50.

Band: Wale
Album: The Mixtape About Nothing

In making the list, I said I wasn’t going to put any mixtapes on this list — Lil Wayne would’ve been a bigger presence, for sure — but I just couldn’t put a list of great music of the 2000s without this record. Living here in DC, Wale is a big fucking deal. He’s really talented and is a huge part of the DC hip-hop scene, whatever that is. He calls himself Wale Ovechkin, echoing the city’s one great athlete.

—

I know I keep saying that I don’t feel comfortable with some of the positions on this list and I’m sorry about repeating that. I really put this thing together in a short amount of time and any list of 100 is going to have regrettable placements.

I’m not sure I’m so uncomfortable with this placement, but something keeps eating at me. Mostly that Seinfeld is among my favorite TV shows and to have Wale produce a record that revolves around that… I mean, come on.

The album is great. It follows the show’s convention of using the article “The” before every song, with “The Cliche Lil Wayne Feature (It’s the Remix Baby!)” using Wale’s “Nike Boots” track as the basis for an outstanding pairing (one that most certainly cost Wale a lot of money). On the record, Wale is introspective and grownup — indeed, “The Grown Up” samples the “We’re not men!” speech from the show as a backdrop for Wale’s personality crises. “The Kramer” examines racism, both in and out of hip hop, while “The Bmore Club Slam” uses that genre to craft an excellent track. “The Artistic Integrity” has Wale examining his our muse and his ability to get the message that he wants out clearly.

And so it goes. Wale is a tortured artist, on some level, and by using the great “show about nothing” to work out something about himself.

49.

Band: Okkervil River
Album: The Stand Ins

I’ve covered this ground already, but Okkervil River’s second album about fame is dark, smart and catchy. “Lost Coastlines” is among the best songs of 2008, if not the best.

48.

Band: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Album: Shake the Sheets

Another record I’ve covered, but Shake the Sheets is a really great record with tons of energy. It’s Leo’s best record and his subsequent records have been pretty crappy.

47.

Band: Arcade Fire
Album: Funeral

Universally, Funeral is acclaimed. Its metacritic score (90) is ridiclously high and just about everyone has the record near the top of their lists, both of the decade and of 2004.

But, it’s more than just the things that make critics enjoy it. It’s finely assembled, beginning with the lovely string arrangement that stars in album opener “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).” “Une Annee Sans Lumiere” is layered, vocally, with a quick pace and a lovely guitar.

Lyrically, it dances around, all with themes strong enough to hold attention. “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” has the ability to fully grasp a suicidal depression with which many of us are all too familiar. “Crown of Love” is forlorn while “Rebellion (Lies)” is plangry (angry and pleading), a combination emotion that few bands can pull off. “Une Annee Sans Lumiere” describes band home Montreal. “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” even strikes the tone of a band looking toward adulthood.

At times, it’s more impressive intellectually than it is in practice. As in, I don’t listen to it as much as I do the albums ahead of it on the list. Still, every time I listen to Funeral, I enjoy it.

46.

Band: Mastodon
Album: Blood Mountain

No question, Mastodon’s one of my favorite bands. Blood Mountain is the most uneven of the three Mastodon records I have on the list, with several forgettable songs, though none are bad, per se.

Of course, it remains on this list (and midway through it, too) because of a few great tracks. “Colony of Birchmen” is certainly in the “best Mastodon track” conversation, as is “The Wolf is Loose.”

I wrote about it here and I don’t disagree with most of that review. Crack the Skye and Leviathan are far better.

45.

Band: Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s
Album: The Dust of Retreat

Though not necessarily special, there’s something very warm about The Dust of Retreat. It’s not challenging and it’s not boring, but rather something in the middle. It is nearly flawless in presentation and content (that stupid kitten song notwithstanding). It is, in many ways, the apex of the sensitive guy indie rock form.

44.

Band: Neko Case
Album: Middle Cyclone

I really thought more people would respond to what I wrote surrounding (I don’t say “about” because the piece isn’t really about the record) Middle Cyclone, but they didn’t. So it goes, I guess.

Anyway, the album is really quite striking and since its spring release, was touted as the best of 2009. I do love the album, though I’ve not picked it up since I saw her in the spring touring the record.

43.

