If the 80s and 90s saw music fragmenting into hundreds of tiny subcultures the 00s offered a way out – in part by destroying the very music industry machinery that encouraged such fragmentation. File sharing may have killed music but it also saved it by letting people hear thousands of songs they never would have been exposed to.It also freed musicians like M.I.A., Radiohead, and Girl Talk to make music that was as boundary-less as their audience.

Here they are, my pick for the 100 best albums of the last decade:

Best of the 00s 100-76

Best of the 00s 75-51

Best of the 00s 50-26

Best of the 00s 25-1

Children of Men

The decade that’s ending has the ignominy of following the 1990’s, an era that will be looked back on as a creative peak rivaling the 1970’s for cinema. This is not to say the 00’s sucked as there were some great films and wonderful talents that emerged all over the world.

Pixar proved that the Toy Story movies were merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to animation that was artistic and commercially successful. Judd Apatow may have faltered of late but he also found a way to freshen the comedy genre and inject a sometimes Cassavettes-like realism into broad can-you-top-this flicks. Superhero films were abundant but Sam Raimi with Spider-Man and especially Chris Nolan’s two Batman films showed a new level of complexity within an often two-dimensional genre.

Then there was the aftermath of 9/11 and the ongoing nightmare of the Bush presidency. The films that grappled with this best were the ones that did so obliquely, even sub-texturally. The Dark Knight comes to mind here as well with a Wall Street Journal editorial even claiming to see a vindication of Bush in the film’s vision of Batman as over-surveilling rule-breaking vigilante against an amoral enemy. Or consider the TV in the background of one of Sideways most discomfiting, riotous scenes as Paul Giamatti sneaks into the bedroom of an amorous, thieving couple while Donald Rumsfeld talks on the screen behind them.

While undoubtedly I missed a few trends here are the 100 films that I truly enjoyed this decade, in rough order of release. Let the arguing commence!

Aardman's Chicken Run skewered WWII escape dramas

1. Chicken Run


You Can Count on Me didn't let us down

2. You Can Count on Me


Best in Show was no dog

3. Best in Show


High Fidelity celebrated a lost world...and lists like this one

4. High Fidelity


Cameron Crowe's autobiographical Almost Famous put a band-aid on it

5. Almost Famous


Wonder Boys brilliantly adapted Chabon

6. Wonder Boys


Gladiator asked if we were not amused...

7. Gladiator


Harron's American Psycho taught us about business cards... and plastic tarp

8. American Psycho


Memento fractured and reversed narrative ... what was I saying?

9. Memento


Peter Jackson's Tolkein trilogy ruled them all, bringing the epic to new heights

10. The Lord of the Rings: Trilogy


Ghost World made the planet safe for nerd girls and the Buscemis who love them

11. Ghost World


Shrek was Eddie Murphy's best performance of the decade (yes, including Dreamgirls)

12. Shrek


The Closet was workplace farce at it's best

13. The Closet


Donnie Darko proved impossible for Richard Kelly to follow-up (though he keeps trying)

14. Donnie Darko


The Royal Tenenbaums was Wes Anderson's ode to family

15. The Royal Tenenbaums


Waking Life had us flipping light switches to make sure we were awake

16. Waking Life


Moulin Rouge mashed up styles of music and cinema into a sumptuous treat

17. Moulin Rouge


Spirited Away was a modern Through The Looking Glass

18. Spirited Away


Ripley's game suggested that Matt Damon might age to resemble John Malkovich

19. Ripley’s Game


About a Boy proved that Hugh Grant is best as a (lovable) cad

20. About a Boy


Talk To Her showed that Almodovar could combine a new maturity with a Volkswagen-sized vulva

21. Talk to Her


Adaptation had Cage's two best performances of the decade

22. Adaptation


The Kid Stays in the Picture made us feel bad for losing Ali MacGraw to that McQueen guy

23. The Kid Stays in the Picture


Spider-Man wasn't related to Morris Spiderman D.D.S.

24. Spider-Man


About Schmidt gave us a vulnerable Nicholson

25. About Schmidt


24 Hour Party People took us to Madchester with the brilliant Steve Coogan as ringmaster

26. 24 Hour Party People


The Bourne Identity proved action movies didn't have to be edited by a Benihana's chef

27. The Bourne Identity


Y Tu Mama Tambien was some sad, sexy, slyly political stuff

28. Y Tu Mama Tambien


Rivers and Tides let us into the genius of artist Andy Goldsworthy

29. Andy Goldsworthy – Rivers and Tides: Working With Time


Finding Nemo immersed us in an undersea world

30. Finding Nemo


Errol Morris' Fog of War lifted the veil on Robert McNamara

31. The Fog of War


Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation whispered in our ear and introduced us to Suntory time

32. Lost in Translation


Infernal Affairs was good enough for a Scorsese-helmed remake

33. Infernal Affairs


American Splendor bought multi-dimensional Harvey Pekars to life

34. American Splendor


The Triplets of Belleville pedalled us across the Atlantic

35. The Triplets of Belleville


My architect looked at the professional and very personal legacy of architect Louis Kahn

36. My Architect: A Son’s Journey


The Weather Underground supplied talking points for the Republican campaigns of '08

37. The Weather Underground


Whale Rider showed us how to make our warrior face

38. Whale Rider


28 Days Later showed us where monkey rage leads

39. 28 Days Later


The Kill Bill films kicked our asses in a tracksuit

40. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2


Brad Bird's The Incredibles was the American Beauty of the animated world. Think about it.

