Anyway, the final 20.... in my opinion. Again, I am not a music critic, even if I did consider journalism as a major when I first started college.
20. The Microphones - The Glow pt.2 (2001):
Thank God that my Journalism teacher in high school was into good music. He turned me on to a lot of awesome shit (wazzup Mr. Cass, in case you're reading). The Microphones was one of the many bands he got me into, and I listened to this album so much, I wore out my CD-R copy of it.... and immediately made another one. Challenging as hell, sure, but Phil Elverum perfectly mixes noise, and lo-fi acoustic weird- folk nonchalantly.
Key Tracks: "The Moon," "Map," "You'll Be In the Air," "Headless Horseman"
19. M83 - Saturdays = Youth (2008):
This album was on repeat back when I delivered newspapers. "Kim & Jessie" perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being young on a spring day after a cold winter.
Key Tracks: "Kim & Jessie," "Coleurs," "Dark Moves of Love"
18. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar (2006):
Heavily influenced by Balkan folk music, Zach Condon created one of the most appealing albums I've heard this decade. He probably took a few cues from Devotchka, but he's very much an original voice in music these days. His voice also sounds like an old Italian singer, and he's from Albuquerque!
Key Tracks: "Rhineland (Heartland)," "Postcards from Italy," "Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)"
17. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (2007):
If Aesop Rock isn't the decade's most captivating rapper, then I must be deaf. Fewer rap records can create such an atmosphere as this one. This is some pretty serious shit!
Key Tracks: "None Shall Pass," "Fumes," "Bring Back Pluto"
16. Isis - In the Absence of Truth (2006):
This is the album that made me a true fan of the band. From the first listen of this album, I can say without hesitation that this is what music should sound like, especially in the metal genre. Aaron Turner and co. don't create songs: they create atmospheres that only a few other bands are capable of.
Key Tracks: "Holy Tears," "1000 Shards," "Garden of Light," "Wrists of Kings"
15. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (2005):
The second Mountain Goats album to contain a biological theme, John Darnielle focuses his angst and craft towards an abusive stepfather. "Pale Green Things" is one of his most moving songs.
Key Tracks: "This Year," "Dilaudid," "Love Love Love," "Dinu Lupatti's Bones"
14. Portishead - Third (2008):
Eleven years since their last album, Portishead definitely made up for lost time. Darker and completely detached from the trip-hop they helped perfect, Third sounds so vital that I have a hard time listening to Dummy these days.
Key Tracks: "Machine Gun," "Plastic," "The Rip," "Small"
13. Joanna Newsom - Ys (2006):
The Milk-Eyed Mender is easily one of the best debut albums of all the time. Miss Newsom, not content with releasing the same album twice, switched gears by creating epic-length songs woven in intricacy, laden with elaborate orchestration, and containing nothing short of a maelstrom of emotion. No joke: during performances of "Only Skin," people were seen openly weeping.
Key Tracks: Well, there are only 5...
12. Beck - Sea Change (2002):
His own Blood on the Tracks for sure. Written in the aftermath of a dissolution of a relationship that lasted 8 years, Beck's sadness on this album is apparent from the first chord on. He dabbled in acoustic music before, but Sea Change proves that he's just as capable of making effective music without samplers. Sea Change also revitalized his creativity,
Key Tracks: "The Golden Age," "Guess I'm Doing Fine," "Lonesome Tears," "Round the Bend"
11. Feist - The Reminder (2007):
My sister sent me the leak to this album two or three months before its release (naughty, naughty). Upon first listen, Feist had me at "I'm sorry." Sure, it's more rock-oriented with a few ballads, and the bossa-nova influence is absent on this album, but I don't mind. I also don't mind that iPod commercial either.
Key Tracks: "I Feel It All," "The Water," "Honey Honey," "My Moon My Man."
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007):
Pay your own price! I did! Five bucks! Best damn 5 buck I've ever spent! I didn't like this album at first. That didn't stop me from listening to it six more times in the course of a Wednesday evening while working on an English paper. By the third time around, this album's magic finally set in with me.
Key Tracks: "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Videotape," "House of Cards," "Al I Need"
9. Deerhunter - Microcastle (2008):
More song-oriented than Cryptograms, Deerhunter made one of the best albums this decade (I mean, duh! I did put it at #9). it's hard to describe the beauty of this album, but albums this great are usually hard to put into words.
