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In thinking on the top 50 albums of the decade, I tried to distill down what I’ve listened to over the last ten years into the best of the best. Game changers, genre busters, glorious illustrations of brilliance, subtle tomes of awesome, albums that made you laugh, albums that made you cry, artists that noone had ever heard of 11 years ago, artists that reinvented themselves in the ensuing years, new collaborations, new forms of music.

The decade has seen the internet completely change the landscape of the arena of music. At the end of the 90’s, napster was an unheard of phenomenon. By the early 2000’s, Lars Uhlrich had single-handedly demolished the first worthwhile music-sharing network. But that didn’t stop us. Throughout the decade, the internet mutated & evolved from illegal filesharing networks like kazaa/limewire, to music blogs and internet radio stations who curate & promote great music, while heavily encouraging listeners to support artists in whatever way they can [WOXY, Cable & Tweed, Gorilla vs Bear, Kiss Atlanta]. Apple has created out of thin air a legal way to easily buy music [iTunes], as well as forever altering the way we consume it [iPods]. Radiohead & Paste Magazine & Girl Talk experimented with “pay what you want”, and while Paste has had its own financial woes [much like the rest of the publishing industry], Radiohead & Girl Talk have been considered unmitigated successes.

At the beginning of the decade, I was just a kid that liked music & explored interests through napster, etc. By 2003, I was the general manager of my college radio station [Wake Radio]. Somewhere in the middle of the decade, I started this blog & found it as a new avenue to spread what I like listening to to my friends & closest strangers [along with other musings on life]. With twitter, the possibilities exploded as sharing news & information have become increasingly more ‘viral’. Towards the end of the decade, we witnessed the birth of Muxtape, and while we knew the blessing couldn’t last, we had a way to share digital, streaming mixtapes of our own creation with the world. Even before its untimely death, some folks decided to launch an opensource model [rather than hosted] with a new, similar project called Opentape. This inspired me to launch a new site called Pneumes Radio with a couple friends of mine contributing semi-frequent mixtapes based on a shared theme.

What I haven’t mentioned so far are the bitter failures of the music industry this decade. The RIAA launched thousands of lawsuits against its customers, thus embittering a generation of music lovers. The radio industry launched digital FM, creating the hope of diversity & quality in radio, but ending mostly in the same old crap we get on analog radio. [Notable exception- my college radio station, once internet-only, finally found its place on the FM airways through a digital channel on the campus's NPR station.] Record stores across the country have shuttered their doors. And, lest we forget, dancing is still illegal without a license in the city of New York.

Actually compiling this list was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a while. The ’smart playlist’ by year feature in iTunes was a great start, but actually distilling that down to what you see here was no small feat. Added to that was the problem of not having all my albums properly tagged with a year. I have left out amazing albums by wonderful artists who, for one reason or another, didn’t make it.

I didn’t dare attempt the logistical or quasi-legal option of adding songs for each one of these, but I have linked them all to iTunes, where you can preview & purchase the albums [plus, you support the blog! We get 5% of each purchase].

Without further adieu, I humbly present what i consider the best 50 albums of the decade, in order by year [within each year, no particular order].

2000
The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
OutKast – Stankonia
Radiohead – Kid A
Nickel Creek – Nickel Creek

2001
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot it in People
Circulatory System – Circulatory System

2002
The Decemberists – Castaways and Cutouts
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Rosebud – Vespers
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Sigur Ros – ()

2003
OutKast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
The Postal Service – Give Up
The Rapture – Echoes
Rufus Wainwright – Want One
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow

2004
Adem – Homesongs
Arcade Fire – Funeral
CocoRosie – La Maison de Mon Reve
Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
Kings of Convenience – Riot on an Empty Street
Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
TV on the Radio – Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Sondre Lerche – Two Way Monologue

2005
Dr. Dog – Easy Beat
Iron & Wine + Calexico – In the Reins
Jamie Lidell – Multiply
Sufjan Stevens – Come on Feel the Illinoise!

