MUSIC FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (PART 1 OF 10)

[defrog]

ITEM [via thelastaerie ]: NME releases its official reader-voted list of the Top 50 albums of the ‘00s.

Here are the Top 10:

1. The Strokes - Is This It
2. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
3. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
6. PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral
8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
9. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows

As you might imagine, I have a few grievances with this list – one of the biggest being that the decade isn’t even over yet.

There’s also the fact that it’s from NME, whose musical tastes tend to differ widely from my own. (I only own two of these albums, and only still listen to one of them regularly.) And of course, it was created by reader vote, which is just about the second worst benchmark there is (the first being SoundScan figures).

Still. it’s all a matter of taste, isn’t it? So what else is there to do but create my own damn list and bother the Livejournals with it? And there’s a couple of dozen albums that could be on this list, but I'll stick to ten that blow me away as much now as they did when I first heard them.

TOP 10 DEF ALBUMS OF THE ‘00s SO FAR

1. Warren Zevon
Life Will Kill Ya (Artemis) One of the great American singer-songwriters, Zevon kicked off the ‘00s with this album that focused a lot on illness and death – and that was before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

2. Sleater-Kinney
All Hands On the Bad One (Kill Rock Stars) Sleater-Kinney really were among the hardest rocking bands on the planet at one point. For me, this was the high point.

3. Mix Market
Treasure Land (K.O.G.A. Records) Second album from Japanese pop-punk group most of you have never heard of, but listening to this never fails to cheer me up.

4. Turbonegro
Party Animals (Burning Heart Records) Norwegian deathpunk with a deranged sense of humor that whips a snow leopard’s ass with a leather strap. The new Alice Cooper, in other words. Essential.

5. Neko Case
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti-) This was my introduction to Case’s alt-country world, with whip-smart lyrics and a heartbreakingly beautiful voice. Magical, really.

6. Sons & Daughters
This Gift (Domino) Their first album roped me in, but when they veered closer to Smiths territory with the follow-up, it was acerbic gold for me.

7. The Thermals
The Blood, The Body, The Machine (Sub Pop) bedsitter23 gets credit for turning me on to The Thermals, who won me over with their tales of religious obsession and urgent, sincere delivery.

8. The Duke Spirit
Neptune (Shangri-La Music) Possibly the most underrated British band of the entire decade, their second album is an even better version of the fuzzy landscape rock of their debut.

9. CSS
Cansei De Ser Sexy (Sub Pop) Quirky art-dance rock from Brazilian band with a singer named Lovefoxx. What is not to love?

10. The Bunnies
Ooh Wee Baby (Deckrec) Another Japanese band you’ve never heard of, this one of the 60s girl-band persuasion. Derivative, but earnest and cute, and they’re clearly having too much fun to resist. Seven years later, I still love this album.

BONUS TRAX: THIS YEAR’S CONTENDERS

I’m hesitant to list anything from 2009, if only because the year’s not over and sometimes it takes awhile for albums to grow on me, while other lose their shine afer a year or two.

But if yr looking for possible contenders, here’s what’s likely to make my Top 5 albums this year (that also are not by a band/artist I already mentioned):

1. Rodrigo y Gabriela
11:11 (ATO Records) Devastatingly impressive flamenco from duo who made their name busking flamenco versions of Slayer and Metallica songs.

2. Dengue Fever
Venus On Earth (Real World) The Cambodian psychedelica revival begins (and admittedly probably ends) here.

3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It's Blitz! (Dress Up/Geffen) I’ve been a fan since the first EP, but they were starting to get a little stale. They fixed it. With synthesizers.

4. The Raveonettes
In And Out Of Control (Vice) Another band that won me over with their first EP, but their doom-laden Jesus/Mary Chain-style pop has never sounded better.

5. Tinariwen
Imidiwan: Companions (Independiente) Tribal blues rock from the Sahara desert. Mesmerizing.

Okay, I’m done.

Ten years gone,

This is dF

Comments

[jasonfranks.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is a good one. I should blog it myself.

As for your picks: I do love that Sons and Daughters album, Sleater Kinney and the Raveonettes. I'm still annoyed I missed out on seeing Rodrigo y Gabriela live when they were here earlier this year.

I'm a Zevon newbie, so no opinion there, yet.

[def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing about Zevon is that his appeal may vary depending on which decade you sample from – the 70s (the California Rock scene when The Eagles and Jackson Browne were big), the 80s (the Excess Years), the 90s (the Detox Carl Hiassen experimental years) and the 00s (the hardened dying Renaissance troubadour years).

My personal recommendation is to skip the 80s (except for Sentimental Hygiene, which sports REM for a backing band) and focus either on the 70s or 00s to start.