This is not the 10 Greatest Albums of 2000-2009, this is just a tribute - by henke
steo on 6/12/2009 at 16:14
How about the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack then.
Looking through my winamp library, it's hard enough to find ten albums that were released this decade. I guess I'll have to go with:
1.
Led Zeppelin: How the West Was WonInline Image:
http://misspeakmusic.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/0841.jpgLed Zeppelin studio albums are awesome around the board, but when they play live, they manage to play every song to complete perfection, from the slow, drawn out, twenty five minutes of Dazed and Confused, to the increased pace of Heartbreaker, it just feels like this was the way the songs were always meant to be played. The only track I might consider skipping is the seventeen minute drum solo of Moby Dick.
2.
Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake It's MorningInline Image:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oDPlIzgYn5A/Sov699GkR5I/AAAAAAAAAM4/dX_2uXO24qc/s320/album-im-wide-awake-its-morning.jpgAlready mentioned, but certainly one of my favourite albums. It's hard to pick a bad track on it, and it's beautifully constructed from start to finish.
3.
Clint Mansell: Requiem for a Dream SoundtrackInline Image:
http://weblogs.cltv.com/entertainment/tv/metromix/requiem%20soundtrack-thumb.jpgA terrific soundtrack, only made better by it's tragic associations to the film.
4.
Elliott Smith: From a Basement on the HillInline Image:
http://whattheballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/elliott_smith_from_a_basement_on_the_hill.jpgMy favourite album of his, certainly the darkest. I mostly just love the crushingly depressing four track combo of Strung Out Again, A Fond Farewell, King's Crossing and Twilight.
5.
Nine Inch Nails: With TeethInline Image:
http://www.9inchnails.com/images/discography/828.jpgThe album which got me into Nine Inch Nails, though not as good as The Fragile, probably still their best this decade. Year Zero and The Slip were both good but not great, and Ghosts is awesome but I suppose I don't really think of it as an album.
6.
Radio Moscow - Radio MoscowInline Image:
http://www.auralexploits.com/ebay_images/lp/RadioMoscow_st_1.jpgAwesome American psychedelic rock. I guess I like them so much because they don't sound like they belong in this decade.
7.
Radio Moscow - Brain CyclesInline Image:
http://www.bompstore.com/catalog/ALIVE0093-ad.jpgThey get two albums, because I don't want to choose between them and have been listening to both a lot in the last four months.
8.
Old Crow Medicine Show - OCMSInline Image:
http://images.jambase.com/merch/ocms.jpgAn edgy mention, because I don't think the album's that great all the way through, but Wagon Wheel will always have a place in my heart due to the memories associated with it.
I don't want to list any more, because I can't think of any other albums I can really justify adding. Elephant was certainly good, but I haven't really listened to it at all in years. If I had Tom Waits' Orphans, that might well get up there, but I haven't heard it and didn't think much of Blood Money. Perhaps I need to broaden my taste in music, I guess my problem is that that usually involves getting into more classic rock 'n' roll.
Ulukai on 6/12/2009 at 16:50
Quote Posted by D'Juhn Keep
Really evocative tunes and lyrics, especially the rather heartbreaking saga of Jed the robot.
I assume you've seen the (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA-UqKAv1rE) video?
Amazingly, rather than bring out the legal bods, Grandaddy endorsed this fan made creation. Programmed entirely in Applesoft BASIC on a 1979 Apple ][+, and it's so perfect for the song.
Volitions Advocate on 6/12/2009 at 17:46
Quote Posted by steo
Ghosts is awesome but I suppose I don't really think of it as an album.
The only reason Ghosts wasn't on my list was because the NeoTokyo OST beat it. I'd say you could safely call it an album.
D'Juhn Keep on 6/12/2009 at 19:12
I hadn't actually, thanks!
heywood on 7/12/2009 at 00:09
Wow, compiling this list really made me feel like I'm getting old. There was a lot I wanted to list, but most it turned out to be from the mid or late 90s. And there's relatively little indie, alternative, prog, or jazz that's caught my attention lately. So my list turned out to be embarrasingly mainstream.
Here it is in chronological order:
Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek (2000)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f936/f93675mxvup.jpgI love bluegrass. Alison Krauss can have my baby, but it turns out my favorite AK & Union Station albums were from the 90s, and I've listened to this more than any of my other recent bluegrass. It's too bad Nickel Creek got away from their bluegrass roots and tried the crossover thing, because this was pretty damn good for a debut album from a trio of young, new musicians.
