I’ve been reflecting on the last ten years of my music collection and thought I’d share it with you. Here are my picks of the best. I’ve seperated them into two categories - the brilliant and the sublime.

The Brilliant

1. The Strokes – Is this it? (2000)

OK, it’s an obvious choice but it just has to be in the list. The Strokes set the tone for the coming decade with “Is This It?” and it’s unique mesh of styles, but it’s actually the great songs and musicianship that will give this album its longevity. Their lo-fi production sound, with Julian Casablancas’ cool distorted vocals were mimicked in studios all across the world, including mine, and I was stunned by that effortlessly cool reinvention of the cadence: “Hey kids, don’t do a I-V-I! That’s soooo Mozart! Just get the bassist to go up a note and then back down again!” Good on them.

2. The Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)

“Funeral” is another stunning debut album that seemed to come out of nowhere. I remember listening to it for the first time, and being lost in the relentless tirade of anthems that somehow I already knew and loved. Josh Deu had a way with melody, not resolving his phrases the old fashioned way but leaving them hanging on a cliff edge, or resolving them where no resolution should be, like at the leading tonic. It sounded so fresh and this technique was something I later heard Bat for Lashes employ perfectly.

3. Sufijan Stevens – Come on Feel the Illinoise (2005)

“Come on Feel the Illinoise” became the perfect gift in 2005. I gave it to my sisters; I gave it to my friends. I would give it to grandparents or a teenage Goths, and feel confident that it would be loved by all. Sufijan showed us through soft vocals over delicate arrangements that music composition isn’t exclusive to the classical world. He squeezes the history of Illinois into an accessible form but also manages a history’s worth of melodies into one album. Also, I love that he can mix renaissance strings with bluegrass banjos and rock guitars without a hint of “fusion”.

4. The Blood Sugars – Fine Fine Fine Fine (2006)

“Fine Fine Fine Fine” contains such great song-writing and musicianship that it should have been given the marketing push of a major label. The “all in the red” production sound gives this album a unique flavour which suits Jason Rabinowitz’s effortlessly well developed songs. Beyond the catchiness of the opening track, “Bloody Mary” there are deeply original tracks such as the creeping “A Lot to Ask” and one of my favourite songs of the decade, “Part of a Brigade”.

5. Scritti Politti – White Bread, Black Beer (2006)

What scares me so much when I think of how close I came to not having that chance meeting with Green Gartside in the pub is that I may not have heard this album. Going on tour with Scritti Politti was one of the most amazing experiences which will stay with me forever, but the music is something that is important on another level. Green has a sense of melody, harmony and modulation which is unparalleled in the pop or indie world. He covers vast distances through his songs with the gentlest of changes and encompasses so many different styles without sounding at all clunky. This is an album that seems to roundup popular music of the last few decades and also hint at its future.

6. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away (2007)

This album cures headaches. It is gentle, lapping, lushly produced indie, with melodies that meander, twist and turn, and seem to never end. I once listened to it on headphones whilst lying on a bed trying to get rid of a headache before a DJ gig, and it so worked. It’s soft without being sappy and upbeat without being too full-on. I don’t know much about the Shins, but when you lay back and listen to this on headphones they take you gently along the river and out to sea without you worrying once about their intentions.

7. Jeffrey Lewis – 12 Crass Songs(2007)

I have always loved Crass, or rather, I have always wanted to love Crass, but could never quite get to the music through those DIY production values. Sorry. I got there on songs such as “Penis Envy”, and “Do They Owe Us a Living” was obviously a great song striving to be liberated. In 2007 Jeffrey Lewis came along and did just that. The irony that Jeffrey Lewis, known for his anti-folk lo-fi production, painstakingly off-kilter arrangements and croaky vocals, took 12 Crass songs and made them accessible to the masses is one that actually makes complete sense. It couldn’t have been any other way. Jeffrey Lewis deserves an honorary knighthood (more irony FYI) for bringing these anti-establishment songs to another generation, and doing it in a way which brought the song to the fore, to reveal the sensitivity and emotion that existed only subtly in the original. Jeffrey’s version of “Where Next Columbus?” made me cry.

8. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires (2008)

I don’t think a dance-indie crossover album has inspired me this much since “Screamadelica”. There are great pop songs here, with Ed Macfarlane putting a bit of soul back into indie, but what amazed me was Jack Savidge’s drumming. In “Jump in the Pool” he seems to be doing a drum fill throughout the whole chorus, but it doesn’t sound cluttered. He’s off his leash but amazingly it doesn’t matter. In “Friendly Fires” the beat is honoured over all else but there is no neglect of the melody. This is a great listen whilst still being fabulously danceable.

9. Metronomy – Nights Out (2008)

Chip-tune has come of age. Metronomy have done something very unique in “Night’s Out”. They’ve taken the motherboard of a nerdy adolescent from the early 80s, an out-of tune guitar from a crap indie band, mixed them together in a night-club mop bucket and produced the sexiest collection of music to come out of the 00s. “Night’s Out” so confidently off-kilter that it seems like you’re peeking into their reality from your own crazed state. Songs are opened by quirky bass lines that make no sense until they’re in context. Some of the tracks sound like they’ve been remixed thrice over. Most instruments sound detuned, retuned, chopped and sliced, but between the somehow wonderful self indulgent electronic wobbly plinky-plonky stuff you’ll find pop songs of the highest quality that make Hackney seem the sexiest place in the world.

10. Lykke Li – Youth Novels (2008)

Those seeking out new talent in indie singer/songwriters in America need to also check the other side of the British Isles, where lies the rampaging world of Scandinavian Indie. Leading the charge is Sweden’s Lykke Li. Produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter, Björn and John) fame, “Youth Novels” has his fingerprints all over it, such as the out of tune vocals sung so beautifully by Lykke. It amazes me how they make out of tune sound so good. It’s the antidote to the auto-tune filled chart music of today, and Lykke’s babyish vocals hit the spot that Joanna Newsom’s only glanced at. It’s sultry, cool, subtle and sweet.

11. Tim Ten Yen – Everything Beautiful Reminds Me of You (2008)

The singing salaryman, Tim Ten Yen, is the lost pop sensation of 2009. His album, “Everything Beautiful Reminds Me of You” is a collection of new pop classics which combine long chord progressions with short sharp shocks of melody. Tim Ten Yen’s auto-karaoke style has been a great inspiration to me, especially seeing him fill big stages with just an iPod, a microphone, a stuffed cat and a smartly dressed man. This bunch of songs is so catchy that they take no time to sink in. He’s kind of re-invented “anti-fashion” with this album, and doing so has become the most sought-after live act in Shoreditch. His album has legitimised MIDI (a good thing), celebrated the middle of the road, swing horns and faux-reggae (I know!) but he’s made them sound so cool, and has done it on top of really good quality pop songs. Although some are ridiculous (“Bear and the Fox”), attractively naïve (“Radio Nowhere”), profound (“Sea Anemone”), or mysteriously narrative (“Girl Number One”), they are all catchy, sing-along tracks that are well developed, arranged and have a sense of depth. It’s an album that you could have a blast of on a Monday morning. It will get you going. Try it.

I went out disco-dancing to the fabulous “Pig Pen” the other night, a club night run by Gabriel Hardisty-Miller and Ben Connors. Gabriel is on the autism spectrum and is almost completely non-verbal. He chooses the bands and artists using a “Yes/No machine” while Ben browses MySpace, and he has very good taste.

I was especially pleased to see Tim Ten Yen on the bill, the one man pop whirlwind who has just released his debut album of especially catchy melodies and lyrics. He first caught my ears when we played on the same bill at Good Grief, and I was astonished by his songs and skilfully choreographed and executed dance moves.

Seeing him again caused my enthusiasm to bubble over and I couldn’t help but join in with the moves. “Oh my pretty I’m so silly” – put your thumb to your nose and wiggle your fingers. Oh he’s so much fun. I can see him in the future playing to a whole audience of finger wigglers and shoulder shakers. At this gig it was just me, sitting on a stool, although the rest of the audience seemed enthralled.

I button holed him afterwards, starstruck, to ask him what the lyrics to Girl Number One were about, and he managed a suitably deflective answer. I don’t blame him for wanting to keep it a mystery, but I’m eager to find out the meaning behind the song. Any ideas?

Tim Ten Yen – Girl Number One