Favorite Records of the Decade
If I recall correctly, I said on here that I wasn’t going to do an end-of-decade list. But right after I said that, I started working on one, thinking it would be a nice surprise. But I couldn’t narrow things down enough to where I was comfortable giving away records, and I realized the list was reflecting too much of my personal history (and so dramatically more subjective than other things I post here), and I set it aside.
But right now I’m snowed in, and I’ve decided to share.
I should point out, I guess, that at the beginning of this decade I was 15, and as it ends I’m now 26. So the records that I’m sharing here reflect a pretty big chunk of my formative years: finishing high school, post-high school, college, post-college, grad school. In some ways, I suppose you could say that some of these records are responsible for my being the way I am today. I won’t claim that they’re all great records, but if they’re not great they’re on here because they’re simply important to me.
Also I’ll note that fairly little from this year (and 2008 and 2007) is on here. That’s primarily because I hate when people hear a record once and then stick it on a list like this. I don’t have enough distance from hardly any record released this year to evaluate it.
Finally, there are 57 albums on this list, so I’m not going to include notes on all of them. You’re welcome to comment on anything I say, or don’t say. Oh, and you’ll notice that they’re just in alphabetical order - I can’t even imagine how I would begin to rank these records; it goes beyond apples and oranges.
So, the list:
• A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
“On the Table” is one of the best pop songs I have ever heard, and I might still love this record even if that song was the only good one on it.
• Aesop Rock - Daylight
• Air France - No Way Down
• Anti-Pop Consortium - Arrhythmia
After tiring of a lot of backpack-rap, this record hooked me - clever, non-derivitive, experimental but still pop with catchy hooks.
• Aphex Twin - Drukqs
Some of my favorite Aphex-sounding songs, and also “Avril 14th” which is just wonderfully sad and beautiful.
• At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
• The Avalanches - Since I Left You
I can get a little worn out on this record, but it’s still a well put together summer party album.
• Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
• Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
This might have been the first IDM record I heard. I worked at a record store and wanted to buy a record one day, so I asked a coworker to recommend something. He showed me this, and told me that it sounds like the artwork looks. He was right, and it’s probably still my favorite BoC release.
• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
What a totally solid indie rock record. Hits all the right buttons.
• Burial - Burial
In ten years, when I want to remember dubstep, I will probably play this record.
• Cex - Being Ridden
• Cex - Role Model
Similarly, when I want to remember IDM, I’ll put this on.
• Daft Punk - Discovery
I really liked “Homework”, and was deeply skeptical of this album for a long time, but eventually I realized that it’s a total party of a record. Impossible not to get down to.
• Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
• DJ/rupture - Gold Teeth Thief
The first thing I heard from /rupture, and it used to be my default mix to play in the car with other people around. There’s something for everyone in here, and I never got tired of hearing it.
• DJ/rupture - Uproot
The cello piece in the middle of this is amazing - completely makes the mix for me. Shows you what dubstep can be.
• Emynd & Bo Bliz - White Tees and White Belts
And when I want to remember club music, I’ll turn here.
• Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Or if I want to remember crescendo-y post-rock…
• Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Or mashups (though I should say that this record really succeeded for me because it went beyond the novelty listening of most mashups, and really did create something new and fun and interesting from its components).
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
I loved Godspeed from first listen; I always appreciated that their post-rock was long-form and demanded attention. (And I will always remember the day I listened to this record at my college while anti-abortion protestors showed graphic, bloody images on huge posters - extremely surreal; felt like the world could end).
• Greg Davis - Curling Pond Woods
A perfect blend of ambience, folk music, and pop. This is a comfortable record.
• Her Space Holiday - The Young Machines
• The Impossibles - Return
• The Impossibles - 4 Song Brick Bomb
The best thing they recorded - I wish this was an album; I wish they still made this kind of music.
• James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
Keeping minimalism alive and relevant.
