Brainstorming for "Best of the 2000s"

[murlough23]

Since we've been kicking this idea around in another thread, I thought it might be a good idea to move the discussion of our favorite albums from this decade to a new thread. We obviously can't make definitive lists yet since 2009 is only half over and it'll probably take us at least a little ways into 2010 to get a good perspective on our favorite stuff from 2009 vs. our favorites from earlier in the decade (or to just have time to think back all the way to 2000 and collect lists of favorites). But now might be a good time to start at least thinking about your own personal list of "nominees".

I've gone back through my Music Journals for past years and re-rated a lot of stuff to reflect my lasting feelings about it. Then I took everything that I had rated a B+ or better and noticed that I had roughly 100 entries. So I'll probably be making a "Top 100" list with a few Honorable Mentions in early 2010. For now, I can pretty much guarantee that anything I've graded in the "A" range will make my list (barring anything that might happen which would cause me to drastically alter my opinion - which is unlikely for all but the newest stuff), since there are less than 50 of those. So here are my likely candidates (for now just grouped by the grade I assigned and then ordered by the year of their release - the final order will likely be very different.)

A+ Grade Albums:
Iona - Open Sky (Best of 2000)
Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State (Best of 2003)
Caedmon's Call - Share the Well (Best of 2004)
Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Best of 2005)
Vienna Teng - Dreaming Through the Noise (Best of 2006)

A Grade Albums:
Tool - Lateralus (Best of 2001)
Vienna Teng - Waking Hour (Best of 2002)
Steven Delopoulos - Me Died Blue (2003)
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters (2006)
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (Best of 2007)
Deas Vail - All the Houses Look the Same (2007)
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Best of 2008)
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Vienna Teng - Inland Territory (Best of 2009 so far)
Derek Webb - Stockholm Syndrome (2009)

A- Grade Albums:
Earthsuit - Kaleidoscope Superior (2000)
Delirious? - Glo (2000)
Luna Halo - Shimmer (2000)
The Juliana Theory - Emotion Is Dead (2000)
Incubus - Morning View (2001)
Kevin Max - Stereotype Be (2001)
Over the Rhine - Films for Radio (2001)
Sixpence None the Richer - Divine Discontent (2002)
Dixie Chicks - Home (2002)
Matchbox Twenty - More than You Think You Are (2002)
Nickel Creek - This Side (2002)
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown (2003)
Jars of Clay - Who We Are Instead (2003)
Sleeping at Last - Ghosts (2003)
Vienna Teng - Warm Strangers (2004)
Something Like Silas - Divine Invitation (2004)
Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
Eisley - Room Noises (2005)
Mae - The Everglow (2005)
Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die? (2005)
Anathallo - Floating World (2006)
Sleeping at Last - Keep No Score (2006)
Anberlin - Cities (2007)
Thrice - The Alchemy Index (2007/2008 - I'm debating whether to list this project as a single "album" or break it into separate 2-disc sets)
The Myriad - With Arrows, With Poise (2008)
Anathallo - Canopy Glow (2008)
House of Heroes - The End Is Not the End (2008)
Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King (2009)

I have too many B+ grade albums to list right now.

[bloop]

Sorted albums at the top, yet unsorted albums at the bottom.  I'll chop off everything below 100 when I'm done.

I'm still adding some albums to it for consideration.  Keep that in mind as well.

The Forever-Tentative Best Albums of the 00s
Kid A, Radiohead
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco
Sufjan Stevens Invites You to Come on Feel the Illinoise, Sufjan Stevens
Funeral, The Arcade Fire
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective
Love & Theft, Bob Dylan
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, Godspeed You Black Emperor
The Moon & Antarctica, Modest Mouse
It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright, mewithoutYou
In Rainbows, Radiohead
Person Pitch, Panda Bear
Picaresque, The Decemberists
Return to Cookie Mountain, TV on the Radio
Embryonic, The Flaming Lips
Blood From Stars, Joe Henry
The Shepherd's Dog, Iron & Wine
Boxer, The National
( ), Sigur Rós
Sea Change, Beck
Dear Science, TV on the Radio
Boys and Girls in America, The Hold Steady
Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors
Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear
Leviathan, Mastodon
Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Andrew Bird
Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket
Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, Sigur Rós
Sonic Nurse, Sonic Youth
Civilians, Joe Henry
Drunkard's Prayer, Over the Rhine
Roots & Crowns, Califone
Modern Times, Bob Dylan
Ships, Danielson
The Glass Bead Game, James Blackshaw
Blackwater Park, Opeth
Serena-Maneesh, Serena-Maneesh


