Best Albums of the 00's: 50-41

50. Okkervil River: Down the River of Golden Dreams
Before I praise the heck out of this album, let me just say one thing: you can really tell it's self-produced and I can confidently say that if Okkervil's normal producer Brian Beattie had produced this one, it would be a higher on the list, significantly perhaps. But with that said, the production isn't that bad, in fact it's quite good, just not up to the level of other albums. Will sheff's songwriting is, as always, spectacular and his growth from Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See is considerable, both as a lyricist and as a singer. Perhaps the singer part is the most important to this album, there's no awkward notes on this album, in fact there's some amazing ones. The band as a whole perform their songs perfectly, "Blanket and Crib" and "Seas Too Far to Reach" being the standouts musically (and lyrically) as the band blends many different instruments and weaves them together seamlessly. The album falls into an unusual place in Okkervil's catalog, not quite up to the level of the Black Sheep Boy sessions, but clearly superior to their other LPs.

49. Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Letting Go
Will Oldham has never released a bad album. At least, not a bad one by anyone else's standards, but that's not the point. Anyways, though he's never released a bad album, he hadn't really released any new solo material between 2003 and 2006 (that may not seem like a long time, but for Oldham it's ages) but instead produced collaborations and cover albums, even a cover album of his own songs. But all that changed with the release of The Letting Go, Oldham's twelfth LP. The album is more less lighthearted then Ease Down the Road but much brighter than I See a Darkness or even Master and Anyone. It's still his signature alt-country folk, but with the addition of steady female vocals by Faun Fables and massive string parts courtesy of producer and frequent Björk collaborator Valgeir Sigurðsson. Combined the two of them give the album a big boast, separating it dramatically from Oldham's recent albums, which were growing more and more simplistic in approach.

48. Subtle: For Hero: For Fool
The terms "concept album" and "hip-hop" don't seem to go together very well. Subtle's second album is definitely a concept album, but is so much more than simple hip-hop. It's abstract hip-hop mixed with strong electronic elements, some indie rock, and plenty of experimentation. Adam Drucker's bizarre lyrics follow the footsteps of an unnamed hero as he goes on a journey, but overall the "concept" doesn't amount to much more than a theme tying the songs together. The album's lyrics as a whole aren't that great, but individually they are perfect, with a theme loosely tying things together for cohesion. Drucker (or Doseone, as he's known) shuns normal delivery techniques in favor of strange multi-syllabic slurs and speedy polyrhythmic raps. Everything about the album is abstract though, so it fits in nicely with jagged beats and lyrics like "Hence the intergalactic presses have been halted accordingly. Their consummate plug – been kicked from the outer-space wall
and then and only then does the nightclub's only spotlight get to st-st-stuttering".

47. Múm: Finally We Are No One
"Green Grass of Tunnel", the first real song on Múm's second album, begins with a little ambient twittering and some very light keyboard. I wouldn't say it was boring, just slightly tedious, but all of a sudden the song swells with beats and a breathtaking synth melody. You instantly forget the tedium and are drawn into the song, but the love affair isn't comsumated until you hear Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, aka Kría Brekkan's divine vocals. They really are something special, almost childlike in their wonderment but with all the strength and range of a trained woman. Like most of Múm's work, the electronica never sounds very electronic on this album, it all sounds very natural and organic, though most of it actually electric. This is a pretty mellow album, and not one you can listen to any time but if you're in the mood for it, it's perfect.

46. Angels of Light & Akron/Family: Akron/Family & the Angels of Light
Though the tracklist says that there are seven Akron/Family tracks and five Angels of Light tracks on this album, the reality there are twelve collaborative tracks by the two bands together. Whether it be Michael Gira producing the Akron/Family tracks or Akron/Family acting as backing band for Gira on the Angels of Light tracks the two are in actuality one. The Akron/Family side of the album is the strongest, however, and it contains the best work the band has ever done, as well as one of the greatest songs ever recorded "Raising the Sparks", and that's no hyperbole! The first Family song is like an electric version of something of their self-titled debut, it's quiet and simple, much like that album but after that "Moment" completely destroys that with its insane guitar shredding and the album really flies from there with hardly any slowups. The Angels of Light half isn't as good, but is still pretty outstanding. Gira's lyrics are as bizarre as ever and his amazing voice carries the songs perfectly. Together the two artists create a diverse album that still sounds like it could have been recorded by just one artist. In fact, if you mix the tracklist up, it does.

45. Boris: Pink
One of the tragedies of modern indie rock is the loss of the great guitar rock album. There just aren't very many great massive riffs and lightning quick shredding to be found anymore, everything these days is tamed and all about melody. Of the few great guitar rock albums being released in this century Boris' tenth full length album Pink is the best. There's all kinds of craziness going on here, and lead guitarist Wata does something for me that no one since Ira Kaplan in the mid-90s could do: be a guitarist that's just a plain old pleasure to listen to. Her fretwork is outstanding but it's really her riffs that get me. Thankfully Boris' guitar work is never cliched and the don't fall into the trap of extended guitar solos or wankery. Instead they create wholly original riffs and effects, mainly because of the clear hardcore punk influence. They also tap into drone ("Afterburner") and shoegaze ("Farewell") and tackle them with ease.