2006
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
Cansei De Ser Sexy – Cansei De Ser Sexy
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Dona Got a Ramblin Mind
Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
Hot Chip – The Warning
Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds
The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love
Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
Snowden – Anti-Anti

2007
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Beirut – Flying Club Cup
Feist – The Reminder
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
MIA – Kala
The National – Boxer
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

2008
Janelle Monae – Metropolis
Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III

2009
Passion Pit – Manners
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Bands I recently came to dig, but are far too new to fit into the scope of the decade:
Rain Machine
Chiddy Bang
Bad Rabbits

Notable Soundtracks:
Almost Famous [2000]
O Brother, Where Art Thou? [2000]
Kill Bill Vol. 1 [2003]
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [2004]
Garden State [2004]
Juno [2007]

Notable singles:
The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” [2003]
Mates of State – “Goods” [2004]
Yuki – “Joy” [2005]
Clap your hands say yeah – “Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” [2005]
Junior Boys – “In the Morning” [2006]
Sigur Ros – “Gobbledigook” [2008]
Bag Raiders – “Shooting Stars” [2008]
Beirut – “My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille” [2009]

Notable covers:
Johnny Cash – “Hurt”, originally by Nine Inch Nails [2002]
Outkast – “My Favorite Things”, originally by Rodgers & Hammerstein [2003]
José González – “Heartbeats”, originally by The Knife [2005]
Feist – “Sea Lion Woman”, traditional [2007]
Franz Ferdinand – “All My Friends”, originally by LCD Soundsystem [2007]
She & Him – “You Really Got a Hold On Me”, originally by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles [2008]
Janelle Monae – “Smile”, originally by Charlie Chaplin [2008]
Run Toto Run – “Sleepyhead”, originally by Passion Pit [2009]

Luminaries who didn’t explicitly find their way onto the list anywhere, but who still deserve a mention:
Diplo
Girl Talk
Danger Mouse

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’d like to thank the following for regularly introducing me to awesome music over the course of the last ten years:
Trey Tims
Grant Bollmer [Wake Radio]
Cable & Tweed
Preston Craig [DSC+KissAtlanta]
JP Stephens
WOXY
Paste Magazine
Tiffany Needham
Jacob Morris
WRAS-88.5FM Atlanta
Most likely everyone who’s reading this.

Finally, a plea to the linguists of the world. Can we come up with new, separate terms for a DJ who simply plays a song for others, and a DJ who takes songs & sounds to create a new song all together? Thanks.

I invite you to check out Pneumes Radio, where we’re also launching a new “best of the decade” theme today. Check it out at:
radio.pneumes.com

Buy the ‘best of’ mixtape on itunes

Happy Thanksgiving all! Thanks for reading.

love,
tolar

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Chiddy Bang & Bad Rabbits open up for Slick Rick & Goodie Mob last night. Chiddy Bang is a rapper out of Philly who can freakin kill the shit out of a Passion Pit track. Bad Rabbits lives somewhere between Prince & , yet can still back up Slick Rick. Their debut’s out December 1, but the free EP’s available below.

Chiddy Bang

website | myspace | twitter
Chiddy Bang – “Truth” [Passion Pit remix]

Chiddy Bang – The Opposite of Adults (KIDS)

Swelly Express [mixtape, includes both songs above, plus a remix of Sufjan Steven's "All Things Go"]
more tracks

Bad Rabbits

website | myspace | twitter
Bad Rabbits – Can’t Back Down

Stick Up Kids EP [free!]

Can’t wait to see ‘em tonight in nyc!

Thanks to @bobdebird for the heads-up.

Goodie Mob – “Soul Food”, featuring The Roots

Purchase Goodie Mob’s seminal classic Soul Food on iTunes, or buy the cd at Amazon

I was delighted when whofollowswhom.com came around, but I was a bit dismayed that there wasn’t a quck, easy way to get from a user’s twitter page to immediately finding out who our mutual followers are, etc. Since then, @janislanka has added the ability to directly link to his page, and thus is born the javascript bookmarklet. Simply put, drag the below link to your toolbar. If you’re logged in & you’re viewing someone else’s twitter page, hit the bookmark & you’re taken to whofollowswhom.com! Voila!

whofollowswhom

I’ve only tested this on osx/firefox, so if it doesn’t work for you, let me know! thanks

[Thanks to betterexplained.com for the bookmarklet tutorial]

Here are a selection of tracks I’ve recently been listening to. hope you enjoy!

Rain Machine – Leave the Lights On
listen | buy rain machine
New project from Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio.

