My Favorite Albums of the Decade (##1-10)

So here we are. It only took me a month to unveil my top 50 albums of the decade. And by “only” I mean – what the hell is my problem?

In case you missed it, the first part of the list (##31-50) is here, the second (##21-30) is here, and the third (##11-20) is here.

Let’s get this over with, shall we?

#10: Future Clouds and Radar, Future Clouds and Radar (2007)
The fact that I haven’t seen this album mentioned on any other Top Whatever list for the decade bothers the hell out of me, and, I assume, can only mean that people simply haven’t listened to it. Because, if they had, they’d know that Robert Harrison provided us with one of the most moving albums of the decade that also doubled as possibly the best pop (with a healthy dose of psychedelia) album of the past 10 years. If John Lennon were alive and making music today, it would sound a lot like Future Clouds and Radar.

#9: Hey Rosetta!, Into Your Lungs (2008)
I first discovered Hey Rosetta! via Battering Room Chris, who told me that if I liked The Frames, I’d like Hey Rosetta!. He couldn’t have been more right. Like The Frames, Hey Rosetta!’s music is epic – the songs build and build and build until they finally explode into a musical catharsis. In that sense, they also share a lot in common with the Arcade Fire and, more recently, Fanfarlo, yet for some reason can’t seem to get even a tenth of the attention of those – in my opinion – far less deserving bands. I can only hope that the band’s next album (its third), will bring the band the attention it sorely deserves.

#8: Shearwater, Palo Santo (2006)
I hadn’t listened to much of Shearwater’s music before this album came out, and to the extent I had, I’d always preferred the Will Sheff songs. So the first time I hit play to listen to the album, I wasn’t expecting much. Boy was I wrong. This album is absolutely stunning. I know they released a remastered version of the album in 2007, but I’m sticking with this version. Hell, I never even listened to the remastered version, because I simply do not believe that this album could be made any better.
#7: Miracle Fortress, Five Roses (2007)
Along with my #6 album, Five Roses was very much the soundtrack to my first six months or so living in Washington, D.C. in 2007. And I think that’s pretty appropriate. After 11 years living in New York, and after 8 years in the same job, I had uprooted my life to move to a new city to start a new business; it was all very surreal. So the dreaminess of the album fit my mood well. Guess that’s probably why I’ve been listening to it a lot recently, after moving yet again to Chicago.
#6: Earlimart, Mentor Tormentor (2007)
I’ve been a fan of Earlimart going back almost ten years now, but as much as I liked their earlier albums, I honestly had no idea that they had an album as good as Mentor Tormentor in them. A lot of it has to do with the expansion of Ariana Murray’s role in the band, including taking leading vocals on several songs and increasingly piano-driven nature of their songs. All in all, this might be the prettiest album on this list.
#5: Low, The Great Destroyer (2005)
I consider myself a fan of all of Low’s discography, but this is the only album of theirs that I truly love. The Great Destroyer found the band turning away (slightly) from its slow-core roots to deliver a guitar-rock album akin Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Yet what makes this album truly special is that it’s not just a guitar rock album — it manages to marry loud, distorted guitars with the band’s trademark musical deliberateness and patience. As a result, the album maintains all the weight an emotion of the band’s other work, but just does it in a much louder way.
#4: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
I’m not sure there’s much I can say about this album that hasn’t been said by every critic, blogger and even casual music fan over the last 7-8 years. It was both the band’s artistic peak as well as its breakthrough record; and it’s the last album from the band that I truly loved. For many years I was sure that this would easily be my favorite album of the decade, but, to be honest, after seeing the band upwards of 25-30 times this decade, I’ve grown sick to death of most of the songs and can barely bring myself to listen to this album anymore. But considering how much I used to love it, and for how big a role it played in my life this decade, I honor it with a placement as my #4 album.
#3: The Antlers, In the Attic of the Universe (2007)
The band’s fantastic 2009 release, Hospice, may be the album that "broke" The Antlers, but this was the EP that first turned me onto the band (thanks, again, to Chris), and it remains my favorite Antlers release to date. It’s pretty amazing listening to this album today – I knew at the time it came out that it was the statement of an incredible young musician, but couldn’t have guessed how quickly that talent would continue to blossom, or how soon the rest of the world would notice. It’s truly been a joy to see the band’s success over the last year, and I can’t wait to see how many albums they have on my Best of the 2010′s list.

#2: The National, Boxer (2007)
It’s kind of amazing how The National’s music grows on you, and digs into your head. When I first heard Boxer, I was pretty disappointed. It didn’t have the rock songs like "Mr. November" or "Abel", and, on first listen, the slower songs didn’t grab me as much as the slower songs on Alligator ("Daughters of the Soho Riots", etc.). But with repeated listenings, the songs started to take hold, and pretty soon I couldn’t get them out of my head. And soon enough it had surpassed Alligator as my favorite album by the band – easily. Oh, and on a completely different tpic, and I can’t hear "Mistaken For Strangers" without missing living in New York.

#1: The Wrens, The Meadowlands (2003)
I briefly considered putting Boxer as my #1 album of the decade, but on a 6-hour drive to Cleveland last month for Thanksgiving I listened to both albums back-to-back, and, by the time The Meadowlands had ended, I had no choice but to (a) move it to my #1 spot, and (b) listen to the album again. This album is everything I want from an album – beauty, emotion, musicianship and a healthy dose of flat-out rock and roll. There has not been a time in the seven years since this album came out that I didn’t feel better (even if I’d felt good in the first place) after listening to this album. And that, to me, is what great music is supposed to do.
Monday 21 December 2009 at 11:00 am by Steve

1 Comment »

  1. Pingback by Baby, You Got a Stew Goin'!: Now With 64% More Midwestern Values — January 11, 2010 @ 3:08 pm

    [...] Shearwater – whose 2006 album, Palo Santo, ended up at #8 on my Top Albums of the Decade list – is set to release a brand new album, The Golden Archipelago, on February 23rd (via Matador [...]

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