(Instagram Poll) The Best Albums of 2002
By Nick Caceres
Published 05/08/2025
Picture of the final Orchid performance at The Advocate (Harvard Square) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Photo Courtesy of CVLT Nation
The following list was composed due to this particular year winning in an Instagram poll in late January. Expect to see other vintage years, 2013 and 1996, in the near future.
*Some Compilations and EPs made the cut
*Just my opinion
30. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
Released: 03/25/2002
Label: 679, Locked On, Vice Records
Genre: UK Garage, UK Hip Hop, Alternative Hip Hop
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
It seemed that the young lad, Mike Skinner, went “fuck it” and decided to showcase his rapping skills over classic UK Garage, recording an album in a home studio in Brixton, making his own beats on an IBM Thinkpad and his emptied out closet as a vocal booth. “Original Pirate Material” is an honest journey through “the daily life of a true geezer,” with Skinner’s offputting delivery forcing you to understand where he’s coming from in regards to relationship struggles, alcoholism, and the submerged culture of pirate radios distributing UK Garage in the late 1990s. This album set the bar for UK Hip Hop in the new millennium and, to this day, is club-ready.
29. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Image Courtesy of Fonts In Use
Don’t be fooled by the basic, borderline unimaginative album art, the contents within are anything but. With the idea originating in the earliest years of the band’s existence from Josh Hommes's side project, The Desert Sessions, that served as the breeding grounds for tracks like “You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire” and “Hangin’ Tree” which would exist as only live performances during tours for the previous full-length, “Rated R,” in 2001. “Songs for the Deaf” would be significantly more concept driven, taking the listener on a hedonistic road trip across the California Mojave desert between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, tuning into local FM radio stations from Banning and Chino Hills. To capture the sound Homme would bring in the late singer, songwriter and grunge pioneer, Mark Langean and crummer, Dave Grohl, who would experiment in the studio with claustrophobic production choices and put their technical skills to the test for one of the most monumental Rock albums of the 2000s.
28. The Sleepwalk - Phantasmagoria
Released: ?/?/2002
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Shoegaze, Neo-Psychedelia, Glitch Pop, Dream Pop, Atmospheric Drum and Bass, Math Pop
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Back in 1997, the role-playing adventure game, “Moon: Remix RPG Adventure,” would be released by ASCII Entertainment for the Playstation within Japan. 30 independent artists from across Japan would come together to compose music for the game, one of which was Masaki Oshima, known by his primary artist name, “WATCHMAN,” who was even the drummer for Melt-Banana between 1998 to 2000. Half a decade after contributing his talent to Moon, Oshima would finally release a massive collection of tracks he put together, likely in private, between 1993 and 1996. This timeframe is utterly mind blowing since Oshima unknowingly became one of the first artists to blend Shoegaze with Atmospheric Drum and Bass and Noise Pop, during an era when Shoegaze was still in its classic period. “Phantasmagoria” would be quietly released under the name, “The Sleepwalk,” and while next to nothing known about it’s reception in 2002, it would go on to receive status as a hidden gem in early Shoegaze for managing to capture Kevin Shield’s vision of texture, sounding like their trapped in a nostalgic RPG wonderland.
27. The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Recorded by John Darnielle and his acoustic guitar remotely in central Iowa on a Panasonic RX-FT500 on its last leg, “All Hail West Texas,” is one of the rawest and realist albums in the entire Mountain Goats catalogue. As the cover text conveys, these simple Low-Fidelity tracks string together seven characters with their own unique stories in the mythical land of west Texas, like an adolescent Death Metal band in Denton or a man who peaked in high school being fixed of his issue with the law in a relationship with “Jenny.” On top of this, the distinct droning hums, whirrs and hisses of the RX-FT500 can be seen as a disembodied instrument or tool of realism in how these stories accurately portray small-town angst.
26. Sunn O))) - 3: Flight of the Behemoth
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
The proper follow-up to “ØØ Void” (2000), “3: Flight of the Behemoth” was yet another full-send into drumless Drone Metal from Stephen O'Malley's most recognizable outfit from the blackest depths of Seattle, Sunn O))). Deep droning riffs rattle the brain as a soundtrack to the rising moon in a “behemoth-esque” stride. Even the Japanoise legend, Merzbow, would collaborate on two of the tracks here, offering whirlwinds of feedback and an uncanny piano crashing through the dark room where this album resides.
