This is not the 10 Greatest Albums of 2000-2009, this is just a tribute - by henke
Tonamel on 4/12/2009 at 06:05
Quote Posted by frozenman
the whole psych-folk deal, which I notice hasn't made anyone's list save for Newsom (kinda)
I just checked, and am actually pretty surprised that Wikipedia doesn't include Akron/Family in their psych folk list. But it does include Animal Collective. I'd probably include Tunng, too. Maybe even Beirut, at a stretch.
As a side note, this was kind of a weird list for me to put together, as it was a constant reminder that I didn't start listening to modern (read: post 1970) music until 2002, just as I was getting ready to graduate from college. With a
music degree.
Yes, I was a complete cultural hermit/snob who thought that "real" art wasn't being made anymore. Prog metal is what eventually changed my mind on the whole matter. I've come a long way since then.
tl;dr version: Blind Guardian made me the man I am today.
Koki on 4/12/2009 at 06:23
I have a full bottle of vodka with me and I will drink a shot for every band listed here I never heard about.
ercles on 4/12/2009 at 06:43
Okay in honesty it's going to have to be 11, because I can't narrow it down further. In no particular order.
Boards of Canada - GeogaddiInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513ZV7T537L._SL500_AA240_.jpgOf course there isn't much to add to what has already been said about this album, just sublime from start to finish. This is possibly the greatest music to listen to late at night in an airport.
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xU09AXhlkk) Sunshine Recorder is a fair indication how how great this album is
Radiohead - I Might Be WrongInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xtC9ay00L._SL500_AA240_.jpgThis is my way of cheating, because I find it very difficult to pick between Kid A and Amnesiac, and this allows me to combine all the killer tracks from Kid A (sadly minus How to Disappear Completely) with Like Spinning Plates. What's lost on the production side of the studio albums is gained from the energy of the live set.
Although it isn't the cut from the album, this version of (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX-fDKWGbRs&feature=related) Idioteque indicates the frantic urgency that made the album such a stayer. The start of the second verse is sublime. Radiohead are a band that I constantly forget about, and then remember how incredibly important they are.
Battles - MirroredInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iMKrMLm3L._SL500_AA240_.jpgBattles are a tight, progressive minded, and furiously talented group, simple as that. Their EP's were hit and miss as they tried to figure out how to make their sound with the technology at their disposal. Then Mirrored happened. This album has easily taken me the longest to wrap my head around out of any on this list, because it's like nothing I've heard before. Melodies upon melodies all looped and warped through synths and god knows what. But the unadulterated and beautiful simple drumming, along with just how well put together everything is mean that you eventually realize how the songs are simple building blocks built into complexity, as opposed to bands like Maps and Atlases who go nuts from the start and obtain complex sounds by obliterating their fret boards with arpeggiation.
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Zw0ELLfZE&feature=PlayList&p=3B5A5940AAC9FAA2&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4) Tij is the high water mark of the album.
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of SilverInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tC3W1JGmL._SL500_AA240_.jpgI don't think I've ever heard an electro album that's so consistent, this is really great stuff from start to finish. Some people dislike Watch the Tapes for it's simplicity, but I really don't mind. The other thing that really makes this a standout is the range of tones evoked across the album. I still can't go past (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIChw-9ggyo&feature=related) Someone Great for it's unfolding beat and creepy lyrics.
Flying Lotus - Los AngelesInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KDkeI%2B5qL._SL500_AA240_.jpgThis album provided one of the greatest "oh fuck" moments I have experienced, where you realise you have stumbled upon something pretty significant. Since listening to this I have been listening to a lot of glitch-hop music, but nothing approaches the balance of this album. He consistently slides all around the beat with these incredibly textural samples, which create an ultimately involving album. This is the kind of music that I listen to so loud that it makes my room heave and shake, and is invariably an amazing 40 minutes. Each song flows so well into the next, and sounds very fresh after the last, and the album closer (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgiYhMqpVi0) Auntie's Lock/Infinitum is probably the best comedown I've ever heard on an album.