44. Antony and the Johnsons: I Am a Bird Now
There are some singers that just take your breath away, singers that could sing a song about picking your nose and make you love it. Antony Hegarty is one of those singers, but thankfully his lyrics are almost as good as his voice, so we never have to put it to the test. I Am a Bird Now is an interesting album musically, it's a little bluesy, a little baroque, a little indie but it doesn't really fall into any of those categories too well. Piano is the main instrument, and guitar makes an appearance briefly, and so do things like strings and horns, but nothing really sticks except Hegarty's spectacular voice, which is the album's only constant. I'm not the only one thinks he's one of the best singers in all time, Björk's a big fan, and Hegarty's got enough pull in the music scene to get Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, Boy George, and the great Lou Reed to guest on the album. Quite a supporting cast.

43. Calexico: Garden Ruin
I know Calexico purists will hate me for this, but Garden Ruin truly is the bands most complete, mature, and accomplished record. Feast of Wire is a great album that narrowly missed this list, but it just doesn't quite have what Garden Ruin has; namely, no weak tracks. Maybe that's because it's shorter, but there's something to be said for knowing when to cut material. Unlike past albums, this one lacks as much of an obvious mariachi influence and instead goes for a more pop structured approach to their borderland folk-rock. "Cruel" opens the album with a horn and guitar driven song loaded up with pop hooks while "All Systems Red" closes it with an epic guitar shrieking track, that stand up as one of the greatest album closers of all time. In between the band shows it's prowess in many styles and instruments, but the root of the band has always been Joey Burn on guitar and vocals and John Convertino on drums. Together they combined hooks and innovative rhythms for the rest of the band to fill in around.

42. Annie: Anniemal
Anniemal is the best straight electropop album of the 21st century; "Chewing Gum" and "Heartbeat" are in the ranks of the best electropop songs of all time, and Annie is one of the best singers in pop music. Ok, with all my massive-crush-wankery out of the way, we can get down to bare bones. You just don't hear pop albums like this, at least not from a single individual. Occasionally electro duo will creep into pop territory and have a couple of pop hits, but never a full albums worth like you have here. Annie vocals could carry many a song, but with the amazing production and beats provided to her (and in some cases produced by her) she doesn't need to. Take the bouncy beats contrasted with the string plucking of "Always Too Late", there's hardly any beef to the beat, it's the strings that do all the work, yet it sounds nothing at all like a chamber-pop song. This kind of innovative thinking is one of the things, along with Annie's vocals, that puts the album so far ahead of the rest.

41. Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum
Where does one begin when talking about Kraftwerk? If it wasn't for them, all the electronic music we enjoy these days would be entirely different. Their innovations and ideas provided the spark and the fuel for the the conflagration of electronica we enjoy today. Minimum-Maximum is a live album, but it's almost like a re-imagining of the best Kraftwerk songs in a different setting and with even more advanced technology. Each song is given it's own lush arrangement that sometimes stays with the original and sometimes doesn't, but no matter what they do or don't do to the songs they turn out perfectly. Whether they're creating pounding beats that sound like cars, computer, and trains or spacey synth suits, the quartet keeps everything in place and perfect in the mix. Even weak studio tracks like the Tour de France Etapes sound great here. This is just another sign, as if we needed one, that Kraftwerk are just as proficient as they were nearly forty years ago.

Best Albums of the 00's: 60-51

60. Ladytron: Witching Hour
The first adjective that comes to mind when I listen to Witching Hour is icy. The album is a dark and brooding affair, full swirling glacial effects and textures, which doesn't seem that special until you find out that it's also an electroclash album. But then again, Ladytron has always had a lot of dream pop in them, and maybe even a little shoegazing mixed in their too, but all that is just a little seasoning for the main ingredients. Some tracks go along at a haunting pace, like "High Rise" with its creepy organ parts, while others are upbeat but still gloomy and robotic like "Weekend". Lyrically, the band uses a lot of futuristic imagery but not to the point of dorkyness like Styx or the likes. Witching Hour is a many layered and intriguing album, and one that contains some of the best and most innovative keyboard work in recent history, though much of it isn't up front.

59. Lightning Bolt: Hypermagic Mountain
Hypermagic Mountain is Lightning Bolt's fourth album, and although it doesn't change the bands signature drum and bass setup, it's a lot more experimental than past albums. And although some of you might be thinking "More experimental?!? Is that even possible?!?" but rest assured it is. The whole album is recorded live on a 2 track DAT master tape, and there are very little production or effects used, if any. The reason the album is Lightning Bolt's best is because it emulates the band's live "guerrilla gig" live shows perfectly. All the chaos of their insane sets is here in spades and it gives the album such irresistible energy that you can feel it flow through you when you listen to it. As always, Brian Gibson's insane bass playing is a pleasure to listen to and Brian Chippendale's tight drumming and tongue-in-cheek vocals always bring a smile to your face. If Hypermagic Mountain is anything like this album, it's probably the place I belong.

58. Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster...
Perhaps this is a bit of a premature selection, seeing as the album has only been out for less than a month but I'm willing to risk that since I can safely say there hasn't been this perfect a mixture of smart, witty songwriting and irresistible poppiness in a long time. This is also perhaps the most quotable album on this list: "Send me stationary to make me horny" "And every sentence that I spoke began and ended in... ellipsis" "This is how you spell 'HAHAHA, I've destroyed the hopes and the dreams of a generation of faux-romantics' and I am pleased. I am pleased" and the ultimate "I'm not Bonnie Tyler, and I'm not Toni Braxton, and this song is not going to save your relationship. Oh no shit! And if this sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing It's the opposite of true love is as follows: Reality!" to name a few. Laced with sarcasm and indie pop goodness, this album will certainly stand for years as one of the funnest and smartest albums of all time.

57. Akron/Family: Akron/Family
If you stripped down Akron/Family's self-titled debut, you'd have a pretty standard freak-folk album, but once you add in all the gospel and Appalachian influences plus all the other little touches, you get a one of a kind album. It's the little left-field things that really stand out: the blips in "Before and Again" the peaceful ending of "Suchness" after a guitar freak out etc. Each track has something (or somethings) in it that makes it stand out from most run of the mill acid folk tracks and I think that, though most of the credit certainly goes to the band, some of it can be attested to Producer Micheal Gira, the prolific maniac behind Swans and Angels of Light. If you listen to the band's pre-Young God demos, the lack a lot of the aforementioned little things. But that doesn't really matter. What really matters is the finished product, which is one of the best albums of the folk revival era.

56. Joanna Newsom: And the Ys Street Band
There's not really much you can say about Joanna Newsom. Everything that makes her amazing, everything that makes her revolutionary, everything that makes her Joanna Newsom, can only really be accurately relayed by listening to her. This may be a simple EP, but it's also concentrated dose of two of her best songs (and an absolutely fabulous new song) performed in some of the most exciting arrangements you'll hear from Newsom. The two old songs are put in more solid arrangements courtesy of her touring band; "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" from The Milk-Eyed Mender and "Cosmia" from Ys swell with banjos, guitar, accordion, tambourine, percussion, and of course the signature harp. But the true standout is "Colleen", a new song that, if it's any sign of things to come, will make Newsom's next album the best yet. Which is really saying something.

55. The Decemberists: Castaways and Cutouts
Of The Decemberists albums, Castaway's and Cutouts is the oldest and best. It was before the band decided to get fancy with their sound (not that that's a bad things) and it's their most pure songwriting album, which is the band's strongest asset by far. Colin Meloy's songs are actually songs, not ballads or stories like that he became obsessed with in later albums. Again, that's not a bad thing, but in this stage in Meloy's career this is the type of songs he needed to be writing and when combined with the band's stripped down, but no less complex albums, you get some classic songs: "Leslie Anne Levine" "July! July!" "Grace Cathedral Hill" and "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect".

54. Architechture in Helsinki: In Case We Die
In Case We Die really came out of nowhere. Sure, Architechture in Helsinki had already released an album, Fingers Crossed, but it didn't really gain much attention until after In Case We Die came out. But perhaps it's more an illusion that they came out of nowhere perpetuated by how great the album is. How on earth could a band hardly anyone had ever heard of release such a perfect indie pop album? Unlike most young indie bands, Architechture in Helsinki didn't need several albums of practice to get their formula down right (they didn't even need one, Fingers Crossed is another great album, and it narrowly missed this list) they already had it all: great songwriting and structuring, plenty of bizarre instruments and just the right kind of experimentation. It's a densely fun album that will make you think, a dying breed.

53. Broken Social Scene: You Forgot it in People
Broken Social Scene's second album is infinitely more complex than their debut, but it lacks the extreme experimentation of it's follow up; it falls in the middle, but instead of siting around there, it pushes forward and perfects it's baroque indie rock sound to the point of a nearly flawless album. Broken Social Scene's two main members, Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, orchestrate the band's other, more famous, members perfectly, using them in exactly the right situations and songs. Take the choice of Feist instead of Amy Millian (of Stars) or Emily Haines (or Metric) in "Almost Crimes" for example; Feist's strong set of pipes are perfect for the upbeat, guitar jam, while Millan's or Haines wispy vocals would get lost in the distortion. Conversely, album standout "Anthems For a 17 Year-Old Girl" wouldn't work with anyone but Haines singing it. The whole album is full of perfect choices for songs; to the tune that the album has no weak tracks.

