The Top 100 (+20) of the 2000s Part Four: 40-21

Again, yes, I've been slacking. Actually, I've been busy. My band's first gig is tomorrow night and we've been working our asses off, fine tuning our songs, arguing, arguing, arguing, jamming, some more arguing, perfecting our songs, arguing... you get the idea. In case anyone reads this and is in the CT area, we're playing tomorrow at the Space in Hamden. Doors at 6, and we're expected to play from 6:45-7:15. Any support would be greatly appreciated, this being our first show. We have a Myspace (we're so 2006): www.myspace.com/clarkandthekents for some bad quality demos (that really need to be re-recorded).

Enough self-promotion. Let's get back to this list-a-roo!

40. Atlas Sound - Logos (2009):



Bradford Cox is definitely one of this decade's most vital musicians. Between Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, his solo project, he's released some great shit. Noah Lennox from Animal Collective and Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab collaborate with him on a few tracks on this album, and Cox is capable of making very compelling soundscapes.
Key Tracks: "Attic Lights," "Shelia," "Washington School"

39. Crystal Castles (2008):



I'm not really into electronica/electro/whatever the fuck you wanna call it, but I was very impressed by Crystal Castles. I was mesmerized by the fact that Ethan Kath used a keyboard with an Atari 5200 sound chip as an oscillator, and vocalist Alice Glass' caustic vocals give Lydia Lunch a run for her money.
Key Tracks: "Untrust Us," "Reckless," "Courtship Dating," "xxzcuzx me"

38. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (2005):



Their best album so far, Black Sheep Boy may not be as melancholy as Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See, but it's still moving as anything they've ever released.
Key Tracks: "A Glow," "So Come Back, I Am Waiting," "In a Radio Song"

37. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006):



In a perfect world, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift would not be considered country and people would not listen to them. Unfortunately, the world's far from perfect, but at least Neko Case is around. Even if she's not 100% country, she gives its influence a damn good name.
Key Tracks: "Hold On, Hold On," "The Needle Has Landed," "Dirty Knife," "That Teenage Feeling"

36. Mission of Burma - The Obliterati (2006):



Heavier than their first post-breakup record, ONoffON, the best band ever to come out of Boston rock harder in their 50s than most people do in their 20s. It's also probably their most resonant album, or at least up there with Vs.
Key Tracks: "13," "Is This Where," "Nancy Reagan's Head," "Spider's Web."

35. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002):



Paul Banks does kind of sound like Ian Curtis, but this album sounds like they took Unknown Pleasures and added a huge shot of New York energy.
Key Tracks: "Obstacle 1," "Hands Away," "PDA," "NYC"

34. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely (2006):



John Darnielle once said something along the lines of the only way you can understand this album is if your girlfriend (or boyfriend, spouse, what-have-you) left you. Hopefully I won't experience a breakup anytime soon, but I reckon that along with The Meadowlands by the Wrens (see #61), and Beck's Sea Change (on this list somwhere) this is one of the decade's best breakup albums.
Key Tracks: "In the Hidden Places," "Wild Sage," "If You See Light"

33. Sleep - Dopesmoker (2003):



It took three years to make, and the label would not take it, so they released it as Jerusalem in 1999, shortly before the band broke up, but as nine seperate tracks, and with some parts slightly done over. This 2003 release puts the track "Dopesmoker" as the band wanted it; as one solid track over an hour long, no frills, no bullshit.
Key Tracks: Well, there are only two; the title epic and a live track called "Sonic Titan," and out of the 2, the first one's better.

32. Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003):



Mark Kozelek, formerly of the Red House Painters, forms a new band that doesn't sound that much unlike his former band, but Kozelek proves himself still capable of making some incredibly moving music. Focal point: "Duk Koo Kim," a 14 minute track which refers to the late Korean boxer.
Key Tracks: "Carry me Ohio," "Duk Koo Kim," "Gentle Moon"

31. Cat Power - You Are Free (2003):



Other than an album of covers, Chan Marshall hadn't released an album of material since 1998's sublime Moon Pix. You Are Free boasts better production, and I suppose Marshall was more stable, but there are some very emotionally draining moments on this album. I hope "Names" isn't autobiographical.
Key Tracks: "He War," "Free," "Shaking Paper," "Names"

30. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (2007):



After 19 years, the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup released the band's best album since they were last together. I'm certainly glad that J. Mascis and Lou Barlow resolved their differences because their music had gotten pretty medicore by the end of the 90s.
Key Tracks: "Pick Me Up," "Almost Ready," "We're Not Alone"

29. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts (2002):



Out of all the Decemberists' albums, this one resonated with me the most. I remember picking this up on vinyl, and hearing "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect" and felt that it was one of the most beautiful songs ever.
Key Tracks: "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect," "Odalisque," "Coccoon"

28. The Microphones - Mount Eerie (2003):



The last record under the Microphones moniker is definitely a strange one. Consisting of five tracks, Phil Elverum made some of the atrangest music of his career on this album, and "Universe" ends the album with perhaps the most unsettling feeling ever: uncertainty.
Key Tracks: Only five songs on this album, all amazing. Not picking favorites.

27. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (2009):



They changed gears for sure on this album. They sound almost like a completely different band on It's Blitz, with guitars for the most part forsaken in favor of synthesizers, but one thing remains constant: Karen O's reputation as one of the premier women in rock music in the 2000s.
Key Tracks: "Zero," "Head Will Roll," "Dull Life"

26. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000):



My personal favorite Yo La Tengo album, some of the band's most heartfelt songs are on this album. Just as long as your average latter-day YLT album, but not nearly as much of a hodgepodge as other albums.
Key Tracks: "Night Falls on Hoboken," "Our Way To Fall," "You Can Have It All," "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House"

25. Japandroids - Post-Nothing (2009):



Another two person band making it without a bass player. However, they manage to do it by creating awesome riffs and utilizing amazing songcraft that anything else added to their mix would be overkill.

24. Tom Waits - Alice (2002):



Released on the same day as Blood Money (see #81), this may be Waits at his most delicate (which really isn't that delicate). A theater production before making the album, it's theatric in a way only Tom Waits can make it.
Key Tracks: "Lost in the Harbor," "Everything You Can Think," "Reeperbahn," "Flower's Grave"

23. Songs: Ohia - Ghost Tropic (2000):



Few albums have the capacity to be visualized, in my opinion, and Ghost Tropic is probably a near-perfect soundtrack to a quiet walk alone on a September night, about 50 degrees out, after a breakup or a fight with a significant other, and having it wind down a desolate beach, watching the waves and wanting to work your problems out.
Key tracks: "No Limits on the Words," "Incantation," "The Ocean's Nerves"

22. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse (2004):



Yet another amazing album by Sonic Youth, it's definitely less jam-oriented than Murray Street, but continues in a similar style as their late 80s-early 90s records. If radio didn't suck, "Unmade Bed" could have been a big modern rock single.
Key Tracks: "Stones," "I Love You Golden Blue," "Dripping Dream," "Unmade Bed"

21. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Life Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000):



Two discs, 4 songs, and unlike a similar album that has the same format (Yes' "Tales From Topographic Oceans," I'm looking directly at you!), these compositions go somewhere.
Key Tracks: Yeah....


And for the last 5 that didn't make it in the final 100....

105. Mogwai - Rock Action (2001):



Rock Action may not be as spellbinding as Young Team, though I don't think they'll make another album as good as that. That said, "Take Me Somewhere Nice" is their best song ever, and it'll be even harder to make a song that good.
Key Tracks: "Take Me Somehwere Nice," "Secret Pint," "Dial: Revenge"

104. The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed (2004):



The first Mountain Goats album to be at least biographical, Darnielle's songwriting rose to a newer plateau with this album. Darnielle's tales of people he knew as a teenager "who are probably dead or in jail by now" make me look back on my own teenage years a bit more fondly. At least I didn't know any meth addicts!
Key Tracks: "Cotton," "All Up The Seething Coast," "Palmcorder Yajna"

103. OutKast - Stankonia (2000):



I don't love this album as much as everyone else in the music press does. It's still a great album, and I always gave OutKast credit for being the most intelelctually quixotic of all the hip-hops groups out there.
Key Tracks: "B.O.B." "I'll Call Before I Come," "Red Velvet," "Miss Jackson"

102. The xx (2009):



I usually say "Consumer Beware!" when it comes to bands both Rolling Stone and every "hip" music blog/publication out there love, and I was skeptical about The xx. One listen and I was hooked. Reminds me a bit of early Cure, but not as.... Cure-ish.
Key Tracks: "Stars," "Infinity," "Crystalised"

101. Tool - Lateralus (2001):



Very much like Ænima but on a bit of a darker trance, Tool loses the mock-industrial tracks sung in German about a recipe, but they still follow in the tracks of Bill Hicks of following their own vision and playing from their hearts. A bit more melodic, most likely due to Maynard James Keenan's tenure in A Perfect Circle, but just as heavy and epic, Lateralus was Tool's last great album.
Key Tracks: "The Patient," "Lateralis," "Reflection"

The Top 100 (+20) of the 2000s Part Three: 60-41

Sorry for the delay. I've been a bit lazy the past few days. But there are blog entries on the way, and I will finish this damn thing.

