Best Albums of the 00's
- 8.5/10
- Ys-Joanna Newsom (2006)
- 8/10
- Ladybird-Shit & Shine (2005)
- Frances the Mute-The Mars Volta (2005)
- Chinese Democracy-Guns N' Roses (2008)
- Whatever You Love You Are-Dirty 3 (2000)
- 7.5/10
- Evangelista-Carla Bozulich (2006)
- Trust-Low (2002)
- Return To Cookie Mountain-TV On The Radio (2006)
- Disappeared-Spring Heel Jack (2000)
- Person Pitch-Panda Bear (2007)
- Lisbon-Keith Fullerton Whitman (2006)
- Haphics-Doug Thereault (2006)
- Amsterdam-The Lofty Pillars (2001)
- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-Wilco (2002)
- Mount Eerie-Microphones (2003)
- Funeral-Arcade Fire (2004)
- Low Kick & Hard Bop-Solex (2001)
- Illinoise-Sufjan Stevens (2005)
For the 2000's I will be including albums rated 7.5/10+.
ALBUM RATINGS SCALE
0.0-4.5 NOT WORTH LISTENING TO AT ALL
5.0 MEDIOCRE
6.0 GOOD
7.0 VERY GOOD
7.5 AMAZING
8.0 EXTRAORDINARY
8.5 ASTONISHING
9.0 MASTERPIECE
9.5 SUPREME MASTERPIECE
10 ULTIMATE MASTERPIECE
Albums are rated and ranked based on how emotionally powerful I find them. The order I've given has been thoroughly considered and is very exact. The rankings here have evolved significantly over time and my current rankings have been concluded only after many, many listens of each and every album.
For me, the primary factors that make an album emotionally powerful are:
1. Emotional Conviction
2. Expansion of Ingenuity
3. Continuity
AMAZING: An amazing album is a very powerful emotional experience.
MASTERPIECE: A masterpiece is one of the most emotionally powerful albums in history. It is so overwhelming and singular an experience that it towers over virtually all albums ever made.
SUPREME MASTERPIECE: A supreme masterpiece is one of the most emotionally powerful works in the history of art. It is so miraculous and singular an experience that it towers over virtually all masterpieces in any and all forms and times.
ULTIMATE MASTERPIECE: To my knowledge an ultimate masterpiece has never been achieved. It would be a work of almost unfathomable emotional significance.
I never bothered to post this before because:
a) until I heard Frances the Mute, there was only one album worthy of inclusion.
b) I still have yet to hear many of the "best" albums of the decade, though I am confident Ys and Frances the Mute will be two of the top albums of the decade even after I do.
Ooh, I've been wanting to hear Ys for quite a while now.
It's amazing. Something like a combination of Dylan's winding, epic poetry (such as Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands & Just Like a Woman from Blonde On Blonde) and Joni Mitchell's delicate, fractured soul-baring, (as in Last Time I Saw Richard & All I Really Want from Blue).
I meant Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands and Visions of Johanna (not Just Like a Woman)
Didn't like De-loused in the Comatorium?
I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Just not 8/10+. More like 7-ish from what I remember, though it's been well over a year since I heard it, so I'm not precisely certain what I'd think of it now.
I have two for you to check out and perhaps add to the 00 list
The first is Eudemon by Steve Kimock- easily one of the top things to come out since the computers failed to fail
The second is Blueberry Cave by Garaj Mahal- unbelievably great stuff here and even better in concert.
Also see John Prine's Fair and Square....
Thanks! It will be awhile, but I will eventually get around to checking those out. Right now I have a ton of albums I'm working on, so I can't get to those at this time.
