Boards
My top 25 of the 2000s
I know everyone is sick of reading these lists, but I've written it now and have to put it somewhere...
1. The National – Alligator
Completely flawless from start to finish; emotionally, atmospherically and lyrically it peaks and falls in all the right places and impossible to follow with any other album so I usually just turn the stereo off when its finished. Just about as perfect as it could have been.
2. Two Gallants – What The Toll Tells
Emotive and compassionate tales about characters from a bygone era, its real genius is creating imagery so perfect that you believe it is historical record.
3. Spiritualized – Let It Come Down
Hugely ambitious, meticulously constructed and perfectly executed – Jason Pearce incredibly followed an era-defining record with something even more astonishing.
4. Why? – Alopecia
Both playful and self-deprecating, it is lyrically superb and musically diverse enough so as to sound as new and exciting each time its heard.
5. Sigur Ros – ()
Incredibly powerful and grandiose, and nothing less than heartbreakingly beautiful.
6. Radiohead – Kid A
Both distant and immediate, disjointed and cohesive, its easy to forget how groundbreaking and brave it was, and how brilliant it was. The last true album.
7. Efterklang – Parades
This is a record of a band perfectly combining innocence and grandeur in total harmony. Sounds like a fairytale come to life.
8. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
One of the greatest lyricists of the decade, this albums marks the point where he combined maturity and youthful exuberance perfectly.
9. Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
How the hell they made paranoia and desolation sound so enthralling I don’t know…
10. Elbow – Asleep In The Back
Odes to a place and its people, and executed perfectly. One of the great British debuts.
11. Shearwater – Rook
Wonderful imagery and staggeringly beautiful, this record has the ability to make you totally immerse yourself in it.
12. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Thrilling. Utterly fucking thrilling all the way through.
13. Mogwai – Rock Action
Subtly from a band famed for being loud; they perfected the formula on this record.
14. Explosions In The Sky – All Of The Sudden I Miss Everyone
The band’s most joyous effort to date, in my opinion.
15. iLiKETRAiNS – Elegies To Lessons Learnt
In an age where the concept of a album is being eroded, they created an album of requiems for those that tried for greatness but were remembered as failures. The stage costumes, accompanying animated film and essays on the historical characters created a sense of purpose and drama unknown in other albums.
16. Arcade Fire – Funeral
Euphoric, raw and chaotic – nothing else has sounded as simply human and optimistic as this album has.
17. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
One of the most authentic country voice in contemporary music; makes me want to move to the American Mid-West even now and completely revolutionised my opinions of a whole section of musical history.
18. The National – Boxer
Outstanding chronicles of modern isolation and desperation in a much more subtle and powerful way than anything the British have come up with.
19. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Guy Garvey is the most romantic poet of the decade; totally unashamed love songs that do not come close to being disingenuous.
20. The Felice Brothers – The Felice Brothers
Unpretentious, evocative and the perfect accompaniment to whiskey from an oak-smoked barrel (the best kind!)
21. Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*
Best pop songs of the decade, undoubtedly. Should have been much bigger.
22. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
One of the most consistent British bands of the decade, creating three flawless records, each better than the last. Wonderful imagination and hooks.
23. Idlewild – 100 Broken Windows
Mostly in here for nostalgia as it reminds me of college, but while I have outgrown almost everything else I was listening to back then, this actually gets better with each listen
24. Grammatics – Grammatics
Unbelievably inventive debut with a superb take on modern indie-pop music.
25. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
Relentlessly bludgeoning and unapologetically intense, nothing sounds quite as powerful at deafening volumes.