O.k. I broke down. I'm going to list my favorite albums of the 2000's. But I'm going to cheat. Instead of ranking them, I just going to list them by year. The thing is I move back and forth on albums all the time. Talk to me next week and this list will change, next year it may be radically different. A good example is The Crane Wife by the Decemberists. Six months ago it probably would not have made this list, now I think it's in the top 5. By the way, I have indicated my top 5 in bold and have linked to albums I have discussed in the past. So with that, here are the best albums of 2000-2009:
2009
Farm - Dinosaur Jr.
My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura
2008
El Rey - The Wedding Present
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
2007
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Allison Kraus
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
2006
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards - Tom Waits
Living With War - Neil Young
Another Fine Day - Golden Smog
Normal Happiness - Robert Pollard
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
Life's Pursuit - Belle & Sebastian
2005
Freedom and Weep - The Waco Brothers
Junky Faithful - Ike Reilly Assassination
Howl - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
2004
A Ghost is Born - Wilco
Folker - Paul Westerberg
Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn
Funeral - Arcade Fire
2003
Fever to Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Elephant - The White Stripes
Rainy Day Music - The Jayhawks
2002
Yankee Foxtrot Hotel - Wilco
Rebuild the Wall - Luther Wright and the Wrongs
Sea Change - Beck
2001
Amnesiac - Radiohead
Isolation Drills - Guided By Voices
Ralph's Last Show - Fred Eaglesmith
2000
All That You Can't Leave Behind - U2
Strokes - Is This It
O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack
Solitary Man - Johnny Cash
Smile - The Jayhawks
I also loved Solitary Man by Johnny Cash. The most underrated of his American Recordings bunch.
What no Jonas Brother or Vertical Horizon?
Yickit,
Best of Both Worlds by Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana just missed the cut.
I have a very strong mental connection to "My Maudlin Career". The first time I listened to it all the way through was when I was walking from my apartment to Donnybrook for a flag rugby tournament. I had just started seeing a girl, and she's the one that roped me into playing. It was about an hour's walk mostly along the canal then down through Dublin 4, one of the nicest parts of town. It was an absolutely beautiful day. I can't hear the opening to "French Navy" without the image of walking along listening to this album on my iPod on my way to the game.
The lesson here is that you and I have very different musical tastes. (Farm is the only album I own on your list).
10 from this decade not on this list:
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms (2000)
System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)
Tool - Lateralus (2001)
...Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes (2002)
Dredg - El Cielo (2002)
Spoon - Kill The Moonlight (2002)
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (2003)
Black Keys - Rubber Factory (2004)
Portishead - Third (2008)
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain (2009)
What no Wilco?
That Heartless Bastards disc probably deserves more listens on my part.
"The Mountain" is a great CD. I second Mak's suggstion.
PS - It looks like my other comment got eaten. I did include a link to Google Maps, so maybe check the spam filter?
I have "The Mountain", "Rubber Factory", and "Toxicity", and I thoroughly enjoy them all.
What? No Weezer? /heh.
HB's, Dino Jr, and Camera Obscura will all make my year-end list. Only one of those groups shows up on my End of the Decade List (posted Sunday night.)
I love Rubber Factory. It was one of those rare cd's that I played over and over again.