Best Albums of the Decade, 2000-2009

Top 50 Albums from 2000-2009


1.  Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
2.  Radiohead – Amnesiac
3.  Radiohead – Kid A
4.  Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun
5.   Joanna Newsom – Ys
6.   Sufjan Stevens – Come on, Feel the Illionoise!
7.   The White Stripes – Elephant
8.   The Microphones – The Glow, Pt. 2
9.   The Books – Lost and Safe
10. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
11. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
12. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
13. The Antlers – Hospice
14. Sigur Ros – ( )
15. Modest Mouse – The Moon and Antarctica
16. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
17. Eluvium – Copia
18. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
19. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
20. The Mountain Goats – Tallahassee
21. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
22. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
23. Destroyer – Rubies
24. Sufjan Stevens – Greetings From Michigan!
25. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
26. The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
27. Grizzly Bear – Yellow House
28. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
29. Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
30. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
31. Andrew Bird – Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
32. The National – Boxer
33. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
34. The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
35. Animal Collective – Feels
36. Radiohead – In Rainbows
37. Joanna Newsom – The Milk-Eyed Mender
38. A Silver Mt. Zion – Horses in the Sky
39. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont
40. tUnE-YaRdS – BiRd-BrAiNs
41. LCD Soundsytem –Sound of Silver
42. Neko Case and Her Boyfriends – Furnace Room Lullaby
43. Four Tet – Rounds
44. St. Vincent – Marry Me
45. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
46. No Age – Nouns
47. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
48. Beck – Sea Change
49. Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
50. The Strokes – Is This It?

Honorable Mentions:

Dan Deacon – Bromst

The Decemberists – The Crane Wife

Headphones – Headphones

The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday

M. Ward – Post-War

Pedro the Lion – Control

The Postal Service – Give Up

Sun Kil Moon – Ghosts of the Great Highway

Best Albums of 2009

I know I'm a bit late with this, but I wanted to wait until I felt at least marginally confident I had heard the "big records" from 2009.  Without further ado:

(5 stars) Albums You Really Have to Own

1.  The Antlers -- Hospice
2.  Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3.  Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca
4.  tUnE-YaRdS -- BiRd-BrAiNs
5. Various Artists -- Dark Was the Night (A Red Hot Compilation)
6.  Dan Deacon -- Bromst

(4 stars) Albums You Really Ought to Listen To

7.  The Mountain Goats -- The Life of the World to Come
8.  Karen O and the Kids -- Where the Wild Things Are (OST)
9.  Bowerbirds -- Upper Air
10. Woods -- Songs of Shame
11. Grizzly Bear -- Veckatimest
12. Mount Eerie -- Wind's Poem
13. Bill Callahan -- Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
14. Cass McCombs -- Catacombs
15. Andrew Bird -- Noble Beast
16. Girls -- Album
17. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -- S/T
18. Japandroids -- Post-Nothing
19. St. Vincent -- Actor
20. Sun 0))) -- Monoliths and Dimensions
21. The Big Pink -- A Brief History of Love
22. White Denim -- Fits

(3 stars) Fine Albums, If You Like the Artist/Genre

23. Sufjan Stevens -- The BQE
24.  The XX -- S/T
25. Atlas Sound -- Logos
26. Fuck Buttons -- Tarot Sport
27. Vetiver -- Tight Knit
28. Beirut -- March of the Zapotec
29. Cymbals Eat Guitars -- Why There Are Mountains
30. Sunset Rubdown -- Dragonslayer

(2 stars) Albums That Downright Disappointed

31. The Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
32. Neko Case -- Middle Cyclone
33. The Decemberists -- The Hazards of Love
34. A Place to Bury Strangers -- Exploding Head
35. Dan Auerbach -- Keep It Hid
36. The Dodos -- Time To Die
37. Deer Tick -- Born on Flag Day
38. David Bazan -- Curse Your Branches
39. Wilco -- Wilco
40. A.C. Newman -- Get Guilty
41. The Black Heart Procession -- Six

Special Awards

Most Impressive Debut:  tUnE-YaRdS -- BiRd-BrAiNs

Album That Most Opened My Eyes to Another Genre:  Dan Deacon -- Bromst

Album That Could Have Most Benefitted From 6 More Months of Development:  Beirut -- March of the Zapotec

Worst Follow-Up To A Good Record:  The Black Heart Procession -- Six

Worst Follow-Up To A Mediocre Record:  Wilco -- Wilco

...Working Towards a Top 100 Movies of the 2000s List

So, three of us have put together lists of our respective top 50 films of the decade, and here's the rundown of what movies made our respective lists and how many votes each movie received. We're hoping for a few more contributors on the top-50 project, and then we'll begin weeding this down.


