Music Feature: Top 10 Albums of the 2000s
Everything is better with some perspective. When I started my tenure as Music Editor for The Weekly Geek, it was 2006. Bird flu was still the most feared contagion, I had a steady job with a mortgage company (you can guess what happened to that in 2007), and Google had just purchased YouTube. Now we're nearing the close of the decade and I'm happy to say that many of my favorite picks are from the first half of it; namely, things I haven't had the chance to cover since coming on board here.
Much has happened in the audio realm and I'd like to culminate it with my Top 10 Albums of the 2000s.
I've tried to be judicious, definitive, and for the sake of my own sanity, not second guess myself (still, I'd have to expand the list to 25 to fit all my "honorable mentions"). And obviously, it wouldn't be fun if all these spots weren't up for vehement debate and thus, I welcome it.
List your choices, tear mine apart - take your pick. But make no mistake: the imprint this decade's music will leave on the world is rich and storied, undeniable in its merit and gravity.
Hit the jump for the full list!
10) Sigur Rós - ( ) (2002)
Of the albums you'll see on this list, none are more reliant on your perception and patience than ( ). If you'll let it, this masterpiece of reverberating guitars, glorious string quartets, cymbal washes, and singer Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto gibberish will take you to another dimension; where all your worries and dreams are irrelevant and all that exists are these eight untitled songs. Maybe it's fitting that this album is titled with parenthetical symbols. They represent a responsibility of the listener - to fill the album in with their own understanding, and to assign it an individual meaning.
9) Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (2006)
Historically, it's taken women to push the envelope in the country genre: Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette. In the spirit of these fine dames, chanteuse Neko Case brought a certain fire to her alt-country efforts. Unlike her predecessors, whose lyrics were merely skin-deep, Case brought years of rock involvement and a more cryptic brand of authoring to the game. Fox Confessor is home to a series of fairy tales brought to life with assistance from dusty, Southwestern stalwarts Calexico in one of the most exhilaratingly gorgeous productions of this decade, or any other for that matter.
8) Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003)
At the apex of his popularity, Jay-Z shocked everyone and put a figurative end to it all. The Black Album would be officially his last. Growing up without a father, he was a self-made man of the streets; a hustler who just happened upon a rap career. For all we knew, he was dead serious. And to his credit, the rhymes he brings on this album are intense, unapologetic - he really sounded like he was pouring every ounce of effort. He draws most obviously from the late Biggie Smalls, who was cut down in his prime. But Jay didn't face the same violence that enveloped Notorious B.I.G. in the 90s. He'd go on to become a hip-hop mogul, and recently, to release more records of his own, but listening to this album only begs the question: If he had hung it up with Black Album, would it be the best rap record of all time? It's certainly arguable.
7) Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (2005)
The soft-spoken, reserved Stevens, after the issuing of his album Michigan, made what might be the most hyperbolic statement of the decade in music: he would systematically make a concept LP based on every state in the union. True to his promise, he set out to tackle another Midwestern state. On Illinoise, he pulled out all the stops. Lush strings, boisterous horns, huge pianos, and glorious harmonies regale us a wide range of tales covering everything from serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. to Lincoln, The Great Emancipator. It served as the perfect emotional epicenter for the decade. So much so that if he bucked the trend and never made another LP about a state, he would've made good on the grandness of his commitment with this record alone.
6) Björk - Vespertine (2001)
Iceland's prolific princess was finally free of her creative restraints. On past records, she'd been captive to her (albeit capable) production help and Vespertine was a chance to assert herself not only as an astonishing singer, but as the complete package - a true composer. She went to work with her laptop and an open mind and came away with a counterpoint to the warmth of Homogenic. Featuring samples of footsteps in snow, a shuffled deck of cards, and cracking ice, the stark, twinkling landscapes of Vespertine were the most fitting backdrops for her stunning artistry.
5) Johnny Cash - American IV (2002)
The Man in Black was already a legend. He didn't have to release anything else to prove it. But he just wasn't done singing yet. With the aid of Rick Rubin on the boards, the American sessions were fragile and poignant. Cash showed us all how a brave man meets his death. With a calm, low rumble of a voice that could send shivers up any spine, Johnny went down in classic form, re-tooling the songs of others to do so. In spite of poorly-executed guest appearances (Don Henley, Fiona Apple) and his own failing health, Cash's light burned out bright with yet another brilliant gleam of relevance.
4) Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)
If Jay-Z's was king in a decade of derivative hip-hop, MF Doom was its tyrannical dictator. This didn't become apparent until he merged with the jazz samples and found-sound genius of producer Madlib. Madvillainy was born and it shook up the rap landscape from the underground, much in the same way Enter the Wu-Tang did in the 90s; maybe even more so given the commercial glaze coating most of the genre's offerings at the time.
3) Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)
From the now iconic L.A. wall on the cover, to the bittersweet melodies within, Figure 8 was Elliott Smith's Abbey Road. The last release while he still lived (Smith died of an apparent suicide in 2003), his songwriting brought to the table all the trademark talents of his mop-topped idols: Lennon's heart-on-his-sleeve lyricism, McCartney's instantly familiar harmonies, and Harrison's lilting vocal delivery - all this from a single person, with his own joys to exude and his own demons to exorcise. And although every listen is painful in retrospect, the classic tunes on this record keep us returning time and time again.
2) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
An experimental roots-rock record made completely on their own terms and in the midst of tumultuous in-fighting between frontman Jeff Tweedy and his now deceased co-writer Jay Bennett, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and its coupled documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart were utterly unique. An off-putting lack of immediacy, yet a magnetic intimacy in the subject matter were the calling-cards of this record. It was so beautifully odd and unmarketable that major label Reprise financed its creation, shit-canned it on first listen, and then paid again to release it on a subsidiary - truly a remarkable accomplishment.
1) Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
We couldn't see it coming, especially from a group so framed in the esteem of multi-Grammy-winning, multi-platinum OK Computer, but Kid A confused and alienated listeners and critics alike who expected a "safe" release from London's Brit-pop darlings. It ushered in 10 years of uncertainty with a wash of electronics, stark synthesized ambience, and angry guitar outbursts. Almost prophetic - it was the lone dark thunderhead on the otherwise sunny horizon - the fear of terrorism, the new Iraq war, and the global economic meltdown were captured in feelings here before they ever occurred. Radiohead blasted a musical warning shot out to a generation.
Agree? Disagree? Have your say in the comments! And as always, you can purchase the albums seen here from the Amazon MP3 Store.
