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The Top 50 Albums of the First Half of the Decade (2000-04)

The last five years have given us some really incredible albums. There's been some big changes and new trends in a handful of genres, including freak-folk, indie pop, dancepunk and space-rock, to name a few. It also gave us the explosion in popularity of new bands that sound like old bands (or "genre-revival" bands, as they've been labelled). I've spent many hours going through my album collection, several internet music databases and hundreds of songs, and now I present to you the result - a list of the best albums those five years have to offer.

It took a long time for me to cull the thirty or so extra titles I had in my original list to get it down to such a nice, round figure. Some great albums, by artists as impressive as Madvillain, Arovane, Wilco, The Boredoms, The Notwist, Squarepusher, Unwound, Sigur Ros, Yo La Tengo, Prefuse 73, The New Pornographers and Fugazi didn't manage to make the cut.

Now, obviously I haven't heard every single album that's come out in the last five years. I have listened to a lot though - enough that I've come up with a pretty comprehensive list of the fifty I think were the best. There's probably a few that I missed that deserved a placing, but something almost always slips through the cracks. If you can think of any that you feel were good enough to make the list, then by all means let me know, because I'd love to hear them!

Anyway, allow me a moment of celebration... Woo Hoo! It's finished! Finally!

Okay! Read on! I hope you enjoy it!

Now, where's that "Best of the Nineties" list I was working on?

#50 The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)

For those who find Ben Gibbard's vocals on Death Cab For Cutie releases a little too saccharine for their liking, you might well be supprised at how well they work with an electro-pop backing on his work with Dntel, as The Postal Service. Give Up is catchy and genuinely charming, with Dntel's beeps and bloops, constantly skittering around behind Gibbard's vocals, making for a perfect accompaniament. Lead single "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" is so sugary that with Death Cab's indie-rock-lite backing it'd probably be unbearable, yet here it works perfectly. If you like Four Tet you may well like this even more, as it shares Rounds' electronic sentimental-pop style, and then couples it with charming vocals to match.
#49 At the Drive In - Relationship of Command (2000)

At the Drive In's blistering hard-rock reached its highpoint with this release, a collection of excellent, punchy tracks full of jagged-edged guitar, speak-shout vocals and massive, anthemic choruses. The big hit singles "One Armed Scissor," "Patter Against User" and "Invalid Litter Dept" were all exceptional slices of pissed-off power, but the rest of the album is just as good. It's a shame the group fell apart from here, splitting down the middle to form Sparta (bad) and The Mars Volta (good, but still not as good as ATDI). A greatest hits collection is about to be released, and the band still haven't officially broken up (it's one of those "on hiatus" things), so all hope is not yet lost.
#48 A Hawk and a Hacksaw - A Hawk and a Hacksaw (2002)

Jeremy Barnes' tiny masterpiece is still one of the most strikingly original things to come out in the last decade or so. Like a music box with way too much music crammed inside it, A Hawk and a Hacksaw constantly feels like it's bursting at the seams with ideas and a relentless enthusiasm to entertain all of them at once. With stompy European influences, near-unrecognisable Jeff Mangum guest vocals and Barnes himself playing what sounds like a thousand different instruments, it's maddeningly convoluted yet utterly unique and lovable. If only more musicians could be this creative.
#47 Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lake State (2003)

The first part of Sufjan Stevens' ridiculously ambitious "50 States" project (one album for each state in the US) is a wonderful example of how to make a concept album. Greetings From Michigan is primarily a folk album, full of rusty guitars with light touches of banjo, woodwind and percussion. The great songs even have great track titles to match - "Say Yes! To Michigan!" is swiped directly from the state's own 1980s tourism campaign, while "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)" takes clear shots at one of the state's biggest problems. The second album in the series, Illinois, has just been released, so at this rate it should take Stevens roughly 100 years to complete his masterwork. Seemingly unrealistic projects aside, however, Greetings From Michigan is an excellent opening chapter.
#46 Four Tet - Rounds (2003)

Rounds is maddeningly complex yet utterly accessable, with its combination of sentimentalist electronica and laptop-musicianship making for a collection of undaunting, catchy tracks with lots of little cool bits in them. The opener "Hands," starts the album with a collection of mistimed instrument bursts, all gradually getting closer together, until finally they synchronise and the songs surges to life. The nine minute long "Unspoken" features a beautiful piano melody developing throughout the track, with thumps of percussion and even some touches of free jazz floating in the background. The excellent closer "Slow Jam" manages to turn a sample of a rubber ducky into the most heartstring-yanking sound on the album. As Four Tet never pushes his songs into outright experimentation, every track on Rounds ends up being a seemingly simplistic, moving experience.
#45 The Shins - Oh, Inverted World (2001)

The Shins' debut, Oh, Inverted World, marks their beginnings as a band grounded in sunny, Kinks-esque pop music, with hints of the country-style tones that would become more evident on their next release. While not as frighteningly catchy as Chutes Too Narrow, there's still some excellent highlights to enjoy, most notably the opener "Caring is Creepy," lead single "Know Your Onion!" and the breezy "Pressed In a Book." There's no doubt that Chutes Too Narrow is a far superior album, but Oh, Inverted World still contains enough indie-pop gems to be essential to fans and highly recommended to anyone else.
#44 Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica (2001)

Widely regarded as the band's masterpiece, The Moon and Antarctica sees Modest Mouse take on a level of maturity and professionalism never even hinted at on The Lonesome Crowded West. When you're talking about a group who were "merely" great at writing generally straightforward lo-fi rock tracks, hearing the advances they'd made was, and still is, immensely satisfying. For example, "Gravity Rides Everything" opens with reversed loops of multiple layers of guitar lined over a clicky reversed drum loop, and the whole thing actually shifts seamlessly into Isaac Brock's acoustic strum. Such production touches never seemed likely to be a fixture on a record by Modest Mouse, of all groups, but now it seems strange that it was ever any other way.
#43 TV on the Radio - Young Liars EP (2003)

Young Liars isn't an album, but it's such an incredibly good EP that I just had to include it. Across its 5 tracks and 25 minutes there isn't even the tiniest bit of filler, with TV on the Radio's beat-heavy, electro-post-rock proving to be endlessly engrossing. The title track is absolute bliss - all thumping percussion and paranoia, with an addictive singalong chorus. There's even a brilliant yet totally unrecognisable Pixies cover. The group's full length debut followed in 2004, and was an excellent release, but they've got a way to go before they top this.
#42 Circulatory System - Circulatory System (2001)

After Bill Doss departed the Olivia Tremor Control, Will Cullen Hart and the remaining members formed Circulatory System, and released this self titled effort. The result is the closest thing to a new OTC album that any fan could possibly ask for, and feels a great deal like a spiritual sequel to 1999's brilliantly trippy Black Foliage. With all the OTC's 60s influences in tow, and Hart's psychedelic tendencies being allowed to run free, Circulatory System is a labrynth of acid-pop, found sounds and studio wizadry which is an utterly absorbing listen.
#41 Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles (2004)

With their robotic electronica backing and alternating whispers and shouts, it'd be easy to write Xiu Xiu off as posers. At least it would be, if only lead singer Jamie Stewart didn't pull off his vocals with such confrontational intensity that the whispers wrap themselves around you and don't let go until the shouts have pummelled you into the ground. Fabulous Muscles, the group's most accessible release to date, has so many great tracks that I'm shocked I managed to pass it by when I made my "Best Albums of 2004" list.

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