THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Gimme Fiction (Spoon) (2005):

the indie-rock darlings have been moving from strength to strength and here is their greatest effort. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Voodoo (D’angelo) (2000):

it took five years for D’angelo’s sophomore to emerge and now with all the details we’ve become privy to one realises why it has not been followed-up as yet. From the stunning Untitled (How Does it Feel) to the sweet refrain of Chicken Grease, this body of work proves that he really has no equal. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

The Marshall Mathers LP (Eminem) (2000):

if his debut a year earlier had been the PG-13 introduction them Eminem would shock America with this stunning sophomore effort. Kill You is a rap fantasy about torturing his mother in a spiel worthy of Freud. Nonetheless, the quality of his rhymes and lyrical flow is undeniable: critics couldn’t get enough nor could the millions of teens who ate it all up making him an icon in the process. But underneath the excess and hype lies some brilliant tracks (The Way I Am, Drug Ballad, The Real Slim Shady, ect). ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Frightened Rabbit (The Midnight Organ Fight) (2008):

no matter how much music one consumes, there’s bound to be a band that gets overlooked year-end time. I totally missed this gem last year but here I make amends because this Scottish trio know how to melt the cold away with their indie pop brand. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Song for the Deaf Album (Queens of the Stone Age) (2002):

the third album by the super-group features fierce drumming by David Grohl and the concept of a long drive through the American Midwest. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

The Black Album (Jay-Z) (2003):

having achieved all that he wanted to before, Jay now was intent on making statements and The Black Album was a sequential comparison to other mega-stars in popular culture. There was the braggadocio of Dirt off your Shoulder and the devilish rap of Lucifer, produced by Kanye West. This would signify Jay’s approach to hip/hop this decade: a pop-driven mash-up that produces stuff like 99 Problems, a track that had critics wetting their pants. This was, after-all, to be his final body of work before retiring and any producer that was hot game at the time produced something off it, from Timbaland to The Neptunes. The aim of this approach was no doubt to garner diversity but Jay is perhaps the only rapper currently thriving who has such juice naturally. As proved by My First Song, he needs no one to get down to basic rap and have it bouncing off the walls. A stunning album full of highs even though Justify My Thug should never have made it past the edit stage. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (2005):

the most immediate thing about the album is the tender layers scaffolding tracks like Casimir Pulaski Day and the stately Come On! Feel the Illinoise. Other tracks like Decatur…name-drop famous Americans throughout what would continue his ambitious quest to represent every state in song. Of course, Stevens flourishes elsewhere Jacksonville is a luscious number replete with swirling guitars and faux vocals. Even when criticizing his subject material (John Wayne Gacy, Jr) Sufjan never comes across as preachy.

The Best 100 Songs of 2000-2009: Part 9/10

the penultimate batch...







Snake in the Grass (Thomas Function): the ultimate punk one-two punch song.



The Only Bones that Show (Baby Dee): the rasping, guttural longing of a man transfigured by pain.



Mykonos (Fleet Foxes): uprooted tenderness juxtaposed with immense hurt.



While You Wait for the Others (Grizzly Bear): a sickly-sweet psychedelic wonder.



Stay Loose (Belle and Sebastian): a sad pop caper that loses and regains hope with amazing speed.



The Sloganeer: Paradise (Meshell NdegeOcello): Fantastic jazz imprint. NdegeOcello continues to merge her expanded sense of melody with her forceful lyrical input and such a result is gorgeous as well as groovy.



Kidz Are So Small (Deerhoof): a blissful collage of Bjork-like childish admissions that work in an off-beat, simplistic manner. Witness how Satomi’s vocals concede ground to the bare essentials driving the tune and one realizes how nuanced her work has become.


Also Frightened (Animal Collective): dub-step meets persistent electronic waves of distortion; trust Animal Collective to unearth a sub-genre within their cadre of sound



Ring the Alarm (Beyonce): the first real vindictive twitch from the decade’s defining R&B self-made diva.



Almost Crimes (Broken Social Scene): a lovely, electro-dance mash-up of strife and tension.

The Best 100 Songs of 2000-2009: Part 8/10

Pass this On (The Knife): lovely gender-bender tale of unrequited love. ()


Fangela (Here We Go Magic): throws in hand claps and an undeniable 80s vibe. ()


Sincerely Jane (Janelle Monae): music as a societal lesson. ()


Paris is Burning (St. Vincent): tale of revolutionary woe spun gothic style. ()


The Leash (Xiu Xiu): The male-to-female sexual transgression in popular music has no greater lyricist than Jamie Stewart and The Leash is a brilliant stab at the resentment festered on both sides of this obsession. It is unreservedly queer--not in the way that Antony Hegary is--but Stewart can frame tunes that both sexes can recognize their foibles in. History is replete with men rejecting fellow men as lovers, denying that part of themselves that readily is seen as weakness. Stewart frames The Leash from the view of the forlorn lover who is at one hurt yet understanding. 'God had made your sweetheart wrong/ born to suffer/born only to die', he croons in one couplet. Yet there is urgency to resolve too; the track ends with, 'but you cannot deny me as a woman/ oh ensign/ I was your woman'. Disturbing yet morbidly fascinating. ()


Cuckoo, Cuckoo (Animal Collective): Strawberry Jam’s uber experiment, with its wild pulse throbbing with rawness. ()


E.I. (Nelly): a closer examination reveals depth to this oft-spurned crunk masterpiece. ()


Brooklyn (We go Hard) (Jay Z feat. Santigold): pure swagger. ()


Lie Down Here and Be My Girl (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds): funky bad-ass tale as commandment. ()


1 Thing (Amerie): not quite the revolutionary after-all but read hot steam nonetheless. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Ruby Blue (Roisin Murphy) (2005):

Murphy’s first solo effort continued collaboration with Matthew Herbert to great success. A track like Ramalama (Bang Bang) proved the maturity Murphy had morphed into after her Moloko days. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Dig Lazarus Dig (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) (2008):

rock’s grumpy rebel delivers redemption in style.

