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Arts + Entertainment
Ten Most Praiseworthy Albums of the Last Decade
by
Josh Jackson
As we enter the second decade of the second millennium AD, Q is pausing to look back on the last ten years.
Other contributors in this series include
Andy Crouch
,
Brett McCracken
and
Margaret Feinberg
.
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I went into this last decade knowing that there was a lot of wonderful, under-appreciated music in the world. But until launching Paste magazine and digging through piles of CDs every week, I had no idea quite how much. Narrowing a decade of music down to 10 albums ignores the breadth of musical innovation and inspiration during an era where anyone with some instruments and computer could create their own. But these are the 10 albums that moved me the most.
Ten | Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid
(2010)
The ArchAndroid's best song "Tightrope" opens with crackles from a record player as Janelle Monáe unleashes old-school James Brown funk on a futuristic concept album about a time-traveling android savior of humanity. It's safe to say there's never been anyone else quite like her. With guests that include Big Boi and Of Montreal and a guitarist who plays like Prince, she straddles musical worlds, enjoying every new path she blazes.
Nine | LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
(2010)
Dance music hasn't traditionally been the domain of the best wordsmiths, but James Murphy turns a phrase as well as just about any current troubadour with a beat-up acoustic guitar. His witty, cynical observations cut through the pulsing keyboards like Jonathan Swift armed with a laser gun. It took me seeing the band live to fall fully in love with this record, but after sweating with 2,000 other devotees, I fell hard.
Eight | The National: Boxer [Beggars Banquet]
(2007)
There's something about the restrained energy of The National that never wears on the listener. It's slow music that always seems right on the verge of exploding, so that its rare moments of bombast snap forward like a rubber band. The first time I heard put this CD in my car stereo, it was two weeks before I realized I hadn't swapped it out for anything else.
Seven | Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
(2004)
It’s rare that a debut album rolls around as lovely and original as Iron & Wine’s The Creek That Drank The Cradle, but for his sophomore effort, Sam Beam managed to improve upon the basement-tapes sound of his new Americana without sacrificing its intimacy. He enlisted producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse) to give musical depth to match the songs’ haunting lyrics.
Six | Josh Ritter: The Animal Years
(2006)
After the latter third of the 20th century became littered with “new Dylans,” it became obvious that no one could ever fill that role. So when Ritter made his first few strummy, literate records, there were no lofty expectations to keep him from developing his talent and fanbase. After three promising albums, the masterpiece arrived. Recorded with producer Brian Deck, who stretched Ritter’s rootsy folk in more ambitious directions, The Animal Years is bookended by a pair of epic ballads—“Girl in the War” and “Thin Blue Flame”—which helped secure his place at the table of great songwriters without ever having to live in anybody’s shadow.
Five | Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
(2010)
Marcus Mumford's lyrics wrestle with grace and, more specifically, his overwhelming need for it. His quartet uses mostly acoustic instruments and four-part harmonies to build swells worthy of Arcade Fire. The combination of music and lyrics is beauty striving for goodness and truth, and these British lads have pulled that off without sounding the least bit trite or cheesy. It's a joyful debut and the one record I can't stop playing this year.
Four | The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
(2009)
The Avett Brothers had long been one of the most energetic and entertaining live acts in the U.S., but it wasn't until this Rick Ruben-produced effort that I fell in love with one of the Brothers' studio albums. The band's rough edges had been a big part of its charm, but Scott and Seth Avett proved they can clean up real nice, too, on this broken-hearted record.
Three | Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
(2007)
After releasing the most breathtaking debut of the decade, music fans everywhere wondered how Arcade Fire would follow up the most joyful album about death. The answer turned out to be a reverent, often melancholy album about life. The sound is even more expansive and ambitious with church organs giving heft to “Intervention,” mandolin energizing “Keep the Car Running” and every instrument under the sun transforming older song “No Cars Go” into a stadium anthem. If Funeral was lightening in a bottle, Arcade Fire has since made catching it seem easy.
Two | Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
(2002)
We launched Paste magazine with a track from this album on our first sampler, and no other album would influence more of the music we've covered since. Uncle Tupelo's Jeff Tweedy had proven himself as a great songwriter, but the sonic experimentations on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would change the way we listened to music in the 2000s.
One | Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
(2005)
There was simply no album released in the last 10 years that took my breath quite like Sufjan Stevens' orchestral folk masterpiece. Ostensibly about the state of Illinois, these 22 songs and musical snippets are also about goodness and evil, loss and joy, and Stevens himself. Tracks like "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." still break my heart every time I hear them, while "Chicago" and "Decatur, or, A Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!" make it soar.
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In your opinion, did Josh miss anything? What would be on your list?
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Editor's note: The artwork above is by
Julien Pacaud
.
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Comments
Trevor
Midnight Organ Fight was Frabbit's sophomore album, their debut was Sing the Greys. As for what you missed: Surfer Blood, Amiina, Ratatat, Clogs, Horse Feathers, Band of Horses, Y La Bamba, Vampire Weekend, Meursault. It was a good year.
Sean
Good list, but seriously? No Vampire Weekend or Sigur Ros?
Jeff Mangum
Maybe Vampire Weekend will make the next list Josh makes: "ten albums that will be forgotten by the end of the next decade"
Aidan
pretty risky putting two debut albums from 2010 in. and no Radiohead! :O :O :O I am kinda shocked to see 'sigh no more’ in and ‘kid A’ not.
Sean
Oh yeah, mangum. Who would you suggest?
Eric Olsen
You wouldn't believe how happy this list makes me. Not just because some of my favorites are on here. But because now I'm listening to the others I've never heard of - and they're simply blowing me away!
I need weekly recommendations from Josh now! How can I get them?
Scot McClamma
I really dig most of those albums that Josh mentioned. Here's a few more of my faves from the last decade:
Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Belle & Sebastian), Amnesiac (Radiohead), Merriweather Post Pavilion (Animal Collective), From A Basement on the Hill (Elliott Smith), The Cool (Lupe Fiasco), Post-War (M. Ward), Graduation (Kanye West), Self-titled (M.I.A.), Oracular Spectacular (MGMT), Control (Pedro the Lion), White Blood Cells (The White Stripes).
Jeff Mangum
Sean, good question. Here are a couple that could be added, or at least considered.
First, to Aidan's point, how do you not have any Radiohead on the list? Maybe it's that including them is so obvious it's cliché. But, I would rather a cliché Radiohead over a misplaced Avett Brothers. Someone once said (maybe it was me) that if you want to hear what music will sound like tomorrow, listen to Radiohead today.
According to the Andy Crouch blog that was posted with cultural trends of the decade, the year 2000 would not count (maybe it is erased from our lists b/c of the whole Y2k debacle where none of the mayhem we were promised at midnight happened. Can someone say "let down!"). Unfortunately, eliminating the year 2000 eliminates Kid A. But, I would have included it anyway. Who cares if there was no year "0". The Mayans stopped counting years at 2012, should we not make lists of anything after 2012 then?
I digress.
If not Kid A then maybe Rainbows. Not necessarily because it was one of the best albums (although you could argue the case pretty easily) but because of how the way the record was sold. Their promotion changed, and will continue to change, the industry. If not Rainbows then Amnesiac or Thief (basically, anything Radiohead made in the decade should be on the list).
Second, your Sigor Ros suggestion is a decent one. They have certainly had musical influence. Have you been to a church conference or mega-church and not heard "Go do" by Ros' Jonsi? I dare you to attend and not hear it! Double dare!!
Here are some albums that could be debated for the list:
Microphone – The Glow Part 2
Anything classified by Wikipedia as "folktronica" deserves to be on the list.
Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
"I want your silent parts / The parts the birds love / I know there's such a place"
Spoon – Kill The Moonlight
Until this one, I never had an album that made me wish I could play the tambourine.
Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
A concept album about robots? Uh….yes, please! If only it could be 2002 forever…sigh.
Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below:
Every now and then I wake up and "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" is stuck in my head. That has to be good for something.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
My friend said this album makes him want to ride in the back of an El Camino shooting machine guns at Mexican Federales. That is enough for me to put it on a list.
Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans
Hipster worship! (They should write a book about hipster Christians.)
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Pass the Peyote and crank this album!
The Arcade Fire – Funeral
I love this album. So does my 9 year old. I saw them perform parts of Funeral on Austin City Limits and it made my teeth hurt it was so good.
