no particular order. At long last, we're finally reached the last 5 albums. We've gotten here by considering artists who have "shaped your decade" with their influence and originality. I've added some of my favorites, just because I can. Here are 5 thru 1. No real surprises. Just classics. They're so familiar I have a little trouble writing about them. But they are familiar to you as well and they're all on Paste's list so, if you need more description look there. If you've been following along, I thank you.
5. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
The masters of zombie rock turned in this near perfect album in '06. They managed to make their sound more accessible without watering down their identity. I actually had a bit of a hard time digesting their debut Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, but I took to this follow up quickly. Dark, melodic and haunting this was by far my favorite album of 2006.
4. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
If you ask someone like say...Brandcon Cox of Deerhunter, he would tell you that Animal Collective is the most important band of his generation. I think I read that in Spin magazine. At any rate, what Cox was getting at is the unique way in which this band has brought vocals to the forefront of indie music again. Their harmonies are what drive their sound and they reached a peak with last years brilliant Merriweather Post Pavilion. Now, it helps that these guys are from the Baltimore area, as am I, and that they named the album after the outdoor venue in Columbia, MD just minutes away from where I grew up, but even without that personal connection I would be cranking the volume up on "My Girls." It's easily is one of the best songs of the past ten years. You can crown them kings of the indie circuit and you can give them kudos for reaching such heights on this album without the use of one single guitar.
3. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
In 2005 Sufjan quickly became a media darling, to say the least. The guy was all over the place. Illinois was a resounding success and Sufjan's wit, honest song writing and quirky sensibility made him everyone's best friend. Illinois was bigger and better than anything the folk musician had turned in previously. The arrangements are broad, the instrumentation is varied and the topics are surprisingly tangible considering this is a concept album about an entire state and it's history. It's hard to continue calling Sufjan a folk musician. He seems something more like a composer at this point, especially after 2009's BQE project.
2. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Jeff Tweedy and company stretched the sound of their band so much on this one that they got themselves dropped from Reprise records and had to shop it around until Nonesuch gave them a deal and promptly made Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco's most successful album, both critically and commercially. A story interesting enough to make into a documentary, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. It's a sonic experiment for a well rounded band.
1. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
I think the opener, "Everything in it's Right Place" says it all. You want another Ok Computer? Well, too bad. Instead we'll drown out Thom Yorke's voice, abandon our guitars and record another great album using something called an ondes Martenot. Johnny Greenwood's experiments with that instrument led the band to a dark place, a beautifully dark place. Kid A is a headphone masterpiece with layers and layers of potential discovery. "Idioteque" just may be one of my favorite songs of all time, and it sounds nothing like a rock band. The old Radiohead is dead, they have set their instruments on fire on the other side of those mountains and in doing so gave themselves the freedom to do whatever the hell they want. It's brilliant.
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