Since I Left You, The Avalanches
Fabulous Muscles, Xiu Xiu
The Meadowlands, The Wrens
Ohio, Over the Rhine
Tiny Voices, Joe Henry
Me Died Blue, Steven Delopoulos
Orphans, Tom Waits
Real Gone, Tom Waits
Blazing Arrow, Blackalicious
The Ecstatic, Mos Def
Murray,Street, Sonic Youth
This Side, Nickel Creek
Vespertine, Bjork
Lateralus, Tool
Dark Night of the Soul, Dangermouse and Sparklehorse
Together Through Life, Bob Dylan
Hospice, The Antlers
The Crying Light, Antony and the Johnsons
I'm Going Away, Fiery Furnaces
Inland Territory, Vienna Teng
Kingdom of Rust, Doves
Noble Beast w/ Useless Creatures, Andrew Bird
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
London Zoo, The Bug
Third, Portishead
Exit, Shugo Tokumaru
Furr, Blitzen Trapper
Invisible Baby, Marco Benevento
Shallow Graves, The Tallest Man on Earth
In Ear Park, Department of Eagles
Lie Down in the Light, Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, Atlas Sound
Phylactery Factory, White Hinterland
The Trumpet Child, Over the Rhine
Untrue, Burial
Icky Thump, The White Stripes
Children Running Through, Patty Griffin
The Crane Wife, The Decemberists
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case
Savane, Ali Farka Toure
Ys, Joanna Newsom
Stankonia, Outkast
Blood Mountain, Mastodon
Keep No Score, Sleeping At Last
Drum's Not Dead, Liars
Citrus, Asobi Seksu
Scale, Herbert
AWOO, The Hidden Cameras
Dreaming Through the Noise, Vienna Teng
Yes Nearby, The Ragbirds
Apologies to the Queen Mary, Wolf Parade
Takk, Sigur Ros
Blueberry Boat, Fiery Furnaces
Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple (leak)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Woods, Sleater-Kinney
Quit +/or Fight, Holopaw
Guero, Beck
Late Registration, Kanye West
A Ghost is Born, Wilco
Van Lear Rose, Loretta Lynn
Seven Swans, Sufjan Stevens
Madvillainy, Madvillain
Ghosts, Sleeping At Last
Chutes Too Narrow, The Shins
Hail to the Thief, Radiohead
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Outkast
Who We Are Instead, Jars of Clay
Earthquake Glue, Guided By Voices
You Are Free, Cat Power
You Forgot it In People, Broken Social Scene
When I Was Cruel, Elvis Costello
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Flaming Lips
Ghost Reveries, Opeth
Amnesiac, Radiohead
Know Better Learn Faster, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Source Tags & Codes, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Twin Cinema, The New Pornographers
A Grand Don’t Come for Free, The Streets
Morning View, Incubus

[murlough23]

Stuff you have that's either on my "for sure" list of A grade stuff or that has a likely chance of showing up among the B+ grade stuff on my list:

Sufjan Stevens Invites You to Come on Feel the Illinoise, Sufjan Stevens
Kid A, Radiohead
Steven Delopoulos - Me Died Blue
This Side, Nickel Creek
Vespertine, Bjork
Lateralus, Tool
Inland Territory, Vienna Teng
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
The Trumpet Child, Over the Rhine
Keep No Score, Sleeping At Last
Dreaming Through the Noise, Vienna Teng
Takk, Sigur Ros
Sleeping at Last - Ghosts
Jars of Clay - Who We Are Instead
Twin Cinema, The New Pornographers

[bloop]

Well, I'm going to start by clearing the list of grades, as they aren't consistent between years, so I can consider these albums against each other (and, let's be honest, some have aged better than others).