Here we go:

Kenny's List (in order)

1.                   The Lord of the Rings
2.                   There Will Be Blood
3.                   Kill Bill
4.                   United 93
5.                   Traffic
6.                   Munich
7.                   A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
8.                   Inglourious Basterds
9.                   The Royal Tenenbaums
10.               The New World
11.               Children of Men
12.               Requiem for a Dream
13.               Million Dollar Baby
14.               The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
15.               No Country for Old Men
16.               Man on Wire
17.               City of God
18.               Memento
19.               Amores Perros
20.               Zodiac
21.               Mulholland Drive
22.               Best in Show
23.               Brokeback Mountain
24.               Where the Wild Things Are
25.               Pan’s Labyrinth
26.               The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
27.               Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
28.               The Dark Knight
29.               Spirited Away
30.               The Passion of the Christ
31.               Waltz with Bashir
32.               The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
33.               Adaptation
34.               Gosford Park
35.               Finding Nemo
36.               Letters from Iwo Jima
37.               King Kong
38.               The Pianist
39.               In the Bedroom
40.               Y Tu Mama Tambien
41.               I’m Not There
42.               Catch Me If You Can
43.               The Man Who Wasn’t There
44.               District 9
45.               Borat
46.               Apocalypto
47.               O Brother, Where Art Thou?
48.               21 Grams
49.               Finding Neverland
50.               Let the Right One In


Jonathan's List (no partcicular order)

Royal Tenenbaums
Wall-E
25th Hour
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Traffic
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Inglorious Basterds
Assassination of Jesse James
The Dark Knight
Sideways
Road to Perdition
The King of Kong
Casino Royale
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anchorman
About Schmidt
The Incredibles
Half Nelson
Amores Perros
Inland Empire
The Class
Me, You, and Everyone We Know
Best in Show
Zodiac
New World
Walk Hard
Juno
The Departed
Lost in Translation
Adaptation
No Country for Old Men
The Pianist
Mulholland Drive
There ill Be Blood
I'm Not There
Ghost World
Before Sunset
The Wrestler
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Sin City
Elephant
History of Violence
Russian Ark
Y tu Mama Tambien
Pan's Labyrinth
Brokeback Mountain
Talk to Her
Team America
Amelie


Joe's List (not in order)

LOTR Trilogy
Memento
Amelie
Gosford Park
Monster's Ball
Mulholland Drive
Royal Tenebaums
The Pianist
Minority Report
Catch Me if You Can
Spirited Away
Kill Bill
Lost in Translation
City of God
Finding Nemo
Million Dollar Baby
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Passion
Sin City   
Match Point   
Munich   
King Kong   
Oldboy   
Brokeback Mountain
United 93   
Children of Men   
Pan's Labyrinth   
The Departed   
Apocalypto   
Letters from Iwo Jima   
The Lives of Others
No Country for Old Men   
There Will Be Blood   
I'm Not There   
The Assassination of Jesse James   
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Slumdog Millionaire   
Let the Right One In   
The Dark Knight   
Man on Wire   
The Fall   
The Wrestler
Inglourious Basterds   
Up   
Avatar
Traffic
O Brother Where Art Thou
Requiem for a Dream
Artificial Intelligence
Borat

      
Combined List, w/ Votes

The Lord of the Rings (3)
Mulholland Drive (3)
The Royal Tenenbaums (3)
The Pianist (3)
Kill Bill (3)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (3)
Brokeback Mountain (3)
Pan’s Labyrinth (3)
No Country for Old Men (3)
There Will Be Blood (3)
I’m Not There (3)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (3)
The Dark Knight (3)
Inglourious Basterds (3)
Traffic (3)
Memento (2)
Amelie (2)
Gosford Park (2)
Catch Me If You Can (2)
Spirited Away (2)
Lost in Translation (2)
City of God (2)
Finding Nemo (2)
Million Dollar Baby (2)
The Passion of the Christ (2)
Sin City (2)
Munich (2)
King Kong (2)
United 93 (2)
Children of Men (2)
The Departed (2)
Apocalypto (2)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2)
Let the Right One In (2)
Man on Wire (2)
The Wrestler (2)
O Brother Where Art Thou? (2)
Requiem for a Dream (2)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2)
Borat (2)
The New World (2)
Amores Perros (2)
Zodiac (2)
Best in Show (2)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2)
Waltz with Bashir (2)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2)
Where the Wild Things Are
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Adaptation
In the Bedroom
Monster’s Ball
Minority Report
The Fall
Match Point
The Man Who Wasn’t There
District 9
21 Grams
Finding Neverland
Wall-E
25th Hour
Sideways
Road to Perdition
The Lives of Others
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Slumdog Millionaire
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Casino Royale
Anchorman
Oldboy
About Schmidt
The Incredibles
Half Nelson
Inland Empire
Up
Avatar
The Class
Me, You, and Everyone We Know
Walk Hard
Juno
Ghost World
Before Sunset
Elephant
A History of Violence
Russian Ark
Talk to Her
Team America: World Police

5 More Songs from the 2000s

La de da de dee...

