Lamborghini Reventon

The decade started with such excitement. As the century turned it seemed that automotive design was on the cusp as well, looking backwards with retro designs like Volkswagen’s New Beetle, Chrysler’s PT Cruiser and Ford’s GT as well as forwards with Audi’s original TT and Ford’s original Focus series.

The 00s ended with excitement too – only it was the bad kind that leads to acid reflux and no jobs. Noted Italian design firms such as Bertone and ItalDesign were hanging on by a thread, if at all. Some of the most storied brands in the automotive world were similarly imperiled or had disappeared entirely: Saab, Pontiac, Saturn, Chrysler, Dodge.

Nevertheless it was a fascinating and sometimes frustrating ten years of automotive design. Here are my favorites in no particular order. Note that I’ve included both production models and concepts in the mix.

1. 2009 Chevrolet Camaro

The protracted build-up to the actual launch of Chevy’s newest Camaro (which included an appearance in Transformers almost a year before availability) blunted some of the freshness of this neuvo-retro-musclecar. With a clear eye though it’s evident that this is the most successful bridging of past and present in the segment. The design takes copious cues from the first generation late 60s Camaro but renders them in fresh and dynamic ways that could only be achieved with current design and manufacturing technology.

2. 2007 Audi R8

Audi has been at the forefront of raising the bar for interiors for almost two decades now and the R8’s interior is as lovely as ever. The real innovation though is striking exterior which finds a fresh take on the mid-engined supercar cliche. Aside from the perfect surfacing and detail work and Audi’s trademark use of advanced headlight design, there are the distinct contrast colored side blades which help to break up the side surfaces.  As it should, the design flair of the R8 is making it’s way back through the rest of Audi’s lineup.

3. 2008 Alfa Romeo 8C

Alfa Romeo spent much of the 90s floundering, as did parent company Fiat. Like the French, Italian companies have increasingly mistaken outre design for good design but Alfa beagn to bring things back on track in the latter part of the decade, primarily with the lovely (if overpriced) 8C.  As a design the 8C is nearly perfect in every way, a monument to the importance of proportions.

4. 2005 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Any Aston Martin made over the last ten years looks great but the V8 is the cleanest, clearest expression of the design ethos.  Lithe, muscular and unencumbered by extraneous detail.

5. 2008 Chevrolet Malibu

After a long, long spell in the doldrums GM design finally began to wake up and reassert it’s primacy within the product development process (though it may have come too late to rescue the company as a whole.) The latest generation Chevy Malibu is a prime example. It’s simply the best resolved design in the family car segment with the kind of detailing and strongly defined theme that is more usually seen on luxury vehicles by brands like Audi and Acura. The roofline is key to the design, especially as it relates to the flowing hood line and shoulder indent.

6. 2007 Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati shook off a string of mediocre designs with the Quattroporte and especially the GranTurismo. A more expressive design than competitors like Aston Martin and Porsche and rightly so – the curve of the front fenders over the wheels are themselves worthy of celebration.

7. 2007 Audi A5

The fantastic R8 notwithstanding, Audi seemed to concentrate over the last decade more on interiors and headlights than on the whole of their designs – a far cry from their great run in the 90s and 80s. Yet at the end of the decade signs of a reintegration were apparent with the graceful A5 coupe as a prime exponent.  The undulating shoulder line is contrasted perfectly by the hard swath at the lower door skins and the wraparound of the front and rear fascias. It adds up to a lovely modern take on the traditional coupe.

8. 2009 Ford Flex

The decade was peppered with so-called crossovers, neither fish-nor-fowl mashups of cars and SUVs that all to often resembled genetic experiments gone horribly wrong. A happy exception was Ford’s Flex which, much like Chrysler’s iconic minivan in the 80s, recast the venerable station wagon. This time it’s as an aspirational vehicle, less Mom’s taxi than family luxobarge. This is reinforced by the Range Rover-like contrast roof, strategic chrome and brushed aluminum highlights, and an imaginative interior.

9. 2008 Lamborghini Reventon

Lamborghini’s stock in trade has always been low-slung drama but ownership by the German’s at Volkswagen seemed to mellow their design sense. On the one hand it was a relief to not be confronted by the tacky wings and scoops that adored some of their late 80s creations but what followed was very nicely rendered but a bit cold.  Not so the threatening Reventon. Like Cadillac’s recent design language, the Reventon’s brutally sharp edges are inspired by the Stealth bomber but Lamborghini takes it all a step further with a killer matte paintjob. A great example of how subtly tweaking the details of an existing design language can substantially alter the feel of the result.

10. 2008 Dodge Challenger

The Challenger would appear to be the most slavishly retro of the big 3’s musclecars, following Ford’s Mustang and Chevy’s more futurist Camaro. Yet a closer look reveals that the Challenger is more faithful to the idea of its early 70s predecessor. If anything the stance of the newer car is tougher, the look is bluffer, and the feel is kind of an amalgam of 70s cues with a contemporary application. Unusually the production model is better looking than the concept on which it’s based primarily due to the ditching of Dodge’s trademark crosshair grille design.

11. 2009 Ford Fiesta

Ford of Europe has continued to explore design possibilities even as the North American arm has sometimes fallen back into blandness. Thankfully CEO Alan Mullaly has decreed that all designs msut be shared between markets which means the dynamic and appealing little Fiesta will soon be sold here (though sadly not in 3-door from shown.)