Band: Pedro the Lion
Album: Winners Never Quit

David Bazan’s fire and brimstone sprirituality comes through on this 2000 album, as he constructs a plotline to an album decrying politics, its world and the temptations therein. As he said in an interview after the record was released:

This record is a complete, connected narrative from the first to last song. There was a theme I wanted to communicate: Damnation for the arrogant, judgment for the judgmental.

Bazan has a clear view of right and wrong (I think he’s since been unborn or whatever it is when you’re no longer a born-again) and the record provides that. Moreover, the record sounds great, like a Red House Painters album narrated by Damien Jurado. Bazan’s baritone is sparse when it needs to be, warbly when he gets angry and desperate when needed. “Bad Things to Such Good People” is probably his best song, with “A Mind of Her Own” a close second.

Despite its mediocre reviews, I continue to love this album.

—

As I found myself listening to this album (and, honestly, Funeral), it just reminded me as to how hard putting together this list was. I sped through it and probably put a lot of records in the wrong order. Here’s the thing, though: Anything in the top 50 or so is a really good album and anything in the top 25 is a near-perfect track. I love every single one of these records. Funeral is at 47 because I don’t listen to it as much as I probably should and Winners Never Quit is one I don’t enjoy as much as I used to, largely due to age (both mine and the age of the record).

So, that’s to say that I love all these records.

42.

Band: The Raconteurs
Album: Broken Boy Soldiers

There was a period in my life, I shit you not, in which I would’ve put this album at no. 1. No joke. There was, probably, a six-month time wherein I listened to this album every day. I loved this record and continue to think it is the best thing Jack White’s done.

Now? I love the record and every time I listen to it, I enjoy it. That’s pretty high praise, no doubt, but I don’t know that it’s anything other than a really fun rock and roll record. That’s great, sure, but it’s nothing to write home about. I probably should’ve put, say, Funeral higher.

Still, it’s melodic and fun. White’s simplistic songwriting is augmented well by Brendan Benson’s tinkering from all sides. Their back and forth vocals make “Level” so great and “Yellow Sun” so chipper. “Store Bought Bones” is the best garage rock song to be released post-1969. The title track is whiny and fanastic and lead single “Steady as She Goes” breaks no barriors, but rules nonetheless.

41.

Band: Sleater-Kinney
Album: The Woods

With One Beat, Sleater-Kinney evolved and on the band’s final album, they were complete. Incorporating a production style more reminiscient of Hendrix than Bikini Kill, the band’s only Sub Pop release is furious and full. Really, who would’ve thought that S-K could’ve put out an 11-minute song?

Corinn Tucker’s voice is at its best on “Night Light,” as good an album ender as existed in the decade. “The Fox” shows her scream as well, with “Roller Coaster” showing all the angular guitar-y-ness of Modest Mouse. What a record and what away to go out.

60.

Band: Outkast
Album: The Love Below/Speakerboxx

OK, complete honesty here: I don’t love Outkast. More and more I think they fit my Kanye West/Lil Wayne theory of white journalists liking hip hop: it’s graded on a certain curve. The dudes in OutKast are, essentially, hipsters (not unlike Common, see below) and journalists fancy them more than, say, Jay-Z. Jay, by the way, is infinitely more talented.

Nevertheless, I think doing a double album not long after the duo’s greatest success (and excellent album) is ballsy and interesting. The problem is that the music isn’t nearly as good as that on Stankonia (an album I love and one that you’ll see high up on this list in a few weeks).

“Hey Ya” is a lovely little number, no doubt. “The Way you Move” is catchy and Sleepy Brown’s voice sounds great. “Roses” isn’t much. “GhettoMusick” is decent enough. Otherwise, it’s a whole bunch of nothing interesting.

59.

Band: Lily Allen
Album: It’s Not Me, It’s You

As mentioned in the introduction to this list (and, really, just about everything I’ve written about music and fancied interesting, though, surely it is not interesting), the way music soundtracks our lives is the driving force in our views of said music. It’s hard to separate yourself from that; Pete Yorn, despite his general blandness, will always mean something to me ebcause of the college road trip a girlfriend and I took while he sang through my stereo.

I was introduced to It’s Not Me, It’s You through traditional means but one notable moment involved my defiantly putting it on as a (mostly unspoken) deal was agreed upon. Time limits were imposed, imbalances struck and that was that. All we had left to do was finish those final 50 miles and get home. Deal with the consequences later.