Joanna Newsom "Monkey & Bear"
I downloaded a leaked copy of this album, so it felt like I had been listening to it at least a month before it came out. Of all the songs on Ys, this is the one that struck me the quickest and has stayed with me. Like most great albums, I have been obsessed with other tracks ("Cosmia" and "Sawdust and Diamonds") for periods of time, but this is really the track I listen to most. Quite simply, I think Joanna Newsom is the best lyricist in pop music. She keeps rolling over rhymes that slant against each other and vary in rhythm and line length:
My heart is a furnace
Full of love that's just, and earnest
Now; you know that we must unlearn this
Allegiance to a life of service
And no longer answer to that heartless
Hay-monger, nor be his accomplice
"Hay-monger" cracks me up because it shows she has humor too. "But still...they had got to pay the bills...hadn't they...that is what the monkey'd say" which is such a delightful turn and reveal on perspective. I saw her perform the entire album live with the Atlanta Symphony and the finale with its descending melody and long couplets was mesmerizing. Did I mention Van Dyke Park's arrangements? Subtle and effective on this track. I think this song works as an allegory for Newsom's own relationship to art (Newsom as bear possibly?), especially given this album's antiquated references, long songs, and general weirdness/lack of crossover potential.

Rogue Wave "Publish My Love"
Once the cool kids got off the Shins bandwagon, they smartly started liking Rogue Wave. This is the song I heard on WUSC that caused me to pick up the phone and find out who this band was. A rather simple alternative rock song with a terrific bridge and verse rather than a soaring chorus.

Midlake "Roscoe"
I think of Midlake as the indie version of Fleetwood Mac, and this song just bubbles with pathos and heartache. But it's all covered in this 70s shagginess that I really take to. I liked one other song from this album, so this song happens to be an anomaly. That's sad, because if they don't have a Rumours in them, they might have a Tusk.

Vampire Weekend "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
Perfect little guitar riff with really exquisite percussion/drums (love the sound of the ride symbol hit with the snare during the second verse). This song reminds of the beach and summers and songs with choruses that won't get out of your head and your feeling that that's perfectly ok because it's a great chorus.

Sun Kil Moon "Carry Me Ohio"
It's the glockenspiel that comes in at the song's end that seals the musical deal here. Kozelek can conjure up romantic pathos with the best of them, and this was my jam when I first heard the song in 2003 before the album came out. In between the almost kitschy reminiscences of the acoustic "Glenn Tipton" and the Neil Young/Crazy Horse fueled "Salvador Sanchez", this song mixed distorted guitars with Koz's penchant for memory-conjuring. The quintessential Kozelek line: "Can't count to all the lovers I've burned through / So why do I still burn for you...I can't say." Such articulation in a line that claims an inability to articulate. Love it.

5 more songs from the 2000s

And the beat goes on...

M83 "Don't Save Us From the Flames"
I heard this song first in a car commercial that ran during the Texas/USC Rose Bowl in 2006. Apt, as this is the BEST car driving song of the decade. I love the sound of M83's drums and the two single note guitar lines that keep crossing against each other in Interpol-esque ways. And the vocals. Well, I can't really understand much of anything the frontman's saying, but that only means I get to falsetto my brains out with whatever comes to mind during the insane rush of the chorus.

Feist "I Feel it All"
I know. "1, 2, 3, 4." Well, that song is great, but it didn't grab me. The two songs I listened to 30 times each when I first got this album was "My Moon, My Man" (the drums in the middle eight and the vocal harmonies that immediately follow it) and this song. Again, it's about the musical touches. The first chorus: "I love you more" and you have this great little trilly piano line. And THEN after "I don't know what I knew before" you have the same line, but in a two note harmony form. I LOVE that. That's the song for me.

White Denim "I Can Tell"
White Denim is the 60s one hit rockers Nuggets project rolled into one band. The drums on this song just swing (More cowbell!), and the bassist remains the hidden ingredient of this band's success. That stacatto roll he goes on during the riff is great. Love the tiny touch of keyboard as well. "Did you forget to take your medicine, honey?"

Team America "America, Fuck Yeah"
The companion piece to Frank Stallone's "Peace in our Life" EXCEPT it's hilarious as all get out AND manages to distill every bad patriotic song of the last decade into a high-octane call and response frenzy. And if you don't like it, well, lick my butt and suck on my balls.

