Best of the Oughts: Albums 11-20

This list is a nice mixture of things. There are several years represented. the subgenres are all over the place. The first and last comp of the top-100 resides in this ten. There are break-up albums, albums of social protest, rock records, Gypsy music, two-piece bands, seven or eight-piece, etc. It's all here.


20. Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
I generally stay away from compilations for any list, but this one is great from beginning to end and it contains a ton of material. This is maybe my all-time favorite compilation, just ahead of a couple of other Red Hot releases in the 90's.


19. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
There is nothing like a breakout album chock full of breakout tracks for a band you love. The Stripes were virtually unknown at this point. Then a few singles and their accompanying videos broke things wide open. Soon, every band was guitar and drums with a "the" at the beginning of their name and an "s" at the end.


18. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
R once commented that this doesn't sound like anything else I listen to. It doesn't. That's how good this record is. At the Drive-In had a fleeting run, but they went out with a bang. Relationship of Command documents that bang.


17. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Spoon's decade was way better than their last. This record is what convinced me to begin accumulating their older material. It's so big and danceable. Even a bad show at the Blue Note supporting this album couldn't sour my love for Gimme Fiction.


16. The Shins - Chutes too Narrow
This album was out long before Garden State broke the band. It's crisp production upbeat tempos were a change from Oh, Inverted World, but ever-present are James Mercer's melodies and pop sensibilities.


15. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Although the synth-happy tendencies of Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown/Handsome Furs is lost in Isaac Brock's production, the result is as hard-hitting a debut as the decade has seen.


14. Beck - Sea Change
Break-up albums are typically angry or empowering. They either tear apart those who have wronged you or build you up with a hopefulness for love-yet-to-come. Then there are records like this one. It tears you down and the only thing that comforts is the assurance that someone else has felt this much hurt.


13. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Generally, the only knock on this album is that it followed Funeral.


12. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
I might have overshot with this record, but I played it over and over this year, making up for the previous nine. It may fade over the years, but I will always turn to it when rawk is called for.


11. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Who would have ever thought Gypsy music would so good and timely? Zach Condon came out of nowhere (by way of New Mexico, the Balkans, and Brooklyn) to deliver one of the surprise sounds of the decade.

Best of the Oughts: Albums 21-30

The tens just keep getting better and better. We're nearing the realm where you cannot argue. Be forewarned.

We're back to a lot of older stuff, but I believe that will level off soon. I bet you can't wait to see what comes next.


30. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Stephen Malkmus
No Pavement this decade. So, SM's first solo album will have to do. It was really just leftover Pavement stuff that he needed professional musicians to play. I'm sorry, but it's true.

29. Radiohead - Kid A
OK Computer seemed so tame and normal when this came out. Both beauty and guts are on full display on this album. It's still hard for me to fathom that this was only Radiohead's fourth album. Wow.


28. PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Hey, looky what I found: another post-9/11 album. I feel a themed list coming on. Like the Cat Power album, this one was written and recorded prior to the attacks on September 11th, but the feelings and sentiments are profoundly dead-on. This makes two albums in a row in which Thom York appears.


27. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Soundscapes and corn fields in summer are all you need to know.


26. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
This was Oberst's best folk album and it was accompanied by his Faint-inspired Digital Ash.


25. Caribou - Andorra
Drums. Drums. Drums. This album is so textured and perfect. #25 enters sacred territory on my list.


24. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Cluttered and whispered, this album should have been a hit, but no one heard it. That is, until Natalie Portman handed her headphones over to that guy from Scrubs.


23. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
There must be a name for the syndrome in which bands record their best album first, leaving the remaining material unwanted. This album is so good, it would have ruined a lot of careers. Interpol was never the same.


22. Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
This one is raw and full of life and emotion. I've said it before, but if you're not hooked after the first track, forget it.


21. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
My family used to spend summers camping and traipsing around Michigan. This album doesn't just remind me of those days, it makes me long for them to return, awkward adolescence and all.

#19 of 2007: The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Thirty-One Words: The Shins' follow-up Chutes Too Narrow with a bit of a sleeper in Wincing the Night Away, but the pop subtlties within are worth the effort. Sounds even better live.

The one song that makes it worth $17.95: "A Comet Appears"

Pitchfork Says: 7.0

Modest Mouse

Something that happens when one purchases an iPod (80gb!) is he/she (me) gets a chance to listen to some old favorites that had been shelved in favor of newer fare. I was downloading a portion of my abnormally large music collection (overcompensation for something else?) onto the iPod when I stumbled upon Modest Mouse.

Although I've been listening to Isaac Brock and co.'s latest (We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank) all summer, I have not listened to their earlier material or some time. These were records that meant (mean) a great deal to me. And so the story goes...

