Many would agree, perhaps reluctantly, that Pitchfork.com is easily the most influential, most read, most loathed publication for the largest share of music-loving, online-dwelling twentysomethings of this generation. It's a demographic of which your friendly editors are card-carrying members, as are, we expect, many of you. We frequently, occasionally vehemently, disagree with P4k, but it is a hate/love relationship, and we eagerly discuss the site amongst friends just as frequently as we curse it.
Today the online magazine capped off its months-long exploration of the Decade In Music by revealing selections for the top 20 albums of the decade - the final entry in a week-long countdown from 500. If you've spent any time on indie music blogs or forums in the past 10 years, this one is a fairly predictable bunch. (The earlier entries are chock-full of poorly sequenced formative touchstones and one-off obscurities.) Nevertheless, there are some bold declarations, and one vindication of a Wallabee-shoe loving, coke-game-chronicling rapper/ friend to the ladies who happens to be a peerless storyteller and is responsible for the name of this very site.
What follows is a run-down in two (very different) parts.
Reggie's Take:
#20 Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights: This was a big one for me personally, as well as culturally, so I'm glad to see it get so much love. Even more than Brooklyn's domination of this year with cresting acts Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective, the initial renaissance of New York bands in the first half of the decade made for some of the most sweeping, and infectious music in years - despite, or perhaps because of, all the detached vocals and disaffected lyrics. When "Obstacle 1" first came on, the echoing guitars, unforgettable bass and swelling vocals made you feel like something urgent, maybe drastic, was going on. Right now.
#18 Kanye West Late Registration: I can never make up my mind about which 'Ye album is his greatest achievement. I know respectable, free-thinking people who swear by all four. I usually oscillate between this and Graduation, but it's quite possible that I'll never figure it out. One thing is clear though: By any objective measure Kanye West should be represented in the top 5 of any credible review of the decade in music. This is a huge oversight. Fuck what ya heard.
#17 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver: Sound of Silver is an immaculately constructed piece of work with heart, exuberance, melancholy and wit all in the right places. I love it to pieces. No complaints here.
#16 Sufjan Stevens Illinois: I revisited this album randomly in July and played it over and over and over again in my car for no particular reason. You can't ever wrap your arms around hugeness of ambition, talent and vision held within these embarrasingly rich instrumental and folk-pop gems. Even if we never get another entry in the promissed 50 state series, Illinois was all that mattered anyway. "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" is a personal favorite, but if you don't get caught up in "Chicago," I don't know what to say to you.
#15 The Knife Silent Shout: A dark and unsettling breakthrough album that I haven't warmed up to entirely. But I will say that the title track is one of the most devastating, seat-of-your-pants intros to an album I've ever heard.
#14 Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion: The album that set the tone for 2009 back in January is brilliant, but at #14 it seems considerably overrated in comparison to other groundbreaking albums that have been released this year.
#13 Outkast Stankonia: Outkast are undeniable, but this album is not. An important, experimental, bombastic assault that ultimately laid the groundwork for the more fully realized 1-2 punch in Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, the latter of which has been unforgiveably ommitted here. Still. It's good to see these guys represented, but it just reminds me of the ton of other worthy hip-hop acts and albums that were not.
#12 The White Stripes White Blood Cells: Nothing much to say here. A vitally important and worthy act.
#11 Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele: This is an album that I have long maintained that everyone, regardless of their musical affiliations, should hear before they die. Ghostface's magnum opus is a phenomenal, creative, raw-yet-deeply entertaining record. Including it this high is probably the single greatest thing Pitchfork has done on this list.
#7 The Strokes Is This It: Terrific. As a Strokes apologist through-and-through this isn't even the album I enjoy from them the most, but it's great to see them once again get the credit they deserve after years and years of petty backlash for scenes and bands they had no control over and were always irrelevant to the music anyway.
#5 Jay-Z The Blueprint: An undeniable classic, but not nearly the most essential rap album of the decade, as this list deins to imply. It's not even the best or most influential Jay-Z record of the decade (The Black Album, for my, and a lot of other people's, money). A misguided, cliche pick. Pitchfork fails hip-hop on a daily basis, so this was the predictable move.
#4 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: A groundbreaking album in the truest sense. YHF was a moment of clarity that transformed Wilco from a modest, vintage country outfit to one of the most important bands of this generation. A pitch-perfect call.
#3 Daft Punk Discovery: If you listen to electronic music (a descriptor that, at this rate, will include pretty much everyone by next year), salute the Gods.
#2 Arcade Fire Funeral: Funeral is a wonderful debut, but I've never really bought the magical significance that so many in certain sectors of the music media try to attach to it. At number 2, I think this album should be recognized as supremely overrated. I'm not mad, though, because I happen to think the follow-up, Neon Bible, is as impressive and earth-moving an achievement that others declare of its predecessor. In any case, I think Arcade Fire are probably one of those acts that we should just be glad is alive and making music.
