Terria. Game over, thanks for playing.

<3

Not everyone's taste in music is as eclectic as yours. Nor is that a bad thing. Sometimes I think that people listen to artists nobody's heard of just for the sake of being able to say "Have you heard x?", get the reply "No I haven't." and go "Well, I have." *erection*

Maybe it's just me.

No, you're right.

Hey Sab...

Mew- The Glass Handed Kites

Happy?

I think Between the Buried and Me's "Colors" and Meshuggah's "I" and "Catch 33" deserve some kind of accolades for "album of the decade" type things. Very interesting concept albums with a lot of things going on that have now become almost the norm in metal and progressive music.

Manu Chao – Radio Bemba Sound System (live)

Yes, definitely.

Just post it. Huge walls of text are awesome.

Meh.



**skip this post for a tl;dr below**



Ah...lists. I usually dislike the word "best" used in this context, for a few reasons. One is that blah blah blah it's all really "favorite." Sure, that's true, but the thing that REALLY bothers me is that when ever I try to put together a list, I think of how much music is out there, how much music came out that year, and I realize that there were probably 10 other albums released just in this year that I've never heard of and would end up being albums that I LOVE the fuck out of. I get especially hesitant for this one, because it's an entire fucking DECADE of a shit ton of music that I never heard and probably would love, probably would end up putting on this list, but...fuck it.


A snapshot of my "favorites" of 00-09 as of this moment:

WARNING: I've spent way too much time on this. I've been working on it for a few days, now. Not doing it so much for the forum post, but for myself. It was fun getting myself to pin down these favorites. Fun and difficult. I've put quotes around the albums so that it's easy to just scroll through the list without reading all my bullshit.

(trying to keep it down to one per band/artist...some exceptions are rationalized, some are just plain cheating)

__2001__THE APPLESEED CAST - Low Level Owl, Vols. 1 & 2

Fuck. I decided to go in alphabetical order just to have this one on here first. And...you know what? I've only had it for about a week. Never heard it before that. Never even heard the band's name before that. I only know that in maybe a week, I've listened to this sound collage more than a dozen times all the way through. And that's just on the computer. If I had to label it, I'd say it's caught somewhere between "indie" and "post-rock" although I hate both of those phrases used as genres. Jamming often. Singing at all the right times. There's lots with vocals, and lots without. Listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQRBWN8RjyE

__2000__AT THE DRIVE-IN - Relationship of Command

Eh, does anything need to be said about this album? Sometimes it irritates me how often I see the word "energy" used in reviews for this album, but I must admit...it just feels like the right word to use here. Raw, aggressive energy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDJtAqXbZ1c

__2004__BYZANTINE - The Fundamental Component

At some point in my musical development, I became obsessed with finding and listening to "real metal" made in this decade. Maybe I didn't go crazy on my searches, but I did end up putting a lot of time in listening, and this is one album that definitely brings me back to those times. I remember listening to it on the way to (and inside of) TASC, miserably anticipating the ever-so-dreaded UA "drop". This is some straight-up quality metal, with a sense for melody and creating the occasional "chill" atmosphere.

Dig it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trw72Szutuc

__2005__CIRCA SURVIVE - Juturna

To me, this album is "big" and "trippy" in the sound of the instrumentals, and the vocals (clean singing--see "guys who sound like girls") are loud and in your face, but with all of that it's the perfect album to set on low volume and listen to when going to asleep. I'd truly have to go with their choice of genre definition on the myspace page and call it experimental, because I'm again finding myself at a loss for a fitting label when it comes to one of my favorite albums. Eh, who knows? You might be the kind of faggot who would call some of this stuff "emo."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbgvvtKsQY4

__2006__DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND - Synchestra

Hmm. The first album I heard/purchased by Devin. I LOVE how varied this album is. No need to go any further on Hevy Devy forums.

(If I were to post a song here, it would be "A Simple Lullaby")

__2009__DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - Ki

This is one of my favorite albums. Overall. EVER. Beauty, beauty, beauty. The feelings that I get from it are connected to that particular time in my life when I was in a certain head-space and I listened to this album over and over. Again, I've already said more than I need to.