Ryan Adams "Carolina Rain"
This is the best story song that Adams has ever written. It has a great opening guitar line and earns its vocal and musical climax. As anyone who has heard "The End" knows, he's always eating eggs. "One night at the diner over eggs...over easy she showed me the length of her legs." And the next couplet is the kicker: "But that gold plated cross on her neck it was real / And you don't get that kind of money from pushing a meal." And the fantastic blending of Caroline and Carolina. "29" is one of those albums that I instinctively say I like even though I only listen to three or four of the songs just because those 3 or 4 songs (this one, "29", "Nightbirds", "Elizabeth, you were born to play the part") are SO good.

Five More Songs of the 2000s

The list continues...

Death Cab for Cutie "For What Reason"
In the fall of 2001, I studied abroad. I brought three albums with me, and two of them were awful. As a result, I was eagerly eating up anything anyone gave me, and a fellow MSU student gave me this album by Death Cab (their second) in exchange for Jeff Buckley's Grace. Great picked riff and a soaring chorus. But it was the words in the verse/chorus transition: "so slick with that sarcastic slough." Ben Gibbard never bested this album's lyrics.

Mindy Smith "Come to Jesus"
If Christian music were more like this, I would listen to it. I saw the video for this song on CMT, and I immediately loved it. The production isn't too slick and Mindy doesn't blow out her pipes. Understated, soulful, and far more moving than anything the CCM market generated this decade.

Of Montreal "Lysergic Bliss"
The night I found out that the pastor of the church I was attending commited suicide, I decided to go to an Of Montreal show. It was a great show, when they were still making rock music and not trying to recreate Berlin-era Bowie glam. Lysergic Bliss hit me and still does with its use of the word "vertiginous", three-part structure, and accordingly conflicted thoughts on love: "somehow inside hopeful and sad." The coda is pure Steely Dan keyboard circa "You'll go back, Jack" with killer harmonies draped over the top. Alright, children. Remember your breathing.

Strokes "Barely Legal"
"Aw Mama running out of luck / and like my sister, don't give a fuck." I came to this party six years after the room had cleared. There was still something left for the late crowd though, like...a string of terrific bass lines, for instance. But this particular track stuck because of its two-note guitar lead in between verse and chorus. The bass takes over the melody in the chorus, and when I listened to it, I hear a week spent in St. Louis during Summer 2007.

Omarion/Mylo Mash-up "Drop the Icebox Pressure"
I discovered the mash-up a couple of years ago, a wonderful musical concoction where two songs become one in ways both beneficial and horrifying. Underrated? The Sexual Healing/High and Dry Gaye/Radiohead mash-up. But this my favorite. Its canvas is two run of the mill songs; in fact, I can't stand the Omarion song in its original form. But the result is better than any other R and B song this decade (excepting Amerie's One Thing...more on this later).

Fave Songs of the 2000s

Laudable post by T. Azimuth. I'm not going to compete with his in-depth analysis. Over the the next couple of weeks, I want to get out my list, but I'm not going to cap it. I'm going to try to do five tracks at a time and add some commentary. The order of these songs does indicate some preferential treatment. They're the ones I remembered first.


Andrew Bird - "Weather Systems"
The exact moment Bird stopped being a frontman and became a chamber-pop maestro. Love the whistling at the track's end. Search out the Blogoteque version of this song with him walking down the streets of Paris with just his violin.

Deerhoof - "The Galaxist"
I really loved two songs off the Friend Opportunity album: this one and "Believe E.S.P." Both have fantastic breakdowns. I chose this one because of its internal variety; it's a two minute forty second mini-suite with compressed dynamics/pop sensibility/crazy uncanny drum figures/killer three note guitar lick in the breakdown.

Mates of State - "Ha ha"
It's in the song's first minute. The drums cut, and the keyboard plays the repeating riff over a changing bass line. The the drums come back in on fire. The day I got this album, I probably listened to that part alone ten consecutive times. Really fantastic live song too.

LCD Soundsystem - "Us v. Them"
Starts taking off about three minutes in when the hi-hat tightens up and starts getting pelted with sixteenth notes. Great bass line in that middle section too. Didn't like this song initially until they led off with it when I saw them at Virgin Music Fest in 07. Then I couldn't get enough. Terrific running song/slow burn/dance groove with intricate percussion.

My Brightest Diamond - "Golden Star"
If you don't like the last minute of this song, you don't like MBD. Her dead on female Buckley impersonation reaches a peak on the album's second track. LOVED this entire album, but would always give people this song first because her strengths are so crystallized here.