KEXP is asking listeners to vote for their favorite albums of the 00s. So, of course I participated, but the minute I started scanning the list, and realizing that I could only choose 5, my brain just started laughing at itself! Only 5 for 10 years of great music? And even if I could magically come up with 5 records, how could I ever possibly rank those 5.
Well, as a response to the KEXP list, and as a cathartic exercise, I present to you, my top 50 albums of 2000-2009, in ranked by “blew me away” factor combined with overall staying power and top-to-bottom strength. There are many other songs, or tracks, or downloads as they say, that I love, but we are looking at entire albums here. The only rule being, only one album per artist.
I’m sure in another ten years, if I go back and rank these same albums, the list will look very different. Hell it would look different tomorrow, but this is all just in good fun, so here you go
1. The Wrens The Meadowlands - Still blows me away.
2. Sigur Ros () - Still their best, most affecting work, listening to this album is truly a gorgeous experience
3. Carissa’s Wierd I before e - I'm cheating here, in a sense, since this is a live album, but it's so darkly lovely, so full of pain and beauty, and such wonderful, simple elegant and surprising songs
4. Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards - my favorite rock album of the decade
5. Rainer Maria Long Knives Drawn - my second favorite rock album of the decade
6. Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of a Great Highway - I never get tired of this album
7. Interpol Antics - Turn off the Bright lights almost beat out Antics, but basically they are both amazing
8. Radiohead Hail to the Thief - the most influencial band of the last 15 years.
9. Nada Surf Let Go - Fruit Fly is one of my all-time favorite songs...a great pop rock album
10. Devotchka How It Ends - suffered from being overplayed but still fantastic music
11. Modest Mouse The Moon and Antartica - the last great Mouse album
12. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead Sources, Tags & Codes
13. Danger Doom The Mouse and the Mask
14. Mclusky Mclusky do Dallas - My love is better than your love we take more drugs than a touring Funk band, SING IT!
15. The Walkman Bows + Arrows
16. Sonic Youth Murray Street
17. Explosions in the Sky The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
18. Mates of State Our Constant Concern
19. LCD Sound System Sound of Silver - "Someone Great" top 5 songs of the decade
20. Deltron 3030 - I nearly forgot this came out in the 00s!
21. Spoon Girls Can Tell
22. The Postal Service Give Up
23. Stars Heart
24. The Doves The Last Broadcast - probably i'd rank it higher in the list if i felt like editing this thing more
25. Bjork Vespertine -
26. The New Pornographers Electric Version
27. Mogwai Happy Songs for Happy People
28. 764-HERO Weekends of Sound - how did i not know about this band when they were actually still a band? Unsung heros of PNW rock
29. At The Drive-in Relationship of command - one armed scissor
30. Sleater-Kinney All Hands on the Bad One
31. Silver Jews Bright Flight - fucking brilliant
32. M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
33. The Dirty Three Whatever You love, You Are
34. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
35. Beck Sea Change
36. The Streets a grand don’t come for free - This is one of the most underrated hip-hop albums ever, but maybe that's because its not really a hip-hop album but something else entirely. I love it.
37. PJ Harvey Songs from the City, Songs From the Sea
38. Sufjan Stevens Illinois - Oh, Sufjan, will the hipsters ever let you back into the cool club?
39. Busdriver Roadkillovercoat - what did he just say??
40. Ghostland Observatory paparazzi Lightening - beloved by many but now in danger of being forgotten about, can they ever get the energy back of their first two albums?
41. The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
42. Mark Lanegan Field Songs
43. Red House Painters Old Ramon
44. Death Cab For Cutie We Have the Facts and We are Voting Yes
45. Dan Deacon Bromst
46. Ulirch Schnauss A Strangely Isolate Place
47. Tapes ‘n Tapes The Loon
48. The Rosebuds Birds Make Good Neighbors - all their records are equally sweet and nice
49. Aloha Some Echos - probably the band you have not heard of on this list. You should.
50. TV On The Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - the first 6 songs of this album are the best thing that band has ever done
50.5 (Tie) Astronautalis Pomegranate, Shenandoah Davis We Camera, Huma We Are Here For You
