The internet comes of age.
By the mid-2000s, music wasn't only changing again, it was accelerating. Discovery became instantaneous, scenes were no longer bound by geography, and artists could find audiences on the other side of the world before they'd even played a show outside their hometown. The internet had evolved from a disruptive force into the beating heart of music culture, reshaping not only how we listened, but how we found, discussed and obsessed over records.
The rise of blogs and tastemaker websites such as Pitchfork, Stereogum and Hype Machine created a new ecosystem of discovery, where a glowing review or a handful of MP3s could propel an unknown band onto festival stages pretty much overnight. Meanwhile, MySpace transformed musicians into their own publicists, Facebook and Twitter changed how artists connected with fans, and later Instagram brought another visual dimension to live music. The era of LimeWire and Napster (and the iPod) was gradually giving way to streaming, with Spotify leading a fundamental shift in how audiences discovered, shared and returned to music. For independent artists, the barriers to reaching listeners continued to fall, while fans suddenly had an almost limitless record collection in their pocket.
Guitar music entered what many still regard as a golden age of indie rock, led by artists who felt as comfortable on festival main stages as they did on music blogs. Arctic Monkeys rewrote the rulebook for breaking a band, while Foals, The National, Warpaint, Metronomy and Vampire Weekend each gave indie a different accent. At the same time, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Digitalism and Justice blurred the lines between club culture and guitar music, filling dancefloors with sharp hooks, restless energy and a youthful optimism that came to define the era's online hype.
Elsewhere, artists were pulling independent music in increasingly adventurous directions. Amy Winehouse created one of the defining records of the century with Back to Black, marrying timeless soul with fearless honesty, while PJ Harvey continued to reinvent herself with awesome ambition. The intimate songwriting of Laura Marling and Bon Iver found devoted audiences, while Burial's rain-soaked, haunted productions captured the emotional texture of modern city life. Later in the decade Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, and FKA twigs demonstrated just how expansive contemporary songwriting and alternative pop had become.
The internet proved just as transformative for hip hop. Blogs and forums became vital spaces for discovering mixtapes, producers and underground releases, creating a culture where influence travelled faster than radio ever could. J Dilla's revolutionary approach to sampling continued to shape a generation of producers long after his untimely death, MF DOOM became one of independent rap's most revered figures, and by the decade's close Kendrick Lamar had redefined what hip hop could sound like, To Pimp a Butterfly proving that fiercely political, profoundly personal records could also become generation-defining cultural landmarks.
Across every corner of independent music, experimentation became the norm rather than the exception. Whether through Caribou's richly textured electronics, the art-pop ambition of The xx, or the fearless genre-hopping that defined so many of the decade's essential records, boundaries increasingly felt there to be broken.
Live music evolved alongside it all. Festivals transformed into global destination events, bringing together indie rock, electronic music, hip hop and pop on the same bill for audiences travelling from all over the world. As scenes became more and more interconnected online, those weekends offered something the internet couldn't: shared in-person experience, chance discovery and unforgettable performances.
Amid the rise of algorithms and streaming, the desire to connect with music in a tangible, meaningful way remained unchanged. Rough Trade continued to champion artists pushing culture forward while providing a place for discovery beyond increasingly portable screens.
50 Records for 50 Years - Drop Four: 2006-2015
Revealing our Rough Trade 50th Anniversary Editions, one for each year Rough Trade has been open. Featuring an exclusive vinyl pressing*, with special bonus material: unique liner notes, stories, and fresh interviews.
*press quantities are final
What is the greatest album of the last 50 years? Tell us, for a chance to win.
2006: Burial - Burial
Released on May 15, 2006, on Kode9's Hyperdub label, Burial's self-titled is rightfully considered a landmark of the mid-2000s dubstep scene. A foundational album for UK bass music, redefining the scope for the power of dark, atmospheric textures within electronic music. As Mark Fisher describes it: "This album is London after the rave and still sounds just as modern as it did two decades ago."