I’d say it ruined the record, but it didn’t. Bad times one spends with a record shouldn’t define the record. It may be human nature to associate one memory with the record, but the whole of your experience with the record creates a fuller understand and appreication of it. Just because the end of something was horrible doesn’t mean the intial moments and middle portions aren’t life-affirming and beautiful. It’s good to remind ourselves of this sometimes.

(I bet you didn’t expect to read “Ross Gianfortune: Motivational speaker,” did you?)

58.

Band: T.I.
Album: King

I like T.I. enough to put him on here, but I’m not really confident with this album being here. Paper Trail could’ve gone here; Maybe Trap Muzik would’ve been a better choice.

Either way, I find King to be the record on which T.I. really found his voice. “What You Know” is defiant in the way T.I. only can be, while “Top Back” is a great boast record. “Why You Wanna” is among T.I.’s best records, as well.

Really, it’s about as good a collection of songs that T.I. has ever put out.

57.

Band: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Slip

“This one’s on me.”

So wrote Trent Reznor in 2008 in announcing the release of a free record. All one needed to get the album was an e-mail address and an internet connection.

Considering his previous experiment in distribution, Ghosts I-IV, was a revelation — according to some reports, Reznor made hundreds of thousands of dollars on the release — Reznor’s nod to the fans was excellent. It appeared — as opposed to Radiohead’s In Rainbows “pay what you want” experiment — that Reznor figured it out.

But, moreover, Ghosts was an atmosphere album, sounding more like the filler tracks on The Fragile than actually like the taut brilliance of Broken and With Teeth.

(Of course, Reznor’s opus The Downward Spiral combined the two to near-perfect results.)

The Slip, rather than working in strings and lush, takes off where With Teeth and Year Zero leave. The songs are tight and aggressive, with political content coming from Reznor’s sidekick. In classic Reznor fashion, the lyrics are brooding and over-the-top, as he contemplates killing himself and others throughout the record. Taking from Depeche Mode and Bauhaus, the Slip is danceable and fun.

56.

Band: Camera Obscura
Album: Let’s Get Out of This Country

Belle and Sebastian are perfectly pleasant, but Camera Obscura is far better at that style of music. Let’s Get out of This Country is, at times, sweet and saccharine, but aching and pretty at other times. Chamber pop isn’t complex, but Camera Obscura’s version is as evocative as it comes.

55.

Band: Smog
Album: Dongs of Sevotion

Armed with his best band (jazz bassist Matt Lux and Tortoise members John McEntire and Jeff Parker), Bill Callahan put out a solid Smog record. Most of his post-2000 output has been spotty — the albums under his own name both just missed this list — but Dongs of Sevotion sits among Julius Caesar, Red Apple Falls and Wild Love as Callahan’s best.

“Dress Sexy at My Funeral” has the odd logic of earlier Smog record, but without the Jandek-esque out of tune problems. “Bloodflow” has the odd cheerleading and Callahan’s baritone. “Distance” is misanthropic and weird, while “Strayed” is among Callahan’s most personal tracks.

54.

Band: Band of Horses
Album: Cease to Begin

“No One’s Gonna Love You” is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Mistakenly (though, admittedly, not that mistakenly), I lauded Iron & Wine’s “Boy With a Coin” as the best song of 2007. It’s not.

“No One’s Gonna Love You” is so beautiful. I don’t think Ben Bridwell has a great voice, but on this one song, he belts it out. The easy guitar surrounds him. The rhytymn section is tight. The lyric aches with resigned sadness. It’s perfect.

53.

Band: Common
Album: Be

I’m a certain type of person and Be hits me in the places where it should. As I’ve written about Kanye West and Lil Wayne, a rapper simply needs to be not sexist and violent and even mildly self-reflexive to be attractive to this certain type of person.

Common is kind of in a funny place for this to work. On one hand, he’s not superbly talented — good writing, mediocre flow, works with mediocre producers. On the other hand, he is a smart writer and on Be, working with fellow Chicagoan West, the results are pretty good. The record has its bad tracks, but “The Food,” “The Corner” and “Real People” are hearty and excellent.

52.

Band: Justin Timberlake
Album: Futuresex/Lovesounds

I’ve already touched on this record here, so, let me quote myself.

