Best of the Aughts: Albums

MUSIC LIST

by Slant Staff on February 1, 2010 Jump to Comments (13) or Add Your Own

90. Erykah Badu, Worldwide Underground. Upon the release of Santogold's debut album, Touré anointed her America's first "post-black" artist. Erykah Badu hews closer to the soul of what she proudly calls "my people," but no recent singer has more defiantly and fascinatingly refused racial or aesthetic categorization. Worldwide Underground is a rapturous riff on the music that inspires it, full of flabbergasting digressions that deepen upon further listens, like the 11-freaking-minute-long "I Want You," a pulsating pant akin to an extended orgasm every bit as hot as Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby." PS

89. Radiohead, In Rainbows. When it was released (pay what you want OMGZ!!), a lot of commentary on this record focused on how it was Radiohead's most accessible work in years, which tells you a lot about how far the band has managed to move the goalposts of accessibility. After a decade's worth of provocations and obscurantist (if also frequently genius) experimentation, even an album bookended with the flanged, ultimately compromising minimalism of "15 Step" and the shuddering, forbidding "Videotape" seemed like inviting in comparison. Especially as it included the band's most generous ballad since The Bends in "Nude." It wasn't full of their biggest ideas, but small can be beautiful too. DH

88. M. Ward, Transfiguration of Vincent. Transfiguration of Vincent is inveterate recycler M. Ward's most enjoyable collage: gorgeous Ry Cooder-esque guitar work, haunting vocals reeking both of Portland fog and Delta dust, and shuffling bluesy songs that dance from the ditch to heavens. There's also an imagining of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" as a plaintive lullaby. The album is as disciplined as a graduate thesis while being as wild as a hootenanny, which has always been Ward's special skill, but it's never as perfectly rendered as it is here. Ward may be correctly tagged as a sepia-toned regurgitater, but damnit is he ever good at singing like a ghost. Wilson McBee

87. Missy Elliott, This Is Not a Test! Though the album didn't really live up to its war-meets-blaxploitation cover art, Missy Elliott came off like the Ntozake Shange of hip-hop on This Is Not a Test!, waxing poetic on the state of the genre on the first couple of tracks and then sounding like a 21st-century post-feminist on songs like "Toyz" and "Let Me Fix My Weave." Because in times of war and exploitation, sloppy sex, self-gratification, and good hairpieces are what truly matter. SC

86. The National, Alligator. The decade's ultimate example of a "grower," the National's third album Alligator was released to relatively little exposure in the spring of 2005. The record was a kind of a phenomenon by the end of the year, though, after the band won fans the analogue way while on a semi-infamous tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and most of the listeners who were at first put off by Matt Berninger's moody baritone eventually found it to be a voice of poetic power. Thus, "I'm a birthday candle in a circle of black girls" is the kind of lyric that, taken out of context, appears a dark joke, but set against the landscape of Alligator's white-collar desperation it becomes the "I am Spartacus" of the drunk man's cubicle. WM

85. Songs: Ohia, Magnola Electric Co. Jason Molina's last and best work under the Songs: Ohia moniker, Magnolia Electric Co . fittingly opens with the nearly perfect "Farewell Transmission," an aching distillation of the album's air of routed sadness. The resolute bleakness presented by Molina reaches some of its deepest points on Magnolia, his voice crackling with despair, lonesome notes arcing coldly into infinity. Even the songs he doesn't sing—like the Merle Haggard-inflected "Old Black Hen," and Scout Niblett's perfectly off-key "Peoria Lunch Box Blues"—ache with that same transposed sorrow. JC

84. Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker. With collaborations with Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Emmylou Harris on his résumé, Whiskeytown's Ryan Adams was already established as pretty hot shit in the alt-country scene when he cut his first solo album in 2000. But Heartbreaker has all the sass and brilliance of a great debut and every minute—from the just-gone-electric Dylan howling of "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" to the extraordinary ballad "Come Pick Me Up"—rings with promise. Adams's later output has been spottier, but Heartbreaker announced one of the decade's finest songwriters. JN

83. Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender. Joanna Newsom may have gone from dressing like an elf and dating Bill Callahan to posing in Vogue and dating Andy Sandberg, but the power of her bizarrely beautiful debut has not receded one iota. The music here is among the decade's most adventurous, from the archaic style of lyrics to the plucking of harp strings to the infant-like warble of Newsom's unique vocals. Unlike a lot of freak-folk that was popular during the same time period, though, there is some real meat beneath Newsom's fairy-world razzle dazzle, partially proven by the fact that songs off Milk-Eyed Mender have been covered by people like Final Fantasy, M. Ward, and the Decembrists. WM

82. Damien Rice, O. Not to take anything away from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, whose lilting, emotive Irish folk-pop elevated the otherwise pedestrian love story of Once, but Damien Rice and right-hand woman Lisa Hannigan covered the same territory on Rice's debut record, O, with far greater depth. Documenting each phase of a doomed relationship, from its lust-fuelled origins to its crushing, death-wish aftermath, O is a heady meditation on the nature of romance, with Rice and Hannigan demonstrating a real mastery of melody, arrangement, and dramatic scope. JK

81. Kristin Hersh, Learn to Sing Like a Star. I had never listened to Throwing Muses when I first heard Kristin Hersh's Learn to Sing Like a Star, my first foray in what became a love affair with her and Tanya Donelly's music. Hersh does not tread lightly: "Put a rock into my brain," she sings unceremoniously at the beginning of "Nerve Endings," one of many songs that deal with the singer's personal psychodrama (a kind of living performance art). It's hard not to love if you grew up listening to the Top 40 versions (Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette), but like Apple's own Extraordinary Machine, Learn to Sing also counts among Hersh's most accomplished musically: Acoustic guitars and swooning strings give "In Shock" and "Ice" thrilling, lived-in texture. PS

Page 2 of 10

Page: « prev 1 23 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 next »

Comments

JRHG1 on February 4, 2010, 01:56 PM

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, 08:41 AM

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, 09:50 PM

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!)

Jonathan Keefe on February 6, 2010, 12:24 AM

Making a list of this sort is an exercise in collective memory. In this case, I was so certain that I remembered that "dud" rating from Xgau's Village Voice "Consumer Guide" column that it didn't even occur to me to review his archives. Though the blurb in question has been amended, now this comment thread and Google cache will preserve our memories of that error. Super.

Carrie on February 6, 2010, 08:14 AM

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, 05:09 AM

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, 03:45 PM

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, 12:34 PM

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, 03:42 AM

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, 01:46 PM

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, 04:18 AM

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, 01:53 PM

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 26, 2010, 12:48 AM

Jack White is a great guitar player, no doubt. But Tom Morello can play circles around him.

Add Your Own

Features

Oren Moverman

On the phone from L.A., the Oscar-nominated writer-director chatted with Slant about his experience making Rampart.
by Gary Kramer

Giveaway

Slant Magazine