Justin Timberlake – Future Sex/Love Sounds
What? Did I just say this out loud??
The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Graves
Anyone compared to Bob Dylan gets on the short list. Sometimes the simplest of things are the most beautiful.
Arvo Part – Alina
The list needs a little high-culture. This album by Estonian composer Part is haunting. (released in 2000)
White Stripes – Icky Thump
This album makes the hair on my knees stand up and dance!
Bonnie "Prince" Billy – I See A Darkness
Included partly because "I See a Darkness" was released 1999 and thus misses the cut and partly because I cry every time this record plays.
Sean
Mangum,
Wow. My head hurts and I have blood in my stool after reading your post. But you make some good points. A few notes:
White Stripes - Definitely
Animal Collective - Forgot about that. Good call.
Justin Timberlake?? What are you? A 13 year old girl?
Outkast - You'd get made fun of for saying that on the Paste web site, but I will throw you a bone because a) Q isn't devoted to music criticism and b) I love to shake it like a polaroid picture.
Jeff Mangum
Sean,
For the record, I will be 14 in July and my mom says I act super old for my age.
Second, Paste can't hate Outkast too much. They share the same home and Outkast put out that other album ATLiens. That should be on last decade's list of most awesome album names.
Third, how can you not like to shake it like a Polaroid?? If not for yourself then for all the Beyonces and Lucy Luis!!!
Sorry about your head and other ailments. Try Pepto or turning up White Stripes to number 11.
!!!
Sean
Mangum,
First of all, I'm sure Paste didn't give Whitney Houston's last album a break just because she was living in the ATL.
Second, I already knew how mature you act. Your mom told me too. :)
Jeff Mangum
Sean...let's head over to the source to settle this Paste question...a quick Google search shows that Paste actually reviewed the Outkast album!
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2003/12/outkast-speakerboxxxthe-love-below.html
It doesnt include an actual rating...but, here are some some quotes:
"The album’s rampant eclecticism and anything-goes attitude is its greatest asset."
"...will likely open up hip-hop fans to a vastly diverse musical world they otherwise might never have discovered."
"...an acoustic duet between Dré and Norah Jones is beautifully written and the autobiographical closing track, “A Life in the Day of André Benjamin (Incomplete)” is pure poetry."
A Google search of Paste reviews for Whitney did not turn up any results. Although I am sure they loved The Bodyguard. (Costner and Houston!! Can somebody say "Star power"??!!)
PS: I am afraid my mom-joke comeback would get me booted off the blog :)
PPS: who knew commenting on the Q blog could be so much fun!?
Sean
Thanks for doing your homework.
It's also important to note that a Paste magazine search for Justin Timberlake's "Future Sex/Love Sounds" also doesn't turn up any results. Although I am sure the Paste staff probably have great respect for his striking voice over in the animated version of Yogi Bear.
By the way, I don't judge a review by out-of-context lines. After all, a line or two from the Paste reviews of several bad movies make them sound better than they are. One example:
"The Love Guru is an avalanche of dirty puns, testicle jokes, booger gags, poop references and dwarf-themed slapstick."
Sounds like an irresistible scream, right? Well, it isn't worth the price of the ticket.
(On second thought, maybe not the best example.)
Wade Sikes
Salvation in lights, by Mike Farris. If you dig Americana in the New Orleans Swamp Soul tradition, you will love this. Covers of songs by Sam Cooke, Sister Rosetta Tharp, and the Staples singers, along with originals by Farris, make this album a real treat. If you want real music, not the overproduced droid sounds that pass for music these days, check this out.
Jeff Mangum
Sean, I gave you the link to the Paste review so you could read it for yourself.
I gave you the quotes from the review, not so you could "judge the review out of context", but because anyone who thinks Vampire Weekend should be on this list probably can't read a full review and glean the overall favorable spirit in which it is written.
Maybe Love Guru will make the Q movie list.
Jane
Decemberists -- The Hazards of Love.
Joe
My favs were velvet revolvers 2nd album liberated and the raconteurs two albums, broken boy soldiers and consolers of the lonely. Absolutely incredible stuff.
Brian Gray
Sean and Magnum need to get a room...and listen to records together. Maybe the Black Eyed Peas?
Comments are now closed
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