Top 10 Albums of the Decade (2000-2009)
Unbelievably, the first decade of the 21st century is almost over. Thus, not only is it time for the end-of-the-year lists (stay tuned for those in the coming weeks), but end-of-the-decade ones, too.
Well, it’s Thanksgiving weekend and I have lots to be thankful for. These are the ten records I’ve enjoyed the most over the past decade and you can bet that I’m thankful for each and every one of these.
This list is in chronological order, not order of preference. I also wanted to note some honorable mentions like THE ARCADE FIRE’s Funeral and WILCO’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. On a different day, they could have easily made the list. This was tough.
Idlewild – 100 Broken Windows (Capitol)
Idlewild’s finest hour, this nicely combines their punkier early material with much better songwriting, better singing from RODDY WOOMBLE and a melodic sense straight out of I.R.S.-era R.E.M. An astounding achievement, they’ve never matched it since, though they’ve come the closest with this album’s follow-up (2002’s The Remote Part) and 2007’s Make Another World.
Sunny Day Real Estate – The Rising Tide (Time Bomb)
This is probably the record on the list that will have folks scratching their heads the most. For folks who loved their first two albums, this represented a sellout. On their last two albums, Sunny Day were no longer merely a post-hardcore band. Instead, they become a force of nature. Aided by unbelievable production by LOU GIORDANO, JEREMY ENIGK‘s falsetto is finally unleashed upon the world on such incredible tracks as “Killed by an Angel,” “One,” “Disappear,” “Snibe” and THE POLICE-like “Television”. If you’re an emo purist, you probably hate this record, but if you like your post-hardcore with hints of RUSH, QUEENSRYCHE, early U2 and other influences far removed from anything punk, you’ll revel in this record’s majesty.
Spoon – Girls Can Tell (Merge)
What an odd career trajectory Spoon have had. Bouncing around between indies and majors (including stints on Matador and Capitol) in the ’90s, Spoon ably blended the post-punk of WIRE with the spot/start dynamics of PIXIES. However, nothing prepared listeners for this masterpiece of a record. Owing just as much to CROWDED HOUSE, ELVIS COSTELLO, JOE JACKSON and on one track, a marriage between DAVID BOWIE circa The Man Who Sold the World and LED ZEPPELIN than to their previous influences (all the while blending them in nicely), they transcended all of them and created the template for all of their subsequent work.
Sure, they’ve received more critical acclaim as well as a deservedly much bigger audience since then, but nothing they’ve done since then comes close to this.
Neko Case – Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
While I also love this album’s precursor, Furnace Room Lullaby, as well as all of her subsequent work, I think this is her finest hour. While her more recent albums are growers (albeit exquisite), this one hits you right away, but it’s not bubblegum either in sound or in any other fashion. It’s just as good the 100th time as it is the first or second. Aided by her amazing pipes, backing and arrangements by folks from CALEXICO (among others) and her finest set of tunes, this is as good as “alt-country” gets.
The Exploding Hearts – Guitar Romantic (Dirtnap)
I like THE STROKES. Since I was initially dissuaded by the hype surrounding them, it took me years to come to this conclusion, though I’m by no means a huge fan of theirs. In a better world, however, this Portland-based band would’ve received the accolades that the quintet from New York got. The Strokes are a fine rock and roll band, but the Exploding Hearts really were something close to its saviors (in as much as any band could be). You will never, and I mean never, hear a better marriage of ’77 punk, ’73 glam and ’50s JOHNNIE JOHNSON style piano (courtesy of KING LOUIE BANKSTON), all set in a lo-fi (but not too lo-fi) garage haze. After all of their members except for guitarist TERRY SIX (who went on to form NICE BOYS) passed away in a tragic van accident shortly after this record’s release, one wonders many things, chief among them the potential this band had if they could make something so incredible the first time around.
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism (Barsuk)
I have a confession to make. I came to the Death Cab party a bit late, as this was already this third full-length. It’s unquestionably their best album, though 2005’s Plans came close to matching it. I’m sure I’m not alone among this album’s fans in having personal associations with some of its songs and with the album in general. BEN GIBBARD has a gift as a lyricist to make his own personal observations sound universal and the music (and CHRIS WALLA‘s production) is gorgeous, too.
Sure, this led to them being on the OC, a major label deal and theater tours, but why is that a bad thing? They’ve continued to make stellar records on their own terms and if that many people like them, it can’t be all bad, can it? Furthermore, can you blame folks for paying attention to them after this record. If you make something like this, there’s a good chance that fame and fortune will come a ‘knockin, at least in the best cases.
The Trashcan Sinatras – Weightlifting (Spinart)
In 2004, The Trashcan Sinatras did the unthinkable. After an 8-year hiatus (not counting a 1999 EP) in which they lost their record deal and their studio after 1996’s brilliant A Happy Pocket tanked, they made a record that not only rivaled their earlier triumphs, but almost easily surpassed them, too. Weightlifting had the feel of a record made completely on their own terms. It’s as if they didn’t know if it would ever be released (and they didn’t; they needed a grant from the Scottish Arts Council in order to complete it), so commercial expectations be damned. It’s an absolutely gorgeous record full of sad, heartbroken ditties like “What Women Do to Men” and “Leave Me Alone”.
The Decemberists – Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
I like the first two Decemberists albums. In fact, I like parts of them quite a lot. I still think that “Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect” (from their first album, Castaways and Cutouts) is still their finest moment. However, this is their Born to Run in that it was their third album (just like Born to Run was BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN‘s third full-length) and where they really hit their stride. For “Eli, the Barrow Boy” and “The Engine Driver” alone, this was one of 2005’s best, but I remember getting it and just being blown away by the quality of COLIN MELOY‘s songs and his lyrics as well. It’s not just the historical narratives like “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” that really captured my attention, but his melodic sense as well as the sense of desolation in songs like the aforementioned “The Engine Driver”.
Although I’ve really enjoyed The Decemberists’ subsequent work, I’ve always secretly hoped that they’d step away from their proggier tendencies to return to the poppier, catchier territory they mastered so well here.
Jay Reatard – Blood Visions (In the Red)
‘77 punk revivalists and garage rock revivalists are a dime a dozen. Ones who have songs this good and hooks that could catch the remaining (albeit severely depleted) marine population of the Pacific Northwest are as rare as hens’ teeth. That’s what Jay Reatard is. His stuff with his previous band THE REATARDS and his many side projects are all fine, but this, his first solo effort, is unquestionably his finest record.
Since then, his many singles for In the Red, Matador and other labels and his recently released full-length Watch Me Fall have indulged his poppier side even further, not to mention his love of ’80s and ’90s indie rock and particularly the Flying Nun catalog. It’s made him many more new fans and I think that stuff is great, but he never wedded the anger and ferocity of his earlier releases with his melodic gifts as well as he did here. Simply astonishing.
The Bomb – Speed is Everything (No Idea)
This is obviously a recent addition to the list and it only came out about 3 months ago. This is not only by far my favorite record of 2009, but I think it actually matches and maybe even betters anything by singer JEFF PEZZATI‘s old band NAKED RAYGUN. It’s everything a record by an old punk rocker should be. Sure, it’s energetic, but the songs are intensely memorable and heartfelt with a lyrical perspective that can only come with age and experience. In other words, this isn’t for the kids, but for the adults who are trying to reconcile punk rock with adult responsibilities. Highly recommended.