Justin Timberlake is, no doubt, this type of person. His immense talent is mostly in “packaging” things — his voice, his bone structure, his dance skills — and not in the creative places like his songwriting (bleah) or production skills (bleah). So, instead, he chooses to work with those more skilled than he and puts out good records.

Even better, Timberlake doesn’t seem to feel the need to stick his nose in everything or release an album every five minutes. He appears in a movie here and there, but he doesn’t guest on every record under the sun. It’s kind of nice to know that Justin Timberlake appears to enjoy being Justin Timberlake.

I stand by this. Futuresex/Lovesounds is a really fun record and better than most of the things on the radio. Timberlake is talented.

—

Appropos of nothing, the name of this album is cumbersome. This fact probably knocked it down a position or two on this list.

51.

Band: Death Cab for Cutie
Album: Transatlanticism

I struggle with my fandom of this band, as I’ve written. And though I probably enjoy their albums as much as any other band, simple shame (I don’t want to be lumped in with the teenage girls and skinny boys) has kept all but two albums off the list.

Transatlanticism is, like all Death Cab records, strikingly emotional and more evocative than the law allows. “The New Year” explains the complaint we all have about party holidays: any time you’re supposed to have fun is disappointing, as Gibbard intones the opening lines: “So, this is the new year/and I don’t feel any different.” “Title and Registration” is one of Death Cab’s signature songs, with a moderately-paced melancholy guitar line. The much-televised “Sound of Settling” (The OC made it big, guys!) is spunky with it’s “bob-pa” chorus (the song was also on the soundtrack for Wedding Crashers). “We Looked Like Giants” is a standout, as well, notching five and a half minutes of anticipation. It is, to make an odd comparison, Death Cab’s “Dazed and Confused.”

Again, I like everything this band has done. I should’ve included more albums on the list, but this will do. One near the top. One near the middle.

70.

Band: Tara Jane O’Neil
Album: Peregrine

I admit I’m too much of a slave to my own tastes. TJO is an early musical crush of mine and I saw her touring this record in college. The “City in the North”/”City in the South” diad is beautiful and TJO’s voice sounds as delicate and pretty as it ever has on this record.

69.

Band: Andrew Bird
Album: Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs

Andrew Bird makes art. His music is largely inaccessible, forgettable or both. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a wonderful songwriter and a favorite of the Chicago hipster set, but his music is hard to enjoy for someone not well-versed in Andrew Bird.

This record was his breakout, though. His final Righteous Babe release, Bird’s violin is toned down, his songwriting is clever and imaginative and his voice is brilliant. He’s able to move around between crooning, talking and straight-up singing. And his guitar work is lovely. “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” is among his best.

68.

Band: Radiohead
Album: Amnesiac

It’s hilarious that the most celebrated band of recent vintage has a record that everyone seems to hate. Though, in reality, no one really hates it. It just garners e-mails (like I received from a friend recently) that read “Sometimes I write off Amnesiac. It’s making me feel pretty okay at the moment.”

Amnesiac‘s opening number — the wonderfully-named “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” — is fucking amazing. “I Might Be Wrong” may be Radiohead’s best song. “Pyramid Song” is a stellar song and “Morning Bell/Amnesiac” is near-perfect. That people see Amnesiac as a disappointment and Kid A as a triumph is a tragedy. Amnesiac is better.

67.

Band: The Arcade Fire
Album: Neon Bible

I don’t like Springsteen, but I love Neon Bible. Figure that out.

66.

Band: Kelly Clarkson
Album: Breakaway

I’ve never been much of an American Idol watcher. I’ve seen, in total, maybe two hours of the show in five minute bits in between laundry, as my old laundromat’s TV was always fixated on the show (which, I believe, Fox runs three nights a week during its season). Anyway, the point is that I didn’t know Kelly Clarkson when her second record came out. I vaguely knew she’d won the competition, but, I didn’t know her story and I’m still unclear as to how she won the whole thing.

Nevertheless, in the subsequent years, Clarkson has been absolutely killed in the gossip pages for her weight, her vey sporadic drunken antics at shows and her general, well, regular-ness. In a way, I feel sorta protective of her; she was (I think) a bar singer who won a talent show and ended up being covered in a way that fits someone like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian.

