(t5!) Albums Of The 2000s (Redux)

See how my taste evolved from the last time I did this! Twenty at a time for the next two weeks, all blurbs from allmusic.com. Fight!


Pages: #200 - #181 | #180-#161 | #160-#141 | #140-#121 | #120-#101 | #100-#081 | #080-#061 | #060-#041 | #040-#021 | #020-#001 | Complete List

#200: Four Tet - Rounds
Released May 5, 2003
Domino
She Moves She | Spirit Fingers | Slow Jam

"The record offers something for nearly every audience that could approach it, with a bit of a groove for electronic fans, an obtuse sense of music-making for experimentalists, and a dreamy melodicism sure to endear it to indie pop fans."

#199: Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
Released March 24, 2009
Domino
Dull To Pause | Hazel | Sneak A Picture

"...the duo's painstaking attention to detail and nuance -- traits they recognized in McLaren's work -- gradually glints through..."

#198: Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top
Released October 30, 2001
Gernm Blandsten
Mr You're On Fire, Mr. | Nothing Is Ever Lost Or Can Be Lost My Science Friend | We Live NE Of Compton

"With sufficiently angular guitars, British-tinged vocals, and a truly pummeling bass presence, the group rocks with phenomenal energy and absolutely no restraint."

#197: The Dears - End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story
Released June 13, 2000
Grenadine
Where The World Begins And Ends | End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story | There Is No Such Thing As Love

"Lead singer and songwriter Murray Lightburn plumbed the emotional depths of his soul to create a kind of song cycle to lost love, heartbreak, and pain..."

#196: Slim Thug - Already Platinum
Released July 12, 2005
Star Trak
3 Kingz | I Ain't Heard Of That [Remix] | Miss Mary

"Throughout the album, Slim Thug ably lugs his deep, thick, smoothened drawl through a series of infectious flows."

#195: Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain
Released September 16, 2003
Sound Ink
A Dead Mouse | Let Me Watch | Saliva

"With his mush-mouthed delivery as currency, the charismatic MC delivers a phone book of impressionistic rhyme trails, barmy anecdotes, and twisted punchlines that siphon humor into the grayest scenarios."

#194: T.I. - Paper Trail
Released September 26, 2008
Grand Hustle
No Matter What | Swing Ya Rag | Swagga Like Us

"...there is a sense of urgency and a new dimension of self-reflection not touched upon throughout the holding pattern that was T.I. vs T.I.P."

#193. Sigur Rós - ( )
Released October 28, 2002
Fatcat
Untitled 1 (Vaka) | Untitled 3 (Samskeyti) | Untitled 4 (Njósnavélin)

"The relentlessly funereal tempos, the elegant arrangements, and the high-pitched warbling/cooing remain in abundance."

#192. The Tough Alliance - A New Chance
Released May 21, 2007
Sincerely Yours
Something Special | A New Chance | Neo Violence

"As effortless, and effortlessly enjoyable, as it is perplexing to define, its remarkably fresh-feeling fusion of dance music and classic pop has all the omnivorous eclecticism, bright-eyed playfulness, and epic emotional earnestness of Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha and Primal Scream's Screamadelica"

#191. Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Released April 18, 2000
DreamWorks
Somebody That I Used To Know | Everything Reminds Me Of Her | I Better Be Quiet Now

"the sound of Smith's melancholy has largely shifted from edgy to sighingly graceful, although his lyrics are as dark as ever."

#190: Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Released June 13, 2000
Epic
3rd Planet | Gravity Rides Everything | Paper Thin Walls

"Modest Mouse's Epic debut, The Moon & Antarctica, finds them strangely subdued, focusing on mortality as well as the moody, acoustic side of their music and downplaying the edgy rock that helped make them indie stars."

#189: M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us
Released January 24, 2005
Gooom
Don't Save Us From The Flames | I Guess I'm Floating | Teen Angst

"M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzalez loves crafting antigravity masterpieces of layered and meandering synthesizers."

#188: OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Released September 23, 2003
LaFace
The Way You Move | She Lives In My Lap | Hey Ya!

"the two albums do prove that the music can be solo in execution but remain OutKast records through and through."

#187. Zomby - Where Were U In '92
Released September 9, 2008
Werk Discs
Euphoria | Float | Where Were U In '92

"The press materials describe Zomby's debut full-length as "the rave album that was never made in the early '90s," which seems a fairly apt way of getting the idea across -- though in fact, this batch of tracks would have sounded distinctly strange at any rave of the period."

#186: Mariah Carey - The Emancipation Of Mimi
Released April 12, 2005
Island
We Belong Together | Shake It Off | Mine Again

"since the reserved, tasteful adult contemporary pop of 2002's Charmbracelet failed to revive her career, she's done a 180 and returned to R&B..."

#185: Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
Released May 24, 2004
Breastfed
Valley Of The Dolls | Drop The Pressure | Need You Tonite

"Though Mylo is a bit of a musical chameleon in that he raids influences from acid house to ambient techno to downtempo trip-hop, the album is held quite cohesively together by a smart sense of humor and what might be called a case of the warm fuzzies."

#184: Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
Released June 19, 2008
Illegal Art
Play Your Part (Pt. 1) | Still Here | Play Your Part (Pt. 2)

"... Girl Talk's Feed the Animals finds Gregg Gillis continuing to reinvent the mash-up with his everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach."

#183: Kate Bush - Aerial
Released November 7, 2005
EMI
Joanni | Sunset | Nocturn

"... Aerial will sound exactly like what it is, a new Kate Bush record: full of her obsessions, lushly romantic paeans to things mundane and cosmic, and her ability to add dimension and transfer emotion though song."

#182: The Clientele - Suburban Light
Released November 28, 2000
Pointy
Reflections After Jane | Monday's Rain | (I Want You) More Than Ever

"Even as the Clientele's hazy, soft-focus pop suggests the influence of virtually every musical ancestor worth acknowledging, the band's pastoral beauty nevertheless conjures a dreamscape entirely its own..."

#181: The National - Alligator
Released April 12, 2005
Beggars Banquet
Abel | The Geese OF Beverly Road | Mr. November

" Berninger's wry, filthy, and often eloquently sad tales of materialism, sex, and loneliness are augmented by the stellar duel-sibling attack of Aaron Dessner (guitar) and Bryce Dessner (guitar) and Scott Devendorf (guitar/bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums), who flesh out each track with so many little creative flourishes that it takes a few listens to break them down into palatable portions."

#180: Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Released February 6, 2006
Rough Trade
The Blues Are Still Blue | For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea | Mornington Crescent

"The Life Pursuit, is a sleek, stylish affair that finds the group quietly pursuing new ground without forsaking its trademark witty, literary, tuneful pop."

#179: Rjd2 - Deadringer
Released July 23, 2002
Definitive Jux
Good Times Roll Pt. 2 | Ghostwriter | Chicken-Bone Circuit

"His debut LP for Definitive Jux, DJ/producer RJD2's Dead Ringer is a deeply creative and musically poignant hip-hop record for summer 2002."

