LA Records asked me, along with luminaries like Mike Watt and Mika Miko, to put together my favorite albums of the past decade. With company like that, how could I say no? It was hard to put it together, it turns out. For every pick on the list—-well, almost every—-you have another band you could have easily chosen to fill that slot. I felt like my list maybe is unoriginal, but I decided to start with bands who wowed me live and whose album backed it up (with one exception. So, here’s a list with videos. Warning: this list is extremely personal. I didn’t try to be comprehensive. Entire trends and movements are left out, not because I think they suck objectively, but because they don’t interest me. But I don’t think my taste is automatically better than someone who is more interested in folky rock or hip hop. This is just what I like. From this, you will probably get a disturbing look in to what I actually listen to when given time just to listen to music with no goal in mind.
1) The Gossip. Standing in the Way of Control. I loved the Gossip going back to their first album of blues-tinged garage rock. I dragged a friend to a show of theirs months before this came out, and we were astonished to hear disco-esque dance punk come out of them. But it was perfect, even better than their music before. This album lived up to that potential.
Their new album really isn’t so great. It’s too bad. It infected their live show. Anyone who sees them for the first time now will probably miss out what made the rest of us fall onto the floor, raving hysterically about how much we love The Gossip.
2) The New Pornographers. Electric Version. The one band on the list that blows live. But the album shows they are the one band that has found the sweet spot between Elvis Costello and Cheap Trick, and that is a beautiful spot to live in.
3) The Vivian Girls. Everything Goes Wrong. Their first album got them all the attention, but their sophomore release justified it. This is the album I put on whenever I just want to throw something on for the hell of it. It makes me happy.
4) LCD Soundsystem. LCD Soundsystem. This is the band I end up justifying more than others, because it’s hard to see what is so amazing about it the first four times you hear it. But I keep going back to this album, which is a good sign. The inventiveness of the music sneaks up on you.
5) TV on the Radio. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. I got into the TV on the Radio Friday night set at SXSW at the Parish in 2004 in by pulling rank as a native Austinite at the door, and being let in before everyone else in line. The place was packed. I stood by a door crammed between two smelly hipsters and my drunk date. Despite all this, the band made me stop breathing with its beauty. They had a new sound, something quite unusual in the aughts. And they pulled it off.
6) Danger Mouse. The Grey Album. Danger Mouse owned the aughts, between the Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkley. It all started with this record. Before this, mash-ups were a novelty. After this album, they were an art form.
Ha! Like I’m going to invite legal harassment.
7) Basement Jaxx. Rooty. Every couple of years, someone announces some combination of hip hop and electronica music like it’s the next great thing. Basement Jaxx officially perfected the blend of house and hip hop in 2001. The rest is just footnotes.
Whenever I’m sad, I put this song on. And it’s really hard to be sad when you listen to “Romeo” by Basement Jaxx. I used to my ex-boyfriend insane with this song. No matter what, if I was DJ-ing, and people were hanging out, this song made its way in. He hated it. I should have realized then and there it wouldn’t work out. Who hates this song?
8) Peaches. The Teaches of Peaches. The next time I hear someone wax on about how Lady Gaga is some sort of innovator or icon, I’m grinding this album in to her ear until she gets a clue.
9) Phenomenal Hand Clap Band. Phenomenal Hand Clap Band. It’s hard to stand out at SXSW. They did so with ease. Their album is addictive. It reminds me of the best Sly-inspired rock of my childhood with 70s rock head parents, but without getting caught up in nostalgia. I don’t know how they pull it off. The hip hop touches help.
10) Sleater Kinney. The Woods. I almost didn’t want to put such an iconic 90s band on the list. But they deserve credit for putting this album, which was a real departure from their former sound, a right turn into a more rock and roll kind of rock that made official the nostalgia with a twist that dominated so much of the aughts. Another SXSW show that will be permanently burned into my brain.
This album is sort of destined to be ignored by history, but I think this song stands up to their best.
As usual, I’m open to your ideas.
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I bought PHC on your rec and it’s fast become a standard in our place. I also peddle it to anyone who’ll listen.
I like this list. As a longtime fan of Norwegian jazz (which I know isn’t for everyone), my own list would have had to include a Supersilent album.