#1 Radiohead Kid A: This was the only sensible thing to do, in the end. Even with its release at the very dawn of the decade now in review, Kid A arguably remains the boldest and most impressive act of musicianship of the last 20 years or more. An experimental classic released at the height of its creator's global popularity, it brilliantly demonstrated the arrival of a band with the unbridled vision to match its talent. More so than the already seminal Ok Computer, this album is the reason Radiohead has become the most critically lauded band of our time. If you haven't listened, listen; and if you have listened, play it again. Now is the time.
Ramon's Take:
#20 Interpol is shit. Completely overrated and self-important and the decade's remaining years cemented their revivalist bullshit's single, tiring gear.
#18 Late Registration is, as I've argued internally, the best Kanye. But the write up is incredibly condescending. Jess Harvel calls his social commentary "entry level" and calls Dropout, the most important and beloved hip-hop album since 1994, uneven.
#17 I get LCD's placement. Sound of Silver is undeniably special.
#16 Wow, remember Sufjan Stevens? He owes us about six state-themed LPs by now. Illinois was towering, swelling with emotion, powerful stuff. It made him a campus staple and backlash ensued. Kudos for recalling its brilliance, despite Pitchfork dropping an album they crowned as 2005's finest.
#15 The Knife doesn't matter.
#14 Animal Collective is a serious reach given its status within their discography and fact Post-Merriweather Pavilion is about nine months old.
#12, #13: Stankonia and White Blood Cells are both too high but I understand the need to honor legacy of artists in aughts.
#11 Supreme Clientele is perfectly ranked; a top tier rap benchmark.
#9 Panda Bear's album is basically excellent, but means very little. It'll put most people to sleep instantly as it's just, like, a tapestry of warm sounds. You can study with this album on and any great album, especially one recognized in the top ten, cannot be consumed in such a delicate, background filler manner.
#7 For all of Pitchfork's revisionist history, they coulda written out The Strokes. At least they wrote out The Streets.
#6 Including Sigur Ros (#8), I'm surprised at the conservative, safe album approach to list's bulk (Modest Mouse).
#5-1.The Blueprint, Wilco, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, Radiohead. Pretty sturdy wall with Kid A as the decade's crown jewel.
Still, I think Arcade Fire's Funeral is about fifty billion times more important and better than anything Radiohead's ever done. By miles and miles. Songs about life and death and youth versus literally vats of indecipherable electronics. A droning, exhausting album with limited payoff.
Likewise, Funeral is the most essentially Pitchfork record; Arcade Fire is their gift to music. Their overwrought, overly academic, largely absurd reviews nailed it upon Funeral's release and it catapulted a little-known crew to stadiums. To crowds rivaling Coldplay's. What a joyful achievement.
#20 Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights: This was a big one for me personally, as well as culturally, so I'm glad to see it get so much love. Even more than Brooklyn's domination of this year with cresting acts Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective, the initial renaissance of New York bands in the first half of the decade made for some of the most sweeping, and infectious music in years - despite, or perhaps because of, all the detached vocals and disaffected lyrics. When "Obstacle 1" first came on, the echoing guitars, unforgettable bass and swelling vocals made you feel like something urgent, maybe drastic, was going on. Right now.
#18 Kanye West Late Registration: I can never make up my mind about which 'Ye album is his greatest achievement. I know respectable, free-thinking people who swear by all four. I usually oscillate between this and Graduation, but it's quite possible that I'll never figure it out. One thing is clear though: By any objective measure Kanye West should be represented in the top 5 of any credible review of the decade in music. This is a huge oversight. Fuck what ya heard.
#17 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver: Sound of Silver is an immaculately constructed piece of work with heart, exuberance, melancholy and wit all in the right places. I love it to pieces. No complaints here.
#16 Sufjan Stevens Illinois: I revisited this album randomly in July and played it over and over and over again in my car for no particular reason. You can't ever wrap your arms around hugeness of ambition, talent and vision held within these embarrasingly rich instrumental and folk-pop gems. Even if we never get another entry in the promissed 50 state series, Illinois was all that mattered anyway. "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" is a personal favorite, but if you don't get caught up in "Chicago," I don't know what to say to you.
#15 The Knife Silent Shout: A dark and unsettling breakthrough album that I haven't warmed up to entirely. But I will say that the title track is one of the most devastating, seat-of-your-pants intros to an album I've ever heard.
#14 Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion: The album that set the tone for 2009 back in January is brilliant, but at #14 it seems considerably overrated in comparison to other groundbreaking albums that have been released this year.
