Nick's Blog #015: My 50 Favorite Albums of the Decade, Pt. 2

This is the second in a series of five posts. The other posts in this series have been archived due to them being too long for the front page of the website. All of the posts can be found using the links below:

(Albums 50 - 41) --- (Albums 40 - 31) --- (Albums 30 - 21) --- (Albums 20 - 11) --- (Albums 10 - 1)

From the original post: I was browsing the internet the other day and came across an article that was titled "Best (so-and-so's) of the Decade". I realized that, as crazy as it seems, with this coming New Years the 00's decade was coming to a close! Well every year me and Easton like to write a little blog naming our favorite 10 albums of that year. So I thought why not throw together a list of my favorite and most influential (on me!) albums of the past 10 years! Narrowing my favorite albums from the past 10 years down to just 10 albums was ridiculously hard, so I decided to expand the number to 50. So in 5 parts, I'm going to try and list the top 50 albums that have been my personal favorites and have influenced my music the most that were released in the past decade (2000 - 2009).

I personally love reading these types of lists because whenever I do I tend to find really awesome music. So hopefully by checking out my personal favs you will find something that you love that maybe you haven't had the chance to check out yet! With each album I'll throw in a stream from grooveshark.com of a song that I think is particularly interesting. As well as some quick notes from me telling why I like each album so much.

Here are albums 40 - 31 I chose for my list:


Favorite Albums of the 00's
(Albums 40 - 31)

40. Green Day - Warning
Released on October 2th, 2000

More info at Last.fmI'm not really sure how most Green Day fans feel about this album but personally, I would put it up there alongside Dookie and Insomniac as one of my favorites. I think I was about a sophomore in high school when this album came out. I had owned Dookie and Insomniac when I was in junior high but I was never terribly into music until around the time this disc came out. I enjoyed it at first but it wasn't until a year or two later when I really got into it. It was really my first exposure to acoustic guitars being used in this type of music. Up to this point I really only had interest in playing an electric guitar. Looking now at how much D&S utilizes the acoustic guitar I'd say this album had a big influence on me personally picking up an acoustic guitar and learning how to use it in my own music. Macy's Day Parade was sort of a personal anthem of mine in high school.

39. Fun. - Aim and Ignite
Released on August 25th, 2009

Listen at Last.fmOkay, first things first: This is an absolutely incredible album. The fact that it has only been out for a few months is the main reason that it found the 39th place on my list of favorites. Otherwise it most likely would have been much, much higher. If you haven't listened to this album yet do yourself a favor and pick it up NOW! All of us (me, Easton, and Ray) all completely love this album and it will undoubtedly play a heavy influence on whatever it is that we record next. Too many great songs to recommend just one. Just listen to the whole thing, you won't be dissapointed!

38. The Matches - A Band in Hope
Released on March 18th, 2008

Every once in a while I have these albums that don't really do it for me at first. Then D&S goes and records something and once it's all recorded and mixed I realize: wow, I must really like that album after all! This is one of those albums. Listening back now there are numerous elements and ideas in Autumn in the Evening that I either developed from listening to this album or subconsciously emulated during the mixing process. One of these songs is These Inevitable Insanities. I can remember finishing an early mix of that song and thinking that it was really kind of a strange sound for us and I wasn't really sure where it came from. Until I listened to this album a few days later. For whatever reason a bunch of elements from this album found it's way into the formation of Insanites. Since then I have had a new found respect for A Band in Hope.

37. Valencia - We All Need A Reason To Believe
Released on August 26th, 2008

Listen at Last.fmAs a artist I often find myself becoming a bit disappointed with my own ability to listen to music without constantly comparing and applying it to the music that we are currently working on. I find it hard to enjoy an album without focusing on how I could take those sounds and somehow apply it to our songs. I'm not really sure why but since this album's release it has always been one that I can just listen to and enjoy. Every song on this album is great.

36. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Released on January 24th, 2005

Listen at Last.fmWhen this album was released I became obsessed with Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (this albums "sister album" which was released by Bright Eyes on the same day). As time went on I started to find song after song on this album that completely won me over. A lot of the songs on this album are, on first listen, a bit slow moving and drab. But as you listen more and more you find that almost every song has this really powerful moment that acts as sort of a pay off and makes the slooooow build of the first half even more incredible. Listen to the song Poison Oak that I posted above and you will see what I mean.

35. Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season
Released on May 23th, 2000

Listen at Last.fmThis one may be a surprise to some of you. In fact, this band has always been one for my favorites. This is an album with a bunch of great songs that I listened to a TON in high school. Also this album came out before illegal downloading and iTunes so I actually have a memory of going to the record store and buying it on the day it came out, something I can't say for a lot of other albums on this list. If you haven't ever given Matchbox Twenty a fair chance I would listen to this album as it didn't have as many overplayed radio singles as some of the others. I lump them into a group with Third Eye Blind and Better Than Ezra as bands that lead me to want to start playing music in high school. Also in certain lighting I have been said to resemble one, Rob Thomas. Personally I don't really see it :)

34. Rx Bandits - Progress
Released on July 17th, 2001

Listen at Last.fmWhen I think about my senior year of high school, and cruising around town with my homie Matty Fhel this is the only cd I think of. We would listen to this album every time we got in the car for a good 4 or 5 months. At that point I had never heard anything like the tunes on this album and to this day I am blown away by the musicianship displayed on this album.

33. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All of His Friends
Released on June 12th, 2008

Listen at Last.fmBesides the fact that we all had to hear Viva la Vida "thump-thumping" on the radio for like 9 months straight, this album seemingly can do no wrong. The production on this album absolutely blew me away when I first listened to it. Coldplay, a band whose sound I had always enjoyed, had been completely reinvented with the infusion of producer Brian Eno. If you haven't already made the comparison yourself, this album strongly influenced the sound of our record Autumn in the Evening. (see: Across the Water)

32. Fenix TX - Lechuza
Released on March 21st, 2001

Listen at Last.fmSimply put, one of the best, straight up pop-punk albums of the late 90's early 00's era. Way before we were ever a band, Easton and I were jamming these songs on shitty guitars and amplifiers in my room. Ray and I got the chance to see them play most of these songs about 2 years ago (a good 4 or 5 years after they had broken up) at a tiny bar in Carlsbad, Ca. It was one of the most memorable shows I have ever been too. Awesome band, awesome album. What is amazing is that I can see how some of our listeners may be too young to know about this band or this album. If this is you: Step 1. Listen. Step 2. Repeat step 1.

31. Allister - Last Stop Suburbia
Released on October 1st, 2002

Listen at Last.fmThis album literally taught me how to play guitar. My freshman year of college I missed many a class sitting in my dorm room playing these songs over and over. Okay, so maybe this album won't be remembered by many as a classic but it is super fun to listen, play and sing along too.

Continue to Albums 30 to 21 >