Not only will us bloggers get the chance to dole out our annual best of the year lists in a couple months, but there's something called a decade that's about to end as well. Some folks are getting a head start with this type of thing here and here. While I'm not quite ready to compile those just yet, I am having fun at The Auteurs on the message boards throwing around music lists. With nothing more than a cursory flip through my cd's and the ones that jump out at me immediately, I listed 25 albums from the decade that have given me the most pleasure. Listed below for discussion.
A few mentions, after the first 5 or 6, the rest are devoid of any real order:
1. Radiohead “Kid A”
2. Mars Volta “Francis the Mute”
3. Sigur Ros “Takk”
4. Broken Social Scene “You Forgot It In People”
5. The National “Alligator”
6. Radiohead “Hail To the Thief”
7. The Twilight Singers “She Loves You”
8. Mars Volta “DeLoused in the Crematorium”
9. A Silver Mt. Zion “He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms”
10. Mogwai “Mr. Beast”
11. DeVotchKa "A Mad and Faithful Telling"
12. Beirut “March of the Zapotec/Real People”
13. Explosions In the Sky “How Sudden, Innocence”
14. Explosions In the Sky “All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone”
15. M83 “Saturdays=Youth”
16. The Antlers “Hospice”
17. Radiohead “In Rainbows”
18. Modest Mouse “Good News For People...”
19. Smile, Smile “Blue Roses”
20. Arcade Fire “Funeral”
21. The Appleseed Cast “Peregrine”
22. Black Tie Dynasty “This Stays Between Us”
23. Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova “Once” soundtrack
24. Interpol “Turn On the Bright Lights”
25. Beck “Sea Change”
Even after typing this, I started to squirm. Is Sigur Ros "Takk" really better than their others? Why did I leave the latest from Mars Volta off the list, which I feel towers over a few of their other albums? Shit.. I completely forgot to list anything by The Strokes, The Killers, Tom Waits or My Morning Jacket or Muse. If my decade film list is going to be just as difficult, I don't know if I even have the energy to begin!
4 comments:
I do like me some Sigur Ros...Don't know where my vote would lie if I had to pick just one album.
Love the Beirut pick! Though I had heard the name, I'd never heard the music until I saw the independent film "Strigoi" at this year's Toronto After Dark Film Festival. It's an interesting take on the vampire mythology using post-Ceausescu Romania as it's setting and has many lovely moments - especially the use of Beirut's "Gulag Orkestar" on the soundtrack. I immediately picked it up afterwards and "Postcards From Italy" is a personal fave now (there's a great scene in the film using it too).
Mogwai's "Mr. Beast" has one of my favourite tunes of recent memory - "Friend Of The Night". I can't help but want to pull together film clip montages in my mind to that music. Never quite managed to figure out an actual sequence or theme, but maybe one day...
Explosions In The Sky and A Silver Mt Zion are bands I've finally caught up with over the last couple of years and I'm freaking happy I did. Any thoughts about Do Make Say Think?
You've got a bunch of others that I will now investigate promptly...
Bob, I hope you've picked up Beirut's latest, "March of the Zapotecs/Real People". It's an outstanding mixture of his traditional Eastern European sounding music with some techno, Thom Yorke-like mellow vocals. Explosions In the Sky have been huge here in Texas for years (getting their start in Austin) and I saw them live severeal years ago. They sound even better in person.
I have to say I've neve heard of Do Make Say Think, but I'm scurrying over to YouTube right now!
Don't have "March of the Zapotecs" yet. Looks interesting though - it's two EPs? I'll be curious what you think of Do Make Say Think...
It is 2 EP's sandwiched onto one disc... and completely remarkable.
I'm quickly becoming a fan of Do Make Say Think. They combine the best elements of Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire into one long jazzy synth. Great stuff.
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