41. The Incredibles


Alexander Payne's Sideways burrowed into the heart of male middle-aged ennui

42. Sideways


End of The Century showed us the broken hearts of The Ramones and broke our hearts at the loss

43. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones


Gondry and Kauffman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind taught us the difference between Pope Alexander and Alexander Pope

44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


Vera Drake showed that bravery doesn't always announce itself

45. Vera Drake


Shaun of the Dead introduced us to pale, lumbering Brits and the zombies who want to eat them

46. Shaun of the Dead


Who better than Alfonso Cuaron to introduce hormones into the Harry Potter universe in the best film of the series so far.

47. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban


Dig made The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Masacre actually seem like interesting bands

48. DIG!


Tom Dowd and the Language of Music allowed us to hear classic soul and rock with new ears

49. Tom Dowd and the Language of Music


Team America introduced us to full-on puppet nookie- with strings attached

50. Team America: World Police


Wallace and Gromit get a full-length film worthy of their legacy

51. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit


Good Night and Good Luck made us mourn for journalism while marveling at Straitharn's masterful performace as Murrow

52. Good Night. And, Good Luck


Grizzly Man made us hope that Werner Herzog would steer clear of narrating our life story. Oh, and avoid bears.

53. Grizzly Man


After Innocence was a devastating look at the American judicial system

54. After Innocence


Kung Fu Hustle put the slap back into slapstick, and a few kicks too

55. Kung Fu Hustle


We couldn't quit Brokeback Mountain

56. Brokeback Mountain


World, Amy Adams. Amy Adams, meet world. Now play nice...

57. Junebug


A History of Violence repped a new era for Cronenberg

58. A History of Violence


Apatow's 40-Year-Old Virgin ushered in the Apatowization of American film comedy

59. The 40-Year-Old Virgin


Batman Begins was origin story as high adventure

60. Batman Begins


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang bought us our Robert Downey Jr. back, and Shane Black's cool factor

61. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang


Walk the Line was the best in a slew of music biopics

62. Walk the Line


Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room was a preview of coming attractions for the nation's Bush-era economy

63. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room


Pan's Labyrinth made fascism really, really scary

64. Pan’s Labyrinth


Casino Royale emerged from the surf, dripping wet, as the best Bond movie since the 1960s

65. Casino Royale


The Lives of Others eavesdropped on the menaing of art and surveillance

66. The Lives of Others


A Scanner Darkly had Keanu Reeves' most animated performance in the most faithful Philip K. Dick adaptation ever

67. A Scanner Darkly


The Departed was grand guignol drama from Scorsese

68. The Departed


Children of Men took us into a bleak future

69. Children of Men


Block Party took Chapelle to my old neighborhood to put on a star-studded show

70. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party


Borat showed us that Sascha Baron Cohen may not have the balls of co-star Ken Davitian

71. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan


Greengrass staged United 93 as a straightahead pseudo-doc - and it worked

72. United 93


Little Miss Sunshine showed us the clutchless running van start

73. Little Miss Sunshine


Tristram Shandy hilariously adapted the "unadaptable" post-modern classic

74. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story


Half Nelson was all good with a great performance by Ryan Gosling

75. Half Nelson


Ratatouille made the kitchen an acceptable place for vermin

76. Ratatouille


Persepolis told Marjane Satrapi's life with indelible imagery

77. Persepolis


The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men flipped a coin to decide our fate

78. No Country for Old Men


The Bourne Ultimatum was a series best

79. The Bourne Ultimatum


Juno taught us that in China they shoot babies out of t-shirt guns

80. Juno


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly could read our blinks

81. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


There Will be Blood drank our milkshake

82. There Will Be Blood


Knocked Up suggested we consider a smashbortion

83. Knocked Up


Michael Clayton was just a janitor - a dreamy George Clooney janitor

84. Michael Clayton


Fincher's Zodiac nurtured a deep consuming obsession

85. Zodiac


3:10 To Yuma was a rare remake that bested the source

86. 3:10 to Yuma


Eastern Promises totally kicked our ass, naked

87. Eastern Promises


2 Days in Paris showed their family a compromising picture of us with a balloon

88. 2 Days In Paris


We were strung along by Man on Wire

89. Man On Wire


WALL-E was the sweetest post-apocalyptic movie ever

90. WALL-E


The Dark Knight asked why so serious?

91. The Dark Knight


Milk was here to recruit us

92. Milk


Iron Man needed a scotch

93. Iron Man


Happy-Go-Lucky taught us to drive

94. Happy-Go-Lucky


Synecdoche, New York created a smaller version of our lives in a warehouse

95. Synechdoche, New York


Inglorius Basterds demanded it's Nazi scalps!

