It's a special treat each year when the Village Voice releases its list of the best records and songs of the year, namely the annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. It's been around 26 years longer than the Paulies, and in many ways its our stylistic forebearer.
And according to America's pop music critics, here are the top ten records and songs from 2009:
1 Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
2 Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3 Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
4 Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz!
5 Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
6 Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
7 The xx, xx
8 Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Part II
9 The Flaming Lips, Embryonic
10 Girls, Album
Songs:
1 Jay-Z (ft. Alicia Keys), "Empire State of Mind"
2 Phoenix, "1901"
3 Animal Collective, "My Girls"
4 Grizzly Bear, "Two Weeks"
5 Dirty Projectors, "Stillness Is the Move"
6 Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Zero"
7 Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
8 Girls, "Lust for Life"
9 Phoenix, "Lisztomania"
10 Taylor Swift, "You Belong With Me"
But much more than these lists, it was one accompanying article in the Voice that really struck a chord with me, "The Year of Too Much Consensus":
http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-19/music/the-year-of-too-much-consensus/
In it, the 50-year old music critic Chuck Eddy ruminates on the state of critical consensus, in particular, the Pitchfork-ification of America's music critics. I implore you to read the whole article, but his closing paragraph is pretty killer (and telling of these Pitchfork-ian times):
"For the record, no Springsteen voters also voted for the xx or Girls, and only one voted for Animal Collective. Theoretically mainstream old-guard pros like Bill Holdship of Detroit's Metro Times and Geoffrey Himes of the Nashville Scene both saw only two of their Top 10 albums place in the P&J Top 40; St. Louis stalwart Steve Pick, choosing esoterica like Dave Alvin and the Bottle Rockets and Ian Hunter, got shut out entirely. Back in 1980 in these pages, Robert Christgau divided the Pazz & Jop electorate into "the avant-gardists versus the traditionalists, the radicals versus the conservatives"—you know, Beefheart guys vs. Bruce guys. Me, I like strangeness and skronk, but I also like boogie and beer; still, my basic instincts have always been with the vanguard. But when it's mainly the old farts who seem to have minds of their own, I start to wonder."
-PGJ
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thomas' Best of Decade List
I think its notable that this decade was when albums that were listened to the whole CD through devolved into the track that you might listen to the whole way through without skipping ahead. So an album that stood up in this decade was no small feat. Very simply, these got skipped the least, played the most, and had something new and interesting or exemplary to offer.
The National-Boxer - quiet, solid, reassuring, homely. (2007)
Animal Collective-Merriweather... - I had a hard time committing to this choice but for newness and, er, joy? it's granted a spot. (2009)
Air-10000Hz Legend - for some refreshing and out there moods this is the unsung hero. (2001)
Sunset Rubdown-Shut up I am Dreaming - brilliant snippets, a lot of brilliant snippets. (2006)
LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver - another contender for future sound of the decade, but also fun. (2007)
!!!-Myth Takes - maybe an alternate for LCD, but damned if i didn't nearly burn through the part of the hard drive where this was stored. (2006)
Gorillaz-Demon Days - If you don't know why this is great then you're probably not reading this list. (2005)
The Shins-Chutes Too Narrow - currently in the deeply unlistenable zone, but the future retro "sound" of the decade, i think, maybe. (2003)
Burial-Untrue - say what you will, this was new and sent chills whoever you were. (2007)
Radiohead-Kid A - Yeah I liked it too. (2000)
The National-Boxer - quiet, solid, reassuring, homely. (2007)
Animal Collective-Merriweather... - I had a hard time committing to this choice but for newness and, er, joy? it's granted a spot. (2009)
Air-10000Hz Legend - for some refreshing and out there moods this is the unsung hero. (2001)
Sunset Rubdown-Shut up I am Dreaming - brilliant snippets, a lot of brilliant snippets. (2006)
LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver - another contender for future sound of the decade, but also fun. (2007)
!!!-Myth Takes - maybe an alternate for LCD, but damned if i didn't nearly burn through the part of the hard drive where this was stored. (2006)
Gorillaz-Demon Days - If you don't know why this is great then you're probably not reading this list. (2005)
The Shins-Chutes Too Narrow - currently in the deeply unlistenable zone, but the future retro "sound" of the decade, i think, maybe. (2003)
Burial-Untrue - say what you will, this was new and sent chills whoever you were. (2007)
Radiohead-Kid A - Yeah I liked it too. (2000)
Alex's favorite tracks of the decade
This list is my way over-the-top solution to a simple problem. I couldn't narrow down the final spots on my top 25 albums of the decade. So I came up with my favorite 25 tracks of the decade, excluding those from bands already on my top 25 albums list.