12. 2002 Ford Thunderbird

The new T-Bird came at the tail-end of the retro craze and was one of the sales flops that led to Ford radically restructuring their business and leadership team. This had little to do with the slick design of the car which ably updated the themes of the 1955 original  with it’s own particular flavor. The unusual declining shoulder line and lovely headlight placements are echoed by the circular taillights and the trim beltline cut.

13. 2000 Mini Cooper

On one level the new Mini is the apogee of fake retro – like the VW New Beetle it’s a theme that belies much of what was original about the car that it’s meant to evoke. In the Mini’s case that means that the car is more maxi-sized than truly Mini, and Alec Issigoni’s groundbreaking hydragas suspension and innovative packaging are largely abandoned. And yet the design has proved to be arguably a bigger hit than the original (though not in total sales), becoming a must-have automotive accessory for elites in markets like the United Sates where the original barely made a dent. It’s also a canny updating of the original Mini theme with far better materials and execution befitting a product pitched at the style market rather than the original people’s car orientation of the classic version.

14. 2003 Land Rover Range Rover

How do you update an icon? Land Rover redid the Range Rover once before this model, with a blandly rote refresh that took all the thematic elements and re-rendered them unimaginatively. This third generation model also hews close to the original formula set forth in 1970 by William Town’s original design.  However it extracts a new purity and refinement, highlighting iconic elements like the roof and blacked out D pillars and the upright fender vents and tying it together perfectly. In addition the new interior was an industry-leading luxury cocoon.

15. 2005 Pontiac Solstice

When GM’s now dead “performance” brand decided to get into the Miata fighting business it did so with a tough, sporty little design that was one of the best the brand had produced. Alas, though, it wasn’t enough to stave off the reaper.

16. 2003 Infiniti FX45

Infiniti was early to the crossover party with this crossbreeed between an SUV and a sports sedan and stylistically they nailed it. All curves and bulges with big wheels and a characteristically 00’s turret-like greenhouse The FX chooses sides rather than compromising and the side it chooses is sporty, thank you.

17. 2005 Chrysler 300

Chrysler’s decade was simply awful and yet the 300 was decided bright spot, a successful relaunch of the big American sedan for a new millennium. The high shouldered styling set the trend for the rest of the decade and the muscularly purposeful design led to a slew of concepts (but sadly no production) responses from rival firms.

18. 2004 Toyota Prius

The Prius ubiquitous nature has rendered it bland but at launch it was a breakthrough. A truly futuristic looking car to match it’s future-facing powerplant. The design has become shorthand for caring about the environment, as well as being environmentally compatible in subtler ways such wind resistance that add to efficiency.

19. 2008 Bentley Brooklands

Bentley’s VW owners haven’t seemed to figure out quite what to do with teh brand stylistically but oh the big bold Brooklands! The kicked up beltline, huge wheels, imposing grille all say move out of our way, plebian. Elegant, purposeful luxury.

20. 2006 Ford F-250 Super Chief

This concept set forth a number of stylistic elements that have since wended their way through Ford’s car and truck line-up but as a pure expression of truckness in the new millennium the Super Chief sets the standard.

21. 2006 Nissan Urge

Nissan’s Urge concept took a cue from ultra-modern furniture design, reducing the elements to major shapes like the silver side swaths and the dark fenderettes over the wheels.  A cool added element was the inset open door panels, designed to give driver and passenger a motorcycle-like sensation of openness with the full-body protection of a car.

22. 2006 Saab Aero-X

Saab’s Aero-X looked like a leftover Star Wars prop and in a perfect world would have helped define the companies new direction. Instead it defined the road not taken as GM starved the company of investment.

23. 2006 Renault Altica

Renault’s appealing chunky Altica concept was riddled with neat surface elements like the broad shoulder lines that extend from the front fenders to define flares over the rear wheels. Also cool were the rear quarter panels with random geometric shapes in place of a full window. Practical? Non. Pleasing to the eye? Oui.

24. 2006 Citroen C-Metisse

Citroen’s C-Metisse concept signaled a new willingness for the storied French company to once again explore groundbreaking design. The van-like hatch is most striking for the way the rear wheels are framed by the broad flares which intersect the descending swath of greenhouse. The side glass echoes the circular wheel openings enhancing the relationship, as do the chrome strips at the extreme rear corners.

25. 2007 Ford Interceptor

Ford’s Interceptor concept was a vision of what the blue oval’s Chrysler 300 fighter might have been before budgets constraints and runaway gas prices put the kibosh on production. The low roofline and gunslit windows all bespeak the influence of Chrysler’s big sedan but Ford also finds it’s own way to express the brand with the wide stacked grille and headlight design and sweeping wheel openings.

26. 2007 BMW Concept CS

BMW’s concepts during teh decade were sometimes as polarizing as their production cars but were often more successful as designs. The big CS previewed themes that are starting to creep into BMW’s that are in dealerships but is also an extremely well-resolved take on the  sedan-as-coupe trend that has spread through the ranks of German companies since Mercedes-Benz introduced the CLS.  The body surfacing is particularly nice here as is the overall form which is well-proportioned given its size.

