the top fifty musical long-playing recordings of the decade 2000-2009 (part one, 50-21)
wow.
can't believe i actually did this.
I blame it on my obssessive-compulsive ritualistic nature when it comes to music (which I talk about at length here), because once i started i couldn't stop. as early as March I was already asking Jason and Marie "what's your favorite album of the decade?" and midway through the year I was asking Diego for stuff he felt I missed out on (like Wilco). it WAS a very long and painful process, and even though I had originally planned a list of 20, cutting out some of these gems, especially those in the 20-25 area, was just too much.
The noughties, when all is said and done, was actually quite a boring decade for music. Most of the time people were just rehashing movements like Garage or Postpunk, and towards the end the hipsters came with their brand of been-there-done-that experimental sounds that they tried to pass off as music. I was shocked to see that on this list 36 out of the 50 albums came out before 2005, and a whopping 10 albums came out in 2000 (2007 only had like two entries). It could be that as the years go by the quality of music is steadily going kaput, but then it could also just be that I'm a crotchety old man.
That having been said, the 50 you see presented here are solid. all are great albums, to the point that you could interchange the first half and i'd hardly notice.
if you pay attention (and I doubt any of you will), you may notice some discrepancies in the decade list compared to the individual years list. for example, why is Sufjan Stevens's Seven Swans way up there when it wasn't even in the 2004 list? Or why is Kings of Convenience's Riot on An Empty Street higher than Moving Units's Dangerous Dreams when it was the other way around back in 2004? My explanations:
1)things change. i could be listening to an album all year and really hate it the next. some records do get better over time, and others tend to lose their power. my number one of the decade was actually only number two the year it came out, and the number one of that year is a remote 18.
2)oversight. sometimes, especially when the album is released at the end of December (like The Stills'Logic Will Break Your Heart), i completely overlook records for my yearend lists. Other times (as with the case of Sufjan Stevens) when I like an artist I'll look at their catalog and discover fantastic albums of theirs I didn't notice.
3)i purposely spaced out albums by the same band in the list. i figure if i get really rigid about what i loved this year, the top 5 would consist of only two bands.
finally, before i continue, i would just like to take eroticvulture's lead and make the disclaimer that this is an intensely personal list. so please, i don't want to hear "WHY ISN'T URBANDUB ON THIS LIST?!" I love a lot of the bands you think deserve to be on this list, but some really had greater personal impact on me than others. If you want a more objective view on the decade in music, go to SPIN or Pitchfork of something.
50.
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008) Jersey, Peter Gabriel, the 80s and Hammer+Tongs. Lovely and amazing.
49.
Juliana Hatfield - Beautiful Creature (2000) My favorite artist OAT releases a more mature but still incredibly angsty album to kick off the decade.
48.
Telepathe - Dance Mother (2009) Lesbians + Electronic Music = Always Something Magical!
47.
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell (2008) These Canadian chaps never fail to make me smile. And jump around. And play air keyboards like some nut.
46.
Le Tigre - This Island (2004)Le Tigre wins over Rick "The Hand of Death" Ocasek's crappy overproduced style with their charmingly assholic punk music!
45.
The Dismemberment Plan - Change (2001) The Dismemberment Plan say goodbye with one of the most masterful indierock records this decade. It's that rare record that has you liking it the more you listen to it over the years.
44.
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (2005) A celebration of the Toronto scene, a collaboration between all its greatest artists. Probably the last of its kind.
43.
Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on The Bad One (2000) They may have been the greatest rock band of all time the moment this was released, but really-- all they wanted to do was have fun.
42.
Sugarfree - Sa Wakas (2003) - This album sounds like 26 years worth of heartbreak. Sugarfree made some excellent records after Sa Wakas, but they were never able to replicate the sheer emotion this album packed.
41.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (2006) - My favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is also probably the least popular, forsaking the garage-meets-postpunk sound they made famous and instead focusing on pure stadium rock. Hard to swallow, yes, but well worth it if you're willing to go for the ride.
40.
Blake Babies - God Bless The Blake Babies (2001). Bands reuniting usually result in fun but kinda sad (in a bad way) nostalgia trips. The return of the Blake Babies, however, found the band not mellowed out but more headstrong, mature and confident than ever before. Not to say the nostalgia wasn't there-- i still tear up when I hear "Brain Damage", the duet between two of my greatest childhood heroes Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando.