52. Angels of Light: We Are Him
Michael Gira has been in the music business over 25 years yet he still keeps finding ways to stay fresh and relevant. Starting out with the incredible No Wave group Swans, then moving on to his own solo folk work before founding another group, The Angels of Light. We Are Him is the sixth Angels of Light release and though it owes some of it's sound to those albums, it really branches of on its own for the most part. Much of the albums new freakout sound it due to Gira's backing band on the album, Akron/Family. The opening track, "Black River Song", is a psychedelic rock stomp while other tracks drift into alt-country territory, and even bluegrass in "Goodbye, Mary Lou". Gira's lyrics draw on new things to, for the most part it's spirituality though sometimes love creeps in the equation. This is Angels of Light's most exciting album, that occasionally slows down like Gira's solo work and has the blackhole dark flashes of Swans.

51. Shearwater: Winged Life
Shearwater has always been Jonathon Meiburg's show. Sure it was started as a way for both him and Will Sheff to record some gentler tunes than the ones they make in Okkervil River, but even before Meiburg took over all songwriting and singing duties on Palo Santo, and things were split between the two, Meiburg still lead the show with seven songs to Sheff's five. It's interesting because if you compare the duo's tracks, Sheff's are better overall, but Meiburg's not quite as mature songwriting is equaled out when he's given more tracks. Both men's songs are excellent, from the Meiburg's dark banjo waltz "Whipping Boy" to Sheff's lyrical masterpiece "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up...", which is the clear album standout, along with the magnificent closer "The Set Table" which starts and ends simply but swells to epic proportion in the middle.

Best Albums of the 00's: 70-61

70. Menomena: I Am the Fun Blame Monster
Every thing about Menomena seems so fun; their name, their album titles (I Am the Fun Blame Monster is an anagram of "The First Menomena Album") and their upbeat drum n' bass driven pop all exude a sunshiny experience, that's a gross over simplification of the band. Menomena's music has a strong trip-hop influence in it's construction of beats and bass, but non of the sampling or turntablisms of other trip-hop artists. Instead they fill their songs with various instruments, sometimes it's pianos, sometimes it's saxophone,guitars, keyboards, or various combinations of them. The album is strong the whole way through, but it's the nine-minute closer "The Monkey's Back" that brings it all together, mixing things you've heard throughout the album with funk and jazz, a sort of chilled out New Orleans trip-hop-pop track that sums up the whole albums eclectic fun.

69. The Blood Brothers: Burn Piano Island, Burn
With their first two albums, This Adultery is Ripe and March On Electric Children!, The Blood Brothers produced some solid, well executed hardcore punk, but with Burn Piano Island, Burn the Bros push themselves so beyond any of their contemporaries and and predecessors it's not even funny. The album signals a major shift for the band, and from this point on they continue to push the envelope and be way ahead of the curve. Their are two things I absolutely love about this album, the lyrics and how much groove the whole thing has. The Bros are at their best when their being weird, sarcastic, and critical: "Happy birthday gelatins smearing bruises on your chin. There's cake but no mouth, conch but no sound, glossy skeletons boyfriends but no friends." Each song has it's own little touch the set it apart from the rest, whether it be a funk bassline, piano, or angular rhythms, each song is it's own piece, something neigh unbelievable for a punk album.

68. mewithoutYou: Brother, Sister
It may seem unbelievable but I think Aaron Weiss became too perfect a songwriter on this album. There's just so much here, so much substance, so much detail and depth, so many references that one easily becomes overwhelmed by even the first song. This album is a couple years old and I still haven't gotten completely through all its meanings. The albums is really about changes; lyrically it changes to a much more overt deep spirituality, musically the band has shifted from the cold, dark sounds of Catch For Us the Foxes to a warmer, almost summer album, although the albums got it's share of thunderstorms like any summer does. Other notable changes are the addition of a better bassist, giving the band already exceptionally tight sound a boost and the use of guests, including Psalters, Anathallo's horn section, and emo founding father Jeremy Enigk, although mwY outshines all of them easily.

67. Goldfrapp: Supernature
Pop is a tricky thing, no matter how catchy the beat or how awesome the hook is, nine times out of ten it's substancless, both musically and lyrically. Goldfrapp is that one in ten, and they've never sounded better than on Supernature. The album is like Black Cherry taken to the max, overloaded beats and polished up with a glistening sheen. Alison Goldfrapp's vocals are a pitch perfect and as silky as ever while Will Gregory's beats and synths are creative and strong without being inaccessible in any way. The best part of the album is how they mix in other styles all under the production and unified sound, glam and electroclash abound and can be found in almost every track while other styles as differing as new wave and cabaret pop up here and there. Supernature isn't everybody's favorite album, and I think it's because it challenges the listeners view of pop, but does it so subtly that it's easy to miss what exactly it is, if you're not on your game.