("Terminal")

__2008__EVAN BRIGHTLY - the Narrator

Uhh....shameless local band promotion? I'm just gonna lay the facts out on the table;

Evan Brightly wrote a short novel, recorded an album, and made twelve paintings to go along with the twelve songs on the album, all of which correspond to events in the story.

Evan Brightly is a single entity. Five people make up this one ARTIST. "He" speaks in the first person. All the works are credited to Evan Brightly. Everyone has a hand in everything.

Quantum physics is tied into the story. But it's not a story about quantum physics. It's a story about being human.

It's amazing. It hit me pretty heavily. There's too much to go into detail about right here and now. It seems like each song is crafted to be able to stand on its own and deliver what it needs to deliver. The music is in a "pop" format and doesn't shatter any new experimental ground musically, but it is VERY solid, and is very significant when given the context of everything. My words are not enough to capture what Evan Brightly is/does. Go check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1izzUUaA8Y
(only video I could find with a whole song...it's the only song on the album that contains an excerpt the story)

__2001__EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

"post-rock"
This album is competing with All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone for me. ...Everyone was my first Explosions album. It has a special place in my heart. However, this seems album have just the right blend of that classic sound of the first album with the more polished sound from recent albums. All of it is GREAT, but this one sticks out to me as being the one to get into.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrjWtMVr6Tw

__2005__GOJIRA - From Mars to Sirius

This is some of the heaviest music I have ever heard. And that takes on multiple meanings for me. "Flying Whales" has such an amazing intro. It's so soothing, but in a brooding way that also forces you to anticipate something immense on its way. 'Badass' is the perfect word here. When I was getting into this album, "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" took my number 1 spot for being the Heaviest song/riff (verse) of the universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUbeKKlo8k

__2000__LAMB OF GOD - New American Gospel

My proper introduction to "true" metal. Lamb of God. Riffs. They stick in your head until you're forced to go back and find the sound that's playing over and over in your mind. Chris Adler's drumming style is permanently burned into my head. When my mind wanders and I start to make/imagine drum patterns, they sound like Chris Adler is playing them. And this continues after I "stopped liking metal." It stuck with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHXhiyZ-kY

__2006__THE MARS VOLTA - Amputechture

It was very difficult trying to figure out which album it all boils down to for me. It was between Frances and Amputechture. Both albums are a mind-fuck. Both will either push you away or suck you in. I made my decision, though, and I'm sure of it. Amputechture was the first TMV album that I owned. I'd heard De-Loused and Frances, not extensively, but I was somewhat familiar. I didn't know what I was in for. Listening to this album with headphones sort of changed the musical experience for me. Even now, thinking about hearing "Tetragrammaton" for the first time reminds me of that feeling I had back then. It makes me think of a psilocybin trip.

Though I'm sure of my decision, it still hurts to have to leave out Frances the Mute. Some of the moments on that album, I think, are better than anything on Amp. The problem is that there are only 5 songs. Two of those (first and last) are the ones that contain "those moments." Not that the rest of the songs aren't good, but they are stuck in their own little category for me. "Oh, here's the pop single. This one's the Latin song. Here comes the creepy ballad." Like I said, I love all those things. But somehow the number and length of solid songs on Amputechture win out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gECaXosNqtQ

__2006__MONO - You Are There

"post-rock"
From Japan. To be honest, this is the only album I've heard by them. However, after listening to it as much as I have I'm confident in putting it on this list. I first heard Mono when I saw a clip of them performing "Moonlight". Beautifully haunting, it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_zS9D9aPWY

__2000__NINE INCH NAILS - Things Falling Apart

Originally I wasn't going to put this on the list. I was going to stick to my one-album-per-artist rule. But then I realized that I make exceptions for that. And isn't this a good time to make an exception?

