http://atlas.walagata.com/w/essential/
It will be written in 2009... What do you think?
Where are all those 2005+ album titles coming from??
Essential Albums of the 2000's
A refresher and reference for the last decade.
by James Cooper 12/12/09
Rather than giving you pretentious and, frankly, stupid reviews of music written by over-analytical bitter depressed people who spend what little is left of their meager energy trying real hard to emulate their idea of a hipster (can we say pitchfork media conglomerate?) I will instead just give you the names of the albums and let you discover what they mean to you on a personal level.
Music is 90% association - nothing sounds the same or means the same to every person (except maybe jeff koons). When I say "essential" I dont mean that these albums are so bland that they will appeal to everybody. What I mean is simply that they have the potential to be important to you. If you dont give them a listen you are robbing yourself of some great potential memories.
2000
1. Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
2. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
3. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
4. Blonde Redhead - Melody of Damaged Lemons
5 and 6. Songs:Ohia - The Lioness and Ghost Tropic
7. A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms
8. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
9. The Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
10. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast
almost:
Dirty Three - Whatever You Love, You Are
Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
Aesop Rock - Float
2001
1. The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
2. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
3. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
4. Fennesz - Endless Summer
5. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
6. Spoon - Girls Can Tell
7. The Strokes - Is This It
8. Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
9. Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down the Road
10. Aesop Rock - Labor Days
almost:
Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
Gotan Project - La Revancha Del Tango
Yann Tiersen - Amelie Soundtrack
2002
1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
2. Devendra Banhart - Oh Me Oh My...
3. The Books - Thought For Food
4. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
5. The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone
6. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
7. Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
8. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
9. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Yanqui U.X.O.
10. Out Hud - S.T.R.E.E.T D.A.D
almost:
Songs Ohia - Didn't It Rain
Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
The Notwist - Neon Golden
2003
1. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State
2. The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
3. Songs: Ohia - The Magnolia Electric Co
4. Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
5. The Wrens - The Meadowlands
6. Cat Power - You Are Free
7. The Books - The Lemon of Pink
8. Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
9. The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists
10. Manitoba - Up In Flames
almost:
Non Prophets - Hope
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
2004
1. The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
2. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
3. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands/Nino Rojo
4. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
5. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
6. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
7. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
8. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
9. Madvillain - Madvillainy
10. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
almost:
Interpol - Antics
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
Kanye West - The College Dropout
2005
1. Low - The Great Destroyer
2. Magnolia Electric Co. - Trials & Errors
3. The Fiery Furnaces - Speak Chinese By Singing
4. Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation
5. The Decemberists - Picaresque
6. Spoon - The Beast And Dragon Are Adored
7. Kanye West - Late Registration
8. Caribou (formerly manitoba)- The Milk Of Human Kindness
9. The Kills - No Wow
10. The Frames - Burn the Maps
almost:
The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
The Fiery Furnaces - Garfield El
Patrick Wolf - Wind In The Wires
2006
1. Xiu Xiu - Close
2. The Microphones - Arise, Mount Erie
3. Godspeed You Black Emporer - If It Was Meant To Be We Wouldnt All Be Flying Through Space
4. Bright Eyes - Weakness in the Rafters
5. Arcade Fire - Feathers and Ink
6. The Walkmen - New York, New York
7. Junior Boys - Suspension
8. Neko Case - Gypsy
9. Damien Rice - Hate Times Love
10. The Memes - Nets+Ladders
almost:
Gillian Welch - Devilish
The Romance Children - God Save the Romance Children
Cezzanne - Before & After
2007
1. The Slide Projectors - This is The Slide Projectors
2. Sufjan Stevens - My Son
3. Cezanne - Lester Wank Century
4. The Memes - Solace and Frolic
5. Wilco - Greatest Hits
6. The Coral - The Drawbridge
7. Joanna Newsom - Fay
8. M83 - We Saw Their Bodies Unfold
9. Beet Protein - b b b Beets
10. Jim O'rourke - 5 Strings 4
almost:
Madlib Ft. Quasimoto - Ra Ra 2007
M. Ward - Inspiring Night
Kanye West - Cant Hold Me Down
2008
1. Bjork - Passivfic
2. Interpol - Untitled 2
3. Fur Fifty - Magazine Covers
4. Jeff Koons - AM I AM I AM
5. Acorns - Oak/Squirrel
6. Fennesz - Milan
7. Stars and Sons - Normal Control
8. Decemberists - A Nasty Swagger
9. Apt. 34 - Artisan & Rental
10. Darcy Binewski - Aberration
11. Talib Kweli - Homeland
almost:
Xiu Xiu - I Want You In My Ass
Songs:Ohia - Tijuana Sunset
Mogwai - Jesus Was A Cold Man
2009
1. Jeff Koons - Bubbles Bbles
2. Fiber Optics - The Fiber Optics
3. Brother Danielson - Encircle Your Brothers, Fold Twice
4. Stars and Sons - Are We Floating Yet?
5. Tom Waits - Raw Deal
6. Darcy Binewski - I See A Lot of Me In You
7. Nizzie Ahola - Awwww Shitt
8. Junior Boys - Factory Tour
9. The Slide Projectors - OK Broken
10. Wrens - The New Deal
almost:
The Patterned Socks - Say For Yourself
Bright Eyes - Wild-Eyed And Stagnant
Bonnie Prince Billy - Truckstop Woman