Because I love lists, here is a list of my favorite records from 2000-2009 in relative alphabetical order:

1. Angela Desveaux – The Mighty Ship (it’s just beautiful and great on vinyl)
2. The Arcade Fire – Funeral (if you don’t respoond to ‘wake up’ you could be lifeless and dead)
3. Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham – L’avventura (again, it’s a beautiful record)
4. The Dismemberment Plan – Change (my dc friends make their perhaps last and greatest record)
5. Mike Doughty – Rockity Roll (no over-thought tunes. i wish this was longer.)
6. Duffy – Rockferry (what a voice!)
7. Eno and Byrne – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (two of my favorites yet again on a record together this time writing great songs)
8. Godspeed You Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (the soundtrack to the first have of the decade for me)
9. Kanye West – Late Registration (that kanye certainly has something to say)
10. Kadman – Sing To Me Slower (if dave never wrote another song other than diesel and honeymoon’s end, we’d be ok)
11. Keane – Perfect Symmetry (stellar pop)
12. The Killers – Hot Fuse (see above)
13. Leisure Icons – Leisure Icons (angular mathy locals that has been in heavy rotation here)
14. Low – The Great Destroyer (dave fridmann + low = happy mat)
15. Luna – Rendezvous (i used to put my daughter to sleep to this record)
16. Mouse On Mars – Idiology (Mmmm, stomp pedals)
17. N.E.R.D. – In Search Of… (more drums please)
18. The Octopus Project – Hello Avalanche (my band opened for them this summer. i can’t stop playing this record)
19. Parts and Labor – Stay Afraid (new york’s finest)
20. Saint Etienne – Finisterre (sarah cracknell’s voice is to die for)
21. Sam Prekop – Who’s Your New Professor (i love the beats on this record)
22. Katy Perry – One of the Boys (good production, songwriting and a pretty face don’t always equate to crappy pop music)
23. Prince – The Rainbow Children (prince did have some good records this decade, and this is his finest)
24. Rod Lee – The Official (rod is a genius and you’ll be hearing more about baltimore club very soon)
25. Shakira – Fijación Oral Vol. 1 (that shakira can do anything)
26. Sigur Rós – Takk (birthing sounds)
27. Austin Stahl – The Things You Carry (austin can write about heartbreak like no other)
28. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong (one of my favorite live albums ever and i am not a huge radiohead fan)
29. Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous (jenny lewis.)
30. Justin Timberlake – Justified (pharrell williams is one sick drummer, JT is someone who i’ve yet to get sick of)
31. Tokio Hotel – Schrei (they were everywhere in europe. who cares if they play their instruments.)
32. Trans Am – TA (my dc favs… they can do no wrong)
33. Wendy and Lisa – Girl Bros. (see above, they can do no wrong)
34. John Zorn – Live at Tonic 2001 (john zorn would be in the supergroup in my head. acharei mot is my jam in this set.

Picking favorite Dylan songs is like picking a favorite child. Each is intricate and well laid out. Even if he thinks otherwise. His arrangements change from year to year. He’s completely evolving at every moment. In 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, he unintentionally did the most punk thing ever. Even more punk than Ian or Sid. Yes. He said, “Fuck You” to traditional folk music and picked up an electric guitar. And people started listening with their other ear. End of the era of protest song. And Bob started something new and interesting and more profound. Music could be more than just lyrics and melody. More than a chorus here and verse here.

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Anyone can make a Top 10 Michael Jackson list, right? But it’s hard to pull outside Off the Wall and Thriller. Michael was no Prince. So you have to pull from the other Jacksons. Man I wish there was more Tito records out there, he’s outta sight! Not to mention my favorite Jackson. Sorta.
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I first heard Radiohead from my friend Jordan. You know, the dude who sang in all those high school bands I was in. Good times. It was probably a mixtape. At the time, it was pretty refreshing. Alternative Rock was the buzz word. I remember sophomore Geometry with my friend Ben Ko. We’d give each other funny looks every time the teacher said, “And here’s an alternative way to solve this…” For Radiohead it was great timing. Not to mention great music. I was first impressed that Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie from Fort Apache recorded the record. Some of my favorite records by Dinosaur Jr., Sebahdoh, The Pixies and Buffalo Tom were recorded there. The HUGE drums. I love it. And I loved it. And Radiohead was no exception. The drums were huge. This was Pablo Honey. Sadly the drums became smaller and smaller as each record progressed. The same progression also happened with the Flaming Lips. Such is so-called growth.