Fuck Buttons - Street HorrrsingInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eh54kpusL._SL500_AA240_.jpgThis album is much more challenging than this year's release, Tarot Sport, as it leans much more to the noise side of its genre-straddling affair. This means that there is much more discord, grating vocals, and distortion, and requires a lot more willpower to get through the first time. But what's amazing is that these two guys have created an album of such beauty out of sounds that are so harsh. Once you have heard it through once, you realise that each section that is grating on the ears seems to be deliberately timed to stretch your will to listen on, and many times, just as you are about to reach over and hit stop, there's a release. What's more important is that this album is so much more than distorted screams and drones, the walls of sound created over many minutes in these tracks are magnificent to hear, and are like nothing else I've heard before (probably because they build a lot of their own equipment). Of course many albums take you on a "journey" as you listen, but I feel very confident in saying that none are remotely close to this one. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWqdO74iApc) Sweet Love for Planet Earth is a good synopsis of what this is all about.
The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the ComatoriumInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E1BHMGBWL._SL500_AA240_.jpgThis was probably the toughest choice out of the lot, because in a lot of ways, this doesn't deserve to be here. But TMV were such a blindingly talented and original band, and have been quite a significant one this decade. The other component of this decision was which album to include! Tremulant provided the initial burst onto the scene when people realised that these guys had it going on, and although Frances the Mute is my favourite album, I think Rick Rubin's ability to tame them somewhat on De-Loused provides their best album. The songs that are here are all terrific, and I think their best songs largely come from this album. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOx38GLyYRY&feature=related) Cicatriz Esp is about as good as it gets with these guys, and the last three and a half minutes or so are blistering. Man I miss John Theodore's drumming.
Madvillain - MadvillainyInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dn-du8ZNL._SL500_AA240_.jpgHas already been mentioned, and I think this is the best rap/hip-hop album that I have heard (in my admittedly narrow experience of the genre). Incredible production values, and I really enjoy DOOM's flow. Would've rather linked to meat grinder, but I can't find a fucking link, so I'll go with (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX2AKVEF00I&feature=PlayList&p=B1266E84F4143499&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12) Figaro instead. The fact that it's subverting hip-hop standards by completely ignoring choruses and simple hooks, and instead regularly breaks its rhyme structures is very refreshing.
Ghostface Killah - FishscaleInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51d8uBceIOL._SL500_AA240_.jpgSuch an intense album, and so many memorable tracks. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqWDg9KCGpI) Shakey Dog is the opener, and has to be the best piece of straight storytelling I've heard in a rap story, regardless of whether it's fact or fiction. The beat is terrific, and the flow is relentless, it really doesn't get much better than this.
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, it's MorningInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511RH6BRGSL._SL500_AA240_.jpgConnor sobered up and made Cassadaga which was a fascinating album in it's maturity and peace, but the reality is that he made better music when he was drunk. Although he can be a bit doe-eyed and whiney at times, the reality is that he can write a lyric like few others, and has a keen ear for instrumentation. It's a fragile album, but one that is (along with everything on this list, really) full of terrific tracks. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpcZrhPw46M&feature=related) Land Locked Blues, with backing vocals from Emmylou Harris, is a perfect illustration of what this man can do. These lyrics grab my attention like few others.
Bjork - MedullaInline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5158V353V7L._SL500_AA240_.jpgNo list would be complete with someone as important to the decade as Bjork, she's batshit crazy, and her music is better for it. Who else would try to create such a rich album using nothing but voices? Bjork is one of those artists (Brian Eno being another example who springs to mind) who seem to be focused on what's coming next, which is surely why a song like (
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9q7h_bjork-where-is-the-line) Where is the Line sounds so fresh over 5 years after its release.
