Albums of the Decade: 2000-2009 - #30-21

#30

A Ghost Is Born
Wilco
2004

I think this will go down as Wilco's last great album.  What has come since then has spiraled a little bit into the 'good but not great' category, and future material is heading straight for whatever platform they spin Michael Bolton on these days.  This album followed up 'YHF', which was no small task.  Somehow, it doesn't disappoint.  Some of Tweedy's best songwriting is here...Theologians might be his finest hour.  There is some guitar god worship on this one, with Spiders (Kidsmoke) shredding for over 10 minutes, and the opener on the disc, At Least That's What You Said both evoking some Crazy Horse riffage.  I'd say this one also has the best last song that hardly anyone makes it to...The Late Greats, which to me sounds more like something late era Uncle Tupelo, or maybe 'Being There' era Wilco would do, closes the album.  Getting to it, though, requires you to sit through 15 minutes of droning noise.  I hope you've got the skip button handy for that one.  This material got even better live, after they picked up Nels Cline, and started touring basically non-stop.  I saw them 3 times supporting this album, I think.  Great stuff.

#29

Source Tags & Codes
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
2002

This album might define the term 'angular guitars'.  It just surges, explodes, and demolishes, but somehow keeps a melodic heart.  This is my #1 car album, of all time.  Listening to this album on a long trip will ensure you will get there ahead of schedule.  You can't not go fast while listening to this one.  I'll admit to not knowing a single song name (or really understanding hardly any lyrics)...I still have the old Kazaa burn of these tracks, and that's how I've listened to this one for the last 7 years.  Their other material is good, but nothing, for me, can match the intensity of this album.  Had Indie Rock followed these guys, rather than bands like Deathcab and The Shins, things would look a lot different.  Hell, my hair might be pink.

#28

Yellow House
Grizzly Bear
2006

This one is like a dream.  They get the whole 'reworking Brian Wilson' bullshit, thanks to their great production work, and non-traditional arrangements, but to me, they are Gabriel era Genesis smashed together with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd.  It's not just derivative, though...they are breaking new ground, and have become perhaps the most influential sound around (fuck Animal Collective).  Their style is almost orchestral, with complex arrangements framed around plodding drums.  That defines a song like Lullabye, and carries through strongly throughout.  These songs need space.  For instance, Colorado builds and builds, and would make my list of deserted island songs from the decade.  Just a great track.  This one is a complete album experience, and I think foreshadows real greatness yet to come (including one more album on this list!).

#27

Cease to Begin
Band of Horses
2007

I think Band of Horses really evolved from their debut to this album.  The comparisons to MMJ's early material are necessary, but this has an altogether different feel from that stuff.  This album has the best song ever named after a 7 foot tall retired German NBA player (Detlef Schrempf).  I can not figure out what it has to do with Schrempf, as the lyrical content is about as non-basketball as you can get, but it's an amazing song.  Islands on the Coast jangles enough to move you in your seat, and Is There a Ghost has some tempo to it, at times...but this is kind of a soft, introspective album.  Not sad, per se, but definitely something of a cerebral experience.  It still sounds great loud, though.  Where do these guys go next?

#26, #25, #24

Cold Roses
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
2005


Jacksonville City Nights
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
2005


29
Ryan Adams
2005

For the sake of a narrative, and because these albums are often discussed together, I've grouped this trio of Ryan Adams releases together.  The ordering is that of release date, rather than which one I like the most...because that has a tendency to change daily.  What we have is the most prolific material dump I think an artist can manage, and still be considered great output.  All three were released in 2005, but each album has it's own story, it's own soul, and it's own sound. 

Cold Roses dropped first, and was the first album cut with The Cardinals, Adams first cohesive backing band since he left Whiskeytown.  It's a sprawling, epic, 2 CD affair.  It touches a lot of genres, but most people who talk about this one refer to the hat tip to the Grateful Dead.  The gesture earned Adams some appearances with Phil Lesh on the road, including a killer Red Rocks appearance in 2005.  The high points on this album are insane.  Magnolia Mountain and Easy Plateau are my faves, but the title track owns a legendary guitar riff, and tracks like Beautiful Sorta and Sweet Illusions rival everything he's done post-Heartbreaker.  It's dense material, though...18 songs, sprawled over two discs.  I've argued that Adams didn't have a self-editing problem in 2005, overall, but that Cold Roses could have been 6 songs shorter, and would have been just as good, if not better.  I stand by that, but damned if I could whittle six songs off the tracklist. 

