In no particular order:

The Strokes: Is This It (2001)
Wow, what an album to start the decade with. The UK scene was still trying to work out what to do after the declining years of Britpop but with not much success, and then these Brooklin boys came along and put the cool back into the indie pop scene – skinny jeans-a-go-go!

Gorillaz: Demon Days (2005)
What are they? Are they cartoon characters, are they a rock band? All I know is Damon Albarn’s comic band have livened and cheered up many headphones. What other justification do you need for this album to be part of the this list? It’s got Sean Rider singing on DARE!.

The XX: xx (2009)
Possibly my only dark and moody album on the list. I haven’t seen it on any other top 10′s or even top 100′s and it’s a massive shame as it is one of the best, most original albums in a long, long time. Lonely, bleak, sensitive, reclusive – it ticks all these boxes. Without doubt the best album cover of the decade as well. I just wish that Country File or any other BBC news reporting show would stop using it.

Radiohead: In Rainbows (2007)
Lots of debate about Radiohead – would they ever do a better album than the all conquering OK Computer (1997)? They nearly did; on two occasions. Kid A (2000) carved a disturbed, bleak (post guitar) landscape with hardly any songs, much to the dismay of the many who had jumped on the Radiohead band wagon. In Rainbows on the other hand was a return to form with both electronic, guitars and tunes! To top it all off, they gave it away for free (almost). I dare you to listen to Nude and not be stunned by the tranquil beauty of Thom Yorke’s voice.

Hot Chip: The Warning (2006)
Yes, they are bizarre, yes they are totally geeky, and yes, they aren’t exactly the most charasmatic bunch of guys ever to come along, but Hot Chip help make nerds cool. The Warning is a great breakthrough album, bringing dance and indie together, all while singing about monkeys and miniature cymbals. What more do you need? Get the kids jumping!

Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Catchy, arty, Scottish. Franz Ferdinand followed the wave that The Strokes brought with them but made the sound much more pop and radio friendly. They also brought skinny ties and fringes back – always a good thing…

The White Stripes: The White Stripes (2001)
Perhaps the most design directed band of the decade – their use of the colours red, white and black is almost communist-like – someone must have written some fantastic brand guidelines for them. Jack White without doubt, the best guitarist of our generation, Meg; possibly the worst drummer. But for what she lacked in beats she gave back in her sultry looks.

Amy Winehouse: Back To Black (2006)
They tried to make me go to rehab, I said, “No, no, no”. I don’t need to say much more than that?

Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)
A rock band from Montreal – who would have thought it? Possibly the most played to death album in the list, but you can certainly see why. I blame the Arcade Fire for the reason that we have to listen (or not) to Mumford & Sons…

The Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
Well I had to have the band that broke MySpace – the band that made the tabloid news go into pandemonium even before they had release a single or had signed to a record label. The Arctic Monkeys showed us all that the UK music scene was more than alive and kicking – it was screaming! Their energy and intensity was just draw dropping – it made every other band sound just a little lazy.

We’ve seen epic movie-style videos, huge budgets spent on blowing things up, turning singers into cyborgs, or having endless well-endowed ladies shaking their thang, dripping in diamonds. So what could the future hold for music videos…Earlier today my attention was brought to the website of the New York duo ‘Broken Bells’ who appear to have parented the new generation of music video; a wholly interactive digital experience to accompany their latest track ‘The Ghost Inside’. Not only is the song particularly good, but I found myself falling madly in love with the notion of creating my own video to accompany it.

I think this is a great idea and hopefully there’ll be yet further exploration of how bands can use these channels to create their videos. In the meantime have a play around yourselves, it’s good fun, and also really rather addictive…

This music video is such a joy to watch, taking a ‘mini-swipe’ at the ad boys. It’s by Los Angeles rock band OkGo (produced by Syyn Labs) who are famous for their cleverly choreographed music videos. The premise is nothing new, but they’ve taken it to another level in sheer scale, you can’t help but be dazzled by it.  Next, I’ll rant about T-Mobile and social media…

Click here to view the embedded video.

So you might have heard of and seen one of these Yamaha TENORI-ON machines (in fact Nathan blogged about Little Boot’s rendition of Hot Chip’s Ready for the floor a while back now) the new instrument that mixes musical beats and lightshow into one neat product, but have you actually had the chance to play on one? Seeming they cost just shy of £900, I’m guessing that you haven’t and that you probably won’t be able to afford one either. But fear not, André Michelle has created this cool flash version called ToneMatrix that you can tap away on to your hearts content. Ace. Check it out!

‘Media artist Toshio Iwai and Yamaha have collaborated to design a new digital musical instrument for the 21st century, TENORI-ON. A 16×16 matrix of LED switches allows everyone to play music intuitively, creating a “visible music” interface.’

Anyway, it’s expensive, £700 quid, but there is a downloadable pdf to make a paper version in these hard times, and you’ll have to make the noises yourself… I digress, while trying to be vaguely design  related.

So changing the subject slightly, Toshio Iwai turns out to be a pretty interesting and talented bloke, ‘Iwai is the first internationally-recognized gallery artist also to have led the creation of several successful commercial video game projects. This cross-disciplinary ability typifies Iwai’s career’. Turns out he is the designer of Electroplankton on the Nintendo DS. There’s an interesting interview with him here over at pixelsurgeon:

PS: I met with some people from Yamaha recently and they talked with me about the challenge of designing new instruments because the standard piano, the violin and so on are so established.

TI: Yes, traditional instruments such as piano and violin have been improved and made sophisticated by many people for a long time. I think it is very difficult to create a brand new instrument in this modern age, but I believe it is worthwhile to challenge this. Even ones like the piano and violin used to be completely new instruments. I am impressed by the fact that these new instruments fascinated many musicians and audiences, and new music and culture saw the light. [Read on]

Anyway, so back to the music, here’s a video of Little Boots playing Hot Chip’s Ready For the Floor on a Tenori-On… which is almost as good as the soulwax remix.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So here we are at the start of 2009: a great time indeed to reflect on the previous year and more importantly what tunes we’ve been listening to.  But before I run down our definitive top ten list, I thought I’d share with you what other ‘proper musios’ had been listening to. Keep a look out for the definitive TP top ten of 2008 soon!

NME
1. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
3. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
4. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
5. Foals – Antidotes
6. Metronomy – Nights Out
7. Santogold – Santogold
8. Mystery Jets – 21
9. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
10. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires

Uncut
1. Portishead – Third
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
4. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
6. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
7. Neon Neon – Stainless Style
8. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
9. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
10. Paul Weller – 22 Dreams

Q
1. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
4. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
5. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
6. Duffy – Rockferry
7. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
8. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
9. Raconteurs – Consolers Of The Lonely
10. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

The Observer
1. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Amadou And Mariam – Welcome To Mali
3. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
4. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
5. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
6. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
7. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
8. Kanye West – 808s And Heartbreak
9. Portishead – Third
10. TV On The Radio – Dear Science