decade list! - kate miles

I know it's down to the wire, but after four drafts, I finally put down the pens and highlighters and felt at peace with who stayed and who went in my decade list. When it was all over, I realized that the decade was a great one for the ladies. Whether it be folk (Gillian Welch), shake-your-booty music (Beyonce), indie (Feist), rock n roll (Heartless Bastards), many dissimilar genres were, from 2000-2009, represented by multiple dominating females, something I don't think happened quite so forcefully in the 90s where you might say ladies were either Riot Grrl Bikini Kill/Sleater Kinney types or the gals who wore floral jumpers and had soft-focus music videos (Sophie B. Hawkins).

And speaking of Sleater Kinney, The Woods was the first no-brainer for my decade list, and like Niki Pop, I was also lucky enough to catch them on tour for it in 2005. I know fellas who love SK who don't like The Woods, and so I agree that gentlemen are afraid of how they [brilliantly] take rock n' roll and turn into, as Nicki said, a "creepy deep female thing." (I believe the aggressiveness of Janet's drumming make boys run for the hills.) Now that Sleater Kinney are done, I'm glad that bands like The Organ and The Gossip are doing a fabulous job of filling that "angry gal music" void that some of us crave though "angry gal" is a label that does a disservice to the quality of the music, it's more - as Christian from Project Runway would say - fierce.

And so here is my decade list, organized by year:

[2000]
'Kid A' - Radiohead
'Puzzle' - Tahiti 80
It's been ten years since I first heard Tahiti 80's "Heartbeat" and yet it still is the thing I go to in my iPod when I need something hopeful and lovey-dovey. 'Puzzle' is filled with happy gems that put you in a good mood without any corniness or sugary fakeitude. I think 'How to Disappear Completely' and 'The National Anthem' being on the same album made 'Kid A' the winner of the obligatory 'which Radiohead?!" battle.

[2001]
'Time (The Revelator)' - Gillian Welch
'When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up' - Snow Patrol
It has to be said that before Snow Patrol became the go-to band for crappy television dramas, they actually made three really good albums. "Olive Grove Facing the Sea" is not a song everyone will like, but I think it's the best arranged indie-ballad of the decade, more memorable than any of Death Cab's slower numbers, which is saying something!

[2002]
'Kill the Moonlight' - Spoon
'A Rush of Blood to the Head' - Coldplay
'Lost in Space' - Aimee Mann
'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' - Wilco

[2003]
'Elephant' - White Stripes
'Meadowlands' - The Wrens
'Chutes Too Narrow' - The Shins
'Give Up' - The Postal Service
'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' - Outkast
Unfortunately I think that when we're in our 50s the oldies radio station is going to be playing "New Slang" from 'Oh, Inverted World' even though the songs from 'Chutes Too Narrow' are more interesting.

[2004]
'7 Swans' - Sufjan Stevens
'Grey Album' - Jay-Z/Danger Mouse
'Antics' - Interpol
'Funeral' - Arcade Fire

[2005]
'Fisherman's Woman' - Emiliani Torrini
'Confessions on a Dance Floor' - Madonna
'The Woods' - Sleater Kinney
'Strange Geometry' - The Clientele
I don't think any of us can deny being freakin floored when "Hung Up" came out; 'Confessions' is certainly when Madonna is at her most godmother-to-Lady-Gaga best. 'Fisherman's Woman' came out before Regina Spektor was all over the radio and Torrini definitely just sounds 1000x better, more mature, etc (at least to me).

[2006]
'The Letting Go' - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
'The Life Pursuit' - Belle & Sebastian
Trying to decide which Will Oldham to highlight for the decade is kind of insane, but I went for it to highlight how gorgeous the whole pairing with Dawn McCarthy thing is.

[2007]
'The Reminder' - Feist
'Night Falls Over Kortedala' - Jens Lekman
Of all the awesomeness put forth by Jens in the 00's, this album is the one that can be listened to from start-to-finish with the most ease; his albums are all expensive booze and this one is the smoothest.

[2008]
's/t' - Fleet Foxes
'Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust' - Sigur Ros
Sigur Ros gets major high fives for making music that you can listen to at the gym, or when you have a swing in your step.

[2009]
'Vecktamist' - Grizzly Bear
Not sure how to approach including 2009 in the decade list, so I went with Grizzly Bear because perpetually annoying Paul with Grizzly Bear praise is fun, plus the album is freakin amazing.

I used the thingamabob at the top of the post to include some of the stuff from my list, and some of the stuff from the decade that I liked that isn't on my list.