This whole thing feels a little arbitrary now that I’ve assembled a “Best of the Decade” list but, what the hell, everyone else is doing it and they’re leaving off some of my favorite records. After combing all of the records that I’ve enjoyed over the past decade, I came up with a ‘long list‘ of sixty albums. Ranging from Boris to Bon Iver and all over the map I’ve re-listened to many but the best need no re-acquaintance. The final list, you’ll notice, leans heavily on songwriters but not entirely. The greatest merge the two tasks of a songwriter, lyrics and composition and do more than compile a bunch of songs; they’ve created albums that endure as a whole. Or at least I think that have. So, here we have it: a subjective listing of not ten or twenty but fifteen of my favorite albums from 2000-2009.
15. Elliott Smith – Figure 8
Appropriate that this list begins with a songwriter. Not only are the words heartbreaking, the melodies lift your spirit and dashes it back to the ground. Elliott’s life seems to have been an emotional roller coaster. This record picks you up and gives a ride through a piece of that ride.
14. Ryan Adams – Gold
This album hit with an energy and urgency that seems almost an illusion of clouded memory but it really did and I still burst with excitement when I hear the opening chords of “New York, New York”.
13. The Wrens – The Meadowlands
These guys sneaked onto my radar after a live performance on KEXP. I picked this up on vinyl and it blew me away. Still does. “Hopeless”, “She Sends Kisses”, “Boys, You Won’t” are such great songs and the guitars jangle in just the right way…
12. Elliott Smith – From A Basement On A Hill
Released posthumously but recorded fully by Elliott before his tragic death. This reminds me of XO. A little like Lennon in his melodic sensibilities but far more desperate, Smith pulls no punches but does it all so beautifully.
11. Radiohead – In Rainbows
Radiohead explores love, relationships, alienation (surprised?) and more on a gorgeous record.
10. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
After Gold blew me away I dug a bit and came up with this earlier release from Ryan Adams and it paid off in spades. This one cuts to the core of love and loss.
09. Akron/Family – Love Is Simple
Three words: modern psychedelic masterpiece.
08. The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love
This concept album is just too great to ignore. Certainly, this website has done its part to lavish the praise. If you are a regular reader and you haven’t checked it out yet, I guess you never will. Your loss.
07. Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul
If you had told me, in 2004, that the guy who made The Grey Album would make my album of the decade list, I’d have scoffed at the suggestion. And yet, here we are. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse (multi-instrumentalist, Mark Linkous) have created an astounding set of songs along with a some of the most distinct voices in rock today.
06. Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter
Rowjimmy.com album of the year for 2009, this one makes a strong showing against the rest of the decade. Something about Lytle’s voice just reaches me. Blending folk, psyche, power pop, and more this record has it all.
05. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Love songs. Commentary about time and its passage. Meditations on mortality. Emphasis on the NOW. The Flaming Lips have long held the torch of psychedelic punk but here they expand upon the ruminations of The Soft Bulletin and deliver a timeless masterpiece. Oh, and did I mention the robots? Yeah. There’s robots, too.
04. Radiohead – Kid A
Speaking of robots, Kid A seems crafted by a band in hiding as the robots take over. Both utilizing and questioning technology and the isolationist structures that it builds around us, this record stands a a work of its time that has not grown old in the years since its release. Rock riffs, dissonant horns, stuttering beats, endless reverb all combine to paint a picture that is both cold and comforting; illustrative of a fear while providing a light to stave off the ghosts (or robots.)
03. Wilco – A Ghost Is Born
Naturally, we now come to speak of Ghosts. Writing a followup to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has to be daunting to even an ego-less saint. Jeff Tweedy is not that and yet, he wrote another record that some, not unreasonably, have rated even higher than YHF. The title is apt, not just for its presence as a lyric late in the record but due to the exploration of the myriad ways that ghosts are created. Relationships dissolve, addictions take hold, death encroaches; all creating a sense (or the actual states) of being irrelevant, absent, or lost. Some of Tweedy’s strongest guitar work is showcased here as well as his potent lyrics combining with dizzying effect.
02. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
Decemberists’ frontman, Colin Meloy can spin a yarn. He leans a bit on the English folk tradition and gives it a dire twist of shady characters and sardonic humor. While their earlier LPs focused on the shorter songs, often tales of murder and malice, even as far back as Castaways And Cutouts (which made the long-list to be considered for this final countdown) they stretched a bit and dabbled with the long-form song. Here on The Crane Wife we get the best of both with two prog-folk epics (the title cut as well as “The Island-Come And See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel The Drowning”) and a slew of masterfully crafted shorter songs telling of Romeos & Juliets, Civil War casualties, and killers that stalk the night. All making for an enrapturing listening experience.
01. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
What hasn’t been written about this album? From the saga of its almost shelving by Warners to the sometimes contentious recording process that led to the departure of the late Jay Bennett – all of which is documented so well in the film “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”- the story of “YHF” is no mystery. The songs speak for themselves. At times abstract in lyric or sound they reveal themselves upon multiple listenings and the sonic skin that ia so carefully placed upon some of the songs becomes, plainly, a part of the process; a veil that must be perceived and seen through for the manner in which it colors the songs makes them even more complete. Yes, “Radio Cure” could stand alone as a simple acoustic number. But that would deprive the listener of so much; including the sense of distance that makes the recording so brilliant.
I could go on all day and never do this record justice so I’ll close with this wildly unhinged declaration: if you don’t have this record, you’d best correct that before you waste another decade of your life.