Boys and Girls in America
The Hold Steady
2006
I've got a working theory: The Hold Steady is the 2000's version of Hootie and the Blowfish. Now wait, I'm not finished...hear me out. I've been working on this theory for a while. What was Hootie, when you boil it down? I'm talking pre-Hold My Hand/Let Her Cry Hootie? They were a KICK ASS barband. I remember hearing 'Kootchypop', which was their pre-label deal release, and thinking 'Fuck, this band is just a rollicking good time'. They packed the little clubs in. Did they deserve to move 15 million, or whatever it was, units of that first album? Hell no, and the backlash from the Dan Marino love was well deserved. But, look at their general formula...Simple song structures, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus, full sound (they are loud, live)...rock songs, man. They sing about drinking, getting laid, getting hurt in relationships, and having a good time. That is all The Hold Steady is, except they draw from a different set of influences. Hootie was REM. The Hold Steady is Springsteen and Thin Lizzy. It's anthem rock...arena rock, if you will. Smoky bar rock n roll, meant to jam to while your trying to fuck the girl with puffy hair, who you've just watched throw down three jager bombs in 15 minutes. Hold Steady is this decade's Hootie and the Blowfish. I'm convinced of it. They will meet a better fate (they are not overhyped, and they are generally better musicians and songwriters), but the formula is the same.
As far as this album goes, holy fuck does it have some good songs on it. Chips Ahoy! is straight out of the Thin Lizzy playbook, with it's out of your gourd riffs. You Can Make Him Like You is one of the best songs of the decade, with it's final repetitive stanza...There's always other boys/There's always other boyfriends/There's always other boys/And you can make him like you is classic bar band territory. My fave, though, is Southtown Girls, maybe the best album closer of the decade. When in doubt, fuck the girl from the other side of the tracks. Southtown girls wont blow you away/but you know that they'll stay...Hootie could have wrote that.
#89
We Shall All Be Healed
The Mountain Goats
2004
This was the first album I heard from Darnielle that wasn't stripped down lo-fi. I missed the boat on Tallahassee, somehow, and had to work back to it. You can imagine my surprise, when I found out what this guy would sound like if he cut an album that wasn't on his 4-track in his basement...it's damned good! John Vanderslice was behind the knobs, making this album's studio time one of the first stops I'll make when I get my time machine up and running. Even with the extra production, the actual band, and the unmuffled vocals, it's the same formula that brought him huge victory in the lo-fi 90's...crazily strummed guitar parts, nasally snark ridden vocals, and the driest wit in indie rock. I think this would actually be a great starting point for this band...or maybe Tallahassee, which we'll talk about later on.
#88
Neon Bible
Arcade Fire
2007
While not nearly as great as the previous album, this thing is a fucking party. Black Mirror is a great track that kicks off this album. I love the deep tuba line at the end of that one. Really, the first four tracks leave you feeling like they are still working off that old magic. I really feel like the second half of the album loses a little something, for some reason or another. Not saying it's bad, and I've seen a lot of the material live (on youtube, ACL, etc), and it shines in that format...but they kind of need that narrative that they based their debut off of. These guys could wind up being the best band in the world.
#87
In Our Nature
Jose Gonzalez
2007
Chilean born, moved to Sweden, and classically trained in the Spanish style of guitar play...I downloaded something off of one of his old hardcore albums, from before his slow acoustic stuff, and it was horrible. He does a great cover on this one of Massive Attack's Teardrop (the theme song to House, FYI). Down The Line is also a great one. It might not be 'Veneer', which earned him a lot of critical acclaim, but this one is damned close to as good. It'll be really interesting to see how/if he can evolve as an artist, or if he'll stay in his narrow niche. He's got crazy chops on guitar, though.
#86
Wincing the Night Away
The Shins
2007
I was surprised that this one wasn't higher, to be honest. There's just a ton of great albums left on this list. It's not as good as their two albums left coming for a couple of reasons.
1. The production on this one is just a little too slick.
2. They aren't really pushing their sound into new territory, overall.
I swear, 2007 was the year everyone tried to mimic 'Pet Sounds', and see if they could be Brian Wilson. The Shins were guilty, but also incredibly good at aping that aesthetic. I always look for a great opener on a good album, and Sleeping Lessons really succeeds here. Phantom Limb is possibly my favorite Shins song ever, on paper, though I doubt it will change your overall worldview. With what's his face now working with Danger Mouse, we're possibly on the cusp of some cool shit coming from these guys. They are already past the normal age of bands that learn new tricks, though, so their current version of the indie pop sound might just have to be enough to continue changing our lives.
