Top Five Favorite Albums: Post-2000

[Freak93]

By now, you know the deal. Again, no particular order.

Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Canadian indie rock that talks about relationships. It is interesting with both male and female lead vocals. The music seems to fit the emotions so well. It is a great listen to say the least.

The Decemberists - Picaresque
Colin Meloy is a great songwriter and we see it here. I do not really know if there is a song on this album that I really do not like. It brings great comfort to sit and listen to this work from top to bottom. It is upbeat when it needs to be, but can slow down as well. However, it is the multitude of instruments that make this interesting. (Also, The Mariner's Revenge Song was recorded in one take on a single microphone. Badass)

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Harmonies in a baroque way. It truly is an instant classic. The band takes folk rock and gives it a place in this generation. So often I find myself singing along or humming a harmony to one of these songs on my own. They are catchy, but you love that about the songs. They are songs you could listen to for a long time and not get bored.

Mando Diao - Ode to Ochrasy
This is garage rock. The songs keep you up and make you want to move. The lyrics tell interesting stories with a variety of characters. However, you never seem to get tired of it. It gives you that shot of energy you need when you're down.

Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Pop at its best. Stuart Murdoch is a fantastic, and extremely underrated, songwriter. There are not many parts in these songs that I can point to in disappointment. The lyrics match that same perfection extremely well. One of the best songs on this album, and one of my favorite, Funny Little Frog. Check it out.

[PrimadonnaPictures]

No particular order..

The Horrors - Primary Colours (2009)
With this sophomoric album, Primary Colours really shows that The Horrors aren't just another hype band from NME. Completely changing their style and sound (and line-up) shows that the boys from England actually have talent and can play music that can be enjoyed by a larger crowd than just goth and punk kids. The switch of Rhy "Spider" Webb to Bass and Tomethy Furse to synth really changed the dynamic sound.

Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine (2004)
Jesse F. Keeler + Sebastian Granger + Bass, synth & Drums = Musical Bliss. Enough Said.

Whirlwind Heat - Do Rabbit Wonder? (2003)
Now a lot of people won't classify this stuff as "music" and I'll be honest first time I listened to this I hated it. But it honestly opened my eyes to different music. It influenced me to start my most successful band, Pudding Attack, and Well I love this album through and through. Basically not a set genre but I would say Jazzy Sci-Punk with Electro thrown in for fun. Steve Damstra (Bass) is innovative and with David "Frozen" Swanson on vox and keys makes the front man impossible to back up if playing a show with them. Brad Holland however is the most talented musician in this band. His drumming is so technical and precise, He ranks up there with Stewart Copeland (Police) in technical drumming.

The Hives - The Black And White Album (2008)
Considered one of the Best Live Bands ever, after seeing them in Indianapolis last year I can finally die a happy man. The Hives are without a doubt top 3 live bands ever. Now on to their newest album. I love this album for a couple things. The hives tested the waters with this album with different producers on certain songs and it shows but never getting away from The Hives fun and energetic sound. This album actually makes me happy and well its definitely one of my favorites.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
Phoenix's newest album is quite amazing. I just recently got into this band and well I'm thankful that I have. This french 4-piece really plays well thought-out well played songs on this 9 song album. I say 9 songs because Love Like A Sunset (2 parts) are really one fantastic song split apart. The commercial hits Lisztomania and 1901 (as you probably heard in the latest Cadillac commercial) are great but its the other songs on the album that make this in the top 5. Thomas Mars' vocals are phenomenal and flows perfect with this music.

Honorable Mention:
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night (2009)
Very commercial and radio friendly, Kings Of Leon has exploded on the world in just the past few years. Their newest album Only By The Night has kinda stayed its welcome due to the radio overplay of songs such as Notion, Sex On Fire and Use Somebody, but its songs like Closer and I Want You that make me keep coming back to this album when I want to listen to an album all the way through.

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (2008)
What can I say about Kevin Barnes that critics and fans don't already know. The guys is a genius, although weird, probably a closet gay but the dude makes amazing albums and keeps doing it year after year. Skeletal Lamping is part-two of "his" transformation into the African-American late 40 yr old trans gender named Georgie Fruit, continuing from Hissing Fauna's 12 minute song "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal"

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (2007)
Kevin Barnes again makes his mark in music history with this 2007 album. Of Montreal is not just Kevin Barnes, but his accomplice B.P Helium really makes his mark with his music comprehension to make Helium and Barnes a sonic threat.