27. 2002 BMW GINA

The GINA was tucked away inside BMW’s design center for most of the decade before finally being revealed post the launch of the disappointing Z4 which it obviously influenced. This is what ground-breaking conceptual car design is all about – literally stretching the boundaries with a fabric wrapped frame which stretches to accomodate everything from active aerodynamic aids to door openings.

28. 2007 Toyota iQ Concept

Toyota’s production iQ is notable as well, a sort of smarter Smart car but the concept takes the great packaging a step further with surface elements that seem to transform from concave to convex depending on where the viewer stands.

29. 2007 Mazda Taiki

Mazda trotted out their new design ethos on a number of concepts towards decades end. The look is meant to be inspired by the elements interacting with nature, such as water on rock or wind on sand. The best of these was the Taiki with its nifty sculpted rear-wheel nacelles and flowing headlight elements.

30. 2008 Land Rover LRX

Land Rover’s LRX concept was a clear production ready glimpse of how they could (and will) move towards a smaller, friendlier SUV. Though others (notably Subaru’s Forester) have tried to scale down the segment this is the most successful attempt yet, aided by great detail work like the  dropped edge of the hood over the front wheel arch and the reverse wedge of the greenhouse.

31. 2009  Cadillac CTS Coupe

Cadillac started to revamp their design language in the late 90s but the refinement of their hard-edged “Art & Science” theme at the end of this decade was far more aesthetically successful than initial forays. The CTS sedan is quite handsome but it’s this Coupe concept (due to go into production soon) that really moves things forward with it’s radically sloped backlight and V shaped C-pillar.

32. 2009 Fisker Karma

Designer Henrik Fisker started his own company in the middle of the decade and began re-bodying BMW’s and others. His true plan emerged with the reveal of the Karma prototype – to build luxury gas/electric hybrids. Luckily the Karma is drop dead gorgeous with sinuously bulging fenders and a tapering greenhouse. Production is expected to commence late in 2010.

33. 2008 GMC Denali XT

The car-like pickup truck has had a mixed history since the glory days of Chevy’s El Camino and Ford’s Ranchero (roughly the 60s and 70s) and lesser 80s entries like Dodge’s compact Rampage, Subaru’s delightful Brat and Volkswagen’s odd Rabbit/Golf based model. The idea was revived by Honda this past decade for the Ridgeline  but GMC showed this very attractive concept that suggested how the attributes of both vehicle types could be melded harmoniously.

34. 2009 Audi Sportback

Audi gave some clues to their emerging next-gen design language with the Sportback concept, while also throwing their hat in the crowded and often ugly German luxury hatch field dominated by BMW.  Strong defined character lines give the flanks a sculpted look while their signature stylized headlamp elements echo the palm-like shape.

35. 2009 BMW Vision EfficientDynamics

Another brilliant BMW concept, the Vision is all intersecting planes and overlapping elements while exhibiting a light, glassy greenhouse that allows the elements to float together.

36. 2000 Jaguar F-Type

Jag’s F-Type concept was almost too good. It’s safety-reg unfriendly low glass height and lack of even a pretense of a roof made the design impossible to translate well to production despite repeated tries. Pity, as it’s purity is exquisite.

37. 2001 Buick Bengal

Look past the oh-so-00s vestigial rear doors that never became a trend and the Bengal concept offers a clean, uncluttered reboot of Buick’s antiquated design cues. The front end is especially nice with it’s canted headlamp strips and broad dollar-grin style grille.

38. 2001  Ford Forty-Nine

Chrysler kicked off the the trend of incorporated classic custom car cues into production and concept vehicles with the Plymouth Prowler in the mid 90s but Ford’s delicious Forty-Nine is a touchstone in post-modern retro-futurism. While cues nod to Ford’s iconic 1949 coupe, the whole is an homage to chopped and channeled “sleds” with modern headlight and interior technology that places the design in a contemporary context. If only Ford’s production models were as interesting in North America.

39. 2001 Dodge Super8 Hemi

Like the Ford Forty-Nine, Trevor Creed designed the Super 8 Hemi to be an amalgam of 50s cues and modern touches. The result was far more polarizing but with the benefit of hindsight can be seen to have it’s own virtues. Creed was reported to have been shocked by the extent of negative reaction, having considered this as a testing ground for ideas that would be used on a production basis. The wraparound windshield and roof shape are the clearest nods to 50s elements but the side strakes and brutally short overhangs could only be from the present time.

40.2002  Dodge Razor

Ah the road not taken. Though Pontiac’s Solstice got much of the contemporary attention, Dodge’s concept for a small, raw sports coupe was arguably even more compelling. A simple design that incorporates a strong stance, upright a-pillars and suggestive upkicks around the rear wheels it’s a pity  Chrysler’s German masters couldn’t see their way to producing this gem.

41. 2003 Cadillac Sixteen

Cadillac’s superb Sixteen cast a long shadow over the brand in that none of their production vehicles has yet to look as wonderfully impressive and clear of purpose. The central spine and stylized grille have made their way throughout the lineup though but it’s that elegantly formal roof and pillar-less sidelight that stick in the retina.  The double side-hinged hood adds a touch of retro whimsy.

42. 2003 Chevrolet SS

Chevy’s response to Chrysler’s impending big sedans and Ford’s big sedan concepts was the overtly sporty SS, a softer and sleeker take on the segment. The small rounded greenhouse is nestled atop bulging fenders and aggressive wheels giving a sense of power but also a sense of tidy maneuverability unusual in the class.

