Le Tigre - Le Tigre (1999)

Formed in 1999 by ex-Bikini Kill frontwoman and riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna, magazine publisher J. Fateman and avant-garde video artist Sadie Benning, the NYC-based trio's music is as vivid and diverse as the band's  members themselves. Le Tigre stir half a dozen musical genres, such as hip hop and punk, till they get short easy-going pop songs  . From simple punk rock riffs, over retro wave hooks, to bizarre Star Wars samples,  this album delivers good clean fun!

1.) Deceptacon

2.) Hot Topic

3.) What Yr Take On Cassavetes

4.) The Empty

5.) Phanta

6.) Eau'd Bedroom Dancing

7.) Let's Run

8.) My My Metrocard

9.) Friendship Station

10.) Slideshow at Free University

11.) Dude, Yr So Crazy!

12.) Les and Ray

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (2005)

Every now and then, a rock and roll band comes along, which not only reinvents the whole genre, but turns it upside down. So did Art Brut, on Bang Bang Rock & Roll.  They caricature and corrupt all rock conventions of the past 40 years, yet ironically manage to deliver music that's still gonna kick you in your whore ass! Hilarious lyrics ("I wanna be the man who writes the song, that makes Israel and Palestine get along"), unexpected songwriting and riffs that sound like shooting yourself in the face with a sawed-off shotgun make the British quartet's debut album  the most enyojable rock record of the past decade. 

1.) Formed a Band

2.) My Little Brother

3.) Emily Kane

4.) Rusted Guns of Milan

5.) Modern Art

6.) Good Weekend

7.) Bang Bang Rock & Roll

8.) Fight!

9.) Moving to L.A.

10.) Bad Weekend

11.) Stand Down

12.) 18,000 Lira

Radio 4 - Gotham! (2002)

About half a decade before acts like Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party broke through mixing 70's/80's wave and punk with danceable indie, NYC-based Radio 4  had already done the same on this jewel. Gotham!'s vibe is reminiscent of classic records by such legends as The Clash, New Order or Television but, at the same time, Radio 4 manage to be refreshingly inventive. The record turns out to be an intriguing hommage that would revive a whole genre formerly reputed to be dead .

1.) Our Town

2.) Start a Fire    

3.) Eyes Wide Open

4.) Struggle

5.) Calling All Enthusiasts

6.) Save Your City

7.) Speaking in Codes

8.) Certain Tragedy

9.) Red Lights

10.) The Movies

11.) End of the Rope

12.) Pipe Bombs

13.) New Disco

Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (2004) + Remixes

The most impressive thing about Toronto-based Death From Above is that the band only consists of two people. The sheer fury of Sebastian Grainger's  napalm drum beats in combination with  Jesse Keeler's  fuzzy, heavily distorted razorblade basslines sounds like a whole army rocking out. This album fuses punk and dance music to 100% pure in-your-face badassery. 

One year after You're A Woman I'm A Machine DFA released a similarly impressive album with Romance Bloody Romance which features 13 remixes  by a variety of very distinct artists, including Queens of the Stone-Age's Josh Homme and EdBanger poster-child Justice.