10 Most Unappreciated Indie Rock Albums Of The 2000s

1. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixn2RlLUr64 If ever there were a record of the noughties that didn't get the attention it deserved, it surely has to be Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team. Recorded in the kitchen (and it sounds like it was) of group spearhead Ian Parton's parents, the album was originally released in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim and was conversely met with very little commercial success. Despite a nomination for the Mercury Prize and a re-release (the lesser of the two versions) in 2005 which still only saw the album peak at Number 48 in the Official UK Album Charts, this is a record that should sit among the pantheon of musical royalty of the noughties. The album simply transcends genre classification through its sheer number of variations, styles, techniques and orchestrations. Whoever said less is more clearly never listened to this album because The Go! Team throw every musical ingredient into the mixture and come up with winning recipes on every occasion here. Highlights litter the majority of these tracks but particular high points include the expansive Bollywood theatrics of 'Ladyflash', the hearty, scratch-heavy skirmish 'Get It Together' and the ballsy brass breakdown of 'Junior Kickstart'. Not many bands could pull off this seamless genre-hopping fluidity, with transitions that are so expertly dealt with to accommodate styles from the past, present and future that it stops sounding like a pastiche of different musical elements slung together and starts to sound like a band that has a truly unique sound all of their own. Records don't come much more accomplished than this vintage encapsulated thrill ride. Easily the coolest album of the noughties, The Go! Team applied their heady ambitions to record with the real winner being the listener because it is simply a blast to listen to whether it's the first listen or the hundredth listen.