#178: No Age - Nouns
Released October 30, 2001
Sub Pop
Miner | Teen Creeps | Errand Boy

"...what matters is the sound coming down the wires as Nouns clatters and hisses on through to your ears."

#177: My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Released September 9, 2003
ATO
Golden | One Big Holiday | I Will Sing You Songs

"In all, My Morning Jacket may be a journey through the past, but it's also a solid step into something rock & roll has been missing for an awfully long time in the mainstream arena: melody, extremely catchy and well-written songs that aren't afraid of the mainstream, and a love of the great pop continuum that translates into something new."

#176. Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Released August 19, 2005
Warp
I Found The F | Tears In The Typing Pool | Corporeal

"Sparingly applied beats, intricate but subtle guitars, and hazy synths dominate the album, providing a restrained backdrop for Keenan's quietly commanding voice and crossword-puzzle lyrics."

#175: Neko Case - Blacklisted
Released August 20, 2002
Bloodshot
Lady Pilot | I Wish I Was The Moon | Runnin' Out Of Fools

"her big, bold, but silky smooth voice is still a thing of beauty, and if anything, she's still learning more remarkable things she can do with it, with the result being some of her finest and most insightful performances to date."

#174: Mogwai - Rock Action
Released April 30, 2001
Matador
Sine Wave | Take Me Somewhere Nice | 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong

"Rock Action incorporates bristling distortion, propulsive drums, and electronic textures...but the album's most remarkable moments revisit and reinvent more traditional sounds."

#173: Clipse - Lord Willin'
Released August 20, 2002
Star Trak
Grindin' | Hot Damn | When The Last Time

"Lord Willin' is an oft-scary trip down the backstreets of Tobacco Road as Malice and Pusha T recount the trials and tribulations of the drug trafficker-turned-MC."

#172. Britney Spears - Blackout
Released October 26, 2007
Jive
Gimme More | Piece Of Me | Radar

"As an album, it holds together better than any of her other records, echoing the sleek club-centric feel of In the Zone but it's heavier on hedonism than its predecessor, stripped of any ballads or sensitivity, and just reveling in dirty good times."

#171. The Dears - No Cities Left
Released October 12, 2004
MapleMusic
We Can Have It | The Second Part | Warm And Sunny Days

"No Cities Left...is a sweeping chamber pop nightmare of post-apocalyptic heartbreak."

#170: Cam'Ron - Purple Haze
Released December 7, 2004
Roc-A-Fella
Down And Out | Harlem Streets | Dip-Set Forever

"This lack of quality control will both provide ammo for Diplomat haters and frustrate Diplomat supporters, even if there's a durable 45-minute album in here somewhere."

#169: Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
Released March 23, 2004
Drag City
Sprout And The Bean | Peach, Plum, Pear | Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie

"Classically trained harpist Joanna Newsom uses her appreciation of Appalachian folk and bluegrass for an oddly alluring set of indie rock melodies."

#168: Girls - Album
Released September 22, 2009
True Panther Sounds
Lust For Life | Ghost Mouth | Hellhole Ratrace

"Girls offer up a...thrifty and drug-addled ode to the warm climate, but filtered through a pair of green-tinted hippie shades."

#167. Booka Shade - Movements
Released May 16, 2006
Get Physical
Night Falls | Mandarine Girl [Album Version] | In White Rooms

"Movements humanizes the duo's sometimes chilly electronica with disjointed bass squelches set against retro drum machine rhythms"

#166: Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Released September 5, 2007
Service
The Opposite Of Hallelujah | Into Eternity | Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo

"Night Falls Over Kortadela is witty, pretty, silly, and wise; and filled with instantly memorable melodies, thrilling moments of surprise in the arrangements, and laugh-out-loud lyrics"

#165: T.I. - King
Released March 28, 2006
Grand Hustle
What You Know | Why You Wanna | Top Back

"...it does carry the best set of productions he has been given to work with, and it guarantees that he won't be leaving the singles charts any time soon."

#164: Beach House - Devotion
Released February 26, 2008
Carpark
Gila | Heart Of Chambers | Home Again

"Their music is so lonely, so haunting, that the only beach house it evokes is a deserted one, stranded on a winter night so desolate that summer isn't even a memory."

#163: Dr. Dog - Fate
Released July 22, 2008
Park The Van
Army Of Ancients | From | The Beach

"They've still got all the right classic rock moves, clever production ideas, and the ragged-but-right vocals and bouncy bass of Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken's tough guitar and sweet vocals."

#162: Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Released July 25, 2006
Bella Union
Roscoe | Young Bride | You Never Arrived

"The Trials of Van Occupanther jumps with both feet into the '70s of Laurel Canyon troubadours and soft rock balladeers."

#161: Radical Face - Ghost
Released March 20, 2007
Morr Music
Welcome Home, Son | Wrapped In Piano Strings | Homesick

"Ghost is something that lives up to its name -- a strange, murky presence that sometimes is not entirely there, but in the best, most suggestive way."

#160: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Released June 3, 2008
Bella Union
White Winter Hymnal | Ragged Wood | Blue Ridge Mountains

"Borrowing from ageless folk and classic rock (and nicking some of the best bits from prog and soft rock along the way), on their self-titled debut album Fleet Foxes don't just master the art of taking familiar influences and making them sound fresh again, they give a striking sense of who they are and what their world is like."

#159: The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
Released February 2, 2004
Record Collection
The Rat | The North Pole | New Year's Eve

"Bows + Arrows fuses that heady atmosphere with the band's angular rock into songs that are equally noisy, dreamy, angry, and romantic."

#158: M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
Released April 14, 2003
Gooom
Run Into Flowers | In Church | Cyborg

"On the list as one of the most radiant keyboard albums, M83's absurdly lush Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts combines a small arsenal of antiquated synths and drum machines with a shoegaze aesthetic to create a giant starburst of sound and analog miasma."

#157: Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Released August 17, 2004
Brute
Does He Love You? | Ripchord | I Never

"For More Adventurous, Rilo Kiley's Warner-distributed hello to the big time, the Los Angeles band is more cohesive, more spotless, and tidier in its tangle of indie pop, torch song, and too-cool-for-school cynicism than ever before."

#156. St. Vincent - Actor
Released May 4, 2009
4AD
The Strangers | The Party | Just The Same But Brand New

"Musically and lyrically, the album often feels like a duel (and occasionally, a duet) between Clark's collected, literate side and her raging emotions."

#155: The Killers - Hot Fuss
Released June 7, 2004
Lizard King
Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine | Mr. Brightside | Smile Like You Mean It

"The Las Vegas foursome introduce a perfectly tailored new wave-induced art rock sound on their debut..."

#154: Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Released February 20, 2001
Merge
Everything Hits At Once | Believing Is Art | Me And The Bean

"Their third full-length, Girls Can Tell, reflects the group's lean, hungry stance in its spare, spiky, immaculately crafted songs."