I remember the first time I saw/heard Modest Mouse. It was the fall of 1996. My senior year of college had just begun when a friend invited me out to see this band I'd never heard of, but a band I had heard of (Tiara) was opening. This particular friend had never lead me astray, so I headed to Bernie's Bagels and Distillery to check out this "mouse band".

After an intense set by Seattle's 764-HERO and Columbus' own Tiara, I began to pick up that this night at Bernie's was going to be worth it. My girlfriend wanted to go, but something told me to stick around. My friend was ecstatic and was joined by about 8-10 indie geeks who were just as stoked. I also noticed the logo for Up Records at the merch stand. Up was the label for one of my all-time favorite bands, Built to Spill. I've often used favorite labels to help inform my musical tastes and have rarely been let down.

Modest Mouse hit the stage as the crowd suddenly grew and moved forward. I had a spot near the front, but I had to contest with a support beam. As I moved from side to side of the post, I could see a rough-looking threesome squeezed onto Bernie's tiny stage. The venue could hold up to 100 people, but there were maybe 40 or so that night. Of course, 38 of those 40 were jammed in front of the band.

What soon came out of the amps was the most abrasive yet danceable music I'd ever heard with this smarmy-looking kid lisping all kinds of diatribes. They reminded me of a cross between the blue-collar indie punk of the Archers of Loaf and distorted guitar heroism of Built to Spill. The music was filled with discontent and alienation while causing us all to rock out like there was no tomorrow. It was the first time I felt like I had been altered by a band I had never seen or heard before, and only the 40 or so people in the room knew the same thing.

I later heard from one of the members of Tiara that Isaac Brock was on the prowl that night for some drugs. He was also a little weary about playing a bagel shop but was pleasantly surprised. I spoke with Brock a year later after a show at Cincinnati's Sudsy Malone's, and he fondly remembered Tiara's set. The night was one of the most memorable of my many spent in dingy venues to hear bands no one has ever heard.

I saw Modest Mouse many times after that night at Bernie's. I missed them due to a broken-down van in Bowling Green in the following spring. My second Mouse sighting was at Seattle's famous Crocodile Cafe. There was the Sudsy's show the following fall (where Brock offered us beers only to give us one and keep one for himself) and a couple of wild concerts at the historic Southgate House in Newport, KY. They played Columbus with 764-HERO again and a band called The Shins. There were other shows after that. There was even Brock's side-project, Ugly Casanova in Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom (with an unknown Iron & Wine). The last time I saw them was for my bachelor party where my sister and I drunkenly heckled the band in order to hear anything from their pre-millennial releases. To put it plainly: I've seen this band a lot.

I keep going back for more every time Brock puts something on tape and releases a record. I made many copies of This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Talk About for almost everyone I knew with positive results. I've collected every 7" prior to the band's major label debut. Modest Mouse sold alienation, despondency, and angst. I bought everyone no matter how clichéd.

The band sounded and sounds like no one else ever has. There is something about out-of-tune, Japanese, Fender knock-offs that appeals to my ears. Then, there's the vocals. Brock somehow is able to combine barking, whimpering, and a red-neck drawl in order to get his point across and all of this with a lisp.

Despite the dominance of Brock's guitar and voice work, the band has been held together by all its parts. Jeremiah Green drives a beat that is ferocious - before and after his mental breakdown. And Eric Judy keeps a steady groove that is consistent through all the MM material. (During a hiatus, I knew a girl who was managing a coffee shop in Seattle where Judy once applied for a position in order to feed his kid and partner. She talked him out of it by pointing out that he was Eric Judy of Modest Mouse. He left without applying for the job.)

So, as I listen to the hidden tracks on the Interstate 8 EP, "Dramamine", and The Fruit that Ate Itself, I'm reminded of how great this band is and how much they mean to me. Hopefully they will keep making music for a long, long time.

Avoid This

I'm going to avoid the confusing mess that is my life to write about my new love...Daytrotter.

I'm sure that unlike most indie geeks on the interwebs, I am the last to discover Daytrotter. It's this great indie rock website of reviews, features and gossip about all your fav indie bands. However, what sets this site apart from the Pitchforks of the world is its regualr offering of free MP3s.

Now, these are no ordinary recordings. Artists stop by Daytrotter's studio, AKA Futureappletree Studio One in downtown Rock Island, Illinois. The bands lay down some live tracks of what they're playing at the time. some of the songs are old favorites while others are brand new songs they're trying on for size. The tracks are all high quality and unique. They have that great live feel. One can listen and choose to download if they like. My iTunes is quickly filling up.

So far, I've enjoyed sets by Eef Barzelay, Someone Still loves You Boris Yeltsin, Jolie Holland, and Tokyo Police Club. I'm looking forward to a future set by Grizzly Bear in early May.

In addition to the free music, Daytrotter's artwork is primarily provided by illustrator Johnnie Cluney. His simple drawings in what looks to be Crayola markers add a DIY theme that runs through the website.


