The time: 1993…or ’92, or whatever year I entered Middle School.
The place: The auditorium / lunchroom of said Middle School.
The event: A young and goofy Brian sits (most likely, in sweatpants) with some of his fellow soon-to-be 6th graders and learns that he is part of the Class of 2000. It sounds so futuristic! Visions of kids on hoverboards holding diplomas race through my head. It is at this point I heard something I will never forget, the slogan for my graduating class: Double 0 is Gonna Glow! Wow. The word ‘unimaginative’ comes to mind. We’re going to glow? Is there going to be some sort of nuclear war or chemical spill?
Fast forward to 2010, Middle School and the ‘Double 0’s’ have come and gone and not only were they some of the worst years ever, I am still not luminescent.
A truly awful decade has just passed us by leaving behind war, disease, injustice, unrest, and…what’s the opposite of world peace? Well, that too, whatever it is. Thankfully there was some great music to listen to, and here’s what I liked best in the double 0’s.
Top 10 Albums of the Decade:
1. ‘Discovery’ by Daft Punk (2001) – I can’t argue myself out of this choice, Daft Punk has been at the forefront of musical creativity since ‘98’s ‘Homework’. Electronic music had an unprecedented surge this decade, and I can’t think of a band more deserving of the role of catalyst. This record has such diversity but at the same time is hit after hit. Listening to it the whole way through you’d come back to songs that you maybe had forgotten about and you can really see what a step forward this was. In the 90’s I, as I’m assuming many other “punk” kids were, listened to primarily whatever was on the radio before I really discovered music. Through this practice I thought the only dance music that existed was Snap, and C&C Music Factory. Judging by the musical landscape as it is today, I wasn’t the only punk kid who just happened to find out he loved French house music. I love when the boundaries are broken down and anyone from any scene can do any sort of music and without this record I don’t think there’d be half as many great ‘00 albums as there are, but this one still beats them all.
2. ‘Microcastle/Weird Era Continued’ by Deerhunter (2008) – Off the top of my head I can only think of three or four records that I would put ahead of this one on an all time favorites list. This record completely blew me away when I first heard it and the effect still hasn’t worn off. Before this record Deerhunter were a kind of odd, creepy sounding band that I found a little off-putting. Once I heard about their new endeavor and shift in sound I knew this record would be really good, I just didn’t know it would be this good. Plucky guitars, dreamy pop vocals, My Bloody Valentine-esque screeches and wails, enigmatic song titles with lyrics about being simultaneously set free and hidden away, and a double CD with casually cool artwork and a sherbert color scheme…I can’t say enough, I’m fighting myself to stop typing.
3. ‘Mt. Forever’ by The Party of Helicopters (2000) – I’m laying on my bed, my room is dark and there’s a record spinning on the stereo from a band I just saw at a basement show, and wasn’t all that interested in. ‘Mt. Forever’ came into my life out of nowhere by way of Ohio, and literally changed it. I sat there transfixed by what I was hearing. It was like Gregorian monks singing a duet with Prince while a prog-metal band covered My Bloody Valentine, or vice versa. This was my go-to favorite record of all time for a while with good reason, it’s brilliant.
4. ‘Is This It’ by The Strokes (2001) – Can we all agree on this being THE cultural touchstone of the decade? Back off Coldplay, go to hell ‘Kid A’, The Strokes were the moment of the 00’s. Endless praise turned to gutless disregard just because five guys who made a truly great album got a little press. They may have had the tightest jeans, the dirtiest white Converse, and questionably privileged backgrounds, but that shouldn’t have made them the target. It was really something to watch the backlash towards The Strokes. I saw them, right before they got big, in Hoboken and I remember thinking Julian Casablancas was like a perfect mix of Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop. This is still a great piece of true rock music in all it’s Lou Reed-y, pseudo-nonchalance glory that has spawned a thousand imitators but hasn’t been topped yet.
5. ‘Guitar Romantic’ by The Exploding Hearts (2003) / ‘Let It Bloom’ by Black Lips (2005) – Punk was in a strange place these last ten years. The grunge and indie-punk that made it’s way into the mainstream in the 90’s was tossed away for, at first, the aural abomination known as nu-metal, and more recently the dual crappiness of the long stringy haired (and oft-mega religious) emo-core (?) and sickeningly sweet sound of what I’ll call radio-friendly pop punk, because I can literally think of nothing else to call it. If I had to choose sides I’d align with the latter in a second, but neither one represents anything you’d call “punk”. The two records that share this spot essentially kept my hope alive for the future of punk. The first is flawless power pop, I wouldn’t hesitate to call it the most enjoyable and fully realized power pop record of all time. ‘Guitar Romantic’ is (due to some unfortunate events) a time capsule, much like ‘Nevermind’, in that when it came along it just demolished everything else around. ‘Let It Bloom’ is garage punk perfection and the epitome of a band not taking themselves too seriously. If there was only one word to describe these records I would think it would have to be ‘refreshing’, if not ‘genius’. And ‘Let It Bloom’ also has my favorite album cover art of all time.
6. ‘Made In The Dark’ by Hot Chip (2008) – My ‘Best Record of 2008’ (didn't hear Deerhunter until '09) makes the list for the simple reason of potential. This record is an auditory example of a band actually making the best record they possibly can. Their two prior records hinted at greatness and occasionally achieved it, but this record is non-stop electronic domination. Every song is phenomenal and genuinely different from the next. In a decade where every ‘next big thing’ was four schumcks from across the pond, Hot Chip stands out as a band that doesn’t need hype to make an unforgettable statement.