Kelly Clarkson is not really very pretty. QED. She’s not thin. QED. She’s also very talented.

Breakaway is, in many ways, hard to define, as a record. For one, it’s clearly been filtered through, I’m sure, at least 50 people at RCA before release. Still, the hooks on the record are undeniable and — though label approved — there is an edge on the record that did not exist on her debut. “Gone,” “Walk Away,” “Behind These Hazel Eyes” and “Since U Been Gone” are all fun rock songs that — because rock and roll is essentially dead — are largely missing in modern music.

65.

Band: Bon Iver
Album: For Emma, Forever Ago

After having been called “irresistible” by The New York Times, it’s hard to top the praise for Justin Vernon’s record. Yes, the newspaper was hyperbolic in its praise; most of the press has been far too effusive in writing about For Emma, Forever Ago. As I’ve written, it’s a really nice record with an amazing back story.

But, then again. “Flume.” “Skinny Love.” Game over.

64.

Band: The Sea and Cake
Album: One Bedroom

For a band that remains one of my favorites, it wasn’t really easy to pick a best record of the four released during the decade. Really, The Sea and Cake doesn’t do much in the way of variety; differences in releases are subtle and each of the four 2000s albums has a place in my heart. One Bedroom excited me, largely because the band’s previous release was somewhat disappointing.

And, as such, TSAC delivered. The cover of Bowie’s “Sound and Vision” is the the finale of a record that’s pleasantly challenging. McEntire’s drumming is as crisp as it is anywhere and the stuttering Archer Prewitt guitarwork is at the top of its game. And, of course, Sam Prekop has the voice of an angel.

Album preview here.

63.

Band: Fleet Foxes
Album: Fleet Foxes

I don’t love the Fleet Foxes record in the same way others do, but it’s a lovely album that deserves about 70% of the critical acclaim that has followed it. Vocally, it’s distinct, but, musically, it takes from Love and other such chamber pop of 1960s. It’s a well-worn concept, but a well-done one on Fleet Foxes.

62.

Band: Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
Album: Rabbit Fur Coat

I love Jenny Lewis’ two (sorta) solo records, though I understand that she’s not exactly for everyone. Rabbit Fur Coat hits the usual Lewis targets — religion, class, etc. — and the Watson Twins provide pitch-perfect harmonies. “You Are What You Love” is among my favorite songs and a truer lyric likely hasn’t been sung.

61.

Band: Bloc Party
Album: Silent Alarm

Released on my 24th birthday, Bloc Party’s debut album is striking in its brilliance. It has New Wave jaunts, insane vocal delivery and a Camus-esque philosohpy of the absurd. I am absolutely sure I’ve underrated it on this list, but, honestly, I haven’t listened to the album in over six months.

“Helicopter” is among the best songs released this decade, if not the single best song released in the 2000s. The guitar line is hypnotic and frantic, the drumming Keith Moon-esque and the shouty vocals wonderful.

The series continues after the jump.

80.

Band: The Donnas
Album: Spend the Night

I make no secret that I believe the Internet to be mankind’s greatest invention. One of its many great contributions to humanity and society at large is that the notion — probably fostered by media in the 1990s — of musical taste being boxed into a genre or two. Hippies listen to jam bands, punkers listen to punk, jocks listen to nu-metal, classic rock is for your parents, etc. Blogs like Pitchfork and Stereogum — hipster publications, no doubt — often tout the merits of mainstream bands (see Pitchfork’s coverage of Dave Frohl’s latest project).

So, I guess this doesn’t apply as much as it used to, but there are a few bands I really enjoy that may not fit what someone might see as my tastes. I certainly project certain bands I love and they remain my absolute favorites. Lil’ Wayne. Death Cab for Cutie. Slint. Tortoise. Mastodon. Black Sabbath. Isis. The Sea and Cake. The Beatles. Sufjan. Mogwai. Pink Floyd. No real surprises, all those bands occupy a “classic” thing or some indie rock thing. Nine Inch Nails surprises some people and was something of a guilty pleasure for many years. Coldplay surprises some people, but, really, I don’t Coldplay. I just think they get unfairly maligned.