#153: Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
Released November 24, 2008
Roc-A-Fella
Say You Will | Love Lockdown | Paranoid

"...the constant flutter of West's processed voice, along with a seldom interrupted sluggish march of aching sounds, is enlivened by the disarming manner in which despair and dejection are conveyed."

#152: Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
Released May 4, 2007
Lost Highway
Wonderwall | The Shadowlands | Hotel Chelsea Nights

"If Love Is Hell has the edge over Rock N Roll, it's because it's more carefully considered in its production and writing, and he manages to hide his allusions better than he does on Rock, where every title and chord progression plays like an homage."

#151: Califone - Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
Released March 18, 2003
Thrill Jockey

Horoscopic, Amputation, Honey | Michigan Girls | Vampiring Again

"Califone still explores the shadowlands between acoustic and electronic sounds, but the experimentation is more focused here, more in support of the song."

#150: Mouse On Mars - Idiology
Released April 24, 2001
Domino
Actionist Respoke | Catching Butterflies With Hands | Paradical

"While their peers in the field of electronic music continued to either overshoot experimentally (resulting in radical, unlistenable work) or make the same records over and over again, German duo Mouse on Mars pumped out radical, intriguing work by the bucketful."

#149: Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Released January 29, 2007
Kranky
Hazel St. | Tape Hiss Orchid | Heatherwood

"...much of Cryptograms meanders about in the experimental realm, where swells and layers matter more than melody or structure."

#148: Cornelius - Point
Released October 24, 2001
Trattoria
Drop | Tone Twilight Zone | Brazil

"Keigo Oyamada's fondness for exotica, bossa nova, garage rock, and dream pop also shapes Point, but the effect is more organic and less contrived; bright, strummy guitars, insistent beats, and sweet harmonies loop over and over again until the songs reach their breaking points."

#147: ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags And Codes
Released February 26, 2002
Interscope
Another Morning Stoner | How Near, How Far | Source Tags And Codes

"It's a seamless transition, mixing the sweeping, fearlessly anthemic qualities of their previous work with a newfound sheen that actually makes the music's earnest roughness stand out more"

#146: Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Released June 26, 2000
XL
The Shining | Once Around The Block | Cause A Rockslide

"Despite all attempts to sabotage his songwriting and production with innumerable experimental tidbits, songs within a song, and (seemingly) tossed-off arrangements, Damon Gough has to face the fact that he wrote and produced over a dozen excellent songs of baroque folk-pop for his album debut, and the many gems can't help but shine through all the self-indulgence."

#145: Doves - The Last Broadcast
Released April 29, 2002
Heavenly
Words | There Goes The Fear | Caught By The River

"...it does carry the best set of productions he has been given to work with, and it guarantees that he won't be leaving the singles charts any time soon."

#144: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Released August 3, 2009
Domino
Hooting & Howling | All The King's Men | This Is Our Lot

"That can't be said of Two Dancers, which sounds far more inviting; it sighs and caresses where Limbo, Panto stomped and snarled."

#143: Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Saddle Creek
Old Soul Song (For The New World Order) | Lua | First Day Of My Life

"I'm Wide Awake is designed as a nakedly honest singer/songwriter album, somewhat inspired by the classics of the genre in the '70s"

#142: Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Released September 2, 2003
Last Gang
Combat Baby | Wet Blanket | Dead Disco

"For fans of later Metric work, such as the stellar Fantasies, this makes for necessary listening."

#141: Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss
Released January 29, 2007
Dial
Asha | Saturn Strobe | Moonstruck

"The effect is hypnotic, like driving on the expressway into a snowstorm at night, how you can feel the underlying propulsion of the car and hear its constant rumble, yet at the same time, a fuzzy sense of comfort can easily overtake you as the snowflakes dance bewitchingly in your headlights."

#140: Joanna Newsom - Ys
Released November 6, 2006
Drag City
Emily | Only Skin | Cosmia

"Ys is epic, restless, and demanding, made up of five dazzling, shape-shifting songs that range from seven to 16 minutes long."

#139: Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love
Released April 5, 2004
Modular
Time Stands Still | Saturdays | Zap Zap

"Bright Like Neon Love...is so enamored with simple ideals of dance music, it feels like a dreamy, unconscious state of hypnotic rhythms designed purely for easy listening."

#138: Clipse - We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2
Released December 1, 2005
mixunit.com
What's Up | Mic Check | Zen

#137: The Decemberists - Castaways And Cutouts
Released May 21, 2002
Hush
Leslie Anne Levine | A Cautionary Song | Cocoon

"Throughout the disc, Meloy's songs tell tales of life's castaways, including Spanish gypsies and Turkish prostitutes, painting glorious pictures with supposedly suspicious characters."

#136: Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent Jens
Released June, 8, 2005
Service
Maple Leaves [EP Version] | Pocketful Of Money | Another Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill

"His sound is glittering and shiny bedroom pop built on gentle guitars, bold and often hilariously obvious samples, subtle orchestration and arrangement topped with lyrical turns that brings laughs, and heartfelt vocals that can bring tears. "

#135: The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Released September 13, 2004
Memphis Industries
Ladyflash | Junior Kickstart | Huddle Formation

"The Go! Team earn their exclamation point. Their debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, is a refreshing blast of Day-Glo bubble-dance-pop that could crack a smile on even the most frozen of faces."

#134: The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
Released September 25, 2001
Merge
The Glow Pt. 2 | You'll Be In The Air | I Felt Your Shape

"The album explores and explodes styles and moods over the course of 20 songs that lead into one another breathlessly, as if even an hour simply isn't enough time for Phil Elvrum and company to pack in all of their ideas."

#133: Final Fantasy - Has A Good Home
Released February 12, 2005
Blocks Recording Club
This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine | The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead | Took You Two Years To Win My Heart

#132: Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Released September 5, 2000
Bloodshot
To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High) | My Winding Wheel | Come Pick Me Up

"Heartbreaker is loose, open, and heartfelt in a way Whiskeytown's admittedly fine albums never were, and makes as strong a case for Adams' gifts as anything his band ever released."

#131: Animal Collective - Feels
Released October 18, 2005
FatCat

Did You See The Words | Grass | Loch Raven

"First, this is more of a rock record, especially early on; the frequent cymbal crashes and pounding drums leave little doubt. Second, Feels has less of the aimless meandering of many artists in the freak folk scene."

#130: Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night
Released july 7, 2009
Columbia
Pretty Wings | Help Somebody | Playing Possum

"...offering an alternate option to the exaggerated masculinity that was dominating contemporary R&B, he returns as the airwaves are stuffed with raging hormones expressed through Auto-Tune."

#129: múm - Finally We Are No One
Released May 20, 2002
Fat Cat
Green Grass Of Tunnel | Now There's That Fear Again | The Land Between Solar Systems

"...has all the majestic synths, crackly drum machine percussion, sampled silence, and crystalline vocals you'd expect from the country that produced Björk and Sigur Rós"

#128: TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Released March 9, 2004
Touch And Go
The Wrong Way | Staring At The Sun | Ambulance

"...Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, a deeper, darker, denser version of the band's already ambitious sound."

