, is its evocative musicianship and attention to song structure, making Tomahawk at once disturbing and endlessly listenable.

8. My Morning Jacket, Z (ATO, 2005)

Though I would happily defend 2008's oft-derided Evil Urges with fists if necessary, the inimitable glory of Z remains My Morning Jacket's finest moment so far, which, given the quality of the band's back catalogue, buys it a ticket straight into the top 10. Z guides the listener, hand-in-hand, through the songbook of the American heartland, interpreting the varied guitar-driven movements of the 20th century whilst maintaining MMJ's core identity, guided by principal songwriter Jim James' assured hand. So yes, there are soaring chorus lines ('Anytime'), there is slow-burning windswept rock ('Dondante'), and there's the earnest sense of adventure that has seen the band tunnel its way into our heart sockets over the last decade. But we always knew the band could pulverise in that arena. Z introduced us to all the things we had no idea MMJ could do. We had no idea they could execute R 'n' B and Caribbean rhythm so effortlessly as they do on opening tracks 'Wordless Chorus' and 'It Beats 4 U', for a start. And breakout single 'Off The Record' might begin in fertile James territory, all chugging guitars and catchy rhythm, but then it takes an inspired left turn into an extended breakdown that evokes the best of the British psychedelic wig-out and 70s French synth-pop.

So Z extended the band's range and paved the way for Evil Urges' grand experiment whilst managing to be the most concise and economic expression of My Morning Jacket's appeal. And it managed these grand accomplishments without sacrificing any of those classic MMJ moments that fans have come to know, love, and bloody well expect.

Side note: We did it! We got through an entire retrospective review of Z without once mentioning the band's "comfort zone"! Somebody grab the champagne, we're hitting the town tonight!

7. Roots Manuva - Slime & Reason (Big Dada, 2008)

UK hip hop is in rude health today, but 10 or 15 years ago it was floundering in the garage doldrums, suffocated by slicker, more marketable US releases. At a time when the game was pushing the underground out, the British scene reacted by changing the rules. Ditching huge production costs and prioritising artistic vision over courting the charts, UK underground hip hop embraced its own grim version of electronic music, spawning a fertile breeding ground that takes in grime, dubstep, dancehall and above all an almost fetishistic worship of the bassline. Stockwell MC/producer Roots Manuva's Run Come Save Me (not to mention his debut Brand New Second Hand, released in 1999) felt like the first broadside in the British assault. In a genre with such a predilection for aggrandising the drama of working class life, Manuva's revelling in the inanities of life was a refreshing shift towards the ugly truth.

Run Come Save Me was a landmark record anchored by one of the finest hip hop cuts found anywhere ('Witness (1 Hope)'), but Brigadier Smythe improves every time out of the gates, and 2008's Slime & Reason is hands-down his finest work. Manuva's flirtation with dancehall and ragga evolved into a full-blown romance on Slime & Reason, popping out vivid party babies like 'Buff Nuff', 'Do Nah Bodda Mi' and 'Again & Again'. But in between there are refined echoes of the lyrical and musical heaviness on show on 2005's Awfully Deep, delving into broken homes ('The Show Must Go On'), misguided, betrayed youth ('It's Me Oh Lord') and Manuva's ambiguous relationship with God previously explored in 2001 on 'Sinny Sin Sins' (revisited on 'Let The Spirit'). Roots Manuva typifies the rebellious microcosm that's flourishing in London, embracing its own unique heritage and flying in the face of American hip hop's received wisdom. After all, if you can't beat 'em, fuck 'em.

Side note: I once met Roots Manuva on a train at Surbiton. He was nice. I almost pissed myself. Also, the reason I rambled on so much about the British scene and Run Come Save Me is that I wrote a fairly lengthy review of Slime & Reason for Londoners and didn't want to repeat myself. So for a more in-depth, track-by-track affair, check out my review.

6. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant, 2006)

From the first chiming chords of epic opener 'Stuck Between Stations', The Hold Steady's third record hits you look like an ice-cold bucket of distilled awesome. That's not in question. Shredding through 11 tracks of warm, welcoming rock 'n' roll that definitively answers the question of what would happen if Springsteen had he been born 15 years later and joined The Replacements*, Boys & Girls... sees a great, tight rock 'n' roll band at their greatest and tightest. The likes of 'Massive Nights', 'Hot Soft Light' and 'Chips Ahoy!' are musclebound fist-pumpers executed with such conviction and musicianship (replete with exquisite 'whoa whoaaaa' choruses) that it's little surprise that the band owns live venues on a nightly basis.

That's what makes Boys & Girls an excellent record. What makes it a classic is that, beyond the exultation of the first few spins, it continues to reward the listener over months and years. Craig Finn's distinctive vocals, delivering dense reams of prose in a husky half-shout, are the heart and soul of the album, giving the driving riffs meaning and context and elevating them from simple feel-goodery. Much has been made of Finn's literary references, but his lyrics are far more than a list of look-what-I've-read pomp - they're actually refreshingly direct, charting the highs and lows of a cast of fresh-faced young invincibles over a span of half-remembered nights out. Finn creates incredibly poignant vignettes of the young and foolish, bringing a poetry to youthful abandon that never loses sight of the painful difference between the drug-enhanced fantasy and the stark reality of the morning after.

A party album that refuses to forget the resulting hangover, Boys & Girls... mirrors the bittersweet house party experience, providing the initial rush with epic guitar riffs and rousing choruses, then echoing the gradual comedown and dawn paranoia with frontman Craig Finn's studied, lacerating lyrics.

*Let's start a new literary trend of alternative-history music biographies, starting with a story that presupposes Henry Rollins became principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in the late 80s. Publishers - call me!

5. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (Universal Motown, 2008)

For most artists, there's a natural barrier between the imagination and the final work. It's the barrier of reality and pragmatism that gradually dilutes that pure vision that exists in the head before outside logic steps in to explain what can and can't be done, to reconstruct and compromise. It's the barrier that all true artists are trying to overcome.

Never has an album sounded so pure of vision than Erykah Badu's New Amerykah. Its 11 tracks take us on an unsupervised, unfiltered tour of Badu's firing synapses and zipping neurons; her lyrics come in hoarse flows that seem to catch melodies incidentally, as if the listener has suddenly become privy to the rhymes Badu whispers to herself when no one's listening. Musically, it's her most varied and fearless album to date, taking in vintage funk samples ('Amerykahn Promise'), neo-jazz ('Telephone'), beat-driven electronic elegance ('The Healer') and caustic hip hop ('The Cell'). But while she collaborated with a host of producers (Madlib, 9th Wonder, various members of the Sa-Ra collective), it's Badu's serene, towering presence that infuses the record through that sensual voice. Her lyrics are an immersive mix of personal, political and spiritual, whether making a case for the all-consuming power of hip hop on 'The Healer', stepping in to the role of resistance leader on 'My People' or lamenting the ravages of drugs on 'The Cell' and 'That Hump'. As is fitting for an album that plays like a direct wiretap into Badu's brain, each track finds her in a different mood or adopting a different persona. On 'Me' we find her contented and matronly, accepting all sides of her being: "Everything around you see/ the Ankhs the wraps the plus degrees/ And yes even the mystery...it's all me". On 'Soldier' she's a zealous firebrand in full-flight, ready to "keep marchin on/ Till we hear that freedom song/ And if you think about turnin back/ I got the shot gun for your back". Perhaps most poignant is her emotional address to lost friend J Dilla on 'Telephone': "Just fly away to heaven, brother/ make a place for me brother". It's a vulnerable, hopeful moment on an record that lays bear an artist's life and soul - a record that demands, and deserves, our full attention.

4. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (Grand Royal, 2000)

At some point (usually somewhere around hour three of the Great Led Zep Discussion at age 16), most music geeks get to mentioning "rock 'n' roll alchemy" - that indefinable magic that turns a collection of synchronised components into so much more than the sum of its parts. It's what makes great bands great, and it's the reason that the break-up of At The Drive-In, mere months after discovering their own alchemical miracle with third album Relationship of Command, is such a tragedy. It was all inevitable, of course, with Class As, fracturing creativities and non-stop tour exhaustion all playing their parts in the slow-burn car crash. Not to mention At the Drive-In had to live with the paradox of being determinedly against slam-dancing at shows whilst playing the most unleashed brand of post-hardcore passion that anyone had heard in years. The band now reside in two separate groups (The Mars Volta and Sparta), both excellent but neither quite harnessing the magic that poured out of them via At the Drive-In.

But better to break-up after writing your best album than before, I suppose. And we'll always have Relationship of Command to cradle us through the nights of sobbing and soundtrack our fantasies of (long-rumoured, still unlikely) reunion. ATD-I's best album is simply a force of nature, a maelstrom of guitars and electric energy that must be heard to be believed. From the opening rattlesnake salvo of 'Arcarsenal', the listener is delivered a tsunami-force ultimatum: come with us, or be left behind. Those willing to let go and ride the hurricane are hit with a sonic barrage that rarely lets up (and then only to heighten the next detonation). Vocalist Cedric Bixler (now Cedric Bixler-Zavala) punctuates the whirlwind with intoxicating (and nigh-impenetrable) lyricism covering drug addiction, intercontinental tension, oppression and alien-infested space stations. His wordplay is engaging ("Paramedics fell into the wound like rehired scabs at a barehanded plant, an anaesthetic penance beneath the hail of contraband" is a line worthy of the finest imaginations), but it's his wild, unstudied delivery that ensures every line resonates on a gut level. We might never know the specifics, but Bixler's final words on striding epic 'Quarantined' feel appropriate both as an exploration of the creative process and a suitable epitaph for a band that exploded so brightly at the turn of the century: "A single spark can start a spectral fire".

3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar/4AD, 2008)

Anyone who has shown even a passing interest in Justin Vernon's Bon Iver will be aware of the circumstances of For Emma, Forever Ago's recording, which has by now been indelibly inscribed in the annals of folk history. Vernon, following the break-up of his previous band (DeYarmond Edison) and the disintegration of a relationship, still weak from the after-effects of glandular fever, retreated to a remote cabin in the wilds of his native Wisconsin to convalesce. While there, he recorded a set of songs that mixed reflections on relationships past with the wintry natural imagery around him.

I'm usually happy to largely divorce albums from the circumstances of their creation (it seems to encourage a myth-making process that prioritises the cult of personality over music), but in this case the background informs the shape of the songs to such a great extent that it's impossible. Because For Emma, Forever Ago is essentially a one-man therapy session, scored by an unspeakably beautiful guitar/voice interplay and the spectral presence of the forest outside. Through the nine tracks we catch glimpses of his emotional recovery, from the pained remembrance of a lost love on album opener 'Flume' ("Sky is womb and she's the moon"), through the exquisite torture of 'The Wolves (Act I and II)', on which the climactic, clattering percussion might bring to mind Vernon's gibbering demons scratching at the walls of the cabin as he intones a protective mantra in an attempt to keep them out ("What might have been lost - don't bother me"). Throughout, Vernon employs his stunning falsetto, often double-tracked to add texture, as an accompanying instrument as much as a conveyer of words. By the time we reach the serene beauty of final track 're: stacks', Vernon seems to have reached a resolution to cast off grief and live happy in the knowledge that past love is no less real, as long as it's remembered: "This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realisation/ It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away/ Your love will be/ Safe with me."

2. Deftones - White Pony (Maverick, 2000)

White Pony was the moment that Deftones definitively cast off any nu-metal affiliations (which were always a nonsense - the band so quickly outpaced the nu-metal fraternity that they were probably the first to bang the final nail in that ugly genre's coffin) and effectively rendered any categorisation of the band's sound moot. They're simply Deftones, existing defiantly apart from heavy metal, in a league of their own creation.