Paul Simon - You're the One (2000)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre300/e303/e30313wt49y.jpgPaul Simon's most under-rated album. Critics were disappointed because it wasn't musically ambitious like, say Graceland. But his songwriting is as good as ever and several of the songs strike a chord with me.
Cake - Comfort Eagle (2001)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre800/e856/e85605k8oly.jpgThis might not be my favorite Cake album, but I played the crap out of Short Skirt, Long Jacket and Love You Madly.
Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre600/e602/e60252qlxry.jpgGreat house album. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is my favorite workout song, and Something About Us always makes me misty for my ex.
Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales (2001)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf100/f103/f103960ux2w.jpgGreat songs. Simple but fun music. Also unusually well recorded.
Buddy Guy - Sweet Tea (2001)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre700/e761/e761864rhvi.jpgI like Chicago blues. I'm not 100% sure whether I like Sweet Tea or Guy's later acoustic album Blues Singer better, but I think I played this more.
Norah Jones - Come Away with Me (2002)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f921/f92124zb24v.jpgOnly the best selling jazz album of all time. I said above that I wish Nickel Creek had stuck to bluegrass instead of trying to cross over. Well, I wish Norah Jones had stuck to jazz instead of trying to cross over. I wanted more of this.
Vivaldi - La Stravaganza - Rachel Podger, Arte dei Suonatori (2003)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/acg/cov200/cl900/l912/l91262n3xo8.jpgOK, I realize that probably nobody here likes Baroque chamber music, but I do.
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - Sixty Six Steps (2005)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg900/g976/g97654m6var.jpgLeo Kottke is my favorite acoustic guitar player and favorite folk artist, and Mike Gordon is the bassist from Phish who I also like. This is their second album together. This time, they went to the Bahamas and recorded calypso flavored music at the famous Compass Point studio.
Medeski, Martin, & Wood - Radiolarians (2008)Inline Image:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drl700/l710/l71057twjlu.jpgThe cover is one of a 3 album set that Aja turned me on to recently. I've been a middling MMW fan, but I've really been getting into this.
---------
Here's a bunch of others I've listened to a lot that didn't make the list of 10:
B.B. King & Eric Clapton - Riding With The King (2000)
Steely Dan - Two Against Nature (2000)
Yo Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor - Appalachian Journey (2000)
Sade - Lover's Rock (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack (2000)
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2001)
Alison Krauss + Union Station - New Favorite (2001)
Marcus Miller - M2 (2001)
Bela Fleck - Perpetual Motion (2001)
Rickie Lee Jones - Live at Red Rocks (2001)
Green Day - American Idiot (2003)
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below (2003)
Chick Corea - Rendezvous in New York (2003)
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (2003)
David Chesky - Area 31 (2004)
Cream - Royal Albert Hall (2005)
Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious (2007)
Scots Taffer on 7/12/2009 at 00:44
Talking of Best of '09, it's depressing me to run through Pitchfork's "Best New Music" and not only recognise barely any of the artists but when I scroll down Wikipedia's released in '09 page, I still barely see any artists I know.
<- Musically out of touch.
Turtle on 7/12/2009 at 01:19
Shit, half the artists I listen to are dead and that's ignoring classic stuff from the 60's & 70's.
Tonamel on 7/12/2009 at 01:27
The Bad Plus - These Are the VistasI refrained from putting this one in my original post, because I only found it this past week. But the more I listen to it, the more I believe that was a mistake. This is one of the best jazz albums I've ever heard, let alone just albums from the past decade. The album has a number of covers on it from esoteric sources: Nirvana's
Smells Like Teen Spirit; Aphex Twin's
Flim; even Blondie's
Heart of Glass. But there's no kitsch here: Every arrangement is serious, and very respectful to the source material. For example,
Heart of Glass starts off as a straightforward, if subtly atonal, cover that completely disintegrates into hellish free jazz halfway through... Until its disco roots emerge from the chaos to finish out the song (albeit in 7/4).
Speaking of free jazz, which I've never liked in the past: (
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Bad+Plus/_/Silence+Is+The+Question) I now know what it's good for.
ercles on 7/12/2009 at 04:05
A couple more honorable mentions that got lost in the wash a bit:
J Dilla - Donuts Simply because it was such a game-changer for the alt-rap scene
Tool - Lateralus I think I forgot lateralus because I haven't listened to Tool in a while, but it can't be denied that this is a masterpiece with exceptional depth and clarity of production. Parabola fires me up like few songs can.
Vivian on 7/12/2009 at 10:24
Tonamel - I'd heard the bad plus's cover of Flim a while back and was amazed by it, but then totally forgot to check out any of their other stuff. Thanks for the reminder!
