Albums of the Oughts
Sorted by years.. apparently 2002, 2004 and 2008 were very boring years for me. Sorted in alphabetical order by band by release year. I don't think I could rank these albums.
As you tear and tear your hair from roots / Of that same head you’ve twice removed / A lock of hair you said would prove our love would never die / Well, ha ha ha.
Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors (2000) - This album was the soundtrack to my first job, first love, first prescription for anxiolitics, first cigarette. In other news all those things happened to me in 2000? I feel it was a bit earlier - perhaps I pirated the album in advance, heh. Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh was one of the first fifteen mp3s in downloaded, when it took 45 minutes for a song to finish on my 14.4K modem. Funfact: first song I downloaded was Getting Jiggy With It, second was Girls by the Beastie Boys - because it was short and would download quickly. Anyway. When you're a depressed high school student with few friends and living in a dark, shadowy house - Conor Oberst will help you, by singing about walking around in your Adidas gazelles and girls whose eyes were green, until they cried. They all cry in Bright Eyes songs.
I just want you all to notice me and people to see / That somewhere deep down, there's a decent human being in me / It just can't be found, so the reason you've been seeing this me / Is cause this is me now, the recent dude who's being this mean
Eminem - the Marshall Mathers LP (2000) - I don't listen to a lot of Eminem anymore, but in the early part of the decade I was into what I called "minority rap" - chicks and white dudes. This album will always be my favourite, for it gave to the world Drug Ballad. It also has one of the epic Bitch Pleases on it! I still have a hard time listening to Amityville, especially Bizarre's verse. Ouch.
C'mon please, I wanna be just like you / 600 Mercedes, and 380's in my doll babies / Crazy baguettes in my barettes; and / H-class rocks inside my baby G shock / Fuck Barney and Lambchop / I don't love them hoes!
Lil' Kim - The Notorious K.I.M. (2000) - Filthy, filthy, filthy. That's how I like my women.. that's why I like this album. It's nice to hear women (see also - Liz, PJ, the Princess) sing about sex without wasting a drop of ink discussing love, relationships or babies. This album also includes Aunt Dot which features the adorable Lil' Shanice. I can't find any trace of this guy who should be about 18 now, just a Vibe interview from 2003 where Kim talks about developing her as a protege.. I suppose Kim's jail time & dancing with the stars sidelined that, too bad.
I fell in love and I needed a roadmap / To find out where you lived / So excited now
Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something (2000) - A compilation, but introduced me to the song I still hope to walk down the aisle to, Sleepwalking, the band, and also contains the heartwrenching Broke. It just edges out Good News for People Who Love Bad News & We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, which makes me a dilletante/"new" fan. Suck my three setlists, drum stick and engagement ring, bitches.
What's your name? / LISA! / And where you from? / 9th street Bud's House! / Where you goin? / To the party / Can I come? / Uh huh!
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Supernova (2001, posthumous) - Not a great album, but it wasn't completely finished at the time of her death. Shame. Block Party is a classic, and Jenny is the perfect "I love my crazy best friend" song. When I was a kid I was quite a big TLC fan, and Left Eye was always my favourite part. To me, few celebrity deaths have been as depressing as hers was. I would have liked to have heard more from her.
She gave me some dictation / But my strength is in administration / I took down all she said / I even took down her little red dress
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003) - The quote I selected is what plays on Andrew's phone when I call him. Teehee. When I met Andrew, I was into "old" Belle and Sebastian, and had given up after Storytelling & Fold Your Hands... but Andrew convinced me to trudge bravely forward and give their newest output a chance. Between this and The Life Pursuit, it was a great decade for them after all. Plus they are pretty much the best live band ever, if you like to sing and dance instead of doing the indie-cool head bop.
And then you move, move, move, move / And you push, push, push, push / And you trip over yourself and you think to yourself / Why am I here? / I'm here because I've got no fucking choice / And furthermore / Furthermore / You're boring!