66. of Montreal: Satanic Panic in the Attic
of Montreal have a pretty large discography [8 proper albums, 7 compilations albums, 5 EPs, 12 singles, ok this is just overkill, anyways...] so picking my favorite seems like it would be a difficult task; could it be the early lo-fi acoustic of the first albums? The dancey rock of Sunlandic Twins? The twisted disco-pop of Hissing Fauna? Nope, Satanic Panic in the Attic is easily my favorite of Montreal album, from first to last it exudes such a undeniable charm of perfect indie pop. Kevin Barnes, who essentially made the entire album himself, is really on for the whole album, his lyrics are as witty as ever and his arrangements are pure genius in some spots. Take "Will You Come and Fetch Me" for an example, Barnes keeps the rhythm section going, but goes hyperactive with the other parts, jumping from string section, to pop, to glockenspiel, to harpsichord, within seconds of each other. This shouldn't really surprising though, since Barnes has always been ADD, he just turned it up a notch this time, if that's possible.

65. Destroyer: Destroyer's Rubies
Sometimes I wonder is Dan Bejar knows what the heck he's writing, or if he just writes at random. As a lyricist he owes a lot to the stream-of-consciousness, rapid delivery of Bob Dylan, but Dylan is relatively decipherable, whereas Bejar's lyrics seem like they have a really deep meaning, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what they are. They sure are fun to listen to though. Musically, the band loses a lot of their Pavement-worshiping distortion and get a more laid back, David Bowie playing the blues sound, though the aforementioned Pavement-isms are still there, to be sure. Combined the lyrics and music are perfectly suited to Bejar's bizarre but enchanting voice. In fact everything on this album just plain works, there's nothing tried that does not succeed, and that's the best description of the album I can give.

64. Yo La Tengo: I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Yo La Tengo have always been a really diverse band, and each of their albums has had a variety of sounds to it, but on their eleventh(!) full length album, they take this facet to a ridicules extreme. The opening track "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" is a nearly eleven minute noise jam that's mostly guitar solos while the very next track, "Beanbag Chair" is driving horn and piano pop song, which is in turn followed by a quiet chamber pop track, then a 60 motown sounding tune, then a dark love song, then male/female vocal duel over bluesy pop, then a psychedelic organ stomp, and that's just the first half of the album. The aforementioned opening track and the closing song "The Story of Yo La Tango" (not a typo) bookend the album perfectly, and the latter is one of the best songs the band has ever written, it's another epic length noisy jam, but it's much less abrasive and more tuneful than the former. The whole album is a sonic adventure spanning decades, styles, and moods.

63. Daft Punk: Discovery
To me, it's a testament to the talent of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter that a group as goofy as Daft Punk ever became popular, let alone the huge status they have now. I mean let's face it, the name, the logo, the robot helmets, and even in some cases the music doesn't exactly scream hipness. Perhaps that makes them endearing, I don't know, all I do know is that Discovery, and in fact most of Daft Punk's music, freakin' grooves. They know how to make dance music unlike any other current electronic group to the point that I don't think there's a single person in the world who could listen to one of their songs and not like it. I mean, how can you not fall in love with world's greatest vocoder solo, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"? Or the band that actually put a vocoder solo in their songs? I rest my case.

62. Sigur Rós: Takk...
I've always viewed Jónsi Birgisson's voice more as another instrument then as conventional lead vocals. When he's singing in a not made up language, I still have no idea what he's saying, but that's no different from the hundreds of other non-English language artists, except that Birgisson has a voice unlike any other. He uses his extremely high range as a magnificent solo instrument that can float above the band's arrangements, which they can make joyous, such as "Hoppípolla", dark and organic like "Sé lest". It's often said that the band's sound reflects the landscapes of their home country of Iceland, and never is it more so than on "Sæglópur", which builds with piano and drums until it finally explodes with Birgisson's bowed guitar that sounds exactly like what I think it would sound like inside a volcano. But that's the kind of trascendent quality all of the band's work has.

61. Triosk: The Headlight Serenade
The words "experimental jazz" might bring dread into the hearts of some, but rest assured, this isn't anything remotely like Kenny G jamming with The Mars Volta, since I think that would bring about violent death for anyone who listened to it. No, Triosk isn't smooth meets pretension, it's instead and album that has it's roots, and owes much of it's sound to the great jazz trios but also throws a large amount of samples and beats into the mix. There is a strong representation of electronics in this album, but unless you were looking for it specifically, you wouldn't notice it wasn't natural to the song. Everything that's electronic on the album is completely organic sounding and is best described as the band itself says like "throwing broken glass into a piano".

Best Albums of the 00's: 80-71

Part 3!

80. Midlake: The Trials of Van Occupanther
Midlake is one of those bands that really don't sound like they should be releasing albums in this decade. Everything about the band screams 70s folk rock: the vocal harmonies, the lush keyboards mixed with folky guitars are all straight out of Crosby, Stills, and Nash's playbook. But unlike retro-rock acts Jet or Wolfmother, Midlake doesn't sound like they're just recycling riffs and stealing other bands material (although the irony of Wolfmother apeing Led Zeppelin, who in turn blatantly stole from blues artists should not be lost) but instead creating their own little antique world using the influences of classic folk rock artist and mixing it with their own prog-rock tendencies that they really embraced on their first album, but dropped significantly since then. Lyrically the band continues their theme of antiquity, all of the songs could be about any time in the worlds history. There is rumor that the album is a concept album based on the Oregon Trail computer game and if that is true it just make the album that much more awesome.