• Japancakes - Loveless
The original “Loveless” is a record I got into pretty late, but immediately loved. This is the rare cover record that successfully puts the original into the new band’s context and still sounds engaging. Cutting out the distortion really emphasizes the melodies in these songs, and I’ve found some people who would never have enjoyed the original who quite like this.
• Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
A marvelous, clever, tuneful, amazing pop album. There are songs on here that make me start to tear up a little.
• Kid606 - Down with the Scene
This album, I think, made me realize that there was electronic music that I could really get behind (at a time when I assumed it was all like trance and completely formulaic and awful). The idea of doing punk with a laptop very much inspired me to make music of my own.
• Kinski - Airs Above Your Station
• Konono No. 1 - Congotronics
• Les Savy Fav - Rome (Written Upside Down)
The first LSF I heard, and still my favorite. That weird glitch on the vocals in the first song is probably my favorite thing this band has ever done - so unexpected but catchy.
• M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
Hearing this record’s epic shoegaze-on-computers sound directly inspired my post-rock-on-computers ideas that I used on my second album.
• Madvillain - Madvillainy
Basically a collection of my favorite Madlib beats with my favorite Doom lyrics.
• Matmos - A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure
Also really inspirational to my early forays into music. The idea that I could make songs completely from samples of non-musical things is probably something that I took from this. (And also the idea that experimental music could be fun, not just academic and super-serious.)
• Matt & Kim - Matt & Kim
This record gets me so pumped - full of exuberance and joy and sadness.
• Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange
• The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
I don’t even know what to say about this. There have been times in my life where I listened to this album every day. “I Felt My Size” perfectly sums up the feeling of truly understanding your place in the universe, and the wonder and terror of that feeling.
• Múm - Finally We Are No One
• Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
• Of Montreal - Horse & Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed)
Not very cohesive (as it’s not a “proper” album), but some great songs on here. Best song: “Nicki Lighthouse”.
• Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Sad and moving, but also incredibly catchy and clever.
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Panda Bear - Person Pitch
I’ve never really enjoyed Animal Collective, but I love this record. Psychedelic, sure, but not over the top. Like a Beach Boys record, but hazier and sprawling.
• The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages Of…
I think I used to listen to songs from this on a daily basis for a while, too. Maybe it’s a little cheesy or overblown, but some of these songs are really uplifting, and I used to sing along loudly in the car.
• The Postal Service - Give Up
Some don’t care for Gibbard, but the precious and clever lyrics and delivery aren’t off-putting to me, and the beats on this are just wonderful. Such a great electropop record.
• Quasimoto - The Unseen
I think this is second only to “Madvillainy” - this sprawls a little more - but when it’s great, it’s great.
• The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Speaking of wonderful indie-pop records… Their first and third records never grabbed me anywhere near the way this one did.
• Soundmurderer - Wired For Sound
A weird record: it’s three separate mixes, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, and they’re all non-stop amen-break jungle. I missed jungle happening the first time, and this was probably my first exposure, but that energy just totally grabbed me.
• Soundmurderer & SK-1 - Rewind Records
And this is a collection of new classics of jungle. I heard “Call the Police” in so many mixes for a while there, and I never got tired of it.
• Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
A little slow-paced, but still really moving and emotional.
• Stars As Eyes - Enemy of Fun
• Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds Of
• The Strokes - Is This It
I was kind of down on The Strokes when this record came out, and I never really bothered with their later albums, but this might be the best “rock” album of the decade. A bunch of catchy, well-made rock songs.
• Sweet Trip - Velocity : Design : Comfort.
• Tree Wave - Cabana EP
I really wish this band had made more records. I feel like a lot of people dismissed them as a novelty band, but they had a pretty great electro-shoegaze sound.
• The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Like The Strokes, I was kind of dismissive when this came out, but I came around to loving it. It’s so much more developed then “Fell in Love with a Girl” led me to believe; so crafted, and with so much energy.
