IndieWorld's Guide to the Best Music of '00 Feb 04 '01    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line U2. PJ Harvey. The Jayhawks. Aimee Mann. The Eels. Y2K wasn't all bad with respect to entertainment. There’s something mildly discomforting about publishing a year-end "best of" list. It makes me feel like an attention hog. I suppose I’m a bit of an attention hog for publishing my music reviews on the internet and expecting others to read them in the first place, but a "best of" list is different from an album review. Everyone has one, after all, and no one’s to say yours is any better than mine is. (That "everyone has one" factor seems to have been lost on epinions, a website which can take a month to make its website look MORE annoying but can't take 30 seconds to add a "best of 2000" category like they have in the movies section. That said, I'm following JAPrufrock's lead--heck, he's an adviser--and posting my list here.) With that self-effacing yet whiny intro, behold my list of the 20 greatest musical accomplishments of the year 2000. No metaphorical millennium garbage, I promise. Not a single mention of a certain overexposed blond rapper, I swear. All you’ll find here is my own self-aggrandizement, which you’re pretty accustomed to if you’ve read any of my other reviews. So pull up a chair, and get ready for a whole lot of me-me-me. 1. U2 All That You Can’t Leave Behind Interscope Best Tracks: Beautiful Day, Wild Honey, New York Who would’ve though the best album of the year could come from a band I had written off as irrelevant since I saw that awful video for "Discotheque"? Who would’ve thought it could come from a band signed to Interscope, the label misguided enough to make Fred Durst an executive? Who cares? U2 come clean about their mid-life crisis and in the process make great cases for redemption, pop music, and even the acceptability of mass-produced commerce as art. Besides, they had the good sense to ask the artist behind my second-favorite album of the year to open for them on their upcoming tour. 2. P.J. Harvey Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea Island Best Tracks: Big Exit, This Mess We’re In, This Is Love Harvey channels a myriad of women here—Patti Smith, Grace Slick, Tori Amos, Chrissie Hynde, and Stevie Nicks, among others—but never loses sight of her own unique vision, dropping her Bible-alluding shtick for songs that seem more honest. Songs from the City, Stories from the Sea punches me in the stomach every time I hear it, both as a listener (those guitars! That rhythm! That masculine voice!) and as a feminist (that phallic symbolism! That gender relativism in the duets with Thom Yorke! That masculine voice!). This is Harvey’s finest record yet. 3. The Jayhawks Smile American Recordings/Columbia Best Tracks: Smile, Somewhere in Ohio, Queen of the World Few albums are suited to the phrase "wall of sound." This one is. The Jayhawks have found a winning formula: they create melodies that are as sublime and as flavored with Americana as the landscape surrounding their native Minneapolis, and then they blast them, full throttle. The Jayhawks are probably the most underappreciated American band; last May they released this, their best work yet, to the sound of something less than a pin drop. Don’t let the mainstream’s inattention cause you to overlook this wonderful album. 4. Aimee Mann Bachelor No. 2 or, the last remains of the dodo SuperEgo Records Best Tracks: Nothing is Good Enough, The Fall of the World’s Own Optimist, Ghost World Aimee Mann is the closest thing in the current crop of songwriters to Burt Bacharach. She knows how to create a sublime, timeless melody and wrap it around lyrics that speak to anguish and frustration. Bachelor No. 2 is less an album than a collection of songs—it was recorded haphazardly, with 5 separate producers (including Mann herself) and at 6 different locales (including Mann’s house). A fine collection of songs it is, though, anchored by the ex-Til Tuesday frontwoman’s revelatory voice (yes, It carries), which seems flat and indifferent one moment and surprisingly emotive the next. 5. The Eels Daisies of the Galaxy Dreamworks Best Tracks: Grace Kelly Blues, Flyswatter, Jeannie’s Diary Singer-songwriter E evokes the wonder and fright of childhood in this sparse, beautiful collection of songs, many of which feel as though they’re being performed on children’s toys instead of instruments. More than any other album released this year, Daisies of the Galaxy is effective in tracing a mindset—in this case, preadolescent hyper-sensitivity and –awareness. Moreover, George W. Bush found this record threatening enough to issue a press release against it, and if that’s not reason enough to salute it, then what is? 6. Return of the Movie Musical Trust Björk and the Coen Brothers to liven things up. "Selmasongs," Björk’s soundtrack to Lars von Triers’s film "Dancer in the Dark," and the T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack to the Coens’s "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" are as different as Iceland and the Deep South, respectively but both stood on their own as fully realized albums, not just soundtracks. Meanwhile, von Trier and the Coens ingeniously wove the music into their films, making it seem as though they were set in a separate dimension. Additional kudos go to the fine rock soundtrack to "Wonder Boys," which perfectly captured the sweet, stoned professor vibe perfectly captured, in turn, by Michael Douglas; and drummer Joey Waronker’s unforgettable music for "Chuck & Buck," which unfortunately is not (yet?) available as a soundtrack. 