79. Björk: MedúllaMedúlla is a really difficult album in many ways. It's difficult to process, difficult to understand, and especially difficult to write about it. It's easy to get caught up in the "music made entirely out of human voices" gimmick, but even if Björk created the same album using her normal methods (if you could call any of Björk's methods normal...) it would still be a fabulous album full of ethereal soundscapes and massive, innovative beats and structures. The thing that really stand out in this album is just how amazing Björk's voice is, "Show Me Forgiveness" is just her voice, nothing else, and it's one of the albums most haunting and stunning tracks. Elsewhere, she show how flexible she is, such as in the opening seconds of "Where is the Line" where she stuttersteps her way through words, taking a short, simple word like "line" and making it soar. Her voice is the star of this album, and it's an album of just voices. That says something.

78. Jack Rose: Kensington Blues
The blues can take many shapes, there's straight ol' B.B. King type blues, there's delta blues ala Muddy Waters, their's blues rock like Cream, the Allman's brought us southern blues rock, there's rhythm and blues (which sadly today has just become pop with a black singer) and now we even have "indie-blues" in bands like The White Stripes but the oft unjustly overlooked branch of acoustic blues is one of the most interesting. Kensington Blues is a instrumental album full of some of the wickedest finger-picking you'll ever hear and though it has it's base in blues, and for the most part sticks to that it has some other interesting surprises up it's sleave, such as ragas, straight folk, and swirling, droney melodies that are more ambient than anything else. It's obvious Jack Rose owes a lot to Robbie Basho and John Fahey, but his talent and compositions, as well as his interesting other little influences, makes him a worthwhile listen without a doubt.

77. Lightning Bolt: Wonderful Rainbow
Ahh Lightning Bolt. Could you be any more ridicules? Crazy technical, spastic noise rock comprised of just drums and bass, with the bass sounds like a guitar 90% of the time. There are vocals, kind of, most of the time you can't understand a word they're saying, sometimes to the point that you're not sure whether it's some ones voice or a feedback being tortured to death. They don't really embrace the "advantages" of studio recording, but still use it for the most part in their recordings, albeit in their own twisted way. Bassist Brian Gibson's bass could hardly be called a bass, it's tuned wacko and has two banjo strings replacing the A and E strings. If you haven't formed an opinion on the band band yet, go listen to "Assassins"; if you like that song you'll like the rest of their work. If you don't, you won't. It's as simple as that.

76. Shearwater: Palo Santo
At some point in our lives, we all must make a break from something and come into our own in whatever it is we’ve broken from. For Jonathon Meiburg that break was from the background and sharing the stage to be the full blown, one and only star of the show. Meiburg never truly got his own project, half the time he was playing behind Will Sheff in Okkervil River and the other half the time he was sharing the spotlight with him in Shearwater. But as Sheff got too busy to make and big contributions to Shearwater, Meiburg got to step in and take complete control. His approach is different from Sheff's, and it shows. Whereas in the past Shearwater was folk heavy, now they're atmospherical and piano driven indie rock. The music is dark and it matches Meiburg's stunning vocals perfectly creating a pitch-perfect album full of dread and chills.

75. Sigur Rós: ( )
( ) has got to be the most minimal album in the world. The album really has no title, all eight songs have no titles, the album comes with a booklet that has a bunch of blank pages in it, and the lyrics (when they are any) are comprised of just two or so lines that are repeated throughout the album, plus they're in a made up gibberish language ("Vonlenska") that has no meaning. But besides all that, the album is stunningly beautiful. If you've never heard Sigur Rós the it's not really easy to explain, since no one really sounds much like them. Sufficed to say that the band plays darkly ambient music with touches of neo-classical and even rock, albeit very slow, gentle rock. To say the vocals are ethereal is an understatement, Jónsi Birgisson voice floats above the music with tense strains and high crescendos, and coming off more like a droney solo instrument than a human voice. But nothing about the band really seems human, so it fits.

74. Grails: Burning Off Impurities
Grails really have everything going for them as far as making awesome music is concerned, they have the creativity to bring in all kinds of wild influences into their songs, they have the talent to write songs that use all those influences fluidly, and they have the chops to play the songs above and beyond perfectly. The band's shifting themes and influences make the album a pleasure to listen to, you never know what's coming next: "Soft Temple" opens the album with a creepy banjo dirge that gets joined halfway through the song by a twisted piano waltz and "Silk Road" takes the influence suggested by its title and twists it around into an acid trip meets a caravan ride. Energy flows from the songs like "Dead Vine Blues" and "Origin-Ing" and the title track, while elsewhere "More Extinction" and "Drawn Curtains" hardly rise above a drone. Just another proof that Grails can do anything they set their mind to.