25. The Drones - Here Come The Lies
Image Courtesy of Genius
Beauty lies in unrestrainedness when it comes to the earliest work of Perth musician, Gareth Liddiard. His studio debut with his band, The Drones, should not be glossed over as a first spark for what’s to come. “Here Come The Lies” is essential to understand the growth of Garage Rock to the likes of The Strokes or The White Stripes at an international scale with Perth being one of the most isolated major cities in the world. Unlike contemporaries, “Here Come The Lies” was significantly more feral and messy than those aforementioned contemporaries, with Liddiard drunkenly stumbling throughout the lyrics in a thick Australian drawl resulting in one of the rawest releases of the year.
24. Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma
Image Courtesy of Discogs
The turn of the century saw the rise of Harsh Noise artists in the west, whether that’s Prurient or Yellow Swans. However, in the midst of this renaissance of the genre, saw the landmark release, “Sheer Hellish Miasma” by the Chicago-based Kevin Drumm. Drumm would enter this realm of music after playing guitar in the improvisational scene during the previous decade in 1997, but it wasn’t until 2002 that he would receive attention for his boundary pushing usage of a laptop and a modular synthesizer among other equipment. “Sheer Hellish Miasma” was a much harsher, forward thinking vessel of brain caressing Noise and Drone, somehow both calm and harsh, throughout its runtime. The album would eventually get a well deserved re-release in 2007 with the inclusion of perhaps one of the best Noise tracks of the 2000s, “Impotent Hummer.”
23. Oxbow - An Evil Heat
Released: 03/19/2002
Label: Neurot Recordings
Genre: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Punk Blues, Post-Rock, Sludge Metal, Drone
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Being the longest wait for an Oxbow album to drop at the time, the San Fran quartet, Oxbow would release one of their most wretched projects to date, a truly “evil heat.” Instead of the uniquely emotional lyricist and amateur fighter, Eugene S. Robinson, meditating on love in “Serenade In Red” (1996), this album would pivot into a gut wrenching, suspenseful meditation on power, sex and religious iconography, relentlessly dragging himself through guilt and shame. This atmosphere is further forged by the signare Oxbow mix of Experimental Rock and Blues in a more pulverised state.
22. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Released: 10/15/2002
Label: Paper Bag, Arts & Crafts International
Genre: Indie Rock, Art Rock, Chamber Pop, Slacker Rock
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
With an outfit that’s been known to include upwards to nearly twenty musicians, their sound immediately post their 2001 debut, “Feel Good Lost,” would metamorphosize to a larger than life display. Kevin Drew, frontman of the Toronto-based band, Broken Social Scene, would attempt to have a more balanced inclusion by turning the instrumentation and experimentation up a notch. “You Forgot It In People” is an emotional explosion of vast Indie Rock that will leave you absolutely floored front to back.
21. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Univers Zen ou de Zéro à Zéro
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
When it comes to uncut hypnotic Psych Rock, Acid Mother Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., composed of lead guitarist, Kawabata Makoto and a circulating table of artists from adjacent connections, are the real deal. Similar to contemporaries like Boredoms and Boris, AMT represent an Eastern revival of the Rock sensibilities throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but what sets them apart is their persistent embrace of Psychedelia in both sound and fashion. Released by the French Indie label, Fractal Recordings, the original version, not the expanded 2003 4LP version, of “Univers Zen ou de Zéro à Zéro,” is an otherworldly washed out sextet of tracks that sound as if they were found in a musty attic in an estate of a baby boomer concealing his sleazy past. Each track showcases a wide spectrum of AMT capability, from the brain caressing acoustic passage and delicate female vocals on “Ange mécanique de Saturne,” the ear piercing sway on “Blues pour bible noire,” and the haunting repeating verse on “Soleil de cristal et lune d'argent.” This album is a highlight in the prolific stew of AMT, who are still active with a small cult following 23 years later.
20. Orchid - Orchid
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Marked as the final installment of one of the most renowned trilogies in Screamo, the self-titled exit of the New England outfit, Orchid, could not have been a more proper sendoff and closure of an era. This time around, Orchid would tone down the Emoviolence found on “Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!” (2000) for something sassier with riffs that feel reminiscent of Black Metal. Orchid have always been more outspokenly political in a similar vein to the Punk scene during the late 1970s, delving into topics of sexuality and philosophy in a daft manner.
