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My dad and wife agreed that last year’s list of 50 albums was just way too geeky. So, this year the lists (there will be two!) are getting cut down to 25. Condensing the decade to 25 records was not easy, as a lot of great music was put out over the past ten years. In many ways this decade of music was as exciting as music has ever been, given that music is more accessible than ever.
The current music culture made for few – if any – albums that were complete smashes in the way we’ve seen in other decades; but it also meant more music in more genres than ever before was right at our finger tips. There was definitely more to sift through, but the quality was there and I think in that respect this list compares favorably with any list I could have come up with from the previous decade.
Looking over the list there are some notable admissions. With limited spots available, some records that I really enjoyed were left off the list (Black Holes and Revelations by Muse, Turn On the Bright Lights by Interpol, Think Tank by Blur, Give Up by The Postal Service, Person Pitch by Panda Bear, The Animal Years by Josh Ritter, Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear, et al.). Also lamentable is the fact that several bands with very consistent output this decade did not make the list. Principal among them are Kings of Leon (their most recent album notwithstanding), Spoon, Okkervil River, Junior Boys, The Hold Steady, The Clientele, Modest Mouse, The Shins, and above all, Jack White/The White Stripes (Jack had a part in an astounding 8 albums this decade – 5 from the White Stripes, 2 from the Raconteurs, 1 from The Dead Weather, and as producer on Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy…
25. Is This It by The Strokes – I don’t have the same relationship with this album that most music fans this decade do. It came out while I was on my mission, and by the time I got serious about music again the backlash had begun and these guys already appeared poised to flame out. However, once I got around to really investing time in this album, it was evident that they had created a guitar pop classic with several blistering singles.
24. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver – how or why this album ended up on this list is still unclear (I didn’t even put it in my top ten its year of release). All I really know is that the first time I heard it I thought “great, more inoffensive folkie guitar strumming,” and then at some point I couldn’t stop listening to it. The most striking thing about this album for me is that empty, echo-y background sound that Justin Vernon captures. The melodies are all upfront being played on guitar, but these added elements in the production give the songs such an intense depth of sound and feeling of loneliness.
23. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – this album highlights the best aspect of music this decade: freed from the necessity to have the major outlets deliver music to the public, bands were allowed to make creative use of burgeoning technology to get their music to the marketplace. Everything about this album was DIY (release, promotion and distribution), and what resulted was an album that was a bit raw, but better for having escaped deliberate attempts at overproduction. No band sounded like they were having more fun than CYHSY did on this debut.
22. Third by Portishead – in the 90s these guys put out two very well received albums that blended electronica, jazz and hip-hop influences into pop/rock. After the initial success of their first two albums, they strangely disappeared from music. When they reemerged a decade later on 2008’s Third, they had maintained their hallmark touches (dark atmospherics, trippy beats, and the always alluring vocals of Beth Gibbons), but managed to update their sound by going heavier on the electronics and lighter on the hip-hop flourishes (for example, no more record scratching). Great to have them back.
21. Everything All of the Time by Band of Horses – one of the first bands to really popularize the new sound of Seattle this decade (bands like Fleet Foxes, Grand Archives and The Moondoggies would later follows suit), BofH debut captures a lot of the sound My Morning Jacket was developing in Kentucky: roots rock punctuated by heavily reverbed vocals. What they added to that sound on Everything All of the Time was lush harmonies and a greater pop sensibility.
20. The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem – the full realization of all Em’s talents. On his two previous albums he had shown an ability to be witty, sadistic, pensive, violent, erratic, and about everything in between. Here he blends it all together with his one-of-a-kind lyrical dexterity and restless creativity. One of hip hops true tour de force albums this decade.
19. A Ghost Is Born by Wilco – the task of following up a career defining record (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) is never an easy one, fortunately Wilco was up to the task. With lead guitarist Jay Bennett leaving the group, Jeff Tweedy assumed his role, and one of the great things about this album is the kind of frail beauty Tweedy’s lack of confidence as a lead guitarist gives the album. Here Wilco cover all their bases, from experimental (the krautrock jam Spiders with its motorik beat) to Beatles inspired pop (Hummingbird).
18. Z by My Morning Jacket – MMJ has made several good albums, but Z contains their greatest artistic vision. Their early records are roots heavy guitar adventures, and on Z they take that basic template while considerably expanding the scope of their sound. In the way Wilco did on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, MMJ transformed Americana tinged rock and bended it into something more exploratory and adventurous.
