1. Joanna Newsom - Ys (2006)
[Unavailable on Lala.com]
Joanna Newsom is not the kind of artist about whom you can be indifferent: you either love her music or you detest it. Obviously, I fall into the former category. Many of the vocal quirks and idiosyncrasies are as present on Ys as they were on 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, but this time around Newsom seems more ambitious and focused. All of the album's five songs approach or surpass the ten-minute mark, and Newsom greatly benefits from a seasoned supporting cast which includes Steve Albini, Van Dyke Parks, and Bill Callahan. As amazing as the orchestral flourishes of the album-opener "Emily" are, it's the simplicity of her solo performance on "Sawdust and Diamonds" that keeps me returning to this one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
2. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan (2003)
Contrarian music critics will often try to surprise and shock when compiling lists, deliberately choosing the less-popular or lesser-acclaimed albums of an artist in order to demonstrate the singularity of his or her taste. Although Illinois is almost universally proclaimed as Sufjan Stevens' best work to date, I assure you that I did not choose Greetings From Michigan just to be different. I believe Stevens' tribute to his home-state is a more consistent and enjoyable experience than its more-heralded follow-up. From the opening track onwards, Sufjan's genuine love for The Great Lake State shines through. His ability to capture the atmosphere and uniqueness of Michigan make this so much more than just a small installment in his (somewhat gimmicky) "50 States Project".
3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
Much like William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago is an album that is inseparable from its back-story. The album was the culmination of front-man Justin Vernon's self-imposed exile in a Wisconsin cabin. With scant recording equipment and the still-fresh wounds of a recent break-up, Vernon managed to produce a lyrical, atmospheric meditation on love and loss.
4. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now (2005)
In a decade known for hipster irony, Antony Hegarty stood out with his unabashedly sincere, emotional music. While most artists known for gender-bending androgyny do so for shock value or camp humor, I Am a Bird Now explores topics like same-sex domestic violence, anxiety about death, and transgendered identity. Even though the album is packed with impressive guest appearances, it never loses its very personal focus. "Hope There's Someone" and "Man Is The Baby" are among the decade's most memorable songs.
5. Scott Walker - The Drift (2006)
Scott Walker's album The Drift is a darker, more brutal album than any death metal or black metal album could ever hope to be. It's hard to imagine that Walker was once a member of the 1960s heart-throb boy band The Walker Brothers. This album (and, to a lesser extent, its 1995 predecessor Tilt) not only makes a radical break with his past, but also makes a radical break with all of modern popular music. The album is unsettling and disturbing, with braying donkeys and fists pounding on meat (really!) serving as background noise for Walker's misanthropic poetry.
6. M.I.A. - Kala (2007)
Super-producer Diplo provided the perfect soundscape for M.I.A.'s diverse and widely acclaimed album Kala. Unlike Devendra Banhart's What Will We Be (2009), M.I.A.'s eclecticism on this album seems natural and earnest instead of showy. This really feels like global music with an edge, not like a Putumayo compilation CD pre-sanitized for Western ears. M.I.A. is at once sexual, political, and funky, and it would be no shock to see her dominate the next decade as well.
7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
The self-titled Fleet Foxes album appeared in 2008, but one could imagine it being composed by a contemporary of The Byrds or Brian Wilson. The first decade of the twenty-first century was no stranger to bands playing "retro" music and constructing songs that were dead ringers for music popular decades ago. What made Fleet Foxes so different is that they are gifted musicians and skilled songwriters who truly respect--and not just ape--the great bands of the past. There's something timeless about the beauty of songs like "He Doesn't Know Why" and "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" that make the term "60s revivalist folk rock" sound reductive and insufficient to explain the artistry of Fleet Foxes.
8. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (2009)
The Flaming Lips had a pretty sweet situation going into 2009. They were known for their amazing live show theatrics, their large catalog of indie classics, and their wacky psychedelic rock. That makes Embryonic all the more surprising and impressive. This album was a complete about-face compared to The Lips' previous output. The light, optimistic tone of their early work is noticeably missing. Both lyrically and musically, Embryonic seems darker, like the soundtrack to a bad acid trip. For a band usually known for their singles (e.g., "She Don't Use Jelly") and anthems (e.g., "Do You Realize?"), this is an album that must be absorbed in its entirety.
9. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (2000)
Let's be honest: this was not a good decade for hip hop. Even the album on which Nas proclaimed the genre to be dead was sub-par. Whereas the 1990s gave rise to innumerable classics (many of which were connected to the Wu Tang Clan), the Aughts produced surprisingly few memorable albums. Long after most of his Wu Tang alum had fallen off, Ghostface Killah has remained the only consistent, innovative member of the former super-group. The outstanding achievement of 2000's Supreme Clientele gave hip hop fanatics hope for the new millenium. It wasn't so much a revision of the Wu Tang formula, but rather just a perfection of a formula that already worked. The combination of stellar production, strong guest appearances by various Wu members, and plenty of indecipherable Ghostface street slang was a recipe for success.
10. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Kid A - Radiohead
It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of Radiohead's Kid A. The stylistic shift was so radical that at first Radiohead seemed to be deliberately antagonizing their fans. Guitars and drums gave way to electronics and drum-machines. Thom Yorke's familiar voice was now digitally manipulated. Sure, the album had a few missteps ("Treefingers" immediately comes to mind), but it's difficult to think of a song that more accurately represents the decade than "Idioteque".
11. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
12. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (2006)
[This album is not available on Lala.com]
13. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)
14. Portishead - Third (2008)
15. Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza (2008)
16. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
17. Dead Prez - Let's Get Free (2000)
18. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - Segu Blue (2007)
19. Björk - Medulla (2004)
20. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjum (2000)
21. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)
22. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)
23. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
[This album is not available on Lala.com]
24. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
25. Four Tet - Rounds (2003)
26. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009)
27. Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner (2003)
28. Burial - Untrue (2007)
29. Deerhunter - Weird Era Cont. (2008)
30. Ani DiFranco - Reprieve (2006)
31. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
32. Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor (2006)
33. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2007)
34. Sunn O))) - Black One (2005)
35. Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
36. Scarface - The Fix (2002)
37. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal (2006)
38. Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (2008)
39. Common - Be (2005)
40. Robert Grasper - In My Element (2007)
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