Additional art in the form of a comic strip is contributed by Joe Sayers. I love simple, off-the-beaten-path comic strips. There appears to be a new one each week, but I've only seen two in the week I've visited the site.



Like any self-respecting music site, Daytrotter provides insightful features, interviews, and record reviews. I've really enjoyed their series of week-long record reviews that record the musings of a music fan 's first week with a new record. I know this feeling of picking up new things as you listen and liking totally different part each day.


Bonus: Daytrotter usually covers the French "Take Away Show Series" so that you don't have to search through a website totally written in French. The "Take Away Series" follows a band while they walk through the streets of Paris playing their music to the locals. The Arcade Fire and the Shins were definite favorites.

The Shins in Misery

Tonight, we ventured to St. Louis to catch the Shins at the Pageant. It's as if the Shins actually pay attention to those birthday notices on MySpace and purposefully scheduled a gig in Misery just for my birthday (32 in case you're wondering).

The Shins' new album, Wincing the Night Away, is a change of pace for the band, but this is nothing new. Oh, Inverted World, their first album, had this straight-outa-the-bedroom feel in both it's lyrics and production. They made you think of the Beach Boys for the Michael Azerrad set. The album is a sure indie rock classic. The song "New Slang (When You Notice the Stripes)" was a great song before Padme' passed her headphones to the guy from Scrubs. The band then took a drastically different route by producing Chutes too Narrow as a way to showcase front man James Mercer's vocal prowess and the band's potential energy during performance.

With Wincing, the Shins break away again to produce a richly textured pop record that expands their already impressive sound. "Sleeping Lessons" starts off the album with a nod to the first record but builds to some intense guitar chords after a lovely keyboard line that does teach you how to sleep and dream. "Australia" is the mid-tempo gem that would've fit well on Chutes. I actually really love the sub-minute "Pam Berry" that leads into "Phantom Limb". "Phantom Limb", their first single, reminds me of the direction REM took when they had a budget and decided to create beautiful music. "Sea Legs" feels the most-out-of-place track on the record but will surely show up at the climax of some crappy teen/early twenties angst-y romantic comedy. The keyboards continue to dominate this record on "Red Rabbits" as Mercer sings a song that would've fit right next to "New Slang" with Oh's dreamy production. "Turn on Me" reminds me of some of the retro sixties stuff that Yo La Tengo periodically throws out with a richer production value and superior vocals...and lighter guitars. The dark but deeply moving "Black Wave" comes next with its acoustic guitar, drawn-out feedback behind echo-y vocals. The urgently depressing "Split Needles" gives a nod to the Cure with out-of-tune piano lines and a haunting keyboard solo. "Girl Sailor" is the conversation between Mercer and a woman who continually fights all affection only to be left to go it alone in the end. The album closes with the quiet thoughtfulness of a Mercer ballad in the form of "A Comet Appears".

The show Sunday night opened with the first four songs from Wincing. I thought they were going to play the entire album song-for-song until they moved on with the lively "Kissing the Lipless" sans the clapping and "Whoo". The song seemed faster-than usual and absent the usual stop-start feel and isolated guitars. It was a more top-40 version. This contrasted with the openers that were way more rocked out than expected. This was the theme for the night. The Shins' more adult-contemporary songs were more rocking while the more hyped songs from Chutes were cleaned up for Mom and Dad. It wasn't disappointing, it was just a little weird.

Anyway, "New Slang" came along about mid-set - no surprise there. At that point I was afraid the band had blown their load, but they surprised with more rocking versions of material from their first and third albums mostly. "Saint Simon" followed "New Slang" with it's slide guitar and Nashville sound.

The band moved very quickly through the rest of the set, hinting that they were not fond of the 10:30 limit placed on them by the venue. The Pageant is weird this way. They are highly policed. I've never seen so much security at a poppy indie rock show. Bouncers and ushers were constantly controlling the flow between drinking and non-drinking areas by checking id's at an incredible pace. Despite the elevated police-state atmosphere, the venue allowed smoking which surprised us. We had attended a Sufjan Stevens show in the fall, and there was no smoking. The smoking didn't ruin the evening, but it actually made me appreciate Columbia a little.

The band, as mentioned before, sped through the remainder of their set. We skipped out during the encore which has been our MO as we grow older. I at least heard the extended opening to "Pressed in a Book" and hummed it all the way back to the car.

I've seen the Shins three times. The first was in a supporting role for Modest Mouse and was pretty forgettable. Of course, it was almost a year before their first record was released. The second was a fantastic summer show in which I did more than my share of drinking and dancing during an extremely energetic show. Tonight's show fits somewhere in the middle of those two. The band demonstrated their prowess in both performance and songwriting as well as appreciation for their fans. I didn't feel the need to dance, but enjoyed the show regardless.

Happy birthday to me!