2001

This was a great year!  Most people won't say that, especially those, who like me,  come from the New  York City area, but apart from that one thing it was pretty dope.  Musically it gave  a lot of people hope, even  if it disappointed them later, and on a personal level it was a good improvement.  Oh, and with Enterprise, the Star Trek franchise really got back on track.  I may take up an article on that some time I don't feel like talking about music, but that's not tonight, because as I said, 2001 rocked.

10.  Circulatory System - Circulatory System
The Olivia Tremor Control Breaking up was one of the greatest musical tragedies in the preceding years, but three of the five members soldiered on similarly.  The  ambitions may have been a bit high with yet another double (or perhaps just very long) album, but with Will Cullen Hart handling all the song writing himself, the let-down is no surprise.  Still the bones of that band put together another great set of dense lo-fi psychedelia and at a few times approach the greatness of the old band's earlier work.  I would argue that it is the lack of Doss' voice that gives this band a darker, more mysterious feel even with bright songs like "Yesterday's World," "Waves of Bark and Light," and "Joy," having an odd depressive quality to them.  It is a complex and flavorful psychedelic stew though and all of OTC's more experimental qualities are in full force, even if the songs are not what they used to be, it is still the product of some of the generation's greatest musical minds.

9.  Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear
On their third album, San Francisco E6 cousins make an more solid collection of horn rock than their impressive 1999 album.  It was released on September 11 and that could not be any more ironic given both its title and its cheery sound.  If anyone bought it that day, "Silver Lining" certainly must have helped with it's blasting horns, fuzz bass, and Miles Kurosky's taste for nostalgia.  "Popular Mechanics For Lovers" is the band's best-known song and it is well-deserved with it's clever lyrics and arrangement, but each song has the band's unique touch in their dense arrangements and harmonies.  Beulah combines the lush psychedelia of their Eastern contemporaries with a clean production and a classic pop sensibility, evident from cinematic intro "Hello Resolven," but this never hinders their creativity and their music is perhaps the most contemporary-sounding of the collective, despite it's less common influences.

8.  The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Unfortunately, the Shins, and this album in particular was stained for many fans in 2004, but enough time has passed that it is time to remember this as the great record it is.  The Albuquerque group put together a perfect collection of bright folky pop just as that kind of music was getting its due, all with the homemade lo-fi sound indie audiences craved.  The song writing is usually remembered as the greatest strength, especially on songs like "Girl Inform Me" and "Know Your Onion!"  However, the eerier songs are what really distinguishes the band from its peers and the band's own later work on the likes of "Your Algebra."  It is a truly eccentric set from the land of enchantment and earned the band its place as  the top indie band for the next few years, quite deservingly with perfect pop, and a fun and casual dynamic.

7.  Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
Without his faithful band behind him, Malkmus still continues where he left off on his solo debut.  The constant traveller makes the unfortunate choice of relocating to Portland, but manages to not lose any of his creativity, after all he did set the standard and that standard remains high.  Not having to combat other extreme  personalities allows him a bit more focus and this cleaner sound was beneficial to his songs.  Tracks like "Phantasies" and "Jenny and the Ess-Dog" have all the humor of Pavement without any of the derranged sloppiness and Malkmus uses his freedom to take full control and allow himself extended solos like on "Jo jo's Jacket."  As great as all the songs are, they all pale in comparison to "Trojan Curfew" - probably the most gorgeous song Malkmus has ever written, a humbling mythological tearjerker that surpasses the high expectations he had set in the previous decade.

6.  Guided by Voices - Isolation Drills
Following the overlooked Hold on Hope EP, Pollard and company show the fools that doubted them that professionalism would not be their demise.  Making it a little simpler than the last effort, they made another go for the big-time and opener "Fair Touching" is one of Pollard's best songs to kick off this set with some of their best-loved songs.  Nothing here is as corny as "Hold on Hope," but songs like "Glad Girls" and "Chasing Heather Crazy" are some of their most accessible should-have-been hits.  This was both a beginning and an end as their most commercial period proved fruitless causing their return to Matador, but the birth of the classic 00s lineup with holdover Doug Gillard, Tim Tobias on bass, and his brother Todd.  The new band has some of their crunchiest sounds on "Skills Like This," but now Pollard is more of a star than ever with his vocals dominating the likes of "Unspirited" and "Sister I Need Wine."