These candidates for "best album of the 00's" would get the following ratings from me [in ranked order]
Return to Cookie Mounain-TV on the Radio 7.75/10
Funeral-Arcade Fire 7.75/10
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-Wilco 7.25/10
Amnesiac-Radiohead 7.25/10
Since I Left You-Avalanches 7.25/10
Neon Bible-Arcade Fire 7.25/10 [probably, haven't yet heard entire album so rating is estimated and not final]
White Blood Cells-White Stripes 7.25/10
Kid A-Radiohead 7.0/10
Sung Tongs-Animal Collective 6.75/10
Turn On the Bright Lights-Interpol 6.75/10
Is This It-Strokes 6.75/10
Stankonia-Outkast 6.5/10
Moon & Antarctica-Modest Mouse 6.5/10
The Blueprint-Jay Z 6.25/10
Original Pirate Material-Streets 6.25/10
Hail To The Thief-Radiohead 5.75/10
Have you heard the Spring Heel Jack albums Disappeared and Amassed, or Low Kick and Hard Bop by Solex? Those three would be near the top of my 00s list. Somnium by Robert Rich is also impressive, if you can stand 7 hours of ambient minimalism.
7 HOURS??? Geez, sounds like Erich Von Stroheim must've come back from the dead and produced it!
Haven't heard those albums yet but I trust I will agree with you when I do. The only Scaruffi 8/10's I've heard from this decade are those that are posted here.
I'm just recently getting around to ordering and looking for albums in this decade, so within a month or two I'll most likely have heard a number of the best ones.
I would only mention the top two of your above list in any summary of 00s rock music, but my mind has changed on Ys. I now think it's among the best "rock" albums ever recorded. I hope Newsom turns into this decade's Tim Buckley.
You have excellent taste. (By which I mean, tastes kinda similar to my own.)
You have excellent taste. (By which I mean, tastes kinda similar to my own.)
Thanks. Right back atcha man.
I would only mention the top two of your above list in any summary of 00s rock music
I agree. I posted the others just because of how acclaimed they are and how often they seem to appear near the top of other 00's lists
but my mind has changed on Ys. I now think it's among the best "rock" albums ever recorded.
Great to see. I just noticed it on your "Rock(ish)" update
I hope Newsom turns into this decade's Tim Buckley.
If her anxious, relentless, exhaustively breathtaking assault of a vocal performance on Ys is any indication, it could happen, though Buckley is a very tall order to live up to. She is definitely the artist I am most curious to see about how her next album turns out. Despite Ys greatness it is still very plausible for Newsom to go quite a bit further, especially since she boasts such personal and idiosynchratic music. If she just goes nuts on her follow up, working up some sort of colossal storm with her vocals inside a richocheting, hail storming barrage of instrumental wizardry, then I think there's realistic potential for some sort of boiling witches brew of a masterpiece from her.
I want to hear an epic mash-up of Amassed by Spring Heel Jack, Ys by Joanna Newsom, and La Pasión según San Marcos by Osvaldo Golijov.
Haven't heard those other albums, but I trust that collaboration would kick ass.
Just sat down and listened to Ys myself and, whaddaya know, it moved back up into the 8.25 range again.
Have you heard Ayre by Golijov? It's absolutely amazing, perhaps as good as La Pasión.
Also, the only record I've heard by Spring Heel Jack is Amassed. How does Disappeared compare to that one?
Yup, Ayre is good, too.
Disappeared and earlier Spring Heel Jack is very different from Masses and later. The first phase of Spring Heel Jack's career was devoted to progressive drum 'n bass.
Buckley: i second that motion. if this is her Happy Sad then she is well on her way....
hi afterhours,
there are a few 00s albums that i'm rather fond of, that i would like your opinion on if you can get your hands on them...
esp. the battles got a raving review from scaruffi, smells like they could possibly make an 8/10 one day.
7.5/10
Battles: Mirrored (2007)
Toby Dammit: Top Dollar (2001)
Cat Power: You Are Free (2003)
Fiery Furnaces: Gallowsbird's Bark (2003)
Panda Bear: Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
7/10
Caribou: Andorra (Merge)
Yea, no problem, thanks for asking. I expect to get ahold of most of these gradually and will post on here what I think. I am interested to hear all of these especially Person Pitch, Mirrored, Top Dollar and Gallowsbird's Park.