This gets my "best remix album of 00-09" title. Best NIN album of 00-09? See next. Things Falling Apart takes an already noisy album and puts it in a blender. Is that good? I happen to love it. I sounds that are so overwhelmingly distorted that the ugliness sounds beautiful. I love the chopped up samples and glitchy (again, see next) rhythms. A lot of people criticized the album for containing three remixes of the one song. Yeah, Starfuckers, Inc. is on there three times. So what? It's a remix album. They all sound different from each other and they all deserve to be there. Shit, the last one is barely even recognizable as a Starfuckers remix. Take out the few vocal samples and you wouldn't even know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3bSkz2qiig

__2007__NINE INCH NAILS - Year Zero

Ah, Year Zero. Trent's last masterpiece as Nine Inch Nails. I don't get how some fans don't care about this album. Maybe it's so significant to me because I was following the ARG before it came out. It's right up there with the classic NIN albums. What Trent did here is the same as what he did when he made the Downward Spiral; he used noise to make sounds that he likes. Thanks to all the ways that noise can be made with newer technology, we get this; a great album that has Trent's signature sound, but sounds like (to me, anyway) "future music". When I first heard this album, that was all I could say to describe it. I would think that music twenty years from now would sound like this. Perhaps I'm ignorant to music already out there that would fit that description. I'm sure that's true. That's just how I felt when I heard this album. I guess the future is now.

Everything Nine Inch Nails just comes together nicely here, and with a great concept to boot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbuZ1es1Av8

__2007__OF MONTREAL - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

There's no doubt that this album's predecessor, the Sundlandic Twins, is a classic. I know it's amazing. The Sunlandic Twins is the perfect soundtrack to falling in love. Hissing Fauna? It's the aftermath. The consequence. It's the soundtrack to losing your mind when that peak is passed. Is it over? Is it in an intermission? Don't know. Doesn't matter. All that's known is that there is a trough that seems black and infinite. And in that trough you can lose yourself. You can find...someone new. Kevin found Georgie Fruit. Hissing Fauna is the soundtrack to Kevin Barnes becoming Georgie Fruit. As a result of this, the first half of the album details the real-life circumstances of the transformation. After the middle point of the album, the songs are a sort of freak-funk detailing the essence of "wild." But at the end it somehow crawls back to something beautiful. The song here is that last track. Beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cOiOY1AQXg

__2008__OF MONTREAL - Skeletal Lamping

Georgie Fruit. It seems like "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" and "Labyrinthian Pomp" from Hissing Fauna were just a taste of what was coming. Of Georgie's 'Pandora's Box' of funk. Did you rike it? Then you need to listen to this album. However, even Kevin has realized that the whole Georgie Fruit thing is all just Kevin at the end of the day. So at the end of the day this album, too, has that touch of feel-good pop. Some moments are just flat out beautiful. It's fragmented and freaky, so much that some fans of the previous albums were put off by it. Just remember that this is his intention. If you feel like it doesn't work, that's how it's supposed to feel. Don't let it drag down your rating of the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qkM2taJA5s

__2005__OPETH - Ghost Reveries

You know all about Opeth. I'm sure of it. This one wins for me because it's so varied. Atonement is my favorite "chill" song of theirs, but even for Opeth the track exists in its own category. Maybe I have a soft spot for this album because it was my first from Opeth. But honestly...in this decade, I think it's their best.

__2007__PINBACK - Autumn of the Seraphs

"Indie" junk. Pinback is Rob Crow and Zach Smith. Each of them multi-instrumentalists. Each of them singers. Each of them contributing anything and everything to a song. I love the collaboration here. It seems their styles mesh perfectly. When I first listened to this album, I didn't realize that two different people sang on it. This album is great in a way that isn't easy to describe in words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgdJSSlGQHo

__2006__PROTEST THE HERO - Kezia

This is metal. If you hear the vocals and want to call it "emo," I don't want to be your friend. Kindly go die in a fire.