#127: Caribou - Andorra
Released August 17, 2007
City Slang
Melody Day | She's The One | Niobe

"There's less of a "programmed" sound, although the productions are dense with tape cut-ups, layered harmonies, and various percussion lines threaded through the mix."

#126: M. Ward - Transfiguration Of Vincent
Released March 18, 2003
Merge
Vincent O'Brien | Involuntary | Dead Man

"...the troubadour manages to capture a timeless folkiness and match it with a surreal and sparkling sense of nostalgia that clearly echoes Tom Waits. "

#125: Tom Waits - Blood Money
Released May 7, 2002
Anti
God's Away On Business | Another Man's Vine | Lullaby

"Tom Waits has said: "I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth." When it comes to the material on Blood Money, I don't know if I can call Waits' mouth pretty, but he certainly offers plenty of bad news in a very attractive, compelling way."

#124: The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Released October 21, 2003
Alien8
Tuff Ghost | Inoculate The Innocuous | Ready To Die

"Like their moniker implies, the Unicorns are whimsical, riding in a mythical world of lo-fi experimental pop."

#123: Gui Boratto - Chromophobia
February 26, 2007
Kompakt
Acróstico | Xilo | Beautiful Life

#122: Ellen Alienn & Apparat - Orchestra Of Bubbles
Released April 17, 2006
BPtch Control
Jet | Do Not Break | Leave Me Alone

"[Sascha] Ring, as Apparat, adds dimensionality, off-kilter beats, and dynamic ambient spaces to offer the technocratic solidity some room to breathe and open out onto different vistas -- and his moodier M.O. is heard precisely in those moments where Allien's bassline is most pronounced."

#121: The New Pornographers - Electric Version
Released May 6, 2003
Mint
The Laws Have Changed | The New Face Of Zero And One | Testament To Youth In Verse

"The effect is hypnotic, like driving on the expressway into a snowstorm at night, how you can feel the underlying propulsion of the car and hear its constant rumble, yet at the same time, a fuzzy sense of comfort can easily overtake you as the snowflakes dance bewitchingly in your headlights."

#120: Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Released September 14, 2004
Arts & Crafts
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead | Ageless Beauty | One More Night

"Vocalists Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan enunciate every word with careful precision, and they sing of remembered high-school romances, dead ex-lovers, and drunk current ones in basic but powerfully evocative language."

#119: Electrik Red - How To Be A Lady: Volume 1
Released May 26, 2009
Radio Killa
So Good | Friend Lover | 9 To 5

"...together they make like an all-conquering crew of maneaters who do precisely what they want without taking themselves too seriously."

#118: Kanye West - Graduation
Released September 11, 2007
Roc-A-Fella
Can't Tell Me Nothing | Flashing Lights | The Glory

"Kanye still makes up for his shortcomings as an MC and lyricist by remaining charmingly clumsy, frequently dealing nonsense through suspect rhyme schemes..."

#117: Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World
Released July 23, 2001
Epic
It's Not The End Of The World? | Juxtapozed With U | Fragile Happiness

"...it'll likely intrigue, even dazzle, with its kaleidoscopic blend of pop, prog, punk, psych, and electronica."

#116: Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak Of It Again
Released March 21, 2005
Kranky
It's For You | 2005 A Face Odyssey | The Stoked American

"The way they present themselves contradicts the tightness of their complex arrangements and the elasticity of their buoyant sound."

#115: Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Released April 28, 2009
Unfamiliar
Young Hearts Spark Fire | Wet Hair | I Quit Girls

"For their debut, Japandroids hit the ground running on Post-Nothing, a warm flurry of fuzzy guitar, disjointed crashing drums, and childlike vocals yelled in unison by guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse."

#114: The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
Released June 7, 2005
V2
Blue Orchid | My Doorbell | The Denial Twist

"...Get Behind Me Satan is a weird, compelling collection that touches on several albums' worth of sounds..."

#113: Broadcast - Haha Sound
Released August 11 ,2003
Warp
Pendulum | Ominous Cloud | Winter Now

"...Haha Sound's more human touch comes through in its looser, more intimate, and rougher sound."

#112: Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Released March 18, 2008
Last Gang
Alice Practice | Crimewave | Tell Me What To Swallow

"On their self-titled debut, Crystal Castles (aka Ethan Kath and Alice Glass) hurl eight-bit bleeps, bloops, and noise as relentlessly as Space Invaders marching down a screen, turning these sounds into sometimes chaotic, sometimes moody synth pop with a jagged edge. "

#111: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Released January 24, 2005
DFA

Daft Punk Is Playing At My House | Tribulations | Losing My Edge
" Acid house, post-punk, garage rock, psychedelic pop, and at least a dozen other things factor into his songs, and he's not afraid to be obvious."

#110: Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Polyvinyl
Gronlandic Edit | The Past Is A Grotesque Animal | She's a Rejector

"Where's the self-assured, polished pop maestro who made such a fine showing on the past two albums? He took one hell of a beating, that's for sure."

#109: Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter II
Released December 6, 2005
Cash Money
Fireman | Hustler Musik | Shooter

"...the Lil Wayne who was not only cocky, but also truly confident, confident enough to loosen up his rhymes and create a winning mixture of slick baller posturing and slippery flippancy."

#108: Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
Released April 12, 2005
Polyvinyl
Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games | The Party's Crashing Us | Everyday Feels Like Sunday

"...continues in his traditional vein of toying and teasing our memories of '60s pop, fed through whichever other fad or fashion most appeals to him at the time."

#107: Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
Released February 8, 2000
Epic
Nutmeg | Cherchez La Ghost | Wu Banga 101

"Every bit as good as his first release, Supreme Clientele proves Ghost's worthiness of the Ironman moniker by deftly overcoming trendiness to produce an authentic sound in hip-hop's age of bland parity."

#106: Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills
Released April 25, 2007
Merge
Your Parents' Living Room | Impossible | Hard Rain

"The songs tell of tragic accidents, lost love, bleak futures, deeply held secrets, unwanted children, and headaches (in Nordic cities and on parents' couches) in words that slice deep into your heart, especially when sung by Adam Olenius in his choked, sadder-than-Robert Smith voice."

#105: The Decemberists - Picaresque
Released March 22, 2005
Kill Rock Stars
The Sporting Life | The Engine Driver | Of Angels And Angles

"...its boot-covered feet are more firmly planted in the present, resulting in the group's most accessible -- and decidedly upbeat -- product to date."

#104: TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Released July 6, 2006
Interscope
I Was A Lover | Province | Wolf Like Me

"As passionate as ever, but with a little more polish, TV on the Radio give their unapologetically ambitious sound room to breathe with a lush, expansive production..."

#103: Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
April 30, 2007
Too Pure
The Greater TImes | To The East | Between The Wolf And The Dog

"...might be some of Electrelane's most accessible work, but it's far from safe; in fact, its sweet vulnerability is exactly what makes it so special."