What we have here is basically a list of my top 26-50 albums, with a few standout tracks (i.e., Frontier Psychiatrist) thrown in.
Note: Every album cover image links to a version of the song, either: a.) the official music video; b.) a moderate quality live performance; or c.) an audio track.
These are hazily ranked from first to worst.
What we have here is basically a list of my top 26-50 albums, with a few standout tracks (i.e., Frontier Psychiatrist) thrown in.
Note: Every album cover image links to a version of the song, either: a.) the official music video; b.) a moderate quality live performance; or c.) an audio track.
These are hazily ranked from first to worst.
Coachella Alert
Attention Paulies readers -- as you've likely seen, the Coachella artists have been announced...and they're through-the-roof exciting:
Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Passion Pit, Public Image Limited, Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Devo, Gossip, Hot Chip, MGMT, Muse, The Dead Weather, The xx, Charlotte Gainsbourg, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Gorillaz, Julian Casablancas, Pavement, Phoenix, Sly and the Family Stone, Spoon, Thom Yorke, Yo La Tengo
Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Passion Pit, Public Image Limited, Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Devo, Gossip, Hot Chip, MGMT, Muse, The Dead Weather, The xx, Charlotte Gainsbourg, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Gorillaz, Julian Casablancas, Pavement, Phoenix, Sly and the Family Stone, Spoon, Thom Yorke, Yo La Tengo
Any Paulies readers attending? It's hard for me to resist.
-PGJ
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Best of the Decade (?), By Niki Pop
I have been fretting about my Paulies decade entry far more than the 2009 entry. 2009 is pretty straightforward; at any given January, there are always enough cultural highlights from the previous twelve months to make up what passes for a "best of" list. But the decade was different. The longer timespan means the music has the chance to settle, to age, to stand the test of changing tastes and lifestyles. A record you first heard in 2001 may have taken until 2003 to really make any sense. Bands that you're crazy about in 2005 can seem obscene, regrettable, unfathomable in 2010. It raises some interesting questions about how tastes are made, and how personal events can affect what you're listening to (or not.)
I've also been fretting because, as I described to Paul and Matty the other day, there are clearly three ways to do this.
(1) Critical Best. I'm not the greatest Radiohead fan out there and I'll certainly concede that Kid A might be the most artistically accomplished record of the 00s. But does that make the list? What about an album I like just fine, like the Streets' Original Pirate Material or Cat Power's You Are Free, but that in my heart of hearts I just wouldn't take with to a desert island?
(2) Personal Best. This is a tough category, too, because if there's one thing that I did most in the 2000s, it was listen to bands from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Seventies punk singles especially (is there anything sweeter than The Only Ones singing "Another Girl, Another Planet?" Modern Lovers singing "Road Runner?" or the Undertones "Teenage Kicks?") The Replacements, Pulp, and the Pixies are probably going to always be my top three. Those are the ones where I know all the words, and could even maybe possibly pick the artists out of a lineup. So it feels disingenuous to pick ten, twenty records that came out in the naughts, when in reality I spent an embarrassing chunk of that time pretending Paul Westerberg was my ne'er-do-well boyfriend singing angsty love songs to me after a hard day at work.
