Astronauts (CD)

Astronauts finds Here Comes Everybody arriving at a musical maturity that rivals anything that came before. It’s a new century, and written on the cusp of 9/11 and promoted by a tour post twin tower attack, the music feels appropriately matched to a changing world. It’s the first in a long string of albums that would feature no guitar, and yet, much of it rocks, and a few of these tunes would become Here Comes Everybody’s most successful tracks: the autobiographical “It’s a Buick” and “Yes, I Said,” and the exquisite cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric,” are among HCE fan favorites to this day.