96. Inglorious Basterds


Up broke our hearts in the first 15 minutes and named us Kevin

97. Up


In The Loop found new and creative ways to curse us out

98. In the Loop


The Hurt Locker defused our bomb

99. The Hurt Locker


Spike Jonze's adaptation of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are began the wild rumpus

100. Where The Wild Things Are

Reviving the Pixies seemed to re-spark a hunger for Black Francis (aka Frank Black) so much so that he reverted to his previous moniker and dropped a blazing solo record that was the equal of his best work solo or otherwise.  This is no Pixies self-imitation though – Black uses all the colors in the palette he developed over his many years solo (often in the wilderness of semi-obscurity) to essay a supercharged tribute to Dutch punk poet Herman Brood.

24. Les Savvy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends

Les Savvy Sav had seemingly hung up their hats after the great singles comp Inches so it was a pleasurable surprise to find the reformed and re-energized band dishing up the best album yet of their career. Killer songs about teen girls possessed by Babylonian spirits, living like wolves, and freeloaders romp around gloriously as if they hadn’t been away at all.

23. Beck – Guero

Dismissed by many as Beck “doing” Beck, this feels to me like a summation of his many strengths along the lines of Radiohead’s In Rainbows or The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers. It also contains some of his best songs from the murder ballad dance moves of “Girl” to the chugging “Rental Car.”

22. The National – Boxer

A deep dark look at the darkness permeating the decade, Boxer is a masterpiece that calls bullshit on the hollowness at the core of so many lives in 00 America. The thundering drums portend a guitar blazing album that only emerges on “Mistaken For Strangers.” Elsewhere they are contrasted with surprisingly muted accompaniment, heartbreaking laments framed by magisterial horns and  strategically deployed piano.

21. Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress

I truly love this album despite the occasional groans it engenders from the B & S faithful. Made up of inexplicably discarded songs and muscularly produced by Buggles and Frankie Goes to Hollywood mastermind Trevor Horn, this is a fantastically far ranging set of songs from the horny Bacharach workplace double entendres of “Step Into my Office” to the orientation questions surrounding Mike Piazza on the acoustic “Piazza, New York Catcher” every song hits home, and the intricately arranged instrumentation seals the deal.

20. The White Stripes – Elephant

The White Stripes Elephant is aptly, if punningly titled. Like Hannibal they ride in as conquering heroes reversing the decade long trend of pilloried follow-up albums. Instead Jack and Meg build on their breakthrough album in every way here – bigger songs, bigger sales, better songwriting, meatier guitar playing. An absolute triumph.

19. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes

Cursed by a perfect 10 out of 10 from 00s premier indie rock tastemakers at Pitchfork.com, Trail of Dead made some good follow-ups but were roundly pilloried by their former celebrators. Still, none of their subsequent works were as great as this marvelous synthesis of Sonic Youth moves, Elephant 6 referents, Replacements nods, and other indie signification wrapped in sturdy songs and powerful playing. Though their influnces are always apparent they are also transcended and transmuted, aided in part by the rich variety of sounds on the album.

18. McLusky – McLusky Do Dallas

McLusky gathered a rabid cult after the release of this, their second album. They would go on to do better songs on it’s wake but never a better collection of songs and more importantly, snotty attitude. After all, the ballad number is called “Fuck This Band”, (“Fuck their holes,” lead singer Andrew Falkous sweetly implores) which is contrasted by the sentiment of “The World Loves Us and is Our Bitch.” Elsewhere the scream singing and dynamic guitars along with Steve Albini’s production all nod towards the Pixies without slavishly imitating them. A raging joy of an album.

17. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

Improbably The Hold Steady simply kept getting better and better culminating in this whopper of a record, one that takes in elements of new wave and chamber pop while only ratcheting up the anthem factor. Bonus points come from referencing John Cassavettes and the sheer awesomeness of the songs and arrangements.

16. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

This debut clearly owed a debt to the rise in guitar rock that followed in the wake of The Strokes debut record (see Kaiser Chiefs, Futureheads, Arctic Monkeys, The Hives et al) but Franz Ferdinand did the others one better by infusing their rhythm section with the other spirit of ‘76 – disco. The unstoppable combo of punky Wire-like guitars chugging and churning over Chic like ass shaking rhythms are irresistible, as are the the love as spygame lyrics that have an internal logic all their own with recurring eye and hand imagery. i wanted to punch these guys when I saw their  slick suits and matching record covers but there is real substance inside their style.

15. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

A letdown in some quarters following the breakthrough of the previous record The Soft Bulletin, to my ears this ranks as the better album, infused as it is with unexpected electronic flourishes to go with the band’s advanced popcraft. Unexpectedly moving, particularly when seen performed live.