#102: Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
Released July 18, 2001
Dreamworks
The Middle | Sweetness | If You Don't, Don't

"...Bleed American features compelling lyrics, driving guitar work, and insanely catchy melodies."

#101: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Released July 16, 2002
Warner Bros.
One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21 | Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 | Do You Realize??

"...a sublime fusion of [The Soft] Bulletin's newfound emotional directness, the old-school playfulness of Transmissions From the Satellite Heart, and, more importantly, exciting new expressions of the group's sentimental, experimental sound."

#100: Radiohead - Amnesiac
Released June 5, 2001
Parlophone
Pyramid Song | Morning Bell/Amnesiac | Like Spinning Plates

"Amnesiac plays like a streamlined version of Kid A, complete with blatant electronica moves and production that sacrifices songs for atmosphere."

#99: Islands - Return To The Sea
Released April 4, 2006
Equator
Swans (Life After Death) | Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby | Rough Gem

"Islands have crafted a rich, exciting, and emotionally deep sounding album that carries on the freewheeling spirit and sound of the Unicorns as well as that of the Elephant 6 bands of the late '90s."

#98: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Released February 9, 2004
Domino
Jacqueline | Take Me Out | This Fire

"...it's apparent that they're one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage rock/post-punk revival."

#97: Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Released May 30, 2006
Friendly Fire
New Years | Thursday | Red Sea

"There are enough guitar effects on Citrus to make Kevin Shields proud and enough reverb and echo on the vocals to make Rachel Goswell blush."

#96: Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Released May 9, 2006
Ba Da Bing!
Postcards From Italy | Scenic World | After The Curtain

"...the songs on Gulag Orkestar are lousy with mandolins and similarly plinky members of the string instrument family, accordions, horns, and hand percussion clearly played with dramatic in-studio arm flourishes"

#95: Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Released October 7, 2003
Barsuk
The New Year | Transatlanticism | Passenger Seat

"But it's Gibbard's poetic lyrics and signature introspection that remain a bench mark for Death Cab; and it's the group's maturity as musicians as well as songwriters that make Transatlanticism such a decadently good listen from start to finish."

#94: The Strokes - Is This It?
Released July 30, 2001
RCA
The Modern Age | Soma | Someday

"...The Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them -- they remake them in their own image."

#93: Feist - Let It Die
Released May 18, 2004
Polydor
Mushaboom | Let It Die | Inside And Out

"The romance of the City of Lights glows throughout as a combination of folk, bossa nova, jazz-pop, and indie rock finds its place among the 11-track song list."

#92: Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
Released June 9, 2003
Parlophone
2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm) | There There (The Boney King Of Nowhere) | A Wolf At The Door (It Girl. Rag Doll)

"Guitars churn and chime and sound like guitars more often than not; drums are more likely to be played by a human; and discernible verses are more frequently trailed by discernible choruses."

#91: The White Stripes - Elephant
Released April 1, 2003
V2
Seven Nation Army | There's No Home For You Here | The Hardest Button To Button

"Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells, the album offers nothing as immediately crowd-pleasing or sweet as "Fell in Love With a Girl" or "We're Going to Be Friends," but it's more consistent, exploring disillusionment and rejection with razor-sharp focus."

#90: Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Released March 20, 2007
Paw Tracks
Comfy In Nautica | Bro's | I'm Not

"Person Pitch is very much an end product of a variety of musical trends in whatever can be called indie rock in the early 21st century -- big-sounding, absolutely dedicated to texture and sonic playfulness, and somehow aiming to make a lot of interesting ideas seem kinda flat."

#89: Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
Released September 19, 2006
1st & 15th
Just Might Be OK | Kick, Push | Daydreamin'

"...just might be the steadiest and most compelling rap album of 2006"

#88: Interpol - Antics
Released September 27, 2004
Matador
Narc | Slow Hands | C'mere

"The truth, as alluded to above, is that they will never make a record as special as the debut. However, following it with one that is merely very good is no crime."

#87: The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Released October 21, 2003
Sub Pop
Kissing The Lipless | So Says I | Gone For Good

"They excel at sounding happy, sad, frustrated, and vulnerable at the same time, and their best songs, whether they're fast or slow, feel like they're bursting with nervous energy."

#86: Damien Rice - O
Released February 1, 2002
14th Floor
Volcano | The Blower's Daughter | Amie

"This Irish singer/songwriter works with impassioned folk songs that move from stripped-down to grandly orchestrated in a heartbeat."

#86: Isolée - We Are Monster
Released June 6, 2005
Playhouse
Pictureloved | Schrapnell | Mädchen mit Hase

"...We Are Monster is beautifully timeless as a result, positing a universe where everything from industrial beats to prog drones and French filter-disco, not to mention classic house and techno straight up, completely recombines with any number of other elements into new forms again and again."

#84: The Notwist - Neon Golden
Released January 14, 2002
Virgin
One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand | Pick Up The Phone | Consequence

"The album's minimal kitchen-sink vibe was stronger, the wide assortment of instruments were arranged with new conviction, and the band would throw in a startlingly unpretentious mixture of tub-thumbing static, cellos, banjos, organs, and breakbeats while Markus Acher's Belle & Sebastian-styled vocals flowed underneath like island run-off."

#83: Cassie - Cassie
Released August 7, 2006
Bad Boy
Me & U | Long Way 2 Go | About Time

"As a vocalist, Cassie has enough character and ability to sell her material without fail."

#82: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Released March 9, 2009
Interscope
Zero | Heads Will Roll | Hysteric

"Never content to stay in one musical place for very long, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take their restlessness to the limit on It's Blitz! -- and wind up making some of their most contented-sounding songs."

#81: Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Released September 5, 2008
The Social Registry
Princes | Inners Place | House Jam

"Brooklyn's Gang Gang Dance is an excellent example of the vibrancy found in the loosely knit underground musical community in New York."

#80: Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair
Released March 10, 2008
DFA
Blind | Iris| Raise Me Up

"...few treat disco as a living and breathing art form, as opposed to something in need of a revival and the uniqueness-eliminating reverence that often goes with it"

#79: The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Released March 30, 2007
Kompakt
Over The Ice | A Paw In My Face | The Deal

"...From Here We Go Sublime, the debut full-length release by the Field, is nevertheless stunning, its less-is-more aesthetic striking because of its elegance as well as ease."

#78: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Released July 7, 2007
Merge
The Ghost Of You Lingers | You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb | Don't You Evah

"...each song is as carefully and creatively pruned as a bonsai tree, with nothing fussy or superfluous to mar the clean lines of the songwriting or arrangements."

#77: The Postal Service - Give Up
Released February 19, 2003
Sub Pop
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight | Such Great Heights | Brand New Colony

"Ben Gibbard's famously bittersweet vocals and sharp, sensitive lyrics imbue Give Up with more emotional heft than you might expect from a synth pop album, especially one by a side project from musicians as busy as Tamborello and Gibbard are."

#76: The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Released April 26, 2005
4AD
This Year | Dance Music | Love Love Love

"Darnielle's talent for writing an engaging narrative is matched only by the succinctness of the music behind it."

