
Spending the younger days of my life in an incredibly small town, it’s a wonder that I could be exposed to even a tenth of the albums included on this list. Let’s just say that the music I listened to then… well, let’s just not say. It wasn’t until a year or two before I graduated high school in ‘01 that I began to familiarize myself with music outside of the radio world. Before I drag on and get entirely too nostalgic… it just seems fitting that our first list of an entire decade happens to be one where I started to explore music from it’s beginning.
The three of us (Nate, Jordan, and Ryan) joined forces, created our own lists, and then duked it out to whittle things down to fifty. Although this is the product of three individual’s distinct opinions, we were finally able to come to a general consensus. Fortunately, no one was hospitalized in the process. We felt that a decade was too long to have any less than fifty albums, but that any more than fifty would require too little thought. We also noticed how easy it is to spout off the number of artists that should be here, but how difficult it is to say why any of these artists shouldn’t. While some may think we (as well as other list-making bloggers) are doing this for ‘mad hits’/ ‘shitload of comments’, it’s hard to argue with how much fun it is to sit down with good friends and talk music. This blog may be too young for people to render our opinions “valid”, but in being young, this list can help to define us. So, take it for what you will, these are the albums that we have dug the shit out of in this ten year period.
Les Savy Fav – Tragic Monsters
Jens Lekman – A Postcard to Nina
Elliott Smith – Everything Reminds Me of Her
Broken Social Scene – Stars & Sons
Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Ryan Adams – Oh My Sweet Carolina
Wilco – Ashes of American Flags
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Another Morning Stoner
Deerhoof – Spirit Ditties of No Tone
McLusky – To Hell With Good Intentions
Songs: Ohia – Farewell Transmission
The Hold Steady – Your Little Hoodrat Friend
LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
The Knife – We Share Our Mothers Health
My Morning Jacket – One Big Holiday
The Exploding Hearts – Jailbird
Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened To Me
The Avalanches – Since I Left You
The White Stripes – Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Circulatory System – The Lovely Universe
Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
Radiohead – How To Disappear Completely
This was written by , posted on September 4, 2009 at 8:16 am, filed under lists and tagged 00s, animal collective, arcade fire, avalanches, ciculatory system, decade, interpol, modest mouse, outkast, panda bear, radiohead, sigur ros, sonic youth, Spoon, sufjan stevens, the walkmen, unicorns, white stripes.Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.



mad hits doggg
EXPLODING HEARTS YES
This rulez zo hardz.
Great, great, list! All very solid picks!!
I gotta get around to this soon!
Sweet list! Glad to see my boys and gals made number 42!
YO! where is Sea Change? I’m saddened
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rad list…but, “is this it” after “room on fire”….the fuck?
strokes, radiohead, and sufjan stevens <3333
thanks, awesome post!
totally awesome list….songs: ohia, sleeper pick of the decade
i second the comment on you forgot it in people. gorgeous record.
so sweet that sigur ros made it so high in the list. that is a heavy, beautiful one, agetis byrjun.
ultimate classics of the decade: funeral, moon and Antarctica, and oh inverted world.
thanks for compiling this!
when’s the WTD listening party in honor of this list?
[...] scares the shit out of me. Not only has Fever Ray’s debut LP haunted it’s way into my favorites, but it’s third video/single, “Seven”, has found a way to visually chill me to [...]
This post makes me happy. I too grew up in an itsy bitsy town, and am still surprised by the amount of music I was exposed to in my last two years of highschool. It didn’t hurt that I had a friend with the largest library of musical good taste that I’ve ever come across, to this day. I owe my own exploration of music to him, and eptionic.com (the way it used to be, in those days).
34 of these artists are now part of my library. Aside from the obvious choices, I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you included Les Savy Fav(the first good band I ever downloaded), The Books, Deerhoof, and Sonic Youth in this list. Kudos.
liza, glad you enjoyed the list. a lot of time was involved, but it was nothing but fun. nothing like a six pack, good friends and good tunes.