7. Emmylou Harris Red Dirt Girl Nonesuch Records Best Tracks: The Pearl, Red Dirt Girl, My Antonía To paraphrase Tori Amos, I feel the West in Emmylou, and I feel it falling apart too. At a time when country music is losing its distinctiveness, Harris’s songs are rooted with such a firm sense of place that hearing twelve of them (or eleven and one Patti Griffin cover, as the case is here) can effectuate spiritual transmittance. Anchoring them is Harris’s voice, which is tinged with the wisdom and experience of the mountains themselves. 8. Chappaquiddick Skyline Chappaquiddick Skyline Sub Pop Best Tracks: Everyone Else is Evolving, Breakneck Speed, Hundred Dollar Pocket Readers disappointed in the latest Elliott Smith release are advised to check out the debut album from Chappaquiddick Skyline, a Massachusetts quintet which out-Elliotted my favorite male singer this year. The quiet, acoustic quality of these songs, matched with the dispirited potency of their lyrics, will seem familiar to Smith’s fans, but the band setting adds unexpected layers to the music. It’s lush without seeming overproduced—kind of like listening to Fountains of Wayne’s depressed cousin (one of the tracks is called "Theme to an Endless Bummer," after all). 9. Car Commercials As MTV, VH-1 and commercial radio fell even deeper into the teen pop/rap-rock/Matchboxtwentylite Bermuda Triangle this year, Americans were forced to seek out alternative venues to discover music worth hearing. Televised car commercials were responsible for widening the audience for several terrific bands this year, including Nick Drake and Hooverphonic (whose "Pink Moon" and "Renaissance Affair"—see number 17—respectively, were used in Volkswagen advertisements). Old favorites the Breeders and Blur could be heard accompanying car commercials as well, but the big winner in this arena was Sting, whose fantastic album Brand New Day experienced a brand new day of its own when Jaguar used the wonderful song "Desert Rose" in an ad. If commercial radio and music television fail you, why not just license your song to commercials? 10. Sleater-Kinney All Hands on the Bad One Kill Rock Stars Best Tracks: Ballad of a Ladyman, You’re no Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun, Leave You Behind "I’ll be holding on to my pride a bit too long," lead singer Corin Tucker sneers wrily on "Ballad of a Ladyman," this album’s lead-off track. And Corin’s remark is pretty much all you need to know about this LP: unlike 1999’s brilliant "The Hot Rock," it doesn’t really break any new ground for the Olympia trio, but seeing as they’re one of the best bands on the planet, that doesn’t really matter. The music is the prettiest punk rock ever created, and drummer Janet Weiss and guitarist Carrie Brownstein are super-talented, to be sure, but for me, Tucker’s rants, which cover everything from the Woodstock rapes to her credit card bills, are the main reason backing my passion for S-K. 11. Sonja Christopher "The Prozac Song I thought "Survivor" was hokum au frommage until sweet-natured cancer survivor Sonja—seemingly the most normal of all of ‘em—pulled out her ukulele and riffed on psychotropic drugs. From that moment, which would never have made its way on to a scripted television show, I was hooked on "Survivor"’s astute characterization. So why no Sonja on the "Survivor" soundtrack? 12. Elliott Smith Figure 8 Dreamworks Best Tracks: Son of Sam, L.A., Happiness The Man Most Likely to Become Bob Dylan, Part Deux released one of his lesser efforts this year, forsaking all references to Kierkegaard for a collection of pop songs, some of them accessibly crafted and others rather hard on the ears. Smith’s ethereal, lilting, feminine voice is never hard on the ears, however, and that’s a reason as good as any to love this album. Smith’s fans should keep listening to Either/Or and XO and to give this effort a chance as well. 13. Cat Power The Covers Record Matador Best Tracks:Satisfaction, Paths of Victory, Sea of Love Cat Power, the nom de plume of singer-songwriter/guitarist/pianist/ex-Smog flame Chan Marshall, shines like a latter-day P.J. Harvey on this woefully underpromoted album. Marshall’s gothic sensibility—and I mean that in that Flannery O’Connor-reclusive-observer sense, not in the Robert-Smith-big-hair-black-eyeliner sense—frees her and infuses these songs, many of which had been dimmed by overfamiliarity, with a new frankness. This record will ensure that you never hear the Stones’s "Satisfaction" the same way again. 