17. The Glow, Part. 2 by The Microphones – with a little editing this could have ended up one of my very favorite records this decade. When Phil Elvrum nails it on this record, the results are spectacular songs with dense and intricate compositions that reveal their creative nuance on repeated listens. Between those songs he gets a little lost with instrumentals that don't necessarily further the aesthetic. But this album’s high points are just too good and too numerous to deny.
16. Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes – along with Band of Horses, these guys were responsible for ushering in the new sound of Seattle in the first post-grunge decade (or at least making it popular, Carissa’s Wierd was probably the starting point). That sound, strangely enough, was about as far away from the sludge and riff heavy sound of grunge as you could get. Instead, on the Fleet Foxes debut we were treated to pastoral sounds and gorgeous harmonies. Most had pegged these guys as a band to watch, but I think few were expecting such a fully developed album on their debut.
15. Vespertine by Bjork – always a polarizing figure (she tends to truly be one of those love her/hate her type artists), Vespertine is Bjork’s most overtly sexual album to date. The chilly production and icy beats are a stunning vehicle for what has always been her greatest gift: that ethereal and otherworldly voice.
14. The Blueprint by Jay-Z – I mostly fell away from hip-hop in the past decade, but Jay was one of the artists I continued to follow. In his second offering of the new millennium, Jay laid to waste the competition and established himself as music’s most gifted MC. From top to bottom this is Hova at the top of his game, and the best rap album of the decade.
13. Rounds by Four Tet – in many ways this album represents the definitive approach to music this decade, which to me has been the blending of organic and inorganic sound. On this album, Four Tet takes man-made fashioned folk and jazz, and seamlessly blends it with laptop created electro flourishes. The album could have easily been an interesting but unapproachable exercise in experimentalism if not for his gift for pop melodies that keep the music grounded.
12. Hot Fuss by The Killers – admittedly this album has lost some luster for me over the years. Upon its release, I listened to it over and over and over, and at one point may have considered it among my favorite five or six albums this decade. However, recent listens haven’t been quite as revelatory as those early listens, despite the fact that this album finds the band at their retro-pop best.
11. SMiLE by Brian Wilson – lost in the annals of music history for over 30 years, SMiLE grew to almost mythic proportions before anyone had ever heard it. Intended to be the band’s follow up to Pet Sounds and their answer Sgt. Peppers, Brian Wilson more or less went crazy during this album’s creation. It seemed doomed to be lost forever until Wilson resurrected the project in the early 2000s. What emerged is an incredible work of restoration, and an album that could have sounded dated but instead remains fresh and intriguing. It stands alongside Pet Sounds as among The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson’s best work.
10. Boxer by The National – a band that was extremely consistent over its four offerings this decade, on Boxer they perfect their brand of sullen yet oddly anthemic rock. Matt Berninger’s deep baritone is the vehicle for elaborate tales about urban alienation. Every song is a gut-wrenching killer.
9. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire – drawing heavily from the sonic grandeur of U2 (yikes!) and Bruce Springsteen, the band’s second album finds them questioning religion, life, and the expectations of adulthood. Working from the multi-instrumental approach they honed on their debut, Neon Bible moves the band into a bit darker sound with thrilling results.
8. The Crane Wife by The Decemberists – at one point I really loved these guys, though my enthusiasm for them has since waned (I haven’t even listened to their 2009 release). However, this remains their high mark for me, with lead singer Colin Meloy weaving elaborate and literate tales based on Japanese folklore into the band’s classic folk-rock inspired sound.
7. Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective – perhaps the definitive statement from the 2000s American underground, MPP is classic pop in the vein of the Beach Boys, albeit in an extremely esoteric package. Vocally and texturally one of the most thrilling albums I’ve ever heard, it once again proves that Panda Bear is the most innovative figure in current music when it comes to harmony arrangements.
6. Sea Change by Beck – Beck’s career has essentially seen him divide into two different personas: the fun loving party hipster, and the more introspective singer-songwriter. Here the latter emerges with tales of love, loss and despair. With an assist from uber-producer Nigel Godrich, Beck’s sound gets the hollow and spacey touches for which Godrich is known. Never has the undeniably morose sounded so inviting.
5. Demon Dayz by Gorillaz – essentially a band with one constant member – Blur frontman Damon Albarn – the other three “virtual” members are a rotating group of musicians that help Albarn follow various styles and pursue whatever might be his creative zeitgeist for that particular album. On this, the band’s second album, the conceptual theme of anti-violence is held together through an eclectic mix of hip-hop, Brit-pop, dubstep and rock. It all works together flawlessly.
