THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE OO'S

Before we get into the list proper, a word about how I determined the order of the twenty albums below. In order to be as scientific as possible, I compiled three separate lists. For the first list, I determined the average number of plays per song on each album (since iTunes keeps track of the play count and I only ever listen to music on iPods, this was as simple as adding up the total number of plays per album and dividing it by the number of tracks). For the second list, I determined the overall rating of each album (adding together the number of stars (out of five) I’d given each track and dividing that by the total number of possible stars (the number of tracks times five)). The third list was simply a ranking of where I thought the albums would place if I was being unscientific.

I then took these three lists and averaged out the albums’ placement on all three to arrive at a final score. I arranged the albums according to that final score (with certain allowances for the fact that I didn’t have iTunes (and hence the ability to keep track of play counts) until late 2003) to arrive at the final list of the twenty best albums of the 2000s.

Why go to all that trouble? Well, without taking into account factors like the total number of plays per album, it would be easy to convince myself that albums I admired more than liked should place higher, that, say, Fennesz’s Endless Summer should place higher than The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow. But by being as scientific as possible, I was able to (hopefully) eliminate any bias I might have had.

All right, then, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, on to the list.

20. sound of silver – LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

Considering that it contains two absolute juggernaut tracks that easily rank among the decade’s best (‘someone great’ and ‘all my friends’), it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed that the album isn’t stronger overall. I find myself returning regularly only to four of Sound of Silver’s nine tracks (the other two being ‘north american scum’ and ‘get innocuous’). But I choose to see that more as a glass half full situation. Those four tracks are so good that had the album contained only those four, I’d still have been satisfied. With LCD Soundsystem and his record label (DFA), James Murphy has created what just may come to be the defining sound of the 00’s. He took the electronic dance music of the 70’s and 80’s and combined it with the disaffected indie rock pose of the late 90’s, creating a signature sound that captured in one place what the multi-faceted indie music scene most sounded like in the 00’s.

19. now here is nowhere – THE SECRET MACHINES
A lot of reviews of The Secret Machines’ debut pegged it as being some sort of modern take on prog rock. That description is only apt in terms of how massive the album sounds. Now Here is Nowhere features the epic sonic assault usually associated with that much maligned genre but none of the attendant concept album nonsense and fifteen minute jams that turned it into a joke. If this is prog rock, it’s prog rock distilled to its essence and all the better for it.

18. ratatat – RATATAT
The relative disappointments of Ratatat’s second and third albums have made it hard to remember just how bracing and fresh their debut sounded when it was first released. Revisiting it now, however, it still sounds as vital and fun as it did six years ago. Songs like ‘el pico,’ ‘breaking away’ and ‘seventeen years’ are so lively the band couldn’t resist coming right out and saying so in spoken word intros and outros. This is pure aural candy, a sonic sugar rush. And as Ratatat’s subsequent albums proved, though it seems like a simple enough formula to replicate, it’s never easy to make a record that sounds this effortless.

17. are you nervous? – ROCK KILLS KID
Remember when major labels used to make and promote good, straightforward rock music? Remember when that sort of music used to have a shot at getting played on the radio and actually selling? Rock Kills Kid’s sophomore album sounds as it came from an alternate dimension in which that sort of thing still happens. Are You Nervous? is just straight-up, solid, well-recorded and produced rock music. It’s a shame that such a thing is a rarity these days, but as long as albums as good as this one still get made, I guess I can live with the current state of popular music.

16. give up – THE POSTAL SERVICE
The album that launched a thousand commercials and indie film soundtracks (and a WTF lawsuit from the actual Postal Service) owes its success in large part to the fact that no one expected anything from it. That’s probably why there hasn’t been a follow-up despite numerous promises to the contrary. The shadow cast by Give Up is large indeed. There have been many pretenders to The Postal Service’s electronica-indie rock-pop music hybrid in the years since Give Up’s release in 2003, but none have scaled the heights reached by tracks like ‘the district sleeps alone tonight’ or ‘such great heights.’ And just like that, what had been a one off project from the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and the electronica producer Dntel became a singular sensation.