43. 2003 Ford 427

Ford kicked off the decade with the brilliant 427 concept for a full-sized American sedan, lacked the stones to actually produce it, and then watched Chrysler steal their thunder with the 300.  The 427 is traditional sedan in stance but in detail and execution its completely contemporary from the neat interlocked squares within the headlight elements to the chrome strip on the lower bodysides that echoes the single strip below the window line. The front end treatment did wind up, in watered down form, on the first-generation Focus.

44. 2004 Jeep Rescue

From a design standpoint this was a tough decade for Jeep but the Rescue was a terrific concept that pointed to what might have been. Emphasizing the core values of the brand but on a bigger canvas it’s immediately identifiable as a Jeep despite being a big four-door SUV, a full size and a half beyond anything the brand had marketed. The only positive that came from this concept was the idea of a 4-door Wrangler. When Jeep did attempt to size up they did so with the atrocious Commander which lacked entirely the grace and elemental rightness of this design.

45. 2008 Morgan LifeCar

Morgan has been known for 45 years essentially for their resistance to modernism. Even their most advanced car harbors a wooden frame that harks back to pre-war sports car construction. So the LifeCar, a fuel-cell powered electric sports car concept, came as something of a shock. Even more so was it’s machine age meets iPod body design which is of a piece with Morgan’s traditional theme but augmented by a novel hinged passenger canopy that mimics the scissoring of the front-hinged hood-and-fender tops unit.

46. 2001 Honda Unibox

While automotive design is often about hinting at or even obscuring the mechanics underneath the body panels, Honda’s Unibox concept is like a translucent watchback boldly exposing and flaunting the pure engineering below.

47. 2002 Mercedes-Benz F400 Carving

There have been a few tilting concepts before but they tended to be more like slightly evolved cycles. Here Mercedes gets the tilt jones on entirely with the suspension but the lack of roof (and windshield!)  and open front wheels still give a motorcycle feel but within a conventional layout.

48. 2006 Volvo C30

Volvo’s decade long design language which mimicked the idea of a sectioned violin found it’s best expression in the little C30, which also incorporated the glass hatch that distinguished the P1800 sports  coupe of the late 60s. In addition the floating center section of the dash connected the brand to classic Swedish furniture design.

49. 2004 Ferrari F430

The last two decades were hardly the best for Ferrari from a design standpoint as longtime stylist Pininfarina struggled to respect the brand’s and reflect modern forms. By keeping things simple the F430 managed the job ably. Front air intakes and exposed circular headlamps all look back to past Ferraris as does the overall mid-engind layout and theme but the execution is admirably smooth.

50. 2007 Nissan Pivo 2

There are certain design quirks that Japanese manufacturers go for but which can seem downright eccentric to others. Things like a dashboard mounted robot head that comments on your driving with helpful tips and glowing LED eyes.  The body of the vehicle also rests on a turntable that allows for full 360 degree rotation and the wheels and fenders can pivot to allow for four way steering.

Like it’s title, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford can feel like too much on the plate, let alone the movie theater marquee. Truth be told, on my first attempt to watch it the sonorous narration, beautiful photography and leisurely pacing conspired to lull me into a sound sleep. Not a good omen.

Fortified by some strong coffee however and in the right frame of mind director Andrew Dominik proves to have a bracing tale to tell indeed, if a long-winded one. The aforementioned narration is a bit of crutch, papering over some storytelling deficiencies in some places and telling us things we can intuit by watching in others but this is a forgivable flaw in a film that is capable of casting a powerful spell, one that works as both a stimulant and a narcotic depending on mood.

In essence it’s a movie about pairs, beginning with the brothers James played superbly by Brad Pitt as Jesse and Sam Shepherd as Frank. They are twinned with the Fords, good-time Charley played to squinty perfection by the always-watchable Sam Rockwell, and Robert, a singularly unlikable pasty faced fellow in a justly Oscar nominated performance by Casey Affleck.

What the Academy missed though in falling all over Benjamin Button is Brad Pitt’s best performance to date. Combining everything Pitt has learned (he’s surely grown into a fine actor rather than arriving fully formed), his Jesse James is by turns terrifying, funny, soulful, pitiable, and devious. His charisma is undeniable but then so is his unpredictability. Every other character save brother Frank is a little off-step when Pitt enters a room, constantly weighing what his reaction to what they do or say may be. It’s Pitt’s cleverness to play his character as fully aware of this affect, sometimes exploiting it and other times pretending ignorance.

Pitt in essence plays the isolated star, someone who can expect to hear a distorted version of the truth from everyone he meets. Affleck is the starfucker – wanting to both be Jesse James and to annihilate him.

Affleck bravely makes his character a mealy mouthed weasel, a creepy little sycophant and yes, a coward. He and Jesse are ultimately paired just as the sets of  brothers were, fated as fan and object of fandom to live and indeed die together. It’s a disturbing and real symbiosis that finds echoes in time with Mark David Chapman and John Lennon, John Hinckley and Jodie Foster, and the countless celebrity obsessives who never quite get to the dangerous stage but come awfully close.

The supporting performances are uniformly excellent from testy Jeremy Renner, always keeping an eye on randy ladies man Paul Schneider as the comically named Dick Liddel. The women, including the very talented pair of Mary-Louise Parker as Mrs. James and Zooey Deschanel are given short shrift and some of the stunt casting (James Carville as the Governor and Nick Cave as a wandering troubadour) threatens to distract.

