The powerful and confrontational music of Ian Bavitz (a.k.a. Aesop Rock) is simply one of the most influential of the decade, with his mix of pop-culture, history and mythology he defined some of the best aspects of the underground scene. With perfectly produced albums like Labor Days and None Shall Pass, Bavitz is entitled to a lot of recognition within, and also on the exterior, of the hip-hop sphere.

Though the pivotal Moon Safari is from 1998, their following albums put them on the road to greatness. Air is one of the most complete acts nowadays with undeniable high quality standards, they simply don’t get stuck with a good composition, they give dimension to their songs with much more adventurous arrangements.

One of our most obscure selections and precisely because of that reason we’ve selected them, this mix of Arab hip-hop, jungle, dub and electronic music is something everybody should experience. Formed in the capital of the Bretagne region, Rennes, by Iraqi-French brothers Wamid and Naufalle Al Wahab and empowered by the peculiar voice of Séverine Louvel, Aïwa is one unexpectedly original and brilliant collage of sounds that has been assembled in this decade.

Imagine that one day you put your demos on MySpace and on the next day you have airplay on BBC Radio One and a recording deal with Regal/Parlophone. That’s almost exactly what happened to Lily Rose Allen back in 2005. This meteoric career start was due to a shiny and creative use of an impeccably crafted pop-rock and amusingly clever songwriting. Miss Allen released probably the best pop of the decade, and, besides that, not everybody can sing the words “Fuck You” in such a deliciously twisted way.

Although they bursted into the music scene in the ’90s, they moved to New York City in 2000 and there the Venezuelan funk, disco and acid jazz ensemble proved the world what they were made of, with the release of their third to sixth albums. Their retro ’70s and early ’80s grooves trademark should give them a place in every dance party, their music is serious party music, not just a cheesy novelty.

Animal Collective is a band currently based in New York City that consists of David Portner (Avey Tare), Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), Josh Dibb (Deakin or Deacon) and Brian Weitz (Geologist). They make beautiful, experimental and challenging avant-pop that somehow defies our comprehension of abstraction. A sublime chaos of psychedelic folk and exploratory rock. Their music is definitely not for everyone but well worth giving a fair listening opportunity to discover their unconventional and characteristic sound.

Afrobeat in the new century? just thank Antibalas. Afrobeat is a fuzzy mixture of jazz, Yoruba music, highlife, and super funk rhythms, popular in Africa in the 1970s. The band Antibalas (a.k.a. Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra) added some latin ingredients to the mentioned mixture and stretched the sound to a wider spectrum. Their completely crazy live shows are legendary and their music filled with horns and incendiary, complex and intense rhythms assured them a place in our list as one of the best sound achieved in this ten years.

An ensemble of quirky, light, gleeful and carefree multi-instrumentalists that make some sort of symphonic and electronic pop. That is a definition what Architecture in Helsinki is. A victory of indie pop madness with a theatrical combination of voices and choruses that gives this Australian band their unique sound scheme, and this singularity guarantees them a place on our ballot for the best music of the decade.

Borrowing their name from a character in Tim Burton’s movie Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Au Revoir Simone, without great pretensions, manage to attain an extremely honest and beautiful sonority that consists mainly of synth-oriented pop. Their songs flourish to monumental conditions out of the simplest instrumentations and arrangements.

Without the use of lyrics this Mexican band creates instrumental panoramas impregnated with post-rock. Their music is a fresh amalgam of progressive psychedelia, heavy sounds and dream pop. They are hardcore movie fans and on their shows they implement some of this dramatic performance by never exposing their face on stage, instead they use costumes and masks, they even have a motto: “Your face is not important, what matters most is yourself!”. By the use of self-promotion, the web and technology Austin TV is the perfect example of what a Do It Yourself band can achieve these days.