MUSIC 
LIST
Radiohead is tied with Missy Elliott and Erykah Badu for the artist with the most albums on our list.
Best of the Aughts: Albums
by Slant Staff on February 1, 2010 Jump to Comments (13) or Add Your Own
Blame it on Shawn Fanning, the tanking economy, American Idol's shaping of the pop market, or the way the mainstreaming of "indie" music resulted in increasingly insular, niche-oriented consumers: The biggest talking points about albums in the 2000s is the precipitous decline in sales and how record labels' hemorrhaging profits impacted the way we interact with music. Perhaps the trend was part of a greater cycle, and the current singles-driven market will shift in favor of LPs after a few years. Given what a phenomenal decade the aughts were for singles, plus the advent of iTunes and file-sharing options, it's understandable that consumers gravitated toward individual tracks. But the quality of the proper studio albums released over the last 10 years was anathema to the drastic plummet in sales: Limited attention spans or otherwise, audiences short-changed some exemplary music.
Like many of the decade's finest films, the best albums of the decade shared a preoccupation with subverting conventions of narrative, plumbing the depths of society's collective memory, blurring the lines between the personal and the political, and exploring the mechanics of how we construct personal identity. From the shameless escapism of the first 20-odd months of the decade, to post-9/11 disaffect and alienation, and then to a tempered, guarded sense of optimism, the best work of artists like OutKast, TV on the Radio, M.I.A., the White Stripes, Madonna, and Animal Collective served as a cultural barometer, reflecting the broader zeitgeist and the trends that informed collective beliefs and perceptions. Put more succinctly, the best albums of the decade did exactly what pop art is supposed to do. That something vital to pop discourse might be lost if full-length albums disappear should give pause as we dive headfirst into the 21st century's gangly, awkward teenage years. Jonathan Keefe
100. Aimee Mann, Bachelor No. 2. Initially released through her website after she was dropped by Interscope, Aimee Mann's finest hour both heralds the dawn of the music industry after new media even as she keeps her sound classic. Jon Brion's production richly fleshes out the Bacharach-tinged melodies (and Bacharach's occasional collaborator Elvis Costello co-wrote "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist"), but the real star here is Mann's witty, caustic lyrics. The album opens with Mann coolly asking a would-be suitor what his return policy is ("When you fuck it up later, do I get my money back?"), perfectly coupling Mann's gorgeous, unforgettable melodies with her knack for a charming cynicism. Jimmy Newlin
99. Sinéad O'Connor, Faith & Courage. Christianity got a bad rap this past decade, and with the far right co-opting Jesus's message and using it as an oppressive tool to control women, gays, blacks, Latinos, and science, it certainly earned its reputation. So it's easy to forget that, in gentler, wiser hands, religion can be a tolerant and empowering device. Ten years ago, Sinéad O'Connor did just that with Faith & Courage, challenging the patriarchal pillars of her faith and proving that it's possible to be spiritual and optimistic and still have a healthy amount of rage. Sal Cinquemani
98. Clipse, Lord Willin'. Kanye West may have definitively proved that backpack and gangsta rap can converge on a shared mainstream plane, but Clipse had been working on subverting the ties between those two since their first album, giving their lyrics an almost geeky focus on the specific commerce of drug dealing. Seasoned with just the right amount of guest appearances and snarky brio, these songs are clever and expressive while still resolutely single-minded. Production by the Neptunes, who honed their craft with exquisitely wafer-thin stagger-step beats, didn't hurt. Jesse Cataldo
97. Bat for Lashes, Two Suns. Natasha Khan is unabashedly melodramatic and her music is at turns spacey and cavernous, but you never get the sense that you're dealing with a flake. The Pakistan-born beauty's sensuality tethered her sophomore effort, Two Suns, to something earthly and tangible. It helps that both the album is slightly more grounded than 2007's Fur and Gold and that, by the end of the decade, pop music was inching closer to the fringe (the tribal "Two Planets" would make Kanye a fan if he isn't already). PJ Harvey and Kate Bush are obvious points of reference, but Khan etched out a heady, haunting spot in the pantheon of female singer-songwriters that's truly all her own. SC