#85
Moon and Antarctica
Modest Mouse
2000
I wax and wane on this release...right now, I'm a little down on it. Modest Mouse is just one of those bands, like Mars Volta, for example, that I know I'm supposed to like more, but just can't get over something innate that kills it for me. For some reason, the dynamic for me is Death Cab vs Modest Mouse...I am on the Death Cab side of indie rock. It's more melodic, straight forward, and the lyrics are (IMO) better on the whole. That's not to say I don't respect Modest Mouse (who I think is better live, FWIW). This is probably their finest work, as their later output this decade has been largely 'meh'. It's interesting that I have gotten into 'prog' a bit more over the past five years or so, I just don't relate more to Modest Mouse's variety of key changes and syncopated rhythms. Still, this is a fine work, and worthy of inclusion in the Top-100, and is a chewy experience, if you're inclined to take a dive.
#84
The Crane Wife
The Decemberists
2006
For those who didn't see the riffage of 'Hazards of Love' coming, I point back to this body of work as evidence that you weren't paying attention. These guys clearly love the sound of guitars, as much as they love rhyming 7 syllable words, dressing up like it's 1850, and singing indie rock sea shanties. I love the 'epic-ness' of this album. Just a great, great album of weird, nerd rock. It's a loosely constructed concept album that has prog-like characteristics. It almost defies description, to be honest. If you can handle the nasally, pretentious lyrics, you might just fall in love with these guys right off the bat. I didn't give it it's due at the time, but I'm taking a good look back these days, and there's a lot to like.
#83
Cardinology
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
2008
Perhaps one of the most frustratingly good albums of the decade. It's flaws remind me of this girl who works for GE...she's got a smoking hot body, an exotic look (from Spain, maybe), and other than this big, red, Gorbachev-like birthmark right on her cheek, ruining an otherwise beautiful face. But she's still very pretty, despite that big red mark that looks kind of like Norway, with the top end broken off. That is this album, in a nutshell. Tossaways like Magick are almost redeemable, when you take the album as a whole. Or take Sink Ships, which is somehow the best and the worst song that Adams has written in years...just absolutely frustrating. Take these two stanzas, which occur back to back in the song:
This position is not open now for applicants
The application forms got shredded
There was faulty wording in the documents
I can still hear you laughing
Coming up the rickety stairs
Laughing as the springtime
Filled your lungs with air
The first stanza misses the meter of the song, sounds disjointed, and might be one of the worst 'love didn't work out' metaphors ever put in the middle of a rock song. The second stanza is just beautiful poetry, with great imagery, and fits the meter of the song, and sends the whole song soaring. He put a raw demo version on his website recently, and it's even better, because he tones down the whole 'do-cu-ment' enunciation. This song needed another week in the percolator, and it could have been epic.
You can see why Adams and the Cardinals are 'on a break'. After three or four collaborations, where Adams finally was able to flesh out his OWN sound, things are kind of in a rut. Go Easy almost feels like a mashup of material from the past 5 years, but it still sounds good. Standouts like Natural Ghost prove that he still has it, though.
Take a picture of your life for a second now freeze it and look at the screen
What parts of you were daydreams, illusions, and other things
These things they pass in time but the moments are real and it's hard sometimes
Right on.
#82
Keep It Hid
Dan Auerbach
2009
The front man/guitar player makes a solo album, and I think it's better than anything the Black Keys have done as a collective. Maybe it's that there are some more acoustic-y moments? I don't know. The guitars still shine, and it's all fuzzed out and awesome. I don't really know why the drummer wasn't along for the ride here, as there is not really a dynamic sea change in the overall sound. But this is the one I listen to, and even though it's only 10 months old, it sounds like an old friend. Could be the cocaine?
#81
Trials and Errors
Magnolia Electric Co.
2005
Not sure if there is another live album on my list, offhand, so this could be considered the best live album of the decade. Recorded in 2003, on the backs of Jason Molina 'retiring' the Songs: Ohia name. This is sort of their debut album, and in my mind really feels like a normal release. Neil Young riffs, and long as fuck songs. You can really play 'Name that Neil Young Riff' on a lot of these. For instance, the opener has a stone cold electric 'Heart of Gold' riff, changed up just a hair. The lyrics are still dark and depressing, like the older Songs: Ohia stuff, but the amped up sound gives things a lot more space to be dark, but still melt your face.
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