Then came college, The Bends broke. It was pretty different, but I never really hit me until a few years later. By then they were the biggest band around and I had stopped listening to music with lyrics. They simply didn’t matter to me.

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According to the wikipedia:

The snare drum or side drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the bottom head. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom (internal) side of the top (batter) head.

Ah, the snare drum. It’s typically what you hear on the 2 & 4 of a rock song. You know, where people with rhythm clap. I firmly believe it’s the most complicated instrument to record. There is so much going on. It covers so many frequency ranges. It has so many voices and dynamics. It’s overtones and harmonics are tremendous yet it’s a very sensitive instrument. More so than most people can imagine. It also gives the listener a real feel for how the room in which it was recorded is shaped. Only an experienced (or lucky) engineer can properly and accurately capture it’s sound. (more…)

1. Marc Ribot – He’s the David Bowie of guitar. What I mean is his style of guitar and songwriting changes quite frequently and drastically. One minute he’s spazoid on Zorn’s label and the next he’s playing with Elvis Costello. Then he’s starting Radical New Jewish Culture festivals in Germany. His work, however on 1998’s The Prosthetic Cubans and 2000’s Muy Divertido! are incredibly well scripted Cuban jazz records. Both are must-haves.
2. Shakira – Most will blow her off as leftover commercial pop waste from the Latin explosion of the late 90s. Either I believe her scam or there’s something more. I’ve always been attracted to her non-high-pitched vocals. The high registers are typically the downfall of many women singers. She, at times, reminds me of Alanis Morrisette, a comparison I am sure the critics love to give her. And her songs aren’t always about heartbreak. The only thing I can say, is 1998’s Dónde Están los Ladrones? has blown my mind away and English is not spoken in one song. Just give “Ciega, Sordomuda” a try and if that bright blazing trumpet harmonizing with her voice doesn’t do it for you, well, there’s nothing left to say.
3. Seu Jorge – This Brazilian singer cranks out the pop like it’s noone’s business. And his covers of many Bowie songs from the The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou soundtrack is worth every penny. Did these chunks of songs also remind you of Jonathan Richman in There’s Something About Mary? Or was it just me?
   
4. Juan Garcia Esquivel – Not only a genius and flexible band leader, but a pioneer in pushing the limits of recording studios and technology with pop music of the 50s and 60s. Juan and Les Baxter should be in a hall of fame somewhere.
5. Gal Costa – I originally heard of Gal Costa when the singer in a band I was in gave me a CD to give to the girl I was dating at the time. Somehow it ever got to her and I found a few years ago behind another CD in it’s case. Never really knowing what it was, but always liking it, until I popped it in the computer and the artist and song titles showed up. She’s Brazilian. She plays the bossa and it’s tropical. She’s also kinda crazy. There’s nothing better for early summer music. Thanks Hewson.
6. Los Amigos Invisibles - Their 1998 and first American release (on Luaka Bop) was called The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera. Perhaps Caracas’ finest party band. I first saw them for the first time sometime in 1998 when they were opening up for Soul Coughing. Was it Baltimore at the Recher? They really opened my eyes up to dance bands. It was possible. They were incredibly friendly and gracious. I had many conversations about the history of the Strat and other weird guitars with José speaking only in fragments of nouns and verbs trying to pull from the little amount of Spanish I learned in middle school. And whenever I would show up backstage where ever Soul Coughing took them, they would always scream openly, “MATEOOOOOOO!” It still gives me a warm feeling inside.
7. Astrud Gilberto – While “Ma” Rainey was considered the Mother of Blues, Astrud is the Mother of the Bossa Nova for me. I can’t think of anything else to say. That should pretty much sum it up if you’ve ever heard her music.
8. Os Mutantes – Brazilian psychedelia at it’s finest. Coming out around the times of Gal Costa it would be interesting to see who influenced whom. In all likelihood it was probably a call and response type deal, a la the Beatles and the Beach Boys circa 1965-1968.
9. Paulinho Nogueira – I know little to nothing about this artist. I do know he’s a guitarist from Brazil. I do know he died in 2003. I do know his record A Nova Bossa é Violao from 1963 continues to blow my mind away. It’s some of bossa’s finest.
10. Herb Alpert - In a similar vein, a la Esquivel, Herb’s arrangements were what made him successful. Oh and he was the “A” in A&M Records. Two words: Tijuana Brass. That’s all. I think he’s sold almost 100 million records worldwide. I own three of them.