The Ten Best Albums of the '00s (so far), Part One

10.

The Decemberists, "Picaresque" (2005)

For a band that sounds like they came flying out of the depths of ye olde Renaissance Faire, The Decemberists made a seriously good album with this one. To their credit, they don't just prey upon the medieval period for their songs -- their music goes all over the historical map, with tunes about 1960s-style espionage and spydom ("The Bagman's Gambit"), modern-era soldiers and wives ("16 Miltary Wives"), and pirate scourges ("The Mariner's Revenge Song"). Not everything on the record is perfect, but what works works excellently. Honestly, an 8 1/2 minute song about seeking revenge on a guy who the singer's mother asked him to kill on her deathbed should not be this damn catchy, but somehow they pulled it off.

9.

Spoon, "Girls Can Tell" (2001)

This is the first album that you might find to be a part of a pattern on this list. If a band has an album that is either 1) incredibly critically acclaimed or 2) vastly more successful than anything else the band has done, you can pretty well be assured that the record that preceded it was pretty well superior in my book. Though Spoon really got people's attention with "Kill the Moonlight," it was this album, released a year earlier, that was catchier, more heartfelt and just plain better. Honestly, it could be composed of just three songs, "Lines in the Suit," "Everything Hits at Once," and "The Fitted Shirt," and blow most everything else out of the water.

8.

Modest Mouse, "The Moon and Antarctica" (2000)

Hey! Look at that! Yet another example of an album preceding a more well-known followup! Are you beginning to see what I meant when I said there would be a pattern of this? Yeah, prepare yourself. Anyway, "Moon" is a far more cohesive album than is poppier younger brother, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," and it's more genuinely Modest Mouse. It's hard to found a weirder song than "I Came As a Rat," but Isaac Brock sings it in such a sincere little lispy wisp that it's hard to deny just how endearing it is. And I mean, come on, who else can make a funky little repitition about drinking Coca-Cola sound so cool? Nobody, that's who.

7.

Outkast, "Stankonia" (2000)

Okay, I admit this one's a bit of a cheat. "Stankonia" was an incredible critical and commercial success, beloved by just about everyone, but it didn't see the hype that "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" saw three years later, so I'm counting it in my pattern anyway. Even so, this is the definitive Outkast album. Every song on there is a listenable single, with maybe two or three exceptions, and unlike just about every other hip-hop record, the sketches are actually tolerable and can even be kind of funny on the 20th listen. ("That's a Hawaiian Silky!" Heh.) But really the main thing about "Stankonia" is that it contains the song that is perhaps the only song that makes me feel good immediately when I hear it, no matter what. That song is called "So Fresh, So Clean," and I cannot thank Dre and Big Boi enough for it.

6.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" (2005)

Well, I can't say that this one fits my pattern, because there hasn't been a followup album yet. But when there is, it'll probably be more critically acclaimed. Maybe. Actually, it's tough to get more critically acclaimed than this record. I fellated it pretty well myself in this review (the last one of the threefer), where I gave it an A, so even I'm not exempt. I'm not sure there's anything else to say about it, except I still don't think the guy sounds like David Byrne.


I'll be listing albums 5 through 1 in my next Reviews post, but in the meantime, here's half the list that would have been 11-20, in no particular order.

The Wrens, "The Meadowlands" (2003)
Madvillain, "Madvillainy" (2004)
The Roots, "Phrenology" (2002)
New Pornographers, "The Electric Version" (2003)
Radiohead, "Kid A" (2000)

Both lists finished next time. And, if you'd like, go ahead and post up your own top ten list on the message board!