Best Albums of the 2000s Dec 29 '09 (Updated Apr 25 '10)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line is fumbling over words that rhyme. Unlike my yearly "Best" lists, this one is ranked, because innovation and cultural impact are a big element here. There is one exception -- #9, which most of you will probably never hear. I had to rank the 4s together because I can't honestly say that one album is better than the other. I went back and forth on the 1s for about six months and finally at the last moment decided to tie them for reasons that I'll explain at the bottom. 10. Primal Scream -- XTRMNTR (2000) I didn't find this until 2009 -- mainly because I don't care much for Primal Scream (though I definitely appreciate "Vanishing Point") -- but knew after a minute in that it was a classic. Where else where you find bass lines as hard as those in "Kill All Hippies" and "Exterminator"? The answer: They can't be found. Even when this record is terrible, it's kind of awesome: "Pills" is something ugly but worthwhile for its ambition. There are songs that count as actual crap, such as the wholly insignificant "Keep Your Dreams," but endless addictive quality of the best tracks more than makes up for that. 9. Pedro the Lion -- Achilles Heel (2004) This record deserves its place in history, and it will never have it. It is Bazan, one of the most unique lyricists working, doing his best work: telling heart-breaking stories and miserating about God. You can't wring the honesty of the lyrics from your brain, such as in "I Do": "And as his tiny head emerged from blood and folds of skin/I thought to myself if he only knew, he would climb right back in" says so much about the pains, fears and realities of having a child. There are tales of legs severed and loves lost, told only as Bazan can tell them, or sometimes, he's the only one who would tell them. I sing a lot in Mongolia. There's no other record that I find myself singing from more. 8. Radiohead -- Amnesiac (2001) One of Radiohead's best qualities is their functionality -- if you want to go for a midnight drive, play "Amnesiac." If you want to write a book, play "Amnesiac." If you want to zone out to music, play "Amnesiac." This and "Kid A" are two of the best records imaginable for that midnight mood, and "Amnesiac" especially feels built for the night owl. Those who call it a series of B-sides from "Kid A" overlook the diversity and daringness of the record, found in the coarse percussion of "Packt Like Sardines" or the creeping techno of "Pulk, Pull Revolving Doors." 7. Bjork -- Medulla (2004) Somehow this was lauded as "a really cool record where Bjork only uses vocals -- for the most part, I mean!" and then kinda forgotten. Bjork winds her concept together so well that you really forget about the concept -- really, you might be surprised if someone told you after listening -- "hey, did you notice that 90% of the record is vocalized?" The beatboxes don't sound like beatboxes, the shtick certainly isn't, and the chorus fit perfectly into Bjork's cavern. Like Radiohead, Bjork's multi-functionality is impressive, as is the diversity of this effort ("Triumph of a Heart" being built for dance-clubs, "Who is It" for pop radio, "Ancestors" for listeners with a lot of tolerance). 4. Boredoms -- Vision Creation Newsun (2000); The Flaming Lips -- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002); Lightning Bolt -- Hypermagic Mountain (2005) These bands also rank among the three best live performances I've ever seen. "Vision Creation Newsun" has its lesser moments -- the slower tracks, such as "(Zutto)," provide a nice ambient vibe, but can't match the utter exhilaration found in "(Star)," the miraculously sustained 13-plus minutes of "(Circle)," or the post-climax-climax of "(Spiral)." The music creates images so vivid that the tracks are given images instead of titles. Like Radiohead, part of the album's remarkability is that it comes after records like, well, uh, whatever Boredoms used to make ("Super Ae" marked the beginning of this change). It's disappointing that their output has been so sparse since (Yoshimi is more focused on OOIOO; Eye is probably mutilating plushy little kitties for pleasure), but albums as absorbing as "Seadrum/House of Sun" give me optimism for whatever's next. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is the record most on here for its cultural impact, but it's still exceptional on a song-by-song basis. It seemed that for a time I couldn't go anywhere without hearing about those weird guys who put out this totally strange album about Yoshimi and some robots that are pink. Somewhat disappointing is how ill-conceived some of the record's negative criticism was: People remarked that after track four, they seemed to lose track of the concept. But there really isn't any concept. You might argue that there is a story -- tenuous to weave together -- in tracks one through four, but after that... welp, there's really nothing. The Flaming Lips never even claimed that there was anything -- if you read up on the making of the album, you find that it originally had some unbearable title involving