A lot of people came out with their ‘Best of the Decade’ lists right at the beginning of 2010, but, look. I am a dyed-in-the-wool procrastinator and clearly my blog is not something I regularly pay attention to despite repeated claims that I will do better about it. But it wasn’t ALL laziness/busyness … so much good music came out of 2000-2009 that it was almost an impossible task to choose just ten. But I forced myself to do it, almost as more of an exercise in figuring out what music was most significant to me as I navigated post-college life, my mid- to late-twenties, and on into 30. My music choices both fed into and were fed by the person I am today, and when you think of it like that … well, you can’t really blame me for taking so long to write this out, can you? You can? FINE.
In no particular order …
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) Wilco made great albums before this one and they’ll make them again, but Yankee Hotel Foxtrot remains their master work. I vividly remember buying this album at the Best Buy in Skokie, Illinois on a cold gray day. I realize that sounds as old-timey now as ordering a player-piano reel down at the general store, and how sad is that? No one is going to remember when they DOWNLOADED an album! The friction between front man Jeff Tweedy and multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett (who sadly passed away last year) makes the documentary of the making of this album, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” riveting to watch, and the song of the same name starts the record off with a caveat. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t easy … I am trying to break your heart.” And they do.
Over the Rhine – Ohio (2003) Who makes double albums anymore? Now that we’re almost strictly digital, probably no one. But shortly after I moved to Los Angeles, this double disc set arrived in the mail. I love everything about it — the dreamlike photography of the liner notes, the CD art, the scope of the 20 song track list that leaves you feeling like you’ve been punched in the stomach and then kissed on the mouth. It’s like they set out to write the mythical Great American novel and ended up making this album instead. It’s sprawling and specific, exploring faith and doubt, love, death, and the state of the world, all pouring out of singer Karin Bergquist’s golden throat with the grace and beauty of a ballerina spinning slowly on a stage. (Full disclosure: Over the Rhine is my favorite band, forever and ever, amen.)
Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine (2005) Fiona Apple is a bit of an enigma in the music world. She’s probably crazy, but aren’t most geniuses? I drove down to the Tower Records (RIP) on Sunset Boulevard to see an in-store Fiona did a few days after this album came out, and it was incredible. She clearly carries all of her emotions right there under her skin, and while that might not be so great for a person’s sanity, it sure does help her write amazing songs. There is a playful side to Extraordinary Machine, but it’s no more lightweight than either of her previous works. There’s still plenty of anger there, but there’s also maturity, and a sense of maybe not taking things quite so seriously nowadays … somewhere in the midst of the craziness, our little Fiona has found herself some balance. And it made this album practically perfect.
Radiohead – Kid A (2000) I wasn’t ready for Radiohead before this album. I’d heard them, but I hadn’t heard them, if that makes sense. I know you may not believe me when I tell you that Kid A transports me to the back lounge of a tour bus, where a bunch of roadies and I used to sit in semi-darkness drinking hard ciders and listening to this CD. I don’t remember what we talked about. But I remember the feeling these songs evoked, and I guess I’d finally gotten to the point where I really got this band. It’s an interesting phenomenon when you find yourself growing into a band rather than latching onto them instantly, but it speaks to the complexity of the band’s sound and songs (or … maybe just to my own simpleness?) that it took me a while to fall in love with them. Kid A has a special place in my heart as the gateway drug that got me there.
Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl (2000) When I was growing up, my dad used to listen a record of Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt singing together. We used to mock my father’s musical choices, because we were somewhat douchey children, so imagine my surprise when I ended up becoming a fan of Emmylou’s as an adult. She’s maybe the best harmony singer that ever lived, and on her own she’s a force of nature. The title track, a sad story of the road not taken, is the definition of haunting. As one of the reigning queens of music history, Emmylou never makes a bad album. But there’s something epic about Red Dirt Girl that’s going to make it tough to beat.
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007) There’s a vaguely street-prophetlike feel to Arcade Fire’s frontman Winn Butler, in his suspenders and floppy hair. Which makes sense, because there’s something vaguely post-apocalyptic about Arcade Fire period … you can pretty much guess it just by reading their album titles. But if this is what the end of the world sounds like, it’s going to be a lively time. Funeral was a tough debut to eclipse, but somehow Butler and his merry band of percussion-playing misfits managed to do it with Neon Bible. This is going to be a band that I will follow until I am very old and very grey (though clearly still COOL).
Feist – The Reminder (2007) Even though the Apple ads did their best to ruin “1 2 3 4″ for me, I still love it, and I love this set of songs it belongs to. “I Feel It All” remains my favorite song of all time to drive to … if you ever spot me driving down the road, singing and beating time on the steering wheel, there’s a good chance this song is playing on the stereo. Leslie Feist has a gorgeous voice and knack for singing songs that make you happy. One look at my top ten list can tell you that’s exactly what I need.
Neko Case – Blacklisted (2002) Blacklisted sounds like a transmission from a previous era … or a future one. Neko Case makes music that’s both timeless and immediate. She calls her style country noir, and there’s no better label for it– neo-murder ballads, cautionary fables about crazy people, mournful odes to love lost–it’s country all right, but it’s not country-country. Her lyrics are sparse and poetic, never longer than they have to be but never coming right out and saying what she means, either. I think she’s one of our greatest living songwriters, and the fact that many people still don’t know who she is is nothing but a stone-cold travesty. If I could only listen to one song for the rest of my life, “Deep Red Bells” would be a strong contender.
Cat Power – The Greatest (2006) Chan Marshall has one of the best voices in existence and she made a basically perfect album with The Greatest. There’s really not much more to say. She recorded it in Memphis and backed herself with a band of blues musicians, and the organs and muted trumpets sprinkled throughout serve as a callback to a different era. Marshall has a husky, beautiful voice that she uses to the fullest on these songs, and if I ever get tired of listening to her song “Willie” off of this album, it’s probably because I have lost my mind.
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) If I shut myself in a remote cabin after a painful breakup, I would have produced a pile of used kleenex and an entire DVR’s worth of watched “The Millionaire Matchmaker” reruns. Justin Vernon shut himself in a remote cabin after a painful breakup and produced this album. It’s a beautiful debut, joyful in places and heartrending in others. I’m still not tired of listening to it and it’s been on heavy rotation since I got it almost two years ago. It’s almost shocking to me that a debut album could turn out to be one of the best of the decade, but this one was a no-brainer. He had me at his first beautiful, wearily sung lyric, “I am my mother’s only one … It’s enough.”
Runners up: Rosie Thomas – When We Were Small, Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and Middle Cyclone, Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs and Noble Beast, Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans and Illinois, Lauryn Hill – MTV Unplugged, Over the Rhine – Drunkard’s Prayer, Elliott Smith – Figure 8 and From a Basement on a Hill, Patty Griffin – 1000 Kisses, Impossible Dream, and Children Running Through, Radiohead – In Rainbows, Coldplay – Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head, The White Stripes – basically all of the albums they made in the 2000′s, Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker, Demolition, and Love is Hell, Rufus Wainwright – Want One, Josh Ritter – The Animal Years, Gillian Welch – Time (the Revelator) and Soul Journey, Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm and @#%&*! Smilers, M. Ward – Post-War, The National – Boxer
recent comments