Finally someone gives The Avalanches some love. Great list all around.
Awesome list. Stand outs are The Knife – Silent Shout, Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights, Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner and Jay-Z – The Blueprint.
Gonna do more lists? One from the 90′s could be awesome.
i was loving the list, brilliant stuff, then oh no – the most over-rated cliche of a suffering outsider artist – i’. talking thom and Radiohead of course. but still – much more good than shite site.
radiohead? overrated? really?
Half of the mp3s arent working =[
I know…read the top of the page. There is a link to our hypem where you can listen to the tracks, but they will not be available for download.
It’s missing “Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer” for sure.
no pearl jam…that’s an oversight, my man
nice list.
no libertines or arctic monkeys? also i think radiohead’s in rainbows should’ve been up there, but nevertheless a good list
[...] blogs (especially when hunting for all things sun-pop and bro-fi!) Weekly Tape Deck has compiled their favorite releases of the 00’s. I have made a mental note to check out the albums I missed on the [...]
Amazing list. Close to being definitive. I would personally suggest MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular” and throw out The Strokes’ “Room on Fire”. Number 1# is a no-brainer too.
I feel like of Montreal and Bright Eyes should both have at least one album on this list, and I also think 14-11 were probably the best, but this is one hell of a list! In the past few weeks I have made this a guide of what albums to listen to because I love all the ones that I have, so I am hoping the ones I haven’t listened to yet are just as amazing (so far they have been).
beautiful.
Dang! Gotta say I’m very impressed with the selection, esp: Animal Collective, Liars, & No Age. Kudos, kudos.
Just another list of somebody trying to impress the world with how far off the beaten path they have been. Always includes quite a few from Radiohead. Pass.
Well, Don, I’d rather be on my own path than the one you’re on. Yeah, Kid A could be considered a cliche pick. And for the list, I/we can’t/couldn’t justify any other album taking it’s place at the top. But with millions of fans world wide, how far off the beaten path are they really? I dunno, maybe when Rolling Stone produces their list you can smile in unison with everyone else who likes what they are told to.
ZING!
very very good stuff…of course everyone will nitpick and make their own gripes, but overall I think this is a great collection. really happy to see Animal COllective, Panda Bear, Avalanches, M83 on there. I think my main issues would be outkast and sufjan taking 2 of the highest positions. I’d probably remove both altogether, maybe to be replaced by Quiet Village and Supergrass-Road to Rouen. Other justifiable additions would be Wilco-A ghost is born, The Black Keys- The big come up, Royksopp- Melody AM, Rogue Wave-Descended like vultures, Midlake-Trials of van occupanther, Rose Hill Drive-Moon is the new earth, Josh Rouse-1972, and Flaming Lips-Yoshimi (or At war with the mystics). I know no one asked, but hey, just tossin those out there! Again, great list guys, keep up the good work.
oh, and don barnett, you need to get your head out of your ass before that giant stick will come out. just a friendly tip.
You people are suggesting they should have put in Pearl Jam, The Libertines and The Arctic Monkeys? Did you even read the rest of the list? You might as well walk up to The Grates and say, “LOL, nawt a bad album Patience, but I think u should play sum stuff liek Kanye becos he’s so hawt right now…”
I’m sure Eminem or the Spazzies would have written very different lists again, but so what? These people are aiming the list at a target demographic and that demographic will probably love the list. I know I do.
And Don/Roo? Seriously? Did it occur to you that maybe you are the only ones who write this sort of blog to build up your cool facades? Could it possibly be that these guys wrote the list not as a carefully constructed web of lies to manipulate faceless internet nobodies into liking them, but as an accurate portrayal of their favorite albums?
I know, trollbait, etc.
Cool list though. I’m going to research the bands I don’t know to enhance my musical knowledge, then I’m going to introduce my friends to them and seem like a player. I hear if you collect enough cool points you can cash them in for a teddy-bear.