Blur - Think Tank (2003) - Not my favourite Blur album by a long shot, but it's a Blur album, it was released in the 2000s, it's got Phil Daniels doing the spastic Me, White Noise and the necessary minute-long, shouty song, We've Got A File On You. Me, White Noise carries on the proud tradition Essex Dogs started of being a completely atonal and plodding song destined to be referenced only by your humble narrator ten years on. And it's a bit Talking Heads-y, isn't it?
Like an evangelist I can introduce you to your maker / Bring you closer to nature / Ashes after they cremate you
Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003) - Released on my 21st birthday and I was unaware. This is a sad fact. I should have lived that shit up! I think it's a good album for those who like Jay-z & I were raised in broken homes with no money or hope. He did a bit better for himself than I, but by the way, I couldn't rap. Every few months another song from this album becomes my "favourite ever." Currently I'm split between the sing-song Change Clothes and Lucifer.
Yeah, you need to worry, like Jason, it gets scary / The words that I spit don't fit in that category / Is my vision blurry? My speech is very slurry / Me without Tim is like Jamaicans with no curry
Missy Elliott - Under Construction (2003) - What's "fremma neppa vine nyet umma" mean anyway? :) I love Timbaland's beats, Missy's deadpan delivery, and the guest stars on this album. I suspect missy was a big Beastie Boys fan, there are a few references to their music in her songs, including Funky Fresh Dressed..
You're such a mystery / I just wanna stand and stare / Nibble on your ear and smell the ocean in your hair
Of Montreal - Sunlandic Twins (2005) - When I first heard Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games I was so confused. Then I found out that Of Montreal were one of the few bands I'd heard of to cover a Yoko Ono song - notably my favourite song, I Felt Like Smashing My Head in a Clear Glass Window, and I gave them some more play. At first I listened only to Wraith, over and over, pausing only to watch the video for the song. The bouncy, sarcastic pop music crafted by the Elephant 6 geeks was a perfect replacement for the hole left in my heart when Blur disbanded and started making vanity projects. I'm also a sucker for a good harmony (see The Party's Crashing Us Now, So Begins our Alabee.)
Hey girl, how ya doin? / You are the woman that I'm really pursuin / and I would like to get to know you can you give me your name / if you jot down your number you'll get mine in exchange
Girl Talk - Night Ripper (2006) - Mashups. Previously unknown to me except for the well-publicized Grey Album by Dangermouse, this opened a lot of doors for me. One, it's an excellent album, two, it's catchy as hell and you always hear something different, three, it introduced me to a lot of music I'd never heard before, and reminded me of long-forgotten greats.
So my mom, she brushes her hair / And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard / And I share with my friends a couple of beers / In the Orlando streets
Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat (2006) - Something I only picked up in 2009, I still have a hard time figuring out what exactly took me so long to realize how beautiful this album is. A little bit Fleetwood Mac, a little O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, a touch of Bonnie Raitt, a bit of Travelling Wilbury's (no really - she covered Handle with Care). Mix it all together and enjoy with a coffee, a cigarette, and a fire.
The history books forgot about us / The Bible didn't mention us
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope (2006) - Attached to the Strokes hype by way of a friendship with the band, I stayed away from Regina with suspicion, but stumbled across Samson - possibly here on livejournal, from guccilittlehoo? - and instantly fell in love. Her cover of Chelsea Hotel is unparalleled, as well, and I appreciate the way she says "Better."
I'm Miss American Dream since I was 17 / Don't matter if I step on the scene / Or sneak away to the Philippines / They're still gonna put pictures of my derriere in the magazine
Britney Spears - Blackout (2007) - This isn't really a "lyrics" album, but the theme is inescapable and was such a perfect summation of the previous few years of Britney's life. Such a big, luxe, fuck-off kind of dance album. Its success didn't quite save her or pop music like we hoped, but it pushed both in a better direction.
Protocol to be a Rocawear model? / It didn't really drop that way / My legs hit the hurdle / Protocol to be a rocker on a label? / It didn't really drop that way / My beats were too evil
M.I.A. - Kala (2007) - Such a big, fun album. Andrew hates it. For people who met because of relatively similar music tastes, it's funny how far we've strayed. On our first date I checked out Andrew's mp3 collection and judged him worthy because he had a few Modest Mouse songs, do you think he chose to put on ver Mouse even ONCE since we started dating? Nope. So once I got into Sri Lankan dancehall-cum-hip hop it was all over and Andrew silently thanked God for the invention of headphones.