Thanks!
Even if not stellar, Person Pitch is a wonderful record.
I'll go on a limb here, it is the better "Pet Sounds".
Also I'd like to add another not so recent 8/10 to the list.
Sterolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements (Elektra, 1993)
i got it yesterday. it is sophisticated albeit surprisingly easy to get into.
I'll go on a limb here, it is the better "Pet Sounds".
I hope so. I honestly can't remember when I last listened to an album that wasn't better than Pet Sounds.
Thanks! I'll check these out somewhere along the line, hopefully sooner rather than later.
You've heard In Rainbows, right? That couldn't have been that long ago.
I'd be surprised if you think In Rainbows is superior to Pet Sounds.
Key word was "remember".
That album was so mediocre I had totally forgotten about it.
But yeah, you're right, I did listen to it and it wasn't that long ago. In Rainbows makes Pet Sounds look like the greatest album of all time.
i meant 'the better pet sounds' as in similar in artistic style but better.
Not sure if i posted this or not, but i now think Ys is a pretty great album.
And i think the Vampire Weekend album is poo; I didnt make it halfway through.
Some albums just take some getting used to and Ys is no exception. Her voice is off-putting to most, or even annoying, before it becomes so intensely emotional.
Haven't heard Vampire Weekend though.
I think i was just in a bad mood the first time i listened to it.
Her voice is probably my favourite female voice out of anyone at the moment. Definitely one of the most unique, which i always take as a good sign.
That happens to me sometimes. I relisten to something thinking WTF??? How did I miss this the first time?
I love her voice too.
from memory i didnt like Astral Weeks much the first time either.
That's blasphemy!!! ( :
Me too...
That was slightly different though. When i first heard it i was barely into music at all and knew almost nothing about Van Morrison or anyone else from the 60s.
It was like nothing i'd ever heard before. Wasnt sure what to make of it
Same here. It was one of the first "classic" albums I bought, back in 2000. Something just drew me to it. Little did I know it would soon be the album that changed my musical life. I considered it the greatest album of all time for the better part of 5 years and it's only improved since (though lost its ranking due to other masterpieces rising higher, surpassing it).
The first time I listened to it I was just sitting there in my living room. It seemed so naked and formless. All I could think was, "there's something incredible happening here, something miraculous. I just don't know what the hell it is. I think I'll put on some Revolver."
About the 4th or 5th listen I was playing pool in my basement, Cypress Avenue came on and for the first time since my earlier days with Beethoven and Bach, and like some holy miracle, it drew tears. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know "rock" music could do that. In truth it was the promise of Astral Weeks that told me I'd had enough triviality and eventually led me to Scaruffi's list.
Another popular choice as a "best album of the decade" candidate:
Illinoise-Sufjan Stevens (2006) 7.5/10
After Hours,
Have you ever listened to The Residents' Animal Lover (2005)? Scaruffi gave it a 4, but I believe he vastly underrated this album.
It is a harrowing album of underground chants, tribal overtones, existentialist themes, avant-garde influences, Webern-quality tension and dissonance, musical theatre pretenses, new-age mysticism, modal passages, and evocations of catharsis and ecstasy. Like Not Available, it pronounces the human race's doom in a bizarre and tragicomic way. Specifically, every track is some maniacal cult's ceremonious ritual.
I especially like "Mother No More".
Really?
Hmmm...I haven't heard it but I wonder if he confused it with a different album (which can happen if you listen to as many new albums as he must). Because his brief review sounds nothing like yours:
"Most likely, Animal Lover (Mute, 2005) is as "mainstream pop" as they will ever go, but it is nonetheless a sign that the times have changed. The more albums they put out like this one, the more likely that their myth will disintegrate. But then maybe this would be consistent with their original ethics."
By the way you've described it, it sounds nothing like "mainstream pop".
Interesting. You certainly have me intrigued...
