Top Albums of 2000s
Submitted by Zacharyyy on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 05:55
Tags:
- 9/10.
- Ys. Joanna Newsom. 2006.
- 8.5/10.
- Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Animal Collective. 2000.
- 8/10.
- Ladybird. Shit & Shine. 2005.
- Anima. Vladislav DeLay. 2001.
- A Promise. Xiu Xiu. 2003.
- Illinois. Sufjan Stevens. 2005.
- Bromst. Dan Deacon. 2009.
- I EP. Meshuggah. 2004.
- Jealous Of Shit & Shine. Shit & Shine. 2006.
- 7.5/10.
- La Forêt. Xiu Xiu. 2005.
- Trust. Low. 2002.
- Drum's Not Dead. Liars. 2006
- Lateralus. Tool. 2001.
- 45:33. LCD Soundsystem. 2006.
- Street Horrrsing. Fuck Buttons. 2008.
- Boxer. The National. 2007.
- Varde. Elegi. 2009.
- The Lemon Of Pink. The Books. 2003.
- They Were Wrong So We Drowned. Liars. 2003.
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 2001.
- Hazards Of Love. The Decemberists. 2009.
- All Hail West Texas. The Mountain Goats. 2002.
- Excuses For Travellers. Mojave 3. 2000.
- Gallowsbird's Bark. The Fiery Furnaces. 2003.
- Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. M83. 2003.
- Frances The Mute. The Mars Volta. 2005.
- Person Pitch. Panda Bear. 2007.
- Visiter. Dodos. 2008.
- Funeral. Arcade Fire. 2004
- Come Closer Please EP (http://www.archive.org/details/EAR012). BRTLMN. 2005.
Author Comments:
kind of weird how the greatest album of the decade is pretty past-conscious instead of most of the forward-thinking noise of the decade. Ys is just one of the most emotionally honest and open and originally created/arranged albums I've ever heard and by and far is the most creative and original artistic statement in music in the last ten years.
Looking at the tops here, it looks like 2005-2006 were the best years of the decade. I'd also rate Xiu Xiu and Shit & Shine to be two of the best bands of the decade.
Pretty darn interesting list. I haven't heard nearly any of these and I look forward to checking them out. Although I heartily concur with your about Ys.
"interesting" is what I go for! Thanks.
I hope you find something you dig particularly. I kinda want to say that you might find the Xiu Xiu albums here interesting, but it's just a weird hunch and I'm really not sure anyhow. Maybe Low's Trust is a good first thing to check out on this list, though...
Ys is quite something; first time I listened to it I was just sort of confused. I think I put it down for a few months and then I tried it again and it completely knocked me out. I mean "Only Skin" godDAMN, woman, so heartrending. That album probably has some of the most finely crafted and personally expressive lyrics/poetry I've ever heard too.
Funny you should mention Xiu Xiu - I find myself drawn to them in a strange intuitive way (we'll see how that goes). And I totally agree with you about the lyrics on Ys. Are they not the greatest lyrics ever? Maybe Beefheart has something to say about that, but I prefer the way that Newsom sings her songs.
I noticed that you seem damn fond of Lisa Germano and I think there's some kind of connect between her and Xiu Xiu at least thematically/in spirit. Both their music is sort of just the songwriters eviscerating and displaying themselves emotionally in their music, so yeah. Jamie Stweart of Xiu Xiu has a much more off-kilter and weird way of writing/singing than Germano though. Still great nonetheless.
Yes, yes they are the greatest lyrics ever. I've described Newsom as the greatest living poet to most of the people I know. I've made a bit of alist of best lyricists but I don't really have enough faith in it as of yet to put it up here. (but yeah, Newsom is at the top (and Germano is on there too)).
I'm not sure how I would rate Germano as a lyricist. I find her quite different from someone like Dylan or Joanna Newsom whose lyrics are filled with ideas, allusions, metaphors and what not. I'd say Germano is good at singing about her feelings and as such her lyrics can be quite confusing; but you always know exactly where she's at. She's not the kind of songwriter you need to decipher, you just need to stomach her brutal honesty. She's a weird one. Unforgettable.
Hang on as recently as this you still liked Joanna?! What happened to change your mind?
It's an album I admire compositionally. That was basically my approach before. How accomplished is this recording? How good is it? Whether I liked it or not wasn't really important. But now when I approach it in a personal way how do I feel? Does it leave an impression on me, does it remind me of my own humanity or of problems I deal with in my own life or things I find interesting. Not really. Parts of it are actually pretty good. I particularly like the way the lyrics are structured, which is quite intriguing, but whether it amounts to anything of substance is another matter. It reminds me of Inland Empire in a way, except that has themes I find fascinating - mostly feminine ones like abortion, prostitution, infidelity etc. Wtf was Newsom sing about? Consciousness? Or something? (maybe she took 1 too many courses in French existential philosophy, *shudder*) I guess that's my main complaint - can't relate to her.
I would now rather listen to mediocre music that I can at least dig, rather than sit thru something just because it's dense and accomplished. I've got nothing to prove in my listening habits. I don't need to show others I have good taste. I'd now rather just find stuff I like, of which Newsom isn't really a participant. You can often get more out of a crude paperback novel than a great work of literature - assuming it resonantes with who you are. Obviously a more technically brilliant and subtle work would be a lot more powerful, but more important is accepting your own identity instead of approaching art from pretty dishonest criteria.
I guess I can see how someone could admire this album compositionally but not connect with it. I don't find it's the lyrics of Joanna that make her special personally. She's no Dylan/Cohen. Would you say your relationship with her is a bit like the relationship you said you have on another list with classical music?
No, it's not like Classical. It's purely ideological, personality, spirit-wise. I actually was humming some of Have One on Me today. I actually kind of like it. And the lyrics are impressive formally, but just no connection there for me. I actually place a LOT of importance on lyrics, it's quite funny considering music has little to do with words. I think an early love of Dylan has tainted me.
Gallowsbird's Bark and Spirit They're Gone are both stellar debuts that are too often left in the shadow of the bands' later careers. Well done!
They are goddamned amazing <3
Blueberry Boat and Rehearsing My Choir are still damn good-- the former, with some cuts to the length, could easily overtake Gallowsbird's Bark,but yeah.
I never got why Feels and Sung Tongs and Merriweather Post Pavilion were so popular; they seem much too subdued and without verve for the most part-- at the risk of sounding pretentious they're too "nice sounding". Their best ones, Spirit and Here Comes The Indian, seem relatively ignored when it comes to their whole discography. I did a whole overview of their stuff if you didn't notice: http://www.listology.com/zacharyyy/list/animal-collective-top-albumseps . When I first listened to Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished it was a goddamn shocking experience; it is balls-to-the-walls-weird as well as balls-to-the-walls-beautiful.
Great list :) Have you listened to Kid A? I think it's a really amazing album. Spirit They've Gone and Ys are definitely high up on my Best Of The 2000s list too.
http://www.listology.com/zacharyyy/list/album-rankings-2000
Kid A is a really good album!
Awesome rating!
Thanks; glad you think so.