14. Jack Black in "High Fidelity" The best display of acting by a musician in a motion picture this year certainly did not come from Björk’s turn in "Dancer in the Dark," nor did it come from Busta Rhymes in "Finding Forrester." Tenacious D’s Jack Black stole "High Fidelity" from John Cusack. I couldn’t stop smiling every time Black hit the screen, so close did he come to capturing the essence of Barry as author Nick Hornby imagined him. "High Fidelity" was not my favorite film of 2000—the book was just too good for the film to equal—but my favorite movie moment of the year was most definitely Black, imitating Natalie Merchant’s patented mid-eighties whirling dervish, to Katrina & the Waves’s "Walking on Sunshine." 15. The Wallflowers (Breach) Interscope Best Tracks: Letters from the Wasteland, Sleepwalker, Murder 101 Jakob Dylan has replaced Courtney Love as the writer of the most overanalyzed lyrics in rockdom, but (Breach) is a terrific album even if you ignore the fact that the Wallflowers’s lead singer is Bob Dylan’s son. This is a less accessible record than the Wallflowers’s previous effort, Bringing Down the Horse, a fact reflected in its comparatively minimal airplay, but it’s more consistent, more personal, and more technically realized than the previous effort. And it’s one of the best straightforward rock releases of the year. 16. Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast XL Recordings Best Tracks: The Shining, Everybody’s Stalking, Magic in the Air Badly Drawn Boy is the stage name of Damon Gough, another male singer-songwriter who wears his Elliott Smith influence on his sleeve. But Gough’s got a few maneuvers of his own up his sleeve, too; The Hour of Bewilderbeast has a pristine production that, for a truly independent album, is both admirable and remarkable. There are no breaks between the songs so that the tracks run together as if a single piece of music. The sheen of this album’s instrumentation, coupled with Gough’s gently rough voice, will remind listeners of Gough’s compatriot, Beth Orton. Still, like any solo artist with the moxie to call himself Badly Drawn Boy, Gough is a real individual, and he has created an album with a timeless, otherworldly quality that just feels innovative. 17. Hooverphonic The Magnificent Tree Epic Best Tracks: Mad About You, Jacky Cane, Renaissance Affair "Bought this guitar at a shop called mars," lead singer Geike Arnaert whispers on The Magnificent Tree, and it’s believable; though trio Hooverphonic hail merely from Belgium, their music seems as though it could’ve been made on another planet, or at least in the land of Oz. The threesome take Portishead’s brand of trip hop one step further on this record, and their sonic tricks seem both more daring and more integrated into the music than their predecessors’ experiments. This is the record Saint Etienne should have released as a follow-up to Good Humour. 18. Le Tigre Le Tigre Mr. Lady Records Best Tracks: Hot Topic, What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes, My My Metrocard Though it sounds like what a writer at Saturday Night Live might dream up in order to mock Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre is actually the current venue for ex-Bikini Kill frontwoman and Courtney Love punch receptacle Kathleen Hanna. The music is late ‘70s punk crossed with early Go-Gos, glossed with a sheen of frantic fun, but you don’t need to know that. You just need to read a list of song titles that grace the band’s self-titled debut: "Deceptacon," "What’s Yr Take On Cassavetes," "Eau D’Bedroom Dancing," "Sideshow at Free University," and my personal favorite, "Dude. Yr So Crazy!" 19. Macy Gray’s Public Appearances To paraphrase spankthrough, Macy appeared to be hooked on something other than phonics throughout the year 2000. But as Big Brother’s George Boswell (who often appeared more kited than Macy) might say, dat’s okay, Julie. I still love the Elmo-like songstress. The bored, offended stare on her face whilst forced to co-present a Grammy with Phil Collins was a truer evaluation of the sadness of music-awards shows than I could ever pen. 20. David Gray White Ladder RCA/ATO Records Best Tracks: Please Forgive Me, Babylon, This Year’s Love Hey, isn’t that Squeeze? No, it’s Dave Matthews! Wait a minute, it’s James Taylor with an English accent. Granted, David Gray’s album White Ladder is derivative, and its tracks tend to run together if you’re not paying attention. But taken as a whole, it manages to inhabit its own pristine, elegant atmosphere. Gray has crafted a work of great promise here and in so doing has subtly refined a style and a manner all his own. That’s not a compliment one can bestow on many musicians who inhabit the middle of the road.

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