Favorite albums of 2000s

These are my favorite albums of the the last decade. I could say they're the best, but in order to claim that, I'd have to have heard everything there is and, well, I haven't heard everything. Even though I spend a ridiculous amount of time listening to new music, there are some bands whose album I just have not had the chance to spin.

So here's 20 albums I have heard and really like (or really liked at the time they came out). I did my best to order them, though in a month, if pressed, I might reorder the whole list. 

20. Modest Mouse Good News for People who Love Bad News

Modest Mouse becomes really listenable and scores with a hit record that’s mostly about death.

19. Strokes Is This It I still suspect that these guys had a ton of help getting these songs written and performed so tightly. The album is a perfect piece of pop rock with great songs. It was the band's first and best.

18. White Stripes White Blood Cells Good songs, great sound and the album that launched a thousand guitar and drum duos.

17. Ray LaMontagne Till The Sun Turns Black
Absolutely beautiful.

16. The Fire Theft The Fire Theft The Sunny Day Real Estate guys reunite, but this time without guitarist Dan Hoerner. The trio ditched the name but continued to develop the sound Sunny Day had reached on The Rising Tide.

15. The Black Keys Rubber Factory A bluesy duo from Akron, Ohio that perfected the drum guitar thing of the White Stripes.

14. Fugazi The Argument The post hardcore pioneers saved their best album for 2001. It's tight, melodic and just plain excellent.

13. Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand There's not one bad song on the debut of this Scottish disco punk band. Sure they sound a lot like Gang of Four, but they've got clever songs and great tunes.

12. Radiohead (#1) Kid A / Amnesiac I know, it's heresy to many to not have these as number 1 (Kid A especially). I get that these were awesome statement albums, but I think subsequent records might not have been as experimental but they contained better songs.

11.  The Doves Kingdom of Rust
My enthusiasm for this album is due primarily to gut. I really like this album. Perhaps its shine is still really fresh (it came out this year)... I can identify weaknesses -- imprecise lyrics, corny keyboard sounds, a lack of theme -- but the sum total is a sweeping, terrific sounding album of great songs without a throwaway track.

10. Drive By Truckers Brighter Than Creation's Dark These guys have released a lot of great stuff, but their most recent just might be their best yet.

9. Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood I have no idea what the title or the title track are about, but songs like "Margaret vs. Pauline," "Star Witness" and "Dirty Knife" are gorgeous and creepy at the same time. A truly original work.

8. Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights My head tells me that Antics is a better work, but I still like the debut best.

7. Radiohead (#2) In Rainbows Several years from now I may feel that this album was Radiohead's best. It's that good. But choosing their best album is like trying to decide which of your children you love best. It's not possible (at least for those of us with normally functioning souls).

6. Kings of Leon Because of the Times The Fallowills' third album is their best by a wide margin. It's loud and raw but tight and well-crafted. It's light years ahead of their debut -- an awesome rock and roll record.

5. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
This is one great album that gets better the more you listen. Sure, the production is awesome, but none of it would have mattered without Jeff Tweedy's keen songwriting skills.

4. Arcade Fire Funeral 
An amazing debut album that charted a sound and style that are really inimitable. Neon Bible is great, too but I favor Funeral's raw and unpolished magic.

3. My Morning Jacket Z I was late to this album but once I caught up, I couldn't stop listening. I may have played it 100 times straight without letting anything else interrupt.

2. The Doves Some Cities A great record by a very underrated band. The Doves manage to shift styles and sounds, yet they tackle each song as if its destined to be a single. Brilliant music and terrific songs.


1. Radiohead Hail to the Thief

I think, again heretical perhaps, that Kid A and Amnesiac were warm-ups to Hail to the Thief that continued to chase the same themes of techno-alienation but with well crafted songs that didn't fail to include the whole band. I've often marveled at criticisms of the work as overly scattered or overlong -- how could you complain about having more of a record this brilliant?