39.
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005). The album that probably changed most adolescent lives this decade. Bloc Party took the then-popular dancepunk genre and ran with it, creating that rarest thing in pop music -- a dance album that's actually touching.
38.
Phoenix - Alphabetical (2004). I have a theory that your favorite Phoenix album is the one you first listened to. So yes, even though this is the one that makes them sound like a boyband, it's the closest to my heart.
37.
Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams (2004). It is still the biggest mystery to me as to why Moving Units never hit the big time. They rocked harder than any other postpunk revival band, and knew how to groove better than almost every other dancepunk collective. Alas, it's probably for the best, lest we start seeing vocalist Chris Hathwell strut around MTV in a red skintight suit with feathers on his shoulders.
36.
Death Cab for Cutie -Transatlanticism (2003) Due to a combination of The Postal Service's popularity, the rise of indie rock and of course, THE OC, the release of Transatlanticism may have been Death Cab for Cutie's most perfect moment. It's a good thing, then, that they were able to back this stroke of luck up with a solid album where every song is a gem that melts into the next.
35.
Up dharma Down - Fragmented (2006) Effervescent, atmospheric and true --these kids from UA&P slid onto the Philippine music scene like a silent killer. A strong contender for the most important Filipino album of the decade.
34.
Rainer Maria - A Better Version of Me (2000). Rainer Maria's transition album from whiny emo kids to one of the great indierock bands of this decade has just the right mix of rawness, rockin and reflection.
33.
Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006) So Radiohead makes a solo album, and it's better than their last two releases. By this time Thom Yorke had nothing left to prove, so instead of creating another groundbreaking record (which he does the year after), he creates a dark and moody piece that takes "electronic music" to places it's never been before.
32.
Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us (2008). A testament to true love, an ode to growing up, a reflection on becoming parents; Re-Arrange Us is all of this and more. It's lush and grand and powerful. And it was recorded by only two people.
31.
Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street (2004.) Mostly two acoustic guitars and two male voices, with a sprinkling of drum, piano, viola and Feist. Easy listening of the best kind.
30.
Bjork - Vespertine (2001). Right now I'm sitting in front of the keyboard trying to find the right words to describe Vespertine. All I can come up with, really, is "beautiful".
29.
The Rapture - Pieces of The People We Love (2006) A fantastic, fantastic dance album. Like I said in my 2006 list, it’s always nicer hearing smart bands dumb down than dumb bands try to sound intelligent.
28.
Spoon - Kill The Moonlight (2002). Sparse, meditative, dreamy-- Kill The Moonlight is the sort of album whose era one wouldn't be able to place. In many ways it's this decade's Automatic for The People, and hopefully it remains as timeless as that classic.
27.
Snow Patrol - Final Straw (2004). Wow. Once upon a time these guys were really great, no?
26.
Taken by Cars - Endings of A New Kind Yep, a year later and I'm still loving this album.
25.
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans (2004). A retroactive pick. For my money Stevens still does his best stuff when not under the pressure of sticking to themes or lush orchestral pieces. Sufjan, a guitar, and his backup chick -- that's the way I like it, and this album is filled with that.
24.
The Postal Service - Give Up (2003). It's been 6 years and people are still "discovering" this album, which just goes to show how timeless it is. A lot of people attribute Give Up's success to the inimitable Ben Gibbard, but equal credit has to go to Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello, who defined a much-imitated sound for the noughties (+cough+ Owl City +cough+).
23.
+/- - Let's Build a Fire (2006). Proof that happiness and contentment are sometimes as good driving forces for musicians as anger and suffering are. This album was made by people who have just gotten married, and have just become or are about to become family men, and this celebration of life can be heard all around.
22.
Superchunk - Here's to Shutting Up (2001). It's a shame that this is the legendary Superchunk's only real album this decade, because the band was getting unbelievably better and better. Alas, this is testament that like good wine, Superchunk will only get finer in their old age.
21.
Ciudad - "Is That Ciudad?" "Yes Son, It's Me" (2002) My favorite Filipino album of the decade, and for the right reasons. "Yeah right," you're thinking, "you just love that album because you named it and because Ciudad are your friends!" Not really. I must admit I'm very attached to the songs, and maybe it's because they're connected to a lot of wonderful memories. This album makes me think of college, and Keka, and the Philippine rock scene in the early '00s. Those are some of my favorite things in the world, and I think something that evokes that deserves this place in the ranks.