However, there are definitely two bands I love that surprise everyone. Tom Petty is one. I think Tom Petty is fucking amazing — every one of his singles makes me smile. Yes, I hate middle of the road dad-rock, but I think Petty’s music, for whatever reason, rises above that distinction. I always get quizzical looks when I tell people I love Petty.

The other is the Donnas. I imagine that’s because the Donnas are, for all intents and purposes, a band of no consequence. They were never really popular — they got dropped from their label after Gold Medal because no one bought it — and most people only know them from their sorta novelty covers of hard rock hits (“Dancing with Myself,” “Strutter” and “Livin’ After Midnight” come to mind). Or maybe people know the Donnas from their early records, clearing jailbaiting it up.

But, I love the Donnas. I don’t tend to like punk rock, but the Donnas occupy that space just a little to the complex side of punk rock — such great guitar solos — and are just a hard rock band that liks to sing about partying. They’re like Kiss, only chicks and not crappy. No pretense. Like Andrew W.K., only not a completely crazy Michigander.

Spend the Night is 13 songs about drinking, making out with dudes and having fun. It’s not brain surgery, but it is outstandingly catchy and outstandingly fun.

79.

Band: The White Stripes
Album: Elephant

The White Stripes are something of a stupid person’s Radiohead. They were the “it” band of the decade, in a lot of ways, but did so by blatantly ripping off the Kinks and early blues riffs. Lo-fi as they are, Jack White can write a riff.

Nevertheless, Elephant is the pinnacle of the band’s powers. Where Icky Thump was self-indulgent and White Blood Cells was unrefined, Elephant is neither. I’ve written about it before, but it remains a very enjoyable listen.

78.

Band: Jim O’Rourke
Album: Insignificance

I’m sort of a sucker for O’Rourke’s misanthropic, taut songwriting. Considering his ex-status as “indie rock man about town,” O’Rourke’s hook should be less than they are and songs like “All Downhill from Here” just show that off.

77.

Band: Iron & Wine
Album: Our Endless Numbered Days

It’s no secret I love Iron & Wine. On his second album, Sam Beam slowly moves toward a more Nick Drake future by moving outside of the American South into the rest of nation’s musical traditions. Our Endless Numbered Days is forward and lovely. “Naked As We Came” is one of his best tracks.

76.

Band: Beyonce
Album: Dangerously in Love

It’s kind of easy to forget now — she’s, obviously, one of music’s biggest stars now — but Beyonce’s first album was looked at with some skepticism when it came out. After all, a solo album from a girl group lead woman was seen as risky.

Indeed, this record helped make her into the superduperstar she is now. The album’s bombastic title track propelled Dangerously in Love to the top of the charts and the video made her face even moreso. The song is awesome and, really, the first three songs (all singles) are near-unstoppable. “Naughty Girl” is another club jam, though smoother and “Baby Boy” features Sean Paul and makes him somewhat listenable. That’s really something.

Nevertheless, the record’s second half is largely ballads, which Beyonce nails. The record has R&B tracks, more hip hop-influenced stuff and those ballads. It’s varied and enjoyable. Like the Rihanna record, it’s the kind of thing everyone puts on, in order to get a party going.

75.

Band: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Album: Fever to Tell

I cannot decide if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are wildly overrated or properly rated as a band. When the band’s first record was released, they were seen as a New York “it” band, based on a number of EPs and a music press-approved slew of information (Vegan! Mixed-race, sorta hot chick lead singer! From Brooklyn! Met at Oberlin!). Fever to Tell was released amid all that stuff swirling around the atmosphere.

Still, sometimes, the hype overshadows the actual record. Karen O is hot for an indie rock star (see also Case, Neko and Feist, Leslie), but not actually attractive. Her intonation varies very little; she either screams like a cat getting brained or uses her lowish register to detach herself from the lyric.

Of course, one of the 10 or so best songs of the decade comes from her vocal, the penultimate Fever to Tell track, “Maps.” It’s an unstoppable song.

74.

Band: The Shins
Album: Wincing the Night Away

Like so many other bands, the Shins don’t do much outside of normal rock and roll. On some level, that’s annoying, as I’d prefer my music to have even the tiniest interesting thing about it. But, it’s hard to hate the Shins. The Shins are Zach Braff’s middle-of-the-road wet dream, having made eminently pleasant records. The Shins are the best and most accessible of a certain type of band — literate, smart, easy guitar-based stuff. It’s the type of music NPR listeners like.

