11. The Go! Team- Thunder Lightning Strike (2CD-version)


This hi-octane combustible amalgam of sampled funk, big band, blues, film music, rock, hip hop, dance and pop is just one hell of a album. Rarely have I heard music so well constructed without sounding contrived or going for the easy options. The closest comparison I can come up with is The Avalanches' Since I Left You merged with Ennio Morricone conducting the Tower Of Power. Big beats, scratching and turntablism, boogie woogie-piano, echoes of children's soundtracks (Nils Holgersson jumped in my mind at the final track, Everybody's A VIP To Someone), MIA-like chanting from a female MC, driving funky trumpets a la Cliff Noble fronting a wonky rockband, banjos and recorders, organs and god knows what else find a place in a very danceable, infectious maelstrom of sound. It has feelgood written all over it. Nominated for last year's Mercury Music-award showing not everyone had shit in their ears there last year. Originally released in 2004 it also received a re-issue with a bonusEP with B-sides and a new recording of Bottle Rocket.