14. Stars – Set Yourself on Fire

A leftfield masterpiece Stars made you wonder how you missed their first two albums when this proved just how damn good and wide ranging they could be. From contemplating doing your high school crush at the reunion to the tyranny of the Bush administration this cuts a wide lyrical and stylistic swath under the co-guidance of angel-voiced Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell’s croon.

13. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft

Who could foresee that Dylan would make one of the best records of his long career in 2001, fully embodying the voice of several eras of gritty American music while still holding forth with verve and vitality not to mention humor and randiness.

12. Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica

Taking advantage of their biggest budget yet Modest Mouse respond with their most focus songs musically, but their most expansive lyrically. Blowing minds by taking you from the outer edges of the universe to the quiet trap of a lonely big city apartment, it’s a bracingly challenging yet accessible album – one they’ve yet to top.

11. The New Pornographers – Electric Version

The second album from this Canadian supergroup of sorts ust lays on the killer guitar riffs, driving drums, and massed vocals until you simply have to cry “Uncle” and surrender. This makes sense since the whole thing functions as a sideways critique of Bush era America.

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

Karen O and Nick Zinner are singular musical talents, the yin and yang of one of New York’s greatest bands. While she whoops and swoops vocally he creates sharp shards and huge monuments with his guitar – it’s all there on this debut. Oddly it’s front loaded with the driving abrasive stuff (all of which is great), saving the killer pop songs for the one-two punch of “Y Control” and classic ballad “Maps” close to the very end.

9. Jay-Z – The Blueprint

Essentially the album he keeps trying and failing to follow up, The Blueprint showed Jay-Z swaggering into the new century on a nagging Jackson 5 sample, when not taking Nas down with an equally nagging and even more audacious Doors loop. A monster.

8. TV On The Radio – Dear, Science

TV On The Radio distill everything they’ve learned on this streamlined grower, a record that suggests they could be as big as U2 if they so desired. Every song is opened up to breath and pulsate, with hooks aplenty and their trademark vocal contrast at its best.

7. The Strokes – Is This It?

The record that blew open the doors to good old fashioned New York style punk in the new century, The Strokes revived vintage Tom Verlaine moves like they were invented yesterday. More important was the verve and delight they took in playing and the freshness of their attack. For a moment it seemed like guitar bands might rule the decade.

6. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

Not easily pigeonholed as electronica or anything else really, this record saw LCD Soundsystem master the art of great album making. Each song has it’s own setting and atmosphere -  there is a maturity and world weariness here that sinks down deep into the bone.

5. M.I.A. – Kala

M.I.A. caused a sensation with her debut but a large share of the praise was leveled at her producer, Diplo, who slung far flung, far out beats her way and strung it together into ass moving coherence. With this follow-up M.I.A. went out on her own, adding even more varied flavors and proved her talent was big enough to swallow borrowings from groups as diverse as Pixies, Jonathan Richman, and The Clash and transmuting it into her own deep groove.

4. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Montreal became a new indie rock nexus in the 00s in part because of this band and this amazing album. Making the world safe for deeply felt (as opposed to 90s era irony) music may have seemed corny to some but to others it was affecting stuff, leading to the mass catharsis that was their live shows.  The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink instrumentation  is always impeccably arranged to highlight rather than overwhelm the sturdy songs at the heart of the record.

3. Spoon – Kill The Moonlight

Spoon stripped it all down to the basics on this record – it’s as much about what’s not being played here as what is being played. Handclaps, lonely pianos, stinging guitars, all twine and combine to form exquisite songs of lust, loss, and longing. Then there’s the human beatbox on “Stay Don’t Go” and the punching horns on the bullying “Jonathan Fisk.” This is where Spoon comes into a sound that’s entirely their own.

2. Radiohead – Kid A

Radiohead started the decade with a rousing blast of artistic freedom, an electronic album by a rock band that upended expectations for the band, the genre and even the music industry. The predecessor, 1997’s OK Computer had already vaulted them from under-appreciated one-hit wonders to prog rock space geniuses. Yet Kid A still confounded expectations while adhering to the theme of the 00s. Blending music that previously had been kept in separate spaces, appreciated by very different fan bases, into a coherent and bracing whole. This is where Radiohead earned the sobriquet of best band in the world.

1. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals

Choosing this as the album of the decade has already led to strained friendships and personal hardship but I call’s ‘em as I see’s ‘em.  Girl Talk is the mastermind of DJ Gerg Gillis and no-one better embodies the 00s ethos of short-attention span, the song’s the thing, put it all in a blender and give me the highlights than his two most recent Girl Talk albums. This second one gets the edge just for upping the number of sonic filchings and for creating even more creative juxtapositions between hip-hop and indie rock, classic rock and electronica. It’s all grist for his booty-shaking mill. The rise of file sharing meant that listeners no longer were subject to the 80s and 90s trend of genrefying music into marketable sub categories with their own radio stations, labels and fans. In the 00s all the categories came together. As it should be.

Girls marvelous debut album is reminiscent of Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted in how it transmutes standard indie sounds into something irresistibly their own through sheer talent and force of will.