Notable MentionsThe Roots - Game Theory
Jaylib - Champion Sound
GSY!BE - Lift Your Skinny Fists
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apochrypha
Turtle on 4/12/2009 at 07:17
Quote Posted by Tocky
ForWhatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five.
Apart from the fact that it was released in 1997, I totally agree.
I would put Songs for Silverman on my list, though.
Also, Figure 8 By Elliott Smith
Soviet Kitsch by Regina Spektor
White Pony By the Deftones
Takk by Sigur Ros
The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
Tha Carter III by L'il Wayne (Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Aja on 4/12/2009 at 07:45
erecles your list is awesome
Los Angeles and Fishscale are two of the records I feel bad leaving out. And while Mirrored didn't quite make my list, for live performances Battles would easily hit the top five (actually, after Liars they were the best act I saw in the last few years).
Scots Taffer on 4/12/2009 at 07:59
No mention of Muse sickens me... my list is forthcoming.
Great thread, henke.
ercles on 4/12/2009 at 08:32
Quote Posted by Aja
ercles your list is awesome
Los Angeles and
Fishscale are two of the records I feel bad leaving out. And while
Mirrored didn't quite make my list, for live performances Battles would easily hit the top five (actually, after Liars they were the best act I saw in the last few years).
Cheers, Battles are insanely good live, it's impressive to watch their songs grow right in front of you. I was crushed when I couldn't snag tickets to see them play the Sydney Opera House this year, although some people I know who went had issues with the fact that you had to stay seated through the performance. Los Angeles was an album that was also personally significant for me because it introduced me to a whole new genre (currently listening to Glitchmob albums as I type), I'm definitely going to make a west coast pilgrimage to head to Low End Theory and see him live next year.
Aerothorn on 4/12/2009 at 09:18
Apparently, the only 2009 albums in my library are It's Frightening by the White Rabbits (which I haven't even heard the entirety of yet, though I suspect it's not really my thing), Conelrad's Sure is the Risk Made, and an OC Remix album.
Finding music I like is so hard that...well, I just end up not spending much money in pursual of it. Self-defeating, I know. I justify this by saying that I can't keep totally on the ball with every media form and at least one has to fall by the wayside, and for me that's music (at least, recent music).
Scots Taffer on 4/12/2009 at 11:04
No surprises here, I'm sure.
1. Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol (2001)
Inline Image:
http://i47.tinypic.com/e7136f.jpgThis music just connects with me on a deep, deep level that I still cannot successfully articulate. The song
Untitled might just be my favourite song of all time. There's something formless and vague about the lyrics and directions this whole album takes, but I'm with it every step of the way and absolutely love it.
2. Simple Things - Zero 7Inline Image:
http://i46.tinypic.com/a2gjgh.jpgI spent so many afternoons just chilling to this album that it's inextricably become part of the soundtrack of my life. I listen and get that sensation of lounging on the bed or couch or deckchair, brings to mind summer afternoons with bottles of wine and barbeques, smell of pollen in the air, sweet perfume of flowers in bloom, and beyond the sound of the music, the running water of the Oxford river, birds tweeting, distant sounds of children at play, laughter.
3. Tipping Point - The RootsInline Image:
http://i46.tinypic.com/bdjx2p.jpgI've never been big on hip-hop, so this album was a revelation for me. From the intro track "Star/Pointro" I loved the blend of soul/funk sensibilities that bleed through the album and the verbal dexterity of the lyricist Black Thought. I've been a fan ever since.
4. Antics - InterpolInline Image:
http://i45.tinypic.com/jj781z.jpgThe sleeker and more studio friendly second album from my favourite band pumped out a ton of toe-tapping rock with the excellent basslines of Carlos Dengler keeping things fast and slick and hot.
5. You Forgot It In People - Broken Social SceneInline Image:
http://i48.tinypic.com/vqk66b.jpgI love the mishmash of melodies and indie rock noise in this album. It's a brilliant culmination of ideas and wide-eyed experimentation. In this way I guess it symbolises youth for me.