15. the warning – HOT CHIP
It’s the rare band indeed that’s equally adept at dance floor workouts, introspective ballads and R&B slow jams. With The Warning, Hot Chip proved that they can exceed at all three. The dance floor tracks (‘over and over’ and ‘boy from school’) get all the attention, but for my money, it’s the ballads (‘look after me’ and ‘so glad to see you’) that really make this album a classic. There are more cohesive records on this list but few that offer this many really excellent individual tracks.

14. hail to the thief – RADIOHEAD
It’s clear now that Hail to the Thief was something of a transitional album for Radiohead as they moved away from the album oriented approach of OK Computer and Kid A and towards the song based approach of In Rainbows. Thus, Hail to the Thief struggles a little to find a place for the otherworldly sounds the band had recently become so fond of while also trying to make an album that didn’t rely as heavily on being listened to in sequence (not to mention the fact that it sports a pretty embarrassing title and cumbersome subtitles for every song). Nonetheless, the album sports some of Radiohead’s strongest tracks. ‘A punch-up at a wedding,’ ‘where i end and you begin’ and ‘backdrifts’ belong in any argument about the best Radiohead songs.

13. endless summer – FENNESZ

My wife often describes Endless Summer as ‘happy static’ and I can think of no better way to summarize what Christian Fennesz’s most accessible album sounds like. Equally enjoyable when being listened to closely or as background noise while doing other things, Endless Summer is the perfect embodiment of what Brian Eno set out to do when he ‘created’ ambient music, even if you’ll likely never hear Fennesz’s compositions in an airport (as was Eno’s goal). Endless Summer’s eight tracks strike the perfect balance between being challenging and calming. They can lull you to sleep while simultaneously challenging your ideas of what makes a catchy song. Most of all, they reward repeated listening even though they seem incredibly simple at first blush. Balancing those seemingly contradictory traits is no small task and Endless Summer seems to accomplish them with ease.

12. turn on the bright lights – INTERPOL
There are a lot of indie rock bands and a lot of them call New York City home. What separates Interpol (at least on this album anyway) from all the others is their unique moodiness. Interpol’s sound on Turn on the Bright Lights is by turns drab and dark, bored and easily distracted, dangerous and moody, even angry and frustrated. It’s a complex stew of annoyance and dissociation that, for me anyway, perfectly encapsulates my conflicted feelings about New York City, even while only directly referencing the city they call home on one track (‘NYC’). There are plenty of songs and albums out there for people who love New York. This is the album for people who could take it or leave it.

11. the rex the dog show – REX THE DOG
If five of its best tracks hadn’t already garnered loads of attention when they were released as twelve inch singles in the years prior, The Rex the Dog Show would have been a monumental record. As it was Rex the Dog’s debut LP slid a bit under the radar as everyone seemed to feel they’d heard all this music already. And while that was of course true, it takes nothing away from just how enjoyably awesome Rex’s 80’s flavored synth workouts are. Very few songs are as all out get-up-and-dance fun as ‘i look into mid-air,’ ‘maximize’ or ‘italian skyline.’

10. change – THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
There’s rarely been a more appropriate name for an album than this one. In 1999 The Dismemberment Plan released one of the most universally adored indie rock records of the past two decades (Emergency & I). That album’s signature post punk sound hit the sweet spot with both critics and audiences and earned them a rabid following. The band could’ve gone on releasing variations of Emergency & I for another ten years and no one would’ve complained. But they decided to go a different way and changed things up with what would turn out to be their final album. Those fans who abandoned them because Change was too different, missed out on one of the most eclectic, interesting and rewarding indie rock albums of the decade, an album whose standout tracks (‘time bomb,’ ‘superpowers,’ ‘face of the earth,’ etc.) sound better now than ever.

