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Top 10 Albums of the 2000's

Since everyone likes lists, here's another list.  My 10 favorite albums of the aughts.  By far my favorite decade in music and the one I know the most about; it was rather heart wrenching trying to narrow the list down to 10.  More than enough has already been said in the music press about all these albums, so I'll just give a explanation of why I like each and note my favorite tracks.
  1. The National - Boxer: My favorite album of all time.  The general topic of the album, the fear and general discomfort of transitioning and settling into adulthood, really connects with me at the moment.  It feels tense, while Alligator feels drunk and High Violet feels depressed.  This tension gives the songs a direction and a purpose absent on the other albums.  It also doesn't hurt that it has the best songs of the three.  Hell, there's not a single bad track (one of less than a dozen albums that I can say that about).  Also, Bryan Devondorf is simply the best drummer in all of indie rock.  Best tracks: Fake Empire, Apartment Story, Slow Show
  2. Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City: My second favorite album of all time.  I don't even know how to explain it.  There's just something about the mood of this album, the mix of grandeur, romanticism, depression and optimism that strikes a chord in me that no other album ever has.  This is one of the few albums I just can't be objective about.  That guitar solo at the end of Sunday is probably my favorite moment in all of music.  Anyways, I've resequenced the album, removing some of the bad tracks and adding the best B-sides.  If you want to listen/re-listen to this album, try my version.  Best tracks: England, I Still Remember, Sunday
  3. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind:  I have a real soft spot for this album.  When I listened to it, the summer before freshman year of high school, it was the first album I had ever listened to that didn't have a video on TRL.  It was also the first real rock album I had ever gotten into.  Basically, it was the album that started me on the road to being a real music fan.  The first six tracks, with the exception of the stupid but catchy Elevation, are just perfect.  U2 might've released more ambitious, more progressive music earlier in their career, but they've never made music as beautiful and warm before or since.  Best Tracks: Beautiful Day, Walk On, Kite
  4. Bloc Party -  Silent Alarm: Just fucking brilliant.  Bloc Party tried to make a simple, traditional guitar rock album, and they succeeded beyond anyone's hopes or expectations.  NME's #1 album of 2005 for a good reason.  The guitar work is top notch, the drumming is some of the best I've ever heard, and Kele writes a batch of killer songs.  Best tracks: Banquet, This Modern Love
  5. Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll: Some of the happiest music I've ever heard.  There's a warmth and melodicism that I don't think has ever been matched in electronic music. Best tracks: Sunworshipper, Muscle Cars, Guilty of Love
  6. Arcade Fire - Funeral: Objectively, the best album of the decade.  The Suburbs technically won Album of the Year, but I prefer to think of that award as a retroactive one for this album.  Perfect from beginning to end.  They made indie rock sound big like no one else has.  Best tracks: Tunnels, Wake Up, Rebellion
  7. (Sufjan Stevens - Illinois)
  8. Kings of Leon - Only By the Night: The last great rock album by the last great rock band.  The one time the Kings bothered to write a good set of songs, and it shows.  There's a few embarrassing tracks towards the end, but the front half is simply perfect.  Shame no one cares about rock anymore.  Had this album come out a decade earlier, it would've sold 10 million.  Best tracks: Closer, Revelry, Sex on Fire
  9. (TV on the Radio - Dear Science,)
  10. (Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head)

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