60. Sonic Youth - Murray Street (2002):



NYC Ghosts & Flowers was a tremendous disappointment, for they had been on a wave of overly consistent (and some absolutely fantastic) material for a good 15 years. However, few bands have the longevity and creativity that Sonic Youth has, so they are allowed one or two missteps here and there. Murray Street certainly makes up for any mediocrity, and contains some of their most enduring material.
Key Tracks: "Rain on Tin," "Disconnection Notice," "The Empty Page."

59. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000):



Proof that metal can be good when it's slowed down to Melvins speed (particularly "Boris" or "Hag Me"). The thematic elements of this album are a bit silly, but who cares?
Key Tracks: "Vinum Sabbathi," "Weird Tales," "Barbarian"

58. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (2006):




A hip-hop album so good, the Wu-Tanger had to release another album of pretty good shit that didn't make it onto this album.
Key Tracks: "Whip You With a Strap," "The Champ," "Be Easy," "Back Like That"

57. Swallow the Sun - The Morning Never Came (2003):



I first heard this album at a friend's house while I was high, and it moved me in a way that few metal albums have. When I sobered up, I downloaded it at home and felt just as moved by it. It's one of those metal albums that I listened to a lot even as my interest in my genre as a whole was dwindling, and the more mainstream metal was getting more dumb.
Key Tracks: "Deadly Nightshade," "The Morning Never Came," "Hold This Woe"

56. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006):



Ridiculous album title aside, Yo La Tengo managed to create another excellent album 20+ into their career. Perhaps their most experimental album probably ever, the band focuses less on their traditional fuzzy shoegazing inspired minimalist music and add in piano ballads, and other genres of music.
Key Tracks: "Sometimes I Don't Get You," "Beanbag Chair," "The Race Is On Again"

55. Andrew Bird - Armchair Aprochrypa (2007):



A slight departure from the more acoustic The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Andrew Bird plugs in more on this record and puts down the violin a little bit on this record, and creates some of his most instantly enjoyable material, whereas his other albums took me a while to get into. Few albums have ending songs as beautiful as "Yawny and the Apocalypse"
Key Tracks: "Heretics," "Armchairs,” “Imitosis,” “Plasticities”

54. Feist - Let it Die (2004):



A flawless combination of indie rock, bossa nova and jazz, Feist made one of the most appealing albums of the decade. Half covers and half originals, even the songs that weren’t hers to begin with she makes her own.
Key Tracks: “Mushaboom,” “One Evening,” “When I Was a Young Girl”

53. Explosions in the Sky - All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone (2007):



I was in Boston at a friend's, and they had on a college radio station that played the Minutemen, Sigur Ros and Feist all in a row (among others). They also "premiered" "Welcome, Ghosts," by far one of the band's most intriguing songs. I wanted more. And I got more.
Key Tracks: "Welcome Ghosts," "What Do You Go Home To," "Catastrophe and the Cure"

52. Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (2009):



Few other bands that I know of can mix Krautrock, psychedelia, and electronic music as nonchalantly as Bear in Heaven. "Teenagers In Love" was probably the most hypnotic single of 2009.
Key Tracks: "Teenagers In Love," "You Do You," 'Casual Goodbye"

51. Neko Case - Blacklisted (2002):



Back during my Starbucks days, they played many of the tracks off this album in the store. During shitty days, Neko Case helps me get through it. Blacklisted may be the perfect soundtrack to the 9 AM Starbucks rush with people screaming at you for not making their quad-venti-skim-2 pump vanilla-latte 182 degrees instead of 183.
Key Tracks: "Deep Red Bells," "I Wish I Was the Moon," "Things That Scare Me"

50. Tom Waits - Real Gone (2004):



If you take a piano away from Tom Waits, except it to get ugly. Real Gone is, by far, Waits' ugliest album. Scratchier than an irritated cat, sludgier than a mudslide, Waits' voice has rarely been as hoarse and demonic as it is on this album. That's not to say that "Trampled Rose" and "Day After Tomorrow" are two of his most beautiful and poignant songs.
Key Tracks: "Hoist That Rag," "Trampled Rose," "Shake It," "Baby Gonna Leave Me"

49. The White Stripes - De Stijl (2000):



The White Stripes' second album, definitely one of their rawest (although all of their albums are pretty raw) and very moving in some parts. After this album, the Stripes expanded their sound a little and made maybe some better material, but their music never was as direct and real as De Stijl.
Key Tracks: "Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?" "Sister Do You Know My Name," "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

48. Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001):