I got Ys today, where has it been all my life?! I fell in love with it, and with her voice (which is amazing) on the first listen. I've since listened to it three times, and it just keeps getting better. It's so good, gives me hope for more modern music. Her voice is so unique, but still so effective. Easily the best album of the 2000s, for me anyway.
I agree! Very cool to see that you picked that one up. An astonishing experience.
How about Shit & Shine - Ladybird? I love that track/album.
I'm sure it's amazing. I want to hear it, but I just haven't yet. I'll get to it sooner or later. Thanks.
It is, it's a 40 minute long masterpiece. I'm sure you'll love it, it sounds a lot like Sister Ray in many ways.
Sounds amazing!
Here is Scaruffi's mini review for more description:
'Ladybird (Latitudes, 2005) contained one 42-minute improvisation that defined their aesthetic at the border between the Velvet Underground's Sister Ray and a horde of headhunters. Other than a volcanic distortion, and vocals that occasionally swim through the intense heat, for more than half an hour there is only the incessant pounding of the drums. Then the noises become more prominent, threatening to derail the ceremony. Minimal and maximal at the same time, this suite is to psychedelic music what Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music what to progressive-rock: an abominable terminal point.'
I think you'll love it :)
Thanks, I'll check it out one of these days (hopefully soon)
"Neon Bible-Arcade Fire 7.25/10 [probably, haven't yet heard entire album so rating is estimated and not final]"
Just wondering, how many times do you listen to those 'popular' albums before assigning ratings? You yourself say you have to listen to these albums several times before you can 'get' them...
You yourself say you have to listen to these albums several times before you can 'get' them...
I've told you this before but I'll say it again:
I've never said that re: popular albums (by which I assume you mean "unchallenging albums")
I clearly state right there in the brackets "PROBABLY, haven't yet heard entire album so rating is ESTIMATED and NOT FINAL".
I know you meant that when referring to THAT album. But the very idea that you were willing to rate an album without hearing it all made me ask.
So are you willing to give an unchallenging but really great album a 9.0 rating after just one listen?
I tend to see things the other way. First time I heard Trout Mask I thought it was brilliant and bizarre, I loved it. If I had to rate it I'd give it 5 stars right there. Upon listening 15 or so more times it doesn't really evoke the same feelings as when it was 'fresh' and now I don't really have the urge to hear it anymore. Whereas many non-challenging albums like Kid A took several listens before I really started to like them. On first listen I can usually make a guess as to how I'll like it, but many times they're wrong - it usually takes me at least 3-4 listens before I know exactly. I know you didn't like the last album I recommended you, but personally it took me a few listens before I liked it short of the second track.
Understood.
In general, I will listen to an album as few or as many times as necessary until I duplicate the emotional content, the structures, etc...basically until it becomes a real concept to me, no longer a hodgepodge or a confusion or an unknown. It is understood. I am sure that you can easily recall your favorite albums, but perhaps with some other, complicated albums that you've heard a bit less, you don't really have much to hold onto when you think about them. This phenomena is what I am referring to. When you're at a point where you really 'get' an album you can easily imagine it, feel it, know it, and so forth without having to listen to it. This is when you know that you have received the artists' expression. That's when I officially rate it, though sometimes I will rate it as I go along, just because it can be interesting to document the changes. I don't go in with a preconceived idea of how many listens it is going to take. I just listen to the song(s) or album until that occurs. Sometimes it takes 1 listen. Sometimes it takes 10. These days it rarely takes more than 5 (and that's only the most challenging ones).
That's how I've been doing it for years and it works extremely well for me. Hopefully that makes sense.
Trout Mask Replica started to improve dramatically after about 20 listens but I believe this had a lot to do with all the other music I was simultaneously and continually devouring that were "prerequisites" to it (as in my "Recommended Order").
As far as Neon Bible is concerned the only time I listened to it was at a CD store. I didn't have enough time to finish the album. This is why I made it clear that my rating wasn't final and it was just an estimate. What I've heard so far is a 7.25/10. But I would never give a final rating without completing the album.