Also, I need to add Morning View to my list (another one of those pre-journal).

[murlough23]

Also, I need to add Morning View to my list (another one of those pre-journal).

Looks like we both helped each other with 2001. You reminded me that I had forgotten about Vespertine (It's in my '01 Music Journal, but I might have had it at a straight B. It should be bumped up to a B+ to accurately reflect how it's grown on me since I rated it, which was in '07, but still, that's been two years.)

NP: "Zero", Yeah Yeah Yeahs

[Josh]

My tentative Top 10 (excluding all 2009 releases, which are still too fresh for me to feel comfortable counting them:

1. Joe Henry, Tiny Voices
2. Bob Dylan, Love & Theft
3. Over the Rhine, Ohio
4. Andrew Bird, Mysterious Production
5. Radiohead, Kid A
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
7. Sam Phillips, A Boot and a Shoe
8. Joe Henry, Civilians
9. Tom Waits, Orphans
10. Not fully decided, but likely to be Boys and Girls in America or Stankonia

[Ian]

I'm kind of basing all of mine on a mix of what I played a lot and what I would critically call excellent even if it's not my thing.

Right now I'm looking at these for my tops.  This isn't my final order, but it's going to be somewhere along these lines.  Some of these just came out, and could move up or down.

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
2. Radiohead - Kid A
3. The National - Boxer
4. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
5. Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites
6. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
7. Mute Math - Mute Math
8. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
9. Mew - No More Stories
10. mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False!  It's All a Dream!  It's Alright
11. My Morning Jacket - Z
12. Joanna Newsom - Ys
13. Clann Zu - Rua
14. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
15. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
16. Bjork - Vespertine
17. Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
18. Burial - Untrue
19. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi
20. The Postal Service - Give Up
21. Daft Punk - Discovery
22. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
23. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
24. Mew - Frengers
25. The National - Alligator
26. Animal Collective - Feels
27. Outkast - Stankonia
28. Muse - Origin of Symmetry
29. Sigur Ros - Ágætis Byrjun
30. James Blackshaw - Glass Bead Game
31. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
32. The Antlers - Hospice
33. The Knife - Silent Shout
34. Muse - Absolution
35. Radiohead - Amnesiac
36. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
37. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
38. Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
39. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
40. Decemberists - The Crane Wife
41. mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister
42. Helios - Caesura
43. Kormorany - La Musica Teatrale
44. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
45. Portishead - Third
46. Andrew Bird - And the Mysterious Production of Eggs
47. Ian Brown - Music of the Spheres
48. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
49. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
50. The Mars Volta - DeLoused in the Commotorium
51. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
52. Iron & Wine - Shepherd's Dog
53. Maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
54. Sigur Ros - Takk...
55. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
56. Chris Wood - Trespasser
57. Tweaker - 2 AM Wake-Up Call
58. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
60. Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree
61. Hecq - Steeltongued
62. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
63. Of Montreal - Hissing Fanna, Are You the Destroyer
64. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
65. Menomena - Friend and Foe
66. Eluvium - Copia
67. Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
68. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist
Ametsub - The Nothings of the North
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Justice - Cross
Califone - Roots and Crowns
Copeland - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Battles - Mirrored
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Aliens - Astronomy for Dogs
Balmorhea - River Arms
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
fun. - Aim & Ignite
Keane - Under the Iron Sea
The Elms - The Chess Hotel
Arve Henriksen - Cartography

[bloop]

My copy paste operation had an egregious error, with Person Pitch somehow missing.  Thanks, Ian.

Stankonia needs to be on the rough list, too.



mmm.  Mandelbrot.

[dgp11776]

Since my list would probably be the most disagreed with, here we go.  I would chip away at these to come up with a list.

