As I have mentioned previously, I am working on a variety of posts to wrap up this decade in music. That started earlier this week with my top 20 artists of the decade. Today we have a short interview with Scott Hunter, lead singer of Poor Old Lu, Turn Off the Radio's #1 artist of the 1990s. Poor Old Lu did released one album this decade, The Waiting Room, in 2002, and you will find it high on my list of albums of the decade (which will be the final "decade" post, the last week of the year.) I also hope to interview a few more artists this month about their favorites from this past decade.
AP: What are your favorite albums of the decade?
SH: Here are my top 15:
15. Muse, Absolution
14. 16 Horsepower, Secret South
13. Editors, An End Has A Start
12. Switchfoot, The Beautiful Letdown
11. The Fire Theft, The Fire Theft
10. Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American
9. Radiohead, In Rainbows
8. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
7. Sunny Day Real Estate, The Rising Tide
6. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
5. Silversun Pickups, Swoon
4. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
3. Coldplay, X&Y
2. meWithoutYou, Brother, Sister (tie with Catch For Us The Foxes)
1. Over The Rhine, Ohio
AP: What are your favorite five albums from this decade released by friends or former bandmates?
SH:
Starflyer 59, My Island Having not been much of a Starflyer fan over the years, I was pleasantly surprised to hear My Island. The recording is great, the songs are well-written, and some of those melodies are almost obnoxiously catchy! Best of all, this album has helped me to track back and enjoy many of their previous releases.
Fair, Best Worst-Case Scenario What can I say here? To say that I "know these guys" would be a bit of an understatement. That said, this is a wonderful album -- from the album artwork down to the near perfect production.
Telecast, The Beauty Of Simplicity Josh White was our worship leader for a couple of years, so a few of these songs were very familiar to me before this album was released. It's not only an extremely great "worship album", it also happens to be a tremendous album all-around.
Sunny Day Real Estate, The Rising Tide
Truth be told, though, I was never really a fan of Sunny Day. In fact, it wasn't until getting a copy of The Fire Theft (which is great) that I worked back to the later Sunny Day catalog. Sadly, this album tends to be dismissed by longtime Sunny Day fans (and the band, perhaps), but I think it's the best work they've ever done. Perhaps the best Jeremy Enigk project ever.
For those "not in the know", Jeremy and I met back in junior high -- before Sunny Day, Poor Old Lu, or any projects of that sort. Our early incarnation was called "Tears Of A King" with Jeremy and I sharing vocals, Nick (Barber) on bass, and Aaron (Sprinkle) handling the rest. Fun times!
Acceptance, Black Lines To Battlefields (tie with Phantoms)
AP: Could not agree more that that My Island is great Starflyer album, despite many fans disliking it. If you don't know, Aaron Sprinkle, lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for Fair was the guitar player for Poor Old Lu, and Nick Barber, Fair's bass player had the same role in Poor Old Lu. Another note, the artwork for the Best Worst-Case Scenario, designed by Invisible Creature, won a Grammy.)
If you would like to check out Scott's best of 2009 list, go to his blog.
