Monthly Archives: December 2009

Best of the decade: 1-10

10.Band: Sufjan StevensAlbum: Ilinois It’s hard not to be repetitive when I’ve already outlined why I like Sufjan Stevens. Illinois is better than Michigan. The crazy arranged stuff is more fun, the subtle beauty is more subtle. “Chicago” is just such an amazing song, with Stevens’ voice taking center stage. — It’s hard to defend […]

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Best of the decade: 11-20

20.Band: MastodonAlbum: Leviathan And so it began. My relationship with Mastodon began with an album that used a classic American novel as a metaphor for the band’s trials and tribulations. It’s a pretty stupid novelty, but I love the idea of music based on books. So, when I saw the furied whale album cover at, […]

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Best of the decade: 21-30

30.Band: BattlesAlbum: Mirrored As previously written, Mirrored is the sound of the future, for worse or for (mostly) better. (Album preview here.) 29.Band: BeckAlbum: Sea Change Once of two Beck records to be on the RS 500 list (440), Sea Change still makes me cry. “End of the Day” was part of a terribly difficult […]

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Best of the decade: 31-40

40.Band: PinbackAlbum: Blue Screen Life As mentioned in the bit about the Raconteurs, this list is often a romp through my life story since Jan. 1, 2000 (and mostly since May 2003, my college graduation). Thhe deeper I go into the list, the more I find the records that soundtracked my daily existance: The Metro, […]

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  • About Me

    I'm Ross Jordan Gianfortune. I am not a writer, but I sometimes write here about music and my life. I live in Washington, DC.

    I used to review each of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time. Now I'm writing about albums I own.

    My work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Gazette, The Atlantic, Sno-Cone and a bunch of defunct zines.

    You can contact me at rjgianfortune at gmail dot com.

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