Saturday, December 19, 2009

Best music of the decade?

Maybe. This is gonna be a sketch pad for me.
I'll post it and then move it around.
The decade was a long time. I graduated college and got married in 2000.
I got a job in 2001. I got a computer in 2002. I had kids in 2003 and 2005. I discovered pitchfork around 2005 or 2006. (As I've said before, I don't always agree with their tastes, but they're damned near as comprehensive as one can get.) I got an iPod in 2007.
These things are the guideposts that I will use to tell me what I can remember listening to.

This is obviously gonna be biased towards whatever I've listened to more of lately. Especially in the post-iPod era of my life (because I can keep better track).

Also, I'm not a critic... This is what I liked the most.

Top Albums (in the process of sorting, no more than one per artist):
1. Ha Ha Tonka "Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South"
How much do I love this album? Five songs on it should really be in my top 20 of the decade. Songs about collective guilt, and drinking with old friends.

2. Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam"

3. Neotropic "La Prochaine Fois"
This was my 9-11 album, I think I bought it on like 9/4/01. Wordless, longing and mourning for some long-forgotten innocence (now newly destroyed).

4. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy "Lie Down in the Light"
I discovered Will Oldham in the winter 0f '07-08. This was the first album of his that was a "New Album" to me. At first I hated it, but now it's my favorite of all of his. Celebrations of the decay of life... aging, forgetting, missing, friends and family dying, relationships souring. "I looked at the sky, and new someday I'd day, and then everything would be alright."


5. Black Dice "Beaches and Canyons"
6. Current 93 "Black Ships Ate the Sky"
7. Sonic Youth "The Eternal"
8. Fovea Hex "Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent"
9. Low "The Great Destroyer"
10. Coil "And the Ambulance Died In His Arms"
11. M.I.A. "Kala"
12. Burial "Untrue"
13. The Field "Here We Go Sublime"
14. James Blackshaw "The Glass Bead Game"
15. Marit Bergman?
16. Schneider TM "Zoomer"
17. Herbert "Bodily Functions"
18. Björk "Medulla"
19. Cloud Cult "They Live on the Sun"
20. cLOUDDEAD "cLOUDDEAD"
21. Boom Bip & Dose One "Circles"
22. Ryoji Ikeda "Matrix."
23. Fuck Buttons "Tarot Sport"
24. Andy Stott "Unknown Exception"
25. Hercules and Love Affair "Hercules & Love Affair"
26. Death Cab for Cutie "Transatlanticism"
27. Stars of the Lid "and Their Refinement of the Decline"
28. The Knife "Silent Shout"
29. Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend"



Top tracks (I specifically excluded tracks on favorite albums):
1. "Kiss" by Scout Niblett and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
2. "Must Be Someone" by Antony & the Johnsons
3. "Be Like the Sun" by Dave Aju and the Invisible Art Trio
4. "Motorcycle" by Black Dice
6. "Be Mine!" by Robyn
8. "Dream On" by Christian Falk f. Robyn and Ola Salo
9. "Waters of Nazareth" by Justice
10. "Poison Dart" by The Bug f. Warrior Queen
11. "Dead Man's Curse" by Techno Animal
12. "Strange Form of Life" by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
13. "Calabria 2007" by Enur ft. Natasha
14. "Hand Cart Boy" by Perfect
15. "Diwali Riddim" by Lenky / "No Letting Go" by Wayne Wonder / "Get Busy" by Sean Paul
16. "Hollaback Girl (Diplo Remix)" by Gwen Stefani
17. "Drug Queen" by Duoteque
18. "No Party" Marit Bergman
19. "Heartbeats" by the Knife / "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez
20. "Always Something Better" by Trentemøller f. Richard Davis
21. "Milkshake" by Kelis
22. "Breaker" by Retribution Gospel Choir
23. "Stabbed in the Face" by Wolf Eyes
24. "Pink Steam" by Sonic Youth
25. "Is All for Updated" by BARR
26. "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera
27. "Gantz_Graf" by Autechre
28. "My Love" by Justin Timberlake f. T.I.
29. "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado
30. "Really Don't Mind" by Luomo
31. "Cadillac on 22s" by David Banner
32. "For Ever And for Always" by Shania Twain
33. "You Belong to Me" by Taylor Swift
34. "Mundian Te Bach Ke" by Panjabi MC
35. "Emerge" by Fisherspooner
36. "Lucky Star" by Basement Jaxx f. Dizee Rascal
37. "Heartbeats" by Annie
38. "URAQT" by M.I.A.
39. "Pneumonia" by Fog
40. "Baboo" by Riow Arai
41. "The Top of the World" by Patty Griffin / "The Top of the World" by the Dixie Chicks
42. "Raindrops" by Basement Jaxx
43. "Gimme Sympathy" by Metric
44. "The Sun's Gone Dim And the Sky's Turned Black" by Johann Johannsson
45. "21st Century Pop Song" by Hymie's Basement
46. "It's So Hard" by Big Pun
47. "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z f. The UGK
48. "Quitters' Raga" by Gold Panda
49. "The Sign's Alive (Fila Brazillia Vocal Mix)" by Lypid
50. "The Dull Flame of Desire" by Björk f. Antony
51. "My Radio" by Solvent, Schneider TM Mustanng remake.
52. "Roar" by Patrice Baumel
53. "Parkett" by Paul Brtschitsch
54. "Watamu Beach (Moritz von Oswald rework)" by Sebbo
55. "Plain" by Marcel Dettman
56. "She Said (Ryan Elliott Edit)" by Kate Simko
57. "Gorilla (Lee Mortimer Dub)" by Idiotproof