73. Patrick Wolf: Lycanthropy
The fact that Lycanthropy was written and recorded over eight years (1994-2002) while Patrick Wolf was between the ages of 11 and 19(!) is remarkable, but shouldn't surprise anyone whose heard the album and compared it to Wolf's following albums. The fact that Wolf is growing as a musician and person while throughout this album is readily apparent; taking the first two tracks as an example: "Wolf Song" is a complex folk song with viola, panpipes, ukulele, and earth percussion samples all performed by Wolf, and the lyrics are some of his most interesting and literary, whereas "Bloodbeat" is little more than a electro song with repetitive lyrics, it's not a bad song, just not on the level of it's the song that precedes it, nor of the one that follows it, the stunning "To the Lighthouse". This trend continues throughout the album, with spectacular songs being followed by average ones, well average for Wolf anyways, which is pretty freaking good non the less.

72. World's End Girlfriend: The Lay Lie Land
Katsuhiko Maeda's music is really very much like his home country of Japan. His blend of electronica with classical and jazz mirrors Japan's cultural blending of futuristic technology and the traditions of their vast history. His music also displays that sense of wonder and excitement that Japanese folk tale are just rife with, as well as a penchant for using children's voices and laughter, another theme in the legends of Japan. But that comparison can only take us so far in talking about this album, it's such a vast, wordless endeavor (ten tracks clocking in at around 78 minutes) that really comes off as a beautiful and jarring piece of music. The beautiful part are the lonely strains of strings and horns, and the jarring part is when the beats and noise comes in, ripping the beautiful sections to shreds in their fury. It startles you when you first hear it, but you get used to it very fast.

71. The Avalanches: Since I Left You
DJ Shadow paved the way for artists like The Avalanches, Girl Talk, and Soulwax, with Endtroducing....., the first album made entirely out of samples. It's not worth anyones time trying to compare any of their work with Shadow's, so I won't. Comparing between the artist themselves, however, is another matter. When you listen to Girl Talk, you know that it's all samples from the get-go, it's obvious. But with The Avalanches, it's not so clear what's going on. You could easily listen to the whole album and never know that there's no new material here. Girl Talk's transitions work completely, but sometimes it's only because it's so ridicules that you accept it while laughing your head off whereas with The Avalanches, everything flows naturally. Girl Talk is made for the dancefloor, but Since I Left You sounds much more organic, like it was built for a summer drive in the country with beats shinning like the sun and keyboards floating along like breeze through fields.

Part 4, coming soon!

Best Albums of the 00's: 90-81

Part 2!

90. Mew: And the Glass Handed Kites
Man, is And the Glass Handed Kites is a dark record. I don't mean it's full of death and depravity, in fact the lyrics are very fairytale-like, but the music. The effects on the guitars seem to be expressly engineered to resemble a black hole of sound. As far as mood is concerned, this is one of the best written and produced ever. All the arrangements, with their layers of keyboards and synths piling on top of jagged guitar riffs and throbbing bass, are perfectly attuned to each other to create the albums morbid sound. It's the indie prog-pop version of I See a Darkness, musically at least, since Will Oldham's certified masterpiece is dark lyrically as well. Perhaps the only fault with the album is the lyrics, most of the songs ("The Zookeeper's Boy" and "Apocalypso" particularly) are fine, but a few like "Why Are You Looking Grave?" sound like maybe something was lost in translation.

89. Mono & World's End Girlfriend: Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain
I've long debated with myself about exactly how much neo-classical is worth. Some modern composers are, of course, excellent but a lot of them don't do anything much worthwhile. And when you compare them to Beethoven, Motzart, Tchaikovsky, etc. they seem even less significant. But there is a branch of neo-classical that create some of the most interesting and beautiful music this side of Phillip Glass. This as-yet unnamed branch (neo-classical ambient? droneoclassical?) is perfected on this collaboration, though it has 5 "Parts" it's really a giant 73 minute movement comprised mostly of violin and cello, but with some ambient noise and light guitar work here and there, lest it become a World's End Girlfriend solo project. The whole album is a very dismal affair, but there's so much beauty in it you won't mind feeling a bit down.

88. The Samuel Jackson Five: Same Same, But Different
Same Same, But Different is a prelude to greatness. Like calm before the storm, but a calm that bears all the signs of the storm, leaving no one in doubt as to the cataclysm ahead. Not to mince words, Easily Misunderstood, SJ5's follow-up album is the best instrumental release of the 21st century and second only to TNT and f♯a♯∞ (infinity symbol) all time and the album that preceded it, while not up to its level, is still one of the best. The album is a toned down version of Easily Misunderstood, taking a more standard post-rock approach to the songs, but injecting them here or there with some livelier elements. For example, the undulating funk bassline in "Brittany Spears 4 President" the echo-happy "Honest Abe" and the tremendous jazz drumming found throughout the album. On their next album SJ5 full embrace their sound; they haven't quite yet here, but they're getting close.

