I normally wouldn't "double post" like this, but I liked the stuff I wrote on these threads. Of course, I'm a sucker for any "Best of ..." list, so I'm eating this stuff up.

ILM Top 100 Tracks 2000-2004
No. 51
Artist: M83
Title: RUN INTO FLOWERS
(Barry blurbs about "Run Into Flowers", sort of)
I'm trying to give Daft Punk another chance, I really am. So much luv and high hopes are surrounding them. But first, I was listening to "Dead Cities ... " as the sun went down. I don't know where else to turn when I want to deafen myself with a choir of synths. It's got to be either this or the instrumental version of "The Perfect Kiss". In the meantime, "Run Into Flowers" got played twice, the second time twice as loud as the first. Aspiring trance producers can learn a lot from the mid-song break here. It rarely fails to get me to my feet, air guitaring (to a synth) and cheering.
Then I gave "Discovery" a spin while watching the Olympics and putting off cooking dinner. Suddenly, the rot of the day sat in as the apartment became darkened due to the lack of sun. And I was reminded about little I've actually done today in comparison with what I intended to do. So I'm done with *these* Frenchmen now, I'm returning to the others.
So now "Run Into Flowers" is deafening the neighbours again. I think I'll play the break twice this time.

ILM Top 100 Albums 2000-2004
No. 44
Artist: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
Title: LIFT YOUR SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN
The debut was good. But it wasn't, um ... big enough. It was gloomy, cinematic, and pretentious (duh). One year later, they returned with 641 new members and an ep that sounded like the end of the world. Certainly the only piece of pre-millenium tension worth listening to. Gotta go with the biblical script when you need to make your apocolyptic point.
Then came this album, which has it all. Tantalising, extended intros blasting into screeching strings playing "Amazing Grace" soundalikes, careening into caustic drones and twinkly ambience. And that's just the first track!
That's their pre-9/11 album. Afterward, the focus turned toward proving that Lockheed Martin are destroying the world. Listening to crazy old men ranting about the golden days of Coney Island is somehow far more harmless, and considerably more poignant.

No.43
Artist: LOW
Title: THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
Low were comfortably entrenched in their slow-and-quiet blueprint, and could have continued to duplicate it indefinitely without much protest from a majority of their fan base. They dip into whimisical pop ("Sunflower") and grim, sinister dirges ("Whitetail") but those styles turned out far better on the follow-up album, "Trust". But here, the less they do, the finer they sound. "Lazer Beam" is little more than four repeated twangs of a guitar and Mimi Rogers' haunting vocals. The other 90% of the song is blackened empty space. Overtop of drawling, pleading vocals, "Closer"'s lurching rhythms surge forward again and again, barely moving forward despite the greatest possible effort. And the sweet harmonies of album closer "In Metal" linger on the brain long after the CD stops spinning. A fine cap to an album that achieves maximalism through minimalism so very well.

No. 37
Artist: PRIMAL SCREAM
Title: XTRMNTR
XTRMNTR is angry as hell and noisy as a plane taking off. Sometimes it's a techno album, sometimes it's a guitar album, sometimes it's a hip-hop album with swearing and screaming on top. Sometimes it's a New Order album (with Barney Sumner on guitar for authenticity), sometimes it's an MBV album (with Kevin Shields on guitar for authenticity), and sometimes it's a David Holmes soundtrack album (with movie samples and er, David Holmes twiddling the knobs for authenticity). What more could you possibly want in an album???

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All of these are more than deserving of their positions except for the Low album, which may not have finished that high on my own personal list (but was ranked #8 on my ballot since, uh, I wasn't familiar with much on the ballot other than the indie rock). I really would have liked to see "Run Into Flowers" higher, because I believe it's a truly original and uplifting single. The Godspeed album is top ten, easy, if the list were entirely my own (#3 on my ballot), and I would have expected some resistance to such a high ranking from that polarizing band, but it didn't happen. In contrast, I certainly wasn't prepared for the tempest in a teapot in the wake of PRML SCRM. Of course I stand by my #1 ranking and laugh in the face of those who find greater excitement from relative dullards such as DFT PNK and RDHD.

One of the things that makes "Swastika Eyes" so great is that unlike other well-received IDM/electronic bands *coughdaftpunkcough* it's not a watered down wimpy approximation of house and/or techno -- rather, it stands up to any of the hardest and finest house or techno that many DJ's would/should be proud to spin.