The whole is set off by Roger Deakins’ masterful cinematography, with burnt umbers, ashy whites, sepia tones and mud so richly brown you can almost smell the horse dung mixed in. It’s a breathtaking film to look at, reminiscent of Terence Malick’s great 70s classics like Days of Heaven in the love of sheer poetic imagery – a little girls empty shoe in the grass for instance. The totality of the visuals conspire to feel totally authentic – so this is what it was like to live in these times.

Thankfully these reveries are the connective tissues between some fantastic scenes – a nighttime train robbery, a sequence of menacing playacting between Jesse James and Ford that find’s Pitt enjoying the taste of the words in his mouth like he’s savoring a fine whiskey, Ford re-enacting the assassination on stage for hundreds of performances with his brother made up and wooden as James’ stand-in (just as happened in real-life.)

Like many a rich meal it can be hard to finish Jesse James without falling asleep at the table, overwhelmed by the repast. In this case, it’s worth showing up hungry.

Farrell and Gleeson

In Bruges finds its central metaphor in a Hieronymus Bosch vision of purgatory, a crazy mishmash that’s beautiful, disturbing, funny, and ultimately a way station to the next plane of existence for those depicted. As is Bruges itself in the skewed vision of writer/director Martin McDonough, reteaming Brendan Gleeson, star of his first feature Six Shooter.

Gleeson, whose jug-handle ears and bluff features give him a world-weary mien as a well-seasoned hit man is teamed with a never-better Colin Farrell. Farrell’s bushily questing eyebrows seem to run the gamut from outrage to despair all on their own, aided and abetted by his soulful eyes and rangy body language.

At heart, In Bruges is a shaggy-dog allegory that fuses the Tarantino shoot-‘em-up with a dollop of rom-com and a dash of travelogue. Gleeson and Farrell play hit men who are asked by their boss to lay low in Bruges, Belgium after a botched job. The city is a beautiful setting, the renaissance architecture and medieval streets photographed lustrously by Eigil Bryld. Still, as much as Gleeson insists on the wonders of the town Farrell glumly insists on it being a “shithole” despite the presence of lovely Clemence Poesy as a local working on a film crew.
The chemistry between she and Farrell and Farrell and Gleeson is undeniable, and works to make little character quirks like Farrell’s fascination with midgets pay off. Eventually we do meet the boss, played to clenched teeth perfection by Ralph Fiennes. He captures a man who has a strong sense of code if only the barest of control on his own aggression.
In Bruges doles out it’s character information in interesting and surprising ways. The only flaw here is that the need to wrap everything up in the end feels a bit forced. It’s almost as if they could have ended the picture several different ways and decided to try them all.

Nevertheless the excellent acting and breathtaking scenery combine to provide a fetching view of limbo, even if the good times end eventually.

Infiniti Essence Concept

The Geneva Motor show, stuck as it is in the mountainous middle of Europe, seemed like an oasis of exuberance in the midst of the worst year for the auto industry since the great depression.

You might not know it from the concepts and production models on display – some of the worlds most prestigious high end brands and design houses had an wide array of new designs to show off. Here are some of the most notable.

(more after the jump)

Infiniti Essence Concept

Infiniti Essence Concept

Nissan’s luxury Infiniti division is just beginning a push into Europe after being established in the United States since the early 90s. Their nearly baroque Essence Concept is designed to make a splash and it succeeded.

While BMW’s Chris Bangle is set to leave the car world, some of his radical design ideas seem to have taken hold at Nissan. While the Essence doesn’t please from every angle and at times can seem a bit over-detailed, its pinched and flowing forms are unusual and fascinating.

Infiniti Essence Concept - rear

Every surface is folded and formed into gentle waves and curves, most notable the indents pressed into the rear buttresses. The look is alternately beautiful and aggressive – a welcome bit of originality in the coupe segment.

Nissan Qazana

Nissan Qazana Concept

The Qazana is a crossover vehicle that, like the Infiniti Essence, pushes design to a polarizing degree. Unlike the Essence, Qazana crosses the line a bit, particularly with it’s unorthodox front face. The rally style rounded lights flanking the grille are actually fog lights and the main lighting source is from the stylized lamps situated high up on the fenders. There are shades of Chris Bangle’s Rolls-Royce Phantom in that arrangement though overall the feel is quite different. An interesting design, if not wholly pleasing.

Rolls-Royce 200ex

Rolls-Royce 200ex

Speaking of Rolls-Royce, the company signals their downmarket move with the 200ex, officially labeled a concept but for all intents their new, slightly smaller price leader.

Silly paint job notwithstanding, this is a sportier, cleaner design than the brutalist Phantom, with a  faster roof and tail-line. The front-end is simpler, devoid of the overtly geometric look of it’s big brother.

Koeniggsegg Quant

Koeniggsegg Quant

Boutique carmaker Koeniggsegg dips into environmental friendliness with the Quant. While the technology is the key here – the Quant is in theory powered by solar electric energy. The clear lack of an interior (and running gear) allows us to address what we like best – the design. Though there is nothing revolutionary here what I find most interesting are the Corvette like front fenders, rear fenders, and pontoon roofline – not to mention the radial wheels which are reminiscent of the ‘82 Vette.