Yesterday it hit me that I do all the little things that you do / Except the same little things that you so are annoying / They're annoying as Hell in fact / I like to keep my little shell intact
White Stripes - Icky Thump (2007) - Maybe the White Stripes don't stand up over time, or maybe I like to poach from each of their albums to make awesome mixes, but this is the CD that truly stuck out to me when I tried to pick an album. Anyway, Meg continues to be adorable as always and Jack is kind of a prick, but together they really work.
Yes I'm a witch / I'm a bitch / I don't care what you say / My voice is real / my voice speaks truth / I don't fit in your ways
Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch (2007) - A remix album, but the very best kind. Because it's Yoko, because it brought her songs back into the (dance) charts, because Peaches gave Kiss, Kiss, Kiss an incredible beat, because of the revised gay-friendly lyrics of Everyman, Everywoman, because of the hypnotic purr of O'Oh.
I will never get to touch you / So I wrote this song instead / Thinking about you lying on a bed / It's gonna get inside your head
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (2009) - So nice to hear Jarvis' throaty vocals focused on his favourite subject: sex! He got old/depressed/solemn for a few minutes there around the dissolution of Pulp and the release of his first solo album, but this was closer to a "Pulp" album than anything released after This is Hardcore, but produced by Steve Albini so less violins and more distortion - kind of like the Arabacus Pulp days. Angela reminds me of a lost 60s garage band 45. Coincidentally, Angela is the name of one of the band members' girlfriends, and apparently Jarvis had to stammer his way out of that one. Oops. I mean.. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Honourable mentions: Justin Timberlake! I'm sorry I only liked your singles and never listened to your albums, but um, it feels like something's heating up, can I leave with you?
Not so honourable mentions: I can only remember one Bjork song of the 2000s - Declare Independence! - which is kind of sad. It's Oh So Quiet in the Bjork section of my brain..
As you tear and tear your hair from roots / Of that same head you’ve twice removed / A lock of hair you said would prove our love would never die / Well, ha ha ha.
Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors (2000) - This album was the soundtrack to my first job, first love, first prescription for anxiolitics, first cigarette. In other news all those things happened to me in 2000? I feel it was a bit earlier - perhaps I pirated the album in advance, heh. Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh was one of the first fifteen mp3s in downloaded, when it took 45 minutes for a song to finish on my 14.4K modem. Funfact: first song I downloaded was Getting Jiggy With It, second was Girls by the Beastie Boys - because it was short and would download quickly. Anyway. When you're a depressed high school student with few friends and living in a dark, shadowy house - Conor Oberst will help you, by singing about walking around in your Adidas gazelles and girls whose eyes were green, until they cried. They all cry in Bright Eyes songs.
I just want you all to notice me and people to see / That somewhere deep down, there's a decent human being in me / It just can't be found, so the reason you've been seeing this me / Is cause this is me now, the recent dude who's being this mean
Eminem - the Marshall Mathers LP (2000) - I don't listen to a lot of Eminem anymore, but in the early part of the decade I was into what I called "minority rap" - chicks and white dudes. This album will always be my favourite, for it gave to the world Drug Ballad. It also has one of the epic Bitch Pleases on it! I still have a hard time listening to Amityville, especially Bizarre's verse. Ouch.
C'mon please, I wanna be just like you / 600 Mercedes, and 380's in my doll babies / Crazy baguettes in my barettes; and / H-class rocks inside my baby G shock / Fuck Barney and Lambchop / I don't love them hoes!
Lil' Kim - The Notorious K.I.M. (2000) - Filthy, filthy, filthy. That's how I like my women.. that's why I like this album. It's nice to hear women (see also - Liz, PJ, the Princess) sing about sex without wasting a drop of ink discussing love, relationships or babies. This album also includes Aunt Dot which features the adorable Lil' Shanice. I can't find any trace of this guy who should be about 18 now, just a Vibe interview from 2003 where Kim talks about developing her as a protege.. I suppose Kim's jail time & dancing with the stars sidelined that, too bad.