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
can't believe i actually did this.
I blame it on my obssessive-compulsive ritualistic nature when it comes to music (which I talk about at length here), because once i started i couldn't stop. as early as March I was already asking Jason and Marie "what's your favorite album of the decade?" and midway through the year I was asking Diego for stuff he felt I missed out on (like Wilco). it WAS a very long and painful process, and even though I had originally planned a list of 20, cutting out some of these gems, especially those in the 20-25 area, was just too much.
The noughties, when all is said and done, was actually quite a boring decade for music. Most of the time people were just rehashing movements like Garage or Postpunk, and towards the end the hipsters came with their brand of been-there-done-that experimental sounds that they tried to pass off as music. I was shocked to see that on this list 36 out of the 50 albums came out before 2005, and a whopping 10 albums came out in 2000 (2007 only had like two entries). It could be that as the years go by the quality of music is steadily going kaput, but then it could also just be that I'm a crotchety old man.
That having been said, the 50 you see presented here are solid. all are great albums, to the point that you could interchange the first half and i'd hardly notice.
if you pay attention (and I doubt any of you will), you may notice some discrepancies in the decade list compared to the individual years list. for example, why is Sufjan Stevens's Seven Swans way up there when it wasn't even in the 2004 list? Or why is Kings of Convenience's Riot on An Empty Street higher than Moving Units's Dangerous Dreams when it was the other way around back in 2004? My explanations:
1)things change. i could be listening to an album all year and really hate it the next. some records do get better over time, and others tend to lose their power. my number one of the decade was actually only number two the year it came out, and the number one of that year is a remote 18.
2)oversight. sometimes, especially when the album is released at the end of December (like The Stills'Logic Will Break Your Heart), i completely overlook records for my yearend lists. Other times (as with the case of Sufjan Stevens) when I like an artist I'll look at their catalog and discover fantastic albums of theirs I didn't notice.
3)i purposely spaced out albums by the same band in the list. i figure if i get really rigid about what i loved this year, the top 5 would consist of only two bands.
finally, before i continue, i would just like to take eroticvulture's lead and make the disclaimer that this is an intensely personal list. so please, i don't want to hear "WHY ISN'T URBANDUB ON THIS LIST?!" I love a lot of the bands you think deserve to be on this list, but some really had greater personal impact on me than others. If you want a more objective view on the decade in music, go to SPIN or Pitchfork of something.
50.
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008) Jersey, Peter Gabriel, the 80s and Hammer+Tongs. Lovely and amazing.
49.
Juliana Hatfield - Beautiful Creature (2000) My favorite artist OAT releases a more mature but still incredibly angsty album to kick off the decade.
48.
Telepathe - Dance Mother (2009) Lesbians + Electronic Music = Always Something Magical!
47.
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell (2008) These Canadian chaps never fail to make me smile. And jump around. And play air keyboards like some nut.
46.
Le Tigre - This Island (2004)Le Tigre wins over Rick "The Hand of Death" Ocasek's crappy overproduced style with their charmingly assholic punk music!
45.
The Dismemberment Plan - Change (2001) The Dismemberment Plan say goodbye with one of the most masterful indierock records this decade. It's that rare record that has you liking it the more you listen to it over the years.
44.
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (2005) A celebration of the Toronto scene, a collaboration between all its greatest artists. Probably the last of its kind.
43.
Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on The Bad One (2000) They may have been the greatest rock band of all time the moment this was released, but really-- all they wanted to do was have fun.
42.
Sugarfree - Sa Wakas (2003) - This album sounds like 26 years worth of heartbreak. Sugarfree made some excellent records after Sa Wakas, but they were never able to replicate the sheer emotion this album packed.
41.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (2006) - My favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is also probably the least popular, forsaking the garage-meets-postpunk sound they made famous and instead focusing on pure stadium rock. Hard to swallow, yes, but well worth it if you're willing to go for the ride.
40.
Blake Babies - God Bless The Blake Babies (2001). Bands reuniting usually result in fun but kinda sad (in a bad way) nostalgia trips. The return of the Blake Babies, however, found the band not mellowed out but more headstrong, mature and confident than ever before. Not to say the nostalgia wasn't there-- i still tear up when I hear "Brain Damage", the duet between two of my greatest childhood heroes Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando.
39.