(3) Defining the Decade. Years from now, some aging hipster will seek to pay homage to his young adulthood. He'll produce a sweeping-yet-still-twee mockudock - think Forrest Gump meets Nine Songs - called "Bedford Ave" starring a Michael Cera-lookalike and Zoey Deschanel's daughter, let's call her Willis. Cera-boy lives in, oh, I don't know, Austin, or Portland, and Willis lives in Brooklyn. Their lives intersect in tragic and fragile ways. And the soundtrack will be more predictable than God. We'll buy "hits of the naughties" advertised on late night television, and try to explain to our kids what the deal was with the beards and banjos. We will never be forgiven for Joanna Newsom.
Clearly, the best solution is a mishmash of all three. So without further ado, here are twenty nineteen albums that defined the naughties for yours truly because I couldn’t stop listening to them.
1. Azure Ray/Azure Ray (2001) Sleepy dream-pop from two Southern gals. Like sitting on a porch in Georgia in sweltering August, sipping heavily spiked lemonade.
2. The Arcade Fire/ Funeral (2004) This is hands-down the most gorgeous, textured, evocative album I heard this decade. The summer of 2004 was the only time in my life I really drove long distances on a daily basis and this record was my companion. Still gives me chills when I see that “Where the Wild Things Are” trailer.
3. Bonde do Rolê /With Lasers (2007) Bratty Brazilian baile-funk, makes you want to quit your job and move to Rio. Portuguese is one of the most fascinating and listen-able languages out there, and when it’s dirty raps. Amazing live because then they can use the crazy illegal samples they love so much. “Solta o Frango” means “Release the chicken;” it’s Brazilianese for “Get crazy, bitches”
4. Desaparecidos/Read Music/Speak Spanish (2002) True: Bright Eyes is insufferable. Also true: this album is amazing, musically and lyrically. “The sort of howlingly tuneful Midwestern punk that disappeared with Hüsker Dü" (Entertainment Weekly) This is an album about becoming an adult in Bush’s America, feeling trapped by relationships and the suburbs and expectations. A real find, in other words, for my first few years out of college.
Favorite lyric: “I’m growing out my hair / like it was when I was single / it was longer than I’d known you / I had no money then, I had no worries then at all.”
Or how about: The man at the bank said ‘Let's not talk percentages. You work a fourteen hour day and still have two mortgages. You asked the state for aid and they gave you and ad campaign that didn't help.’ So you took your family and joined in the urban sprawl. Now you can't see that stars as well but you're near the mall.
5. Franz Ferdinand / Franz Ferdinand (2004) Of all the music in situation #3 (“Bedford Ave”) this is probably the cream of the crop.
6. Miss Kittin and the Hacker/First Album (2001) Listen to Miss Kittin and the Hacker’s new direction. Driving a car or three on three, Giving you a piece of life and Energy somewhere out in the universe.
7. Mountain Goats/The Sunset Tree (2005) From “No Children:” I hope that our few remaining friends/give up on trying to save us/I hope we come up with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few who forgave us.
8. Mum/Yesterday was dramatic, today was ok (2000) Best. Working. Music. Ever.
9. NOFX/War on Errorism (2003) Eerily prescient album about repressive government, financial meltdown, etc. When one makes twenty million, and ten thousand people lose, what keeps that one from swallowing a shotgun? Indeed.
10.Of Montreal/Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer (2007) Easily the best live show I’ve ever seen. They had some sort of papier mache lobster claw. I can’t explain it.
11. Postal Service/Give Up (2003) The only way I can still stomach Ben Gibbard is when his maudlin little voice is enveloped by sweet glitch techno. This was a good partnership.
12. Ratatat/Ratatat (2004) I think the most number of times I’ve listened to this album in a row is something like… 12.
13. The Shins/Chutes Too Narrow (2003) I’m not particularly attached to this one, but every time I hear it,
14. Sigur Rós/Ágætis byrjun (2001)
15. Sleater-Kinney/The Woods (2005) I had the extreme pleasure of seeing them on their tour for this record at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was obscenely great. They played Danzig’s “Mother” as an encore. No men like this album, because it takes rock and roll and makes it into this creepy deep female thing. Ladies, you know what I mean.
