Various Artists - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (CD)

2009 release, the third studio album from the English Alt-Rock outfit. For this album, the band recruited American Hip Hop and Electronica producer Dan The Automator, who is best known for his work on the first Gorillaz album. Two years in the making, the album is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers. A 52 minute mash up of sky-scraping melodies, Electro-Punk riffs, Morricone-esque symphonics, Mariachi stomps and Psych-Pop lullabies, it is both a stadium sized declaration of intent and a bar-raising benchmark for Rock music in 2009.