5.  Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future
After the heavy themes that dominated the last two album, Doug Martsch and company (again featuring  Brett Netson) goes back to the poppier aesthetic of their earlier work.  These songs are short and tight, but still demonstrate all the musicianship to be expected from Built To Spill.  "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" is pure joy and closer "The Weather" is one of their most heartfelt, yet subtle love songs.  They even let keyboards dominate on the fuzzy pop of opening track "Strange," but "Trimmed and Burning" has more of what the fans of the last two records are looking for.  Unfortunately this would be it for the band for five years, but it is a perfect conclusion to their classic period and a great way to hand the torch to the next generation of American indie rockers.

4.  AIR - 10,000 Hz Legend
Misunderstood and panned at the time of its release the French duo's second proper LP has endured as one of their most interesting works.  They nearly abandon the smooth space pop of Moon  Safari and add creepy layers and abrasive sounds like on their unsettling Virgin Suicides score.  They also let the vocals and lyrics do more than just decorate the music with felinity.  Their treated voices dominate in some truly shaking ways on "Lucky and Unhappy" and opening statement  of purpose "Electronic Performers."  They even let the computer do the talking on "How Does It Make You Feel?" perhaps their most moving and heartbreaking song, all with their distinctly French  sense of humor.  Still, it is the guest's vocalists that are best, and that should be expected with the inclusion of former tour mate Beck who adds the hobo blues to their ambient pop on the unforgettable "The Vagabond."  This may be IR's true masterpiece and should be overlooked no more.

3.  Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Returning to the indies, Spoon makes their best album and shows off their mastery of the studio like never before.  The sound here is perfect and take these songs to their full potential.  Like many other top bands they begin to incorporate more keyboards, dominating songs like the baroque "1020 AM" and "The Fitted Shirt" and the highlight "Anything You Want."  Their embrace of classic hard rock also sets them apart, especially when paired with their more delicate side, though when it stands out most you have songs like the memorable Kurt Cobain tribute "Me And the Bean."  This is where Spoon really became the band so many love today, proving themselves masters of sonic landscape and Brit Daniel one of the decade's greatest song writers.  Then it ends with the chilling "Chicago At Night," one of the best portrayals of a city's danger in the darkness since Dennis Wilson's "Friday Night."

2.  Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
O'Rourke ends his trilogy and his long era of work as a singular entity with this masterpiece.  Including fellow Chicagoans/future band mates from Wilco on several tracks, he makes an album more focused on hard rock than ever, proving himself more than just a weirdo avant-garde composer.  The one-two punch of "All Downhill From  Here" and "Therefore, I Am" show that this is to be one of the beest rock albums of its time, even in the purist, most classic sense with their rocking riffs, that let O'Rourke take it easy as always on the vocals.  Still, it's got those "woo woos" to get the rock muscles going in full effect and the former's horns at the end make it as big anything.  All of O'Rourke's influences come out, but in a more instantly compete and focused way that never relents, even in its folkier moments such as closer "Life Goes Off."  Do not be put off by the album art, this is not too weird, it is just one of the best guitar albums of its time, and will finalize the reality of O'Rourke's great mythology.

1.  The Stokes - Is This It?
Of course.  Some people hoped this would be the beginning of a new rock revolution, and perhaps it was, though it really did little for the mainstream, as in reality, so did Nevermind.  It is a flawless set of songs, though - that is, the true version featuring "New York City Cops," as its replacement is still the worst Strokes song I know of (I have not heard the new album).  Even then the strength of the other songs is enough to comfortably place this album at number one, and the way it holds all the beauty of Manhattan in the end of its days as a tolerable place is simply otherworldly.  The way such a young man as Julian Casablancas could do this is still perplexing, and his love for his home town gives this album the kind of depth no which transplant could ever hope to achieve.  Songs like "Last Nite," "The Modern Age" and the truly godly "Hard To Explain" capture all the rush and splendor of being young with all the world at your fingertips and somehow it managed to reach everybody.  It is also hard to believe that the whole band is dictated by Casablancas as they function like the most perfectly-designed musical machine in history, particularly the metronomic Fab Moretti.  The Strokes combine everything great that preceded them like an urbane and young Guided by Voices, making it no surprise that the influential band tops their list of thank yous.  This is still it, a masterpiece, a perfect rock album and absolutely no joke.  The ultimate Manhattan album.