Here are what I might consider twenty of my favorite music albums from this past decade, with more of a lean towards metal than the average list. In alphabetical order (and limiting one album per artist to add a little more variety):
*****
808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West
Who says you can't make beautiful music using auto-tune and a drum machine? Kanye uses these devices not as a cop-out but as paintbrushes for the minimalist vocal, instrumental, and emotional ambiences that pervade 808s & Heartbreak. Taken out of context in the form of radio singles, the album has the appearance of just another one of those auto-pop collections. But as an album, once you let the eerie opening track "Say You Will" set the tone, all the subsequent hits take on much more complex characters.
Ágætis byrjun - Sigur Rós
Sigur WHOA. Ágætis byrjun is one of the few modern albums that gives me the same feeling that great classical music does, where you forget about everything else going on around you, while you sit frozen, letting the music osmose into your unworthy veins. An incredible tonal depth encapsulates beautiful melodies and drives the music right to you and right through you, leaving you transparent, hypnotized, and helpless.
Alive or Just Breathing - Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage is one of the flag-bearers of the latest wave in metal, and their classic Alive or Just Breathing uses a perfect combination of beauty and brutality to bring an almost unequaled level of hardcore without sacrificing any elegance. Percussive but intelligible guitar-work and a crystal clear production highlight an album that has no weak points, tons of characters, and is easy to follow, headbang to, and enjoy.
Arular - M.I.A.
If the new style of hip-hop prizes beat-making over lyrical content, then let M.I.A. be seated on the new style of hip-hop throne. Mixing '80s electro beats with international elements, Arular brings back raw energy to a genre that had been taming down since its heyday, largely eschewing lyrics with real meaning in the traditional sense in favor of word that just sound good. The result is grooves as addicting as "Paper Planes" (which is great but musically unlike her other songs).
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Back to Black brings us back to Motown with its bold neo-soul grooves. The album is just about as crazy as Amy Winehouse's personality, and her gritty yet soulful vocals add an indescribable dimension of personality. The radio hit "Rehab" opens the album, and when taken out of the 2000s Top 40 context and placed into the Motown revival one is much more enjoyable. An album with this much flair is rarely seen and is a relief to hear during this current obsession with the depersonalizer that is auto-tune.
The Black Halo - Kamelot
Kamelot's masterful The Black Halo shows the maturation of their style that draws primarily on the notoriously superficial power metal genre and develops it into a complex, addictive collision of numerous influences. Instead of singing meaninglessly about victory and dragons, Kamelot continues a Faust-like tale from their previous Epica. With multi-layered, symphonic instrumentals, and even catchy melodies, The Black Halo is as triumphant as everything all those other power metal bands sing about.
Blackwater Park - Opeth
As I've previously written, Blackwater Park is my favorite album of the decade. A monumental work, perfect in writing and in execution, and a slap in the face for those who think metal is a one-dimensional genre. Drawing influence from so many styles and in turn influencing countless numbers of bands later on in the decade, this album is Opeth at its very best. See more of my thoughts on this masterpiece here.
The Blueprint - Jay-Z
Undeniably a landmark in hip-hop, The Blueprint is a fiery opus, filled with rhymes and beats rivaled only by Kanye West's equally influential The College Dropout. In a time where rap had gone soft, enter Jay-Z and Kanye West (who was one of Jay-Z's producers before pursuing his own solo career), who mix sample-heavy beats filled with so much hip and so much hop that you wonder where all the hip-hop-ness had gone and has gone since then.
Deadringer - RJD2
Hip-hop DJ RJD2, like the influential DJ Shadow, has a gift for mixing unrelated samples to create really exciting beats and grooves. His best album is his debut, Deadringer, which so brilliantly fuses constantly evolving electronic beats with flowing hip-hop and R&B vocals, while layering the music with audio samples with a head-scratching amount of smoothness and clarity. The album is strong from beginning to end, from its dance hits to its soulful pieces.
Discovery - Daft Punk
Discovery has all of the pluses without the minuses - the driving melodies of house music without the redundancy, and the eclecticism of an Aphex Twin album without the indigestion. The album's pop-driven sound is supported with funky beats that blow all those plain old house beats out of the water with its relentless dynamic. Discovery never eases down its energy, and its sends you on an adventure, on cruise control on the Autobahn, weaving through traffic.
Funeral - Arcade Fire
Funeral is one of those albums that you find only once a generation - so musically diverse, yet from beginning to end imaginative and epic. Without ever feeling weird, losing focus, or being vainglorious, Arcade Fire pushes the limits of indie rock with its broad spectrum of instrumentations and emotions. Each of the memorable tracks flaunts its own personality, but like a jigsaw puzzle of a Picasso painting, they still feel unified in a spunky way.
