Ah, the 2000’s. The 00’s. The ‘Aughties’ or ‘Noughties’ if you will. It was a big decade for anyone who lived through it. We’ve seen the inaugurations of two new presidents, endured two of the worst national tragedies of our recent history, and watched the internet and digital technology literally take over our daily lives, for better and for worse. There was also a lot of great music, both in single and album form. Given the emergence of the MP3, iEverything, and services from Napster to Pandora to Lala over the years, it could be seen as miraculous that the album as an art form holds any continued relevance at all these days. That it continues to thrive both artistically and even commericially is both a testament to the times and to the continued (even enhanced) quality of such albums. Of course it helped that we we had so many great online music publications crop up during that time to sing their praises (not going to name names). So, on the last eve of this fine decade and after months of hard work and debate, we bring you MXDWN’s Favorite 100 Albums of the Decade to sing those praises one last time before moving on to the 10’s (Teens?). Have a look at what moved and motivated us to write about music over the years and keep checking back as individual writers chime in on their personal faves. Happy New Year!
100. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
99. M.I.A./Diplo – Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1
Overlooked as a high point in the decade’s mixtape culture (as reconfigured for P2P-savvy music fans) and definitely overlooked as a building block of the mash-up fad. Some argue Philly DJ Diplo’s savvy set featuring tracks from the Sri Lankan dance diva is actually better than her proper debut Arular. – Adam Blyweiss
98. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
97. Gorillaz – Demon Days
Content to leave the glory days of Blur behind in favor of indie all-star collaborations, Damon Albarn’s second go-round with his virtual band dials up the bright, brash pop content. – Adam Blyweiss
96. Battles – Mirrored
95. Grizzly Bear – Yellow House
94. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova – Once
93. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
92. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
91. The New Pornographers – Mass Romantic
90. Burial – Untrue
This DJ’s second album is a throbbing riddle wrapped in an enigma. Not only is the DJ himself a recluse, but the dance music genre that Untrue defines—dubstep—seems to morph and mutate with each passing day, the grooviest virus in the world. – Adam Blyweiss
89. The Killers – Hot Fuss
False majesty and forced theatrics are part of Las Vegas’ DNA. It therefore comes as no surprise that a band from there makes them seem like not quite the mirages they are, at least before the likes of Muse and Kings of Leon follow up quickly behind them, ready to explode with equal (and derivative) force. – Adam Blyweiss
88. Beck – The Information
87. The Decemberists – Hazards of Love
Hazards is a rare example of when the heart and courage behind making a record is as equally compelling as the music. And after 59 roller coaster minutes of go-for-broke, full-blown rock opera, not only are we applauding but we’re ravenous for an encore. – Ryan Lewis
86. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele
85. Santigold – Santigold
The once and future Philadelphia fly girl knits her ska-rock roots and neo-soul writing chops together with the kind of worldly hip-hop producers that first put M.I.A. over. – Adam Blyweiss
84. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
Animal Collective’s de facto leader digs out a Beach Boys jones from deep underneath the jagged crust and mantle of his band’s world. – Adam Blyweiss
83. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
82. Deerhunter – Microcastle
Equal parts claustrophobia (the music) and catharsis (the lyrics), Bradford Cox’s peak effort to date opens a Pandora’s Box of haunted feelings and memories within the hazy realm of lo-fi psych-pop. We can never tell whether he wishes to confront or escape them. We’re just greatful that we can listen and not have to do either. – Robert Huff
81. Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
After the youthful gurgles and giggles on Music Has the Right to Children, Scotland’s Sandison brothers turn their warped ambient soundtracks a little older and wiser, and therefore a little scarier. – Adam Blyweiss
