This post was submitted by Rohan

Oh, this decade. There were so many records to choose from, but I limited myself to fifty. I kind of regret it now, looking back at the records that didn’t make this list. I spent a month compiling entries, paring down a records day by day. I know I could take shit for a lack of hip-hop, or no Prefuse 73 (!), but I get the feeling no one will really care.

So now that I am two weeks in, if you are following along, let me know what records you think should have made the list. Keep in mind the big ten are still coming up, and remember this list is personal. This list does not speak for the editors or staff of TNG, but I think if it did, it would be more varied (read: the New Pornographers would’ve been higher and there would probably be more pop on it).

As a refresher here is 50–31.

30. Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country (Merge, 2006): On this record Camera Obscura found their sound. With the departure of co-vocalist John Henderson, Tracyanne Cambell stepped up her game in both songwriting and vocal duties. Songs like “Lloyd I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” and “If Looks Could Kill” were a major reason why this was my favorite record of 2006, hands down.

29. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (XL, 2008): Not to get all “I was there…” but in the spring of 2007 I had a copy of the blue CD-R demo by this little band, Vampire Weekend. I ran across the track “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” on a blog and instantly fell in love. The band were shambly, they had that Beat Happening charm, mixed with the Afro-Pop guitar, that I didn’t care they ripped off.  Flash forward a year later, their debut is released on XL with two tracks not on the demo.  Instantly the backlash hit, but fuck the hater(z). Give me another band that can make a record this charming and we’ll see.

28. The-Dream – Love VS Money (Def Jam, 2009): Spoiler alert! Not only is this the only record from 2009 on the list, but it is one of six records released from 2007–2009 on the list. After looking back at my list I realized I don’t give much props to music past ’06, but it is not a fault of the records, but more longevity.  Most decade lists aren’t going to be too kind to the past couple of years because while the albums may have been great, there isn’t enough gestation time. This record does not need time to become a classic, it already is. The-Dream, known to most for being the songwriter of “Umbrella,” crafted the best R&B record of the decade. Not only are the beats out of this world, but a record that has a three-part suite (!) that breaks up the album, that WORKS… it has to be amazing.

27. The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries, 2004): Thunder, Lightning, Strike sounds like nothing else. Hip-hop, guitar blasts, AM radio fuzz, Double-Dutch choruses, and cheerleaders—yeah, it’s all mixed in. Songs like “Ladyflash” and “Bottle Rocket” are irresistible, but closer “Everyone’s a V.I.P. to Someone” is the Go! Team on their “A” game.  Owing as much to the Avalanches as it does Sonic Youth, the thirty minutes of this record are some of the most innovative of the decade.

26. Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America (French Kiss, 2006): Whether singing about John Berryman, or their usual cast of characters, the Hold Steady deliver. The sing-alongs are bigger, the sound is fuller, and singer Craig Finn’s storytelling is brighter. This is a classic rock record disguised as an indie rock masterpiece.

25. The Thermals – More Parts Per Million (Sub Pop, 2003): Lo-fi broke again this year, but The Thermals were doing it years before; through necessity, not trick. Rumored to have been made for fifty bucks in a kitchen, More Parts Per Million is like a thirteen-year-old boy on a sugar rush. Hutch Harris’s snotty, vulgar vocals blend nicely with the pop-punk energy, making it an ultimate sing-along-when-you’re-drunk album. The songs sound as if they could fall apart at any time, but they never do. While the Thermals proved later with The Body, the Blood, the Machine that they could be serious, I like to remember them when they were young, loud and snotty.

24. TV On the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain (4AD/ Interscope, 2006): TV On the Radio had a good decade. Starting strong with the Young Liars EP, the band got stronger with reach release.  Return to Cookie Mountain was highly anticipated, so highly that it suffered on one the biggest leaks this decade. The record made it to the internet almost five months prior to its release. Albeit in a slightly less quality version, the noticeable difference was sequencing. When it finally came out, it was an instant classic. TVOTR got their first “hit” in the epic “Wolf Like Me.” Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals swell and burst, mixing into the sound effects underneath, no thanks to Dave Sitek’s expert production. Return to Cookie Mountain is journey of noise, rock and paranoia.

23. Jay-Z – The Blueprint (Roc-A-fella, 2001): September 11^th, never forget—Jay-Z and the Strokes released two of the greatest records ever to grace our ears on the day this nation faced a great tragedy. Roll back time to before Hova “retired,” only to come back and take a shit on his career. Jay was a rapper finding his skin. Dude rapped with Biggie once! He had already released a masterpiece in Reasonable Doubt but he wasn’t done yet. Sure he had hits, but with the aid of up-and-coming producer Kanye West (heard of him?) he created the rap record equivalent of the gold standard. When he quips “I run New York” in “Takeover,” he means it. Sure it has toss-offs like “Girls, Girls, Girls,” but singles “Izzo H.O.V.A.” (once my anthem—you can place my name into the song flawlessly) and “Song Cry” are rap genius. And if that doesn’t convince you, the song with Eminem (“Renegade”) is good!

22. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell (Interscope,2003): “Boy you’re just a stupid bitch/And girl you’re just a no good dick” rails the chorus for “Black Tongue.”  Those who thought after the Master EP (You know, the one with the song “As a fuck son you suck!”) the YYYs were gonna go soft signing to a major label were proven wrong, or at least had to wait a couple of years till they went acoustic. Karen O. brings the presence of her beer-slinging stage presence to the record, proving she is one fierce bitch. Nick Zinner’s guitar lines have never sounded this urgent, and Brian Chase’s drumming plays a perfect foil for all the chaos going around. Fever to Tell is the band’s evolution all in one album. It starts with their loud material from early EPs (“Rich”), but the closing three tracks outline the rest of their path. “Maps” (the song everyone knows) is directly connected with Show Your Bones, while “Y Control” sounds as subtly electronic as their latest outing, It’s Blitz!

21. Basement Jaxx – Rooty (Astralwerks, 2001): Basement Jaxx came out of the dance scene in the nineties with a stellar record, Remedy, and a handful of singles. They were always meant for greatness; too bad it came in their first three records. I almost gave this spot to the follow-up Kish Kash, or even the Singles collection, but I stayed true to a record I’ve played so much, it rarely goes back into rotation. Starting with the booty-shaking “Romeo,” Rooty is a party on a disc. Songs go from sexy (“Get Me Off”) to sweet (“Jus 1 Kiss”).  And no one can forget about “Where’s Your Head At?”

20. The Postal Service – Give Up (Sub Pop, 2003): The soundtrack of your youth. “Such Great Heights” was such a monster jam this decade. It was blasting from cars, dorm rooms, dance parties, UPS commercials, and television shows. Ben Gibbard and Dntel’s “little” project blew the fuck up. As a Death Cab for Cutie fan, I was all over this when it was released, and I will forever regret “nah-ing” their concert (they never toured again). A project that could have been (and probably should have been) a disaster turned out to contain some of the best songs of the decade: “Clark Gable,” “We Will Become Silhouettes,” and “Natural Anthem.”

19. Girl Talk – Night Ripper (Illegal Art, 2006): Mash-ups are the internet eating itself. Sure there were good ones, but none more lasting than Night Ripper. Girl Talk’s creating is not so much a mash-up but a recreation of some of the best hip-hop records from the past couple of years, mixed with classic and indie rock. The shit he was doing was ingenious at the time—I mean, D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” on Aphex Twin(!)—but while the highs are high, the record sustains itself because it is so ADD. Songs weave in and out, and only last ten to thiry seconds, so it never gets tired. Released the same year as KFC introduced their “Famous Bowl,” Girl Talk works like KFC: take everything and put it all together into one delicious combination.

18. Destroyer – Streethawk: A Seduction (Misra, 2001): Rubies was Destroyer’s breakout album. It separated Bejar from being a member of the New Pornographers, to being his own artist. But real fans know Streethawk, not Rubies, or This Night, is his best album. Filled with Bowie-glam and signature long winded lyrical passages about who knows what, Bejar’s creation is a masterpiece. The seven-minute, Joy Division referencing “The Bad Arts” never falls to its length. “The Sublimation Hour” and “The Very Modern Dance” are two examples of why Bejar is pop royalty. I could do a write up about every song on this record, but only the aforementioned real fans would give a shit, so I’ll stop here.

17. Animal Collective – Feels (Fat-Cat, 2005): Predictable! Of course AC are on this list. Long ago, while most people who read this site were busy coming out and trying to get through college, Animal Collective released a bunch of fucking albums. They were playing weird live shows where they would eschew the record just released to play the new creation they were making, or about to make. I happened to be in college radio when Sung Tongs came out and it blew my mind. I just had to see them live. So without knowing anything about their show at the time, I saw them four times on the tour, only to be greeted with something new—Feels—almost in its entirety. The songs were immediate, and I was excited. When Feels arrived I was pumped. “The Purple Bottle,” though missing the Stevie Wonder sample of the live version, sounded explosive. Add “Grass” and “Did You See The Words,” and I had songs to bounce around to for days. While the rest of the record is quiet and contemplative, it never loses its edge. Feels is AC at their highest quality.

16. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (Domino, 2004): Talk about a success story. Franz Ferdinand broke out of UK hype only to hit gold with modern rock radio. “Take Me Out,” though annoying to some, is still played on the radio next to songs by Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins, and that is a good thing (hell, that Finger Eleven band even ripped them off making a more “rock” oriented version; I hope Franz got paid for that one). Franz Ferdinand is a sexy album. Every song oozes with intense voyeuristic sexual energy, whether it is on the dance floor (“Michael”) or in “The Dark of the Matinee.” These guys know how to make girls scream. Though Franz Ferdinand will never top this record, they will always be quality.

15. Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas (Too Pure, 2002): “Fuck this band/Cos they swear too much,” goes a lyric from the Welsh trio’s song, “Fuck This Band.” Mclusky do swear a lot, but they are charming. Cheekily titled, Do Dallas is an outburst of raw energy. The lines are memorable (“My dad is bigger than your dad/He’s got eight cars and a house in Ireland/Sing it!”), the songs are loud (“Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues”), and you never know if they are gonna jump out of the speakers and beat your ass. Sure, they sometimes sound like the Pixies (see “Collagen Rock”), but they are never a rip-off. Plus it has one of the best opening lines for a song: “All of your friends are cunts/ Your mother is a ball-point pen thief” (“Gareth Brown Says”)—fucking hilarious.

14. The Shins – Oh, Inverted World (Sub Pop, 2001): I went to a book reading once, and this guy was telling jokes he called “indie rock punch lines.” If I remember it correctly, the punch line was “that was about as intelligible as the lyrics on the first Shins record.” It’s true. Try singing along and there are points where you are humming, because god knows what James Mercer is saying. And this is supposed to “change your life”? Who cares what the lyrics are about, and no, this record will not save your life, but it is a defining document of indie rock. “Pressed in a Book,” “Girl Inform Me,” and “Know Your Onion!” are three of the best songs the Shins have ever, and maybe at this point, will ever write. I’ve had many great memories with this album; I even had a friend whose radio show was named Oh, Inverted World (big up—Chris Deville, read his blog!). It didn’t change my life, but it sure made it more fun.

13. Spoon – Girls Can Tell (Merge, 2001): Fucked by the majors, and made with no intentions, Girls Can Tell is the story of the underdog. Girls Can Tell is the tightest studio record Spoon has ever made. “Everything Hits at Once” opens the album as perfectly as “Chicago At Night” closes it. Everything in between is perfection. Much of the success is owed to Jim Eno—without his incredible drumming, Britt Daniel would never have been able to create something of such quality. The record also has one of my absolute favorite Spoon tracks, “Anything You Want,” a short song about retuning items after a break-up. Spoon went on to make three more incredible records this decade, but Girls Can Tell is their high water mark.

12. M.I.A. – Kala (XL, 2007): Let’s take a moment and talk about “Paper Planes.”  If you haven’t heard the Diplo remix of the record featuring Bun B and Rich Boy, I advise you to do so now. “Paper Planes” is a monster, with its Clash sample and gunshots, it’s no wonder it became a universal smash. But there is more to Kala than just that song. “Bamboo Banga,” a clever reimagining of Modern Lovers, is the perfect opener. This record is global, taking styles from India, Britain, Africa, America, and everything in between. While “Bird Flu” and “Boyz” will keep your ass shaking for years, the topics M.I.A. is rapping about are urgent; real “boys are dying in these streets” shit. M.I.A. is an innovator; she led the Bollywood resurgence before Slumdog Millionaire (“Jimmy”). Kala also boasts some of the best b-sides of any album on this list. Check out the expanded edition to find tracks like the insane “Big Branch.” Like LCD Soundystem, M.I.A.’s first record felt like an uneven collection of singles, but this record feels like an album.

11. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods (Sub Pop, 2005): What do you do when you want to rock? Turn that shit up to 11. Sleater-Kinney had already paved their way through the Riot Grrrl scene, but after All Hands on the Bad One the band started to evolve. One Beat showed a subtle side of the band, but The Woods is their biggest, yet most welcome, departure. How do you fuck with the formula, you ask? Leave your longtime label, Kill Rock Stars, for Sub Pop, listen to stoner rock and hire Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann. The opening notes of “The Fox” are crushing. From start to finish The Woods destroys everything around it.  Sleater-Kinney cover much ground: suicide (“Jumpers”), sex (“Let’s Call It Love”) and the music scene (“Entertain”). In “Entertain,” they ask, “where’s the fuck you?” The Woods is their fuck you.

Stay tuned, for the electrifying conclusion next week.

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