Skank Albums of the 00's?

[Blane]

Haven't seen a thread on this yet. Hope I didn't miss it!

Totally subjective, of course, but here are 20-odd albums that utterly seduced me this decade. Tried to put them really roughly in order, but way too tough. Subject to change as others mention albums that I forgot all about. Overall a pretty great decade of music I think!

Bonnie Prince Billy - Summer in the Southeast (gorgeous)

Leonard Cohen - Live in London (reminded me of everything there is to love about Mr. Cohen)

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People

Smog - A river ain't much to love

Radiohead - Kid A

A Silver Mt. Zion - Born into trouble as the sparks fly upward

Bonnie Prince Billy - Greatest Palace Music (a bit of a cheat, but the reworked versions of these tunes have been a fixture on my playlists for a solid 3 years, so I had to include it)

My Morning Jacket - Z

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Miracle Fortress - Five Roses

Modest Mouse - We were dead before the ship even sank/The Moon and Antarctica (another cheat. I couldn't decide which one was more worthy. Love them both!)

Godspeed you black emperor- Lift yr skinny fists like annenas to heaven (I started the decade by moving to Montreal and immediately fell for these guys)

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (by far my favorite of their albums. Constantly in rotation)

Wolf Parade - Wolf Parade/Apologies to Queen Mary (had to include both as they're so closely related. Like the rawness of the original better, but the extra songs are winners)

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (still thinks this kicks Soft Bulletin's ass any day of the week)

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (short and sooo sweet)

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (still remember the first time I listened to this. Blew me away)

M. Ward - Transfiguration of Vincent (my vote for underrated album of the decade)

Arcade Fire - Funeral (love it).

Edited December 27, 2009 by Guest

[Guest Low Roller]

2000

Coldplay- Parachutes Before Yellow was all the craze, I listened to this album at MusicWorld and enjoyed it, so I got it. Little did I know how huge this band would become over the decade.

Radiohead- Kid A To this day this is still one of my favorite albums of all time. It just gets better with every listen, especially when you listen to it with headphones on, alone in a dark room.

Thievery Corporation- The Mirror Conspiracy Is there a better down-tempo song than Lebanese Blonde? It's been 10 years, and I still have not heard it.

2001

Elbow- Asleep in the Back Heard this album for the first time in Holland while touring the country, and the album stuck with me. It's heavily melancholic, second only to Radiohead's mastery of the despondent.

Radiohead- Amnesiac Yes. Every Radiohead album will make this list. Sometimes eclipsed by its predecessor, and given the nickname Kid B, the surprising follow-up to Kid A is an amazing album as well.

TOOL- Lateralus Made all the better by the memories of seeing TOOL three times in concert in support of this album.

2002

Boards of Canada- Geogaddi This was my traditional album for Sunday afternoon drives in the Gatineaus. A perfect laid-back album to chill out to.

Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots What's not to like about this album? Strong song list, and a twisted accompaniment DVD with visuals to go along with the music. Several evenings spent staring at that, let me tell you.

Trey Anastasio- self-titled A fun record that made the morning commute to Kanata that much more interesting. A frequent go-to record, which is surprising given my lack of interest in all Phish studio albums.

White Stripes- White Blood Cells The amazing rawness of this record was a nice contrast to all the hyper-produced albums of the time. In a time when I was listening to tons of jambands, this made for a nice change of pace when needed.

2003

Gotan Project- La Revancha Del Tango Holy shit is this album still awesome. Tango music set to tight beats. This album opened my eyes to a whole new genre of music that I had never previously explored.

Jay Z- The Black Album This album brought me back to hip-hop. Tight from start to finish, I can still listen to this without skipping a song. Let's not forget the MASSIVE amounts of re-mixes that this album spawned.

Radiohead- Hail To The Thief Arguably one of the weaker studio albums by the band, it was unquestionably supported by some of the most incredible live shows in the band's history. Montreal 2003 still ranks for me as the best show I have ever been to.

White Stripes- Elephant The apex album of this remarkable band.

2004

Arcade Fire- Funeral I heard a lot about Arcade Fire, but only after listening to a used copy of Funeral did I fully understand why they were getting the rave reviews they were getting. An incredibly powerful album that rocks from start to finish (well, maybe minus the last track sung by Regine).

Iron & Wine- Our Endless Numbered Days Jack Johnson rekindled my interest in acoustic music, but it was Iron & Wine that made me flat out adore it. This album is filled with gorgeous songs.

Modest Mouse- Good News For People Who Like Bad News Although The Moon & Antarctica was a break-through album for the band, I think it was this album that really captured my attention. Since then I have followed their whole catalog.

Neil Young- Greatest Hits It was this album that re-introduced Neil Young to me. I had tried to listen to Decade several years prior, but it never stuck. Greatest Hits blew me away with each song, and I've collected every item of music from Neil Young since. I don't listen to Greatest Hits much anymore, but it start the love for the music.

second half to come later...

[nibbler]

nero: Zedonk

JSB: Rebirth of Hooch

Edited December 28, 2009 by Guest