49. Outkast – Stankonia

Outkast spent much of the decade bidding to be the new Prince, or at least Andre 3000 did. They nearly got there with the massive “Hey Ya” single but it’s on this record that they are at their most consistent from song to song.

48. Eels – Souljacker

Not beloved by most Eels fans or detractors Souljacker found Eels frontman E hiding behind a Taliban beard (soon to become a standard hipster accessory) and a toy poodle, and brandishing a never before heard yen for feedback and rocking out. It’s his toughest and leanest album and to my mind one of his best.

47.  Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco’s bruising experience with their record label and the subsequent internet release of this album, their best, followed by a proper in store release is a capsule story of what was wrong with the record industry and why the Internet was right to destroy it. It’s also a damn fine record.

46. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele

Ghostface’s most unhinged means that it’s also his best – sheer pleasure and off centered rhymes from beginning to end.

45. Pulp – We Love Life

Pulp’s last album was also a marvel of great songwriting and arrangements from the chugging strings on “Trees” to the brilliant jokes on “Bad Cover Version” (check out the video that the morons at their record company won’t let me embed because it might, you know, promote the album).

44. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

The Pornos vary their sound and experiment more on their third album, with some of their most stunning results. Thankfully fuller arrangements don’t blunt the bands drive (as the follow-up record would) and only highlight the energy.

43. Cake – Comfort Eagle

It can be argued that the basics elements of any Cake album are essentially the same – killer rhythm section, horns for color, a bandleader whopping to exhort his colleagues. Yet here it all comes together on their best set of songs, from the one about Rick James doing the singer’s girlfriend in a kidney-shaped pool to the one about how pretty people don’t get cancer.

42. Green Day – American Idiot

Green Day was lucky to have the masters of their new album stolen. Lucky because it forced them to reinvent themselves on the fly, digging out of their pop-punk rut to deliver an angry Bush-bashing Who-loving concept album that magnificently rocked over 2004.

41. Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped

Sonic Youth closed out their long tenure on Geffen records (they were the ones who had convinced Nirvana to sign) with their best record since the early 90s, a concise, swinging statement of purpose that contained some of their prettiest guitar lines and poppiest melodies as if to say “If you can’t figure out how to market this, you don’t deserve to have it.”

40. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Kevin Barnes’ band Of Montreal found it’s full flowering after his marriage hit the rocks in Norway, leading to this throbbing thumping album that channels Prince by way of Neutral Milk Hotel. A wild rewarding ride.

39. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective spent the decade as an art band on the cusp of greatness, transmuting elements as wildly varied as The Beach Boys, jam bands, primitivism, and glitch-pop into their own unique stew. Finally they delivered this brilliant album that seems to find ways to port hooks and melodic elements through the backdoor.

38. The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

By all rights Craig Finn’s post-Lifter Puller band should have flamed out after their sarcastic debut but against all logic they keep getting better and better, writing songs with more depth and playing past the E-Street band comparisons to find their own sound beginning with this subtle devastator of a record.

37. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

Paul Bank’s nasal drone earned him unwanted comparisons to Joy Division’s late Ian Curtis, a burden few bands would want to try to live up to. A good listen to their debut however showed a band that married the late 70s moves of fellow NYers the Strokes with a lean and lithe rhythmic attack to flesh out their tales of louche romance and empty city streets.

36. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Neko Case hit her stride on this record, filling out her songs with fuller arrangements and a sound that defies easy categorization. As always above all is her glorious honeyed voice drawing the listener in.

35. Justice – Cross

The best pure dance feast of the decade, Justice took up the mantle of such fine 90s acts as Propellorheads, Fatboy Slim, and Daft Punk and created an album the equal of the best of their forebears.

34. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem followed up his hit debut by expanding and deepening his themes, most notably the blurring of fact and fiction that so fueled the ire of his critics. His prickly (and prick-y) intelligence animate even the harshest of these songs, as does his devilish sense of humor.

33. The Fiery Furnaces – EP

It’s fitting that one of the most interesting and frustrating bands of the era would have a compilation of odds and ends as their best and most listenable album. Starting as an actual brother and sister duo in the mold of The White Stripes they did a radical shift with the multilayered intricate song sites of Blueberry Boat and never turned back. EP’s songs reflect both eras and are often more tuneful than anything else they’ve done, avoiding the overstuffed left-turns that can sometimes sink their other records.

32. Radiohead – In Rainbows

In Rainbows got as much attention for being released online without a record label as a name-your-own-price download (quite successfully)  as for the music within – another nail in the coffin of the traditional record biz. Yet the contents were remarkable as well, a tour de force restatement of everything Radiohead can do from rhythmic electronica spiked songs to stately ruminative ballads to rousing guitar rock. Light years ahead of their competition.

31. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Pig Lib

Malkmus throws off the yoke of his former band Pavement by embracing his increasingly virtuoso guitar pyrotechnics. At the same time though his offbeat lyrics still hold fast as do his joy in warping traditional rock sounds to his own aims.

30. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig!