Key Tracks: "Agoraphobia," "Little Kids," "Saved By Old Times," "Green Jacket"
8. Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch (2004):
Regina Spektor has always had a problem with making cohesive albums. Her albums, before or since Soviet Kitsch, have always been incredibly choppy. She gets it right on this album. It builds a perfect bridge between her more raw and jazzy early albums and her more straightforward recent work. I saw her open for the Dresden Dolls in 2005 back when they were nobodies, and her set blew them away.
Key Tracks: "The Flowers," "Ode to Divorce," "Us," "Somedays"
7. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (2006):
Their last album for Geffen Records may have contained shorter songs, but Rather Ripped just may be one of their best albums, and is a good starting point for any new Sonic Youth fan along with Daydream Nation, Sister, or even Goo.
Key Tracks: "Reena," "Light Out," "Incinerate," "Jams Run Free"
6. Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender (2004):
The average first impression of Joanna Newsom's music is, typically, "What the fuck is this?!?!?!?!?" Her sound either wins people over or completely alineates them. I first heard this album in a friend's car, and thought that Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson) made an album. Nope. It was by a harpist from Northern California. I had to listen to this album again and again, and I eventually fell in love with it (and her).
Side note: New Joanna album on February 23rd??? Awesome! It better not disappoint! And I'm going to see her in Philadelphia on March 20!!!!!
Key Tracks: "Sadie," "Sprout and the Bean," "Cassiopeia," "Peach, Plum, Pear"
5. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000):
Some albums come to you during the right moments in your life. For me, it was when I was 19, confused, depressed, misguided. This album got me through all of that. If existentialism had an album to define it, this would be it.
Key Tracks: "Alone Down There," "A Different City," "Lives," "Gravity Rides Everything"
4. The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004):
It has always compelled me that the Arcade Fire's debut album was called Funeral, which usually is associated with closure and endings. Yes, every critic has kissed this album's ass to no end, but it deserves it unequivocably.
Key Tracks: "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)," "Rebellion (Lies)," "Une Annee Sans Lumiere," "Crown of Love"
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002):
Wilco's first few records didn't do much for me. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as much as I tried avoiding all the critical hype surrounding it, made me a Wilco fan. Often called an OK Computer doused in Americana, this album is chock full of guilt, heartbreak and reflection.
Key Tracks: "Reservations," "Radio Cure," "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," "War on War"
2. Sigur Ros - ( ) (2002):
The songs on this album don't have titles, and aren't even sung in a real language (they're sung in Hopelandic, which is soley an invention of singer Jonsi, and even lacks words or definitions). Who knew that nothingness could say so much?
BTW: People are wondering "Where is Agætis Byrjun on this list?!?!?!?!" Answer: Not on this list. Agætis Byrjun was recorded in 1998-99, and released in its native Iceland in 1999. It might not have seen a proper American release until 2000, true, but I have to go by technicality here. Since it originally saw the light of day in 1999, regardless of where, Agætis Byrjun is a NINETIES RECORD!!!!!! And if I were to make a list of the best albums of the 90s, this would certainly be up there.
1. Radiohead - Kid A (2000):
Not an original choice for the top spot because everyone else pretty much picked it. But what do you want? I was hoping that Radiohead could follow up OK Computer without it sucking, and I thought they couldn't. I also didn't know that they were influenced by Sigur Ros and German music at the time (probably because when I was 15, I hadn't delved into muisc THAT much). The first notes of "Everything In its Right Place" were like a vacuum, and throughout the album, it sucked you in with no warning and hardly any tracks that even remotely resembled their earlier work ("Optimistic" and "How To Disappear Completely" come somewhat close, but even they have more of a darker and abstract atmosphere than anything on OK Computer). Radiohead surpassed all expectations by making something completely different than their 90s work and having it be completely original.
Key Tracks: All of it.... This is an album you can't skip around, otherwise you'd be depriving yourself of the full experience.
Well, there you have it. A pretty good list, I must say. Hopefully, you think so, too. Sure, I'm probably missing some albums on this list. There are other albums that may appear on other critics' "Best of" lists that I just don't give a damn about (Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Animal Collective come to mind, although the jury's still deliberating on the latter-most). I always check out new shit, and I'll kick my own ass for not including a few other albums as I keep listening, but whatever. Hopefully, the 2010s will provide my eardrums with some good music.
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