Kudos for Ladybird's rating, it's awesome. Also, I now love NiN's downward spiral and think it's an 8.5/9.0. =]
Agreed & agreed ( :
This list is made up of albums you like therefore it isn't true to most people. I've never even heard of most of them, you should put down a variety even if you don't like them
What an asinine thing to say. I will never understand people who think the primary purpose of criticism is to be democratic and objective. The whole act is subjective by its nature.
Also: CHINESE DEMOCRACY WTF. I'm gonna hafta listen to this damn thing at some point, I guess.
I heard Chinese Democracy sounds like Evanescence, i don't like that.
More like Pandora's Box (Jim Steinman's "Original Sin") crossed with Mars Volta...something like that.
I'd say that sums it up quite neatly. I dunno, I really enjoyed it too after finally getting to hear it.
This list is made up of albums you like therefore it isn't true to most people.
Exactly. If you're looking for garden-variety fare you've chosen the wrong listologist.
I've never even heard of most of them, you should put down a variety even if you don't like them
If you haven't heard of most of them maybe you should check them out instead of assuming they're not so deserving. Perhaps you'll like them, perhaps you won't, but at least you walked outside and took a look around a little.
Guns and Roses? You're serious? Wow, this week (in my life) is turning out to be so weird.
LOL. I'm not sure why it's so crazy. Their albums Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion I & II are both superb. Axl Rose is one of rock history's greatest vocalists.
I still have to listen to Chinese Democracy more though. I've still only gone through it once. The true test will be how it holds up over 2, 3, 4, 5 listens. I'll keep updating...
I initially wasn't even going to post the rating until I'd listened to it a few times, but this is much more fun--documenting it from my first impression on. It will be fun to see how it holds up. I wouldn't be surprised to see it drop as far as a 7 and I wouldn't be too surprised to see it rise as high as an 8.5...so my assessment of it is still quite volatile. But, if I had to choose, it really did seem like an 8 after 1 listen. It was amazing, or rather, it was amazing at 2:30am after a very long day. Maybe it was the perfect antidote to my tired body--I dunno. Like I said, we'll see how it really rates in a few listens. Perhaps giving it an 8 will turn out to be a gross overexaggeration, and perhaps I'll be kicking myself for not seeing it as an 8.5 right off the bat. Who knows.
Kudos to having a wierd life. I'll second that ( :
went thru chinese democracy once. i hear some Mars Volta there and i like it. the more prevalent jim steinman like parts are above average but not awfully creative or emotionally forceful either.
on a first listen i'll go with a solid 7, leaning towards 6.5.
Appetite for Destruction (8/10) had more raw force than Chinese Democracy can make up for in sophistication.
Riad n' the bedouins is my favorite track.
I agree. 6.5 seems about right to me at this point.
Hey, some recommendations for you (seeing as you include 7.5s):
Tool - Lateralus (2001)
Subtle - For Hero:For Fool (2006)
cLOUDDEAD - cLOUDDEAD (2001)
Mclusky - Do Dallas (2002)
Vladislav Delay - Anima (2001)
Spring Heel Jack - Disappeared (2000)
Spring Heel Jack - Amassed (2002)
Portishead - Third (2008)
Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (2008)
Shit and Shine - Jealous of Shit and Shine (2006)
Battles - Mirrored (2007)
Akufen - Deck The House (2002)
Aglaia - Three Organic Experiences (2003)
Hope they help! =)
Thanks!
Scaruffi's most underrated album by a mile: Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven! (2000). It's like Tangerine Dream, Faust, Biosphere and Glenn Branca all blended together, with beautiful results. Some of the most evocative, scary, brilliant music I've heard since Irrlicht. I've already placed it above Ys, which until one listen of this album ago was my favourite of the 00s; Basically, I seriously recommend you get this album.
Thanks, I've heard a portion of it. I'll have to check out the whole thing now.
Chinese Democracy?
No thanks, I'd rather stay in the US and see how President Obama holds up.
