My early vote for best band of the decade should come as no surprise, at least not to myself: it’s Idlewild! I first heard 100 Broken Windows roundabout eight years ago, and it was maybe the only new album at the time that I held, and still hold, in the same esteem as my other life-changing early 00s discoveries (Let It Be, Zen Arcade, etc.). The band recently announced they’ll be pulling a Radiohead and bookending the decade with a new album sold directly to fans. The bonus goodies are enticing, but what’s especially good news for American fans is that the release of this new album will put an end to years of Idlewild being shafted by American distributors. Most of their albums have languished in import limbo months and years after their UK releases; only their last album, Make Another World, got a timely American release, and that was on a label whose American branch folded not long after.

Idlewild are currently in the studio, and if they continue to follow R.E.M.’s trajectory (their last album was a Life’s Rich Pageant-esque return to rock), they should be making their Document right about now, which bodes well for commercial success. Here they are at their R.E.M.est best. Go to 2:56—that is not Michael Stipe on guest vocals.


(I find it most peculiar that MTV was still playing videos in 2005, and even more peculiar that some version of Alternative Nation was still on the air.)