19. Carissa’s Wierd - Songs About Leaving
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
One of the most crippling Slowcore essentials out there, “Songs About Leaving” was the third and final album from the Seattle-residing Carissa's Wierd, who originally formed in Tucson, Arizona in 1995 before adding new members to broaden the instrumentation towards a more “chamber” atmosphere. That type of sound molds itself perfectly into these “songs about leaving” which are a brutally honest display of depression through allowing intrusive thoughts to flourish into ruin with overt tracks like "You Should Be Hated Here" and "They'll Only Miss You When You Leave,” telling you exactly what they’re about if you’ve ever struggled with self-loathing.
18. Nas - The Lost Tapes
Released: 09/24/2002
Label: Ill Will Records, Columbia, C2Records
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Boom Bap
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Similar to the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud in 2024, after being awarded by the culture as the victor in a feud with Jay-Z towards the closing of 2001, Brookly rapper, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known professionally as Nas, experienced a revitalization in his career. As a victory lab the following year, preceding the release of “God’s Son” (2002), Nas would drop a collection of previously unreleased and/or leaked tracks for his past two albums. These songs represent some of Nasir’s most consistent and focused work to date with reminiscent spectator lyrics paired with creme of the crop instrumentals from some of the best producers during the turn of the century, ranging from The Alchemist, Poke And Tone, Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie and even early Kanye West. It’s insane to think that these tracks never made it on to those initial albums, but they likely would’ve stolen the show and set an exceedingly high bar.
17. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - House Arrest / Lover Boy
Released: 09/?/2002
Label: Ballbearings Pinatas, Demonstration Bootleg
Genre: Hypnagogic Pop, Psychedelic Pop, Jangle Pop, Slacker Rock, Indie Rock, Minimal Synth
Image Courtesy of Paw Tracks (Web Archive)
Before the days of mainstream successes like “Pom Pom" (2014) L.A. based outsider and novelty talent, Ariel Rosenberg, was young, and inspired to make compelling lo-fi Pop music for the modern age fresh off the high achieved through his self-released CD, “The Doldrums.” In the midst of one of the most prolific periods in his career, recording over 200 cassettes of material throughout the late 90s and early 00s while living a quiet life, partying at art school and then working at a record store. A line of full-lengths would slither out of this mass of artsy Pop music, heavily inspired from R. Steve Moore with two of them dropping as a double CD in 2002. Both “House Arrest” and “Lover Boy” are equally consistent in creating an atmosphere derived from hairspray reeking of West Coast Pop squeezed through an FM radio with Experimental Synth. Both albums were foundational in the formation of Hypnagogic pop that would be further popularized in the latter half of the decade by James Ferraro and Dean Blunt.
16. Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
Released: 11/05/2002
Label: American Recordings, Lost Highway
Genre: Country, Americana, Contemporary Folk
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Being the final album released before Johnny Cash’s death, the fourth installment of “America” had to count. This album is composed of pairings of existing songs from the likes of Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, recontextualized by the production of Rick Rubin lending a helping hand in uplifting Johnny Cash’s sound with backup vocals provided by Nick Cave, Don Henley and Fiona Apple. Even in this current state, every single cover is performed with all of the might of someone with the knowledge that their career, being one of the most legendary in all of Country, is coming to a close.
15. Various Artists - The Fire This Time
Released: 10/28/2002
Label: Hidden Art
Genre: Spoken Word, IDM, Sound Collage, Field Recordings, Dark Ambient, Arabic Classical Music
Image Courtesy of Discogs
One of the most unique releases of 2002 wasn’t an album in the standard sense, it was a rejected documentary. In the spring of 1999, Grant Wakefield and Miriam Ryle would travel to the Baghdad area of Iraq to follow-up on their 1994 TV Documentary, “Voices From Iraq,” by collecting footage, interviews, along with news broadcasts and government and military statements. Their intentions were to use this footage to document the events of the Gulf War on Iraq and its aftermath and consequences in regards to Western geopolitics throughout the 20th Century. However, upon pitching the footage to Channel 4 and BBC World, the project was rejected. The reason? BBC considered it a “rant piece” rather than an objective documentary. Wakefield would then look for alternative methods of distribution, deciding to convert everything into an audio format, working with Hidden Art Recordings to reconstruct the footage into a Spoken Word and Sound Collage collaboration, with artists like Pan Sonic, Michael Strearns, Naseer Shamma and Aphex Twin coming together to uplift the disturbing but necessary contents within. War is hell.
14. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season
Released: 10/28/2002
Label: Go! Beat, Helicon Records, Ukrainian Records
Genre: Contemporary Folk, Chamber Folk, Vocal Jazz, Jazz Pop
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Departing from the indefinite dissolve of Portishead, Beth Gibbons would set out to forge a solo debut for herself, teaming up with ex-Bassist for an equally respected UK group, Talk Talk, Paul Webb, known for his stage name, Rustin Man. Gibbons and Webb would craft a Chamber-derived jazzy sound that would fall “Out of Season” of what both musicians were known for at the time, borrowing inspiration from Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Nick Drake. Gibbon’s vocals are majestically varied across each track, with some of the most organic instrumentation in Pop music of the year.
13. Sweep The Leg Johnny - Going Down Swingin’
Released: 06/24/2002
Label: Southern Records
Genre: Math Rock, Jazz-Rock, Noise Rock, Post-Rock, Post-Hardcore, Berlin School
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
One of the most explosive yet underrated Math Rock masterworks of all time. Sweep The Leg Johnny could be compared to the future Black Country, New Road if they were from the midwestern United States and less dramatic…more manic. Their final album, “Going Down Swingin,” features a perfect polarization in tempo and volume, with the late Steve Sostak on both vocals and saxophone, switching between the two mediums effortlessly along with John Brady on bass and Mitch Cheney on guitar. The band manages to find a way to deceive the listener, by being perfectly aligned with each other both rhythmically and melodically, something that hardly any other band has managed to sustain before and after.
12. Xiu Xiu - Knife Play
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Literally named after a BDSM practice, practically everything about this album was taboo for the time it arrived. It can even be argued that t.A.T.u. was a family friendly program compared to this. In the previous year Jamie Stewart would form Xiu Xiu with past bandmate Cory McCullouch as well as Yvonne Chen and Lauren Andrews. Their debut was a complete and abrupt departure from traditional Rock music, with a heavy use of bombastic synths similar to Suicide but more modern…in a way. The topics range from a variety of different points of views and scenarios such as a preschool teacher who is transgender in “Dr. Toll,” or an unstable young woman wanting her life to end in the hands of a cop in “Suha.” A narratively extreme start to one of the most recognizable experimental acts in the 21st Century.
11. William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Be the American Avant-garde and Ambient composer, William Basinski, diligently cooking up a new project early in the morning in his Brooklyn apartment. You had recently uncovered a tape that you previously used to sample an unknown source from shortwave radio twenty years prior. However, when transferring them from analog to digital, because they had been unattended for such a long time, the magnetic tapes are deteriorating in real time. You decide to let the captured sound speak for itself when commotion starts to gather outside. It’s 9/11. This coincidence led to a complete reinterpretation of the project or in his words a “new meaning.” Watching from the rooftop of his apartment building with friends, Basinski witnessed the towers collapse across the East River. He would film the final hours of daytime with debris floating over Manhattan like a thick fog. The following day, he played “The Disintegration Loops” as a symbol of dignity for the lives taken that day, with its slowly shifting sound of threads coming undone over a somber loop, acting as a post-credit to an end of an era in America’s history. Basinski would officially release the first installment in 2002, continuing its dedication to the victims of 9/11 in the liner notes.
10. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Released: 07/16/2002
Label: Warner Bros., [PIAS] America
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia, Psychedelic Pop, Indietronica, Space Rock Revival, Downtempo
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Only a band as eccentric as The Flaming Lips could construct such a competent multi-faceted album based off of observations of Japanese musician, Yoshimi P-We’s vocal style feeling in combat with behemoths. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” is a flavorful tale of deception, pacifism, deception, artificial mindsets, mortality and musings of love. The full frontal display of dubiously crafted Electronic sprinkling in modern Psychedelic Pop, makes this a revitalizing experience that, to this day, is being debated on what the encompassing meaning is, therefore each listener can extract meaning from their own personal lives, what their “pink robots” are that they must clash with in order to survive.