It's weird...my taste has evolved to a point where I'm no longer interested in music that seems to be technical just for the sake of being technical (see: Dream Theater), but I still LOVE Protest the Hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eLvkqKijeQ

__2001__RADIOHEAD - Amnesiac

I couldn't do it. I couldn't strip it down to just one album. I can sacrifice Kid A. It's worn out to me, after having the spotlight too often for too long. I can do without Hail to the Thief. It's a really good album with plenty of ograsmic songs on it, but it feels imperfect to me. I often have to turn it off. So the fight came down to Amnesiac and In Rainbows. And I just couldn't do it. Oh well.

Amnesiac has been called awkward and disjointed. People have said that it doesn't flow well. Hmm. I'm not sure if I disagree. I'd say that the album is SUPPOSED to project that feeling; discomfort. Thom Yorke said once (and I paraphrase), "Kid A, if you look at the artwork, is like the sound of what it feels like to observe this fire from a distance. Amnesiac is the sound of what it feels like to be in the fire." To me, Amnesiac is better than Kid A. It's more fucked up, it's more disorienting, and, in the end, it's more redeeming of itself when you finally accept it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uN1Uq5lyv0

__2007__RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows

What I love about this album is that it feels like Radiohead isn't trying to prove anything or force any particular sound or style. Kid A and Amnesiac seemed like they were trying to get a sound that was far away from OK Computer. Hail to the Thief seemed like they were saying, "okay, let's put them together now." The feeling I get from In Rainbows is, "hey, let's just sit in a room together and see what happens." The result was the most organic-sounding album in perhaps a decade. It feels "dry" in a good way. A really, really good way. At the same time, that doesn't make it feel old, or even like they're trying to get back to an older sound. Actually, it projects to me a sound that is altogether fresh while still retaining the Radiohead stamp of...Radioheadness.

Where am I going with this? I'm impressed by In Rainbows. It is simply beautiful in so many ways, for so many moments. Beautiful in a way that, now that I think about it, hasn't quite been touched on by any of their prior albums, in my opinion. It seems like each song is perfected to be its own masterpiece, while still being very much a "In Rainbows" song. It's hard for me to grasp the statement I just made. Some things make more sense before you put them into words. The thing that confuses me is that I would say the exact same thing about OK Computer, but it's different here. I can't explain it.

It's great. There, is that simple enough?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_qXBqAKfF8

__2006__RED SPAROWES - Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun

"post-rock"
Ah. This was my first experience with that label of music. Never before had I held in my hands an album that attempted to tell a story without words. The very idea of it intrigued me, and thinking back now I realize that this changed my perceptions of music entirely. After getting into post-rock, I fully embraced the idea that intricacies in the layering of instruments could be the complete focus of a song, album, band, or, apparently, genre. Although...I never understood the name for it and (as you can see) took a disliking to it. It can be annoying for me at times, but it's become recognizable as a distinct style of music. When someone says, "check out this post-rock band I'm getting into," I'll have a very specific idea of what to expect. Unless, of course, he's talking about 65daysofstatic. How did that band end up classified as post-rock?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncJazOonwPo

__2003__RX BANDITS - The Resignation

Again with the frustrations over genre. I bought this album after seeing the artwork on the front cover of "...And the Battle Begun". I could not afford the one that caught my eye, and this one still looked interesting enough to check out. So...I bought it on a whim. I was taking a chance at the record store. When I played the disc for the first time, my immediate reaction was, "whoops." Oh well. Just bought a ska album with cool artwork. I skipped through a few tracks and concluded the event with, "well, this is another weird cd in my collection."

How long did it take me to come back to it? I have no idea. I know that I would sit through several songs on the disc with an open mind, but I still wasn't into it. Somewhere along the line it clicked, though. This isn't ska. This is...experimental? Prog-ska? What the fuck? It just doesn't feel right to call it ska. Some of the song structures and jamming really sucked me in. To this day I still don't know what to call the Rx Bandits. Like most of the music I listen to it, I prefer to just call it...music. Good sounds.

The two albums after this are progressively less "ska" and more "experimental" but somehow, having heard both of them, this one still reigns as my favorite output of theirs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlBjJP1dtmg

__2008__SOUND OF ANIMALS FIGHTING - The Ocean and the Sun

Gasping...for...air...

