I thought it would be fun to compile a list of my favorite albums from the last decade. This is only a list of favorites, albums that moved, excited and inspired me most, and that held my interest longest. Several represented a personal shift in my pop music preferences--milestones I suppose--still others deeply captivated me for reasons I can't really explain; exceedingly simple music that managed to be more resistant to satiation than some of the more involved music that I absorbed throughout the 2000s. This certainly isn't an authoritative critical review based on things like innovation and historical significance, it's merely an ordered favorites list. If you feel like I criminally left something off the list, it's probably because I didn't listen to it. I can't hear it all (unfortunately). Some things I have clear reasons for placing at certain points in my list, and others I basically had to go by feel. Some of the choices that I have a strongly communicable feeling about will have little blurbs next to them. I started with my top 10, then when I was satisfied with those choices, I went on to my next 10 favorites, and so on until I settled on 40. Basically after 40 I felt like I was just picking things for the sake of reaching 50, so I backed off and called it good at 40. So here, in reverse order is my Top 40 of the decade.
40. Koop - Waltz For Koop
39. Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird On The Water
38. Felice Brothers - Felice Brothers
37. Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue
36. Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream - Two of the most perfectly beautiful songs I've ever heard are on this one album. They alone basically put them on this list.
35. Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
34. Dining Rooms - Numero Deux
33. Magic Numbers - Magic Numbers
32. Tilly & The Wall - Wild Like Children
31. The Decemberists - Her Majesty
30. Joanna Newsom - Ys
29. Bowerbirds - Upper Air
28. Laura Viers - Carbon Glacier
27. The Decemberists - Castaways & Cutouts
26. Divine Comedy - Absent Friends
25. Rufus Wainwright - Want - Originally two separate releases (Want One and Want Two), it was conceived as one big, beautiful work.
24. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
23. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
22. Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish?
21. Dr. Dog - Easy Beat - Pure, uninhibited musical joy, recorded totally independently on 1/4 inch tape.
20. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest - Artful composition and construction, technically impressive yet cool. This band is downright intimidating.
19. Stereolab - Sound Dust
18. Of Montreal - Satanic Panic In The Attic - This album opened up a lot of new listening horizons for me.
17. Inara George - All Rise!
16. Eisley - Room Noises - I have never gotten tired of this album, unique yet familiar, and all beautiful.
15. Dr. Dog - Fate
14. Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
13. MIA - Kala - A delight to the ear with its wonderful use of sound collage, great rhythms and attitude. A real trip.
12. Elliott Smith - Figure 8
11. Divine Comedy - Regeneration - A real change from Neil Hannon's usual fare, but he pulls it off brilliantly.
10. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
9. Nick Lowe - The Convincer - A pure and classic songwriter. This is the creative peak of Nick's career in my opinion.
8. Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill - Although it's controversial, I feel like Elliott Smith finally achieved the kind of sound aesthetic he had been after his whole recording career with this album.
7. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
6. Rufus Wainwright - Poses - Modern day art song.
5. Avett Brothers - Emotionalism - Brilliant simplicity that just grabbed me by the heart and held on for a long time.
4. Innocence Mission - Befriended - More heart grabbing simplicity. The perfect winter album.
3. Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum - I think this is a masterpiece of modern psychedelia, and Of Montreal's best album.
2. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast - A passionately constructed work, one of the decade's earliest pop masterpieces, and another listening landmark for me.
1. Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds is a major figure in contemporary pop. A brilliant composer, lyricist and performer, he has an uncanny understanding of the white middle-class experience, which he exploits, attacks, defends, and empathizes with most keenly on this outstanding concept album.
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