Recorded during the same sessions as Kid A, but this album was not Kid B. This kid was an Amnesiac. Slightly more straightforward and less cold and clinical than Kid A, Amnesiac was just as barren as its predecessor, like feeling as if you're in an emotional wasteland.
Key Tracks: "Pyramid Song," "Knives Out," "Like Spinning Plates," "I Might Be Wrong"

47. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (2006):




Rejecting their loud, abrasive, No-Wave influenced beginnings, Yeah Yeah Yeahs may have turned it down a bit on Show Your Bones by incorporating (*gasps*) acoustic guitar and more vulnerability than on "Maps," which lead to a derision of this album. Screw those who didn't get it though. Karen O. can be just as primal and just as much of a rock goddess by wearing her emotions on her sleeve.
Key Tracks: "Way Out," "Warrior," "Cheated Hearts"

46. PJ Harvey - White Chalk (2007):



By far her most beautiful album, White Chalk retreads the rather stark territory she visited on Is This Desire? but on a different level. Her vocals have never been better, and on some songs, she never sounded so broken and vulnerable.
Key Tracks: "When Under Ether," "The Piano," "White Chalk"

45. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (2002):



The first Mountain Goats albums to be 100% non-lo-fi, the transition from a cassette recorder to more developed arrangements and higher-quality recordings seemed to serve John Darnielle's often-brilliant storytelling very well.
Key Tracks: "First few Desperate Hours," "See America Right," "No Children"

44. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan, The Great Lakes State (2003):



Sufjan Stevens first installment of the now-aborted 50 States Project, and about a state now ravaged in unemployment, Michigan is full of intricate yet sublime arrangements, and it makes me want to go to Michigan.
Key Tracks: "All Good Naysayers Sepak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!" "Romulus,"
"Vito's Ordination Song," "

43. Isis - Panopticon (2004):



Another brilliant record by Isis, and often at times overlooked in favor of Oceanic, some of the band's most capitvating moments are on this album.
Key Tracks: "So Did We," "Wills Dissolve," "Grinning Mouths"

42. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill (2004):



Elliott Smith's untimely death was one of the decade's biggest tragedies in music. Released two days before the first anniversary of his death, From a Basement on the Hill contains some pretty harrowing lyrics that probably was a sign of events to come, but is also done so beautifully that it's like he was saying goodbye.
Key Tracks: "Let's Get Lost," "Twilight," "The Last Hour," "A Fond Farewell"

41. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (2005):



Fiona Apple's lone album of the decade, finally released six years after her last one and amid struggles with her label, Extraordinary Machine shows a slightly less somber Apple and a lot more mature. Then again, some of the stuff in this album is pretty bizarre.
Key Tracks: "Not About Love," "O Sailor," "Get Him Back"

And now for 5 more just outside of the Top 100

110. At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command (2000):



It had been swirling around in the media around the time of this album's release that these guys would be the next Nirvana. I'm not sure if I feel the same way, but "One-Armed Scissor" was one of the freshest and visceral songs to have a hit on modern rock radio. Considering that the Mars Volta, for the ost part, is an overindulgent, turgid mess, and Sparta's just mediocre... Supposedly these guys may reunite soon.
Key Tracks: "Invalid Litter Dept." "One-Armed Scissor," "Arcarsenal," "Quarantined"

109. Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk (2002):



Before she spent the rest of the decade churning out pure turgidity (I really like that word!), Myra Ellen Amos could still write some very compelling material. An 18-song snapshot of traveling through America, and defining it post-9/11, Scarlet's Walk contains some of Tori's best stuff. "Messiahs needs people dying in their names" should be posted in philosophy books everywhere.
Key Tracks: "Pancake," "Carbon," "Sweet Sangria," "I Can't See New York"

108. Foo Fighters - One By One (2002):



I don't care if the band hates this album, because I think, after their debut, it's their best one! After this album, I kind of stepped off the Foomobile. They recorded this album quickly, and some of their most aggressive moments are on this record.
Key Tracks: "Low," "Come Back," "All My Life," "Disenchanted Lullaby"

107. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007):




I kind of expected Win Butler & Friends to hit the classic sophmore slump with Neon Bible. While it is not as immediately captivating as Funeral, repeated listens warmed me up to this album, and is just as resonant as Funeral, but on a different level.
Key Tracks: "Ocean of Noise," "My Body is a Cage," "No Cars Go"

106. Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (2002):



Their first album post-September 11, the riot-grrl trio is at their most political on this record, critical of the Bush administration and draped in personal angst. Tracks like "Hollywood Ending" also take on preconceived notions of beauty in modern day America. One Beat may be even more powerful than Dig Me Out.
Key Tracks: "Light Rail Coyote ," "Combat Rock," "Oh!"