So I guess everyone is aware of Pitchforkmedia.com’s Top 500 Best Songs of the Decade list.
Partly because I disagree fundamentally with a whole hell of a lot of it (e.g. “Crazy In Love” at number 4 [WTF??]) and partly because this is something I’ve been contemplating since I realized the decade was almost over about 4 months ago, I have decided to compile my own list.
As a disclaimer I should go ahead and warn you that my favorite genres are shoegaze, post-punk, and spacey-rock. I also like ambient and some post-rock, although you’ll only find a handful of instrumentals or songs over six minutes herein. The cream of the crop, basically.
New Weird America, metal sub-genres, IDM, alt-country, lo-fi, garage rock, and other such genres are largely ignored or excluded. Although, once again, there are exceptions.
Songs from 2009 are understandably underrepresented compared to the other years in the decade. But of course that’ll all be taken care of in December. Let’s get started:
My 100 Favorite Songs: 2000-2009
100.
Architecture in Helsinki –
Do The Whirlwind [2005]
099.
The Smashing Pumpkins –
Stand Inside Your Love [2000]
098.
National Skyline –
Revenge [2008]
097.
Unwound –
Below the Salt [2001]
096.
Radiohead –
Everything In Its Right Place [2000]
095.
Stars –
Ageless Beauty [2004]
094.
Psychic Ills –
January Rain [2006]
093.
Burial –
Archangel [2007]
092.
For Against –
Why Are You So Angry? [2008]
091.
The Sheila Divine –
Back To The Cradle [2002]
090.
The Daysleepers –
Run [2008]
089.
School of Seven Bells –
Half Asleep [2008]
088.
Film School –
Go Down Together [2007]
087.
Daft Punk –
Digital Love [2001]
086.
Jeremy Enigk –
City Tonight [2006]
085.
Thursday –
Asleep In The Chapel [2003]
084.
The Out_Circuit –
Across the Light [2008]
083.
Pacific UV –
Need [2008]
082.
The National –
Available [2003]
081.
The Church –
After Everything [2002]
080.
Belle and Sebastian –
The Blues Are Still Blue [2006]
079.
Film School –
Lectric [2007]
078.
Spiritualized –
Out Of Sight [2001]
077.
Metric –
Waves [2009]
076.
National Skyline –
Reinkiller [2001]
075.
My Morning Jacket –
One Big Holiday [2003]
074.
Absinthe Blind –
Antarctica [2001]
073.
Film School –
Two Kinds [2007]
072.
Editors –
Munich [2005]
071.
Phoenix –
If I Ever Feel Better [2005]
070.
Longwave –
Make Me Whole [2001]
069.
The Sea and Cake –
An Echo In [2003]
068.
Absinthe Blind –
Rising [2001]
067.
Editors –
Escape the Nest [2007]
066.
The Knife /
Jose Gonzalez –
Heartbeats [2003 / 2005]
065.
Air France –
Collapsing At Your Doorstep [2008]
064.
Aarktica –
Big Year [2003]
063.
National Skyline –
A Night at the Drugstore [2001]
062.
Interpol –
Say Hello to the Angels [2002]
061.
Broken Social Scene –
7/4 Shoreline [2005]
060.
The Arcade Fire -
No Cars Go [2007]
059.
School of Seven Bells -
Connjur [2008]
058.
Interpol -
The New [2002]
057.
National Skyline -
Tropical Depression [2000]
056.
Southpacific -
Built To Last [2000]
055.
Voxtrot -
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives [2006]
054.
M83 -
We Own The Sky [2008]
053.
Codeseven -
All the Best Dreams [2004]
052.
Editors -
An End Has A Start [2007]
051.
Film School -
Pitfalls [2006]
050.
The Daysleepers -
Moonfrost [2006]
049.
Mew -
Apocalypso [2006]
048.
National Skyline -
Some Will Say [2001]
047.
Elliott Smith -
Junk Bond Trader [2001]
046.
Airiel -
Mermaid In a Manhole [2007]
045.
The National -
Apartment Story [2007]
044.
LCD Soundsystem -
All My Friends [2007]
043.
The Flaming Lips -
Do You Realize?? [2002]
042.
Pantha du Prince -
Saturn Strobe [2007]
041.
Asobi Seksu -
Thursday [2006]
040.
Cerulean -
Here Is Hoping [2004]
039.
The Dismemberment Plan -
Time Bomb [2001]
038.
Radiohead -
There There [2003]
037.
Dntel -
(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan [2001]
036.
The Drop -
Spiderbite [2002]
035.
