Surprisingly to nobody, in the end I couldn’t steer clear of the “best of the decade” chat that is dominating the blogosphere at the moment. Last time around, of course, there wasn’t a “blogosphere” – and I wasn’t really listening to music at all! This decade has seen my rebirth as a music fan and so, in a way, perhaps every album I call “special” or “personal” or “favourite” is could belong in this list – whatever nickname we ultimately give this decade. Personally, I’m more interested to see what trendy buzzword we come up with for the next one!
Over the next four weeks, I’m going to count down my favourite forty – one per artist – albums of the decade and, while there might not be any massive surprises, I’d be thrilled if you used this as an opportunity to pick up something you haven’t had a chance to listen to yet.
Kudos to Kate, for inspiring me with her similarly themed post on Facebook.
20. The Gaslight Anthem: Sink or Swim
2007, XOXO
The “one album per artist” rule I’ve stuck to so far on this list has its toughest test yet, as my love for the Gaslight Anthem’s two full-lengths is pretty much equal. In the end, a rougher sound and less of the musical namechecks that tend to put the naysayers (and my Googlers) off, as well as the inclusion of my favourite of their songs, swings it for their debut. Sure the singer thinks he’s Springsteen and the bassist James Dean, and the band itself isn’t exactly tearing up the rule book, but that doesn’t take away from the times good and bad their output has soundtracked over an eventful decade’s close.
If you download one track, make it: “We Came To Dance”
BUY: Sink Or Swim
19. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
2006, Rough Trade
Don’t get me wrong: I really, really like Rilo Kiley. But I loved flame-haired frontwoman Jenny Lewis’ solo debut. An incredible mix of folk, gospel and blues, augmented by lush harmonies from the Watson Twins, that did much to make Lewis a seeming permanent fixture in music blog eye candy towards the end of the decade.
If you download one track, make it: “You Are What You Love”
BUY: Rabbit Fur Coat
18. Thea Gilmore: Rules for Jokers
2002, Flying Sparks
Of course, the point of a retrospective like this is to turn up those gems you’d all but forgotten. Ask me to recall one album from the past life in Edinburgh that I revisit in those Friday morning historical blog posts and it would probably be this one – a CD booklet first flicked through on Kaite’s bedroom floor and a collection of seriously rockin’, seriously heartbreakin’, alt.folk from a singer-songwriter who would have been a household name by now if there had been any justice in the world.
If you download one track, make it: “This Girl Is Taking Bets”
BUY: Rules for Jokers (Special Limited Edition)
17. Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts of the Great Highway
2007, Caldo Verde
Everything about this record is beautiful: the artwork, the packaging and of course Mark Kozelek’s ethereal voice, a security blanket wrapping me up in a dreamworld where my heartrate slows and panic subsides. The melody here is understated, comforting and familiar.
If you download one track, make it: “Lily and Parrots”
BUY: Ghosts Of The Great Highway
16. Joanna Newsom: The Milk-Eyed Mender
2004, Drag City
The voice is the first thing you notice. It’s raw, childlike and probably like nothing you’ve ever heard before. You might hate it, at first, until you listen to the strange lyrics and delicate harp, scales like kittens’ feet on a piano, and decide you wouldn’t have it any other way. The music of Joanna Newsom is fresh, otherworldly and – above all – compelling.
If you download one track, make it: “Peach, Plum, Pear”
BUY: The Milk-Eyed Mender
15. Sleater-Kinney: The Woods
2005, Sub Pop
In many ways they were my “band of the noughties”, but with this screaming swansong Sleater-Kinney delivered a sucker punch to an industry sorely needing one. The Woods actually seemed to herald an exciting new direction for the Portland, OR trio – one that was sadly never to be. I miss them desperately.
If you download one track, make it: “Modern Girl”
BUY: The Woods
14. Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy
2005, Jagjaguar
One of those bands whose career I worked backwards through: it was Okkervil River’s big-hitting recent albums that caught my attention, but this release remains their opus. A “concept album” of sorts, based around a little-known folk song and detailing the love between a girl and a monster-not-a-monster, it’s a masterly collection of beautifully crafted, lyrically complex songs.