A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
Adelaide - Overtired and Ill-Prepared
Anberlin - Cities
Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal
As Cities Burn - Come Now, Sleep
Braille - The IV Edition
Cas Metah - Guest Room
Children 18:3 - Children 18:3
The Classic Crime - The Silver Cord
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To the Head
Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Cool Hand Luke - The Fires of Life
Cool Hand Luke - The Sleeping House
Copeland - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Deas Vail - All the Houses Look the Same
Deepspace 5 - BakeSale
Deepspace 5 - Unique, Just Like Everybody Else
Deepspace 5 - Deepspace5oul
Delirious? - Access:D
Delirious? - Glo
Delirious? - Kingdom of Comfort
downhere - So Much For Substitutes
Earthsuit - Kaleidoscope Superior
Edison Glass - Time Is Fiction
The Elms - The Chess Hotel
Emery - ...In Shallow Seas We Sail
Future of Forestry - Twilight
Harry Connick, Jr. - Chanson Du Vieux Carre
Harry Connick, Jr. - Harry For the Holidays
Harry Connick, Jr. - Occasion: Connock On Piano, Vol. 2
House of Heroes - The End Is Not the End
House of Heroes - House of Heroes
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters
Jars of Clay - Who We Are Instead
John Mark McMillan - The Medicine
Katie Herzig - Apple Tree
Listener - Ozark Empire
The Listening - Rock 'N Roll Worship Circus Becomes 'The Listening'
Luna Halo - Shimmer
Mae - The Everglow
Mark Mathis - Warship
Mars ILL - Backbreakanomics
Mars ILL - Pro*Pain
Mat Kearney - Nothing Left To Lose
MercyMe - The Christmas Sessions
mewithoutYou - it's all crazy! it's all false! it's all a dream! it's alright.
Michael Buble - It's Time
Mute Math - Mute Math
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
The Myriad - With Arrows, With Poise
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Over the Rhine - Drunkard's Prayer
Over the Rhine - The Trumpet Child
Paper Route - Absence
Paramore - RIOT!
Project 86 - Rival Factions
Radiohead - Kid A
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Red Umbrella - Living and Surviving
The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord, and Melody
Relient K - The Anatomy of the Tongue In Cheek
Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago
Relient K - Mmhmm
Sanctus Real - The Face of Love
Sev Statik - Shotgun
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Sleeping At Last - Ghosts
Sleeping At Last - Keep No Score
Starflyer 59 - Dial M
Starflyer 59 - I Am the Portuguese Blues
Starflyer 59 - Leave Here a Stranger
Starflyer 59 - Talking Voice Vs. Singing Voice
Steven Delopoulos - Me Died Blue
Steven Delopoulos - Straightjacket
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Switchfoot - Oh! Gravity.
Tony Bennett - The Art of Romance
Tyler Burkum - Darling, Maybe Someday
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
4th Avenue Jones - Stereo: The Evolution of Hiprocksoul

[bloop]

Since my list would probably be the most disagreed with

I think all our lists will be widely disagreed with, but that doesn't matter.  I personally don't worry about order when I read these anymore (because some of it will strike me as absurd if I did) - just concerning myself with the quality of what is there.

[Josh]

I see plenty of stuff on your list that I really like, DGP, including many that will be on my own list. Most of the ones we don't have in common are simply albums that I haven't heard for myself-- but inclusion on your list will certainly make me eager to check 'em out.

[NinjaRob17]

DGP, Supernatural came out in 1998. 

[dgp11776]

DGP, Supernatural came out in 1998. 

Ack!  iTunes had the wrong date.

[dgp11776]

I see plenty of stuff on your list that I really like, DGP, including many that will be on my own list. Most of the ones we don't have in common are simply albums that I haven't heard for myself-- but inclusion on your list will certainly make me eager to check 'em out.

Thinking about your tastes, these are probably the only ones I would recommend you giving a shot (if you haven't already).  The one I really would like to know your opinion on is John Mark McMillan.  I may be completely wrong, but I can't see you not liking it.

