Best Albums of the Decade: #41 - 60

60. Kanye West Graduation
Few rappers have had the commercial and critical success that Kanye West has enjoyed in the last 10-years. He has gone from a little known producer to one of the biggest artists in the world and obviously there's got to be some reason behind it. Graduation isn't Kanye's finest album end-to-end but it is loaded with fantastic singles one after the other in the first half of the record. That half alone pushed it here as the last half goes a bit flat at points. But seriously this is his first of three records on the countdown so there's more where this came from.
Kanye West (feat. T-Pain) - "Good Life"

59. Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedela
Jens Lekman has found a line between the pop music of the 1950's and the pop music of today. Using sampled music he croons his touching words to listeners, making most listeners coo in his wake. His music is simple, succinct, and beautiful to the point where you want to hear almost nothing but it at times. And his voice may not be the most powerful one in pop music, but it works to perfection with his musical style.
Jens Lekman - "A Postcard To Nina"

58. Broken Social Scene Your Forgot It In People
Musical collectives have been all the rage for most of this decade, with very talented people joining other talented people to make some pretty great tunes. Broken Social Scene was loaded with talent right from the start, look no further than the breakout success of Leslie Fesit, Emily Haines, and Amy Milan for proof of that. But the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts and the best example of it is on You Forgot It In People and album that is loaded with songs that swim through your ears and expand as they go on. This is great stuff brought to you by a whole lot of people.
Broken Social Scene - "KC Accidental"

57. The Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free
Rap and concept albums normally go together like oil and water but somehow British rapper Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, managed to do it by keeping it to a normal rap ideal - hustling to get some money. His rhymes and flows work perfectly throughout this record feeding us sly line after sly line and simply proving that Skinner's mind works faster than most of ours could ever hope to.
The Streets - "Not Addicted"

56. The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2
For most of their history The Microphones had revelled in lo-fi, psych pop tunes but with their 2000 release It Was Hot, We Stayed In the Water the band expanded its palate quite a bit. The Glow Pt. 2 expanded on it even further exploring all sorts of styles and moods, exploding in places, and lulling you in in others. It's a huge, breathtaking record that is meant to be heard all the way through.
The Microphones - "The Moon"

55. Junior Boys Last Exit
The first time you hear Junior Boys' Last Exit you swear you've heard it before. Or something like it. You can't quite place your finger on it and that's just the point, the band have taken influences from many places and pieced them together to create something new but wholly familiar. It's a wonderful feeling, kind of like deja vu all over again.
Junior Boys - "High Come Down"

54. Bob Dylan Modern Times
If you're going to do a decade end list you might as well save a spot for Bob Dylan, he's made pretty much every one since the 1960's. This time around it's for his fantastic 2006 record Modern Times, a record that found him gravel voiced but as dynamic in song as ever. His words have never failed him and something about his rustic voice adds charm to the depth of his songs. I won't be crazy and say it's his best record but it's definitely up there.
Bob Dylan - "Rollin' and Tumblin'"

53. Death from Above 1979 You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
Who knew that all you need for a rock band was a drummer, a bassist, and a MOOG? Apparently Sebastien Grainger and Jesse Keeler did when they started Death from Above 1979 because using just those instruments and some vocals they crafted one of the most propulsive records of the decade. This is a huge amount of force that drives you to move your feet. You body cannot help but feel the rhythms and be taken over by it. Oh and it straight up rocks too.
Death from Above 1979 - "Go Home, Get Down"

52. Hercules & Love Affair Hercules & Love Affair
Somehow disco found its way back into our lives in the last few years. After lying dormant for decades the genre found revival thanks to Hercules & Love Affair's classic approach to the sound with some modern twists. The music on their self-titled debut perfectly echoes the underground sound of the late 70's, creating pop music that is meant to get you moving, but with it's live band sounds and modern electronics it also could be the sound of the not too distant future. It's an impressive blend of new and classic making it a record that will be felt for quite some time.
Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind"

51. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest
Before this year Grizzly Bear were one of those buzzed about bands that never really clicked with me. Their music was pretty but it was also a little stagnant, dragging at times and becoming downright boring at others. With the release of Veckatimest something clicked, the band went for a more melodic and harmonious approach to their music and took it more to the pop end of things. The result was a record that wasn't only listenable, but one that gets better with each successive listen.
Grizzly Bear - "Cheerleader"

50. No Age Nouns
The Los Angeles noise-punk scene may have been a vibrant piece of the later part of the decade's indie rock landscape, but on this list it doesn't make much of a splash. Most of those artist make terrific singles and perform well in small, decrepit venues but few have mastered the art of the album. With their first proper LP No Age managed to pull of the feat quite well, making an album that explodes at its outset and flows very neatly together. The album ebbs and flows between fully formed verse-chorus-verse songs mixed with instrumental noisy affairs that serve as an outro and and intro at once. It's a cool record to listen to in parts but I definitely prefer it all together.
No Age - "Ripped Knees"

49. Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights
New York City at the turn of the century was as vibrant and glowing as the city has been since punk reigned supreme back in the 70's. It seemed between Manhattan and Brooklyn that every important band was coming from New York and Interpol were certainly a part of that. Like many of their contemporaries the band drew a lot from post-punk bands like Joy Division, but they definitely managed to turn the sound into their own. Also like many of their peers, their debut record just happened to be the best thing they've put out to date.
Interpol - "PDA"

48. The Go! Team Thunder, Lightning, Strike
It may have been released back in 2004 but I still open almost any DJ set I do with a song from this album. The record makes an immediate splash no matter where it's heard, demanding your attention from whatever note you happen in on. It's loud, abrasive at times, and catchy at others. At times all the different elements make it a bit confusing, should you dance to it, mosh, or just freak out! Whatever you choose to do while listening you won't be wrong.
The Go! Team - "Ladyflash"

47. Lil' Wayne Tha Carter III
Considering the career of Lil' Wayne takes a lot of serious work. You have to sort through proper albums, guest appearances, and his ever growing list of mix-tapes to really get a full picture of Wayne as an artist. There is little argument however that Tha Carter III is his best and most complete work to date. The songs here are the most radio friendly, instantaneously catchy songs he has ever produced and yet they still have all of the inherent weirdness that Lil' Wayne exudes. Whether it's a slightly jazzed up track or the addition of the smooth voice Robin Thicke, Lil' Wayne proves time and again that he's not afraid to push the genre in a million different directions. It can leave things a little disjointed from time to time, but it also makes for a seriously interesting listen.
Lil' Wayne - "A Milli"

46. Sunn O))) Black One
When it comes to the world of black metal there is no doubt that Sunn O))) currently reigns supreme. They manage to take the world of drone and metal to a place where it is mildly more accessible and easier to listen to than any of their fellow black metalers. This record in particular, with seven much shorter than normal songs, proves to be a record that can be fun for die hard drone fans and outsiders alike.
Sunn O))) - "Orthodox Caveman"

45. The New Pornographers Twin Cinema
Having already set high standards with Mass Romantic and Electric Version, not to mention the individual member's solo records, Twin Cinema came with a lot of lofty expectations for a fairly low key Canadian "super group". The band was riding a wave of critical acclaim from all over the place and then dropped a record that is loaded with perfect hooks and joyful sounds that was every bit better than everything they had done before. The record is loaded with songs that would have been huge singles had the indie world already been embraced commercially, but as it were this record helped continue the indie push toward that level. It's a great record packed with truly memorable songs.
The New Pornographers - "Sing Me Spanish Techno"

44. Kanye West The College Dropout
Having spent years toiling in the background for folks like Jay-Z, Kanye West really burst onto the scene with his debut record The College Dropout. The record was recorded over four years and truly recounts a wide range of life altering material. From breakups to car accidents and of course his decision to dropout of school to pursue a career in music, Kanye touches on everything with a brazen determination and occasional humble outlooks on life. The production throughout this record is mint and Kanye himself immediately proved to be a star with this release.
Kanye West - "We Don't Care"

43. TV on the Radio Dear Science,
Having spent years expanding their sound TV on the Radio decided to scale back a bit for their third full length, opting for songs that are a bit tighter, more concise, and way more pop oriented than the band had ever done before. The songs here are immediate and catchy, but they still have the wide array of influences and sounds TV on the Radio have become known for they're just done in a much simpler way. Dear Science, was kind of step back from Return to Cookie Mountain but it is still a very solid and sometimes spectacular record.
TV on the Radio - "Family Tree"

42. Radiohead Hail to the Thief
Over the course of their first five albums Radiohead truly established themselves as a band that was willing to take chances and push any and all genres into their music in order to create something new and exciting. On Hail to the Thief the band take a little bit of their alternative origins and mixes it beautifully with the more electronic, experimental sounds they had explored through the previous three albums. The result was a record that please practically everyone launching this record to near universal acclaim. Of course it was laden with its political personality and the typical deep lyrics of the band, but musically it was accessible thanks to the mixing of old and older Radiohead.
Radiohead - "Sit Down, Stand Up (Snakes & Ladders)"

41. Sleater-Kinney The Woods
In a world where retirement means next to nothing it's a little surprising that Sleater-Kinney have yet to come out of hiding, but true to their word The Woods remains the band's final album and one of their finest all-around piece of work. The music on The Woods is a mild departure from most of the band's well received history, adding elements of classic rock to their punk roots and blending it together to get something a little further reaching than what they had done prior. Lyrcially not much changed, but the sound represented a band that seemed to be looking to give us one epic goodbye. They certainly succeeded in that goal.
Sleater-Kinney - "Jumpers"