16. TV on the Radio/Young Liars EP (2003) This is one of those CDs where you pop it in, press play, and within three seconds are thinking “Holy shit. Are they really going to do this?” Yup, they are. It’s a holy shit moment all right.
17. The Thermals: The Body, The Blood (2006) Pop-punk decrying religion and politics? Hells yes, please! Especially when sung by a Tobey Maguire-lookalike.
18. The Strokes/Is this it? (2001) Need I say more?
19. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell (2003)
That's it for this round. On to the next...
I've also been fretting because, as I described to Paul and Matty the other day, there are clearly three ways to do this.
(1) Critical Best. I'm not the greatest Radiohead fan out there and I'll certainly concede that Kid A might be the most artistically accomplished record of the 00s. But does that make the list? What about an album I like just fine, like the Streets' Original Pirate Material or Cat Power's You Are Free, but that in my heart of hearts I just wouldn't take with to a desert island?
(2) Personal Best. This is a tough category, too, because if there's one thing that I did most in the 2000s, it was listen to bands from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Seventies punk singles especially (is there anything sweeter than The Only Ones singing "Another Girl, Another Planet?" Modern Lovers singing "Road Runner?" or the Undertones "Teenage Kicks?") The Replacements, Pulp, and the Pixies are probably going to always be my top three. Those are the ones where I know all the words, and could even maybe possibly pick the artists out of a lineup. So it feels disingenuous to pick ten, twenty records that came out in the naughts, when in reality I spent an embarrassing chunk of that time pretending Paul Westerberg was my ne'er-do-well boyfriend singing angsty love songs to me after a hard day at work.
(3) Defining the Decade. Years from now, some aging hipster will seek to pay homage to his young adulthood. He'll produce a sweeping-yet-still-twee mockudock - think Forrest Gump meets Nine Songs - called "Bedford Ave" starring a Michael Cera-lookalike and Zoey Deschanel's daughter, let's call her Willis. Cera-boy lives in, oh, I don't know, Austin, or Portland, and Willis lives in Brooklyn. Their lives intersect in tragic and fragile ways. And the soundtrack will be more predictable than God. We'll buy "hits of the naughties" advertised on late night television, and try to explain to our kids what the deal was with the beards and banjos. We will never be forgiven for Joanna Newsom.
Clearly, the best solution is a mishmash of all three. So without further ado, here are twenty nineteen albums that defined the naughties for yours truly because I couldn’t stop listening to them.
1. Azure Ray/Azure Ray (2001) Sleepy dream-pop from two Southern gals. Like sitting on a porch in Georgia in sweltering August, sipping heavily spiked lemonade.
2. The Arcade Fire/ Funeral (2004) This is hands-down the most gorgeous, textured, evocative album I heard this decade. The summer of 2004 was the only time in my life I really drove long distances on a daily basis and this record was my companion. Still gives me chills when I see that “Where the Wild Things Are” trailer.
3. Bonde do Rolê /With Lasers (2007) Bratty Brazilian baile-funk, makes you want to quit your job and move to Rio. Portuguese is one of the most fascinating and listen-able languages out there, and when it’s dirty raps. Amazing live because then they can use the crazy illegal samples they love so much. “Solta o Frango” means “Release the chicken;” it’s Brazilianese for “Get crazy, bitches”
4. Desaparecidos/Read Music/Speak Spanish (2002) True: Bright Eyes is insufferable. Also true: this album is amazing, musically and lyrically. “The sort of howlingly tuneful Midwestern punk that disappeared with Hüsker Dü" (Entertainment Weekly) This is an album about becoming an adult in Bush’s America, feeling trapped by relationships and the suburbs and expectations. A real find, in other words, for my first few years out of college.
Favorite lyric: “I’m growing out my hair / like it was when I was single / it was longer than I’d known you / I had no money then, I had no worries then at all.”
