The 12 CDs of Christmas:
Best Albums of the Decade 2000-2009
January 1, 2010

Introduction

For the past six years I have chronicled my favorite albums, each year announcing a top twelve for that particular year. In doing so, I have bucked the trend of obsessing over downloadable singles, flashy music videos, and media hype, instead focusing on the album itself, a varied yet cohesive expression of music by a particular artist.

Over those six years I have come to realize that even though instant gratification through flavor-of-the-month singles may be wonderful, it doesn't hold a candle to unraveling the layers of creativity that can only be found in a full album. And that is why even in the face of media evolution, peer critique, and personal doubt I have held fast to my passion for album.

This list, The 12 CDs of Christmas: Best of 2000-2009 re-explores my favorite albums from the past six years as well as the many albums from 2000-2003 that inspired me to start chronicling my favorites in the first place. The list is by no means definitive, but rather, a rough estimation of my favorites. The order will surely change as the years pass but for now, Is This It? After reading you will be certain, yes, this is it.

-Mister Marlowe, Seattle, Washington, USA

scottmarlowe@undependentmedia.com

 

The Top 12 CDs 2000-2009

#12 The Walkmen – Bows + Arrows (2004)

Walkmen lead singer, Hamilton Leithauser will never be confused for a singer from American Idol. Rather than take a good voice and use it to perform bad karaoke, the Idol blueprint, Leithauser screams, warbles, and shrieks his way through a wall of metallic guitars, sturdy percussion, and a dreamy piano clang. This isn’t pop music, but rather, a true alternative approach and redefinition of the popular template.

Best Songs: The North Pole, My Old Man, The Rat, Thinking of a Dream I Had

 

#11 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz! (2009)

From start to finish It’s Blitz! stretches the minimalist guitar/synth/drum sonic template over Karen O’s sugary sweet, repetitively primitive poetry. It’s a signature sound that works well resulting in a set of songs that creates an interesting mix of ‘80s atmosphere meets new millennium emo. Song for song and taken as a whole it is the best album the band has ever made and one of the best albums of the decade.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are so polished at creating their signature sound yet so intent on being “artists” that running the gamut from mini-epics (Runaway) to danceable new wave (Heads Will Roll, Soft Shock, and Dragon Queen), all out ballads (Little Shadow) to provocative experiments (Skeletons) seem effortless in the band’s capable hands. That diversity may make the album seem slightly offbeat and a bit jarring, especially on initial listens, but when the time is spent to fully appreciate its nuances the effort is greatly rewarded. Indeed, It’s Blitz! isn’t just a series of exceptional songs, it is a phenomenal album from top to bottom and a coherent masterstroke from one of this decade’s most interesting bands.

Best Songs: Skeletons, Heads Will Roll, Hysteric, Little Shadow, Soft Shock

 

#10 Regina Spektor – Far (2009)

Harnessing the power of whimsy, clever word play, and exquisite story telling, piano virtuoso Regina Spektor’s third full-length album, Far is exceptional. It is also one of the best albums of the decade.

From start to finish Far dazzles as Spektor points out the extraordinary aspects of ordinary living. Whether chanting the dolphin song while reclining on the beach in Folding Chair, pondering the unfortunate malaise of a neighbor in Genius Next Door, or considering faith in the everyday with Blue Lips Spektor never misses an opportunity to poignantly temper adult thoughts with childish curiosity. On Laughing With she goes a step further taking what Joan Osborne started with One of Us and making it a truly stunning revelation. And on Human of the Year her whimsy reaches a sensational climax as she chronicles an imaginary award before a rousing climax and gospel-esque denouement close the show. Astounding!

Simply put, Far is an album to be cherished, to be dusted off now and then to see how it has changed, how you have changed, and how the world has changed. And that’s why I love it.

Best Songs: Laughing With, Blue Lips, Man of a Thousand Faces, Eet, The Calculation, Folding Chair

 

#09 Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (2008)

Fusing video game bloops, beeps, and pings into a pop format Crystal Castles’ 8-bit aural assault brings lo-fi pandemonium and droning genius to the masses. Seamlessly shifting from techno to rock, trance to pop, romance to all out pandemonium in the blink of an eye Crystal Castles’ stunning debut album blows away the notion that music of this sort is a one trick pony. Indeed, the album never feels redundant or boring and only gains momentum with repeat listens. Musical purists might scoff at sounds like this but those who understand what it all means will pee their pants with delight.

The KLF meets Prodigy meets Super Mario Brothers updated for the modern indie crowd, Crystal Castles’ self-titled debut proves that All Your Base Are Belong to Us.

Best Songs: Alice Practice, Air War, Courtship Dating, Untrust Us, Reckless

#08 Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (2008)

Laid back melodies and a Calypso sound make Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut the ethereal album of the decade. With hints of Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, world beat, playful pop, and indie rock stylings all setting the stage for the band’s preppy New England inspired adventures Vampire Weekend is in a class all its own.