9. El-P - Fantastic Damage
Released: 05/14/2002
Label: Definitive Jux
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Turntablism
Image Courtesy of Discogs
After his stint with Company Flow, Brooklyn rapper and producer, Jaime “El-P” Meline would regroup by launching the label, Definitive Jux, in 2000 with Amaechi Uzoigwe. Within the same year, El-P would begin working on what would become his jaded debut, “Fantastic Damage,” that, while isn’t a direct response in the midst of a freshly post-9/11 cultural zeitgeist as some allude, is still an edgy lyrical display over self-produced abstract East Coast beats. “Fantastic Damage” delves into many paranoid sentiments of life in New York or even America in general through an almost sci-fi framework of storytelling, whether it’s the trademark assemblage of domestic abuse in “Stepfather Factory,” the comparison of the Star Trek series, Deep Space 9, and a 9mm handgun always on standby on “Deep Space 9mm,” and the second-guessing burdens of “T.O.J.”
8. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Released: 08/19/2002
Label: Matador, Ales Music, Gala Records, Labels, P-Vine
Genre: Post-Punk Revival, Indie Rock
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Another foundational Indie Rock album has hit the second tower. Being one of the most influential Rock albums of the 21st century and an early outlier of the Post-Punk Revival that would be picked up much later in the Windmill scene 20 years in the future, it’s shocking to think that “Turn on the Bright Lights” was merely, much like The Strokes, a debut. The New York quartet would peer at love through a frustratingly villainous lens, borrowing tropes, both lyrically and instrumentally, from the likes of The Cure and U2 while still sounding brand new for their time with thick percussion paired with soft melodies and borderline cartoonish lyrical deliveries. The album is even interpreted as one of the most exemplary post 9/11 records, perfectly encapsulating New York City in the wake of the aftermath.
7. Sigur Rós - ( )
Released: 10/28/2002
Label: FatCat Records, XL Recordings, [PIAS] Recordings, Maximum10, Smekkleysa, MCA Records
Genre: Post-Rock, Ambient, Dream Pop
Image Courtesy of SigurRós.com
The Icelandic Post-Rock legends, Sigur Rós, would release one of their most recognizable albums in 2002 with the arrival of their follow-up to 1999’s “Ágætis Byrjun” that features no titles, with the only concrete meaning found in the organization of these nameless tracks, divided by half a minute of silence, being positive towards the front, slipping into bleaker territory towards the back. The untitled project showcases keyboard-heavy Post-Rock with jónsi singing in Sigur Rós’s signature “hopelandic,” a language created to convey the band’s music, and an approach that’s rare to find in any piece of art.
6. Songs: Ohia - Didn’t It Rain
Released: 03/05/2002
Label: Secretly Canadian
Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Americana, Contemporary Folk, Slowcore, Alt-Country
Image Courtesy of Rate Your Music
Named as a direct ode to a song released all the way back in 1948 by the Southern icon and godmother of Rock and Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Didn’t It Rain” is widely considered Jason Molina’s “first perfect record,” recorded in one take at Soundgun in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each track is a sculpted masterpiece of airy Americana Folk, with the faintest of sounds picking up in the mic, many lacking the traditional chorus structure of the Indie music at the time, making way for a stream of consciousness with every word oozing out of Molina’s mouth just as meaningful as the last. Even though he passed away in 2013, the spiritual power of this album feels as if Molina’s still with his listeners.
5. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
A legendary follow-up to the already legendary “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven” (2000), “Yanqui” is defined as the Spanish language variant of “Yanke” or, according to the album’s liner notes, as a "multinational corporate oligarchy,” while U.X.O. stands for “unexploded ordnance.” This album saw the band record the entire album in-full with the late Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, away from the band’s French Canadian residence. The album itself is yet another emotional outpour of Post-Rock compositions that, outside of certain indications of them referring to The Second Palestinian intifada, though the date of those two jointed tracks is incorrect, the band’s music has always been up to the listeners interpretation, being a backdrop to the political turmoil occuring around the time each album releases. “Yanqui U.X.O.” would serve as another reminder that GSY!BE were not just a group of talented musicians, but modern day composers for a fallen world, and would serve as their last album before entering a decade-long hiatus.