FUCK YEAH SONGSOHIAAAAAAAA! Dont see too many people singing his praises but the mans a genius, go buy this one!
great list, but where is 69 Love Songs?
you guys are great. love your taste.
Amnesiac and Kid A are amazing cd’s. Yet, Thom Yorke’s The Eraser was awesome in my opinion. Thought that should be up there. Also how is Radiohead overrated? Anyways great list!
Great to see you guys give love to Bows +Arrows. My body rocks out uncontrollably when the guitar kicks in on “Thinking Of A Dream I Had.” Then when the drums start, my head starts shaking, and by the time the song’s done I take a breathe and realize I just shit myself. Bows + Arrows has cost me many pairs of pants.
Fantastic list. Gonna keep me busy over the holidays.
I’m particularly glad to see some Doom on the list. I enjoyed The Mouse and The Mask more, to be sure, but still love me some Madvillain. I would’ve stuck in Dark Night Of The Soul and some Lupe Fiasco somewhere, but that’s just me.
someone else listens to the unicorns in the world?!?!?!
this makes me so happy!!!
i love all of these bands and i am so glad you listen to le savay fav and the unicorns :)
you made my night. thank you. <3
sorry savy* i can’t spell, also forgot to mention panda bear, i love him.
Wow.. this list is beautiful.
I recognized a bunch of my favourite albums and a few other artists I had intended to look into. I have already downloaded a couple albums from your list and am loving them. Thank you for this guide :).
Although I do agree with the other poster that In Rainbows should have made this list, I personally would have put it on before Amnesiac, but that’s just me :).
Awesome, more lists!!
Why would you have any trouble hearing about these bands in a small town? Was the small town in Siberia or something? Most of these bands are anything but obscure.
we only had 5 radio stations, dude and i never said anything about obscure. radiohead? quite far from obscure. outkast? not obscure. basically, i lived in a closed minded town that wasn’t accepting to anything different from brooks and dunn. but thanks for being a dick about it.
isn’t songs: ohia’s album called pyramid electric co.? not magnolia electric co. which is a country band?
nope…it is most definitely Magnolia Electric Co.
but Songs: Ohia did eventually morph into Magnolia Elec. Co.
This list is fucking gay and a crock of shit. Eat shit indie rock fans.
thanks for the input joe. yr opinion really matters. any more witty commentary you’d like to add?
someone once told me if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all… so I won’t say anything… ef.
[...] Afternoon Naps have a single song that caught my ear because of the relativity of sound is has to the Unicorns. Korg and boyish murmuring intact. I cant speak for the other songs by this band and like I said I [...]
Awesome list!
Nice inclusion of Cannibal Ox, overlooked on every other list I’ve read
Kid A number 1? wtf?
I love this completely
Actually, I didn’t know most of it, which was a complete surprise.
It was a lot by artists I knew but specific albums/songs I hadn’t heard, which was amazing. Thanks!
this is beautiful.
actually love it.
Great collection…not sure I agree with the order! But it’s cool!
loves it! hehe not sure I agree with the order… but i liked it. still a lot of great stuff that’s not on the list! like røyksopp, casiokids, moby, beck(!) hehe maybe someone like norwegian music? :P (einar stray – arrows, maria due – hagerty square) ?? :P whatever your list rocks! :D
every radiohead album should be on this list :P
AWESOME WORK GUYS(:
radiohead, animal collective, shins, strokes <3
I love the list, thanks for putting it together. It might have been nice to see a little Bright Eyes, but overall pretty spot on.
Considering i was most likely in high school and early college about the same time you guys were, this list makes me feel very nostalgic and isn’t far from being a complete collection of some truly foundational albums for the 2000s. Thanks for taking the time to put this together in an honest and thoughtful way, it reminded me of some albums that i’d like to dust off.
[...] have been discovering some fun, new music lately. this website, this website, and this website are great resources for new, emerging tunes. some of it is popular music but most of it is not so [...]
