Take a deep breath — you’ve made it to the final day of The Rawking Refuses To Stop!’s countdown of the Top 100 Albums of the Decade. I promise only greatness. To click through the entire list, click below.
100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1
The 20 best albums of the decade, 2000-2009, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Photos/illustration by David Greenwald
Dear Friends,
It is with great joy, pride and excitement that I present to you this week The Rawking Refuses To Stop!’s Top 100 Albums of the Decade. In 1998, with Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” atop the VH1 music video charts, I began taking music seriously. (I also became a man. Ask my rabbi.) In 2002, my first pieces of music criticism — and my first year-end list — were published. To say things have changed tremendously since then would be the understatement of the decade, but if nothing else, it’s been a hell of a ride — and an endlessly exciting time for great albums. This list represents that journey of discovery; it is, and is nothing more or less than, a record of the records that have made an impact on yours truly over the last 10 years. Apologies in advance for the dearth of releases by, say, (spoiler!) TV On the Radio, Bjork and Relevant Elephant, among others. (If you’re going to ask “But what about…,” the answer is, “No.” Sorry. To coin a phrase, tell it to your blog.)
That said, before launching into this list, you should know a few things about me: I like acoustic guitars, scrawny dudes and odd voices; songs about girls; songs; girls; cymbal-heavy percussion; major 7th chords; harmonies; emotions; dynamic range; the production style of Jim O’Rourke; the early 1970s; the late 1990s. I like dancing — to rock music. My favorite hip-hop albums were released between 1992 and 1994. I don’t like hype, trends or the vast majority of Brooklyn. You’ve been warned. Excelsior!
100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1
Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by David Greenwald
The 20 best albums of 2009’s first six months, after the jump. Now with more Animal Collective (and, um, Mandy Moore)! Read the rest of this entry »
I went a slightly different direction for 2008’s songs list — there’s some crossover with yesterday’s albums list because my favorite three albums happened to have my favorite three songs of the year, but other than that I tried to spotlight 20 singles and album tracks by artists who didn’t quite stand out enough across the board to crack the albums best-of. Get your left-field on after the jump and remember, the Rawkblog pledge drive ends this weekend — please give now! Read the rest of this entry »
Women / photo by David Greenwald
Apologies for the tardiness, folks, but with some distance from the — let’s just go ahead and say it — shitty trends that characterized 2008, I feel pretty good about the year. It didn’t offer a lot of new classics to my ears, but it was a fantastic time for indie-folk (excluding Bon Iver: Shitty!) and new artists, or at least those who were fresh to me — I became a Hold Steady and Mountain Goats convert, and the debuts of Fleet Foxes, Women and White Hinterland, among others, have only aged well in recent months. A great year? Nah. (My actual favorite album of 2008: Reckoning by R.E.M.) But worth digging into, after the jump. [Ed. note: Like what you see? It’s Pledge Week — please donate!]