Jacksonville City Nights came second, in the Fall.  Again, the Cardinals receive album cover credit, and this is probably their most cohesive effort (and what the Cardinals would probably have sounded like, solo, if Neil Cassal didn't sing like a whiny bitch).  This is a bar room country album, through and through.  A Kiss Before I Go is straight up 70's honky tonk.  Dear John, a quiet piano duet with Norah Jones, is a real highlight.  They even dug out the old Whiskeytown song My Heart is Broken for a reprise here, and it fits like a glove.  On most days, this is my favorite of the trio of 2005 releases.  Peaceful Valley pushes it over the top for me, and stands as one of my all time favorite tracks.  To see how he's pushed that song live is an amazing experience.  Really, a good portion of this material was played heavily on their recent tour, which is supposed to be the last ever with the Cardinals as Adams' band. 

The third album hit almost as the year ended, and was pretty heavily panned by critics.  Nearly every review focused more on how it just wasn't possible for someone to drop three albums in one year, rather than on the actual music.  The idea was an ode to his 20's, with each song representative of an individual year of his life.  Adams teamed up with Ethan Johns, who produced the final Whiskeytown album and Heartbreaker, and worked on a lot of the pre-Cardinals stuff.  It's an emotional album, full of narrative-type songwriting and storytelling.  Of the three, this one was the hardest to get into, but has yielded great rewards over the years.  Carolina Rain, The Sadness, and Starlite Diner are all excellent, excellent singer-songwriter type songs.  It's more subdued than the other two albums, but I think in terms of the attempts by Adams to put out an album of such personal material, this is his most successful venture (Love is Hell being a previous example).

#23

Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
2008

As pretentious as this album is (the damn thing comes with a sweater vest and a trust fund), it's stunningly fun to listen to.  Maybe it's the African rhythms, or maybe these guys were just 'right place/right time', and the music listening populace just needed something to ride around with the top down to.  Tight, concise pop songs about being a rich douchebag in college.  I'm not sure if liking Vampire Weekend will get you laid, at least not now that they aren't the hippest thing in the world anymore, but nearly two years after hearing this shit for the first time, I'm still not even remotely tired of it.

#22

Mouthfuls
Fruit Bats
2003

Undoubtedly one of the most underrated albums every produced.  I'm serious.  That clean, folk guitar sound, which Sub Pop specialized in back in first half of the decade, is showcased here.  Rainbow Sign rivals anything Sam Beam has done, and The Little Acorn is better than anything The Shins have created.  Why wasn't this more popular?  I have no idea.  The Fruit Bats sound has evolved into a more robust arrangement, especially with this last album.  But nothing can quite match what they did here.  I still kick myself for not jumping in the car and heading to Tennessee to see these guys open for Iron & Wine.  One of my all-time concert blunders.  This is another old, faded CD-R from the Kazaa days...

#21

Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
2008

They aren't as grandiose, or whimsical, but the band I most associate with Fleet Foxes are the Moody Blues (especially early era Moody Blues).  It's dramatic, at times straight up prog, but incredibly accessible.  Sub Pop is still the place to go for this sound, as they've been for the entire decade.  Music in this vein is timeless, and I am positive that Fleet Foxes are a band that will not fade away into the ether over the years.  It's unpretentious but really artsy and poetic.  I guess that can be attributed to the fact that they all have rocking beards, and a closet full of flannel shirts.  Ragged Wood is such a dominant piece of prog, it moves this entire sub-genre of indie rock in a whole new direction.  The changeover in the middle of that track is just amazing.  Tell me anything you want/any old lie will do/Call me back to/back to you is one hell of a lyric. Listening to this album makes me wish Spring was here, already.  It's a mood altering collection of music.

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