4. In Rainbows/Amnesiac/Hail to the Thief – outside of my top 3, I listened to these albums more than any others this decade (and really probably more than even no’s 2 and 3). Choosing Radiohead’s second best outing this decade is impossible for me, so they get to share a spot. In Rainbows is the most consistently brilliant of the three, but the highs of Amnesiac (Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army?, Life In a Glasshouse) and HTTT (There There, Where I End and You Begin) outshine even the best moments on In Rainbows.
3. Funeral by Arcade Fire – an album that I didn’t find immediately striking, Funeral slowly revealed itself over many listens. What those listens yielded was an extremely layered sound courtesy of the band’s many members (at most times they number 7) and their army of instruments. An album recorded in the wake of several family deaths, Funeral reflects the mournfulness of loss and the exuberance of life.
2. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco – unsurprising that this album should find itself so high on my list, given that it is often dubbed “America’s Kid A” or “Kid A for the boots and flannel crowd.” While YHF is more rooted in traditional music structure than its British counterpart, it similarly finds the band moving into more abstract sounds. YHF is Wilco’s most experimental album to date, and also its best. The fact that the band’s label rejected this album -- only to see the band release it for free on its website and go on to become a critical smash and Wilco’s best commercial showing -- highlights how inept the record industry became in this decade.
1. Kid A by Radiohead – so much has been written and said about this album it’s impossible to add anything to the discussion at this point, and it’s likely to come as close as any album to being a consensus best album of the decade. As is well known at this point, the band abandoned the three guitar sound they had honed on their first three albums, and basically recreated their sound from scratch. Venturing into dense textures and heavy dissonance, the band races through ambient electronica (Kid A, Treefingers), IDM (Idioteque), abstract jazz (the National Anthem), classical (How To Disappear Completely, Motion Picture Soundtrack) and more traditional rock/pop (Optimistic, Morning Bell). From its opening cascading keyboard line to its closing moments of silence, Kid A is a trip to a bold world where possibilities are endless and expectations are meant to be confounded. A difficult and demanding album, Kid A proved that music could still be boldly artistic and commercially successful.
The current music culture made for few – if any – albums that were complete smashes in the way we’ve seen in other decades; but it also meant more music in more genres than ever before was right at our finger tips. There was definitely more to sift through, but the quality was there and I think in that respect this list compares favorably with any list I could have come up with from the previous decade.
Looking over the list there are some notable admissions. With limited spots available, some records that I really enjoyed were left off the list (Black Holes and Revelations by Muse, Turn On the Bright Lights by Interpol, Think Tank by Blur, Give Up by The Postal Service, Person Pitch by Panda Bear, The Animal Years by Josh Ritter, Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear, et al.). Also lamentable is the fact that several bands with very consistent output this decade did not make the list. Principal among them are Kings of Leon (their most recent album notwithstanding), Spoon, Okkervil River, Junior Boys, The Hold Steady, The Clientele, Modest Mouse, The Shins, and above all, Jack White/The White Stripes (Jack had a part in an astounding 8 albums this decade – 5 from the White Stripes, 2 from the Raconteurs, 1 from The Dead Weather, and as producer on Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy…
25. Is This It by The Strokes – I don’t have the same relationship with this album that most music fans this decade do. It came out while I was on my mission, and by the time I got serious about music again the backlash had begun and these guys already appeared poised to flame out. However, once I got around to really investing time in this album, it was evident that they had created a guitar pop classic with several blistering singles.
24. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver – how or why this album ended up on this list is still unclear (I didn’t even put it in my top ten its year of release). All I really know is that the first time I heard it I thought “great, more inoffensive folkie guitar strumming,” and then at some point I couldn’t stop listening to it. The most striking thing about this album for me is that empty, echo-y background sound that Justin Vernon captures. The melodies are all upfront being played on guitar, but these added elements in the production give the songs such an intense depth of sound and feeling of loneliness.
23. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – this album highlights the best aspect of music this decade: freed from the necessity to have the major outlets deliver music to the public, bands were allowed to make creative use of burgeoning technology to get their music to the marketplace. Everything about this album was DIY (release, promotion and distribution), and what resulted was an album that was a bit raw, but better for having escaped deliberate attempts at overproduction. No band sounded like they were having more fun than CYHSY did on this debut.
