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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Please note: This is an entirely subjective list. Despite the fact that I may often be (deservedly) labeled a “music snob”, I am not claiming to be the sole authority on “good” music for the last decade. An attempt at something of that magnitude would be asinine (especially based on the fact that I was eleven years old when the decade commenced), if not entirely impossible. Instead, you'll find below a list of albums that happened to be the movers and shakers in my musical world over the past ten years. Feel free to critique the list bitterly, proclaiming with shock and awe how you “simply cannot believe (insert favorite artist's name here) groundbreaking album didn't make the list!” and sobbing at the absence of anything Country-Western or (gasp!) Contemporary Christian. Or, feel free to read the list and shout loud hallelujahs in the cafeteria in appreciation for what just might be the best 'top ten' album list ever compiled. After all, it's all in the ear of the be-hear-er.
2000 - Great Big Sea - Road Rage
Considering that the turning of the millennium brought so much terror and uncertainty to our recently computerized world (Y2K… Ahhhh!), Great Big Sea's live album Road Rage was a real breath of fresh, “everything shines”, East-coast air to the Canadian music scene. Recorded over a dozen concerts on their cross-country tour, this album features the band's masterful mix of up-tempo, toe-tapping jigs like “Donkey Riding”, as well as reflective ballads on the nature of band life (“Boston and St. John's”) and the patience of growing love (“Fast As I Can”). As a staple in the Canadian music scene over the past decade, Great Big Sea's live album is the perfect soundtrack for either a full cross-country trek or a weekend excursion around the bay.
2001 - The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
It's fairly rare for a band to carve, maintain and expand their own sound-niche all with a single debut album, but that's just what The Shins did in 2001 with their first release, Oh, Inverted World. Sometimes compared to The Beach Boys, The Shins' spacious distortion, multi-instrumentalism and tight drumming combine with vocalist James Mercer's haunting, echo-heavy vocals to create a sound both inviting and cautious, similar to the way the Beach Boys might have felt on a hot July afternoon, wanting to hit the beach and show off their surf skills, but concerned by the forecast of heavy thunderstorms that's said to be rolling in. It's a light-meets-dark, “Caring is Creepy” tension, blended cleverly and disarmingly across the album.
2002 - Something Corporate - Leaving Through the Window
Call it what you will, the piano driven punk-rock of Andrew McMahon's Something Corporate got me through much of my high school drama (and not like “theatre-drama”) years. Now the front man for Jack's Mannequin, McMahon's sophomore release boasts a wealth of piano-pounding, heart-grabbing ballads. From the musings of waking up in a car in some far distant city, to the nostalgia of growing up, dreaming, watching fights, and smoking banned substances in Cavanaugh Park, Something Corporate was my high school Fall Out Boy. Actually, come to think of it, Fall Out Boy was my Fall Out Boy. But that was in the past. Something Corporate, on the other hand, is on my play list to stay.
2003 - Damien Rice - O
How do you choose a single 'best album' from a year that boasts the likes of Brand New's Deja Entendu, Dave Matthew's Some Devil, Death Cab's Transatlanticism, and Jack Johnson's On and On ? Easy. You choose the one that, upon first listen, forever revolutionized your music taste. From the moment in grade eleven when I watched the video for Damien's “Blower's Daughter” on the dinosaur of media websites that is Yahoo! Music, I knew I was hooked on the world of folk. Never before had I stumbled across such emotion, laid completely bare over the course of a four-minute track, not to mention the collective impact of an album's worth of such songs. Navigating the circular nature of relationships and love, O is a journey from start to never-quite-finished, from learning to take your eyes off a love that has passed, to the drunken slurs of “Cheers Darlin'”, coming full circle to the comfort of an Eskimo friend, dragging you from the cold water. If you don't have it, get it. Now. Seriously… Now.
