Sorry for the title. “CDs” sounded old-fashioned, “albums” even worse. Well, that’s what happens when digital takes over. I buy music as mp3s, AACs, FLACs and sometimes in those round disk things that have been around for 25 years now. At any rate, it’s been a delight this week to listen past back to the best music of the past decade, and thank you to iTunes for making it much easier to sort through it all!
These are in no particular order.
Sun Kil Moon “Ghosts of the Great Highway,” 2003. A beautiful, creepy suite of music. I listened to it once on an overnight flight to the UK, and the music provided a perfect soundtrack to my half-waking, half-asleep brain.
Track: “Glenn Tipton”
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The Strokes, “Is This It,” 2001. Everyone compares this album to the Velvet Underground, and that sound is in it. But it always reminded me more of the great 1980’s Jersey band The Feelies, and listening to it this week reminded me of just that. Also, I heard on an interview with the Arctic Monkeys (see below) that this record got them to start playing music.
Track: “Hard to Explain”
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Sufjan Stevens, “Come On Feel The Illinoise,” 2005. Sufian looks like he’s not going to get to all 50 states as he had promised, but even if he doesn’t make any more music, this is a fitting testament to his talent. A beautiful piece of work that sounds like what Brian Wilson might have done had he been born 40 years later.
Track: “John Wayne Gacy Jr.”
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Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black,” 2007. The neo-soul revival was one of my favorite trends of the decade, and this album is the best of a very good crop. It brings you back to the 60s and 70s, and at the same time sounds completely fresh and new.
Track: “Tears Dry On Their Own”
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Arctic Monkeys, “Whatever They Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not,” 2007. Alex Turner and bandmates’ follow-on releases haven’t hooked me the way their debut did. Great post-punk a la Franz Ferdinand and the Gang of Four (and the Strokes), with absolutely the best lyrics of the decade. Bar none.
Track: “Fake Tales of San Francisco”
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Nomo, “Ghost Rock,” 2008. This album sounds to me like the future of music. A seamless melange of jazz, funk and African music, using horns, guitars, drums, percussion and a collection of homemade instruments. Put this record on and try not to start moving to the beat. I defy you.
Tracks: “Rings,” “Round the Way,” “Three Shades”
NOMO Live session from Svetlana legetic on Vimeo.
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Sigur Ros, “( )” 2002. Forget Bjork. If you want to hear great music out of Iceland, Sigur Ros is your band. Who needs lyrics in an actual language?
Track: “Untitled #1″
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Ryan Adams, “Love is Hell,” 2004. Adams has made lots of music, and this is one of his less-heralded efforts, but to me it’s the best. A highlight: the most “Purple Rain”-sounding song not called “Purple Rain”: “Hotel Chelsea Nights.”
Track: “Hotel Chelsea Nights”
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Wilco, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” 2002. OK, this is on everyone’s list, but there’s a reason for it. Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting is at a peak, plus the crazy noise on the songs, the fight with the record label, the film, etc. And the timing of the album was just eerie: try to listen to “Jesus etc.” without thinking of 9/11. I can’t.
Track: “Jesus, etc.”
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Radiohead, “Kid A,” 2000. This is also on everyone’s list (at the top of many), but that doesn’t make it any less amazing. From the first notes, a complete departure from their earlier work (where are the guitars?). Still sounds ahead of its time 9 years later.
Track: “Kid A”
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My Morning Jacket, “Z,” 2005. A shaggy and great record. Combines almost every significant 1970s musical reference in one album. Tastes of Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, the Who, etc., etc. Somehow, Jim James and crew can channel reggae and the electro-pop group Air in the same song.
Track: “Off The Record”
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David Gray, “White Ladder,” 2000. Basically the early ’00’s soundtrack for Philadelphia AAA station WXPN, the station that everyone in my area over 35 listens to. The formula: singer-songwriter plus electronics. And it still sounds great.
Track: “Please Forgive Me”
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Lucinda Williams, “Essence,” 2001. Not quite another “Car Wheels On a Gravel Road”–but still excellent. Williams’ lyrics are pared back here, the music remains intense.
Track: “Bus to Baton Rouge“