96. Gorillaz, Gorillaz. As Gorillaz, Blur's Damon Albarn hides behind characters invented by Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, and in a way, you could say the music itself is a living, breathing comic book. Albarn's influences span garage, pop, and hip-hop (rap interludes have found their way into the most celebrated singles, from "Clint Eastwood" to "Feel Good Inc.), and while the overall mood is downtrodden, it's never sullen like Blur; like a cyberpunk movie, it's futuristic and wistful all at once. That's also thanks to the tight production work. A harmonica, a whistle, and a drum loop is all it takes to make even a low-key head-bopper like "Tomorrow Comes Today" ecstatic. Paul Schrodt
95. The Knife, Silent Shout. Putting a decidedly modern spin on the concept of "danse macabre," Swedish duo the Knife pushed well beyond the set boundaries of dance music on their chilling sophomore album, Silent Shout. While much of the decade's dance music leaned on its synthetic origins as a means to create an icy, detached remove, Silent Shout rejects that impersonal approach. Instead, the album teems with palpable menace, tapping into the violence found in the disconnection between society's crippling dependence on technology and deep human emotions of fear, rage, and regret. JK
94. Goldfrapp, Felt Mountain. Released in 2000, Goldfrapp's debut was either a signpost of trip-hop's impending second wave or the last masterpiece to come out of a movement that began a decade earlier. Sadly, it seems it was closer to the latter, signaling the end of the genre's creative peak. But oh what a lofty peak Felt Mountain was. Namesake Alison Goldfrapp's voice is at turns evocative of Shirley Bassey, Portishead's Beth Gibbons, and any number of French-pop chanteuses from the '60s, while Will Gregory's lush, orchestral arrangements swing effortlessly between vaudeville and something from Rosemary's Baby. SC
93. Hot Chip, The Warning. People tend to remember this album for its hits: the stone-cold Party Jam™ "Over and Over" and "(Just Like We) Breakdown" and its monumental DFA remix. But the album tracks are all aces too, representing the band's most successful attempt to reconcile its opposing poles: weepy, white-boy soul and dorky prankster disco. Just listen to the title track, a cooing lullaby flush with skittering subliminal percussion and twinkling ascending synths and a lyric that endears and takes the piss in equal measure. Sly, wry, and persuasive, it sneaks up on you slowly before smacking you upside the head with a perfectly nursery-sized synth rush. One punch and you're floored. Dave Hughes
92. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere. Cee-Lo squeals on the opening track of St. Elsewhere as if he were a jack unleashed from his box, courtesy of the gorgeously propulsive force of Danger Mouse's winding backbeats. The funkiest and most spontaneous of pop records, about hot topics as wide-ranging as suicide and receiving good head, Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere libidinously slaps Cee-Lo's bizarrely infectious and soulful vocals atop Danger Mouse's cool experiments in sound to create a marriage of styles that isn't perfect so much as perfectly fun. Ed Gonzalez
91. The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow. The Shins's debut, Oh, Inverted World, was a pleasant enough set of anti-rock songs that evoked 1970s AM radio, but despite what Zach Braff's Garden State claimed, it was far too mellow to really change any lives. Follow-up Chutes Too Narrow, on the other hand, explodes with twee exuberance: Opener "Kissing the Lipless" starts with a Neutral Milk Hotel punk-folk strum before moving toward a shrieked, psychedelic chorus. Chutes's songs are delightful, but they're also jagged, making for one of the most interesting about-face sophomore records in recent memory. JN
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Comments
- JRHG1 on February 4, 2010, 10:56 AM
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Nice to see Music also on the list. It received decent acclaim on year-end lists for 2000, but has not fared as well on decade-end features. Good on Slant for remembering it. Music took things a step forward from the sound of Ray of Light, but American Life was kinda samey to Music, which is why (in part) it suffered (the material, in general, also wasn't as strong). Confessions on a Dance Floor was a nice return to form, but then she didn't quite deliver as Madonna should with Hard Candy. Going by the trend of the last four albums (in terms of quality), the next one should be a doozy. :) (hopefully)
- adamant_cocoon on February 5, 2010, 05:41 AM
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It was wise of you guys to place Vespertine 3rd on the list (I largely prefer it to Kid A, in that Bjork chronicles saintly amour and quiet ecstasy so beauteously); you almost got me there. I still think valleys abound in your decade-in-retrospect, which are nonetheless redeemed by 30 truly fantastic albums. Haphazard choices fare worse (No Doubt? Higher than...well, most of the list and dozens of better prospects?!!) and I'd wish Kala trumped Arular even on your watch.
