This is the third 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 The other posts in this series have been archived due to them being too long for the front page of the website.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:
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 30 - 21 I chose for my list:
Favorite Albums of the 00's
(Albums 30 - 21)
30. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Released on October 21st, 2003
More info at Last.fmI didn't catch wind of this album until waaaay after it was released. For years all I knew about The Shins was that they were mentioned in Garden State. Finally, when Wincing the Night Away came out Ray sent me some songs. Even then I didn't listen to this album much. But holy crap, when I finally discovered it's awesomeness I completely fell in love. This album contains what I think are the best lyrics of any album on this list. While writing lyrics for Autumn in the Evening I had this album very close by, referring to it more than once inspiration.
29. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Released on January 23rd, 2007
Listen at Last.fmAs I said in the album above this: I sort of missed The Shins train... by like 5 years. But this was the first album that I was introduced too. I'd say this one and Chutes Too Narrow are about dead even in my book. But this album has a couple songs that tip the scale for me. Australia, Red Rabbits, Turn on Me... talk about songs that I literally try to replicate sounds in while recording and mixing. If you are like me and are late in joining in on being Shin-ified, do yourself a favor and listen to these songs!
28. Eve 6 - It's All In Your Head
Released on July 22nd, 2003
Listen at Last.fmEve 6 is one of those bands that I love, but at the same time can totally understand why someone might find them completely obnoxious. The delivery of the lyrics for me is genius (and in this instance when I use the word "genius" I truly mean "genius") but I guess I can also see how someone might be put off by it. I think that because they had that one "her's 2 the nieeete" song all over the radio a while back, people may be afraid to really give this band a chance. Both me and Easton really have a weird obsession with this band's music. I can't really say for sure but I tend to see a lot of the bounciness and sheer poppyness of Eve 6's rhythms in a lot of Easton's songs. Go listen to the vocal patterns in Ashes Ashes and then check out the chorus of the song posted above. I think a lot of Easton's rhythm guitar playing style may have come from playing Eve 6 songs way back in the day, and Easton has an EXTREMELY distinct rhythm style when he writes. Again, that's not anything Easton has said, just an observation of mine! The song I chose to post from this album is the last song on the album and is an absolutely EPIC rock and roll song. When the chorus finally kicks in two and a half minutes in, it is like your a kid whose been waiting up all night for Christmas morning and when it finally comes you find that Santa brought you that sweet Huffy
along with a stack of one-fucking-hundred dollar bills. It's THAT GOOD. Check it out.
27. The Postal Service - Give Up
Released on February 18th, 2003
More info at Last.fmOkay, so who's music do you
NOT hear this album in these days? When this album came out bands all across the indie music scene started throwing in crazy electronic elements into their songs. What writes songs with glitchy, low-fi beats and has two thumbs?
This guy. If you don't hear this albums influences on songs of ours like
Seventy-six, This Glorious Pain, or
Astronauts you may be a zombie. You may
literally be a walking dead living among normal human beings.
26. Days Away - The Feel of It EP
Release date Unknown, 2002
More info at Last.fmEaston had bought this ep during our senior year of high school and I ended up listening to it a ton over the course of the next few years. It is a collection of five really catchy and fun pop songs. Days Away went on to drastically change their sound after this ep was released, and all of it was equally as good. But in the end it is this ep that I listen to the most. It is near impossible to find now-a-days and is not available on itunes but if you check out this
grooveshark search you should be able to give it a listen.
25. Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit
Released on August 23rd, 2005
Listen at Last.fmThis album was basically the soundtrack to my final year of college at USC, which was also the year me and Easton formed The Dreamer and the Sleeper. The album had a great influence on a lot of our early songs, especially some of the piano based songs like Leaving the Hospital. It was basically the reason I sat down at a keyboard and decided that I would attempt to write a song on it even though I had never touched one before in my life.
24. Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Released on November 21st, 2006
Listen at Last.fmBrand New's album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me isn't an album to listen to on lovely sunday morning, or too enjoy before a night out with friends. It's an album to listen to and be pissed off. It's super aggressive, the lyrical subject matter is heavy as all holy hell, and it is a LOUD album to say the least. Everyone needs an album to fight off their demons to.
23. Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me
Released on July 17th, 2007
Listen at Last.fmThis is one of those albums that gets better and better with time. With every listen a new chorus tends to pop out at you making that particular song your new favorite. Every song on this album is great. A fantastic follow up to one of my favorite albums ever:
Commit This To Memory.
22. The Matches - Decomposer
Released on September 12st, 2006
More info at Last.fmTo say that this album is
perfect would imply that I consider every album higher than it on this list to be better than perfect, which isn't necessarily the case. What this album
does do that is perfect is stay consistent with a particular feeling and theme throughout. Even the album artwork tends to fit right into this little world The Matches have created that is Decomposer. If you listen to the song Sunburn vs. The Rhinovirus (posted above) you basically get a feel for what you can expect to find in every deep dark corner of this album. That's not to say that every song on the album sounds the same, in fact, this statement could not be further from the truth. But every song fits perfectly into the creepy, quirky theme of Decomposer.
21. The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun
Released on January 24th, 2006
More info at Last.fmThe Elected put out an amazing album in 2006. For fans of Bright Eyes and Conor Oberest. Did I mention the dude was the bully on Boy Meets World? Not the fat one, the skinny one... yeah.
