(part two // 40-31)
and the countdown continues...
40. Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein (Def Jux, 2001)
While Timbaland and Just Blaze were busy blowing up the charts, one of hip-hop’s most consistent producers was working with emcees Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah to create one of the first true masterpieces of the new millennium. Def Jux man El-P created some of the most dark and dense sonic beds since the Wu-Tang debut almost a decade prior. Meanwhile Vast and Vordul drop some fierce rhymes that may come across as utter nonsense on first listen, but over time they reveal intricacies and turns of phrase that will drop your jaw. Few albums in rap history have been able to combine this type of lyrical and production innovation on a full-length of this caliber, this shit was real.
39. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (Capitol, 2003)
This was supposed to be the return to straightforward rock after the detours of Kid A and Amnesiac, but that wasn’t what we got. Nor was it simply another extension of the paths explored on those albums either. Instead, this album was sort of a conglomeration of everything Radiohead had been up that point while still staking out some new territory. From the slow lethargy of “Sail to the Moon” to the relative rave-up of “Myxomatosis”, this album proved that Radiohead was never going to give you what you were hoping for but at the same time never leaving you wanting for solid songs.
38. Iron & Wine – The Creek Drank the Cradle (Sub Pop, 2002)
Sam Beam floated into my life completely unannounced one lazy Saturday afternoon, as I laid on the couch with a soft breeze blowing in the patio door and a streaming internet station playing. I don’t remember which track it was now, but immediately I was struck with how quickly his voice pulled me in and grabbed my attention. Some may question the validity of Beam’s take on folk, but authenticity doesn’t matter when you can create simple yet elegant melodies like these.
37. Bright Eyes – Fevers and Mirrors (Saddle Creek, 2000)
Conor Oberst has yet to create the start-to-finish masterpiece that I know he’s very capable of, but this album comes damn close. I could live without the album opening and ending skits that threaten to create a conceptual mess of it, but hauntingly beautiful songs like “The Calendar Hung Itself” and “When the Curious Girl Realizes She is Under Glass” more than earn this album a spot on my list. Few songwriters today are able to spin a tale into a captivating song the way Conor can, and until that masterpiece drops this album will get many repeated spins.
36. Eminem – The Eminem Show (Interscope, 2002)
Em had nothing left to prove to the world when it came time for this album to drop, as The Marshall Mathers LP had already exceeded expectations and created a monster. Maybe that’s what enabled him to take off in as many directions as he did on this one and succeed nicely in almost every one. He dropped his best political jam to date (“White America”), his best club jam ever (“Without Me”), and more of his touching yet heartbreaking family dramas (“Cleanin’ Out My Closet”, “Hallie’s Song”). But Em didn’t stop there, he managed to come up with one of the best misunderstood youth anthems of the hip-hop generation by sampling Aerosmith for “Sing For the Moment”.
35. White Stripes – White Blood Cells (Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2001)
This is the album that initially broke the exes White to the mainstream, and with very good reason – it’s an amazingly solid rock and roll album that revels in its simplicity. There was nothing pretentious about this album, nothing manufactured – just a talented duo cranking out timeless rock and roll that drifted all over the map. Whether slowly strumming about walking to school or rocking out an epic like “The Union Forever”, the Stripes tamed an elusive beast – the blues based rock album that sounded both refreshing and inspiring in a time when rock had been declared dead for almost a decade.
34. Liars – They Threw Us All in a Trench and Put a Monument on Top (Mute, 2002)
Now this band had major fucking balls, man. I mean, just being a pluralized band from New York in 2002 was a bold enough move, what with the press heaping unwarranted praise and expectations on every group from the five boroughs. Next thing you know these fuckers are releasing a single, “Mr, Your On Fire Mr”, that managed to throttle necks while shaking asses up and down both coasts. That shit was red hot, yo. To top all that, they finish off this album with a 30 minute looped epic that was sure to test the patience on anyone who had been shimmying along up to that point. This one quickly proved that the Liars couldn’t be simply dismissed as “just another garage rock” band, hell no – this was a band with attitude, beats, intensity, and huge fucking balls.
33. Jets to Brazil – Perfecting Loneliness (Jade Tree, 2002)
This album really had absolutely no chance of winning many hearts, did it? I mean, anyone who was outside of the emo/punk scene in 2002 couldn’t care less about what that dude from Jawbreaker was up to. And the band’s slow maturation away from the emo by numbers of the first two albums wasn’t going to keep the punk kids happy either. Well, sorry to be harsh here, but fuck ‘em – it’s their loss and my gain. Blake Schwarzenbach created an album full of rickety piano-driven epics that constantly teeter on the edge of complete collapse, but are held together by delicate melodies and charming lyrics. Maybe the kids didn’t like this album because Blake offered optimism and bold resolve in between his heartbreaking ballads, creating an album that rebuilds your soul as it tears your heart apart.
32. Spoon – Kill the Moonlight (Merge, 2002)
So, yeah, I completely was clueless about Spoon when I first heard this album. I didn’t know anything about the failed major label relationship or the string of beautiful pop nuggets they had previously created. All of which just served to make this one of the most pleasant musical surprises I’ve had in years. Everyone needs an album like this, one that they can crank up with the windows down as they flee from the city and into nature for a long weekend. It’s chock full of pop gem after pop gem with just enough sonic experimentation and crisp production to keep it fresh and invigorating.
31. Death Cab for Cutie – We Have the Facts (Barsuk, 2000)
After finishing grad school and moving into an apartment by myself for the first time ever, I found myself spending more time than I had ever expected on my own. A combination of things led to this, being in an unfamiliar city and a recent breakup being two of the main contributing factors. The post-college fund shortage also led to me purchasing a record low number of albums that year, but this was one of the few I managed to pick up during that period. And let me just say that because of all the above, Death Cab rapidly became a constant companion for me. Ben Gibbard’s heartfelt and honest lyrics struck many chords within me, but it was the excellent production and lush instrumentation that made me fall head over heels. Loneliness and isolation never sounded this damn good.
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