- FattTony on February 5, 2010, 06:50 PM
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Well, this is admittedly a decent list (I should stress that I only own 18 of these albums at present, and 5 others I listened to but did not feel the need to either buy or keep, though I may now buy Kala from my local second-hand dealer, and give a second listen to others I had ignored or dismissed); I'm grateful to the compilers/reviewers for alerting me to various artists whose talents I was unaware of or unfamiliar with—though I tend to agree with 'adamant' that Rock Steady has been slightly overrated, and I'm prepared to state under oath that I believe Since I Left You to be INSANELY overrated, and that In Ghost Colours would have been INFINITELY more deserving of a place on this list—but good job overall, gang; you do a fine service for us music fans who don't have time for everything but don't want to let the best slip through our radar!
P.S. Sorry Mr. Keefe, but regardless of opinion, you should at least get your facts straight; namely, that The Disconnection did NOT get Christgau's 'dud' rating; if you actually examine his Consumer Guide with a bit of care, you'll see that he listed it as an Honourable Mention, and that he wrote an informative three-star-out-of-five review for Rolling Stone; rather than 'dismissing' the album with a single throwaway line, he was summarising his feelings about the music in the manner in which he does with every other Honourable Mention...by all means disagree with him, and you make good points about his wordplay and choice of comparisons (I love and admire him but he can be an annoying son-of-a-gun!) but how about trying to avoid making outright mistakes in your writing? (because it's otherwise pretty good!)
- Carrie on February 6, 2010, 05:14 AM
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I really liked this list!! But i thought that it was missing two albums. The first is Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, what happened guys? After that mind blowing review, 4.5 stars and such a masterpiece, the best of her career, and that means something, since Blacklisted and Middle Cyclone are terrific too. The other one is Joanna Newsom's Ys. It was called a masterpiece, it received 5 stars and yet it was not in the list, while The Milk-Eyed Mender (a terrific album by the way and one of my favorites of all time), that wasn't even reviewed by Slant made it. I'm pretty sure that was enough space to both (you guys placed to M.I.A. & Madonna albums inside the top 40) and even if it wasn't i would totally pick Ys over Mender any day. Without Ys, Mender wouldn't make this list, maybe Pitchfork's and others's since they actually gave it some attention back in 2004. Glad to see Aimee Mann and so many other records that we can only find over here in Slant's list. And Bjork inside the top 3 was awesome, and Polly Jean Harvey inside the top 20, even better. After that 3 stars review that you guys gave to Stories, a top 20 placement is awesome. I though White Chalk would make the list too, it was rated a 5. Beach House's Devotion was rated a 4.5 and didn't make it either! Speaking of Beach House you guys need to review their new album Teen Dream! But anyway solid list, i love it, i love the new website, i love Slant!
- alexbwolf on February 7, 2010, 02:09 AM
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Cool to see Music and Rock Steady on the list. I was surprised Rolling Stone had forgotten them in the decade 100 since both were in their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
- Carrie on February 7, 2010, 12:45 PM
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Slant, i'm so glad you guys released the top 101-250, the albums i was complaining about not being included and others i love too were there! I'm even happier now! Slant keep doing more lists more often. The favorites from the 90's, the 80's, the 70's, the 60's (don't forget about Laura Nyro on that one!). You guys are also REALLY GOOD, i mean REALLY REALLY REALLY good when it comes to singer/songwriters, especially female, a list containing the 100 essential records or the best female albums ever would be the most awesome thing ever! I love you Slant staff! I need to come down now, sorry!
- Ang on February 10, 2010, 09:34 AM
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Thank you for this list. I really appreciate Slant's diverse choices. I visit this site on a regular basis and commend them for being inclusive of different genres and musicians. I made my own top 10 album list of the Aughts (it wasn't easy) and seven of the ten are on this list! I would have liked to see Neko too, and Fever Ray's debut album (2009) floored me.