87. The Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas
If you start an article of a pre-Tallahassee Mountain Goats album by describing John Darnielle's technique of recording all his song on a boombox with just himself singing and playing guitar, you're going to have to talk about the lyrics for the rest of the article. Because there's nothing more to the actual music on these albums than that. And that's ok, because it works perfectly with Darnielle's lyrics. They are the best when they are telling stories and pushing feelings. Some lines like "Selling acid was a bad idea, selling it to a cop was worse one" make you laugh at first, but within the songs they're really quite tragic. Elsewhere "Hi-didle-le-de, goddamn, the pirate's life for me" sound ridicules, but again within the songs they work so perfectly well. This isn't Conor Oberst's childish lyrics with lots of one liners going absolutely nowhere, this is a master songwriter and storyteller relating events, large and small, in the lives of people.

86. Islaja: Meritie
I don't know if Islaja does acid, but if she did, as far as I can tell from her music, it was probably after this album and before the next one. Compared with what's to come in her career, this album is relatively tame, breathy folk. Occasionally a jagged instrument or two will pop in, but for the most part the album lacks the crazy surrealness of Palaa aurinkoon and Ulual yyy. This album shows a different side to the Finnish goddess, and seems much more personal for it. While "personal" doesn't seem like a term you can use with an artist who sings in a language you don't understand, the placement of Islaja's hypnotic voice above most of the arrangements gives it that close feel.

85. The Magnetic Fields: i
I think for anyone but Stephin Merritt, trying to follow up an album like 69 Love Songs would be a nerve racking task. But Merritt is such a prolific songwriter and oddball in music that I can be pretty sure that no such thought entered into his mind. i is a much more personal album, with not only ever song's title starting with "I" but most of the lyrics do as well: "Nobody wants you when you're a circus clown. I should know, I looked all over town". Also, Merritt's talent for pop hooks is just as potent, he sings lines like "Love or not, I've always got ten guys on whom I can depend. And if you're not mine, one less is nine, get wise" with such bouncy hooks you'd think it was written for pop princess. The biggest difference between this album and past ones is it's almost entirely indie chamber pop, where as previous albums would mix in different styles, most prominently synthpop, this album contains none. Which is a good thing since previous synthpop tracks were some of the weakest.

84. Supergrass: Road to Rouen
Road to Rouen was a big change for Supergrass, gone was the playful glam-rock, replaced with elaborate indie rock and serious lyricism. It's not quite the masterpieces their first three albums are, and it's significantly better than Life On Other Planets. It does, however, contain some of the bands more creative work, as well as some of their best songs. "St. Petersburg" is one of the band's gentlest song, with it's strings and piano, while on the other hand "Kick in the Teeth" is as aggressive, musically and lyrically, as the bands ever been. "Roxy" flirts with glam rock, and the title track is a elasticy retro rock jam. The album really suffers when it's flow is broken up twice by "Coffee in the Pot" and "Low C" which are essentially throw away tracks. Regardless of that, the other songs make up for it fully and completely.

83. Destroyer: Notorious Lightning and Other Works
I love the songwriting on Your Blues, I really do. I mean the first two lines of the album are "Oh notorious lightning, yes I had to ride you" and it just gets better from there, but I was never a fan of the acoustic guitar/MIDI orchestration. But thankfully, some of (in fact most of) the best songs on that album get redeemed and reworked on this EP. The songs are done more in the Pavement-esque style of Destroyer's other albums, but with the MIDI still intact in some songs, but this time it works. The album puts the blues back into Your Blues, with Dan Brejar's angular guitar work twanging in some places and shrieking in others. Brejar's voice also goes from hushed to unhinged at a moments notice. The versions of the songs seem so much more complete and proper, whereas You Blues sounds like a demo album.

82. Caribou: The Milk of Human Kindness
Caribou is a tough act to classify. Although they're generally put in the "electronica" catagory, that's not really that fair, sure the opening track "Yeti" bleeds analog synths, and "A Final Warning" comes close on it's heels with even more intense synths, but oddball songs like "Lord Leopard" and "Pelican Narrows" are unabashedly instrumental hip-hop while on the completely opposite of the spectrum you have the 60 psyche-rock of "Bees" and the throbbing apocalyptic folk of "Hello Hammerheads". But how does all this variation affect the listening experience? One might think it would throw the flow of the record off, but it doesn't. The reason it doesn't is because Caribou's sole member Dan Snaith, he unifies the whole album with his production style. No matter how many different styles he uses it's clear to hear that they're all recorded on and using the same equipment; unifying the albums sound.

81. Espers: II
By the end of the first track on II, "Dead Queen", you have a pretty good idea of what you're in for with the rest of the album. British folk guitars, wispy freak vocals, jarring waltz violins, and acid-laced psyche guitar solos. That's pretty much the way the rest of the album goes, but the band's songwriting is so solid and their skill at constructing arrangements and moods in music is so strong that you really don't care. Espers is one of the premier driving forces in the psyche-folk revival and they make music of such quality and grace that you can't help but enjoy it. Each member is a master at their respective instrument and it's no surprise that the band has work with some major folk legends. Obviously this isn't music for everyone, but if psyche-folk is your thing, you can't do better.

Part 3, coming soon! stay tuned!