What, because of the album? No. Well, maybe that would do it, too. I just can't believe that I wrote all this crap. I can't believe you're still reading it. Excuse the progressive laziness.

How many times did I use the word "experimental" so far? Okay, well this is the one that really counts. Even still...I dislike the context of the word. They knew exactly what they were doing. Maybe.

Ugh, I'm tired of writing.

THIS ALBUM IS COOL AND STUFF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYX0ybFv_w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4_Ed0gzqOg








This makes me look way conceited about my own taste in music.

Sorry, dudes. Take away my posting rights. DO IT FOR THE GOOD OF THE FORUM.

^WAY tl;dr

However, after glancing...

__2006__PROTEST THE HERO - Kezia

This is metal. If you hear the vocals and want to call it "emo," I don't want to be your friend. Kindly go die in a fire.

I agree.

tl;dr:


__2000__AT THE DRIVE-IN - Relationship of Command
__2000__LAMB OF GOD - New American Gospel
__2000__NINE INCH NAILS - Things Falling Apart
__2001__THE APPLESEED CAST - Low Level Owl, Vols. 1 & 2
__2001__EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
__2001__RADIOHEAD - Amnesiac
__2003__RX BANDITS - The Resignation
__2004__BYZANTINE - The Fundamental Component
__2005__CIRCA SURVIVE - Juturna
__2005__GOJIRA - From Mars to Sirius
__2005__OPETH - Ghost Reveries
__2006__DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND - Synchestra
__2006__THE MARS VOLTA - Amputechture
__2006__MONO - You Are There
__2006__PROTEST THE HERO - Kezia
__2006__RED SPAROWES - Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
__2007__NINE INCH NAILS - Year Zero
__2007__OF MONTREAL - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
__2007__PINBACK - Autumn of the Seraphs
__2007__RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows
__2008__EVAN BRIGHTLY - the Narrator
__2008__OF MONTREAL - Skeletal Lamping
__2008__SOUND OF ANIMALS FIGHTING - The Ocean and the Sun
__2009__DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - Ki



Tried as hard as I could to keep it down to one per artist. There were plenty of greats from this year.






LISTEN TO THE APPLESEED CAST

i actually thought Amputechture was TMV's worst album.

I don't know how you all can even do this. There's been so many albums coming out every year for the past ten years and so many of them are REALLY FUCKING GOOD. And I'm still discovering more.

Artists of the decade might be easier to do.

i actually thought Amputechture was TMV's worst album.

I don't know how you all can even do this. There's been so many albums coming out every year for the past ten years and so many of them are REALLY FUCKING GOOD. And I'm still discovering more.

Artists of the decade might be easier to do.

I agree, you just need to be discerning and VERY ruthless when paring it down...

Like I said, Amputechture was my first TMV album. It has a special place in my heart. And when you get right down to it...I think this is the album that defines the Mars Volta. If some of the sounds/"events" on this album bother you, then an aspect of Omar's personality/style bothers you. I think it's just the right representation of what they sound like and who they are.

I LOVE all of the other TMV albums. This one takes the spot for me because I see it as amazingly balanced and a solid "face" for the band at this point. De-Loused, Frances, and Bedlam were all fueled by trauma. That makes for very very good music with great emotion invested in it, but I like this album because it seems like they had their heads really cleared for it and were able to map it out with solid intentions in mind, creating just the right sound they wanted without being ruled by the intensity of any particular stress (but hey, I could be way wrong about this). In this way Octahedron comes off to me as having a special relationship with Amputechture. Octahedron feels like Amputechture's pretty younger cousin who doesn't have autism. But maybe that idea of mine just stems from my obsession with 8-song albums.

I could probably be more detailed with it, but I need to work on keeping my shit less tl;dr, as you can see.



Yes; it's difficult to go down to one album per artist, but it's also a lot of fun for me.

Can't forget.... Dillinger Escape Plan- Irony is a Dead Scene