This was kind of a difficult list for me put together. Usually I am pretty opinionated about my taste and what albums I love, but it’s a little difficult to put a list together of ONLY 10 albums that I have loved over the last 10 years.
Just to give you an idea, I went through my Itunes, picking and choosing, and I originally came up with 23 albums. Damn I wish we were doing the top 23 albums over the last 10 years.
Anyway, I don’t really think these are in any order besides maybe the top 3 but they still could be switched around a bit I think.
I will never understand why this band does not get more recognition. This is literally what 90′s indie midwestern (braid, christie front drive, ordination of aaron, etc..) would sound like if it continued to progess. Their music is complicated and interesting for a 3 piece. Imagine At the Drive-in meets the year 2005 (without the prog). If that’s possible..
Stand out tracks – Talk Like Blood, Hearsay, Chain Reaction
I mean most of you know how this record sounds and why this one is important but let me reiterate… This record probably singlehandedly allowed indie music to be anything. I remember buying this record at Other Music and it read, “the Best Record from 1896″.. This record was done by a then, 18 year old Zach Condon, living in his basement in New Mexico. It’s a great record that sounds like a russian wedding meets the magnetic fields. I can’t remember hearing anything else sounding like this, before this record.
Stand out tracks – Postcards from italy, the Canals of our City, After the Curtain
Video –
8. the Decemberists – Her Majesty, the Decemberists! (Kill Rock Stars, 2003). WEBSITE HERE.
You can ask most people I know and they will tell you that I don’t really care about lyrics and vocals unless it’s hip hop or singer songwriters.. The record was one of the first indie records that made me re-care about vocals and lyrics. Her Majesty was the exact right mixture of drama, literary references and melody I have always been interested in hearing in a recording. There is something so uniquely different in the way that the Decemberists write their material that it’s impossible to ignore. I can even remember, getting choked up hearing Red Right Ankle for the first time.
Stand out tracks – Shanty For The Arethusa, Red Right Ankle, The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
video –
7. Sage Francis – Personal Journals (Anticon Records, 2002) WEBSITE HERE.
This record, literally, made me believe in Hip Hop again. When I moved back to NYC from college, I was really bored with all the hip hop that was coming out. I just wanted good lyrics, interesting point of views and anything, anything new.. Sage was it. He is usually bitter, always Straight Edge and 100 % honest, even when it’s not a popular opinion. I remember listening to him and wishing that all the rest of the hip hop world could hear this record …
Sample Lyrics “I may be getting too big for my britches / but I paid my dues when the cost was climbing. If I burn too many bridges I’ll never get off of this awful island / As long as I’ve been rhyming, they only started listening. Because for a while they didn’t like how / I wouldn’t smoke the pot that I was pissin’ in” Damn!
Stand out tracks – Message Sent, Different, Black Sweatshirt, Crack Pipes, Broken Wings
This band, changed my taste in music over the last 2 years. Metal with the vocals far back in the mix, creating a beautiful atmospheric noise. Amazing music to walk around new york city to. Because of this record, I started listening to other bands like Russian Circles, Om, Pelican, Earth, etc.. The best and heaviest, non threatening metal record ever made.. This is the perfect record to be put to cinema.
Stand Out tracks – all of them that aren’t just weird atmospheric noise.
5. Radiohead – In Rainbows (self released, 2008) WEBSITE HERE .
So when this album first was released, I was OK with it. I mean I liked it but I wasn’t entirely blown away by it. It wasn’t till earlier this year that this record really hit me. I am not sure what it was. I just love it now. I mean we have all heard it before, “Thom sounds like no one else.” “The band is always progressing.” but just something about THIS record really fucking makes me happy / sad at the same time. I mean it’s no OK Computer (’97) or the Bends (’95) but for me it’s a close third.
Stand Out tracks – Jigsaw, 4 Minute Warning, Videotape
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4. Bon – Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (jagjaguwar records, 2008) WEBSITE HERE.
Like I even need to write about this album. Anyone who reads this site knows how much I love this album. if you like nature based pretty ethereal music with a bluesy voice, this ones for you.
3. At the Drive-in – Relationship of Command (Grand Royal Records, 2000)
yeah so… once again, this might be number 3 or maybe number 2 or back when it came out it would have been number 1 for like 5 years straight. This is my favorite band of all time. Period. The best live band I ever saw, the most energy and probably the band that I saw the most. This record was a step away from In/Casino/Out, it was more aggressive, more experimental and definitely more forward moving. I still think that Cedric is one of my favorite rock singers of all time. No one, no one screams like him! Anyway, I am just waiting for the reunion, I’ll go see every date. Swear.
Stand out tracks – all of them except for the one with Iggy Pop.
videos –
2. EL P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (definitive jux records, 2007), WEBSITE HERE.
I still to this day listen to a track off of this record maybe once or twice a week. When I am 50 I will remember this album and how it reminded me of living in NYC. Below is my original review.
“Living in New York City means finding the perfect soundtrack to walking around the city. Never, in all of my ten years of living here, have I ever found a cd that felt so fitting to walk around New York to. It’s intricate, it’s hip hop, it complicated and it’s hard as fuck. I mean this record has everything for me. I really do love it and it makes New York fit just right.”
Stand out tracks – Every song except that weird one about falling in love with replicant on a spaceship.
We all know that I am a huge Elliott Smith fan and sometime in 2004 months after Elliott died, I started listening to the Sufjan Stevens (pronounced Soof yan). Now I am not about to say that Sufjan replaced Elliott for me but he was handed the singer songwriter torch for me. Sufjan’s voice is angelic, his music intricate and his instrumentation just straight out strange. However, this beautiful record pretty much renewed my love of the singer songwriter genre. I honestly don’t care that the record has an obvious Christian overtone, and that’s saying a lot for me. It’s lovely and amazing just the way a personal record should be.
Stand out tracks – every song (except for the first half of Sister cause I could never fall asleep to that song cause it gets so damned loud)
videos – (sorry about the long drawn out story this one starts out with, he likes to make shit up live… start it at 3:10)
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Two Gallants – What the Toll Tells, … And You Will Know Us By the Trail Of Dead – Source Codes and Tags, Black Keys – The Big Come Up, Hot Snakes – Suicide Invoice, Cursive – Ugly Organ, Menomena – I am the Fun Blame Monster, Ass – My Got Up and Go Just Got up and Went, Q and Not U – Power, Russian Circles – Station, Pelican – Australiasia, Om – Pilgrimage, Horse Feathers – House with no Name, the Black Angels – Directions to See a Ghost, the Gaslight Anthem – the ’59 Sound.
Please check out the rest of the blogs that are contributing to this TOUR HERE.
