Music Arcades: Sonic Youth: Washing Machine

Similar story to this as with Sonic Youth's Experimental Jet Set… and Murray Street — albums I bought some years after their release, just to check if SY were on song again, then quickly discarded, because they weren't.

I thought I'd read some good reviews somewhere, and here's one, praising the "fearless exploration" and "warm and open" sound. Hmmph. I'm sure someone has hailed the 19-minute Diamond Sea as a classic, too, but it sounds like a Sad-Eyed Lady to me: padded out to make it seem grand, and casting an eye back to former glories instead of creating new ones.

Right. If you weren't already fed up with 'Best of' lists before they started a couple of months ago, you must be by now. I don't care for them much myself, and you could figure out my favourites of the last decade any time by noting the intersection of my top 50 and the 2000s. But if you're lazy, and because it's the last day of the decade, here's my list of ten albums that you probably won't have found on any other list (in the order they've featured on Music Arcades, which is random):

In the Heart of the Moon — Ali Farka Touré and Tiamani Doubate
Vision Creation Newsun — Boredoms
The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories — Ballboy
WYSIWYG — Chumbawamba
Corduroy — Goldmund
The Amber Gatherers — Alasdair Roberts
Hyacinths and Thistles — The 6ths
In the Case of Darkness — Mike Adcock
Strange Geometry — The Clientele
O True Believers — James Blackshaw

There are a few great albums from the last decade that I've only got on download — so they don't qualify for inclusion here — but I heartily recommend Mali: Kora and Balafon by Sissokho Yakhouba & Lansine Kouyate, and either of the first two albums by Electrelane, probably Rock It to the Moon (sic; it's better than its title).

If you think those are wilfully obscure, then add Solitary Man by Johnny Cash and Love and Theft by Bob Dylan. Alternatively, if they're too tame, try The Formulary of Curses by ASK (or Ask — I'm never quite sure). If you think they're all crap and want a better list, try mapsadaisical's, which is where I get my tips for the kind of music I've never heard before. If you know of other lists that include any of the above, please tell me in the comments: I'd like to see them.

Next decade: one way or another, I will reach the end of Music Arcades.