Koeniggsegg Quant

Reviving the Pixies seemed to re-spark a hunger for Black Francis (aka Frank Black) so much so that he reverted to his previous moniker and dropped a blazing solo record that was the equal of his best work solo or otherwise.  This is no Pixies self-imitation though – Black uses all the colors in the palette he developed over his many years solo (often in the wilderness of semi-obscurity) to essay a supercharged tribute to Dutch punk poet Herman Brood.

24. Les Savvy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends

Les Savvy Sav had seemingly hung up their hats after the great singles comp Inches so it was a pleasurable surprise to find the reformed and re-energized band dishing up the best album yet of their career. Killer songs about teen girls possessed by Babylonian spirits, living like wolves, and freeloaders romp around gloriously as if they hadn’t been away at all.

23. Beck – Guero

Dismissed by many as Beck “doing” Beck, this feels to me like a summation of his many strengths along the lines of Radiohead’s In Rainbows or The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers. It also contains some of his best songs from the murder ballad dance moves of “Girl” to the chugging “Rental Car.”

22. The National – Boxer

A deep dark look at the darkness permeating the decade, Boxer is a masterpiece that calls bullshit on the hollowness at the core of so many lives in 00 America. The thundering drums portend a guitar blazing album that only emerges on “Mistaken For Strangers.” Elsewhere they are contrasted with surprisingly muted accompaniment, heartbreaking laments framed by magisterial horns and  strategically deployed piano.

21. Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress

I truly love this album despite the occasional groans it engenders from the B & S faithful. Made up of inexplicably discarded songs and muscularly produced by Buggles and Frankie Goes to Hollywood mastermind Trevor Horn, this is a fantastically far ranging set of songs from the horny Bacharach workplace double entendres of “Step Into my Office” to the orientation questions surrounding Mike Piazza on the acoustic “Piazza, New York Catcher” every song hits home, and the intricately arranged instrumentation seals the deal.

20. The White Stripes – Elephant

The White Stripes Elephant is aptly, if punningly titled. Like Hannibal they ride in as conquering heroes reversing the decade long trend of pilloried follow-up albums. Instead Jack and Meg build on their breakthrough album in every way here – bigger songs, bigger sales, better songwriting, meatier guitar playing. An absolute triumph.

19. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes

Cursed by a perfect 10 out of 10 from 00s premier indie rock tastemakers at Pitchfork.com, Trail of Dead made some good follow-ups but were roundly pilloried by their former celebrators. Still, none of their subsequent works were as great as this marvelous synthesis of Sonic Youth moves, Elephant 6 referents, Replacements nods, and other indie signification wrapped in sturdy songs and powerful playing. Though their influnces are always apparent they are also transcended and transmuted, aided in part by the rich variety of sounds on the album.

18. McLusky – McLusky Do Dallas

McLusky gathered a rabid cult after the release of this, their second album. They would go on to do better songs on it’s wake but never a better collection of songs and more importantly, snotty attitude. After all, the ballad number is called “Fuck This Band”, (“Fuck their holes,” lead singer Andrew Falkous sweetly implores) which is contrasted by the sentiment of “The World Loves Us and is Our Bitch.” Elsewhere the scream singing and dynamic guitars along with Steve Albini’s production all nod towards the Pixies without slavishly imitating them. A raging joy of an album.

17. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

Improbably The Hold Steady simply kept getting better and better culminating in this whopper of a record, one that takes in elements of new wave and chamber pop while only ratcheting up the anthem factor. Bonus points come from referencing John Cassavettes and the sheer awesomeness of the songs and arrangements.

16. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

This debut clearly owed a debt to the rise in guitar rock that followed in the wake of The Strokes debut record (see Kaiser Chiefs, Futureheads, Arctic Monkeys, The Hives et al) but Franz Ferdinand did the others one better by infusing their rhythm section with the other spirit of ‘76 – disco. The unstoppable combo of punky Wire-like guitars chugging and churning over Chic like ass shaking rhythms are irresistible, as are the the love as spygame lyrics that have an internal logic all their own with recurring eye and hand imagery. i wanted to punch these guys when I saw their  slick suits and matching record covers but there is real substance inside their style.

15. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

A letdown in some quarters following the breakthrough of the previous record The Soft Bulletin, to my ears this ranks as the better album, infused as it is with unexpected electronic flourishes to go with the band’s advanced popcraft. Unexpectedly moving, particularly when seen performed live.

14. Stars – Set Yourself on Fire

A leftfield masterpiece Stars made you wonder how you missed their first two albums when this proved just how damn good and wide ranging they could be. From contemplating doing your high school crush at the reunion to the tyranny of the Bush administration this cuts a wide lyrical and stylistic swath under the co-guidance of angel-voiced Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell’s croon.

13. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft

Who could foresee that Dylan would make one of the best records of his long career in 2001, fully embodying the voice of several eras of gritty American music while still holding forth with verve and vitality not to mention humor and randiness.

12. Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica

Taking advantage of their biggest budget yet Modest Mouse respond with their most focus songs musically, but their most expansive lyrically. Blowing minds by taking you from the outer edges of the universe to the quiet trap of a lonely big city apartment, it’s a bracingly challenging yet accessible album – one they’ve yet to top.