Braille - The IV Edition
Copeland - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
John Mark McMillan - The Medicine
Katie Herzig - Apple Tree
Mark Mathis - Warship
Tyler Burkum - Darling, Maybe Someday

[murlough23]

You guys are on the right track with the recommendations. These lists are to help us discover stuff we might have missed, not to criticize or "argue" about each other's picks.

[bloop]

Yes.  The arguing will almost certainly come later.   

[Aaron]

I'm typing parts of my thesis this week (Because i've been a procrastinating dumbass for the past 8 months) so I'll try to get some suggestions over the weekend.

[plvarona]

I might as well give this a shot and post what my top 100 list looks like right now, just solely on the basis of raw ratings.  I've recently gone back and re-rated a bunch of albums from earlier in the decade to reflect my feelings now, and I'll probably do one more re-rating run before the year is up.  When I do make my list, I'm not sure if I'll go strictly by the ratings, or if I'll just use them as a guideline, but the actual rankings still won't be too drastically different.  I do know my actual rankings will be heavy on albums from the last half of this decade.  I'm not sure if it's because my tastes shifted then, or if the music really was that much better in the second half of the decade.

Enough yapping on my end.  Here's my list, roughly in order of how I would rank them:

"A" Level Albums:
Jars of Clay: Good Monsters
Sleeping at Last: Keep No Score
Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
Over The Rhine: The Trumpet Child
Steven Delopoulos: Straightjacket
Switchfoot: The Beautiful Letdown
Derek Webb: Stockholm Syndrome
House of Heroes: The End is Not The End
Caedmon's Call: Share The Well
Justin McRoberts: Grace Must Wound...
Mae: The Everglow
Iron and Wine: The Shepherd's Dog
Cool Hand Luke: The Sleeping House
Steven Delopoulos: Me Died Blue
Sleeping at Last: Ghosts
Monarch: Lowly
Andrew Peterson: The Far Country
Cool Hand Luke: The Fires of Life
mewithoutYou: It's All Crazy!  It's All False!  It's All a Dream!  It's Alright
Anberlin: Cities
The Myriad: With Arrows, With Poise

"A-" Level Albums:
Jars of Clay: The Eleventh Hour
Deas Vail: All The Houses Look The Same
Patty Griffin: Children Running Through
Edison Glass: Time is Fiction
Shaun Groves: White Flag
Switchfoot: Oh!  Gravity.
The Reign of Kindo: Rhythm, Chord & Melody
Nichole Nordeman: Woven and Spun
Sufjan Stevens: Michigan
Shaun Groves: Twilight
Mute Math: self-titled
Andrew Peterson: Carried Along
Jill Paquette: self-titled
Brooke Waggoner: Heal For The Honey
Edison Glass: A Burn or a Shiver
Jars of Clay: Who We Are Instead
Switchfoot: Learning to Breathe
Derek Webb: She Must and Shall Go Free
Thrice: Vheissu
The Listening: The Listening LP
Shaun Groves: Invitation to Eavesdrop
Sixpence None The Richer: Divine Discontent
Justin McRoberts: Deconstruction
downhere: Ending is Beginning
Caedmon's Call: Long Line of Leavers
Relient K: mmhmm
Rebecca St. James: Transform
Coldplay: Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Kevin Max: The Imposter
The Pool Boys: My Time Alive
Over The Rhine: Drunkard's Prayer
Copeland: Eat.  Sleep.  Repeat.
Nichole Nordeman: This Mystery
Jon Foreman: Spring and Summer EPs (These were available as a single package in stores.)
Jennifer Knapp: The Way I Am
Eisley: Room Noises
Anberlin: Blueprints For the BlackMarket
David Crowder Band: A Collision
Lifehouse: No Name Face
Derek Webb: The Ringing Bell
Derek Webb: I See Things Upside Down
Caedmon's Call: Overdressed
Bethany Dillon: self-titled
Wavorly: Conquering The Fear of Flight
Anberlin: Never Take Friendship Personal
Andrew Osenga: The Morning
The Violet Burning: Drop-dead
Fleet Foxes: self-titled
Mars ILL: Pro*Pain
Matthew Perryman Jones: Swallow The Sea
Paper Route: Absence
The Elms: The Chess Hotel

