Best Albums of the Decade: #61 - 80

80. Jay Reatard Blood Visions
For all those folks that have been screaming "punk is dead" for two decades I'd like to present Jay Reatard to show you that punk is most definitely not dead. Now his tunes may not be wholly punk in nature, there's a bit of metal and even some pop mixed in there, but his attitude and his approach to songwriting is most definitely punk. Two and three minute long songs spit out in the blink of an eye with hard charging guitars to go along with them. Yeah, punk's not dead it's just not your grandad's punk no more.
Jay Reatard - "My Shadow"

79. Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
When this record was first released I really revolted against all the hype that was swirling thanks to their blue CD-R release. Over time I have grown to adore every moment of this record. The pop songs found within are genuinely perfect tunes that you can sing-a-long to or hum right along with, whatever suits your mood. Yeah, it takes a lot of characteristics from Paul Simon but Paul Simon was pretty great too.
Vampire Weekend - "M79"

78. The Walkmen Bows + Arrows
You can see just how tough it is to put together a list like this by seeing that The Walkmen's best record winds up in the high 70's. The Walkmen have been one of the most consistently terrific bands of the decade, mixing up their sound and pushing for new angles all the while. They even did an album of Harry Nilsson songs. This is by far their best record and is something that should be listened to all the time. As should the rest of this list. Poor argument I guess, but it's true anyway.
The Walkmen - "What's In It For Me?"

77. The Unicorns Who Will Cut Out Hair When We're Gone
Sadness is finding out your new favorite band has already broken up. When I finally came to The Unicorns they had already gone their separate ways forming numerous lesser groups that are still going today. It's sad but at least they left us with a kick ass record full of weird but fantastic, whimsical pop songs.
The Unicorns - "Tuff Ghost"

76. The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
"Do You Realize?" is one of those songs that lifts up anyone who listens to it. Yeah we're all gonna die someday but why do we have to worry about it now? Let's fight against it and strike back wherever we can by enjoying every minute of this life we're given. It's uplifting, poignant, and musically great, you can't ask for much more from a record than that.
The Flaming Lips - "Are You A Hypnotist?"

75. McLusky McLusky Do Dallas
When a band this volatile gets together you know shits gonna hit the fan eventually. Obviously their abrasive personalities led the band to split up later on, but they left us with one of the hardest, most furious records of the decade. McLusky were pissed off people, they still are, and it comes across with every bit of the bile strewn lyrics on this record.
McLusky - "Fuck This Band"

74. Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Rock music has long had people that were willing to try different things, make double albums, build off concepts, you name it and people have tried it. Godspeed You! Black Emperor did something a little different with their 2000 classic, crafting a symphony out of rock and pop sounds. You wouldn't expect an instrumental double album to have much success these days, but something about the dark and expansive sounds of Lift Your Skinny Fists... really connected with people and made it a special record.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "Monheim/Broken Windows, Locks of Love Pt. III"

73. Ghostface Killah Fishscale
Of all the Wu Tang members, none have had as great a solo career as Ghostface Killah. They've all had their moments in the sun, but Ghost consistently puts out good to great records full of sexy pop tunes and cold blooded gangsta rap. He can flip the switch in a second, but on Fishscale he mostly sticks to the gangsta side of things joining in the trend of coke rappers about the world of dealing. It's flat out great with fantastic beats, excellent flow, and some of the best rhymes Ghostface has ever spit.
Ghostface Killah - "9 Milli Bros"

72. Destroyer Destroyer's Rubies
Dan Bejar spent most of the decade slowly building up to this point. He released albums that showcased each of his talents whether it be his lyrical prowess (Your Blues), the glam rock lover (Streethawk), or his psychedelic guitar playing (This Night), each successive album seemed to show a slightly different side of the musical makeup of Dan Bejar. Well Destroyer's Rubies rolled them all up into one neat, tight package with some of the best songs he's ever written and some of the best music he's ever played.
Destroyer - "A Dangerous Woman Up To A Point"

71. Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake And It's Morning
Conor Oberst has spent the last few years soiling his legacy with records that sound like mere appropriations of what he used to be capable of, but it hasn't always been that way. As Bright Eyes he used to create songs that showed every bit of his emotional personality, ranging from tender love songs to songs of political upheaval, and never held anything back from his audience. His finest work, I'm Wide Awake And It's Morning, is full of these folk tinged emo songs that are powerful and catchy at the same time.
Bright Eyes - "First Day Of My Life"

70. LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem
From the opening notes of "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" you knew you were in for something special the first time you pressed play on this album. It is a wild ride with one of the great musical minds of our time. James Murphy has carefully crafted a reputation as a taste maker and a trendsetter this decade and it all started with this debut record.
LCD Soundsystem - "Yeah (Crass Version)"

69. The Hold Steady Boys & Girls In America
The Hold Steady may have started out as America's best bar band, but with the release of Boys and Girls in America they made the leap to becoming one of America's best bands period. This album found lead singer Craig Finn switching from his style of talking to the crowd to actual singing and the result was a record that people could actually sing-a-long to and that would catch their attention on the very first listen. Add in the expanded role of Tad Kubler's lead guitars and you have a record that is the 21st century equivalent of Bruce Springsteen's best work.
The Hold Steady - "Massive Nights"

68. Missy Elliott Miss E...So Addictive
Missy Elliott has always been known more as a singles artist than an album artist. Sure her records have sold millions worldwide but the reason people usually comeback to them are for the single hits she cranked out. Miss E...So Addictive has a bunch of those, "Get UR Freak On", "One Minute Man", and "Take Away", but it also works as a whole better than most of her other records ever have.
Missy Elliott - "Get UR Freak On"

67. Art Brut Bang Bang Rock & Roll
This brash British band stormed America with this album, promising a song as universal as "Happy Birthday" that would be played on Top of the Pops and unite Israel and Palestine. Well Top of the Pops folded before they were ever asked to play, Israel and Palestine still hate each other, and we're still singing "Happy Birthday" at parties but we also talk instead of sing sometimes and definitely go nuts every time Eddie Argos leaps into the crowd to jump around and get a bit sweaty.
Art Brut - "Rusted Guns of Milan"

66. Cat Power You Are Free
After five harrowing years of disastrous shows and alcohol abuse Chan Marshall returned with You Are Free a record that is gorgeous in its fragility and shows off everything we had already come to love about Marshall. She is delicate, but she is trying to break free from all the sadness that has held her down. Her voice is unbelievable throughout this record and the songwriting is off the charts.
Cat Power - "Speak For Me"

65. Various Artists Dark Was The Night
Having a noble cause for making a compilation record is great and fighting AIDS as Dark Was the Night set out to do is as noble as they come, but normally comps are lackluster with castoff tracks and covers piled up in no discerning order. Dark Was the Night totally bucks this trend with a concentrated theme and some of the best artists going right now joining in the fun. There are rare duets, fantastic covers, and original songs that leap right off the record. As far as compilations go this was a shocking but entirely pleasant surprise.
Feist & Ben Gibbard - "Train Song"

64. The White Stripes White Blood Cells
At the turn of the century the music world was going ape shit for two things, teeny boppers and bands with "The" at the beginning of the name. The White Stripes helped set off this trend with a fantastic, Lego animated video for "Fell In Love With A Girl", but the whole album is full of fantastic bluesy riffs and simple rhythms that are instantly catchy. Try to listen without singing along, guaranteed to fail.
The White Stripes - "We're Going To Be Friends"

63. Antony & the Johnsons I Am A Bird Now
Few voices are as beautifully unique as Antony Hegarty's lilting, multi-octave voice. After a mostly ignored debut record the band exploded onto the indie world led by Hegarty's voice and the pretty intricate sounds that accompanied it. Antony's voice has always been the main allure of the band, with it's unique and dazzling abilities just melting down any bad feelings in your body. You feel his emotions as if they were your own, it is powerful and beautiful and a bit daunting at times because of all the raw emotion behind it.
Antony & the Johnsons - "For Today I Am A Boy"

62. The National Boxer
The anthemic indie rock bands spent most of the decade growing in popularity and in some cases started charting. A lot of it became a bit samey after a while with many bands taking after the others but The National's Boxer is one of the records that stands out within the genre. With the hyper-literate lyrics and fully formed bombast of sound the band really didn't do anything different from their previous releases they just did it all better.
The National - "Ada"

61. The Books Thoughts for Food
Just so you know this is the only album from The Books on this list. A lot of people seem to prefer The Lemon of Pink, I personally enjoy their debut a bit better. It's interesting how these two guys take their instruments, guitar and violin (mostly), and pair it with their sampled music. It seems so ridiculously simple but then The Books just have a knack for what fits together where. This record is absolute proof of that but it was also the first of its kind and therefore it gets the nod.
The Books - "All Bad Ends All"