![Radiohead - OK Computer to Kid A: Once you've released one of the most critically and culturally revered albums of the decade, where can you go from there but down? Radiohead didn't go down though, they went sharply left, incorporating influences from krautrock, jazz and 20th-century classical music to produce Kid A.]()
Radiohead - OK Computer to Kid A: Once you've released one of the most critically and culturally revered albums of the decade, where can you go from there but down? Radiohead didn't go down though, they went sharply left, incorporating influences from krautrock, jazz and 20th-century classical music to produce Kid A. "If there's one band that promises to return rock to us," wrote Melody Maker months before Kid A's release, "it's Radiohead." They broke that promise with glee.
![Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See to AM: Though Arctic Monkeys have always been head and shoulders above the wave of, as Bombay Bicycle Club put it in an interview with Gigwise,]()
Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See to AM: Though Arctic Monkeys have always been head and shoulders above the wave of, as Bombay Bicycle Club put it in an interview with Gigwise, "landfill indie bands" that came up with them, the tide had begun to quietly turn away from their brand of laddy indie rock by 2013. The album they produced in response , the R&B and soul-laden AM, was unexpected and brilliant.
![Taylor Swift - Red to 1989: Red was, in itself, quite a transformation from the pure country of its predecessors, but it still didn't quite prepare for the shock of 1989, which was 13 tracks of unapologetic synth-pop, not one country twang in sight. It was such a change, in fact, that Swift had to print an explanation of sorts in the album's liner notes.]()
Taylor Swift - Red to 1989: Red was, in itself, quite a transformation from the pure country of its predecessors, but it still didn't quite prepare for the shock of 1989, which was 13 tracks of unapologetic synth-pop, not one country twang in sight. It was such a change, in fact, that Swift had to print an explanation of sorts in the album's liner notes.
![Muse - Showbiz to Origin of Symmetry: Muse pretty much obliterated any cynical accusations that they were a poor man's Radiohead when they released the expansive, , operatics and anthemic Origin Of Symmetry. It set them on the path they're still triumphantly marching along today - the path to stadium glory.]()
Muse - Showbiz to Origin of Symmetry: Muse pretty much obliterated any cynical accusations that they were a poor man's Radiohead when they released the expansive, , operatics and anthemic Origin Of Symmetry. It set them on the path they're still triumphantly marching along today - the path to stadium glory.
![Kanye West - Graduation to 808s and Heartbreak: Lyrically, vocally and production-wise, there was little overlap between Kanye's third and fourth albums, aside from a continued commitment to creating more anthemic music. More electropop than hip hop, 808s & Heartbreak is primarily sung, with the most heavy-handed use of autotune since Cher's 'Believe'.]()
Kanye West - Graduation to 808s and Heartbreak: Lyrically, vocally and production-wise, there was little overlap between Kanye's third and fourth albums, aside from a continued commitment to creating more anthemic music. More electropop than hip hop, 808s & Heartbreak is primarily sung, with the most heavy-handed use of autotune since Cher's 'Believe'.
![Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle to Short Movie: Laura Marling doesn't think it's a big deal that she switched from acoustic to electric guitars on her fifth album, but it's made more of a difference to the album's sonic aesthetic than perhaps she realises. Her accent too, which has been steadily growing more American since she traversed from mockney to RP on her debut, has bloomed into something truly, wonderfully eccentric on Short Movie.]()
Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle to Short Movie: Laura Marling doesn't think it's a big deal that she switched from acoustic to electric guitars on her fifth album, but it's made more of a difference to the album's sonic aesthetic than perhaps she realises. Her accent too, which has been steadily growing more American since she traversed from mockney to RP on her debut, has bloomed into something truly, wonderfully eccentric on Short Movie.
![Weezer - Weezer to Pinkerton: Weezer originally planned to follow their self-titled debut with a science fiction rock opera album called Songs From The Black Hole. They abandoned it when they decided it was]()
Weezer - Weezer to Pinkerton: Weezer originally planned to follow their self-titled debut with a science fiction rock opera album called Songs From The Black Hole. They abandoned it when they decided it was "too whimsical", but Pinkerton was almost as much of a shock to fans and critics as a sci-fi rock opera would have been. So much so that it was panned upon release - eventually gaining cult status and wide acclaim in the years to come.
![Lana Del Rey - Born to Die to Ultraviolence: With Ultraviolence, Del Rey abandoned the minimalist, wistful trip hop of Born To Die for something equally wistful, but this time laden with scuzzy electric guitar - more psychedelic rock than dream pop. Her distinctive whispery vocals remained unscathed though.]()
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die to Ultraviolence: With Ultraviolence, Del Rey abandoned the minimalist, wistful trip hop of Born To Die for something equally wistful, but this time laden with scuzzy electric guitar - more psychedelic rock than dream pop. Her distinctive whispery vocals remained unscathed though.