Selected "B+" Level Albums:
Andrew Peterson: Resurrection Letters, Vol. II
Alli Rogers: The Day of Small Things
The Normals: A Place Where You Belong
Jars of Clay: Redemption Songs
Daily Planet: Hero
Fair: The Best Worst-Case Scenario
Switchfoot: Nothing is Sound
Inside The Outside: self-titled
Flogging Molly: Float
Leigh Nash: Blue on Blue
John Rueben: Word of Mouth
PFR: Disappear
The Myriad: You Can't Trust a Ladder
Eisley: Combinations
John Reuben: The Boy vs. The Cynic
Tait: Empty
Jars of Clay: The Long Fall Back to Earth
Robert Randolph & The Family Band: Unclassified
The Normals: Coming To Life
The Evan Anthem: Sens
Clear: Follow The Narrow
Relient K: Five Score and Seven Years Ago
Seabird: 'Til We See The Shore
Future of Forestry: Twilight
Andrew Peterson: Love & Thunder
Jeremy Camp: Stay
Andrew Peterson: Clear to Venus

So that's where my list stands right now.  Obviously, there will be more than a few tweaks between now and the end of the year.

[bloop]

Wow, Pitchfork.  A bit early, isn't it?

[murlough23]

Wow, Pitchfork.  A bit early, isn't it?

A lot of publications seem to want to make these lists early. They may not be fully accurate in terms of giving late entries a chance (seriously, are all of this year's pre-releases out yet?), but it generates buzz. People talk about how they did it too soon or how they're too quick to heap praise on something very recent, etc., which drives more traffic their way to see what the fuss is all about.

[bloop]

Perhaps they'll just do what they did with the 90s list.  Make one now, give it a few, and then revise. 

IIRC, Loveless was their #1 90s in the original write-up, then OK Computer was named the best album of the 90s in the revision (I wasn't really complaining either way).

[Aaron]

I was going to nominate Jimmy Eat World's Clarity but then I remembered it came out in 1999.   so...nevermind!

[murlough23]

I was going to nominate Jimmy Eat World's Clarity but then I remembered it came out in 1999.   so...nevermind!

It was reissued this year, if you want to cheat.

But yeah, what happens to albums released very late in the decade? Would you have known in, say, August of 1999 that Clarity was a classic? Some albums need a little time for you to bond with them, and truthfully, lists like this are probably always a list in progress. So even a "Best of the 90's" list issued well into 2000 or beyond would be incomplete, even as a list of personal faves. I just don't think it's a good idea to create such a list for the 00's before 2009 is even over. It makes sense to start thinking about it, but that shortchanges everything that has the misfortune of being released between August and December of 2009.

Now that I'm looking at Pitchfork's site, I see that their albums list won't be posted until late September, but still. I expect something good to slip through the cracks due to a late release.

[Aaron]

True, I could cheat with Clarity and it still stands up to a lot of what has been released this decade. 

[bloop]

Yeah, I just thought it was a strange choice to do it that way.  Their year-end lists come out about when one would expect them to, I'm pretty sure.

I kind of wonder if Agaetis Byrjun will make the list , as it's a '99 released widely in the U.S. in '00.  I see it did make the "Best of 00" list.

[murlough23]

I kind of wonder if Agaetis Byrjun will make the list , as it's a '99 released widely in the U.S. in '00.  I see it did make the "Best of 00" list.

I get confused about those when international release dates span multiple years. I usually go with the date of its initial release, unless the US version is the specific one that I'm rating and its contents are different (one example would be KT Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope, which I believe originally came out in '05 in the UK, but was re-released in the US in '06 with the studio version of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" added on, and that was the version of the album that I first heard and that I bought, so I have it on my '06 list).