I fell in love and I needed a roadmap / To find out where you lived / So excited now
Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something (2000) - A compilation, but introduced me to the song I still hope to walk down the aisle to, Sleepwalking, the band, and also contains the heartwrenching Broke. It just edges out Good News for People Who Love Bad News & We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, which makes me a dilletante/"new" fan. Suck my three setlists, drum stick and engagement ring, bitches.
What's your name? / LISA! / And where you from? / 9th street Bud's House! / Where you goin? / To the party / Can I come? / Uh huh!
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Supernova (2001, posthumous) - Not a great album, but it wasn't completely finished at the time of her death. Shame. Block Party is a classic, and Jenny is the perfect "I love my crazy best friend" song. When I was a kid I was quite a big TLC fan, and Left Eye was always my favourite part. To me, few celebrity deaths have been as depressing as hers was. I would have liked to have heard more from her.
She gave me some dictation / But my strength is in administration / I took down all she said / I even took down her little red dress
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003) - The quote I selected is what plays on Andrew's phone when I call him. Teehee. When I met Andrew, I was into "old" Belle and Sebastian, and had given up after Storytelling & Fold Your Hands... but Andrew convinced me to trudge bravely forward and give their newest output a chance. Between this and The Life Pursuit, it was a great decade for them after all. Plus they are pretty much the best live band ever, if you like to sing and dance instead of doing the indie-cool head bop.
And then you move, move, move, move / And you push, push, push, push / And you trip over yourself and you think to yourself / Why am I here? / I'm here because I've got no fucking choice / And furthermore / Furthermore / You're boring!
Blur - Think Tank (2003) - Not my favourite Blur album by a long shot, but it's a Blur album, it was released in the 2000s, it's got Phil Daniels doing the spastic Me, White Noise and the necessary minute-long, shouty song, We've Got A File On You. Me, White Noise carries on the proud tradition Essex Dogs started of being a completely atonal and plodding song destined to be referenced only by your humble narrator ten years on. And it's a bit Talking Heads-y, isn't it?
Like an evangelist I can introduce you to your maker / Bring you closer to nature / Ashes after they cremate you
Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003) - Released on my 21st birthday and I was unaware. This is a sad fact. I should have lived that shit up! I think it's a good album for those who like Jay-z & I were raised in broken homes with no money or hope. He did a bit better for himself than I, but by the way, I couldn't rap. Every few months another song from this album becomes my "favourite ever." Currently I'm split between the sing-song Change Clothes and Lucifer.
Yeah, you need to worry, like Jason, it gets scary / The words that I spit don't fit in that category / Is my vision blurry? My speech is very slurry / Me without Tim is like Jamaicans with no curry
Missy Elliott - Under Construction (2003) - What's "fremma neppa vine nyet umma" mean anyway? :) I love Timbaland's beats, Missy's deadpan delivery, and the guest stars on this album. I suspect missy was a big Beastie Boys fan, there are a few references to their music in her songs, including Funky Fresh Dressed..
You're such a mystery / I just wanna stand and stare / Nibble on your ear and smell the ocean in your hair
Of Montreal - Sunlandic Twins (2005) - When I first heard Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games I was so confused. Then I found out that Of Montreal were one of the few bands I'd heard of to cover a Yoko Ono song - notably my favourite song, I Felt Like Smashing My Head in a Clear Glass Window, and I gave them some more play. At first I listened only to Wraith, over and over, pausing only to watch the video for the song. The bouncy, sarcastic pop music crafted by the Elephant 6 geeks was a perfect replacement for the hole left in my heart when Blur disbanded and started making vanity projects. I'm also a sucker for a good harmony (see The Party's Crashing Us Now, So Begins our Alabee.)
