Ten years ago I was enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. It doesn’t feel like a long time ago, but looking over my haphazardly-compiled best-of-the-decade list, I’m forced to consider the range and scope of the experiences that I will forever associate with these fantastic albums. It’s been a hell of a decade.
Apparently 2003 was a particularly great year in music for me. It occupies about half this list. Also, the second half of the decade only provided me with two albums. Is that a consequence of my growing cynicism? I’d like to think it’s simply a matter of these albums not having had a chance to resonate as deeply as something like Pig Lib, which was a daily source of comfort and inspiration during a tough time.
If I were to reconsider this tomorrow, I think about half the list would stay the same. Contrary to what some might say (Casey Rea, I’m looking at you), the aughts have been a fertile decade for music. (At least the first half. The second, I think, may belong to television, but I digress.)
My favorite album’s of the decade:
Deltron 3030 – s/t (2000) – The best thing Dan The Automater, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien or Kid Koala have ever done is this early-millennium masterpiece. The production is staggering and Del is in fine-form. This is a genre-transcending hip-hop record.
Super Furry Animals - Mwng (2000) – I was pleased to see Casey The Contrarian include Rings Around The World on his list, but I’m going to have to side with its predecessor, Mwng. With their former label bankrupt, the band had a lot to prove. Rather than play it safe, SFA released an all-Welsh home-brewed triumph. They put it out on their own and managed to parlay its acclaim into a deal with a new label.
Daft Punk – Discovery (2001) – Possibly my favorite album on this list, Discovery raised the bar. Infectious, upbeat, moving and witty, there’s not really anything that compares. It towers over the rest of the band’s catalog as well as the rest of the French House scene.
Steve Malkmus – Pig Lib (2003) – With his solo debut, Malkmus demonstrated that he’d be just fine without Pavement. With Pig Lib, he almost made you forget about his former band. Everything about this record is seeped in excellence.
King Geedorah – Take Me To Your Leader (2003) – MF Doom was extremely prolific in the first half of the decade, and it’s hard to single out one album amongst the half a dozen or so great ones as my favorite. Take Me To Your Leader gets a lot of mileage thanks to contributions from Doom’s former Monster Island Czars collaborators (who he would alienate a few years later).
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash (2003) - Like Discovery, this is a superlative dance-pop record. Kish Kash is a bit songier, if you’ll pardon the technical term. If you haven’t tried them, do. The Jaxx can make some serious magic happen in the studio, as evidenced by this eclectic yet uniformly great set of songs.
The Fall – Real New Fall LP (2003) – The Fall have more albums than most bands have songs. They’re all over the place in terms of quality, a few being very good indeed. With The Real New Fall LP, everything came together in the best way possible, resulting in one of the band and the decade’s best.
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free (2004) – Say what you will about Mike Skinner’s The Streets, but you’d hard-pressed to identify another artist that does what he does. It’s sort of rap, but so much more. (We just keep it in “rock” at the pop. What are you gonna do?) On this follow-up to the equally impressive Original Pirate Material, Skinner ups the stakes by framing the entire album as a story. “Blinded by the Lights” alone makes this album essential.
The Field From – Here We Go Sublime (2007) – The Field’s brand of warm, melodic micro-trance has a versatile quality I really appreciate. Despite it’s melancholy, occasionally despaired tone, it’s an uplifting album. I can listen to it and enjoy it in just about any mood. The Field sound like a lot of their Kompakt label-mates, but they are a cut above.
The Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport (2009) – It’s perhaps a bit early to put this album in the company of the aforementioned classics. Still, we must respect the present, right? 2009 was a great year for music, and this album is a shining example of the level of quality we’ve enjoyed over the last twelve months. The Fuck Buttons droning, noisy, pulsing anthems are like an injection of enthusiasm.
