The further continuation of looking back at the top albums of the 00s. In case you need a recap on the tenants used to make these rankings or missed the previous efforts: #50-41 & #40-31.
30. Delayer – The Heavenly States
If the heart of rock ‘n roll is indeed still beating then Delayer is the blood pumping through it. Devoid of any elaborate frills or gimmicks, The Heavenly States deliver an album that’s a throwback to a more simple and straightforward time before rock splintered into a million different sub-genres. That’s not to say the songs lack variety, quite the contrary (see the hoedown-esque “Never Be Alright” for proof), it’s just there’s an core feeling when you’re listening to Delayer that this is what pure rock should be. Equally mixing dashes of attitude and fun, The Heavenly States sound like the band that should be appointed as the permanent opening act for The Rolling Stones. The only catch is The Stones haven’t released something this good in decades.
(Full review here.)
29. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
If Franz Ferdinand’s slickly cool debut album didn’t get you up dancing (or at least vigorously tapping you foot along) then you’re probably a corpse. The rump-shaking possibilities on Franz Ferdinand are endless. You could move with the rhythmic bounce of “Take Me Out,” the guitar non-stop attack of “Jacqueline,” or the bass groove of “Cheating On You,” just to name a few. And there may not be a more wonderfully filthy reason to hit the club dancefloor than the scintillating homoerotic lust ode “Michael.” I hate to steal la line from Lady GaGa to sum up Franz Ferdinand, but f’ it. Just dance.
28. Alkaline Trio – Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio might not be a “true” album per say (it’s actually a collection of songs that were previously released by the band on singles or EPs), but that doesn’t preclude it from feeling like one unifed burst of untamed punk bitterness. Matt Skiba’s songs of drowning in booze and heartbreak pierce deep with pointed lyricism as his ripping guitar screams the sentiments even louder. While tracks like “My Friend Peter” and “Cooking Wine” spill over with anger and remorse, but nothing can touch “97″ which the most emotionally raw song of the decade. When Skiba throat-destroyingly screams that his ex-love is “a thorn in my side, the size of a Cadillac,” you feel like he means it as much as humanly possible. Alkaline Trio wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve, and that heart is broken, poisoned, and dying.
27. I Am The Movie – Motion City Soundtrack
Apparently OCD is delicious when you put a sugary shell around it. Motion City Soundtracks debut LP is full of bubbly pop melodies and playful synth lines, but it’s singer Justin Pierre’s obsessive-compulsive disorder and the hyper musings which come from it that really carry I Am The Movie. One moment he’s listing a slew of pop culture references that tie together the memory of a relationship (“Perfect Teeth”) and the next he’s spouting specifics about superhero dreams (“Capital H”). The crown jewel in the mix is the undeniable pop perfection of “The Future Freaks Me Out.” Anyone who doesn’t want to bust-a-move when they hear the tune is no one worth associating with. I Am The Movie is so sweet, it makes you glad that there’s no such thing as aural diabetes.
26. Make Up The Breakdown – Hot Hot Heat
It’s really hard to put your finger on just why Make Up The Breakdown is so good. The tight beats? The electrifying keys? Steve Bays’s off-kilter vocals? Truth be told, it’s probably a combo of all those things, but more than anything it’s Dante DeCaro guitar playing. DeCaro takes an approach to the instrument that really sets him apart. On delightful little numbers like “Bandages” and “Oh, Goddamnit” DeCaro’s playing is at times sporadic, jangly, aggressive, and methodic. It makes for a brand of danceable rock that would keep even the hardest hipster on his toes late into the night.
25. Chase This Light – Jimmy Eat World
After the rock masterwork Futures, Jimmy Eat World could easily been content resting on its laurels. But the group was not. So what did the guys do to keep fresh? They made a damn near perfect pop record. From the snaps of “Always Be” to the thundering drums of “Firefight,” Jimmy Eat World reaches new personal highs in melody and happy exuberance without sacrificing any of the aesthetics that made them a great band in the first place. Chase This Light is eternally hopeful, yet grounded in a sense of real world apprehension. We all wish we could share this album’s blissful mindset.
24. Good Mourning – Alkaline Trio
The macabre has rarely sounded as sweet is it does on Good Mourning. The album with a hook about cutting off fingers and ends with a heartfelt image of shared coffins. In between are a slew of deliciously dark pop punk ditties with devilish wordplay. How can anyone resist lyrics like, “I don’t hear from you no more, but I get the message. You crashed your car through my front door, I pulled you from the wreckage. You told me that you missed me, but you meant with the grill and hood…”? Featuring Dan Andriano best songwriting, he and Skiba trade tunes of sickly fanciful love that any outcast can relate to. While “We’ve Had Enough” suggests to “put Walk Among Us on and turn it up,” if you’re feeling sinister, putting Good Mourning on at full blast is an even better option.
23. Original Pirate Material – The Streets
“You say that everything sounds the same, then you go buy them…” So goes the refrain of “Let’s Push Things Forward,” and thankfully for any music fan Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, doesn’t sound the same. His flow is so uniquely his own, at times talking, at times halfheartedly singing, and always holding his syllables for weirdly perfect amounts of time. The Streets music always has a very real self-refelective tone to the lyrical writing, so naturally the album before Skinner blew up is the most relatable, down-to-earth, and interesting. Whether he’s spitting about his own laziness and desire to smoke herb and play PlayStation or discussing a hook-up the morning after with your mates (on the superb “Don’t Mug Yourself”), he completely natural; only trying to be himself. Beyond the obvious strengths of the MC, the other piece that makes the Original Pirate Material puzzle so great is the garage hip-hop backing. There’s a certain warmth to the small, lo-fi sound that became more and more absent over the course of the decade as production became more and more polished and…well…fake sounding. With every passing day Original Pirate Material sounds more and more like a counter-culture cry against everything that hip-hop has become. That’s pushing things forward.
22. Start Static – Sugarcult
It’s hard to imagine that many of us didn’t have a moment (or hundred) this decade where we didn’t identify with Sugarcult’s bemoaning being “Stuck In America.” Luckily, putting on the band’s debut LP Start Static was a good way to alleviate these feelings. The bouncy songs on the album (like the aptly titled “Bouncing Off the Walls”) are finely tuned, however it’s the more intricate and atypical tunes that really set Start Static apart. Sugarcult tries things that their peers couldn’t (and still can’t) even think to touch. A song like “Pretty Girl (The Way)” works thanks to an air cunning filthiness and instrumentation that sways between reggae-esque sounds and buzzsaw guitar. And there surely wasn’t a single Warped Tour-type band that could pull off the classical guitar and jazz sax-infused sophistication of “Neil Rocks My World.” For at least one killer record, Sugarcult rocked ours.
21. Veni Vidi Vicious – The Hives
In an audio blitzkrieg known as Veni Vidi Vicious The Hives announced its arrival into the rock ‘n roll consciousness. Brimming with bravado and power chords the band churns out a furious half hour of brilliant garage rock. “Howlin’” Pelle Almqvist lives up to his name belting out tales of youthful disillusion while the rest of The Hives get to work with their blistering live instrumentals that toe the line between unified precession and spiraling wildly out of control. It’s simple rock that’s simply fantastic.
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[...] (For those who need to catch up: #50-41, #40-31, & #30-21.) [...]
[...] Albums of ’00s (10-1) Here’s a quick recap previous installments: #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, & [...]