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Strawberry Jam (Animal Collective) (2007):

a grand, sweeping marriage of sunny Beach Boys sounds and persistent 21st-century freak/folk, Strawberry Jam is more ambitious than their previous work (high praise indeed). The electronic beats hinge on Tare’s lovelorn vocals but not once does he omit the sheer dazzling pleasure of sound. This is the listening experience that Animal Collective has come to represent best. Peacebone is the first blast of cool magic, imagining itself as a fantastic link between reality and the line of dreams. The album summons its craft through meticulous arrangements of its makers, Panda Bear, Tare, Geologist and Deakin. #1 suffuses a phalanx of creepy vocals with angelic harmoniesin a sublime blend. Cuckoo, Cuckoo is the uber experiment, drumming along with its harsh insistency.

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

The College Dropout (Kanye West) (2004):

a stunningly blazing debut.

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Boy in the Corner (Dizzie Rascal) (2003):

Britain’s antithesis of hip/hop passes from Tricky to this kid with some serious flow

The Best 100 Songs of 2000-2009: Part 7/10

Shove It (Santigold); kicks ass and seductive as hell too. ()


Walking with Thee (Clinic): a rock quickie that never stops giving. ()


Glow (Nelly Furtado): La Bella Furtado treats the underground with her fabulousness and it works. ()


Freetime (Kenna): a less sober pop/rock aeuter than Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and TV on the Radio but no less a threat as evidenced here. ()


Alla This (Ani DiFranco): A vicious yet sweet anti-war, anti-branding, anti-sexist track that restores the feminine mystique only DiFranco seems to hold up, years after being out in the fields. It figures such a complex artist would not be able to do a ballad decked out with only personal views on, say, such pastoral things like the changing of the season. Not Ani, not ever. Here she swipes organized religion, George W Bush and just men on a whole. Whew! ()
Dirt off Your Shoulder (Jay Z): forget 99 Problems and focus on real Jigga Swagger. ()


Hot Wuk (remix) (Mr. Vegas feat. Opal): a huge splice of Jamaican dancehall with an even huger impact on hip/hop culture. ()


For the Pier (and dead Shimmering) (Sunset Rubdown): Spenser Krug does rock drama more lavishly and better than anyone else and here is but one of the many proofs. ()


Wamp Wamp (What it Do) (Clipse): the nefarious gangster rap that cats like Nas can no longer deliver divert into the hands of Clipse and while critics have gone way too overboard to hand them props, this is very much deserved. ()


Miss Jackson (Outkast): revenge Badu ode? ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Santogold (Santogold)(2008):

Philly native Santi White is the residual force of this entity (John Hill runs the tweaks in the background). The album effortlessly mirrors the 80’s pop vibe she clearly fell in love with growing up, without overdoing it. Subtle tracks like Lights Out and Anne reveal a Pixies fixation that is mingled with a contemporary funk intuition. Even better, the punk-tinged You’ll Find a Way runs its heavenly chorus with remarkable skill. Not content there, she rolls out ska by numbers on Say Aha and infuses it with dub and new wave. If that hasn’t hooked you then L.E.S Artistes tags along merely for bragging rights and, as brawta, Shove It downright kicks ass. She could have comfortably fit right into ‘American M.I.A’ space critics were desperately trying to pin her down in but White’s brilliance is as stubborn as it is unique. One hell of an authoritative body of work too. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (Yo La Tengo) (2006):

like drinking champagne under-water and never wanting to come back up for air. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

In Rainbows (Radiohead) (2007):

Thom Yorke reworking old material into one emotional core and, voila, tenderness in rock the way no other band can. ()

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Dear Emily, Best Wishes, Molly (Prussia) (2008):

for the most part, punk was pretty low-laying in 2008 but no one told Prussia. These kids actually impress upon the genre their own intent: Oil wreaks itself with a type of narcissism, slick its space with lyrics that actually fits its title. Supreme Being glides over its start-stop-start terrain. There’s a wide-eyed pragmatism that Prussia blends on the album that keeps the focus steady. Even more stunning is the funkiness of their beats (Lady, Lady). It’s not all sledge here; there’s some real heart and realism in it too. Besides how does one not love a Rolling Stones-esque track like Closed Lips?

THE 100 BEST ALBUMS of 2000-2009:

Music Hole (Camille) (2008):

Allowed to fall through the cracks of narrowed American tastes, Camile’s outstanding sophomore will no doubt be appreciated at a later stage. For those purists who got it while hot, who can forget the rave up that was Katie’s Tea or the divine trio—Home is Where it Hurts, Kfir, Waves—where her truest indicator of growth was the stunning yet broad palette of influences explored. If those weren’t moments enough to savor, she whips out Money Note and dances and pokes fun of divas all in a smart rip. ()