00′s? deck’s?
Tame those apostrophes! Good list though, I approve.
Thank you for including Modest Mouse in your list (#13). They deserve credit. Such wonderful artists.
how to disappear completely?
on an album with morning bell, in limbo, and everything in its right place
you chose how to disappear completely?
album was in the right place, song not so much.
Thanks for Sigur Ros – Where’s Coldplay btw? A Rush Of Blood To The Head must be one of the best albums of the new century.
I usually don’t like lists like top 50 songs of the decade.
But I like this because this is your top 50 songs of the decade!
Can’t argue what you should like :P
btw don’t you think that how to disappear completely is extremely dull and boring?
I want to know what you feel that I’m missing out :P
I love the smugness that oozes from the people who think Radiohead are cliche and those who like them are pretentious douchebags. Why, oh why are Radiohead on all these top favorite awesome music lists? Because they’re fucking great. Even if you think they’re over-played, you can’t deny their talent. “I’m so cool that I hate Radiohead! Take that, suppressive society!”
this has given my friday night a purpose
it is pure genius
So essentially the list is just a bunch of predictable indie circle-jerking, with the obligatory nods to music made by black people to prove that you’ve got “diverse” tastes.
Christ, I hate white people.
Im sorry you only see color…big daddy….
great taste , i’ve downloaded half of them so far
Hot shit i agree with everything i know, and have dl’ed some stuff i dont know plan on picking through it all, i didnt know about circulatory system but they kinda rock my socks. To the radiohead cliche callers take it easy sheeut. Also everyone picking music from this list make sure to grab …And you will know us by the trail of dead (…trail of dead)/source tags & codes. The whole album is A-fuckin-mazing!
you forgot Demon Days-Gorillaz and I’ve Never Seen a Straight Banana: Rare Moments, Vol. 1-Tiny Tim
Awesome list… mainly because Murray Street is so high. That’s a very underrated record, and probably one of my favorite by Sonic Youth when all is said and done.
ashton, u mad?
This is AMAZING major props to you all! Thank you so much for the post
YES. I am officialy in love with you and agree with literally EVERY choice on this list. Mmm I love good music. Thanks for the comprehensive list/post!
I would almost be tempted to place #2 in the #1 spot. It was a brilliant album. It still is.
I completely agree with putting Kid A at the top of the list. Very well deserved.
Fair enough, but ever heard of places and music outside of the U.S? I don’t know like the U.K??????
Great list with great music. I agree. But if I have to choose only one of these songs I definitively this will be Pyramid Song by Radiohead!!!
thank you so much for this awesome compilation!! i stumbled upon a link to this page and am now hooked onto your entire site. love it!!
The aughts were a little late to witness Sonic Youth’s greatest albums, but I personally would not have voted for Murray Street (did The Eternal come out before 2010?); yet criticizing someone’s favorite music is a little bit like negating their own history, given the subjectivity of such experiences and notwithstanding my own bad habit of issuing such criticisms anyway. I appreciated the SY nod nonetheless, as well as those toward Modest Mouse and the Unicorns, and I was particularly happy to see someone recognize Les Savy Fav, which is disappointingly rare.
As a single work, Illinois can’t be beat. The songs can stand by themselves, but when they’re played together its mind-boggling.
Bon Iver? and The Decemberists? Otherwise, fantastic list.
VERY solid picks. You put a lot of thought into this. Great list.
awesome list. youre only missing headphones by headphones and the last ptl record, achilles’ heel. BIG ups for the unicorns and madvillain
‘Hard to explain’ is realy the best of the strokes ! (‘my girls of animal collective is so better than into flowers … which is more populated)
popular*
i am loving this list. we have the exact same taste in music…a little indie, a little rap, a little rock, then back to indie…great job.
super work phuu! Thank you so much for the post!!
Oracular Spectacular is the only one missing. So good otherwise though, a diverse amazing list of music.