Rolling Stone Top 100 Albums of the 00s listening thread

Not yet. Will do that later today or tomorrow, with their first album.
Comparing them to Fleet Foxes obviously sparked my interest. I read a bit about them and someone else compared them to Iron & Wine, which I also listened to a few weeks ago and didn't get into. So should be interesting to see what happens with these guys.


Also on my new music list:
J Dilla- Donuts
Santigold (btw, artist name = Santigold or Santogold? 'cause one is the singer, one is the group, or something? how do I file this?!!)
Band of Horses- Everything All the Time
Beck- Guero
Beck- The Information

 

I wish their album Cease To Begin were first on your list. Do make certain it's a fast second.

 

Wow this Band of Horses guy really does sound exactly like the Fleet Foxes guy. Are they the same guy? Does Pitchfork print these dudes out in some sort of Indy Folk Rock factory?

 

Santogold had to change her name to Santigold because that lame 3am infomercial company Santo Gold made her. BTW if you plan on streaming Donuts it will make for a challenging listen. It will be 31 flowing tracks all split up by gaps(approach this as a mix album or something along the lines of Endtroducing by DJ Shadow).

 

I'd put My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges and the last two Regina Spektor albums in my top 100, but I'm strange like that.

 

I think most fans of both have had the same pressing questions.

On a side note, I never really got big into Iron and Wine. I think I listened to the newest album and it was OK though.

 

Ok I'm awarding the #2 coolest person on this thread (I'm #1, natch) to Synthreak for turning me on to Santigold. Santogold, whatever. In just 12 short tracks the record clones M.I.A, does straight-up Lady Gaga pop, and throws in a guitar for some rock. All with a really cool kinda snotty vaguely reggae-inflected chick singer.

I went running today with that and the recommended Jay Dee record as soundtrack. Donuts is nice, and yes I am of Endtroducing so hip-hop without vocals is fine. Also- and I suppose I should have expected this- I recognized various samples and beats and hooks from other songs by Nas, Common, Ghostface Killah, etc, because well I guess he worked with them.

Band of Horses- yeah it's good, kinda like My Morning Jacket- well done but only a couple of tracks really grab me. I certainly understand the recommendation due to Fleet Foxes (because it IS the same guy) but FF have melodies that are just way stronger and more immediate and memorable. This kind of music, like reggae or punk or death metal- has to be really special to grab me because it's not my main thing. Also I think I'm just a bit burned out on modern sometimes-indy guitar rock. I will have to take a break and then revisit some of this stuff in a month or two.

Anyone check out some of my super-recommended stuff yet? Marillion, ok I went on and on about it so enough of that, but Invincible? Blackalicious? Hey did you notice I put Janelle Monae's first EP on my list? It's still like 30-40 minutes so I'm counting it. And the reggae Pink Floyd and William Shatner albums require at least a chance.

Hey- listening party at my house to listen to William Shatner album and reggae Pink Floyd!

 

still catching up!

I did NOT like Funeral when it came out. I didnt get the changes at the end of songs like Crown of Love. I mean it was OK, but i didnt get what the pitchfork crowd was so excited about. Still, they were playing a small Houston club, so a friend and I decided, hey, ten bucks, why not.

One of the best shows of my life.

Within the first minute of Wake Up, you could see the hipster crowd get pulled into their vortex. That first moment where the entire band sings that wordless bit, some didnt have mics, but in that club it didnt matter, my buddy and I looked at each other and just *knew* this was something special. Never had a moment like that at a show ever. They followed that up with Laika with Richard Reed Parry climbing on the bar with a motor cycle helmet on, whacking away with drum sticks. Just unbelievable. Closed with In The Backseat, and they walked out the back door singing that final bit.

I became a huge fan of that album. It all made sense. I can see why some feel they are overhyped, but on the stregth of that show, they're ok with me.

Didnt love Neon Bible and never bothered with Suburbs. Until my cousin called the night before the Dallas show wanting to see if I'd make the 5 hour drive for a free ticket. Yeah, whatever. Another unbelieval=ble shpw, so much so I went to the Houston show 2 nights later (and somehow scored 2d row seats when Ticketmaster released a few seats the night before).

 

Cant stand Wilco. Well, let me go back a little.

I love the jayhawks, love Flying Burritos, and loved Mermaid Ave. Someonme said I had to check out Being There. Bought it, bored. never grew on me. So be it. then Summerteeth came out "hey its like alt country meets the Beach Boys!"! I like the Beach Boys, ok I'll clear my mind and give it a chance. liked "Cant Stand It", but nothing else worked for me, just apathetic, except I was mad I bought another album by a band I hadnt liked to date.

Yankee Foxtrot Hotel. You can see where this is going "It's like Kid A meets..." after months of hearing about it, fine, I'll give it a shot. Nope. Another album bought, another album bored by. That was it. I decided hey, sometimes bands you should like on paper just arent your thing for whatever reason. There's too much music out there you do like than to force yourself to try and like some other band. I dont hate them, but if they put out Pet Sounds or something, I aint buying!

 

Yes good anecdote because my feeling of them went from "like" to "love" after I caught them performing at some festival on TV. They are infectious.