![Bloc Party - Weekend In The City to Intimacy: Intimacy took Bloc Party away from the indie rock for which they were known towards something more electronic. Though it still has guitars on it, it's with an artificial, manipulated bent, as if, in Kele's own words,]()
Bloc Party - Weekend In The City to Intimacy: Intimacy took Bloc Party away from the indie rock for which they were known towards something more electronic. Though it still has guitars on it, it's with an artificial, manipulated bent, as if, in Kele's own words, "all the humanity has been bleached out."
![Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed to Bangerz: If Can't Be Tamed was the adolescent Disney star version of risque, Bangerz was Cyrus triumphantly sticking two middle fingers up at her Hannah Montana past. Rather than the clinical pop disguised as something gritty that was Can't Be Tamed, Bangerz was ambitious, genre-bending R&B pop. While some tracks fell flat on their face, others were genuine Bangerz.]()
Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed to Bangerz: If Can't Be Tamed was the adolescent Disney star version of risque, Bangerz was Cyrus triumphantly sticking two middle fingers up at her Hannah Montana past. Rather than the clinical pop disguised as something gritty that was Can't Be Tamed, Bangerz was ambitious, genre-bending R&B pop. While some tracks fell flat on their face, others were genuine Bangerz.
![The Beatles - Rubber Soul to Revolver: A year before the seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles were marking themselves out as studio innovators with Revolver, which signified, in the words of author Ian MacDonald,]()
The Beatles - Rubber Soul to Revolver: A year before the seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles were marking themselves out as studio innovators with Revolver, which signified, in the words of author Ian MacDonald, "a radical new phase in the group's recording career."
![Regina Spketor - Soviet Kitsch to Begin To Hope: Soviet Kitsch was as sparky and eccentric as its tracklisting ('Carbon Monoxide', 'Chemo Limo', 'Ghost Of Corporate Failure') suggests. It was sharp and witty and rambling and paid no heed to the conventions of songwriting, with 6 minute tracks with several different hooks but no real chorus, and a spoken word interlude between her and her little brother Barry. With Begin To Hope, she turned to poignant piano ballads and pop choruses. There's still the occasional nod to Soviet Kitsch-era Spektor though, in the form of 'Apres Moi' and 'That Time'.]()
Regina Spketor - Soviet Kitsch to Begin To Hope: Soviet Kitsch was as sparky and eccentric as its tracklisting ('Carbon Monoxide', 'Chemo Limo', 'Ghost Of Corporate Failure') suggests. It was sharp and witty and rambling and paid no heed to the conventions of songwriting, with 6 minute tracks with several different hooks but no real chorus, and a spoken word interlude between her and her little brother Barry. With Begin To Hope, she turned to poignant piano ballads and pop choruses. There's still the occasional nod to Soviet Kitsch-era Spektor though, in the form of 'Apres Moi' and 'That Time'.
![Nirvana - Bleach to Nevermind: Though Nirvana had already cemented their reputation as the leaders of the Seattle grunge scene, it was their second album, Nevermind, which is credited with bringing alternative rock to a mainstream audience. It was more expansive, tighter, more melody-driven than Bleach, and also marks the first appearance of drummer Dave Grohl.]()
Nirvana - Bleach to Nevermind: Though Nirvana had already cemented their reputation as the leaders of the Seattle grunge scene, it was their second album, Nevermind, which is credited with bringing alternative rock to a mainstream audience. It was more expansive, tighter, more melody-driven than Bleach, and also marks the first appearance of drummer Dave Grohl.
![Amy Winehouse - Frank to Back to Black: Back To Black took Winehouse from a talented, precocious jazz singer to a household name, blending her life-long passion fo jazz with contemporary R&B melodies and soul inflections. Tragically, she died before she could release a third.]()
Amy Winehouse - Frank to Back to Black: Back To Black took Winehouse from a talented, precocious jazz singer to a household name, blending her life-long passion fo jazz with contemporary R&B melodies and soul inflections. Tragically, she died before she could release a third.
![Metronomy - Nights Out to The English Riviera: Nights Out was, in the beautifully poetic words of Joe Mount,]()
Metronomy - Nights Out to The English Riviera: Nights Out was, in the beautifully poetic words of Joe Mount, "a half-arsed concept album about going out and having a crap time." Though it was more melody-focussed than the band's debut Pip Paine (Pay The 5000 You Owe), it still had its feet firmly in the electronica genre. With The English Riviera, an album as rich and summer as its name suggests, they headed drastically towards synthy neo-soul and pop melodies to great effect.