After a few years of uneven output Nick Cave stormed back wonderfully with this record, a hip-swinging travelogue through the US with the titular bible personage who seems to spend an awful lot of his post-resurrection on his back with members of the opposite sex. A lusty triumph.

29. Cat Power – You Are Free

Chan Marshall has since embraced the easy-on-the-ears sound of Memphis soul, much in the same way and with the same cohorts as Frank Black attempted to. Beforehand though, she made her most interesting and engrossing album, a rough hewn gem that used a stripped back lo-fi sound to offset her smoky warble with edgy guitars and bone dry drums.

28. Spoon – Gimme Fiction

Spoon showed some unexpected moves here, building on their growing mastery of negative space to put over the falsetto groove of “I Turn My Camera On” as well as the simmer to a boil edge of “The Beast and Dragon Adored.” Britt Daniel firmly established his bands rubbery punch as a sound all it’s own, with some antecedents but few equals.

27. Jay-Z – The Black Album

If only Jay-Z had actually really retired after this monster, which supposedly represented his farewell to rap. All his strengths are played to her with some of his best and most personal rhymes and a set of superstar backing tracks that treated his words like settings for jewels.

26. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Arcade Fire did the impossible, following up their beloved debut with a second album that built in many places on the strengths of the first one, if a shade unevenly. Nevertheless the Canadian band became a worldwide sensation, catapulted to playing with heroes from Bruce Springsteen to David Bowie in the kind of indie rock fairytale that few believed in anymore.

Working with Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann initially tagged these Brooklyn dwellers with a junior vibe to the venerable Oklahoma City band. The slow-building success of this album and the audaciousness of the songs inside though proved that MGMT were doing their own thang – from the 80s pop sounds of “Electric Feel” to the rock star fantasy building of “Time to Pretend”.

74. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear transcended easy psych-folk labels with their second album, extending on and improving their synthesis of Beach Boys harmonies and tangled melodies.

73. Morcheeba – Charango

Morcheeba began life as a bunch of trip-hop wannabes – a femme fronted producer-driven group. Yet on Charango their sound is broadened to include guests like Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner and Slick Rick, taking them into new territory both comical and musical.

72. Kanye West – Late Registration

Kanye’s second album found him building on the pleasures of the first one, with a touch less aggrandizing and a bit more songcraft.

71. M. Ward – Post-War

M. Ward’s very consistency makes him easy to overlook. I could have picked almost any of his 00 albums here, but it also limits me to just one on the list as they are fairly representative of each other. Post-War gets the most play at Chez Mallin however and Ward’s gifts for a tune and canny arrangements are well evidenced here.

70. Lovage – Music To Make Love to Your Old Lady By

Lovage is the demon child of Dan the Automator (nee Nathaniel Merriweather), ex Faith No More singer Mike Patton, singer Jennifer Charles, and guests ranging from Damon Albarn to Afrika Bambaataa and Prince Paul. The results are a steamy, tongue in cheek hip hop album that finds the erotic in song titles like “Stroker Ace” and a trio of Hitchcock nods (another master of queasy lovemaking hangups) “Lifeboat”, “Strangers on a Train” and “To Catch a Thief”.

69. The Postal Service – Give Up

The twee revolution will be heard! A side project of Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello The Postal Service became ubiquitous hipster go-to music in 2003 -04 and is the genesis for chart-topping sound jackers like Owl City. Yet the songs here have a warmth and immediacy lacking not just in the band’s imitators but also in the principal’s day jobs.

68.  The Roots – Game Theory

The Roots had an odd and sometimes rocky decade, ending as the house band on a late night talk show. Along the way they made some great music though, the strongest of which was on this fierce, rollicking hip hop album which is nearly the masterpiece that 1999’s Things Fall Apart was.

67. Lambchop – Is a Woman

Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner takes it slow and easy – smart considering the sometimes 20-plus band members Lambchop shows up with at any given time. His strange avuncular mumblings are combined with expansive arrangements most effectively here as the band builds their own unique sonic world.

66. The National – Alligator

The National slid Alligator well and truly under the radar but those who heard it filed them away as a band to keep an eye on. Oddly humorous and nostalgic lyrics are underpinned by a wide range of expertly executed indie rock stylings.

65. Decemberists – Picaresque

This is the last of the Decemberists albums that finds them in their classic mode and it embodies all their strengths of wordplay and melody beautifully.

64. Super Furry Animals – Phantom Power

The Furries had a hard time in the 00s reconciling their experimental, rock, and classic rock bents. On Phantom power they wisely go back to letting it all bleed into each other with songs about “Venus and Serena” (apparently they are turtles) next to George Bush baiting tunes like the title track.

63. Eminem – The Eminem Show

Eminem’s third finds him angrier than ever – cleverly drawing parallels between his detractors in the media nd the same media’s obedience to George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq War. Give him credit for calling the Bush White House on their lies at a time when it was quite unpopular to question such things. It also helps that Eminem could out-rap any of his contemporaries save Jay-Z and was aided by another solid set of Dr. Dre beats.