Hey girl, how ya doin? / You are the woman that I'm really pursuin / and I would like to get to know you can you give me your name / if you jot down your number you'll get mine in exchange
Girl Talk - Night Ripper (2006) - Mashups. Previously unknown to me except for the well-publicized Grey Album by Dangermouse, this opened a lot of doors for me. One, it's an excellent album, two, it's catchy as hell and you always hear something different, three, it introduced me to a lot of music I'd never heard before, and reminded me of long-forgotten greats.
So my mom, she brushes her hair / And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard / And I share with my friends a couple of beers / In the Orlando streets
Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat (2006) - Something I only picked up in 2009, I still have a hard time figuring out what exactly took me so long to realize how beautiful this album is. A little bit Fleetwood Mac, a little O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, a touch of Bonnie Raitt, a bit of Travelling Wilbury's (no really - she covered Handle with Care). Mix it all together and enjoy with a coffee, a cigarette, and a fire.
The history books forgot about us / The Bible didn't mention us
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope (2006) - Attached to the Strokes hype by way of a friendship with the band, I stayed away from Regina with suspicion, but stumbled across Samson - possibly here on livejournal, from guccilittlehoo? - and instantly fell in love. Her cover of Chelsea Hotel is unparalleled, as well, and I appreciate the way she says "Better."
I'm Miss American Dream since I was 17 / Don't matter if I step on the scene / Or sneak away to the Philippines / They're still gonna put pictures of my derriere in the magazine
Britney Spears - Blackout (2007) - This isn't really a "lyrics" album, but the theme is inescapable and was such a perfect summation of the previous few years of Britney's life. Such a big, luxe, fuck-off kind of dance album. Its success didn't quite save her or pop music like we hoped, but it pushed both in a better direction.
Protocol to be a Rocawear model? / It didn't really drop that way / My legs hit the hurdle / Protocol to be a rocker on a label? / It didn't really drop that way / My beats were too evil
M.I.A. - Kala (2007) - Such a big, fun album. Andrew hates it. For people who met because of relatively similar music tastes, it's funny how far we've strayed. On our first date I checked out Andrew's mp3 collection and judged him worthy because he had a few Modest Mouse songs, do you think he chose to put on ver Mouse even ONCE since we started dating? Nope. So once I got into Sri Lankan dancehall-cum-hip hop it was all over and Andrew silently thanked God for the invention of headphones.
Yesterday it hit me that I do all the little things that you do / Except the same little things that you so are annoying / They're annoying as Hell in fact / I like to keep my little shell intact
White Stripes - Icky Thump (2007) - Maybe the White Stripes don't stand up over time, or maybe I like to poach from each of their albums to make awesome mixes, but this is the CD that truly stuck out to me when I tried to pick an album. Anyway, Meg continues to be adorable as always and Jack is kind of a prick, but together they really work.
Yes I'm a witch / I'm a bitch / I don't care what you say / My voice is real / my voice speaks truth / I don't fit in your ways
Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch (2007) - A remix album, but the very best kind. Because it's Yoko, because it brought her songs back into the (dance) charts, because Peaches gave Kiss, Kiss, Kiss an incredible beat, because of the revised gay-friendly lyrics of Everyman, Everywoman, because of the hypnotic purr of O'Oh.
I will never get to touch you / So I wrote this song instead / Thinking about you lying on a bed / It's gonna get inside your head
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (2009) - So nice to hear Jarvis' throaty vocals focused on his favourite subject: sex! He got old/depressed/solemn for a few minutes there around the dissolution of Pulp and the release of his first solo album, but this was closer to a "Pulp" album than anything released after This is Hardcore, but produced by Steve Albini so less violins and more distortion - kind of like the Arabacus Pulp days. Angela reminds me of a lost 60s garage band 45. Coincidentally, Angela is the name of one of the band members' girlfriends, and apparently Jarvis had to stammer his way out of that one. Oops. I mean.. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Honourable mentions: Justin Timberlake! I'm sorry I only liked your singles and never listened to your albums, but um, it feels like something's heating up, can I leave with you?
Not so honourable mentions: I can only remember one Bjork song of the 2000s - Declare Independence! - which is kind of sad. It's Oh So Quiet in the Bjork section of my brain..