If you download one track, make it: “Black”
BUY: Black Sheep Boy [Definitive Edition]
13. The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
2007, FatCat
I proved at the weekend that I can’t even talk about the Twilight Sad without going into some kind of a rapture over the night they changed my life, exploding into my heart as if from nothingness, loud and grinding and yet gorgeously melodic. Some things deserve to be discovered in the dark, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, so see them live if you can.
If you download one track, make it: “Cold Days From The Birdhouse”
BUY: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
12. Kathleen Edwards: Back to Me
2005, MapleMusic
I always seem to pick the boy singers; preferring, as I said once, to imagine myself as the girl sung about rather than the girl doing the singing. But then I discovered Kathleen Edwards, fell for her immediately and bought up what was at the time her entire discography in the one weekend spent trying to imitate her throaty, slightly bruised voice in my bedroom while working out the chords to “One More Song The Radio Won’t Like” on the guitar I never really learned how to play.
If you download one track, make it: “In State”
BUY: Back To Me
11. PJ Harvey: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
2003, Island
Stories From The City… might have been the last album I discovered “the old-fashioned way”: under the covers, headphones clamped in my ears and John Peel’s Festive Fifty soothing me to sleep. It was certainly the most important. Curiously less raw than both Harvey’s earlier and later work, each song a standout standalone, this album sounds as fresh on a rainy afternoon at the end of the decade as it did to a mouldable teen discovering her own musical fingerprint at its start.
If you download one track, make it: “A Place Called Home”
BUY: Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
NOTE: Album title links almost always take you via my referrer page on Amazon.co.uk. I’m trying to save up for Christmas, so help a blogger out and pick up a fantastic album into the bargain!
Needless to say, I don’t have any of these, and haven’t even heard of most of them LOL
Well, I hope it encourages you to go check some of them out on Spotify or something! x
PJ Harvey that low??? You’re top 10 better be good missy ;o) Just writing about Twilight Sad myself as you posted this, he he. Sxx
You are going to loathe my entire top 10 and we would both be disappointed if it was any other way
x
This is possibly my biggest divergence from all the good music you gave me… I can’t stand Joanna Newsom (like nails to the frontal lobe can’t stand) and I’ve never been able to get into the Twilight Sad. Still meh over Sleater-Kinney, but at least you have the only PJ Harvey album I like! And Failer tips it for me with Kathleen Edwards, but only just.
I suspect Joanna Newsom’s second album might be more up your street – her voice is far less screechy but as every song is a 15 minute epic it takes a lot of work (or a sleepless transatlantic flight) to fully appreciate!
It’s allowed though, our lists were always going to be very different! x
I’m loving this series of posts, by the way. Many albums I’d never thought to listen to… having a look-see on spotify now.
I’m only just beginning to listen to The Twilight Sad, having gorged myself on Frightened Rabbit over the past couple of weeks (my last.fm is shameful!)
I was recommended them over the summer by my friend, who’s good friends with the band. I hope to see them live when I get back. Also, very cool if your blog is automatically adding tweets as comments.
xx
It’s a plugin that posts replies to the tweet announcing the new blog post as comments, if that makes sense – glad you like it! I think it freaks a few people out first time
I do like Frightened Rabbit too, some of their lyrics are amazing, but in terms of sheer strength of feeling the Twilight Sad do it for me every time! x
I feel very similarly about that PJ Harvey record … I either bought it while I was in Australia or just before then (oh, fading memory) and fell asleep with it in my ears (in my discman!) so often. We were all still traveling with CaseLogic sleeves full of carefully culled CDs at that point…
I still have one! I keep meaning to give it to my mum, as she’d find it useful for the car…
That album got me through September 11th when I was in New Jersey, the songs about home and not knowing where that was. I may be giving away who is in my top 5. Sxx
I’d have to concur with Rabbit Fur Coat, The Woods, Black Sheep Boy, and Stories From The City. However, I would (and will) put Rabbit Fur Coat in my Top 10. I bought a second sealed copy on vinyl as I’m sure I’ll wear it out soon.
It would be interesting to see where else our lists overlap – top 10 due up tomorrow, or at least that’s the plan!