Best Songs: Walcott, Oxford Comma, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

#07 Green Day – American Idiot (2004)

Pop punk stalwarts Green Day emerged as poetically political, anachronistic musical maestros in 2004 with their brilliant rock opera, American Idiot. Expertly capturing the feeling of a generation that witnessed the falling of the Twin Towers and its Patriot Act aftermath, the album’s tale of two young punks is both raucous and heartwarming. Trying to make amends with religion, rage, confusion, and hope American Idiot is an American new millennium teenager’s Bible.

Best Songs: Jesus of Suburbia, Whatsername, Holiday

#06 Longwave – The Strangest Things (2003)

Longwave’s The Strangest Things is a radio friendly feedback loving success story. A stargazer album with pop inclinations, The Strangest Things is a showcase of lush, metallic dreamscapes. Like a rocking lullaby, sounds arrive from seemingly everywhere creating an exciting, unpredictable explosion of sound that is pure aural pleasure.

Best Songs: Wake Me When It’s Over, Everywhere You Turn, Day Sleeper

#05 System of a Down – Mezmerize

The hardest and best metal band to come along since Helmet and Rage Against the Machine, California’s System of a Down rewrote the rules of metal for a new generation. Using unusual cadences built upon familiar riffs and fused with unorthodox yet cerebral lyrics SOD made metal fun again while pushing the genre into parts unknown.

The culmination of the band’s creativity, Mesmerize is the first of two albums released six months apart, and by far my favorite of the two. Its critique of fascism, stupidity, and pop culture obsession is as endearing as it is vicious. Its incorporation of electronica, polka, and all sorts of other flourishes is brilliant. The tag team vocal stylings of Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian are, well, mesmerizing. Yet, make no mistake about it, this is heavy metal through and through, and no doubt the best heavy metal of the decade.

Best Songs: B.Y.O.B, Revenga, Old School Hollywood, Sad Statue

#04 Hefner – Dead Media (2001)

Britain’s Hefner created a flawless indie rock masterpiece in 2001 with their brilliant fourth album, Dead Media. Tender, thoughtful, technical, and raucous Hefner’s Dead Media transforms their folk rock template into a stunning analogue synthesizer aesthetic. What that means to the listener is that man, machine, life, and love are run through a thoroughly programmed sound with brilliant lyrics in the best storyteller tradition emerging through the haze. With every one of its 14 songs a tremendous achievement, quite simply Dead Media is one of the best and most diverse albums of the decade.

Best Songs: China Crisis, Peppermint Taste, Waking Up to You, When the Angels Play Their Drum Machines

#03 Joseph Arthur – Nuclear Daydream (2006)

Alternative folk rock isn’t a genre of music that garners a lot of attention. Joseph Arthur, the genre’s leading pioneer likewise receives little attention. Sad, really especially since he is probably the best lyricist of the new millennium.

Arthur’s fifth album, Nucelar Daydream is the pinnacle of alternative folk rock in the ‘00s. From the opening Too Much to Hide to the castrato-like Slide Away to my favorite, the freewheeling Enough to Get Away, to the haunting finale, Nuclear Daydream, there isn’t a bad track in the bunch. Though each one sounds as if it could be from a completely different album if not a completely different artist, they are all cohesive, immaculate examples of the genre that push the boundaries of what it means to be a folkie that rocks.

The lyrics, like the arrangements, are brilliantly elaborate. Arthur reveals feelings on loneliness, religion, intimacy and all from point blank range. It’s as if he took Bob Dylan and went all Jackson Pollack on his ass dashing out the political with the salt of his own faith and hope. This is beautiful music with heart and soul.

Best Songs: Enough to Get Away, Electrical Storm, Black Lexus

#02 Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)

Hundreds of new millennium bands co-opted the Joy Division sound and aesthetic but only Interpol morphed it into brilliance. The band’s debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights is that damn good because it sets an irresistibly eerie yet aggressive tone that works throughout. Indeed, every song is a winner as they recall greatness in a thoroughly modern way. Every note on every song is perfectly scripted, from the echoing guitar strains on the opener, Untitled, to the thumping bass drum on PDA, the carefully constructed, forlorn chorus and pre-chorus on The New to that songs unwieldy metallic outro, every time I hear these tunes I can’t help but wonder, “Interpol, where have you been all my life?”

Best Songs: The New, Obstacle 1, PDA, Untitled, Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down

#01 The Strokes – Is This It?

I still remember the first time I heard The Strokes’ Last Night in late 2001. The World Trade Center towers had recently fallen and I had just returned to New Jersey after having lived in Seattle for 9 months. I was depressed and searching for something - what I did not know.

So it was with merely one listen to the metallic, chugging guitars and the detached drone of lead singer Julian Casablancas that I knew I had just heard something special: the sound of the new millennium.

Nine years later The Strokes’ influence is obvious and immense, and their debut album the pinnacle of alternative music in the first decade of the new millennium. Every song on Is This It? is tremendous and the album as a whole as loose and vibrant as ever.

Best Songs: Soma, Last Nite, The Modern Age, Someday

Tell us what you think...

Please direct all hate mail and/or props to the following:

scottmarlowe@undependentmedia.com