Albums of the Decade: 2000-2009 - #60-51

#60

Alligator
The National
2005

Why are these guys not the biggest Rock Band in the world?  I really can't say.  Chicks LOVE these guys.  I'd compare their broad appeal to that of The Killers, but for some reason, they've remained on the peripheral.  Maybe their songs are a little too sad, a little too mature, and a little too awesome for mainstream success.  Anyway, this little beauty largely slipped past my subconscious, until 'Boxer' became such a huge critical success.  Friends say this is their 'finest work'.  I won't argue that point, except to say that I'm still a bit of a neophyte on this material.  It's got a couple dozen plays on the Ipod.  I can agree that it's phenomenal.  Would I pick it over 'Boxer'?  Maybe 3 out of 10 times.  And that's why their latest album will be higher.  If the Dessner brothers decide to put out a disco album, I bet they would become insanely famous.

#59

Horn of Plenty
Grizzly Bear
2004

What a precious, depressing, deep thought of an album.  The AMG review is pretty much spot on:

This is the kind of album you'll want to listen to late at night, perhaps a few sheets to the wind, with lights off and headphones on to allow these creepy, quiet little tunes to worm their way into your subconscious.

This whole thing comes off as a personal 'project', rather than something meant for mass consumption.  Grizzly Bear has transformed from this haunting debut into the driving force in 'Indie Rock', mostly because they took the building blocks here, and made it more accessible.  This might sound odd to a noob who throws their recent album on, and wonders what the fuck happened, but it's true.  But it's not pretentious, no matter how big the hype around them has gotten, or eventually grows to (before the backlash hits).  They are sort of like a stripped down early era Pink Floyd, in a way.  Mix in some early Genesis prog-like tendencies, and push the technology into the digital age, and this is what you get.  And it's fantastic.

#58

Sojourner
Magnolia Electric Co.
2007

Dissecting Jason Molina's catalog was one of the tougher things to do when rating this past decade.  You could argue that everything he has released is exceptional, and the debate rages on whether this or that is better/worse than what came before.  The newest album from Magnolia Electric Co, for instance, could probably make this list, but does not.  His collaboration with Will Johnson, which just came out last month, could also be argued for, but is a bit to fresh.  And similarly, this 'collection' of songs, released in 2007, could spark controversy, in that it is about as unconventional of an album as you'll ever see. 

Released as a gift to fans, only 5k of these were made.  It came in a wooden winebox like package, with posters, a DVD, and other swag.  I confess to not owning this, but the files are easy to come by on the interweb, if you were inclined to go looking for such a thing.  There is overlap with 'Fading Trails', which came earlier in this countdown, though the versions here are different.  In total, the 33 tracks encompass four different 'sessions', and the varying accompaniment in each session almost makes this four individual albums (this would be far more obvious to me, if I had the actual discs, rather than digital files that all go in one folder).  The music is what you'd expect.  The rocking tunes have a Neil Young bent, the country tunes have a sadness that popular country doesn't touch on anymore, and the stripped down songs carry the agony of depression and loneliness, that only Molina can deliver.

Such a collection probably deserves individual mention, breaking down each part.  If you care to find that online, you can.  That AMG review does a great job of that.  For brevity's sake, I'll just say that this album appeals to my epic-loving, completist tastes, and that plays a lot into my loving it more than anything else in the catalog.  I enjoy tackling something that on the surface is unwieldy and disjointed. 

#57

Ancient Melodies of the Future
Built to Spill
2001

In another dimension, all the accolades heaped on Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie were instead heaped onto Idlewild and Built to Spill.  I think lyrically, Built to Spill is a little bit campy, at times, and maybe that's limited them.  But the guitars, man, the guitars.  Go listen to Trimmed and Burning and try to tell me you didn't tap your foot a reach for more volume.  Just a perfect set of Indie Rock.  If the 'genre' of Indie Rock confuses you, and you don't know what the hell is going on, these guys can recalibrate you.  Funny how when you do that, what you're left with is just a new take on 70's arena rock.  Everything seems to revolve around Neil Young, somehow.

#56

Hearts of Oak
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
2003

What a tour de force of an album.  If I'd have made this list in 2005, it'd have been top-10, at the very least.  For some reason, I've largely forgotten about it.  It's still in the CD book in my car, though, and goes in ever once in a while.  We'll give it a couple of demerits for falling off my radar.  What the hell happened to Ted Leo?  After this album, he was supposed to take his spot at the top of the world.  At the time I first heard this one, I was listening to a lot more punk/ska, especially Second and Third Wave ska.  Ted Leo seemed to be the indie rock extension of that sound.  I never got to see him live, which I think is where the real action was.  I've seen video...holy shit, tons of energy.  Between Ted Leo and D-Plan, the DC Scene stayed on the radar early in the decade.


#55

Superwolf
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney
2005

I'm looking over the list, and this might be the 'best collaboration' of the decade between guys who don't normally play together.  Sure, Sweeney (Chavez, Zwan) toured with BpB a few times, but this studio effort showcases their talent unlike anything that they've done apart.  It's just a perfect to hear Oldham's lyrics with the backdrop of Sweeney's guitar licks.  The tracks are largely still in the Oldham style that you see on all his other material, including the 7 albums he put out in the decade that made my Top-217...best songwriter of the decade?  Quite possibly.