The Cure - 4:13 Dream (2008)
The Cure's 13th studio album and still keeps on making amazing alternative tunes for the masses. Robert Smith is a visionary to alt rock and still has the angst and beauty to put together tracks that keep The Cure name in the top of rock bands ever.

The Sea & The Cake - Everybody (2007)
Wow. What a album for me to check this band out on. I downloaded this album out of nowhere, well because I thought the band name was cool. Once I gave it a listen, I'm happy I did because this is quite possible the most rocking album Ive heard.. that doesn't "Rock" at all. Their style and fluidity of how their music connects is what makes this album tops.

Maps & Atlases - Trees, Swallows, & Houses (2007)
Maps & Atlases - You and Me and The Mountain (2008)
I'm gonna review these 2 EPs together since they're basically like one LP split. This math-rock band is complex and energetic. The guitar sounds are mind-blowing and that's all that needs to be said. They really put together a complex sound which somehow comes together to make an explosion of sounds and beats that make me excited whenever I put this band on. This Chicago-based band can only go up in my book and was quite the surprise watching them open for the next band on my list.

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (2008)
Amazing, Awe-A lot (not just some, thanks HIMYM,) insert superlative here. Ra Ra Riot are one band that just makes me glad I can hear, sorry deaf people. This upstate NY band has overcome tragedy (Death of their drummer) to make such a wonderful album as their debut LP. The Rhumb Line top to bottom is blissful audio listen that you can't just change. From Ghost Under Rocks to their Kate Bush cover of "Suspended in Gaffa" The Rhumb Line keeps giving me what I want, an album that's worthy of the repeat button

[Buzz Killington]

I will not, for a minute, say that these are the best records of the decade. However, they are five of my favourite to listen to. Now With Small Blurb!

Blur - Think Tank (2003)
Graham Coxon left the band before this one came out, but this album is still amazing. Hate on Blur and their standard Britpop sound all you want, but this entire album is 55 or so minutes of sheer brilliance, dangling the listener between their tender sound, their edge, and their brilliant sense for experimentation.

The Cribs - The New Fellas (2005)
The idea for the album is uninspiring. Three brothers form a band, write an okay first album, get little credit, get angry, hate everyone, write an album based completely off that anger. But tell me you don't get lost in the music that comes out of that mess.

Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That (2006)
Toss-up between this and Wolfgang. Although that has the best song (Love Like A Sunset), this is the fullest album that Phoenix have had.

Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak (2007)
I'm flattered by the amount of honesty Rhys Jones puts into his writing. No floweriness, no games. Only the wonderfully constricting tale of his life, his hometown, his friends, his horrible relationships. None of it wants to make you reconsider your own life, but it does make you want to have a beer with the guy, and enjoy the music. And that's what it's all about, ain't it?

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... (2008)
Indie pop. At its finest. An album that makes me want to go back to my childhood, and enjoy my life again. Sort of like MGMT, except it doesn't make me want to do acid or cut myself.

[sep]

Kanye West - College Dropout (2004)
Incubus - Morning View (2001)
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)
Incubus - Light Grenades (2006)
Trey Songz - Ready (2009)

[detroitbasketball]

Everything post-2000 sucks.

[PrimadonnaPictures]

This is Pitchforks Top 20 albums of the 2000's

20 Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights [Matador, 2002]
19 Spoon - Kill The Moonlight [Merge, 2002]
18 Kanye West - Late Registration [Roc-A-Fella, 2002]
17 LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver [EMI/DFA, 2007]
16 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois [Asthmatic Kitty, 2005]
15 The Knife - Silent Shout [Mute/Rabid, 2006]
14 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion [Domino, 2009]
13 OutKast - Stankonia [La Face, 2000]
12 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells [Sympathy For The Record Industry, 2001]
11 Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele [Sony, 2000]
10 The Avalanches - Since I Left You [Modular/Interscope, 2000]
09 Panda Bear - Person Pitch [Paw Tracks, 2007]
08 Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun [Smekkleysa; 2000]
07 The Strokes - Is This It [RCA, 2001]
06 Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica [Epic, 2000]
05 Jay-Z - The Blueprint [Roc-A-Fella, 2001]
04 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [Nonesuch, 2002]
03 Daft Punk - Discovery [Virgin, 2001]
02 Arcade Fire - Funeral [Merge, 2004]
01 Radiohead - Kid A [Capitol, 2000]