62. Neil Young – Are You Passionate?

Much derided this grab bag of tracks recorded with Booker T. and the M.G’s, at least one live track recorded with Crazy Horse and with the audience applause brutally edited from the end and various and sundry others was Young’s strongest of the decade and stuffed with hidden gems. “Let’s Roll” is Young’s typically patriotic (for a Canadian) recounting of United 93, the title track also alludes to the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the one then-brewing in Iraq, and the sense of Autumnal reflection feels earned, never forced.

61. Caribou – Andorra

Caribou’s blend of psychedelia and electronica is nearly perfect on Andorra, with tracks like “Melody Day” sounding like vintage Zombies crossed with Fatboy Slim.

60. RJD2 – Deadringer

RJD2 emerged as one of the most talented producer/DJs of the decade, transmuting crate dug old soul records into resoundingly fluid dance jams.

59. Frank Black and The Catholics – Dog in the Sand

The Catholics were Frank Blacks garage band bid to add distance between himself and The Pixies and by mid-decade he would immerse himself in americana with them. Dog in The Sand suggested the balance between the extremes of his old band and the more conservative approach this direction would take with one of his best sets of songs. By decade’s end the pendulum would swing back, the Pixies would reunite (at least as a live band) and Black would change back into Black Francis.

58. Neko Case – Blacklisted

This is Neko Case’s breakthrough as a songwriter rather than as an interpreter of country classics. As such she finds an aching atmospheric territory somewhere between Billy Holliday and Patsy Cline.

57. Interpol – Antics

Interpol further distanced themselves from Joy Division comparisons with this, their second album. The sound revolves more than ever around the crack rhythm section which whipsaws and pushes the lovelorn lyrics and heavily textured guitar around the map.

56. Thermals – Now We Can See

The Thermals suggested they were more than a run-of-the-mill punk band on their epic takedown of religion The Body, The Blood, The Machine but they improbable topped that with this, their masterpiece. A punchy tuneful heartfelt record about life and how it ends – go figure.

55. Dangerdoom – The Mouse and the Mask

A collaboration between two of the leading lights of underground hip-hop, Dangermouse and MF Doom brokered by who? The Cartoon Network? And it works magnificently – fittingly since both are cartoonish in their own ways.

54. Bob Dylan – Modern Times

Dylan continued his decade-long purple patch with this vital, engaging album that ranks among his best. With shout-outs explicitly to Alicia Keys and implicitly to Hurricane Katrina it shows him both of and outside our times, one of the greats just getting better with age.

53. M.I.A. – Arular

M.I.A. took listeners on a global dance tour with beats and tunes galore on her audacious debut.

52. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s succumbed to the familiar overhyped expectations surrounding the follow-up to their debut and like fellow New Yorkers the Strokes, had a very fine album overlooked as a consequence. Some of the bands best and most intricate songwriting is on this glorious breakup album.

51. Beck – Sea Change

Hailed by some as Beck’s best (it’s not), the quirky genious backs away from the Prince-like loveman poses of the glorious Midnight Vultures and gets vulnerable with a break-up album of his own. Mirroring the baroque arrangements of his underrated Mutations album and adding his most direct lyrics yet (or since) Sea Change didn’t really mark a new Beck, just another version of the same one we know.

Regina Spektor continues to stride the fine line of what radio programmers call AAA (alternative for old folks) and quirky indie – ans she never did it finer than on this record which coupled poppy keyboard driven tunes with weird New York boho lifestyle observations.

99. Deerhunter – Microcastle

Deerhunter’s second album found them filling out their sound – lo-fi punk edging into jammier territory without ever losing a sense of melody.

98. Primal Scream – Xtrmntr

Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie is aided here by My Bloody Valentine mastermind Kevin Shields among others, but the results are very different from MBV’s wall of guitar sound. Gillespie is as interested in beats as always and mashes a lot of electronic sounds in with dub style bass and kraut-y guitars. An early example of the musical eclecticism that would define the decade.

97. Portishead – Third

Portishead came back after nearly 11 years, and Geoff Barrow and company weren’t content to revisit the trip-hop sounds they had pioneered. Instead the experimental impulses that peppered the bands second album in 1997 were given full range here to stunning effect.

96. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime

One of the most interesting trends in the 00s was a revisiting of the art of sampling but on a whole new level thanks to sophisticated computer software. The Field created involving fascinating hypnotic reveries out of mere seconds of other pieces of music – often unrecognizable until a few bars more are allowed to resolve and you realize that the haunting minimalist motif you were fascinated with was a section of Lionel Richie’s “Hello.”

95. Quasi – The Sword of God

Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss moonlit in this band with her soon to be ex-husband and to my taste this was the better project. Wonderfully sardonic songs with killer guitar parts and Weiss incredible drumming – what’s not to like?

94. Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation

The album cover and some of the band’s moves sparked Pavement comparisons and the resemblance is there, make no mistake. Yet Blitzen Trapper had some moves of their own on this debut, going way more rustic than Pavement ever did and putting their own skewed worldview on musical display.

93. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary

Wolf bands were big in the 00s – Wolfmother, Guitar Wolf etc., but Wolf Parade was the best of the bunch. The varied debut introduced Spencer Krug and co. to the world and if the vocal timbre of the band is reminiscent of  other blog world favorites the high quality of the songs and varied approach are all their own.

92. Jason Forrest – Shamelessly Exciting

Another great example of the propensity of music to get sliced, diced, chopped and channeled in the 00s. Forrest made amazing soundscapes out of old songs but while the approach of The Field was to go minimalist and someone like Girl Talk was to cram as many referents as possible into each track, Forrest constructed new pop beasts out of the parts of old stuff by the likes of Blood Sweat and Tears, ELO, The Sex Pistols, and Television.

91. Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump

Yes, the concept album was back – often in modest form as in here by Jason Lytle’s now defunct band Grandaddy. Sounding like Neil Young circa Reactor with extra bloops and bleeps they tell the story of a sad robot named Jed. It sounds awful but the band pulls it off with tunefulness and a disdain for plot.

90. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow

Damn you Garden State. The Shins unassuming nearly-twee pop was barely able to handle the lofty expectations thrust on it by Princess Amidala in Zach Braff’s Graduate wannabe film. Still this follow up to their debut was nearly perfect: short sharp and sweet.

89. My Morning Jacket – Z

My Morning Jacket shrugged off the onerous jam band tag and started to stretch out with Z, leading some overzealous types to call them the American Radiohead. Not quite, as MMJ don’t really dabble in electronica at all and prefer to ground even their most experimental stuff in sturdy grooves and earthtoned sounds.

88. Strokes – Room on Fire

Ah the much maligned second album syndrome. Roundly shat upon for not being the earth-shattering debut, in retrospect the spare follow-up to the Strokes’ first album is a capable and engaging record in it’s own right. At times sounding practically dubbed-out, it anticipates the new wave baiting moves of so many of The Strokes follower bands without losing their essential sound and spirit.

87. Radiohead – Amnesiac

The companion record to Kid A, Amnesiac was fated to be less surprising than it’s predecessor. That said, there’s no shortage of good stuff here.

86. Silver Jews – Tanglewood Numbers

“Black planet, black freighter, black sea..” croaks Dave Berman, describing the deep descent into drug dependency and depression that sidelined him for several years before coming back with Silver Jews most vital, alive record.

85. The Dears – Gang of Losers

The Dears may have felt like losers – Morrissey acolytes adrift in a sea of white indie rock – especially with a black band leader. Where they previously had gone orchestral the Montreal band pulls back into leaner, meaner arrangements that emphasize their song chops and Murray Lightburn’s terrific voice and acerbic lyrics.

84. Dangermouse/ Jay-Z/ The Beatles – The Grey Album

DJ Dangermouse, soon to find a measure of fame with Cee-Lo in Gnarls Barkley, got on many music fiend’s radar with this audacious cross pollination of Jay-Z’s mighty Black Album and the Beatles monumental White Album. Conceptual perfection is achieved. The Grey Album also exemplifies the loss of control that traditional gatekeepers had over music in the 00s. Meant as a freebie for friends it spread far and wide thanks to free illegal downloading services, raising the ire of The Beatles and Capital Records.

83. Islands – Return to the Sea

Unicorns made one cultishly adored album before imploding, leading co-leader Nick Diamonds to better the debut with this eclectic sun-splashed disc. That’s not to say all is sweetness and light, amidst the punning self-referential lyrics and marimbas there are intimations of the end of the world and other light topics.

82. Gravenhurst – Fires in Distant Buildings

Reviewers weren’t sure what pigeonhole to place Gravenhurst in – were they folk, drone-rock, kraut? Their heavily atmospheric sound, best exemplified by this album, traded in aspects of each of these while still finding a unique sound.

81. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells

The album that introduced most folks to the quasi- brother/sister duo of Jack and Meg White. Kicked down the door opened by The Strokes by bringing indie rock sounds to mainstream radio and TV, ultimately becoming more of a commercial force.

80. MF Doom – Mmm Food

Leave it to eclectic alt-rapper Doom to craft an entire album about eating and food – though naturally his meals extend to other, lesser MC’s.

79. TV on The Radio – Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes

The first full-length from these Brooklynites revels in their unique mix of Peter Gabriel-esque art rock, doo-wop, and crunching indie guitar rock.

78. CSS – Cansei De Ser Sexy

Brazil’s best export, at least since their waxing style and thong swimwear, CSS bought an ass-shaking sensibility to forward thinking dancefloors.

77. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

On the surface less experimental than it’s predecessor, Sky Blue Sky sneaks up on the listener with twirling intricate guitar lines undercutting traditionalist song structures.

76. Spoon – Girls Can Tell

After the kind of major-label hell experience that broke lesser bands sent Spoon into the arms of Merge Records, they bounced back with their most wide-ranging and accomplished record yet. Their future, stripped-down sound is hinted at across these tracksbut there is a palpable sense of liberation here as well.