Or how about: The man at the bank said ‘Let's not talk percentages. You work a fourteen hour day and still have two mortgages. You asked the state for aid and they gave you and ad campaign that didn't help.’ So you took your family and joined in the urban sprawl. Now you can't see that stars as well but you're near the mall.
5. Franz Ferdinand / Franz Ferdinand (2004) Of all the music in situation #3 (“Bedford Ave”) this is probably the cream of the crop.
6. Miss Kittin and the Hacker/First Album (2001) Listen to Miss Kittin and the Hacker’s new direction. Driving a car or three on three, Giving you a piece of life and Energy somewhere out in the universe.
7. Mountain Goats/The Sunset Tree (2005) From “No Children:” I hope that our few remaining friends/give up on trying to save us/I hope we come up with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few who forgave us.
8. Mum/Yesterday was dramatic, today was ok (2000) Best. Working. Music. Ever.
9. NOFX/War on Errorism (2003) Eerily prescient album about repressive government, financial meltdown, etc. When one makes twenty million, and ten thousand people lose, what keeps that one from swallowing a shotgun? Indeed.
10.Of Montreal/Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer (2007) Easily the best live show I’ve ever seen. They had some sort of papier mache lobster claw. I can’t explain it.
11. Postal Service/Give Up (2003) The only way I can still stomach Ben Gibbard is when his maudlin little voice is enveloped by sweet glitch techno. This was a good partnership.
12. Ratatat/Ratatat (2004) I think the most number of times I’ve listened to this album in a row is something like… 12.
13. The Shins/Chutes Too Narrow (2003) I’m not particularly attached to this one, but every time I hear it,
14. Sigur Rós/Ágætis byrjun (2001)
15. Sleater-Kinney/The Woods (2005) I had the extreme pleasure of seeing them on their tour for this record at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was obscenely great. They played Danzig’s “Mother” as an encore. No men like this album, because it takes rock and roll and makes it into this creepy deep female thing. Ladies, you know what I mean.
16. TV on the Radio/Young Liars EP (2003) This is one of those CDs where you pop it in, press play, and within three seconds are thinking “Holy shit. Are they really going to do this?” Yup, they are. It’s a holy shit moment all right.
17. The Thermals: The Body, The Blood (2006) Pop-punk decrying religion and politics? Hells yes, please! Especially when sung by a Tobey Maguire-lookalike.
18. The Strokes/Is this it? (2001) Need I say more?
19. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell (2003)
That's it for this round. On to the next...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Best of the Decade List: Paul Jackson
If I’ve ever been surly around the time of my listmaking--with the usual complaint, "It aint like it used to be"--now's the time to remember just how good it was. What a decade of music... Broken Social Scene and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; Doves and Dillinger Escape Plan; Mclusky and Menomena; Pete Yorn and Peter Bjorn and John; The Shins and Spoon; TV on the Radio and Thom Yorke; the Wrens and Wolf Parade. None of those artists are even on my Top 25 list, but they each made the decade a memorable one. Bjork remained Bjork; the Beastie Boys remained the Beastie Boys; Jay-Z remained Jay-Z; Radiohead remained Radiohead -- what other decade had so many great artists continuing great work into a second decade. And with no further ado, my 25 favorite records of the last ten years:
No. 1-5
1. Jay-Z and DJ Danger Mouse, "The Grey Album" [2004; hip hop mash-up]
2. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, "Source Tags and Codes" [2002; alt rock]
3. The Streets, "A Grand Don't Come for Free" [2004; Brit hop]
4. Kanye West, "The College Dropout" [2004; nerd hop]
5. The Moldy Peaches, "The Moldy Peaches" [2001; anti folk]
Nos. 6-10
6. The Strokes, "Is This It" [2001; NYC indie rock]
7. The Unicorns, "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone" [2003; indie pop]
8. Dandy Warhols, "Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia" [2000; country drone]
9. Gorillaz, "Gorillaz" [2001; cartoon pop]
10. System of a Down, "Toxicity" [2001; Armenian metal]
Breakdown: I can't abide with placing "Is This It" in the top five -- an extraordinary album that we all needed, but not quite a top 5 record. Much like Moldy Peaches, The Unicorns seemed to be a fun, ephemeral gimmick -- but amazingly, those albums stuck with me. The Dandy Warhol's 2000 album was the last great work from that severely underrated band; Gorillaz was Damon Albarn's most complete project of the decade; Toxicity's the only metal album I've ever truly loved.