I saw the Shins this past spring and my companion and I both had the same reaction: It was good. It wasn’t as good as the Yo La Tengo show we’d seen later in the summer. It wasn’t half as good as the Neko Case show we’d seen earlier in the spring. It was pleasant.

Wincing the Night Away is hardly the best record in the world, but it’s a really nice group of songs.

73.

Band: Bright Eyes
Album: LIFTED or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Whenever a songwriter is compared to Bob Dylan, it’s easy to recoil, but I’ll say this: Conor Oberst is a strong songwriter and not a great singer, just like that nasally dude from Minnesota. LIFTED is the last of his original sounding record, when he was still acting the angry teenager, throwing tantrums and screaming about lost love, the opressive world and the everyday. “Waste of Paint” is brilliant and “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)” is far better than it should be.

72.

Band: Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Album: Master and Everyone

Great songwriter, even better beard.

71.

Band: Dianogah
Album: Millions of Brazilians

Dianogah’s brand of post-rock is both unique and comforting at the same time. The band dances around time signatures, but never rocks out fully. Two bassists and a drummer make for a unique sound, but hardly anything that makes you recoil.

On the band’s third LP, Jay Ryan, Jason Harvey and Kip McCabe really destroy it. “Take Care, Olaf” — named after a signature at the end of an international fan letter — is lovely and “Maria, Which Has Got Her Heart Completely Fucked Up” is among the band’s greatest songs.

90.

Band: Nelly
Album: Country Grammar

There’s something invariably important about the music that soundtracks our existence. In writing up this list, I knew I had to put Country Grammar on here somewhere; I’m not even close to OK as to the placement of this record here at 90.

It’s not that I love Country Grammar. Because, really, I don’t. I actually found it unendingly annoying when it came out. You see, I went to school at the University of Missouri and Country Grammar was released between my freshman and sophomore years. A great plurality of Mizzou students are from St. Louis and it’s not exactly an arty campus. Lots of “I only listen to what’s on the radio” types.

So.

Every party I attended — well, the ones not hosted by pretentious radio types — bumped “Country Grammar (Hot Shit),” “E.I.” or “Ride Wit Me” at some point in the night. I heard it when I would drive to St. Louis for baseball games or to visit my then-girlfriend’s family over the summer. I would hear it in my fucking dreams.

And you know something? Those singles are infectious. “Ride Wit Me” is fun, “E.I” is jiggly and the title track has the sing song/nursery rhyming vocals of the best hip hop. Nelly’s not a great MC, but, boy he caught lightning in a bottle with “Country Grammar (Hot Shit).”

And, as such, this was the decade that defined my growing up. The albums here helped make me who the young adult I am now; I was 19-28 during this decade. During the first third of the decade, I was in college, working at the radio station, ingesting as much music as possible. This decade is my wheelhouse.

I mostly included albums I love and sought out for my top 100. Country Grammar was foisted upon me. And you know what? I’m kind of happy about that now.

89.

Band: The Dixie Chicks
Album: Taking the Long Way

The first album I wrote up on my albums blog, Taking the Long Way is a record that works well on a few levels. The Dixie Chicks made an angry, charged record with Rick Rubin’s hand at the wheel.

It’s not my normal type of music; I don’t tend to like country music much and middle-of-the-road pop music generally bores me. Still, their politics and work with Rubin piqued my interest.

88.

Band: The Mountain Goats
Album: The Life Of The World To Come

I’ve never enjoyed the Mountain Goats, as John Darnielle’s voice gets a little whiny for my tastes. But, on the 17th Mountain Goats record, Darnielle’s literacy hits the Bible as he names every track after a verse, then writes a song around said verse.

That’s not the say the record is even religious in a sense that the songwriting bases itself around Jesus or Moses or whoever. Indeed, Darnielle weaves narrators and song subjects through themes; in “Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace,” Darnielle takes the verse’s apocalyptic torrents and creates a hostage situation, mostly absent of the God’s presence. “John 4:16” is an exploration of love, though not necessarily that of God’s love. It’s smart, it’s clever. It’s amazing.

87.

Band: Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co.
Album: Magnolia Electric Co.