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005). The album that probably changed most adolescent lives this decade. Bloc Party took the then-popular dancepunk genre and ran with it, creating that rarest thing in pop music -- a dance album that's actually touching.
38.
Phoenix - Alphabetical (2004). I have a theory that your favorite Phoenix album is the one you first listened to. So yes, even though this is the one that makes them sound like a boyband, it's the closest to my heart.
37.
Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams (2004). It is still the biggest mystery to me as to why Moving Units never hit the big time. They rocked harder than any other postpunk revival band, and knew how to groove better than almost every other dancepunk collective. Alas, it's probably for the best, lest we start seeing vocalist Chris Hathwell strut around MTV in a red skintight suit with feathers on his shoulders.
36.
Death Cab for Cutie -Transatlanticism (2003) Due to a combination of The Postal Service's popularity, the rise of indie rock and of course, THE OC, the release of Transatlanticism may have been Death Cab for Cutie's most perfect moment. It's a good thing, then, that they were able to back this stroke of luck up with a solid album where every song is a gem that melts into the next.
35.
Up dharma Down - Fragmented (2006) Effervescent, atmospheric and true --these kids from UA&P slid onto the Philippine music scene like a silent killer. A strong contender for the most important Filipino album of the decade.
34.
Rainer Maria - A Better Version of Me (2000). Rainer Maria's transition album from whiny emo kids to one of the great indierock bands of this decade has just the right mix of rawness, rockin and reflection.
33.
Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006) So Radiohead makes a solo album, and it's better than their last two releases. By this time Thom Yorke had nothing left to prove, so instead of creating another groundbreaking record (which he does the year after), he creates a dark and moody piece that takes "electronic music" to places it's never been before.
32.
Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us (2008). A testament to true love, an ode to growing up, a reflection on becoming parents; Re-Arrange Us is all of this and more. It's lush and grand and powerful. And it was recorded by only two people.
31.
Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street (2004.) Mostly two acoustic guitars and two male voices, with a sprinkling of drum, piano, viola and Feist. Easy listening of the best kind.
30.
Bjork - Vespertine (2001). Right now I'm sitting in front of the keyboard trying to find the right words to describe Vespertine. All I can come up with, really, is "beautiful".
29.
The Rapture - Pieces of The People We Love (2006) A fantastic, fantastic dance album. Like I said in my 2006 list, it’s always nicer hearing smart bands dumb down than dumb bands try to sound intelligent.
28.
Spoon - Kill The Moonlight (2002). Sparse, meditative, dreamy-- Kill The Moonlight is the sort of album whose era one wouldn't be able to place. In many ways it's this decade's Automatic for The People, and hopefully it remains as timeless as that classic.
27.
Snow Patrol - Final Straw (2004). Wow. Once upon a time these guys were really great, no?
26.
Taken by Cars - Endings of A New Kind Yep, a year later and I'm still loving this album.
25.
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans (2004). A retroactive pick. For my money Stevens still does his best stuff when not under the pressure of sticking to themes or lush orchestral pieces. Sufjan, a guitar, and his backup chick -- that's the way I like it, and this album is filled with that.
24.
The Postal Service - Give Up (2003). It's been 6 years and people are still "discovering" this album, which just goes to show how timeless it is. A lot of people attribute Give Up's success to the inimitable Ben Gibbard, but equal credit has to go to Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello, who defined a much-imitated sound for the noughties (+cough+ Owl City +cough+).
23.
+/- - Let's Build a Fire (2006). Proof that happiness and contentment are sometimes as good driving forces for musicians as anger and suffering are. This album was made by people who have just gotten married, and have just become or are about to become family men, and this celebration of life can be heard all around.
22.
Superchunk - Here's to Shutting Up (2001). It's a shame that this is the legendary Superchunk's only real album this decade, because the band was getting unbelievably better and better. Alas, this is testament that like good wine, Superchunk will only get finer in their old age.
21.
Ciudad - "Is That Ciudad?" "Yes Son, It's Me" (2002) My favorite Filipino album of the decade, and for the right reasons. "Yeah right," you're thinking, "you just love that album because you named it and because Ciudad are your friends!" Not really. I must admit I'm very attached to the songs, and maybe it's because they're connected to a lot of wonderful memories. This album makes me think of college, and Keka, and the Philippine rock scene in the early '00s. Those are some of my favorite things in the world, and I think something that evokes that deserves this place in the ranks.
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003