Georgia, Rough Trade Office
2007: Radiohead - In Rainbows
In Rainbows was released when CD sales were falling due to internet piracy, prompting the alt-rock titans to release their seventh studio album with a 'pay-what-you-want' model, a one-off move which divided the music industry between praising them for finding new ways to connect with fans, while others felt it set an unfair expectation for the careers of less successful artists. However you feel about Radiohead's promotional methods, there's no denying this album is a holy grail release in modern music, epic in scope, sound and all that comes in between. In Rainbows is simple, uncomplicated beauty - the lyrics of Weird Fishes say it all: "In the deepest ocean / The bottom of the sea / Your eyes / They turn me."
Georgia, Rough Trade Office
2008: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This record is winter melancholy pressed into wax. Recorded over three months in Justin Vernon's father's remote hunting cabin during a period of illness, heartbreak and isolation, For Emma was self-released in 2007 before its official re-release via Jagjaguar the following year. Being sad never sounded quite so beautiful.
Cammy, Rough Trade Office
2009: The xx - xx
Some records just stop you in your tracks and in 2009, xx was one of them. At a time when everything seemed to be getting louder, The xx did the opposite. They left space for the songs to breathe, and somehow that made them even more powerful. Crystalised became an instant classic, VCR and Islands stayed with you, while Intro grew into one of the most recognisable instrumentals ever recorded. Worth coming back to every single time. It was also an album that, until fairly recently, remained our biggest seller at Rough Trade.
Nina, Rough Trade Berlin
2010: Caribou - Swim
Indie and electronica had been stuck to the dancefloors of seedy clubs throughout the 2000s, but Dan Snaith cracked open the windows, let the light in and dragged us out to wide open fields to dance in the sun, sun, sun. The hypnotic rhythms, multi-dimensional mixing and richly textured sounds take you on a sensory adventure that leaves you in a state of unshackled bliss. Deservedly, Swim also took the top spot in our Albums of the Year list in 2010.
Paddy, Rough Trade Office
2011: Baxter Dury - Happy Soup
Baxter Dury is the king of infectious electro-pop and dry but playful lyricism. As stated on the tin, this record is a sonic soup of synths and 'seaside psychedelia' sure to make anyone happy.
Cammy, Rough Trade Office
2012: Tame Impala - Lonerism
A chance birthday gift in 2012 - a CD copy of Lonerism - introduced me to the West Australian psych-rockers. A couple of spins and I booked myself into their Brixton Academy show, back then the biggest headline performance of their career. From the punchy, anthemic stomp of Elephant to the expansive, dream-laden hooks of Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, the album captured a band stretching psychedelia into something irresistibly immediate. Building on their debut and live fan favourites such as Half Full Glass of Wine (they played this at Brixton, it was great), Lonerism was also the perfect precursor to the monster success of its follow-up, Currents, making it a pivotal record that caught Tame Impala just as their inner world was becoming universal.
Emily, Rough Trade Office
2013: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
After exploring garage rock on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and before embracing the lush, spoken word-oriented sound of present day, between them sits arguably the finest work in the entire catalogue of post-punk titans Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Push the Sky Away is beautiful but never sappy, has nerve without melodrama, and contains the rousing intimacy the band is known for conjuring live. Lyrically, Cave is as existential as ever, but pulls back the biblical grimness in favour of a more metaphysical spirituality, perfectly aligned with the album's airy music.
Linnéa, Rough Trade Berlin
2014: Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
The second studio album from the Canadian slacker king. Easygoing, janky, whilst also beautifully intricate. Written over ten years ago in the aftermath of Mac's busy tour schedule, Salad Days feels like the ultimate exercise of nostalgia, transporting its listeners to a long-forgotten summer. For me, my school days and teenage years, enjoying the album's melancholic tinge and songs of late night reflection.
Georgia, Rough Trade Office
2015: Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
I Love You, Honeybear is the sound of falling hopelessly in love while having an existential crisis in the supermarket. Father John Misty somehow makes biting sarcasm, grand romance, and orchestral splendour coexist in perfect harmony. Whether it's the dark humour of Bored in the USA, the sprawling soul searching of Holy Shit, or True Affection's plea to ditch the screens and reconnect as actual humans, every song slaps. A brilliantly chaotic, deeply romantic modern masterpiece.
Sam, Rough Trade Office
Discover More
- Rough Trade: 1996-2005
- Rough Trade: 1986-1995
- Rough Trade: 1976-1985
- Rough Trade 50 anniversary overview
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