4. Tim Hecker - Trade Winds, White Noise
Image Courtesy of Discogs
Who knew that the successor of Tim Hecker’s 2001 masterclass project, “Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again,” would be unceremoniously released, not through a traditional label, but as a bonus CD with all copies of the 107th issue of the now defunct French bilingual contemporary art magazine, Parachute Magazine. Who could blame him for making such a move? Artists commonly obscure some of their best work and it can’t be stated the weight this EP has in regards to turn-of-the century Ambient. Hecker can be seen here laying groundwork for his future discography, taking his core elements and isolating them on an undisclosed arctic island, complete with a lighthouse circling the perimeter. That’s exactly how the opening track, “Offshore,” comes across with mechanically organic synths crying out through a droning bluish-white blizzard. The EP then proceeds to maintain this feeling, leading the listener through a series of disjointed keyboards and pebbled washes of eerie Drone work, making it one of the most jaw-dropping experiences of the year. This is grade-A unforgettable work from the Vancouverite master himself.
3. City of Caterpillar - City of Caterpillar
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Virginia was put on the map during the latter half of Screamo’s classic run and it didn’t end with Pg. 99. In 2001, they would release a split with another band local to Virginia, who shared some of the same members. This band was City of Caterpillar and they would quickly work their way up the scene ladder through playing various small gigs, eventually releasing their debut full-length in May of the following year. Their sound experimented with a very new development in Skramz at the time that up until this point had only ever been somewhat dappled in by Japanese outfit, Envy. City of Caterpillar would implement these slow builds, exploding into some of the rawest music around of the year, likely being self-recorded in some musty basement. Their self-titled is one of the most rewarding listens in this realm of music.
2. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Released: 02/13/2002
Label: Warp Records, Beat Records, Zomba
Genre: IDM, Downtempo, Ambient, Radio Broadcast Recordings
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
A hauntological journey through various sketches of nostalgic anxieties is the best way to describe one of the most recognizable projects from the Scottish duo, Boards of Canada. The pair would clock in countless hours in their private Hexagon Sun studio in Pentland Hills, Edinburgh, putting together a diverse selection of meticulously manipulated acoustic instrumentation and archival samples, all supernaturally immersive and organic. While Boards of Canada managed to keep themselves away from the press, “Geogaddi” has been regarded as one of the greatest IDM albums from big names like Pitchfork and Billboard as a crown jewel in the historic Warp catalog.
Honorable Mentions
Today Is The Day - Sadness Will Prevail
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To The Head
Number Girl - Num-Heavymetallic
Seiichi Yamamoto - Crown of Fuzzy Groove
The Newfound Interest In Connecticut - Less Is More Or Less
Lovesliescrushing - Glissceule
MF Grimm - The Downfall of Ibliys: A Ghetto Opera
The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone
1. Dälek - From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots
Image Courtesy of Bandcamp
Released: 08/06/2002
Genre: Experimental Hip Hop, Industrial Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Post-Rock, Noise
Being one of the earliest examples of “post-rap,” no one was ready for this in 2002 and in some capacity, sounds like a literal death of the genre. Basically, Union City-based Experimental Hip Hop duo, Dälek, crawled so Pink Siifu, Injury Reserve and Death Grips could walk. At the time this album was released, creating such out-of-bounds sounds within Hip Hop was a risky endeavor. Not many artists could risk taking such a controversial and unorthodox route. However Dälek not only flirted with this calibration, they dove in headfirst with their sophomore masterpiece, “From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots.” The album resulted in nearly four years of tedious dedication and a large array of specific producer tags to produce nightmarish lynchian beats, inspired from traditional East Coast Boom Bap with Harsh Noise and Post-Rock, violently shaking its foundation best shown in tracks like “Spiritual Healing” and “Voices of the Ether.” There’s even the uncomfortably drawn out track, “Black Smoke Rises,” that features no drums at all, just unrelenting Noise and feedback with some of the most chilling verses in the entire genre from MC Dalek himself, who’s approach sounds like a modern prophet, warning and throwing punches at the future of a post-9/11 world that’s still alive and well today. There has never been a Hip Hop record so chilling before and after.