Music / Time = List

November 17th, 2009

I originally posted this as a thread on The Stirrer but then it occurred to me that this is exactly the reason I own a blog which I rarely update.  So I’ve plagiarised my own work.

I like a good list. I particularly a good list of things at the end of a decade.

There is nothing quite like judging things on an entirely subjective criteria and placing that within the confines of an entirely arbitrary time frame.

The NME have come up with their list of the 50 best albums of the last decade.

I think it’s a really good list and shows what a really good period we seem to be in for music at the moment.

I’m a little annoyed that The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots didn’t make it in there at all. I would have had them in the top ten. Though I’m a little bit Flaming Lips crazy today as I’m going to see them tonight. Go me.

I’ve bought 25 of their 50 and will certainly look at getting more.

So for no apparent reason here are my top 10 albums of the last decade, largely using their list to remind me when things came out.

1) Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
2) Grandaddy – Sopftware Slump
3) Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
4) Acoustic Ladyland – Last Chance Disco
5) Jaga Jazzist – What We Must
6) Muse – Absolution
7) The Bees – Free the Bees
8) Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
9) Avalanches – Since I Left You
10) Cinematic Orchestra – Man With a Movie Camera

Hmm there is more jazz on there than I expected.

It’s a shame that you can only get away with lists in multiples of 5 or 10 as I would like to include the fantastic The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes and Want Two by Rufus Wainwright.

Technically that’s two Bright Eyes albums which would have given me 14 in total. I don’t think you’re allowed to have a list with 14 things on it.

So… it’s been a really good decade for music.

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Posted in Music | Comments (4)

4 Responses to “Music / Time = List”

  1. Nick Lockey Says:

    Nice list – Some great stuff here which fits into my tastes too. I promised Editorialgril I’d chip in my in some of my faves which I think you’ll dig as well. Not all of them are within the last decade but they’re all pretty damn fine if you ask me.

    Current top 10 (in no particular order):

    Calexico -Feast of Wire
    Rilo Kiley – The Execution of All Things
    Tom Waits – Nighthawks at the Diner
    The Leisure Society – The Sleeper
    Jonathan Rice – Trouble is Real
    Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis
    Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
    Buck 65 – Talkin’ Honky Blues
    The Cramps – Off the Bone
    Ella Fitzgerald + Louis Armstrong – Ella and Louis

    Honorable Mentions:

    Ryan Adams- Heartbreaker
    Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
    Devendra Banhart – Nino Rojo
    The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
    Ben Folds Five – Ben Folds Five
    The Last Shadow Puppets – Age of the Understatement
    Bjork -Homogenic
    Arcade Fire – Funeral
    Portishead – Dummy
    Aim – Cold Water Music
    Daedelus – Exquisite Corpse
    Cocorosie – La Maison de Mone Reve
    Kings of Convenience – Versus
    Sigur Ros – Takk
    Lambchop – Nixon
    Tinariwen – Aman Iman
    Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig,Lazarus Dig!!!

  2. Neil Povey Says:

    Well – if I were you, I’d rid myself of the restraints of multiples and simply write the list you want. Which it seems like you did anyway, just without 4 of the numbers.
    I think the phrase ‘My Top Ten’ should still be appropriated – for convenience (i.e., so a new one needn’t be coined) and to signify a context to others, though the amount of actual entries ought to be entirely arbitrary. At any given moment, mine would have anything from 1 to 25 albums in it.

  3. Daz Wright’s Blog » Blog Archive » Last time I mention it…. Says:

    […] After banging on about my favourite albums of the last decade I decided to make a much longer list of my favourite albums. It’s probably much too self indulgent to go through the entire list on here but I’ve attempted to convert it into a playlist. […]

  4. Paul Bradshaw Says:

    I’ve been really resisting trying to make this list, but your post has pushed me into it. Foals’ eponymous debut would be top for me, followed by Interpol’s debut ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’. Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsome’s ‘Ys’ and TV On The Radio’s latest Dear Science would make up the next 3. That leaves another 5… OK then, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever to Tell, Amon Tobin’s Foley Room, Bonnie Prince Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music. Arctic Monkeys’ debut. The Futureheads’ debut. Now let that be an end to it.

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