#75: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Released January 23, 2006
Domino
Mardy Bum | From The Ritz To The Rubble | A Certain Romance

"...celebrating nights out fueled by lager and loud guitars -- is the bedrock foundation of the Arctic Monkeys, just the way as it has been for most British rock bands since the mid-'90s"

#74: Feist - The Reminder
Released April 23, 2007
Cherrytree
I Feel It All | 1234 | How My Heart Behaves

"The Reminder, will serve as proof that Feist's success was no fluke, as the album contains more of the same sweet, introspective lyrics and chords that float around love and longing (or lack thereof) like cottonwood seeds in late spring."

#73: Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III
Released June 10, 2008
Cash Money
A Milli | Got Money | Lollipop

"Filled with bold, entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas, Tha Carter III should be considered as a wild, somewhat difficult child of Weezy's magnum opus in motion, one that allows the listener an exhilarating and unapologetic taste of artistic freedom."

#72: Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Released May 9, 2006
Illegal Art
Smash My Head | Minute By Minute | Bounce That

"Because of the recognizability of the pieces used, Night Ripper is a good tool for showing listeners unfamiliar with the art of sampling what a talented DJ can actually do"

#71: Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
Released January 22, 2001
Kranky
Sunflower | Laser Beam | Kind Of Girl

"The thaw culminates on Things We Lost in the Fire; despite its brooding title, it's the group's loveliest, most approachable collection of songs yet."

#70: The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
Released October 21, 2003
Vice
Changes Are No Good | Animals And Insects | Fevered

"The modern sound of Logic Will Break Your Heart is undoubtedly rooted in post-punk threads of the Cure and the Smiths, but the Stills create something that's partly glamorous and fully imaginative."

#69: Studio - West Coast
Released October 21, 2003
Vice
Out There | West Side | Life's A Beach!

"West Coast sounding as if Seventeen Seconds had been recorded in Nassau rather than London is as perfect a summation as any."

#68: Luomo - Vocalcity
Released May 23, 2000
Force Inc.
Class | Synkro | Tessio

"Yet if there is one thing the glitch generation lacked from the get go, it was a good old-fashioned sense of soul-funk."

#67: Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
Released June 10, 2008
Type
Disengaged | Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping | Traveling Through A Sea

"That haze lifts ever so slightly on Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, letting more melody, more structured songs, and even a few phrases emerge from the ether."

#66: Dirty Projetors - Bitte Orca
Released June 9, 2009
Domino
Cannibal Resource | Stillness Is The Move | Two Doves

"...there's far too much pleasure in this music for its eccentricities to put off anyone who is open to its gleeful, eclectic, internationalist heart."

#65: Manitoba - Up In Flames
Released March 31, 2003
Domino
Hendrix With KO | Jacknuggeted | Crayon

"Dan Snaith's Manitoba project distills everything that's breathtaking and slightly absurd about several extremist alternative-pop movements of the '90s: the jangly white-noise of classic Too Pure/Beggars Banquet records (Pram, Stereolab); freewheeling pastoralia from Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips; and the warm '60s bubblegum of prime Elephant 6 pop music."

#64: Coldplay - Parachutes
Released July 10, 2000
Capitol
Shiver | Sparks | Yellow

"Combining bits of distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion, Parachutes was a delightful introduction and also quickly indicated the reason why this album earned Coldplay a Mercury Music Prize nomination in fall 2000. "

#63: Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
Released August 20, 2002
Merge
The Way We Get By | Stay Don't Go | All The Pretty Girls Go To The City

"...almost like a breather after the emotional and musical intensity of their previous album. point. "

#62: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Released November 28, 2006
Re-Up
Mr. Me Too | Wamp Wamp (What It Do) | Ride Around Shining

"Hell Hath No Fury is a lean, furious, cold-blooded album that is vividly to-the-point."

#61: Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Released October 6, 2003
Rough Trade
Step Into My Office, Baby | If She Wants Me | Lord Anthony

"Murdoch's songs are firmly within the patented Belle & Sebastian style, and while it may be true that he's not stretching himself much as a writer, that doesn't matter because he sounds assured and confident, turning out a set of songs that are finely crafted and tuneful."

#60: Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Released March 23, 2004
Sub Pop
Radio War | Fever Dream | Passing Afternoon

"The sound of the record is still very intimate and simple, with very subtle arrangements that leave his voice and lyrics as the focal point."

#59: Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Released September 12, 2006
Jive
My Love | What Goes Around.../...Comes Around (Interlude) | (Another Song) All Over Again

"Timbaland, Timberlake's chief collaborator here...does indeed spend plenty of time on FutureSex refurbishing the electro-funk of Prince's early-'80s recordings"

#58: The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
Released March 10, 2009
Radio Killa
Rockin' That Shit | My Love | Right Side Of My Brain

"...stuffed with hooks, ceaselessly absorptive productions, and clever and often funny wordplay."

#57: M.I.A. - Arular
Released March 23, 2005
XL
Bucky Done Gun | 10 Dollar | Galang

"The blend of styles -- a dense, often chaotic collage of garage from the U.K., dancehall from Jamaica, crunk from the Dirty South, electro and hardcore rap from New York, and glints of a few others -- is unique enough to baffle anyone who dares categorize it."

#56: Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Released April 5, 2005
Jagjaguwar
For Real | In A Radio Song | So Come Back, I Am Waiting

"Okkervil River continue to break the glass between messy nerves and orchestrated elegance on their fourth full-length..."

#55: Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
Released January 31, 2000
Creation
Swastika Eyes [Jagz Kooner Mix] | Blood Money | Keep Your Dreams

"So just as Screamadelica tried to encapsulate the importance of ecstasy culture, or Vanishing Point tried to exorcise their own insanity, here XTRMNTR is a nasty, fierce realization of an entire world that has also lost the plot."

#54: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Released March 3, 2007
Merge
Keep The Car Running | No Cars Go | My Body Is A Cage

"If Funeral was the goodbye kiss on the coffin of youth, then Bibleis the bitter pint (or pints) after a long day's work."

#53: Burial - Untrue
Released November 5, 2007
Hyperdub
Archangel | Near Dark | Homeless

"...an album where the music, a singular style of it, takes center stage with no distractions or sideshows, where there's never the urge to skip to the next track, because they're all part and parcel of the greater whole."

#52: Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
Released April 5, 2005
Bar/None
It's 5! | Maybe You Can Owe Me | Do The Whirlwind

"Everything on In Case We Die, from the intensely sweet melodies and vocals to the widescreen production, delivers the kind of playful pop majesty that [theit debut album] Fingers Crossed's best moments hinted were within Architecture in Helsinki's grasp."

#51: The Knife - Silent Shout
Released February 17, 2006
Rabid
Silent Shout | We Share Our Mothers' Health | Marble House

"The remoteness of the Knife (aka Olof and Karin Dreijer) and the chilliness of their music makes it easy to conjure up images of the duo working in a studio that resembles the Fortress of Solitude, playing instruments carved out of ice. "

#50: Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Released March 20, 2007
Fat Possum
Plasticities | Heretics | Armchairs

"It's the first album that captures Bird's much lauded live approach, almost as if he had hit some completely transcendental place mentally, forgotten his place in the studio, and instead just sang while in some distant reverie -- the way one sings unencumbered while washing the dishes in an empty house and, unknowingly, hones his artistic blade cleaning dirty knife by dirty knife."