 

I thought it would be fun to revisit this thread and have a look at what albums from that list I've discovered in the last five months. When I last posted I'd only heard 12 albums, 4 of them not in my collection and was somewhat frustrated back then at my inability to participate much in lot of very interesting discussion, but thankfully much has changed since then!

Blue denotes albums I've always owned since I joined SH; green means those I've heard but don't own in any physical or non-physical form; and orange means those I own but only discovered after participating in this thread.

01 Radiohead – Kid A
I tend to hover between this and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as my favourite album of the 00s, as YHF is virtually flawless and Kid A is let down very slightly by those unnecessary horn noises towards the end of the National Anthem, but that's a very minor quibble; based on its more universal acclaim and popularity this thoroughly merits its #1 spot.

02 The Strokes – Is This It
Er no, it isn't really. A solid collection of catchy but mostly unremarkable mid-to-fast tempo rockers (although Someday is admittedly a true pop gem) with little change in mood, vocal style or arrangements does not to me one of the albums of the decade make. How about something like The Union Forever or We're Going to be Friends to shake things up a bit? (Yeah, I couldn't resist another White Stripes comparison.) I will concede the live in the studio approach is fresh, but the music itself is anything but, owing more than a bit to the Velvet Underground (you could have Lou Reed replacing Julian Casablancas on The Modern Age and most would be hard-pressed to tell the difference), US lo-fi alt rock bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices and the more accessible tunefulness of Britpop. Still, I enjoy most of the singles, the title track and New York City Cops (only available on the UK edition - perhaps that's what pushed this album to its even more ludicrous #1 position on NME's equivalent list?).

03 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Little more to say about this that hasn't been said thousands of times already - Wilco's songwriting and production peak. At least you can say Jay Bennett left the band on a creative high...

05 The White Stripes – Elephant
Swap this with White Blood Cells and I'd be happy. More diverse and ambitious than its predecessor, continuing the popular garage rock duo's wry and ironically post-modern take on a range of past styles, this time wider than before (including Queen, T-Rex, Gang of Four, simple acoustic indie rock in addition to their patented revivalist blues rock) but lacks its succinctness and consistency and sags badly in the middle; You've Got Her in Your Pocket is a feeble Elliott Smith imitation and Ball and Biscuit is at least three minutes longer than it ought to be. Still when it's good, it's terrific - Seven Nation Army, There's No Home for You Here, the Burt Bacharach cover, The Hardest Button to Button, plus a couple of cute vocal contributions from Meg for good measure.

06 Arcade Fire - Funeral
A bit overrated, but objectively probably deserves this placing. Although I find it somewhat overweighted towards the tub-thumping anthemic stuff at the expensive of more subtle, reflective songs like Une Année Sans Lumière, 7 Kettles and In the Back Seat (my favourite song on the album) and Win Butler will never be nominated for vocalist of the century, there's no denying its power, emotion, the band's gift for catchy hooks and their fresh combination of beautiful baroque pop arrangements and post-punk rhythms.

10 Kanye West – The College Dropout
With this groundbreaking debut, hip hop/pop/soul crossover artist and producer extraordinaire may have already produced his magnum opus with this sprawling definition of a flawed masterpiece. Overhyped maybe (and a 4,000+ word Wikipedia article on Jesus Walks can only be attributed to the most excessive fanboyism), sometimes Kanye's egotism can get the better of him (as in those amusing but rather silly skits mocking the value of a college degree, and in the thankfully closing Last Call when he doesn't know when to just STFU), occasionally over-produced with the odd bit of the dreaded autotune, but virtually every one of the singles and deeper album cuts is a winner, through a fantastic combination of melodic passion, religious fervour, humour, relatable and human subject matter, reverence for the great soul and pop past masters, great beats and soulful backing vocals.

12 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Great to see this so high. Producing a fully coherent 55-minute album that manages to combine highly danceable songs with humour and emotional depth is no mean feat, and LCD Soundsystem achieve this spectacularly. Music that really reawakened a primeval urge in this previously long-time non-dancer and in the words of the title track, really does make you want to "feel like a teenager until you remember the feelings of a real life emotion of teenager then you think again". More of my thoughts here

19 Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
See my earlier thoughts here; haven't heard it since.

20 The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
Now this should be the album that should be credited with spearheading the garage rock revival and influencing all and sundry, especially as it actually came out nearly a month before those young upstarts from NYC took all the glory - but alas, as proved by other RS best-ofs, being better rarely = more popular. Manages to achieve all that the Strokes' debut does, but with more variety, attitude, aggression and better songwriting all round.

25 Radiohead - Amnesiac
Too high, but I'm probably in the minority. Whilst Radiohead never really produced a bad album, I consider this their weakest from The Bends to In Rainbows and that includes the sometimes maligned Hail to the Thief. Whilst none of the tracks could be considered bad by any standards, save Morning Bell (says it all) and Dollars and Cents, Amnesiac is entirely forgettable; it has enough of the basic ingredients of the essential Radiohead sound to make it enjoyable whilst listening to it, but afterwards it leaves absolutely no lasting impression on me and whilst I don't own a copy I must have heard it at least five times. Deserves to be on the list probably, but not in the top half.

I have many more to comment on but I'll leave this here for now and add to it later - I tried doing the whole list yesterday but wasted nearly a whole afternoon after my computer froze and I managed to lose a massive post - don't want to risk that happening all over again!