80. Sufjan Stevens – Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State
79. Peter, Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
78. Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
77. Feist – The Reminder
76. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
75. The Shins – Oh, Inverted World!
74. M.I.A. – Arular
73. TV on the Radio – Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
72. J. Dilla – Donuts
71. Boris – Pink
70. Madvillain – Madvillainy
69. Antony & the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now
68. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
67. Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
66. DJ Shadow – Private Press
65. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
One of the decade’s most fascinating (and at times, frustrating) acts continues their upward mobility with what will doubtless be considered by many to be the exclamation point on the decade’s musical mythology. With its timeless Beach Boy-baiting harmonies, lovingly vague lyrics, and iridescent washes of synthesized psychedelics, Merriweather Post Pavilion feel less like the future of what music will be and more like the dream of what it all should be. – Robert Huff
64. Björk – Vespertine
The Scandanavian siren’s last truly great artistic achievement found her retreating inward for inspiration after the extroverted fury of the still extraordinary Homogenic. You practically have to crawl inside the songs to hear them with their hushed vocals and beats derived from laptops, cereal and playing cards (Thanks Matmos!), but damn if you don’t want to stay there once you do. – Robert Huff
63. Justice – Cross
62. Sigur Rós – ( )
61. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell
60. Prefuse 73 – Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives
59. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
58. The Roots – Game Theory
57. The Knife – Silent Shout
The title says it all. The crowning achievement from one of the decade’s most thrilling electronic acts makes such a stealthy impact on both its genre and music at large that it’s hard to notice it until one has made it through its remarkably cohesive entirety, and then circled back to listen to again. And again. Though everyone loved the singles (the M.I.A. through the looking glass of “We Share Our Mother’s Health,” the haunted Björkian beauty of “Marble House”), there’s no escaping the feeling conjured by the album as a whole: a unique blend of seduction and menace, of mystery and enchantment that few will understand but all will appreciate. – Robert Huff
56. Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun
55. Basement Jaxx – Rooty
54. The Rapture – Echoes
53. Tool – Lateralus
52. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
51. Johnny Cash – American V: A Hundred Highways
50. Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
49. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
48. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
47. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
46. The Roots – Phrenology
45. Gorillaz – Gorillaz
44. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
43. Green Day – American Idiot
42. The Decemberists – Picaresque
41. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
40. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
39. Kanye West – Graduation
38. Hot Chip – The Warning
37. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
36. The Strokes – Is This It?
35. Danger Mouse – Grey Album
34. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
33. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
32. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
31. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
30. A Place to Bury Strangers – A Place to Bury Strangers
29. The Avalanches – Since I Left You
28. Beck – Sea Change
27. Jay-Z – The Black Album
26. Justin Timberlake – FutureSexxx/LoveSounds
25. Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights
24. Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News
23. The Postal Service – Give Up
22. Kanye West – College Dropout
21. Daft Punk – Discovery
20. Brian Wilson – Smile
An album with a story so deep an unaware fan should consult their favorite search engine and do some research. An album originally conceived in the middle of unaware artistic competition between Brian Wilson and The Beatles, Smile was shelved for over thirty years after the emotional breakdown of Wilson. Picking the project back up as a solo project (and with original lyricist Van Dyke Parks), it’s uncertain whether it may have topped Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but it is a stellar piece of work to be sure. “Heroes and Villians,” “Cabin Essence” and of course, the masterpiece “Good Vibrations” are breathtaking in their complexity and grace. – Raymond Flotat
19. Kanye West – Late Registration
Never one to shy away from tinkering with his own sound, Kanye West’s second album Late Registration veered away from the rapper/producer’s signature sped-up soul samples and focused on a more lush orchestration with help of veteran producer Jon Brion. The result is an enrapturing sophomore outing filled with West’s scathing indictments of rap music in general and himself. West brings club-banging fury through on “Gold Digger,” heart-warming tribute to his mother “Hey Mama” and a brazen futuristic sound so adventurous it makes “We Major” unforgettable. “Heard ‘Em Say” even manages to make Adam Levine of Maroon 5 sound soulful and cool. For all his boasting, Kanye West made a hip-hop record where he firmly put his money where his mouth was. – Raymond Flotat
18. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem was a rapper as scary as he was catchy. In the early part of the 2000’s there was a point where his music was seemingly everywhere. He would at one point captivate some with his playful lyrical flow (“The Real Slim Shady”) and at another terrify those already hesitant of hip-hop (“Kim”). But for all the excessive coverage, The Marshall Mathers LP delivered in abundance. Almost like a car-wreck, it was near impossible to not be captivated and at least entertained. Eminem wore the crown with ease, and tracks like “Stan” and “The Way I Am” were undeniable even if the man and his motives were. – Raymond Flotat
17. TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
To quote Stephen Colbert, one can’t be sure why anyone would want to leave Cookie Mountain in the first place. All that matters is that TV on the Radio came back, as the Mountain proved to house their biggest and bravest music yet. Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone sing of love learned and lost in the night over Dave Sitek’s unnerving guitar squalor and feedback, enveloping the listener just as impenetrable clouds would surround their titular summit. Like the best baked goods, the results pack just as many hard nuts as sweet morsels. – Robert Huff
16. Coldplay – Parachutes
With apologies to Travis, who formed the template for earnest and sensitive cute-boy rock (bordering on the overbearing) late in the 1990s, Chris Martin and company got things so very right early in their career with a little restraint and an occasional falsetto. – Adam Blyweiss
15. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
The latest and nearly greatest link in the increasingly unbreakable DFA Records chain finds a trio of Australian upstarts doing New Order better than New Order have done New Order since Technique. In fact, In Ghost Colours reveals a new order of dance music altogether in its elegant simplicity, validating and eclipsing most of its indie dance predecessors with shimmering pop songs for all seasons that withstand not only the test of time, but the endless battalion of remixes that comes with them. – Robert Huff
14. Outkast – Stankonia
At the time of its release, there wasn’t anything out quite like Stankonia. Ten years removed, there still isn’t, really. Outkast’s last truly great album – and effectively their last altogether before Andre 3000 and Big Boi began pursuing their separate muses on and off record – gets unfairly pigeonholed as mere hip-hop. It actually transcends genre, both melding and combating elements of rap, soul, r&b, rock and electronica in a way that few artists did before and even fewer have done well since. Spawning no less than three modern radio classics (all of which can be found in MXDWN’s Songs of the Decade) and a frequent go-to source for both late-night parties and drives home everywhere, Stankonia remains both of and ahead of its time. – Robert Huff
13. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
Deceptively titled, Mr. H.O.V.A.’s epic apex is no mere sketch. It’s a hard-earned culmination and execution of the rapper’s formerly sporadic brilliance beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Dismissing Jay-Z’s subpar competitors and eschewing almost all outside collaborators, every song, every rhyme is like a mission statement. Suspicion of arrogance aside, he truly was “runnin’ this rap sh*t” at the time, and with little to no output from other artists to match, let alone surpass this career highlight, he still is. – Robert Huff
12. TV on the Radio – Dear Science,
For the modern crop of indie rock, few bands have managed to effectively punch through the barrier between over-inflated hype and qualified success. For every twenty Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, there has only been about one group as exceptional as TV on the Radio. Heralded as auspicious as early as their first official recordings, the band’s final album of the 00’s, Dear Science, was also their strongest. Polishing their art rock flourishes and tempering the output with funk and deeply meditative soul, the band led by Dave Sitek, Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe showed here why alternative music could be a revelation. Tracks like “Golden Age” and “Love Dog” received much attention, but the opening number “Halfway Home” is all the argument needed. Jam-packed with precision genre-hopping, it’s a visionary execution of all that indie music could and should be. – Raymond Flotat
11. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Alternating jagged drums and blazing drums with airy, ambient ruminations on modern love and politics, Bloc Party led 2005’s charge of bands influenced by the post-punk and late New Wave movements. – Adam Blyweiss
10. Portishead – Third
This was the decade’s comeback story that no one expected. More to the point, it was the return that no one realized they needed until it was upon them. Ditching the now-dated trappings of trip-hop in favor of menacing industrial clamor (“Machine Gun”) and mesmerizing psychedelic glamour (“The Rip”), the trio of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley crafted what is arguably their best and most timeless effort yet, one that leaves everyone counting the days (long and numerous as they may yet again be) until Fourth. – Robert Huff
9. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
In what would turn out to be the final entry in his notoriously ambitious 50 states musical project, one of the decade’s finest singer/songwriters crafted a sprawling magnum opus that paid epically intimate tribute to one locale yet held universal appeal that could make anyone anywhere feel at home. Signature track “Chicago” has it right with its assertion that “all things go,” but it and the rest of Illinoise’s magnificent tales of civic pride ensure that we always want to come back and visit. – Robert Huff
8. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
The crown prince of New York’s indie-dance scene surveys his domain, six-plus years past when others established it, and laments a loss of personal contact with his subjects. Ironically, he manages to reconnect with them in the process with simultaneously elegiac and euphoric instant classics that proved that the best dance beats and songwriting only get better with age. – Adam Blyweiss
7. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
After years penning exceptional music, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy finally burst through and captured the public’s attention on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The album famously served as proof of concept for the idea of streaming an album for free prior to release years before it became run-of-the-mill marketing approach by the music industry at large. After being dropped by Warner Music’s Reprise after turning Foxtrot in, the streaming stunt got them quickly re-signed to another Warner imprint Nonesuch. And it was for good reason, as the band’s sound had evolved into a brilliant combination of American music styles, effortlessly including the searing sounds of psychedelia at some moments and the subdued grace of folk in others. – Raymond Flotat
6. M.I.A. – Kala
Quite possibly the decade’s finest study in contrasts: Sri Lankan blood, English heart. Hip-hop and electro beats, world music and tribal messages. Agit-pop and agit-prop, irritating and floor-filling. Above all, an impossible improvement on her debut Arular that pulled sounds from all over the world (and pop-culture lexicon), yet belonged to none but M.I.A.’s own. – Adam Blyweiss
5. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
With the follow-up to their acclaimed ’99 release The Soft Bulletin, The Flaming Lips sought to tell us all that life is short, so there’s no point in being anything but ourselves with each other. Thus, of all of their great albums (and there are a lot), Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots sounds like the one where the Lips are most comfortable, both with their craft and with themselves. This is the record where their freak flag flies highest and proudest, over a swirling mélange of acoustic guitars and chirping synthesizers. The Flaming Lips showed us all with this one that life is a quick but often fulfilling journey filled with wonder, whimsy, and maniacal robots that need to be defeated. Seriously. – Robert Huff
4. Radiohead – In Rainbows
Following albums as strong as Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief might have been impossible for an average band, but Radiohead proved with their seventh album In Rainbows that they were only becoming more accomplished with age. In Rainbows is the five-piece’s leanest outing to date as well. The album is without excessive balladry, over emoted histrionics or ham-fisted wannabe techno. It is a precision outing from the best band alternative music has ever known. Although “All I Need,” “15 Step,” “Videotape” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” could easily rate amongst the best songs in the band’s entire catalog, In Rainbows will always be remembered as the album that almost single-handedly turned the concept of selling physical products of recorded music on its ass. Employing a concept commonly referred to as the “tip jar,” fans could literally name any price they wanted for the piece. Widespread change was soon to follow, and In Rainbows both economically and artistically cemented Radiohead as the pace car for the entire industry. – Raymond Flotat
3. The White Stripes – Elephant
White Blood Cells may have put Jack and Meg on the map, but the twisted blues stomps here—from the compact, thumping pop of “Seven Nation Army” to the epic, snarling “Ball and Biscuit”—made the world theirs. – Adam Blyweiss
2. Radiohead – Kid A
Even in the wake of so many excellent albums that followed it over the years, Kid A still feels unique. After all, it was the first release of what would turn out to be another creatively, critically, and commercially vibrant decade for Radiohead. During this time, their former mission statement of “OK Computer” finally transformed from a concession to a command. That sentiment, and the album’s alternately haunting and hypnotic programmed beats and keyboard textures that back it up, arguably holds even more resonance ten years later in a world where music in physical form has all but died out and people type their feelings rather than pick up a phone. However, whereas the album was surrounded by a feeling of dread and unease with technology upon initial release, now songs like the alien beacon of “Everything in it’s Right Place,” the muted bliss of “How to Disappear Completely” and the frantic pulse of “Idioteque” feel as warm and inviting as the glow of a laptop or the beep of a text. Yes, as the new digital age matured, so did this album and our appreciation for it, and it will no doubt continue in next decade as our cars start to fly and we all start instant messaging with our minds. – Robert Huff
1. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
A crackle of distortion and overdriven feedback begins this modern classic. The mainstream breakthrough for indie darlings The White Stripes, White Blood Cells punches through the feedback with the aggro-blues takedown of “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and drops one amazing track after another all the way until “Now Mary.” At the time, all were focused on the peppermint presentation or whether they were actually sisters or a married couple, but the real proof was in the adventurous and lightweight songwriting. Lead singer/guitarist Jack White at one point makes liberal use of phrases from Citizen Kane (“The Union Forever”) and then in another thrashes with punk abandon (“Fell in Love With A Girl”). After all the hype, deep listens to this album reveal many unbelievable gems. “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known,” “We’re Going to be Friends,” “Hotel Yorba” and “I’m Finding it Harder to be a Gentlemen” are all instant classics. It’s no surprise that Jack White is now a full-blown cottage industry, three bands strong and a beacon of rock and roll purism. – Raymond Flotat
Leave a Comment