No. 11-15
11 Radiohead, "Amnesiac" [2001; electronic joy]
12. KaitO, "Montigola Underground" [2002; power pop]
13. Andrew WK, "I Get Wet" [2001; American rock]
14. Daft Punk, "Discovery" [2001; French synth pop]
15. The White Stripes, "White Blood Cells" [2001; garage blues]
Best of the Rest:
Idlewild, "100 Broken Windows" [2000]
Fugazi, "The Argument" [2001]
No. 1-5
1. Jay-Z and DJ Danger Mouse, "The Grey Album" [2004; hip hop mash-up]
2. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, "Source Tags and Codes" [2002; alt rock]
3. The Streets, "A Grand Don't Come for Free" [2004; Brit hop]
4. Kanye West, "The College Dropout" [2004; nerd hop]
5. The Moldy Peaches, "The Moldy Peaches" [2001; anti folk]
Breakdown: Danger Mouse established the mash-up as a legitimate art form with the Grey Album, and it's still the greatest of them all--taking Jay-Z's best lyrical performance of the decade and pairing it with the White album, it's the record I listen to the most year in and year out. I consider "Source Tags and Codes" the finest alt-rock album ever made--taking all the lessons of those late 80s/early 90s bands and making one perfect mess out of it. The other three -- well, they succinctly sum up my taste this decade.
Nos. 6-10
6. The Strokes, "Is This It" [2001; NYC indie rock]
7. The Unicorns, "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone" [2003; indie pop]
8. Dandy Warhols, "Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia" [2000; country drone]
9. Gorillaz, "Gorillaz" [2001; cartoon pop]
10. System of a Down, "Toxicity" [2001; Armenian metal]
Breakdown: I can't abide with placing "Is This It" in the top five -- an extraordinary album that we all needed, but not quite a top 5 record. Much like Moldy Peaches, The Unicorns seemed to be a fun, ephemeral gimmick -- but amazingly, those albums stuck with me. The Dandy Warhol's 2000 album was the last great work from that severely underrated band; Gorillaz was Damon Albarn's most complete project of the decade; Toxicity's the only metal album I've ever truly loved.
No. 11-15
11 Radiohead, "Amnesiac" [2001; electronic joy]
12. KaitO, "Montigola Underground" [2002; power pop]
13. Andrew WK, "I Get Wet" [2001; American rock]
14. Daft Punk, "Discovery" [2001; French synth pop]
15. The White Stripes, "White Blood Cells" [2001; garage blues]
Breakdown: Was all of the best music of this decade made between 2001 and 2004? I'd give it a resounding yes. Amnesiac I liked slightly more than Kid A and In Rainbows, but all could have been on this list. KaitO is the only "unkown" band on this list, but their 2002 EP was a classic; Andrew WK, Daft Punk, and the White Stripes nicely represent the diversity of music this decade -- none of them could have existed in the 1990s, which says something.