#49: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
Released April 29, 2003
Interscope
Rich | Maps | Y Control

"Though this is their debut album, Fever to Tell almost feels like a transitional release; they're already rethinking their sound in radical ways. Even when they're uneven, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still an exciting band."

#48: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Released February 26, 2008
Universal Motown
The Healer | Soldier | Honey

"Immediately moving and yet rather bewildering, New Amerykah, Pt. 1 is an album that sounds special from the first play, yet it will probably take years before it is known just how special it is."

#47: Basement Jaxx - Rooty
Released June 26, 2001
XL
Romeo | Where's Your Head At | Do Your Thing

"So raw you can't believe they spent over an hour per track, so perfect you're glad they stopped noodling about long before most producers would, and so poppy they should get picked up by commercial radio in America as well as the rest of the world..."

#46: OutKast - Stankonia
Released October 31, 2000
LaFace
So Fresh, So Clean | Ms. Jackson | B.O.B.

"Stankonia was OutKast's second straight masterstroke, an album just as ambitious, just as all-over-the-map, and even hookier than its predecessor, [Aquemini]..."

#45: Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Released October 20, 2003
XL
Good Luck | Plug It In | Cish Cash

"In fact, it reveals the duo perhaps relying too much on their own formula, the jumped-up Prince production with tech-heavy percussion and effects exploding all over the mix. Granted, Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe ably deflect most criticisms with this LP, shot through with high-profile collaborations -- nearly all of them intriguing tracks with star turns."

#44: Taylor Swift - Fearless
Released November 11, 2008
Big Machine
Love Story | White Horse | You Belong With Me

"Swift's maturation is deliberate and careful, styled after the crossover country-pop of Shania Twain and Faith Hill before they turned into divas."

#43: Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Out
Released February 22, 2000
Matador
Our Way To Fall | Saturday | You Can Have It All

"Easily one of 2000's most accomplished albums, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out isn't as immediate as some of the group's earlier work, but it's just as enduring, proving that Yo La Tengo is the perfect band to grow old with."

#42: Lil' Wayne - Da Drought 3
Released April 13, 2007
Young Money
Upgrade U | Get High Rule The World | Dough Is What I Got

"There's an urge among critics to find a Lil Wayne record to fix as the canonical one -- a pinpointed moment at which his id dilated, his flow sublimated, his gag metaphors burst from logical constraints, and the onetime also-ran became the foul-mouthed baby-like poet laureate of latter-day rap nerds. For all its faults, 2006's double-disc mixtape Da Drought 3 might as well be it."

#41: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Released February 2, 2005
Wichita
Helicopter | This Modern Love | So Here We Are

"Much more polished, serious, and straight-ahead than their initial EPs suggested, Bloc Party's debut album, Silent Alarm, reveals them as a band equally informed by taut art-punk and the grand gestures and earnestness of groups like Coldplay and U2."

#40: Jay-Z - The Black Album
Released November 14, 2003
Roc-A-Fella
Moment Of Clarity | 99 Problems | Public Service Announcement (Interlude)

"If The Black Album is Jay-Z's last, as he publicly stated it will be, it illustrates an artist going out in top form."

#39: Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Released January 12, 2009
Rabid
If I Had A Heart | When I Grow Up | Seven

"With almost tangible textures and a striking mood of isolation and singularity, Fever Ray is a truly strange but riveting album."

#38: St. Vincent - Marry Me
Released June 10, 2007
Beggars Banquet
Marry Me | Paris Is Burning | All My Stars Aligned

"But while [Annie] Clark, who chooses to use the name St. Vincent here, does incorporate the frilly strings and horns, background choirs, and various keyboards (most of which she plays) of her past employers in Marry Me, her solo debut, she also has an edge to her..."

#37: Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
Released March 21, 2006
Sub Pop
The First Song | The Funeral | The Great Salt Lake

"...Band of Horses is a full-on indie rock band that writes loud, raw, mid-tempo pop songs and really loves Neil Young."

#36: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Released September 13, 2005
Wichita
Over And Over Again (Lost And Found) | The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth | In This Home On Ice

"...that's precisely the band's strongest suit -- their ability to sound immediately familiar to everyone while, simultaneously, shrugging off any attempts at direct comparison."

#35: Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
Released June 6, 2006
Merge
Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken | Let's Get Out Of This Country | Country Mile

"If this review could be one word long, that word would be "enchanting.""

#34: Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Released March 22, 2008
Modular
Feel The Love | Out There On The Ice | Hearts On Fire

"[In Ghost Colours] boasts at least a half-dozen potential summer anthems for dancefloors and headphones alike, seamlessly strung together with subdued interstitial mood pieces that help make it more of a nuanced work than a straightforward collection of relentlessly upbeat dance jams."

#33: Junior Boys - Last Exit
Released June 7, 2004
Domino
Bellona | Birthday | Teach Me How To Fight

"The group's ability to synthesize so many elements with such subtlety really isn't their greatest asset; it's that their music can be enjoyed with or without all of the analysis and context, whether you're tucked inside a snowbound outpost or winding your way through some vast metropolis during nighttime."

#32: Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
Released September 27, 2005
Sub Pop
Same Ghost Every Night | I Believe In Anything | This Heart's On Fire

"They allow that, then purposely strip the songs of any slickness or accoutrements, so the keys and squiggly guitars and terrifically simple drums (Arlen Thompson might play just a kick drum and one big snare) teeter and balance together in a hectic and gloriously alive pop state."

#31: Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Released October 4, 2005
Arts & Crafts
7/4 (Shoreline) | Fire Eye'd Boy | It's All Gonna Break

"The 14-song set is as bright and moving as the band's previous efforts, but Broken Social Scene holds more charisma, more depth, and surely more complexities."

#30: Robyn - Robyn
Released April 27, 2005
Konichiwa
Konichiwa Bitches | Be Mine! | With Every Heartbeat

"It's not bragging if you can back it up, and Robyn does just that, channeling all the frustration of her creative differences with her previous labels into a freewheeling, accomplished pop album that is so fresh that it could pass for a debut"

#29: N.E.R.D. - In Search Of...
Released September 28, 2001
Virgin
Provider | Run To The Sun | Stay Together

"Musically, it's a lively affair, breaking free of the signature approximated-Prince beats, as they borrow heavily from classic soul, breakbeat aesthetics, and postmodern alt-culture, tying it together with live beats."

#28: M.I.A. - Kala
Released August 8, 2007
XL
Bamboo Banga | Jimmy | Paper Planes

"...wildly vigorous and wholly enjoyable albums, generous with blunt-force beats, flurries of percussion, riotous vocals (with largely inconsequential lyrics), and fearless stylistic syntheses that seem to view music from half of the planet's countries as potential source material."