Film School -
11:11 [2006]
034.
My Morning Jacket -
Dondante [2005]
033.
Sonic Youth -
I Love You Golden Blue [2004]
032.
Absinthe Blind -
You Should Get Out More [2001]
031.
Bjork -
Unison [2001]
030.
Six by Seven -
Eat Junk Become Junk [2000]
029.
Air -
Playground Love [2000]
028.
M83 -
Don't Save Us From the Flames [2005]
027.
Neko Case -
Star Witness [2006]
026.
The Joy Circuit -
The Last Place On Earth [2005]
025.
The New Pornographers –
The Bleeding Heart Show [2005]
The NPs already had several solid power pop albums under their belt by the time follow-up Twin Cinema’s more diverse aspects launched them into a broader layer of music fans. Now, it’s interesting because this is usually when most bands start to lose some of their down-from-day-one fans. Although
Twin Cinema was unarguably their most compromised batch of songs up to that moment, this didn’t mean it was full of duds. Chalk it up to the fact that the members of this supergroup had already been recording and playing music for a while prior or chalk it up to something else, but upon its release
TC just sounded like the kind of album that the NPs had always been destined to make sooner or later. And this inclination to branch out yielded what is easily their best song to date. It’s a song as grandiose in its composition as it is in its title: “The Bleeding Heart Show”.
The best part is that by the time that glorious harmony of vocals, synths, and everything else is front and center, you’re ready for it. And it could go on forever for all you care, but you know what they say about all good things.
024.
Studio –
Impossible [2007]
I’ve never listened to the original Shout Out Louds’ version of “Possible,” even though I know I should. But I imagine that “Impossible” is Studio’s interpretation of what that song would sound like if you were dreaming about listening to it. It reminds me a lot of MBV’s “Sometimes” in feel, except it’s sunny side up.
023.
Cat Power –
Maybe Not [2003]
The feminine answer to “Imagine.” Enough said. Nobody melts hearts like Chan Marshall.
022.
Poem Rocket –
Reurbanization of the Space [2000]
From an album named for the concept, this song is about Guy Debord’s theory of psychogeography. If you don’t know what that is, I’ll leave you to Wiki it. I’ll just tell you this much: no song that’s about it could ever be boring or stale. And “Reurbanization Of The Space” is appropriately a monster. This song basically sounds like a Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth track beefed up on steroids. The guitars are louder and noisier; the smoggy bass would seep through your speakers if it wasn’t so dense; the drumming is the sound of a thousand starving urbanites banging pots and pans on a cracked and decaying street top, the vocals are unapologetically confrontational, and its subject matter is more dense than a comprehensive class in 19th century Western philosophy. What other song contains lyrics like: “Here is the new trend: examine the implications in the public and the private sector … you’re creating the mythology of the Great American City … the space around the buildings is the soul of the city”?
This song is an ideal introduction to this severely underappreciated and clearly brilliant trio. Even though they released a follow up album a few years ago,
Psychogeography was kind of like their going away present to a world that did not appreciate them. And it still doesn’t. But there will come a time when people casually list them alongside Joy Division and Sonic Youth as urban rock behemoths. Just watch.
021.
Interpol –
NYC [2002]
It’s because of songs like this (or maybe in spite of songs like this) that Interpol became one of the most ubiquitous indie rock bands at the beginning of the decade. Either way, “NYC” is the sound of them in their prime. It’s a sound as stark and deliberate as it is delicate and mournful.
020.
At the Drive-In –
Cosmonaut [2000]
Before the band dissolved, they released an album in
ROC that completely changed the game in that genre. With “One-Armed Scissor” getting adequate playtime on many major rock stations in 2000, it was the sound of a jolt of electricity punishing FM rock radio for its recent facilitation of the mundane, the unimaginative, and the just flat-out wimpy. Suddenly, post-hardcore music had reached the suburbs. And even though ATD-I was in the process of breaking-up to pursue less cohesive endeavors, Bixler and Rodriguez had positioned themselves as icons of a new generation of hard rock fans. Their wardrobe of tight black shirts and tighter jeans became the uniform for a broad new legion of vocal American kids fed up with “this Lifehouse bullshit.”
Naturally, the music lived up to the image. Especially on
ROC. And absolutely nothing was more simultaneously eclectic and intense as the song “Cosmonaut.” The song begins and within three seconds it’s obvious that its already light years ahead of its contemporaries. All of that deep space imagery that had been in their song titles for a while had finally been absorbed into the music itself. A little Unwound here, a little Swervedriver there, and a little Refused way over there. That’s how “Cosmonaut” goes down. “Is it heavier than air?” You best your ass.