6. Justified/FutureSex LoveSound - Justin TimberlakeInline Image:
http://i46.tinypic.com/mlnp3.jpgA confident one-two step from being one face in a crowd to being one of the most vibrant and prominent pop performers of all time in a move that served Michael Jackson pretty well and those comparisons are the ones that seem most apt as time goes by (musically, that is). His strong partnership with producers who know their shit will hopefully continue and he'll keep pumping out instant pop classics.
7. Muse - AbsolutionInline Image:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2hqs7df.jpgFrom start to finish a brilliant blend of melody, lyrics, interludes and balls out rocking. My favourite Muse album, though my favourite tracks rest on other albums.
8. In Rainbows - RadioheadInline Image:
http://i45.tinypic.com/jtaxyb.jpgFinally, a Radiohead album I could love from cover to cover. I've struggled to appreciate their work in between Rainbows and The Bends (a very accessible if somewhat dated rock album) and while I can absolutely adore moments and stretches from those albums, none of them congeal for me as a listenable whole. In Rainbows is just an album that works, I don't overanalyse my music (sometimes I don't even know the lyrics of songs I love) but I love the way the songs make me feel.
9. 10,000KHz Legend - AirInline Image:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2ni1p2t.jpgI hated this album for the longest time. Air were
Moon Safari and
Premiers Symptomes to me, soft lounge music without any hint of a threat about it, floating on an ambient cloud, but over time (a long, long time) I came to love this album as the darker and more developed Air album.
10. Elephant - White StripesInline Image:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2jebx9c.jpgI'm pretty sure this album single-handedly got me into blues and blues-rock. The entire album (with maybe one exception) throbs with a surly intensity. I don't think I've heard anyone singing about being a family with such venom as Jack Black in the
Hardest Button to Button.
Many honourable mentions:
Sorry
Sting, after relistening to
Elephant twice today, you're gone buddy.
Brand New Day -I've got a soft spot for Sting, I'll admit it. Especially when he's singing a kitschy ballad about being a prostitute (
they've got money, I've got the time/being pretty is my only crime), retelling a comedy of errors in sending a hasty break-up note, drawing vivid imagery of the power of love, loves lost and loves reclaimed.
Give Up - The Postal Service - an excellent collaborative album that just captures the peppy electropoprock sound I love.
The White Stripes - Elephant - a near perfect distillation of bluesy rock that really belongs on my top 10 but I just couldn't part with any.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - I'm sticking to my guns in calling it what Simon and Garfunkel would sound like if they fell down a well and decided to sing for help.
Set Yourself On Fire - Stars - the sounds of a relationship stuck in reverse, sung so beautifully you don't care about the pain at the heart of some of the songs.
Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay - their high watermark in my opinion, some really fantastic soft rock anthems that are inherently hookish (
Clocks anyone?)
Melody A.M. - Röyksopp - another electronic chill out album that really defined my early 00's and university years, so much studying and poring over mathematical formulae to these tunes that I can almost recall entire theorems.
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand - great poppy rocky album from back home.
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven - fantastic atmosphere builder, but not my favourite and can be really too intense for the casual listen (which is more what I'm about).
Music Has The Right To Children - Boards of Canada - my personal preference over Geogaddi, but I guess that's because it's much more accessible and softer, lacking some of the sinister paranoia present in their earlier work.
Also missed out:
Pikul/Carnavas - Silversun PickupsOur Love To Admire - InterpolBlack Holes and Revelations - MuseTwin Cinema - The New PornographersI listened to so much in 2000s I was sure they were released then but weren't:
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club (1997)
S&M - Metallica (1999)
Dare to Be Surprised - Folk Implosion (1997)
f♯a♯∞ - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (1998)
Mezzanine - Massive Attack (1998)
Endtroducing... - DJ Shadow (1996)