#27: Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Released February 1, 2005
Secretly Canadian
Hope There's Someone | Fistful Of Love | Bird Gerhl

"Antony's bluesy parlor room cadence is more upfront here, resulting in a listening experience that's both exhilarating and disquieting."

#26: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Released May 25, 2009
V2
Lisztomania | 1901 | Love Like A Sunset

"Vocalist Thomas Mars, more bright-eyed and youthful than ever, also sounds more a part of these songs, rather than coming across as a protruding element that clashes against the instruments. Maybe they've just hit their stride."

#25: Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
Released April 18, 2005
Domino
Yeti | Lord Leopard | Pelican Narrows

"...he proves on The Milk of Human Kindness that his compositional powers have grown during his five years on the scene."

#24: Stars - Heart
Released February 11, 2003
Arts & Crafts
Elevator Love Letter | Romantic Comedy | Look Up

"Stars work with bittersweet grooves, sleepy singing, and analog gurgles -- which makes for a charming collection of electronic chamber pop."

#23: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Released January 6, 2009
Domino
My Girls | Summertime Clothes | Daily Routine

"...they've never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on Merriweather Post Pavilion."

#22: Portishead - Third
Released April 27, 2008
Island
Silence | The Rip | Machine Gun

"It demands attention, requiring effort on the part of the listener, as this defies any conventions on what constitutes art pop apart from one key tenet, one that is often attempted yet rarely achieved: it offers music that is genuinely, startlingly original."

#21: The Rapture - Echoes
Released September 8, 2003
DFA
Olio | I Need Your Love | House Of Jealous Lovers
"These flashes of greatness don't quite add up to what could have been, but the album as a whole is still quite exceptional."

#20: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Released January 29, 2008
XL
Oxford Comma | A-Punk | Walcott

"Everything is concise, concentrated, distilled, vivid; Vampire Weekend's world is extremely specific and meticulously crafted, and Vampire Weekend often feels like a concept album about preppy guys who grew up with classical music and recently got really into world music."

#19: D'Angelo - Voodoo
Released January 25, 2000
Virgin
Left & Right | Send It On | Untitled (How Does It Feel)

"His soulful voice is just as sweet as it was on Brown Sugar..."

#18: Kanye West - The College Dropout
Released February 10, 2004
Roc-A-Fella
All Falls Down | Jesus Walks | Slow Jamz

"...an album that's nearly as phenomenal as the boastful West has led everyone to believe."

#17: Kanye West - Late Registration
Released August 30, 2005
Roc-A-Fella
Heard 'Em Say | Drive Slow | Hey Mama

"On Late Registration, he finds himself backed into a corner, albeit as king of the mountain. It's a paradox, which is exactly what he thrives on."

#16: Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Released May 23, 2000
Aftermath
Kill You | Stan | Criminal

"It is...a fairly brilliant expansion of his debut, turning his spare, menacing hip-hop into a hyper-surreal, wittily disturbing thrill ride."

#15: The-Dream - Love Hate
Released December 11, 2007
Radio Killa
Shawty Is Da Shit | I Luv Your Girl | Purple Kisses

"Not only does it lend the album a unified sound unlike most modern R&B albums, but it has the effect of a suite, with common elements shared between tracks; some of the transitions would make any album sequencing assistant deeply envious."

#14: Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
Released September 12, 2006
Domino
The Equalizer | In The Morning | Like A Child

"...this is a make-out album destined to be played most often by loners who, for whatever reason (a crippling breakup, a fear of human contact, the snowman melted, etc.), are only able to commit the act in their minds."

#13: Radiohead - In Rainbows
Released October 10, 2007
Self-Released
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi | All I Need | Reckoner

"In Rainbows will hopefully be remembered as Radiohead's most stimulating synthesis of accessible songs and abstract sounds, rather than their first pick-your-price download."

#12: Arcade Fire - Funeral
Released September 14, 2004
Merge
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) | Neighborhood #2 (Laika) | Wake Up

"...the Arcade Fire's emotional debut -- rendered even more poignant by the dedications to recently departed family members contained in its liner notes -- is brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie-rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger."

#11: Daft Punk - Discovery
Released March 3, 2001
Virgin
One More Time | Digital Love | Something About Us

"...packed with excellent productions and many of the obligatory nods to the duo's favorite stylistic speed bumps of the 1970s and '80s."

#10: The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Released November 27, 2000
Modular
Since I Left You | A Different Feeling | Frontier Psychiatrist

"...the Avalanches remind you of a point in your life when you could blissfully hang upside down from monkey bars and just dangle."

#09: The xx - xx
Released August 17, 2009
Young Turks
VCR | Crystalised | Shelter

"These tracks are so sleek, they're practically sculptural, and they boast impeccably groomed arrangements. The beats pulse rather than crash; the guitars are artfully picked and plucked; and the vocals rarely rise above a wistful sigh."

#08: Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Released October 15, 2002
Arts & Crafts
Almost Crimes | Looks Just Like The Sun | Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl

"According to one of the members of this incarnation of the group, trying to determine 'who did what' on this album would warrant an entire review in itself, as everyone took turns playing different instruments and the whole project was built from the ground up in a very collective fashion."

#07: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Released July 4, 2005
Asthmatic Kitty
Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois | John Wayne Gacy Jr. | Jacksonville

"The lush (yet still distinctly lo-fi) indie pop melodies draw as much from classic rock as they do progressive folk."

#06: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Released March 12, 2007
DFA
Get Innocuous! | Someone Great | All My Friends

"All the jagged frays have been removed, replaced by a slightly tidier approach that is more direct and packs more punch."

#05: Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Released September 11, 2001
Roc-A-Fella
Takeover | U Don't Know | Song Cry

"So when Jay-Z opens The Blueprint dropping rhymes about 'runnin' this rap sh*t,' it's not so much arrogance as it is a matter of fact."

#04: Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Released August 20, 2002
Matador
Untitled | Obstacle 1 | Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down

"This record is no fun at all, the tension is rarely resolved, and -- oh no! -- it isn't exactly revolutionary, though some new shades of gray have been discovered."

#03: Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Released August 20, 2002
Matador
Kamera | Jesus, Etc. | Reservations

"Few bands can call themselves contemporaries of both the heartbreakingly earnest self-destruction of Whiskeytown and the alienating experimentation of Radiohead's post-millennial releases, but on the painstaking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco seem to have done just that."

#02: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Released February 19, 2008
Jagjaguwar
Flume | The Wolves (Act I And II) | Blindsided

"[Justin] Vernon's falsetto soars like a hawk and when he adds harmonies and massed backing vocals, it can truly be breathtaking."

#01: Radiohead - Kid A
Released October 2, 2000
Parlophone
Everything In Its Right Place | How To Disappear Completely | Idioteque

"This emphasis on texture, this reliance on elliptical songs, means that Kid A is easily the most successful electronica album from a rock band: it doesn't even sound like the work of a rock band, even if it does sound like Radiohead."



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