019.
Yeasayer –
2080 [2007]
Spacey, pretty, and with one of the most sinuous bouncing grooves I’ve ever heard in a pop song. Outrageously surreal lyrics too.
018.
National Skyline –
Glimmer [2009]
NatSky is unsurpassed when Jeff Garber’s voice is spot-on. That key change comes out of nowhere.
017.
M83 –
Run Into Flowers [2003]
Anthony Gonzalez makes a career out of building whole otherworldy environments with his multi-instrumental electronica wizardry. And he’s got some pretty celestial tunes to back it up. But “Run Into Flowers” just doesn’t even sound like it could have been composed by mere mortals.
As for all of you wannabe laptop-electronica wunderkinds out there… do us all a favor and listen to this song (and some others like it) before you even try, okay? Not tryin’ to be an asshole or anything; I’m just sayin’.
016.
Radiant –
World [2004]
The rest of this album is available on Last.fm; but it’s too bad it sounds like
AROBTTH-era Coldplay. (And that’s being kind.) Thankfully, I’ll always have this song. “World” is powered by chiming post-punk guitar work, thunderous early-U2 drumbeats, tight production, and it’s all held together by Dragan Jakovljevic’s keening voice. The best part is the ascendant ending.
Also, this was the most listened overall song on my Last.fm charts up until very recently.
015.
Film School –
Compare [2007]
So effortless and simply beautiful that it should be a crime to be this good.
014.
Absinthe Blind –
Vanity Calls [2001]
An undeniably potent song. A standout on an album full of decade-long standouts, “Vanity Calls” has some of the best and most unique atmosphere ever laid to tape. The interplay of Adam’s and Erin’s vocals makes it that much more incandescent.
013.
PJ Harvey –
We Float [2000]
PJ Harvey’s most seductive song of her career. If you’re keeping score at home, that makes this song one of the most seductive of all time. Note that this song is called “We Float” and not “I Float.” Because when she croons the refrain, you’re right there with her.
012.
TV on the Radio –
Young Liars [2003]
These Brooklyn iconoclasts are well known for making some of the most accessible experimental music of the decade. When you strip this song to its basic elements – (that is, if you remove all of the woozy atmosphere and advanced synthesizers and just use an acoustic guitar) – it’s still amazing. Plus any song that boasts the lyrics: “Someday suppose that my curious nervousness stills into prescience, clairvoyant consciousness; I will be calmer than cream”
has to be a classic.
011.
Voxtrot –
Wrecking Force [2005]
This song certainly lives up to its name. With their EPs, Voxtrot was releasing the kind of music that was so fucking hard to come by mid-decade. Shambling indie rock that sounded like it was recorded on a rainy day in somebody’s bedroom, but is actually way more rich and complex than that.
It’s a song about living life to the fullest. And it doubles as an outright invitation to do so. Actually, a lot of their songs have this kind of fatherly advice thing going on. But sounding more like an ancient philosopher than a straight-laced patriarchal figure. Religion? “You can be your own god if you want to.” Art? You can lose yourself in it. Pain and loss? It’s gonna happen, kid. But it’s a hell of a lot better than what comes out of avoiding new experiences. Trust me… I have the overgrown iTunes library and record collection to prove it.
Now get out there, champ, and climb a mountain or something… (after you finish reading this list, of course.)
010.
Junius –
A Word Could Kill Her [2006]
Junius is what would have happened if Interpol hadn’t decided to look toward the growing chorus of collegiate hipsters for their emergent fanbase and instead grew beards, traded in their dapper suits for hooded sweatshirts, and started frequenting sludge metal shows. In case you’re trying to ponder that, it’s a compliment.
The red-and-black is still there, except the red aspects are deeper in hue and dripping with vitality. In fact, I don’t think this band has any other colors within its aesthetic range than those two. The mopey quirkiness of trendy indie rock, however, is not there. In fact, the ferocious Junius will bite the head off of any number of such bands that may just happen to have cutesy animalistic names.
And for my money, they could probably take down a Mastodon or two.
009.
The National –
The Geese of Beverly Road [2005]
Oh, man. That intro is so illuminate and vivid that you can basically watch the fireflies float around under the neighborhood streetlights. This song is about kids setting off car alarms for thrills, yes, but it’s also about so much more than that.
008.
