2000-2005 Top 25 Albums
To find results I made sure all albums were imported into iTunes (30gb total) and I rated (1-5 stars) each song. I then averaged out the ratings for each album giving bonuses for 5 stars and smaller bonuses for 4 stars. This took a while but most of the collection was in iTunes and 80% of the songs were already rated. I would say I changed about 15% of the ratings as I listened again. I AM A NERD!
As I went through my collection I noticed that the year 2005 was a great year for music. 2002 was my least favorite of the years. Not sure what that means to you, just an observation of my own collection.
Here they are, my top albums of 2000-2005
1. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
2. Rogue Wave: Descended Like Vultures (2005)
3. The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema (2005)
4. Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene (2005)
5. The Strokes: Is This It? (2001)
6. Brian Wilson: Smile (2004)
7. The Shins: Oh Inverted World (2001)
8. Modest Mouse: Moon & Antarctica (2000)
9. Pinback: Summer in Abaddon (2004)
10. Sleater-Kinney: The Woods (2005)
11. Stars: Set Yourself On Fire (2005)
12. Mark Eitzel: The Invisible Man (2001)
13. The Radio Dept.: Lesser Matters (2003)
14. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Clap your Hands Say Yeah (2005)
15. Elliot Smith: Figure 8(2000)
16. Kings of Convenience: Riot on Empty Street (2004)
17. Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die (2005)
18. The American Analog Set: Know By Heart (2001)
19. Liars: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (2002)
20. Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy (2005)
21. M. Ward: Transfiguration of St. Vincent (2003)
22. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm (2005)
23. Sonic Youth: Murray Street (2002)
24. Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)
25. The Twilight Singers: Twilight as Played by the Twilight Singers (2000)
August 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Liars: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (2002) –> wow! you are so much more musically knowledgeable than I originally estimated. Amazing list. I have never listened to Wolf Parade or Rogue Wave but with this list I feel as though I can conquer the early 2000′s.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
best believe it! it was so fun making this list too. i got excited to post it…i was sitting on it for about a week now listening over and over just to make sure…still was up in the air about a couple (like leaving off flin-flon “a-ok”, broken social scene “you forgot it in people”, and the sea and cake “oui”) but i stuck with this, this is what my “grading scale” excel sheet spit out.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Yes, you are a NERD! But so am I, and I am not patient/geeky enough to do the star-rating, averaging thing, that just makes my head hurt, but I like your taste in music, I’m partial to Okkervil, M. Ward, and New Pornographers.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I like almost every one of those records**. Almost (eg love Wolf Parade, hate Bloc Party; love New Porno’s, Pinback & S-K, hate CYHSY). I’d be inclined to include Interpol’s TOTBL, British Sea Power’s The Decline, Band of Horses’ EATT, The National’s Alligator, The Microphones’ The Glow Pt.2, ToD’s Source Tags & Codes, BSS’ YFIIP, Clinic’s Internal Wrangler, The Ponys’ Celebration Castle, Coldplay’s Rush of Blood (YES, you heard me: Coldplay), Songs: Ohia’s Didn’t It Rain, Autolux’s Future Perfect…. But you’ve picked out some good stuff here. Well done.
**The couple of I haven’t heard I’ll check into.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
microphones, the ponys, songs:ohia, flin-flon, bss, sea and cake were all almost on the list. FYI…i can not stand bloc party and clap your hands say yeah but those albums were really good…they are the only good things those bands have done.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
PS. Somehow I forgot The Wrens’ The Meadowlands in my makeshift list. That’d be, like, no.2 on my list, so I canna forget that one. The Wrens RULE! Let’s never forget that, eh.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
let me know what you think of the album you haven’t heard before. i would love to hear your take. btw, even my little bro told me he hated bloc party. however, i defended the album listed once again
. i promise, i did all i could to bump up bss/flin-flon/sea and cake b/c they are favorites of mine but the damned excel spreadsheet wouldn’t let me….lol….i did what i could. i just listened to the album again and its pretty good. their other stuff is awful though. I will be checking out the wren’s album tonight (using spotify…if you dont know about it…google search…it is AMAZING!)
also, SUZANNE, im a jock turned nerd…lol…and I just love music…can’t help it. I like my taste in music too!!!!
August 14th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
What about Mars Volta-deloused in the comatorium, Ryan Adams-demolition/cold roses, mastodon-blood mountain, libertines, sufjian stevens, lightning bolt, lungfish-love is love, magnolia electric, tv on the radio
I liked your list have not heard dome of them thanks for the comp
August 14th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
unfortunately i am not a huge mars volta fan. did not hear ryan adams. only own half the album for libertines. sufjan was also very close to making the list. never heard lightning bolt or lungfish-love…will check them out asap. magnolia electric…just can’t get into them for whatever reason. I LOVE tv on the radio and was really bummed when the excel sheet told me it wasn’t in the top 25…it was very close though.
I can’t seem to find Lightning Bolt? Are they atmosphere type music b/c I found a band that is by the same name but all atmosphere, bongos, etc. Couldn’t find Lungfish either
I only had time for a quick search though.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Lungfish might be my third favorite band of all time….Bloodclot and I got to see them by accident on a cold november night at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. My favorite album by them is probably artificial horizons or Love is Love. Love is love reinvented the way I think about music. Capt Shabbin tell him about that album. Lightning Bolt is noise rock, it is music for the hate you can only have during puberty.
I am not a huge volta fan anymore….but comatorium is brilliant both in concept and sound.
Lex move back to California already this distance is bullshit.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
capt AKAK you and i went through a second puberty together I feel lucky to have watched you grow breasts and sprout wings. Yes I too am not a huge volta fan any more but the first record makes me smile and dazed smile thinking of the Queen Mary….that was the best show. Capt you need to more East and get involved with NYC…it blows all cities in the world out of the water by a lot. Love is Love is all there is…….
August 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Calebc – I think it’s awesome that your list was rated so scientifically. I need to start a spreadsheet for my girlfriend and then present it to her at the end of the month. “We didn’t average nearly enough sex darling, and your laundry to cooking dinner ratio was way down over last month.”
Seriously though, it sounds like something I’d do if I could get my shit together.
On another note – re: LA vs. NYC – I saw 500 Days of Summer last night and it was only half way through the movie that I realized it wasn’t shot in New York city. LA is now the new New York.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
pants there is no NYC vs anything….you cant copmpare them…LA has cool shit going on that no other place does, I just like the smell of the shit in NYC and think the cold does something wonderful to the human psyche…and the heat does something else….
August 16th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
That’s definitely true, they’re different in most every way…but see the film at some point and you’ll see what I mean – I’m talking more about the two cities as they exist in our collective imaginations. They made LA seem like New York, with subways, parks, weather, lofts, old buildings, it was definitely the dream of Los Angeles.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
The dream of both places is amazing and heartbreaking
August 18th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
(500 Days of Summer was like spending 2 hours poking myself in the head with an ice-pick.)
August 18th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
really????? i have heard about 5 people love it and now 2 that didnt like it…im going to see it but now I am scared.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I was not in the camp that liked it…what I’m saying is that it was a trip how they portrayed Los Angeles as a version of New York that doesn’t exist.