Agaetis Byrjun is on my '99 list even though I first heard it (and the band) in '02. There seems to be no difference between the original Icelandic release and the international one, so that seems right, but if someone had it on their best of the 2000's, list, I wouldn't gripe about it. I keep changing my mind about whether I love that album or just kinda like it. Then again, I do that with every Sigur Ros album, except for Takk... which I criticized for playing it too safe at first, and now it's my favorite. Go figure.

NP: "City Hall", Vienna Teng

[bloop]

Pitchfork just finished their list for the 00s, minus three months. 

Kid A topped the list.  I'm as surprised as you are, but sometimes, such things are predictable for good reason.

[Ian]

Yeah, Kid A won't be my top choice, but it is more or less the album of the decade.

[bloop]

It'll almost definitely be my top choice.  Good job on that one, Pitchfork.  Democracy does work sometimes.

[murlough23]

It'll almost definitely be my top choice.  Good job on that one, Pitchfork.  Democracy does work sometimes.

Democracy would probably select something like Nickelback. This is more of a self-selected panel of judges who actually know music. More like a Congress or Senate or... I don't know a good analogy.

[bloop]

Well, it's democratic within their organization, but I'd imagine the results would be similar if they opened it up to a reader's vote.  Pure democracy would probably select something less loathed than Nickelback, but less critically-acclaimed than what the critics might choose.  IDK, probably Coldplay or Beyonce - something like that.

[murlough23]

Well, it's democratic within their organization, but I'd imagine the results would be similar if they opened it up to a reader's vote.

Among their readers, yes.

[bloop]

Yeah, that's exactly what I said.  Throw it to the generally population, and you'd probably get something with a wider appeal, but not as creative.  But, to compare to my opinion of democratic elections in general, I prefer when the people that would vote for the cute one because he's cute just stay home.  The Mercury Prize generally chooses something superior to what the million People's Choice Awards kinds of things would.  Alternatively, you can compare the Mtv movie awards to the Golden Globes.  There's really no comparison.  It may be elitist, but folks who care a lot about the medium, and are generally knowledgeable just plain vote for better things.

[Ian]

This could probably start another topic, but I don't think that music is subjective.  Kid A is a better album than what a wider vote might presumably choose.  I hear a lot of people say that music is all subjective and you should just listen to what you like, and while the latter is true, I find it pretty insulting that someone who flips the radio on once in a while should have as much say about an album's worth as someone like me who spends a sizeable chunk of their week devoted to  discovering music. 

Also, I don't find this to be an elitist point of view at all.

[Aaron]

This could probably start another topic, but I don't think that music is subjective.  Kid A is a better album than what a wider vote might presumably choose.  I hear a lot of people say that music is all subjective and you should just listen to what you like, and while the latter is true, I find it pretty insulting that someone who flips the radio on once in a while should have as much say about an album's worth as someone like me who spends a sizeable chunk of their week devoted to  discovering music. 

Also, I don't find this to be an elitist point of view at all.

Music has an objective AND subjective part to it.  It's not one or the other.

[bloop]

I'm the strongest objectivist here, and I wouldn't disagree that there's a subjective element.  But, while that's true, those that invest much of their time in the medium are better-equipped in even a subjective sense.  All tastes are not equal, and pretending everyone knows equally doesn't do us any favors.  Let's not pretend McD's is as good as filet mignon.

[Aaron]

  Let's not pretend McD's is as good as filet mignon.

Wait..it's not? 

[bloop]

I wish it was.  I could use cheap, awesomely tasty food.  Sadly, with much of the food world, you pretty much get what you pay for. 

Not so with music, which really makes me wonder why people listen to Fergie when they could listen to something with merit.

[Ian]

I just put everything in my list into a very rough order.  I'm sure I've forgotten some albums and will find some new ones by the end of the year.  I didn't really listen to any music the first half of the decade, so I need to do a crash course on that.

[Aaron]

I just put everything in my list into a very rough order.  I'm sure I've forgotten some albums and will find some new ones by the end of the year.  I didn't really listen to any music the first half of the decade, so I need to do a crash course on that.

that's right. you're a youngin!