Best albums of the 2000s, according to one guy
For music nerds, the end of the year means one thing: lists. And the end of the decade? Well that’s even better. More lists.
Of course, the thing about making lists of a year’s or decade’s best albums, is that such rankings, even when emphasized with bold type and occasional italics, are so transitory; ask me again next month to compile a list like the one below, and I’ll probably come up with at least nine different entries. (I mean, how can this one not include Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or any of Ghostface’s ’00s output?)
So here’s a list of 10 albums from the 2000s that I really, really liked. As of right now.
- LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (2007) — James Murphy’s dance-punk outfit can be too snarky for its own good at times, but on its second album, everything clicked. The New York hipster perfectly captured the decade’s post-millennial comedown, with both sterile detachment and unexpected pathos. And some fantastic beats.
- Spoon, Kill the Moonlight (2002) — Hands-down the most consistently great band of the decade, Britt Daniel and Co. have never made their deceptively simple elements — just guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals — sound as effortlessly realized as they did on this killer disc.
- Grandaddy, The Sophtware Slump (2000) — Jason Lytle wrapped this treatise about his growing unease with technology in a warm blanket of analog synths and shimmering guitars, resulting in a seemingly timeless record that sounds something like Neil Young fronting the Beach Boys, with some weird squiggles and bloops thrown in, too.
- The Twilight Singers, Powder Burns (2006) — In the decade following the collapse of The Afghan Whigs, Greg Dulli remains a dark, dark bastard, and this is perhaps his crowning achievement: a gritty, straight-up rock ‘n’ roll epic that finds the notorious Lothario finally coming up for air on the other side.
- Hot IQs, An Argument Between the Brain and the Feet (2004) — This late, lamented Denver trio should have been the Mile High City’s big musical export of the ’00s (sorry, Fray). Instead they’ve left behind this one note-perfect chunk of absolutely irrepressible indie-pop. Not a bad legacy.
- Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007) — The singer-songwriter’s fifth album has it all: Dylanesque wordplay, Rumors-like melodies and a welcome sonic variety. Nearly every song is stellar, none more so than “The Temptation of Adam,” a heart-rending tale of love in a missile silo that ends in near-apocalypse.
- Sleater-Kinney, The Woods (2005) — The acclaimed Washington trio put the rawk back into its angular punk on this, its swan song, a dissonant, sometimes brutal record that layers shrill vocals over peals of guitar feedback that make it sound like your speakers are blown. OK, so that may not sound great on paper, but it actually does.
- The Black Keys, Attack and Release (2008) — This blues-rock duo churns primal riffs and thudding beats into almost primal rhythms, abetted on this, their finest outing, by producer Danger Mouse. With just the faintest hint of hip-hop menace, the DJ elevates the pair’s game, resulting in something truly special.
- The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (2005) — Carl Newman’s indie-pop supergroup — featuring Neko Case and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar — is rarely as giddily infectious as it is on this harmony-soaked rocker, highlighted by not one but two of the decade’s best songs: “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Bleeding Heart Show.”
- Desaparecidos, Read Music/Speak Spanish (2002) — Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst was burdened with the “new Dylan” tag early in the decade for his verbal eruptions, but his often-bland music doesn’t always keep up with those lyrics. Yet this raucous side project, a concept album that rages against consumerism, brings the noise. It’s the whole package, for once.
Originally published Dec. 18, 2009, in the Camera and Dec. 24, 2009, in the Colorado Daily.