Har dee har har
You know that album was banned in China, though not for the title per se.
I heard about that, which is of course, totally ridiculous.
It was banned for being more toxic than their toys.
hey man ( :
you really think its that bad?
Totally worthless. I have no idea what you hear in it. To each his own.
It's all good. You're definitely not the only one.
Discovered anything 7.5+ lately that I don't have listed?
No, I haven't heard much new music lately. Wish I could hear the Haphics.
I do understand. I'll see what I can do.
Oh, I don't mean I want you to send it to me or anything. I want them to release it. :)
2nd on Haphics ;^{)
As usual, Scaruffi disagrees with all of us and gives it a 6/10. "When Chinese Democracy finally saw the light, it was indeed a competent hard-rock collection, albeit by a different band. That it is not the same band is emphasized by 'Catcher in the Rye' and 'This I Love', that channel grand emotions into classy adult rock formats."
We can all rest easy now. Scaruffi and I disagree.
A 6/10's not too bad at all for a comeback album, though. These days I'm used to him providing the 4/10 treatment.
I don't mind if he does or doesn't, but I'd be a bit surprised if he doesn't eventually raise the rating to a 7.5/10 or at worst a 7/10.
fastest scaruffi review ever?
http://www.scaruffi.com/ratings/2009.html lists Azita: How Will You which came out yesterday according to http://www.dragcity.com/catalog/records/dc368.html.
i havent heard more than the a few last fm previews yet, but i'm surprised at scaruffi's timeliness ;-)
LOL that is quick. I can't even find it atm.
Also, his second best song of the year (Rake Song) by The Decemberists sucks. Not like Dubi Dubi Dam but it's just so boring and average I don't know what he was thinking.
Maybe he's only heard 3 songs...
I really don't understand his criteria, I think he's just steadily going insane. I can't wait for the day when he rates Two waterproofed contact microphones were frozen inside an approximately 10'' x 10'' block of ice as the best album of all time.
i liked "The Rake Song", though i am sure that i will not hold up for the entire year. what did you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
Alas, not heard it yet, but will do at some point in the next week. Say, what did you like about it?
not sure, just a gut feeling (as are most of my selections)...and that same feeling says that it will not be GREAT by year's end.
what do you think is the best song you have heard released this year?
he had that there 2 or 3 weeks ago and i still cannot buy it locally or find it anywhere online except from Drag City, and i have a gift certificate to use. he must have been given an advanced copy by Drag City, which most critics get to give favorable reviews. you can hear "I'm Happy" from Drag City's website for free.
He sometimes gets promos. I remember one time he reviewed a whole bunch of Kranky albums before anyone else had heard most of them, one of them being Harmony in Ultraviolet which had a 5.5/10 review that was totally against the consensus opinion that album later created.
also one of scaruffis 2008's 7/10. is featured as full tracks on last fm at http://www.last.fm/music/Have+A+Nice+Life/Deathconsciousness
me likes.
scaruffi just majorly overhauled his best of the 2000s list including the following section on
"The greatest bands of the 2000s"
Xiu Xiu
Animal Collective
Vladislav Delay
Supersilent
Shit and Shine
Joanna Newsom
Solex
Mars Volta
Black Dice
Fiery Furnaces
Books
Arcade Fire
Khanate
TV On The Radio
http://www.scaruffi.com/ratings/00.html
i sort of tip-toed around Xiu Xiu so far.... getting into it now..
thanks for the update
Ys is climbing back up my list into the 8.5 range and, as a matter of fact, reaching a totally new level for me I didn't think it had in it. Perhaps its' just a temporary spell, but after listening to it 10+ times in the last few days I am starting to think it may be a true 9, something I haven't considered this seriously with it since I first got a hold of it upon its release in 2006 (but back then my 9 range wasn't as exclusive as it is now, so it really does seem to have reached a whole new level).
Gosh, a 9 after all these years would be great!
(last one was Hash Jar Tempo's Well Oiled from '97)