11. The New Pornographers – Electric Version

The second album from this Canadian supergroup of sorts ust lays on the killer guitar riffs, driving drums, and massed vocals until you simply have to cry “Uncle” and surrender. This makes sense since the whole thing functions as a sideways critique of Bush era America.

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

Karen O and Nick Zinner are singular musical talents, the yin and yang of one of New York’s greatest bands. While she whoops and swoops vocally he creates sharp shards and huge monuments with his guitar – it’s all there on this debut. Oddly it’s front loaded with the driving abrasive stuff (all of which is great), saving the killer pop songs for the one-two punch of “Y Control” and classic ballad “Maps” close to the very end.

9. Jay-Z – The Blueprint

Essentially the album he keeps trying and failing to follow up, The Blueprint showed Jay-Z swaggering into the new century on a nagging Jackson 5 sample, when not taking Nas down with an equally nagging and even more audacious Doors loop. A monster.

8. TV On The Radio – Dear, Science

TV On The Radio distill everything they’ve learned on this streamlined grower, a record that suggests they could be as big as U2 if they so desired. Every song is opened up to breath and pulsate, with hooks aplenty and their trademark vocal contrast at its best.

7. The Strokes – Is This It?

The record that blew open the doors to good old fashioned New York style punk in the new century, The Strokes revived vintage Tom Verlaine moves like they were invented yesterday. More important was the verve and delight they took in playing and the freshness of their attack. For a moment it seemed like guitar bands might rule the decade.

6. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

Not easily pigeonholed as electronica or anything else really, this record saw LCD Soundsystem master the art of great album making. Each song has it’s own setting and atmosphere -  there is a maturity and world weariness here that sinks down deep into the bone.

5. M.I.A. – Kala

M.I.A. caused a sensation with her debut but a large share of the praise was leveled at her producer, Diplo, who slung far flung, far out beats her way and strung it together into ass moving coherence. With this follow-up M.I.A. went out on her own, adding even more varied flavors and proved her talent was big enough to swallow borrowings from groups as diverse as Pixies, Jonathan Richman, and The Clash and transmuting it into her own deep groove.

4. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Montreal became a new indie rock nexus in the 00s in part because of this band and this amazing album. Making the world safe for deeply felt (as opposed to 90s era irony) music may have seemed corny to some but to others it was affecting stuff, leading to the mass catharsis that was their live shows.  The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink instrumentation  is always impeccably arranged to highlight rather than overwhelm the sturdy songs at the heart of the record.

3. Spoon – Kill The Moonlight

Spoon stripped it all down to the basics on this record – it’s as much about what’s not being played here as what is being played. Handclaps, lonely pianos, stinging guitars, all twine and combine to form exquisite songs of lust, loss, and longing. Then there’s the human beatbox on “Stay Don’t Go” and the punching horns on the bullying “Jonathan Fisk.” This is where Spoon comes into a sound that’s entirely their own.

2. Radiohead – Kid A

Radiohead started the decade with a rousing blast of artistic freedom, an electronic album by a rock band that upended expectations for the band, the genre and even the music industry. The predecessor, 1997’s OK Computer had already vaulted them from under-appreciated one-hit wonders to prog rock space geniuses. Yet Kid A still confounded expectations while adhering to the theme of the 00s. Blending music that previously had been kept in separate spaces, appreciated by very different fan bases, into a coherent and bracing whole. This is where Radiohead earned the sobriquet of best band in the world.

1. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals

Choosing this as the album of the decade has already led to strained friendships and personal hardship but I call’s ‘em as I see’s ‘em.  Girl Talk is the mastermind of DJ Gerg Gillis and no-one better embodies the 00s ethos of short-attention span, the song’s the thing, put it all in a blender and give me the highlights than his two most recent Girl Talk albums. This second one gets the edge just for upping the number of sonic filchings and for creating even more creative juxtapositions between hip-hop and indie rock, classic rock and electronica. It’s all grist for his booty-shaking mill. The rise of file sharing meant that listeners no longer were subject to the 80s and 90s trend of genrefying music into marketable sub categories with their own radio stations, labels and fans. In the 00s all the categories came together. As it should be.

Girls marvelous debut album is reminiscent of Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted in how it transmutes standard indie sounds into something irresistibly their own through sheer talent and force of will.

49. Outkast – Stankonia

Outkast spent much of the decade bidding to be the new Prince, or at least Andre 3000 did. They nearly got there with the massive “Hey Ya” single but it’s on this record that they are at their most consistent from song to song.

48. Eels – Souljacker

Not beloved by most Eels fans or detractors Souljacker found Eels frontman E hiding behind a Taliban beard (soon to become a standard hipster accessory) and a toy poodle, and brandishing a never before heard yen for feedback and rocking out. It’s his toughest and leanest album and to my mind one of his best.

47.  Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco’s bruising experience with their record label and the subsequent internet release of this album, their best, followed by a proper in store release is a capsule story of what was wrong with the record industry and why the Internet was right to destroy it. It’s also a damn fine record.

46. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele

Ghostface’s most unhinged means that it’s also his best – sheer pleasure and off centered rhymes from beginning to end.

45. Pulp – We Love Life

Pulp’s last album was also a marvel of great songwriting and arrangements from the chugging strings on “Trees” to the brilliant jokes on “Bad Cover Version” (check out the video that the morons at their record company won’t let me embed because it might, you know, promote the album).

44. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

The Pornos vary their sound and experiment more on their third album, with some of their most stunning results. Thankfully fuller arrangements don’t blunt the bands drive (as the follow-up record would) and only highlight the energy.

43. Cake – Comfort Eagle

It can be argued that the basics elements of any Cake album are essentially the same – killer rhythm section, horns for color, a bandleader whopping to exhort his colleagues. Yet here it all comes together on their best set of songs, from the one about Rick James doing the singer’s girlfriend in a kidney-shaped pool to the one about how pretty people don’t get cancer.

42. Green Day – American Idiot

Green Day was lucky to have the masters of their new album stolen. Lucky because it forced them to reinvent themselves on the fly, digging out of their pop-punk rut to deliver an angry Bush-bashing Who-loving concept album that magnificently rocked over 2004.

41. Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped

Sonic Youth closed out their long tenure on Geffen records (they were the ones who had convinced Nirvana to sign) with their best record since the early 90s, a concise, swinging statement of purpose that contained some of their prettiest guitar lines and poppiest melodies as if to say “If you can’t figure out how to market this, you don’t deserve to have it.”

40. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Kevin Barnes’ band Of Montreal found it’s full flowering after his marriage hit the rocks in Norway, leading to this throbbing thumping album that channels Prince by way of Neutral Milk Hotel. A wild rewarding ride.

39. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective spent the decade as an art band on the cusp of greatness, transmuting elements as wildly varied as The Beach Boys, jam bands, primitivism, and glitch-pop into their own unique stew. Finally they delivered this brilliant album that seems to find ways to port hooks and melodic elements through the backdoor.

38. The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

By all rights Craig Finn’s post-Lifter Puller band should have flamed out after their sarcastic debut but against all logic they keep getting better and better, writing songs with more depth and playing past the E-Street band comparisons to find their own sound beginning with this subtle devastator of a record.

37. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

Paul Bank’s nasal drone earned him unwanted comparisons to Joy Division’s late Ian Curtis, a burden few bands would want to try to live up to. A good listen to their debut however showed a band that married the late 70s moves of fellow NYers the Strokes with a lean and lithe rhythmic attack to flesh out their tales of louche romance and empty city streets.

36. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Neko Case hit her stride on this record, filling out her songs with fuller arrangements and a sound that defies easy categorization. As always above all is her glorious honeyed voice drawing the listener in.

35. Justice – Cross

The best pure dance feast of the decade, Justice took up the mantle of such fine 90s acts as Propellorheads, Fatboy Slim, and Daft Punk and created an album the equal of the best of their forebears.

34. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem followed up his hit debut by expanding and deepening his themes, most notably the blurring of fact and fiction that so fueled the ire of his critics. His prickly (and prick-y) intelligence animate even the harshest of these songs, as does his devilish sense of humor.

33. The Fiery Furnaces – EP

It’s fitting that one of the most interesting and frustrating bands of the era would have a compilation of odds and ends as their best and most listenable album. Starting as an actual brother and sister duo in the mold of The White Stripes they did a radical shift with the multilayered intricate song sites of Blueberry Boat and never turned back. EP’s songs reflect both eras and are often more tuneful than anything else they’ve done, avoiding the overstuffed left-turns that can sometimes sink their other records.

32. Radiohead – In Rainbows

In Rainbows got as much attention for being released online without a record label as a name-your-own-price download (quite successfully)  as for the music within – another nail in the coffin of the traditional record biz. Yet the contents were remarkable as well, a tour de force restatement of everything Radiohead can do from rhythmic electronica spiked songs to stately ruminative ballads to rousing guitar rock. Light years ahead of their competition.

31. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Pig Lib

Malkmus throws off the yoke of his former band Pavement by embracing his increasingly virtuoso guitar pyrotechnics. At the same time though his offbeat lyrics still hold fast as do his joy in warping traditional rock sounds to his own aims.

30. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig!

After a few years of uneven output Nick Cave stormed back wonderfully with this record, a hip-swinging travelogue through the US with the titular bible personage who seems to spend an awful lot of his post-resurrection on his back with members of the opposite sex. A lusty triumph.

29. Cat Power – You Are Free

Chan Marshall has since embraced the easy-on-the-ears sound of Memphis soul, much in the same way and with the same cohorts as Frank Black attempted to. Beforehand though, she made her most interesting and engrossing album, a rough hewn gem that used a stripped back lo-fi sound to offset her smoky warble with edgy guitars and bone dry drums.

28. Spoon – Gimme Fiction

Spoon showed some unexpected moves here, building on their growing mastery of negative space to put over the falsetto groove of “I Turn My Camera On” as well as the simmer to a boil edge of “The Beast and Dragon Adored.” Britt Daniel firmly established his bands rubbery punch as a sound all it’s own, with some antecedents but few equals.

27. Jay-Z – The Black Album

If only Jay-Z had actually really retired after this monster, which supposedly represented his farewell to rap. All his strengths are played to her with some of his best and most personal rhymes and a set of superstar backing tracks that treated his words like settings for jewels.

26. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Arcade Fire did the impossible, following up their beloved debut with a second album that built in many places on the strengths of the first one, if a shade unevenly. Nevertheless the Canadian band became a worldwide sensation, catapulted to playing with heroes from Bruce Springsteen to David Bowie in the kind of indie rock fairytale that few believed in anymore.