#13 Outkast Stankonia: Outkast are undeniable, but this album is not. An important, experimental, bombastic assault that ultimately laid the groundwork for the more fully realized 1-2 punch in Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, the latter of which has been unforgiveably ommitted here. Still. It's good to see these guys represented, but it just reminds me of the ton of other worthy hip-hop acts and albums that were not.
#12 The White Stripes White Blood Cells: Nothing much to say here. A vitally important and worthy act.
#11 Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele: This is an album that I have long maintained that everyone, regardless of their musical affiliations, should hear before they die. Ghostface's magnum opus is a phenomenal, creative, raw-yet-deeply entertaining record. Including it this high is probably the single greatest thing Pitchfork has done on this list.
#7 The Strokes Is This It: Terrific. As a Strokes apologist through-and-through this isn't even the album I enjoy from them the most, but it's great to see them once again get the credit they deserve after years and years of petty backlash for scenes and bands they had no control over and were always irrelevant to the music anyway.
#5 Jay-Z The Blueprint: An undeniable classic, but not nearly the most essential rap album of the decade, as this list deins to imply. It's not even the best or most influential Jay-Z record of the decade (The Black Album, for my, and a lot of other people's, money). A misguided, cliche pick. Pitchfork fails hip-hop on a daily basis, so this was the predictable move.
#4 Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: A groundbreaking album in the truest sense. YHF was a moment of clarity that transformed Wilco from a modest, vintage country outfit to one of the most important bands of this generation. A pitch-perfect call.
#3 Daft Punk Discovery: If you listen to electronic music (a descriptor that, at this rate, will include pretty much everyone by next year), salute the Gods.
#2 Arcade Fire Funeral: Funeral is a wonderful debut, but I've never really bought the magical significance that so many in certain sectors of the music media try to attach to it. At number 2, I think this album should be recognized as supremely overrated. I'm not mad, though, because I happen to think the follow-up, Neon Bible, is as impressive and earth-moving an achievement that others declare of its predecessor. In any case, I think Arcade Fire are probably one of those acts that we should just be glad is alive and making music.
#1 Radiohead Kid A: This was the only sensible thing to do, in the end. Even with its release at the very dawn of the decade now in review, Kid A arguably remains the boldest and most impressive act of musicianship of the last 20 years or more. An experimental classic released at the height of its creator's global popularity, it brilliantly demonstrated the arrival of a band with the unbridled vision to match its talent. More so than the already seminal Ok Computer, this album is the reason Radiohead has become the most critically lauded band of our time. If you haven't listened, listen; and if you have listened, play it again. Now is the time.
Ramon's Take:
#20 Interpol is shit. Completely overrated and self-important and the decade's remaining years cemented their revivalist bullshit's single, tiring gear.
#18 Late Registration is, as I've argued internally, the best Kanye. But the write up is incredibly condescending. Jess Harvel calls his social commentary "entry level" and calls Dropout, the most important and beloved hip-hop album since 1994, uneven.
#17 I get LCD's placement. Sound of Silver is undeniably special.
#16 Wow, remember Sufjan Stevens? He owes us about six state-themed LPs by now. Illinois was towering, swelling with emotion, powerful stuff. It made him a campus staple and backlash ensued. Kudos for recalling its brilliance, despite Pitchfork dropping an album they crowned as 2005's finest.
#15 The Knife doesn't matter.
#14 Animal Collective is a serious reach given its status within their discography and fact Post-Merriweather Pavilion is about nine months old.
#12, #13: Stankonia and White Blood Cells are both too high but I understand the need to honor legacy of artists in aughts.
#11 Supreme Clientele is perfectly ranked; a top tier rap benchmark.
#9 Panda Bear's album is basically excellent, but means very little. It'll put most people to sleep instantly as it's just, like, a tapestry of warm sounds. You can study with this album on and any great album, especially one recognized in the top ten, cannot be consumed in such a delicate, background filler manner.
#7 For all of Pitchfork's revisionist history, they coulda written out The Strokes. At least they wrote out The Streets.
#6 Including Sigur Ros (#8), I'm surprised at the conservative, safe album approach to list's bulk (Modest Mouse).
#5-1.The Blueprint, Wilco, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, Radiohead. Pretty sturdy wall with Kid A as the decade's crown jewel.
Still, I think Arcade Fire's Funeral is about fifty billion times more important and better than anything Radiohead's ever done. By miles and miles. Songs about life and death and youth versus literally vats of indecipherable electronics. A droning, exhausting album with limited payoff.
Likewise, Funeral is the most essentially Pitchfork record; Arcade Fire is their gift to music. Their overwrought, overly academic, largely absurd reviews nailed it upon Funeral's release and it catapulted a little-known crew to stadiums. To crowds rivaling Coldplay's. What a joyful achievement.
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