- Gila on February 14, 2010, 12:42 AM
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As per usual when these kinds of retrospective lists come out, I try to seek out a lot of the albums listed. Thanks to Slant for introducing me to Goldfrapp's debut which is shockingly good- I had no idea they made an album that sounds like this. A left-field pick, but a good one.
I just wish there could have been some room made for at least one of Neko Case's albums (a second Goldfrapp album, more than 1 Liars album, and Neon Bible, I could live without) or Joanna Newsom's Ys in the Top 100.
- Some Guy on February 17, 2010, 10:46 AM
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I'm just curious: why didn't the Pet Shop Boys' Fundamental make it into the top 100? It's a fantastic album that, if not outright placement in the upper section of this list, deserves at least to be ranked higher than the stillborn Release.
- T-Money on February 18, 2010, 01:18 AM
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Pretty awesome list! Damn, I have to say that several of my favorite albums made the cut, and I'm glad to have been introduced to some new ones.
Some albums I thought would be deserving of this list would have been...
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Despite the generally downward trajectory that Bloc Party have taken in recent years, this album remains a gem in British indie/post-punk. An absolutely stunning album.
Zero 7 - Simple Things
While Thievery Corporation may be the most recognizable name in the low-fi electronic genre, this album is one of the most mellow and smoothest sets produced.
Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
Now I may be alone on this one, but the track "Cayman Islands" is the closest we have gotten to Simon and Garfunkel in quite a while. This is beautiful album, perfect for that rainy day when you want to curl up with your hot chocolate in hand.
Mastodon - Leviathan
When you need to rage and get every motherfucker in the room's attention, this is the AK47 of your musical arsenal. The concept album, inspired by Moby Dick, is epic. The final track, "Hearts Alive," is nothing short of glorious.
- fjraz on March 1, 2010, 10:53 AM
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T-Money: I absolutely agree with Zero 7 and Kings of Convenience... truly standout albums.
Now, if I could recommend a little something, these two albums by (in my opinion) the finest Asian music exports would have made the list:
Anggun - Luminescence (2005)
This did not get a release outside of Europe, but it's a fantastic pop record nonetheless. Simply classy and demure... pop at its finest, much like her very underrated (hell everything about her always seems underrated) 1997/1998 international debut, "Snow on the Sahara". But "Luminescence" packs in more confidence, attitude and soul... had it been released in North America it would have been a massive hit record.
Key tracks: "In Your Mind", "Undress Me", "Breathe in Water", "Saviour" and the acoustic version of "Captivity".
2. Utada - Exodus (2004)
Released in the US in late 2004, it didn't do much outside of the club scene. Timbaland co-wrote 2 and produced 3 tracks here: the sweeping, ethereal-sounding (and standout) "Exodus '04" as well as "Wonder 'Bout" and "Let Me Give You My Love" (remember, this was pre-"Loose" and "FutureSex/LoveSounds"). Yes it comes off downright silly at times (especially on the album's lead single, "Easy Breezy"), but heck, there's some other gems to be found here. She released an English follow-up last year with "This is The One": a lot mainstream-sounding, but still great. Nevertheless, this *is* actually the one.
Key tracks: "Devil Inside", "Exodus '04", "Hotel Lobby", "Animato", "Kremlin Dusk"
Branching out a little further...
Sugababes - One Touch (2000)
The edgiest album ever to come out by any girlband, and by the most successful girlband of the 21st century not many in North America know about. Never mind about the line-up changes, how none of the original founding members are not even in the band right now or even their more mainstream-sounding follow-ups, this is a standout debut that never got quite the recognition it deserved. Moreover, this is actually the band's only album to feature all three original members.
Key tracks: "Overload", "New Year", "Soul Sound", "Lush Life", "Run for Cover"
Siobhan Donaghy - Revolution in Me (2003)
Exactly. The first member of the Sugababes to leave and perhaps the best one. Now we all know who was the mastermind of One Touch's left-field pop, offbeat moments. A very impressive solo debut that went very underrated (#117 in the UK). Well, she's anything but "overrated".
Key tracks: "Overrated", "Nothing But Song", "Revolution in Me", "Twist of Fate", "Iodine"
- juniusmaltby on March 25, 2010, 09:48 PM
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Jack White is a great guitar player, no doubt. But Tom Morello can play circles around him.
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