fetus corpses, and then "Yoshimi..." struck Wayne Coyne, and they changed it (probably resulting in greater fame for the band). Like many a record, the album is named after a concept that only exists for a few songs, and for some reason many people missed this. Lightning Bolt's "Wonderful Rainbow" is the one receiving all of the praise because it's the most universally acceptable (who can resist the riff on "dracula mountain"?), but "Hypermagic Mountain," to plagiarize allmusic, tears wormholes through its predecessor's densest moments. Metal's fiercest duo doesn't fuck around; the first second an explosion, and the record's explosiveness carries on until the last moment, which has an electricity that leaves sparks even when the music has stopped. It's still mind-warping to go where Lightning Bolt goes on "Bizarro Bike;" it's still funny to hear them singing about George W. in "Dead Cowboy;" and how they manage to hold "Magic Mountain" together, I will never know. 3. Arcade Fire -- Funeral (2004) The indie-pop power of this album is undeniable -- it's my least favorite on here, but I'll always know that it has its place in history -- every track starts out beautifully and reaches a glorious height -- except for, uh, "Haiti," which is one of the most masturbatory songs I've ever heard. So much that I'm already done writing about this record. 1. Edan -- Beauty and the Beat (2005); Radiohead -- Kid A (2000) Edan's "Beauty and the Beat" is the greatest hip-hop record ever made. There is nothing else that even comes close. What is hip-hop, with the possible exception of Blackalicious, or MF Doom's latest too-high-concept piece? It's the same beat over and over again, rapped over by some egotistical asshole. Edan is most certainly an egotistical asshole -- the entire record is pretty much about how awesome he is. But what's different is that in every single moment he is changing something up in the background, taking turns that we can't expect, placing details that we don't notice until our 134th listen -- does that sound like normal hip-hop to you? On top of getting high-quality invites such as Percee-P and Mr. Lif to appear, the man himself is a lyrical master, turning lines such as "My third leg, more like my second neck" "Lenny Kravitz, who imitates Jimi Hendrix in every facet" Everywhere I walk, Edan's beats walk with me. I'll never be able to come to terms with the byzantine syncopation of "Fumbling Over Words that Rhyme" or the sonic depth of "Torture Chamber." And what's the worst part about this? This is the only written top-ten article that will list "Beauty and the Beat." I saw one comment in the AV Club comment section that said it was the best record of the decade, and that's it. Everybody forgot about it. Or rather, nobody heard it (Nathan Rabin of the AV Club did put it at the top of his 2005 list). I've asked friends who are very much into hip-hop if they're into Edan, and they scratch their heads, completely unfamiliar. It's almost too sophisticated for the masses, and yet everyone that I give it to loves it. It's everything that hip-hop should be, and puts every record on this list to shame. With the exception of Radiohead's "Kid A," which, similar to "Beauty," is not an easy album to define. I can call Edan "hip-hop," but I think the fact that it's not just "hip-hop" is why it never sold. Part of what's so unbelievable about "Kid A" is that it came after "OK Computer." They made the best album of the 90s -- something that many people might define as "psych-rock" -- and then right at the beginning of the 2000s made what everyone knew was already the best album of the 2000s. Partly because it's almost inconceivable that "Kid A" could be made and actually be good. But anyone who doesn't fall for those synths at the beginning of "Everything In Its Right Place" might be missing a part of their brain (I hate hyperboles like that, but it seemed necessary here). Even people who don't care for Radiohead love "Kid A." Because it came after "OK Computer," because it's so hard to describe or label, because, with the exception of "Morning Bell," it's perfect, "Kid A" might really deserve to be at the top of the list -- but "Beauty and the Beat" does not have any objectionable tracks, and nobody else is giving it what it deserves, so I'm settling for a tie. What fascinates me is how similar, in theory, the records are -- they both exist on a curve, each track blending into the next, they both seem bound by an idea that's hard to pinpoint, and neither can be narrowed into genre. Songs (in no order) LCD Soundsystem -- Yeah (Crass Version) Primal Scream -- Exterminator The Flaming Lips -- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1 Dirty Projectors -- Useful Chamber Radiohead -- Everything in its Right Place Blonde Redhead -- S.W.Gorillaz - Hong KongEdan - Torture Chamber Asobi Seksu -- Me & Mary Pedro the Lion -- Transcontinental Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks -- Hopscotch Willie Holy Fuck -- Casio Bossa Nova Deerhoof -- Running Thoughts Cut Copy -- Future Edan -- Fumbling Over Worlds that Rhyme

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