Fucking Dance: British Albums Of The Decade

Over the last few weeks, I asked British bloggers to join in a feature I'll be running on 'British Albums Of The Decade'. The final scores have been totted up so I thought it'd be a good idea to give some of the albums which haven't come in the Top 8 (MySpace was a pretty big feature of the Noughties right?) some due care and attention.

The first set of albums comes from Jamila, who runs the effortlessly cool Fucking Dance blog. She sent me a disclaimer saying she was only 10 years old when the decade started. Which makes me feel a bit like a pensioner, even though I'd only just turned 13. It's my 23rd birthday today, by the way. Shower me with gifts. Anyways, here's what Jamila had to say about her favourite three British albums from 2000-2009.

3. M.I.A - Arular (2005)
Stream at we7.com
Essential listening: 'Galang' and 'Bucky Done Gun'

"What. An. Album. This was like nothing I’d ever heard before because it was like nothing anyone had heard before. Truly a unique collection of songs, and whilst ‘Kala’ miiiight just be better, it didn’t have the same “wtf is this” impact as ‘Arular’ did. Lots of middle ages white people began throwing around the word ‘urban’ to show how in touch they were with the “yoof” after Dizzee’s ‘Boy In Da Corner’ but that is almost incomparable to the amount of people who (wrongly) began to feel like they were on the same page as hyper-intelligent, politically minded inner city kids after they heard tracks like ‘Galang’ and ‘Bucky Done Gun’. A genuine British talent with a mind-expanding album."

2. Whitey – The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train (2005)
Stream at we7.com
Essential listening: 'Non Stop' and 'Y.U.H.2.B.M.2'

"Whitey’s debut forced an appreciation of music in a time gone by. Kraftwerk, Heaven 17, The Human League. As a direct consequence of bands of that ilk, there was this fantastic musical moment in this album where the past merged with the present as well as the future. Electronic synth pop meets angular guitars in oodles of thudding bass. Hah. It doesn’t exactly sound that innovative today, but to my 15-year-old brain it was bizarre, fantastical and one-of-a-kind."

1. PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her (2004)
Stream at we7.com
Essential listening: 'The Letter' and 'Who The Fuck'

"My musical timeline is all over the place, but one of the first albums of this decade that hit me significantly at its time of release was 2004’s ‘Uh Huh Her’ by PJ Harvey. I was a rowdy 14 year old struggling to find my niche, and this album grabbed me by the proverbial balls, shook me up, spun me round then threw me back down. Like nothing I’d heard before, this was my gateway drug to imperfection as perfection and all things distortion. The sleaze of it was (and still is) incredibly intelligent, a world away from the clean-cut R&B pop I was used to listening to. If it weren’t for this album I’d probably be wearing some kind of velvet tracksuit contraption and appearing on Jezza Kyle soon."

+++++

Massive thanks to Jamila for writing up her choices. Pop over to Fucking Dance for her ahead-of-the-game musings. More blogger choices to come over the next week.

I'm running a more open poll (200 entries already compiled) on people's favourite British albums of the decade if anyone fancies joining in. Firstly, check the criteria below then list your three favourite (note: not "best", whatever that means) British albums, ranked in order of importance. Email me at music[at]fadedglamour.co.uk with your choices. You have until midnight on the 21st so have a think and act fast.

CRITERIA:
- UK release date from Jan 1 2000 - well, now.
- Sorry, no Irish albums. Bit of an arbitrary decision, nothing against Northern Ireland/Eire.
- No compilations/soundtracks/reissues.