Big Boi – Shine Blockas
listen
new track from Outkast’s Big Boi. need i say more? love love love this one!
[courtesy of straightfromthea.com]

Scott Walker – It’s Raining Today
listen | buy scott 3
60’s child pop star gone reclusive indie mad man. just saw the documentary “30th century man” on netflix/instant.

LCD Soundsystem – Bye Bye Bayou
listen | buy sound of silver
Delicious, long awaited new track from James Murphy + crew.
[courtesy of weallwantsomeone.org]

Janelle Monae – Come Alive
listen | buy metropolis
Bangin new track from Janelle. i heart her more & more every day! this one got my booty shakin
[courtesy of wondaland]

Michael Bellar – Fred Jones, Pt. 2 [cover of Ben Folds]
listen | buy turned up turned on
Funky yet intimate jazz cover of Ben Folds’ song from sometime band member of Jay Clifford projects Jump, Little Children & Rosebud.

Andrew Bird – Weather Systems
listen | buy weather systems
An early track from Andrew Bird

School of Seven Bells – Connjur
Jordan of Snowden wants you to listen to this ‘decompressed’ version of ‘Connjur’
buy alpinisms

I don’t really have much to say, but I wanted to share these findings…

Free new RJD2 mp3 from Amazon MP3: download “Find You Out”

Free (not so new) Del tha Funky Homosapien album: Funk Man

New Dave Eggers excerpt: Max at Sea

National Grid’s response to my letter:

Dear Online Customer,

Thank you for your inquiry. The reason that the gas service was shut off was National Grid must change the gas meters every 17-20 years and since the service tech was at the property he changed the gas meter for your apartment. The landlord of the property was notified of this and should have advised you that this was going to be done, we also installed an automatic meter reading device on your meter at no charge. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused, please contact National Grid at [removed] to schedule an appointment to your best convenience.

Sincerely,

National Grid Customer Service.

So many problems with this… sigh

[nb: they did respond quickly.. just took me a bit to post]

Here’s a letter I’ve just sent off to National Grid.

Hi,

I’m writing to complain. Tonight when i got home from work, I had a notice letting me know someone had been by, and to call you back regarding a gas meter. To my dismay, you had turned off my gas without my knowledge or consent! When I called, you dutifully & expediently sent someone out to fix the problem, but since I’m a mere tenant in an apartment building, I don’t have access to wherever these gas meters are! I called back, but there’s nothing you can do for me at this point. The onus is on me to coordinate between my landlord, myself, and you to setup a time where we can all be here, so we can let you in to do your work. The only one who gets screwed in this scenario is me! I’m stuck here without gas — in a single swoop, you’ve rendered my stove & oven completely useless. And when I talk to any representative of your company, I’m blocked by the sheer mass of your bureaucracy. Since this isn’t the fault of any particular person I talk to, none of them care about the fact that you removed a basic service from me today.

The question I pose to you is: why would you ever turn off a basic service without my knowledge or consent, especially where there’s the real, distinct possibility that the process of re-enabling it is so difficult?

I’m upset at your company & your impersonal bureaucracy, but I’m especially dismayed that in the morning, I can’t make my coffee.

Sincerely,
Robert Tolar Haining

8/2 deerhunter + dan deacon @ east river park
8/9 simian mobile disco @ east river park
8/11 tv on the radio @ prospect park
8/15 animal collective @ prospect park
8/16 del tha funky homosapien @ east river park
8/23 girl talk @ east river park
8/30 beach house + grizzly bear @ east river park
9/2 cocorose @ highline
9/9 sondre lerche @ music hall of williamsburg
9/16 ira glass @ 92y
9/21 fanfarlo @ bowery
10/10 major lazer @ terminal 5
10/13 dodos @ music hall of williamsburg

Here are some of my favorite songs from albums released so far in 2009.
[in alphabetical order, as that's how my itunes looks...]

Animal Collective – My Girls from Merriweather Post Pavilion

Beirut – My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille from Realpeople Holland

Bon Iver – Babys from Blood Bank

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks from Veckatimest

Passion Pit – Little Secrets from Manners

Sara Watkins – All This Time from her self-titled debut

If you like these, check out WOXY, my favorite internet radio station, and Pneumes Radio, a little mixtape side project i have.

Purchase these albums from Amazon & support both the musicians & this blog!
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Beirut – March of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Passion Pit – Manners
Sara Watkins – Sara Watkins