22. Third by Portishead – in the 90s these guys put out two very well received albums that blended electronica, jazz and hip-hop influences into pop/rock. After the initial success of their first two albums, they strangely disappeared from music. When they reemerged a decade later on 2008’s Third, they had maintained their hallmark touches (dark atmospherics, trippy beats, and the always alluring vocals of Beth Gibbons), but managed to update their sound by going heavier on the electronics and lighter on the hip-hop flourishes (for example, no more record scratching). Great to have them back.
21. Everything All of the Time by Band of Horses – one of the first bands to really popularize the new sound of Seattle this decade (bands like Fleet Foxes, Grand Archives and The Moondoggies would later follows suit), BofH debut captures a lot of the sound My Morning Jacket was developing in Kentucky: roots rock punctuated by heavily reverbed vocals. What they added to that sound on Everything All of the Time was lush harmonies and a greater pop sensibility.
20. The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem – the full realization of all Em’s talents. On his two previous albums he had shown an ability to be witty, sadistic, pensive, violent, erratic, and about everything in between. Here he blends it all together with his one-of-a-kind lyrical dexterity and restless creativity. One of hip hops true tour de force albums this decade.
19. A Ghost Is Born by Wilco – the task of following up a career defining record (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) is never an easy one, fortunately Wilco was up to the task. With lead guitarist Jay Bennett leaving the group, Jeff Tweedy assumed his role, and one of the great things about this album is the kind of frail beauty Tweedy’s lack of confidence as a lead guitarist gives the album. Here Wilco cover all their bases, from experimental (the krautrock jam Spiders with its motorik beat) to Beatles inspired pop (Hummingbird).
18. Z by My Morning Jacket – MMJ has made several good albums, but Z contains their greatest artistic vision. Their early records are roots heavy guitar adventures, and on Z they take that basic template while considerably expanding the scope of their sound. In the way Wilco did on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, MMJ transformed Americana tinged rock and bended it into something more exploratory and adventurous.
17. The Glow, Part. 2 by The Microphones – with a little editing this could have ended up one of my very favorite records this decade. When Phil Elvrum nails it on this record, the results are spectacular songs with dense and intricate compositions that reveal their creative nuance on repeated listens. Between those songs he gets a little lost with instrumentals that don't necessarily further the aesthetic. But this album’s high points are just too good and too numerous to deny.
16. Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes – along with Band of Horses, these guys were responsible for ushering in the new sound of Seattle in the first post-grunge decade (or at least making it popular, Carissa’s Wierd was probably the starting point). That sound, strangely enough, was about as far away from the sludge and riff heavy sound of grunge as you could get. Instead, on the Fleet Foxes debut we were treated to pastoral sounds and gorgeous harmonies. Most had pegged these guys as a band to watch, but I think few were expecting such a fully developed album on their debut.
15. Vespertine by Bjork – always a polarizing figure (she tends to truly be one of those love her/hate her type artists), Vespertine is Bjork’s most overtly sexual album to date. The chilly production and icy beats are a stunning vehicle for what has always been her greatest gift: that ethereal and otherworldly voice.
14. The Blueprint by Jay-Z – I mostly fell away from hip-hop in the past decade, but Jay was one of the artists I continued to follow. In his second offering of the new millennium, Jay laid to waste the competition and established himself as music’s most gifted MC. From top to bottom this is Hova at the top of his game, and the best rap album of the decade.
13. Rounds by Four Tet – in many ways this album represents the definitive approach to music this decade, which to me has been the blending of organic and inorganic sound. On this album, Four Tet takes man-made fashioned folk and jazz, and seamlessly blends it with laptop created electro flourishes. The album could have easily been an interesting but unapproachable exercise in experimentalism if not for his gift for pop melodies that keep the music grounded.
12. Hot Fuss by The Killers – admittedly this album has lost some luster for me over the years. Upon its release, I listened to it over and over and over, and at one point may have considered it among my favorite five or six albums this decade. However, recent listens haven’t been quite as revelatory as those early listens, despite the fact that this album finds the band at their retro-pop best.
11. SMiLE by Brian Wilson – lost in the annals of music history for over 30 years, SMiLE grew to almost mythic proportions before anyone had ever heard it. Intended to be the band’s follow up to Pet Sounds and their answer Sgt. Peppers, Brian Wilson more or less went crazy during this album’s creation. It seemed doomed to be lost forever until Wilson resurrected the project in the early 2000s. What emerged is an incredible work of restoration, and an album that could have sounded dated but instead remains fresh and intriguing. It stands alongside Pet Sounds as among The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson’s best work.