Not that they're incapable of liquifying a listener's internal organs with pure molten ferocity. 'Elite' is one of the most vicious metal tracks in existence, Steph Carpenter's guitar shredding at a merciless pace behind Chino Moreno's howling vocals ("When you're ripe/ You'll bleed out of control"). What elevates White Pony from mere sound and fury is a sense of musical and lyrical freedom that often flies in the face of genre expectation (much to the chagrin of the lapsed Deftones fans that never really got them in the first place). 'Teenager', for instance, is a polar counterpoint to the murderous rage of 'Elite', a swaying beat accompanied by a soft Spanish guitar arpeggio and DJ Frank Delgado's ambient electronics. And, somehow, it's still just as much Deftones.

The album, and the band in general, is filled with pleasing paradoxes. But the strange truth is that Deftones are proudly Romantic with a capital R, an updated artery of Gothic literature, melding music and words to revel in the little details. Moreno's lyrics are far more interested in evoking mood than meticulously detailing scenes. And the mood on White Pony is overwhelmingly sexual - even the album's title refers to a dream that supposedly represents sexual discovery. 'Feiticeira' and 'Passenger' form a thematic duo that place characters in cars (one in the back seat, one tied up in the trunk), basking in an imperious sensual energy. It all culminates on lead single 'Change (In the House of Flies)', with its explosive chorus mirroring the thunderous physical metamorphosis described by Moreno: "I watched you change/ It's like you never/ Had wings". As an album, White Pony remains a stunningly complete and shockingly overlooked work of art.

1. Arcade Fire - Funeral (Merge, 2004)

Arcade Fire are a pretty unique proposition, having produced two albums that both deserve consideration as the very best this luminescent century have offered up so far. Both Funeral and 2007 follow-up Neon Bible are unmistakeably conjoined by Arcade Fire's distinctive orchestral arrangement, but separated by the very different atmospheres they create. While Funeral turns grief and recovery into a communal experience, a flowering human fireworks display, Neon Bible takes those melodramatic concepts and places them in a dark vacuum. While the overriding image on listening to Funeral is the emotional hustle and bustle of the masses crammed on top of one another in rows of tenement buildings, Neon Bible brings to mind apocalyptic chanting coming from a lonely barn on a stormy plain at night, far from anywhere.

Although I was tempted to issue a massive "fuck you" to my own rules and crown these two albums as joint champions (especially as they work so well as distorted reflections of each other), I finally had to grow a pair and declare Funeral, Arcade Fire's first epic transmission to the world, my favourite album of the decade. It was the defining album to stray from the Strokes/Interpol trend of lyrical detachment and austere guitars to unabashedly adopt grand emotion and sweeping scope. Since then, many bands have attempted to make such lofty gestures, but none have come close to reaching the sumptuous embrace that Arcade Fire achieved on Funeral.

And what a warm embrace it is. Funeral might have been named on account of the spate of family deaths that the band experienced while recording the album, but this music is anything but funereal. It's a celebration, despite Win Butler and Regine Chassagne's lyrical exploration of the dark recesses of grief and self-deception. Opener 'Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)' is a piano-led slow-burner, culminating in an invigorating guitar/piano freakout and Pixies-esque vocal harmonies. In fact, a large proportion of tracks, notably 'Wake Up' and 'Rebellion (Lies)' end with an extended joyous sing-a-long, accompanied by the band's full range of instruments, including strings, horns, organ, accordion and added percussion. If this album's a funeral, it is undoubtedly in the grand gospel/South American tradition of expressing jubilance for the possibilities of life rather than commiserating the inevitability of death.

'Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)' is the towering centrepiece that crystallises the album's themes and sets the band's musical template. A roaring central riff never slows throughout the song, softening only to be pierced by triumphantly chiming glockenspiel. In using the concept of a power outage to explore the idea of a young generation desperately trying to reignite a fire on which their parents have long since given up ("And the power's out in the heart of man; take it from your heart, put it in your hand"), 'Power Out' also sets out Funeral's manifesto - a passionate expression of the tiny cries of human suffering and joy, ultimately washed away by the enormous clatter of the big picture. While it's always depressing to reflect on the utter insignificance of our lives, Arcade Fire make such a joyously melodic racket that, for all its emotional brutality, Funeral ultimately picks us up, dusts us off and warmly invites us to dance the darkness away.