Jason Molina’s name thing seems to be in flux far too much, but nevertheless, the final Songs:Ohia release (or maybe the first Magnolia Electric Co. release) counts among his best work. Working with Steve Albini, Molina explores his love of Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, “Farewell Transmission” may be Molina’s best song.

86.

Band: Badly Drawn Boy
Album: About a Boy

I loved this record when it came out. It’s faded into the memory of “things I used to enjoy, but stopped loving.” I’m not really sure why. Badly Drawn Boy probably didn’t make it as big as he should’ve because he is not a handsome man. When you play mostly pleasant music that breaks zero barriers for a neutered Nick Hornby movie soundtrack, you’d better be pretty handsome or outstandingly talented. Sadly, Damon Gough looks like this:

85.

Band: Rilo Kiley
Album: More Adventurous

I’ve already covered this particular piece of ground, but I will add that More Adventurous is easily Rilo Kiley’s best record. The record finds the band in transition between quaint indie rock outfit it was on previous albums to the LA rock glammy rock outfit that gave us Under the Blacklight.

84.

Band: M.I.A.
Album: Kala

In addition to being a really bumping record, Kala is a picture of urban living in this decade. M.I.A.’s influences are vast and her chanting/singing is somewhere between Eastern and Western hemispheres. She’s British by way of Sri Lankan immigrant parents and has co-opted as much from hip hop as she has from the subcontinent. In literal terms, she reflects so much of the changing world. She’s politically active, she tweets hours after she has her baby. She performs on stage with Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Jay-Z, showing that a woman can play in the same game as four male rap giants. She wears gaudy, bright colors and her album cover is a wreck. She’s the carry out naan place in downtown DC; she’s the wonderful subcontinental food in central London. She’s Slumdog Millionaire, the soundtrack of which her record appear.

She is this decade.

As with the Nelly record, I am not comfortable with Kala‘s placement on this list. Ultimately, as personal blogger, this record should be in the 80s; I don’t listen to it much.

83.

Band: R. Kelly
Album: Chocolate Factory

In February 2002, R. Kelly was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Not just that. He was, supposedly, peeing on the girl. This made Kelly the butt of many, many jokes, most of which he didn’t take well. He’s not a man known for his sense of humor.

Of course, the scandal also gave us one of the most hilarious things Dave Chappelle ever did (non-Rick James division). It’s perfect if only because it’s so close to a R. Kelly song:

What’s so great about R. Kelly is that, amid all this swirling scandal, record an album. Chocolate Factory is a brilliant piece of soul music, with Kelly’s vocals in rare form. A friend of mine compared the vocals on “Step in the Name of Love” to “Jordan in ’92” and I don’t disagree. It’s a sweet little dusty-inspired song that could — had it not been recorded by such a scandalous dude — become a wedding classic.

Chocolate Factory also has the most curious of things, a remix that was released as a single before the actual song. Honestly, “Ignition” was remixed on the same fucking record. It’s the kind of balls-out thing that only R. could pull off and pull off, he does. Again, let me remind you: This guy was being hit from all sides about a sex crimes situation while he was recording this song. What kind of song is it? Is is “I Believe I Can Fly 2002?” Nope.

It’s “I’m about to take my key and stick it in your ignition.”

Look, Trapped in the Closet showed us that R. was insane, but Chocolate Factory started all this insanity. Too bad the album is near-perfect.

82.

Band: Pelican
Album: The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw

Instrumental music is a hard thing to do well. It’s easy to fall into the background. Metal is a little easier, largely in that the melody is driven oftenby a lead guitar line. Pelican’s two-guitar attack is refined and lovely on the band’s ominously-named second record, The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.

“Last Day of Winter” somehow makes for an interesting 9:36-long song, partially due to a little acoustic thing at the end of the song. “Red Ran Amber” is gorgeous. “Aurora Borealis” crunches and “Sirius” soars. “March to the Sea” might be the band’s best song. Unlike other instrumental metal bands, Pelican makes memorable music. The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw is their pinnacle.

81.

Band: Sleater-Kinney
Album: One Beat

A lot of records released in 2002 included some post-Sept. 11 musical nonsense, and One Beat was among the best, most overt and most passionate of the political music. Layered and mature, it was the first of S-K’s final two record, the two most mature and complete albums in the band’s discography. It was on One Beat that S-K became a full band and not just a punk/riot grrrl/whatever band.

I love it.