Hopes and Fears - Keane
Hopes and Fears is an underrated gem often unfairly labeled as a Coldplay imitation. Instead it's a collection of tunes better than anything Coldplay's ever made, united by a flowing piano rock style, yet made interesting by Tom Chaplin's vocals, which through a radiant falsetto convey emotions all over the spectrum - from Hope to Fear. All of the songs are catchy and memorable - perfect for the radio or a sing-along. But far more importantly, they are melodious, purifying, and lovely.
Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
While I'm not in general a fan of the whole singer-songwriter deal (ahem Bob Dylan), I cannot deny that Illinois is one of the most brilliant albums of our time. The album is composed of 22 unique tracks that effectively accompany their uniquely descriptive titles. The music ranges from chilling to strange, but is always elegant and straightforward, smartly avoiding corruption and the addition of distraction through overproduction.
Is This It - The Strokes
A guilty pleasure - straight up enjoyment without any gimmicks. Is This It's strength is the consistent quality of its gritty yet charming songs, replete with driving rhythms and chic melodies. Using a sound quality that is somehow both scratchy and clean at the same time, The Strokes revive '70s and garage sounds while never drifting away from their poppy indie rock identity. It's hard to believe that this is the band's debut album, because it might as well have been their Greatest Hits record.
The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
A rapper unlike any other, Eminem's sarcastic, humorous content and dynamic delivery make his music without compare from a pure entertainment standpoint. His greatest album, The Marshall Mathers LP, is personal and self-conscious, repeatedly making references to how listeners mistakenly take his messages seriously. Featuring relatively simple but catchy loops, the focus is clearly on the lyrics, which are at times hilarious, at times disturbing, and at times both.
Mezmerize - System of a Down
While Toxicity is the more "interesting" album, I'm more of a fan of Mezmerize, in which System of a Down create a significantly more melodic album while retaining their trademark sound. The band is known primarily for their quirky, percussive tunes, and understandably so - but their style is perfect for the melodies here because of the musical and lyrical humor contained throughout. Like listening to your friends talk after a dose of helium from a balloon, Mezmerize is tons of fun in a weird way.
Probot - Probot
Ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl ventures on this ambitious project in heavy metal. Every track is sung by a different metal vocal legend, with Grohl single-handedly creating instrumentations in the style of the singer's band. The result is impressive and more accessible than a lot of the original work - it's clear that the combination of Grohl's knowledge of these bands and his ability to write mainstream music is at work here in this diverse and exciting album.
Sea Change - Beck
Listening to Sea Change, I wonder: what kind of breakup can lead a man to create this work of art - this sea of poetic angst trapped in a jewel case? For 52 minutes, Beck spills his soul, cleansing himself of his anguish, referring to his recent breakup in just about every track in the album. Painfully beautiful melodies swim on a flowing river of electric and acoustic backdrops, hitting the crests and the troughs of the waves at the right moments, and never becoming boring or unoriginal.
Wages of Sin - Arch Enemy
While as of late Arch Enemy's music hasn't had the percussiveness and musical complexity that's so characteristic of the pinnacle of today's heavy metal, they still know how to rock it out, and when it comes to pure guitar riff-making, Arch Enemy still reigns supreme. The queen of badass Angela Gossow's unique and versatile vocals sets the band apart from other acts of the same genre, and Wages of Sin showcases Michael Amott's most melodic and memorable riffs since Heartwork with his previous group, Carcass.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is as psychedelic as its title suggests, yet beyond these captivating instrumental and electronic textures, The Flaming Lips manage to add melodies that are enchanting and chillingly beautiful. The music and lyrics are about as pensive, meditative, and provocative as they are complex and captivating. It's a shame that in this new millennium, with its plethora of indie and alternative rock, people hardly even attempt to make progressive music like this anymore.
*****
The Next 20
- Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
- The College Dropout - Kanye West
- Felt Mountain - Goldfrapp
- Follow the Reaper - Children of Bodom
- Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
- FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake
- Ghost Reveries - Opeth
- Kala - M.I.A.
- Kish Kash - Basement Jaxx
- Leviathan - Mastodon
- The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse
- Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
- Oceanic - Isis
- Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
- Permission to Land - The Darkness
- Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
- Since I Left You - The Avalanches
- Toxicity - System of a Down
- Veni Vidi Vicious - The Hives
- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
No comments:
Post a Comment