10. Boxer by The National – a band that was extremely consistent over its four offerings this decade, on Boxer they perfect their brand of sullen yet oddly anthemic rock. Matt Berninger’s deep baritone is the vehicle for elaborate tales about urban alienation. Every song is a gut-wrenching killer.
9. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire – drawing heavily from the sonic grandeur of U2 (yikes!) and Bruce Springsteen, the band’s second album finds them questioning religion, life, and the expectations of adulthood. Working from the multi-instrumental approach they honed on their debut, Neon Bible moves the band into a bit darker sound with thrilling results.
8. The Crane Wife by The Decemberists – at one point I really loved these guys, though my enthusiasm for them has since waned (I haven’t even listened to their 2009 release). However, this remains their high mark for me, with lead singer Colin Meloy weaving elaborate and literate tales based on Japanese folklore into the band’s classic folk-rock inspired sound.
7. Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective – perhaps the definitive statement from the 2000s American underground, MPP is classic pop in the vein of the Beach Boys, albeit in an extremely esoteric package. Vocally and texturally one of the most thrilling albums I’ve ever heard, it once again proves that Panda Bear is the most innovative figure in current music when it comes to harmony arrangements.
6. Sea Change by Beck – Beck’s career has essentially seen him divide into two different personas: the fun loving party hipster, and the more introspective singer-songwriter. Here the latter emerges with tales of love, loss and despair. With an assist from uber-producer Nigel Godrich, Beck’s sound gets the hollow and spacey touches for which Godrich is known. Never has the undeniably morose sounded so inviting.
5. Demon Dayz by Gorillaz – essentially a band with one constant member – Blur frontman Damon Albarn – the other three “virtual” members are a rotating group of musicians that help Albarn follow various styles and pursue whatever might be his creative zeitgeist for that particular album. On this, the band’s second album, the conceptual theme of anti-violence is held together through an eclectic mix of hip-hop, Brit-pop, dubstep and rock. It all works together flawlessly.
4. In Rainbows/Amnesiac/Hail to the Thief – outside of my top 3, I listened to these albums more than any others this decade (and really probably more than even no’s 2 and 3). Choosing Radiohead’s second best outing this decade is impossible for me, so they get to share a spot. In Rainbows is the most consistently brilliant of the three, but the highs of Amnesiac (Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army?, Life In a Glasshouse) and HTTT (There There, Where I End and You Begin) outshine even the best moments on In Rainbows.
3. Funeral by Arcade Fire – an album that I didn’t find immediately striking, Funeral slowly revealed itself over many listens. What those listens yielded was an extremely layered sound courtesy of the band’s many members (at most times they number 7) and their army of instruments. An album recorded in the wake of several family deaths, Funeral reflects the mournfulness of loss and the exuberance of life.
2. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco – unsurprising that this album should find itself so high on my list, given that it is often dubbed “America’s Kid A” or “Kid A for the boots and flannel crowd.” While YHF is more rooted in traditional music structure than its British counterpart, it similarly finds the band moving into more abstract sounds. YHF is Wilco’s most experimental album to date, and also its best. The fact that the band’s label rejected this album -- only to see the band release it for free on its website and go on to become a critical smash and Wilco’s best commercial showing -- highlights how inept the record industry became in this decade.
1. Kid A by Radiohead – so much has been written and said about this album it’s impossible to add anything to the discussion at this point, and it’s likely to come as close as any album to being a consensus best album of the decade. As is well known at this point, the band abandoned the three guitar sound they had honed on their first three albums, and basically recreated their sound from scratch. Venturing into dense textures and heavy dissonance, the band races through ambient electronica (Kid A, Treefingers), IDM (Idioteque), abstract jazz (the National Anthem), classical (How To Disappear Completely, Motion Picture Soundtrack) and more traditional rock/pop (Optimistic, Morning Bell). From its opening cascading keyboard line to its closing moments of silence, Kid A is a trip to a bold world where possibilities are endless and expectations are meant to be confounded. A difficult and demanding album, Kid A proved that music could still be boldly artistic and commercially successful.
. At first I was shocked that you had In Rainbows/Amnesiac/HTTT at three but had (apparently) left Kid A off the list. I was shocked, and then I was angry. But I decided to keep reading anyway, and to my delight, you weren't so boneheaded after all! 
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