09. chutes too narrow – THE SHINS
The indie rock scene tends to be a rather dull, depressing affair. Everyone’s feeling sorry for themselves and behaving as if there’s nothing much in life worth celebrating. Even the best indie rock albums have a hard time letting the sunshine in. Not so Chutes Too Narrow. The Shins sophomore album (following up the middling (though apparently Natalie Portman pleasing) O, Inverted World) opens with a shout of joy and spends the next ten tracks making happy music (even when the lyrics aren’t always the most upbeat). It’s maybe the perfect album to listen to while driving with the windows down on the first warm day of spring. And lord knows there’s not enough of that in indie rock these days.

08. from here we go sublime – THE FIELD
The last ten seconds of ‘a paw in face,’ where it’s revealed that the entire track has been a deconstruction and recontextualization of Lionel Richie’s super cheesy 80’s mainstay ‘hello,’ was perhaps the single greatest musical moment of 2007. That moment typifies what Axel Willner does best, taking all manner of samples, cutting them to pieces and smashing the pieces back together to create something uniquely beautiful. His songs have no complete words let alone complete sentences. There are no clearly distinguishable instruments or even readily identifiable sounds. And yet somehow the nine tracks that comprise From Here We Go Sublime live up to the title, creating a truly sublime listening experience.

07. boxer – THE NATIONAL
There are a number of bands and artists out there that receive tons of critical plaudits and yet, for whatever reason, don’t quite connect with me. But every time one of these bands releases a new album, I give it a listen, hoping that maybe this time I’ll finally understand what all the fuss is about. Before Boxer, The National was one of those bands. And I gave Boxer a listen expecting to delete it as soon as it was done playing. Instead, I immediately started the album over again from the beginning. And by the time I was done listening a second time, I realized that this album had proved to be everything the critics had always promised about The National (intimate lyrics, compelling songwriting, etc.) and so much more. Boxer expertly captures the disaffected, slightly alienated, mostly aimless period of life just after college and just before ‘real’ life begins. It evokes a place and a time in life as eloquently as anything I heard this decade.

06. hundred million light years – KAITO
Let’s get this out of the way right up front: yes, many of Hiroshi Watanabe’s songs sound a lot alike. But as far as I’m concerned, when that sound is as awesome as Kaito’s is, well, I really don’t care. I’d take a hundred songs that sounded like this. That said, I can understand why people might not be quite as high on Hundred Million Light Years as I am. But those people are missing out because this album is pure blissed-out greatness, managing to be both soothing and dramatic at the same time. It’s the best thing the awesome Cologne-based record label Kompakt released this decade, and that’s very high praise.

05. dear science, - TV ON THE RADIO
When TV on the Radio released their first EP (Young Liars) in 2003, I was sure big things lay ahead for this band. And then their first album came out and I was underwhelmed. And then their second album came out and I pretty much wrote them off entirely. They certainly wouldn’t be the first band that started strong only to never live up to their initial promise. But then in 2008, TV on the Radio released Dear Science, and more than fulfilled the potential hinted at on their debut. On Dear Science, the band focused their trademark dual vocals and wildly divergent musical styles into an indie pop sound that appealed equally to the head and the feet.

04. the meadowlands – THE WRENS
This album, from a group of New Jerseyians in their late thirties who only occasionally-- like every seven years-- take a break from their real lives to make music, is, like half of all rock songs (and ninety percent of all indie rock songs), primarily concerned with love and relationships. What differentiates The Meadowlands from the many many albums that cover similar ground is The Wrens’ unique perspective. The extra decade or so of life experience these guys have (when compared to the twentysomethings who normally make this sort of music) has allowed them to be considerably more incisive, clever, observant and ultimately sanguine about the whole topic. Screaming and wailing about failed love might be all right when you’re twenty-two but eventually that grows tiresome. The Meadowlands is the album for people who want more insight and perspective from their love songs.