#54

Chutes Too Narrow
The Shins
2003

As good as their debut?  Not in my opinion.  That means they've progressively gotten 'worse', by my measure, over their three albums.  We're due for a new Shins album, but what I heard from Andrew recently was that Mercer has gone Mariah Carey, and kicked dudes out of the band, including the guitar player who looks sorta Indian.  That bodes poorly.  Drama aside, they delivered some great pure pop...sort of a reworking of The Beach Boys, with our generation's snarky irony.  Kissing the Lipless and Fighting in a Sack are personal faves.  It's a perfect 30 minute album...great in the car, or if you're straightening up the house, and need to rock out to something that won't distract you too much.  Am I as big a fan as I used to be?  No.  Did they put on perhaps the best concert I've seen this decade?  Yes.  Will I be searching for a leak of their new album, when it hits?  Hell yes.  Sometimes GREAT becomes simply GOOD, but GOOD is still awesome, sometimes.


#53

Furr
Blitzen Trapper
2008

I think 'Wild Mountain Nation' had higher highs than 'Furr', but I think 'Furr' is the better overall album.  In fact, I rarely ever listened to WMN all the way through, at least until recently, when the vinyl was left over at my house.  What surprises me on this one is the short song times...you'd think that a band that has such a reputation as an 'experimental' outfit would have stretched their legs a little bit.  That's indicative self-editing, I think, which could be why I like this one a little bit more.  Give me what you do well, in short bursts.  If I want to watch you freak the folk out, I'll catch you live (if you upper midwest bastards even know where SC is).  This stuff is very accessible.  I think the wife even dug the title track off of this one, that was on Sirius every couple of hours, last fall.  An untold story (at least I haven't heard it told) is how Sub Pop turned from their Nirvana roots to become the center of the folk revival this decade.  These guys are a perfect fit in that dynamic.  I'm excited for their next album...I think these guys are just getting started.


#52

Transatlanticism
Death Cab for Cutie
2003

Death Cab is a solid band, and this was their finest hour.  Gibbard was really hot, at this point...Postal Service was right around the same time.  They've launched themselves into the stratosphere, in indie rock terms, and might be the most common name in mainstream indie rock.  Gibbard's material has never been better.  The New Year is a great opener on the album, and one of their finer songs.  The epic Transatlanticism, locking in at over 7 minutes, is the highlight of the album, though, and sits right in the middle of this record, as an anchor.  Other than the newest album, which I'm up/down on, depending my mood, this is the Death Cab album I turn to in their catalog.

#51

St. Elsewhere
Gnarls Barkley
2006

Stop the presses!  It's an African-American artist!  Aside from maybe a backing band member or two, this is the only black artist on my entire list, if my glance through is to be trusted.  I've been asking myself, why is that?  What has happened to my musical tastes that have turned them so 'white'?  I don't have a firm answer.  I know in the 90's, especially the early 90's, when Gangsta Rap was still fresh, my CD collection had much more diversity.  My tastes have generally ruralized, however, while most African-American music seems to have gone even further urban.  I dipped into old country, alt-country, and bluegrass.  I moved away from just about all rap.  I listen to about 1 hour of 'regular' radio every year.  That's it.  My ability to choose my niche has streamlined my tastes to exactly what I want, and I never have to deviate from it.  Is that good?  Because I think the extension of that is that artists set out to cater to that niche, rather than looking for ways to express themselves and grow.  What will the next generation of bands take as their influences?  I mean, in the 80's, the influences were all roughly the same...now?  You could see your favorite band namedrop some obscure noise-pop band that you've never heard of, and wonder, what the fuck is going on? 

Back to the whiteness...does the lack of a black artist, other than this awesome Cee-lo project, say something broader about black music?  I don't think so.  I'm not a tastemaker.  I don't speak for anyone other than myself.  I try to persuade others to like what I like, and I mercilessly mock the stuff that I don't (Chickenfoot, anyone?), but I am not the trendsetter.  I would readily admit that there is black music out there that is equal to, or better than what I have here (and music from other ethnic backgrounds, that I'm just not exposed to, as well).  You'd be crazy to think otherwise.  So why don't I like it?

1. Black artists that are well known tend to fall in the 'Mainstream', where I'm just not exposed to a lot of it. 
2. The trend in 'Mainstream' music is moving away from the album, and towards the single.  That's in opposition with how I enjoy music.  I'm an album guy. 

I think those two things stand in the way from me finding the 'good' stuff (read: stuff that I'd like).  I've tried Kanye.  Not into it.  Rap has largely, in my view, lacked true innovation, and just doesn't sound fresh to me.  I'd rather go back and listen to shit from 15 years ago, even if the pop culture references are getting dated.  I can say the same thing for Mainstream white music, though.  I think Timberlake is a solid performer, a funny guy, and probably less of a douchebag than many other 'indie' artists that I follow.  He even has a few catchy songs that I like.  But I'll be damned if I can sit through an entire Timberlake album.  This problem goes into other genres, as well.  Modern rock radio?  Please, I can't even tell the bands apart, anymore.  R&B?  Seems watered down, compared to the greats over the last 50 years, like they've run out of metaphors for fucking.  'New' Country?  Dear god, that's the vilest, overproduced, overmarketed shit in the whole business.  Mainstream music is basically crap, and unfortunately that's where most of the black artists that I'd come in contact with reside. 

Or, maybe I'm just racist.  But this Gnarls Barkley shit is awesome.


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