2004 - Kings of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street
Under the 'Sounds Like' section of their myspace page, the Kings flatly state: we make “music that your parents like too.” It's understandable given the duo of Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye hail from Bergen, Norway. Does anyone remember the last time something unlikeable came from the city so gently named 'Bergen'? I highly doubt it. Moving past that outlandish, space-filling detour, the Kings' second album is rich with warm melodies and slightly accented, soft-spoken voices, topped off with rich flowing guitar solos and deep, dancing bass lines. Kind of reminds me of Norwegian chocolate. And which of your parents wouldn't go for some Norwegian chocolate this Christmas? Consider picking up Mom or Dad a copy of Riot On An Empty Street. And hey, once they open it, you can always rip it and enjoy the chocolaty goodness for yourself. Over, and over, and over again.
2005 - Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel the Illinoise
My R.A. first introduced me to Stevens' through the song “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” several years back. The haunting tale of abuse, murder, and young boys buried beneath floorboards seems like a scene from a horror movie I would never want to watch. What's more haunting is the way the song finishes: “In my best behavior I am really just like him… Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.” It's rather indicting to hear someone so shamelessly convict themselves, and through their own art form nonetheless. His music is something that Stevens' clearly takes seriously, and all the struggles and triumphs, the unanswered questions and tentative conclusions of an average person are present on this album. It is a unique piece of work both in focus and in musicianship, and one that gets a regular rotation on both my playlists and in my stereo.
2006 - The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
The Crane Wife is a soaring album of epic scale, and I say that recognizing how overused the word 'epic' has recently become. In this case, you'll have to trust me… I'm not overusing it. It is a statement of fact. Drawing from an ancient Japanese folktale about a crane who gets rescued from the snow, The Decemberists crafted an album brimming over with original heart-wrenching Britpop, folk-rock, synthesized, sea-chantey tracks. Suffice it to say, the album has a rather eclectic, but far from overwhelming, smooth sound. Highlights include the ten-minute mini-epic “The Island”; the introductory “The Crane-wife 3”, a three chord strummed-out tale, setting the entire album in context; and “Shankill Butchers”, a creepy little diddy about young boys and their whiskey drinking habits. Spin it, rip it, make a mixed tape of it when you go for a hipster jog with your walkman over the holidays. Either way, The Crane Wife is a tale worth telling, and The Decemberists tell it in a way that is worth listening to.
2007 - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2007 was another year that, in my books, had too much good for its own good… That being said, I pulled a name from a hat and came up with Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. It's an album that deserves far more than a random hat selection, and I apologize to anyone offended by this gesture. Justin Vernon, the music and soul behind Bon Iver, spent three months in a cabin in northern Wisconsin chopping wood and writing songs as he recovered from a recent heartbreak. The result is a truly raw collection of deeply moving songs, built around the mind-blowing falsetto of Vernon and the simple acoustics of a cabin and some unplugged instruments.
Note: For Emma, Forever Ago was self-released in 2007, and later broadly released on the Jagjaguwar label in 2008. That's how I got away with this one. You don't want to know what else was in the hat.
2008 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Named Best Album of 2008 by Pitchfork Media, the Fleet Foxes self-titled album made waves throughout the indie music and folk scenes. The natural harmonies throughout the album find their voice effortlessly, tempting one to believe music should only ever be sung with full quartet. There's something calming about the Fleet Foxes that pulls you smoothly away from your desk or car stereo, out to the middle of a thick forest in early fall. Yeah. Something like that. If you've heard them, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you know what to do…
2009 - The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
While I may be forcing your ears a bit when it comes to the Avett Brothers (see the Crown's Sunday, November 8th print for a concert review), here's your second chance to go out and pick up their major label debut, I and Love and You. The Avett's typical drum stomping, banjo smashing, grassroots folk-punk has been polished and smoothed out, revealing a level of professionalism not normally acquainted with their act or genre. The title track is a sample of this pleasant, though not entirely necessary chance. It's a mellowed out reflective tune about the dangers and complexities of the words “I love you”. That being said, the Avett's still know how to pluck a banjo or beat the heck out of a snare drum, as is shown on the tracks “As It Spread”, “Kick Drum Heart”, and “Slight Figure of Speech”. All in all, the album is a tight, ear-catching addition to the Avett's catalogue of songs, and one that suitably caps this list off at number ten. Tune in next decade for my follow-up ten-year album review. Happy listening.
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