Nos. 16-20
16. Modest Mouse, "The Moon and Antarctica" [2000; indie rock]
17. Beastie Boys, "To the 5 Boroughs" [2004; old school hip hop]
18. MIA, "Kala" [2007; international dance pop]
19. The Rapture, "Echoes" [2003; indie dance rock]
20. Interpol, "Turn on the Bright Lights" [2002; indie rock]
Nos. 16-20
16. Modest Mouse, "The Moon and Antarctica" [2000; indie rock]
17. Beastie Boys, "To the 5 Boroughs" [2004; old school hip hop]
18. MIA, "Kala" [2007; international dance pop]
19. The Rapture, "Echoes" [2003; indie dance rock]
20. Interpol, "Turn on the Bright Lights" [2002; indie rock]
Nos. 21-25
21. Blur, "Think Tank" [2003; post Brit pop]
22. The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, "S/T" [2007; Brit soul]
23. Clinic, "Walking With Thee" [2002; post Brit pop]
24. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Fever to Tell" [2003; indie rock]
25. The Blood Brothers, "Crimes" [2004; thrash]
21. Blur, "Think Tank" [2003; post Brit pop]
22. The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, "S/T" [2007; Brit soul]
23. Clinic, "Walking With Thee" [2002; post Brit pop]
24. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Fever to Tell" [2003; indie rock]
25. The Blood Brothers, "Crimes" [2004; thrash]
Best of the Rest:
Idlewild, "100 Broken Windows" [2000]
Fugazi, "The Argument" [2001]
Pulp, "We Love Life" [2001]
The Shins, "Oh Inverted World" [2001]
Coldplay, "A Rush of Blood to the Head" [2002]
The Hives, "Veni Vidi Vicious" [2002]
Queens of the Stone Age, "Songs for the Deaf" [2002]
Polyphonic Spree, "Beginning Stages of" [2002]
Postal Service, "Give Up" [2003]
Tv on the Radio, "Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes" [2004]
Futureheads, "S/t" [2004]
Air, "Talkie Walkie" [2004]
Franz Ferdinand, "S/t" [2004]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "S/t" [2005]
Wolf Parade, "Apologies to the Queen Mary" [2005]
Belle and Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit" [2006]
Lily Allen, "Alright, Still" [2006]
Spoon, "Ga ga ga ga ga" [2007]
Lil Wayne, "Tha Carter 3" [2008]
Jay-Z, "The Blueprint 3" [2009]
Locations of Top 25 Albums:
New York City / Brooklyn - 8
England - 8
Seattle, WA - 2
Portland, OR - 1
Austin, TX -1
Chicago - 1
Detroit - 1
Glendale, CA - 1
Montreal - 1
France - 1
Years of Top 25 Albums:
2000 - 2
2001- 8
2002 - 4
2003 - 4
2004 - 5
2007 - 2
Favorite tracks, in alphabetical order from other artists: Arctic Monkeys,"A Certain Romance,” Avalanches “Frontier Psychiatrist," Battles “Atlas," Beyonce "Single Ladies," Goldfrapp "Ooh La La," Groove Armada, "I See You Baby," Lady Gaga "Paparazzi," Killers "All These Things That I've Done," Missy Elliott "Work It," Of Montreal, "Bunny Aint No Kind of Rider," Thom Yorke "Black Swan," Ting Tings "Great DJ," The Vines "Get Free," Von Bondies "Cmon Cmon," Wilco “Handshake Drugs”
Best producer of decade – Kanye West
Best musician of the decade -- Damon Albarn (three appearances on my top 25!)
Best reunion of the decade - The Pixies
Worst reunion of the decade -- Weezer
Best technology of the decade - iPod
Best musical year of the decade - 2001
Favorite tracks, in alphabetical order from other artists: Arctic Monkeys,"A Certain Romance,” Avalanches “Frontier Psychiatrist," Battles “Atlas," Beyonce "Single Ladies," Goldfrapp "Ooh La La," Groove Armada, "I See You Baby," Lady Gaga "Paparazzi," Killers "All These Things That I've Done," Missy Elliott "Work It," Of Montreal, "Bunny Aint No Kind of Rider," Thom Yorke "Black Swan," Ting Tings "Great DJ," The Vines "Get Free," Von Bondies "Cmon Cmon," Wilco “Handshake Drugs”
Best producer of decade – Kanye West
Best musician of the decade -- Damon Albarn (three appearances on my top 25!)
Best reunion of the decade - The Pixies
Worst reunion of the decade -- Weezer
Best technology of the decade - iPod
Best musical year of the decade - 2001
Best musical city of the decade - Brooklyn, NY (sorry Seattle)
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