7. ‘Commit This To Memory’ by Motion City Soundtrack (2005) / ‘Chroma’ by Cartel (2006) – Speaking of radio-friendly pop punk I’ve gotta say that these are two of my all time favorite records. It’s hard to defend a lot of records by contemporaries of these two bands, but there’s something very different about these two. MCS is much more of an emo band than I had thought before I bought this CD off Amazon for three bucks. It really is one of the most hopeful and genuine records I’ve ever heard and it leans much more toward nerdy and awkward than the typical pop punk record that tends more often to sound like a bunch of wolves in sheep’s clothing. ‘Chroma’ is like being baptized by the pop gods in a reflecting pool of hair gel. It’s SO poppy and positive that I was hooked instantly. It’s like these guys said, “We’re going to be a bunch of cute dudes and girls will love us but we want to make something a little bit better than everything else”, and they totally did. Both of these records, for me, make me feel like I’m at a water park or it’s the last day of school or something. Not everyone gets it, and I’m fine with that, but if you can appreciate records like these, you can’t do much better.
8. ‘Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse’ by Of Montreal (2001) – This was the last Of Montreal release that really sounded like Of Montreal. After this record they began to mutate into the heavily electronic aberration that they remain as today. It’s not that they’re BAD now, they’re just not the twee, lyrical, cutesy Of Montreal that I used to know and love. This band was like the embodiment of ‘indie’ way back when. They made odd, poetic songs that lived in imagination and romance and they gave in to their eccentricities and excesses…this record ends with a 17+ minute song that’s 99% piano flourishes, for example. The reason this record deserves a spot is because it’s unlike any other record I own. It brings to mind musical outsiders like Captain Beefheart in it’s density and stylistic variation. On the other hand, where other oddball musical experiments like this fail, this one succeeds again and again with Beatles-esque pop melodies and intermittent theatrical spoken pieces. This album is like a 22 track vacation from every boring record you’ve ever heard.
9. ‘Sung Tongs’ by Animal Collective (2004) – Put this record on in a car full of friends and you may get a request or two to throw it out the window…you may just as well see your friends hypnotized by the lysergic wonder of ‘Leaf House’ and ‘Who Could Win A Rabbit’. This is a record to be discovered and absorbed. It was written and recorded (if I remember correctly) by just two of the four AC members, and was the first release of theirs I came across. It really embodies all the cliché art terms you can throw at it: unique, avant garde, groundbreaking. There’s no point in describing the songs or themes, this kind of record is at its richest, most inspirational when you just give it an honest listen.
10. ‘United We Doth’ by PFFR (2003) – The final spot on many of my lists tend to belong to someone or something I can rant about. In this case it belongs to one of the strangest and most hilarious records ever. PFFR (pronounced P.F.R.) are made up of the creative force behind TV shows like Xavier: Renegade Angel and Wonder Showzen. People may classify this record as “twisted”, “demented” or “crude” but not only is it hilarious, it’s also musically brilliant. The songs (mostly about strange interactions, strange comparisons, strange opinions and how much you either are or are not like an eagle) are catchy and bizarre and thoroughly enjoyable. This may have begun as a novelty but somewhere along the way it mutated into a classic.
The Best of the Rest: Honorable Mentions -
‘We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes’ by Death Cab For Cutie (2000)
‘Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons’ by Blonde Redhead (2000)
‘Jane Doe’ by Converge (2001)
‘Oh, Inverted World’ by The Shins (2001)
‘Maladroit’ by Weezer (2002)
‘Want One’ by Rufus Wainwright (2003)
‘Madvillainy’ by Madvillain (2004)
‘Heartbeeps’ by Mae Shi (2005)
‘Double Death’ by Coachwhips (2006)
‘Trouble In Dreams’ by Destroyer (2008)
These albums are not necessarily records 11-20 on my decade list, they’re just ten more releases I wish I could find a reason to write about.
3 Hits from Hell: Ten Years with Liars –
Over the past decade three of my favorite songs have come from one band, Liars. A dance-punk turned experimental turned more experimental turned low-fi indie group that has weathered the storm better than most and put out some really highly praised (and some not so highly praised) records. Here they are:
(2002) ‘Loose Nuts On The Veladrome’ – No idea what this title means, I just no every time I hear the opening line, ‘Last night, you and I, we gathered berries with a flashli-i-i-i-iiii-ight!’ I get the same feeling I had the first time I heard it, this is awesome.
(2006) ‘The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack’ – Found ending the ‘Drum’s Not Dead’ album, this song is like some kind of meditation on what came before it. After a blistering and chaotic record this song comes along and is reassuring and peaceful in a way that transcends the scope of the album.
(2007) ‘Cycle Time’ – This is a no-frills kind of attacking rock song, complete with Angus Andrew’s signature full bodied chant style of singing. It’s aggressive without being confrontational which could make a similar song sound phony.
Ya Blew It: The Most Commercially Viable and Overlooked Song of the Decade-
‘Myth Takes’ by !!! – The group known as !!! (most commonly pronounced as ‘Chk Chk Chk’) has been orbiting the indie experimental/dance universe since the mid-to-late ‘90s. In 2007 they released ‘Myth Takes’, a grand gesture of trippy dance rock that was far more evolved than anything they’d released prior. The opening track (‘Myth Takes’, the song) is a hyped-up, bass heavy, reverb gem that sounds like something Chris Isaak and Sly Stone may collaborate on. Everywhere you looked in the past few years there was an indie song used in commercials, movies and TV shows (Spoon, Phoenix, Passion Pit and Band of Horses immediately come to mind) and if I was one of the few who choose these songs ‘Myth Takes’ would have ended up somewhere. I picture it opening a sci-fi or mystery TV series, not to mention the slowed-down remix available on the second disc opening up a quality drama. This is basically my shot at the advertising execs who slept on this song.
As a side note, this record features the GREATEST song title ever: ‘All My Heroes Are Weirdos’.
So, that's about it. Thanks for reading, be good 2010.
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