Jwslubbock, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Has the light gone out for you?
Because the light’s gone out for me
It is the 21st century
It is the 21st century

Radiohead, “Bodysnatchers”

We’re about one quarter into the new century and humanity’s most significant achievement is that we’ve accelerated the timeline of our extinction.

How ironic that the species that markets itself as the crowning achievement of either creation or evolution represents the single greatest threat to life on earth. Having built a world where there is no general agreement on what’s real and what’s not, we’re now entering the age of virtual reality, where we can entertain ourselves in unreal worlds so we won’t have to deal with unpleasant stuff like planetary destruction.

I guess the good news is that VR will have a very short life span, for unless the VR geniuses can figure out a way to generate virtual bees that can pollinate real crops and virtual icebergs to replace all that polar ice that’s melted away, we are completely fucked.

Meanwhile, human beings continue to make music as our planet rockets toward oblivion. Unfortunately, popular music in the 21st century is dominated by commoditized crapola from über-rich music peddlers who compensate for their lack of talent and imagination with first-rate branding and aggressive social media marketing. On the plus side, genuine artists are still making great music, but you have to work much harder to find them.

The reviews in this section are divided into two sets. The first consists of classic reviews written at least three years after release; the second contains reviews I wrote immediately after release. My original concept for the blog was just that—reviews of new releases focusing on independent and undiscovered artists. When nothing grabbed me on New Release Tuesday, I filled the schedule with reviews of classic albums from yesteryear. After a while, I gave up writing contemporary reviews and focused on the classics.

21st Century Classic Reviews

Featured Artists:

• Oasis
• Radiohead

Collections and Series with 21st Century Albums:

• Britpop
• Great Broads

Other 21st Century Classic Reviews:

• Admiral Fallow – Tree Bursts In Snow
• Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté – In the Heart of the Moon
• Amy MacDonald – This Is the Life
• Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
• Christine and the Queens – Chaleur Humaine
• Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
• Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
• Dressy Bessy – Dressy Bessy
• Frou Frou – Details
• Green Day – American Idiot
• Guided by Voices – Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (The Best of Guided by Voices)
• Imogen Heap – Speak for Yourself
• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Streetcore
• Molly Tuttle – but I’d rather be with you
• Paul Dempsey, Everything Is True
• Peter Frampton – Fingerprints
• Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
• Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous
• Sonny Landreth – Grant Street
• The Cranberries – Stars
• The National – Boxer
• The National – High Violet
• The New Pornographers – Challengers
• The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
• The Jarvis Cocker Record
• Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

21st Century Contemporary Reviews:

• $wingin’ Utter$ – Poorly Formed
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra – Theatre Is Evil
• Anik Jean, Schizophrène
• Beach Day – Native Echoes
• Beach Day – Trip Trap Attack
• Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite – Get Up!
• Brody Dalle – Diploid Love
• Grand Duchy – Let the People Speak
• House of Love – She Paints Words in Red
• Lasorda – Lasorda
• Max Gowan – Restless Heaven
• Meeting of Important People– My Ears Are Having a Heart Attack
• Pyyramids– Brightest Darkest Day
• Rah Rah – The Poet’s Dead
• Sasha Dobson – Aquarius
• Sinéad O’Connor – How About I Be Me and You Be You?
• Sonny Landreth – Elemental Journey
• St. Vincent – St. Vincent
• Sugar Stems – Can’t Wait
• The Connection – Let It Rock
• The Dahlmanns – All Dahled Up
• The Evens – The Odds
• The Vicar – Songbook #1
• West Water Outlaws – West Water Outlaws

These two lists do not capture all of my coverage of the 21st Century. Many of the contemporary reviews I wrote were deleted for one of two reasons—the artist called it quits, or the review itself was not up to my standards. Here is a list of all the contemporary artists whose work I reviewed:

Sad Face, White Rabbits, School of Seven Bells, Mind Spiders, French Letters, Now Now, Anya Marina, The Shins, Jack White, Silversun Pickups, King Charles, Special Goodness, The Grates, Modern Superstitions, Social Studies, James Darren, Stag, Low Level Flight, Anders and Kendall, These Curious Thoughts, Kurt Baker, Boy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Acoustic Disturbance, Erin Passmore, Camera Obscura, Sigur Ros, Beady Eye, Bess McCrary, Sammy Witness, Kate Lynne Logan, Yo La Tengo, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Little Green Cars.