03. clap your hands say yeah – CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah make one of the worst first impressions of any band I can think of. To say that singer Alec Ounsworth’s voice takes some getting used to is a massive understatement. (I heard ‘in this home on ice’-- which would go on to be one of my all time favorite songs-- well before the rest of the album and pretty much completely dismissed them.) And even if you somehow find his warble initially appealing, there’s still no way you can understand what he’s saying without having the lyric sheet in front of you. And yet somehow the twelve tracks on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah worm their way into your brain and lodge firmly in your pleasure centers. According to iTunes, this is the album I’ve listened to most this decade and yet I still find myself wanting to listen to it over and over again. Something about the way Ounsworth’s voice combines with the frenetic guitars creates a uniquely enjoyable sound. It’s such a singular pleasure that even the band wasn’t able to recapture it on their mostly terrible second album.

02. midnight organ fight – FRIGHTENED RABBIT
Generally speaking, the importance of lyrics is pretty overblown. As far as I’m concerned, the best lyrics in the world can’t save mediocre songwriting. Similarly, only the very worst lyrics (rhyming ‘high’ with ‘fly’ and ‘sky,’ for instance, or the nonsense the Killers write) can ruin an otherwise good song. That said, when great lyrics are married to great songwriting, the results can be mind-blowing. Frightened Rabbit’s sophomore album demonstrates just how emotionally devastating lyrics can be when combined with songwriting that mirrors their raw brutality. Consider, for instance, this verse from ‘poke’: ‘Should look through some old photos; I adored you in every one of those. If someone took a picture of us now they'd need to be told that we had ever clung on tight... “I'd say she was his sister but she doesn't have his nose.”’ That’s some powerful stuff. And Midnight Organ Fight is filled with dozens of equally powerful verses. Even after over a hundred listens, the songs on this album still give me chills. Every time.

01. kid a / in rainbows – RADIOHEAD
At the start of the decade Radiohead released Kid A, perhaps the last (ever?) successful and truly great album that demanded to be listened to as a whole in order to fully experience everything it had to offer. Though it was all but impossible to tell this at the time, Kid A was the last gasp of a dying art form. In the coming years, music blogs, file-sharing networks, iPods and mp3s would become the predominant way listeners discovered, acquired and experienced music. With these new technologies came a splintering of the listening experience as music fans now had the freedom to keep only the songs they liked on their iPods and in their ‘My Music’ folders. The album as a collective work of art became irrelevant. And within a few years, the concept of listening to an album straight through from start to finish began to sound as dated as the idea of voluntarily listening to music on an 8-track. Thus, besides being a tremendous artistic achievement, Kid A also has historical significance in that it marks the end of an age.

Seven years later, Radiohead released In Rainbows, a collection of ten individually outstanding songs that work equally well no matter how the listener chooses to hear them (in order, on shuffle or completely independent of each other). It’s not so much an album as it is a set of great songs that can be adapted to any of the myriad listening modes music fans have adopted in the intervening years since Kid A was released. It’s perhaps the first album to so perfectly suit the way we now listen to music. There are no (now easily delete-able) thirty-second intros, no meandering ten-minute sound collages, no ‘hidden’ tracks, no interludes, none of the filler that had become a staple of the album listening experience during the previous four decades. In Rainbows is just kick-ass song after kick-ass song because that’s all we care about now. Radiohead not only adapted to the fundamental changes in the ways we acquire and experience music, they succeeded in a way that far outpaced anything their much younger (and theoretically less entrenched) peers were doing. Even the way they chose to release the album was revolutionary (allowing listeners to pay anything they wanted for it (including nothing at all)).

At the start of the decade Radiohead released Kid A and showed that they had mastered the art of music the way it was popularly experienced at the time. And then, seven years later, even though the way that music was popularly experienced had undergone fundamental changes that shook the industry to its core and bewildered many of the band’s contemporaries, Radiohead released In Rainbows and again proved that they could deliver exactly what the listening public wanted. Both of these albums are tremendous individual achievements, but put them together and you have a picture of a band that remained at the very top of their game even though the game had completely changed. It’s hard to overstate what an accomplishment this is, and it more than validates Radiohead’s reputation as The Best Band in the World.


(If I was really forced to pick one of these two superlative albums as the best of the decade, I would probably lean towards In Rainbows. But, as I said above, that more recent album is so perfectly suited to the way I listen to music now that it has an unfair advantage. Because of that, I decided a tie was the only fair way to go.)