The Arcade Fire –
Rebellion (Lies) [2004]
I remember the moment I fell in love with this song. I had been listening to this album casually for days after seeing it nerped on a message board, but on a December night in 2004 I was driving home from an after-work get-together/party kind of thing with some new co-workers. All of a sudden, the song began and upon the moment when that already-familiar bass line entered my immediate consciousness, I was hearing the whole song in my head in fast-forward. Well before I was actually hearing it.
You know how you grow up watching Looney Toons and they use classical compositions therein, but you don’t know it’s, for instance, Bach when you’re like six-years-old? It’s kind of like that. That’s how instantly memorable this song was for me. I’m comparing it to Bach, for Christ sake!
I identify with it, in other words; it completes me; etc.
007.
Lansing-Dreiden –
A Line You Can Cross [2006]
Holy huge-as-shit, decadent 80s synth-pop chorus, Batman! Except there’s no underbelly of melancholy to be inferred from it or anything within 20 yards of it. Listening to this track is like having an ice-cream sundae, a KB Toys shopping spree, and your parents getting back together all on the same day. It
must be your birthday.
And
of course they’re from Miami! But unfortunately nothing else off of
The Dividing Island comes anywhere close to this.
006.
Absinthe Blind –
The Break (It’s Been There All This Time) [2003]
You see? I know this song is about God and all. And despite being an atheist, I don’t even care about its unquestioning allegiance to the Almighty. Because this song is proof enough that beyond all of the suffering and misery in this world, there is an ultimate glory in which the virtuous and meek shall bask forever.
Or maybe it’s just that I dig songs with really humongous, ethereal and wispy instrumentation coinciding with strong, passionate vocals. A lot.
005.
Poem Rocket –
Subway Relocation Memo [2000]
“Please take meeeeeeeeee!” These guitars, do not, in fact, sound like guitars. They actually sound like a subway train navigating one of the most chaotic and unnerving cities you could possibly imagine. It is a real train, but there is no love on it. And it does not, in fact, run on time.
004.
Doves –
Catch The Sun [2000]
This is what it sounds like when Doves fly.
003.
The Dismemberment Plan –
The Other Side [2001]
Those drums are absolutely insane and in a hurry to just do something. But then again, those lyrics sound like the kind of social insight that a Beat writer would have come up with after a few grammar courses and a 12-step program. Juxtaposed with that cool-as-a-cucumber but reverberating melody, it’s enough to make your mind bend in several different directions.
To put it simply, [iChange has the best career-finishing trifecta of all time in “Time Bomb,” “The Other Side,” and “Ellen And Ben.” Because after completing your swansong with three songs like that, you have nothing else to prove to anyone. Just dare someone else to eclipse it. Besides, there are actually important things in life other than music. Like T. Mo says, “I’m staying busy hanging with my nephew and tryin’ to keep my eyes on the prize.”
002.
Aveo–
Haley [2004]
Not only does William Wilson sound particularly like Rob Dickinson and Mark Hollis here, the bassline refuses to relent; the arpeggiated main riff eventually explodes into a full-blown scorcher; and the density of the atmosphere gives one the impression that this is all being transmitted from a remote distance. These are some of the lyrics, which beg all sorts of questions, both literally and figuratively speaking:
“Haley made a curious remark: “Think we can leap-frog this month? Think we can hop-scotch this whole damned year? You wanna play hide and seek? No, I wanna play at sardines in a bomb shelter with love and A.M. radio.”
001.
Oceansize –
Amputee [2003]
Before you can even fasten your seatbelt and take a deep breath, this titan of a rock song blindsides you like doing four shots of four different types of liquor in less than 20 seconds. It hits you right in the goddamn nose, is essentially what I’m saying.
With unquestionably some of the best production that I’ve ever heard on any track in the modern era of recorded music, this isn’t just all about style either. No, sir. Upon first hearing it around the time of
Effloresce’s release, this one five-and-a-half minute song was single-handedly responsible for making 20% of my CD collection at the time seem obsolete to me.
The only aspect of this song that can even remotely come close to being called into question is the lyrics. But they don’t matter. I mean, lyrics are great and everything. But if that’s really what you want out of life, go read some fucking poetry. If you want good music, listen to a band that’s both strong and advanced enough to harness and channel the best of what shoegaze, post-hardcore, and art-rock have ever had to offer into one power-packed song.
“Hip, hip hooray we’ll lose again…”
----------------------------------------------------------
So congratulations to any of the aforementioned artists or members of bands that may read this list. And thank you for making this truly stressful decade bearable to some extent with your wonderful music.
By September, I should have completed a list of my
200 favorite albums of the decade. Stay tuned.
The Sea and Cake
