My Top 100 Albums of the Decade (50-41)
50. Mclusky - The Difference Between Me & You Is That I'm Not on Fire (2004)
"Note to invading aliens: Avoid this town like this town avoided us, like murder stalked the valley where this woman used to live, bathe and breathe and be murdered"
Mclusky was a bit more subdued on this album, which is kind of like saying an angry gorilla isn't quite as menacing as that same angry gorilla on steroids. That metaphor was a stretch, but it wouldn't shock you to hear a similar lyric in a Mclusky song. So, in a way, it's fitting. In summary, this is mostly more crazed, intense, off-the-wall rock, with Andy Falkous singing about MSG and rickshaws, among other things. I wouldn't want it any other way.
Mclusky - "She Will Only Bring You Happiness"
49. My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves (2003)
"And you always told me, no matter how long it holds me, if if falls apart or makes us millionaires; You'll be right here forever, we'll go through this thing together, and on heaven's golden shore, we'll lay our heads"
My Morning Jacket is the band you can listen to with your dad to convince him that today's rock music isn't all so bad. If you decide to take this route, It Still Moves would be the best starting point. There's no rewriting of the rules here, but when the songs are this good, who cares? I pity the poor souls who shun the warmth of "Magheetah," the grace of "Golden," and most of all, the powerful perfection of "One Big Holiday."
My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
48. Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed the Fish? (2002)
"And songs are never quite the answer, just a soundtrack to a life, that is over all too soon, helps to turn the days to night, while I was wrong and you were right"
This album threw me off at first, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I had gotten used to the idea of Badly Drawn Boy as bedroom genius, and this whole Technicolor-vaudeville affair rubbed me the wrong way. But I usually eat that stuff up, so that theory doesn't really check out. Anyway, years after I bought Have You Fed The Fish?, I gave it a second chance. What first felt wrong was now so right. Here's to second chances.
Badly Drawn Boy - "You Were Right"
47. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight (2002)
"I'll never hold you back, I'll never force my will, I will no longer do the devil's wishes, something I read on a dollar bill"
For a while there, it seemed like this would be the group's high point, or possibly the start of a plateau. Spoon has yet to make any sweeping changes in sound, or take any unpleasant detours. It's a band that simply got better over time and really found itself. Kill The Moonlight was the start of something bigger, and the band knew it. Few opening tracks were more prescient.
Spoon - "Small Stakes"
46. She & Him - Volume One (2008)
"Old habits die hard when you got, when you got a sentimental heart; Piece of the puzzle and you're my missing part, oh, what can you do with a sentimental heart?"
To answer the above lyric, you can write songs like this. People often ignore the musical forays of the acting crowd, and for good reason — they're usually pretty bad. But there are always exceptions. Does it help that M. Ward is Him? Probably, though She wrote the songs. And it's not like you even have to care that Zooey Deschanel is doing the singing, if you're up for a sweet love letter to old soul, country and pop records.
She & Him - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
45. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance (2001)
"Chasing seafoam dreams around another dirty old town, parallel-run streams crawl through gray ocean from the green ground, oed' und leer das meer beneath the leafy glassy surface, all the songs you hear, down there, they have a purpose"
I think of Ted Leo as this generation's Elvis Costello. Lyrically, they're both about as sharp as they come. They can get political without making you gag. Throw in the pop/punk sound and the fact that both are overlooked (Leo, moreso) and there you have it. Is Leo as good as Costello? Well, no, but few are. Earning a comparison should be enough to make you take notice, but songs like "Biomusicology" and "Timorous Me" will hook you from the get-go.
Ted Leo and Pharmacists - "Timorous Me"
44. The National - Alligator (2005)
"I wish that I believed in fate, I wish I didn't sleep so late; I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders"
To what band or musician would you compare The National? Joy Division? A downbeat R.E.M..? The slow, solo stuff from Springsteen? All honorable stabs, but nothing sticks. This is a band doing its own thing. Matt Berninger's baritone helps set the group apart, sure, but I'm always taken by the arrangements, as well. How the group rarely ever sounds urgent — yet never sounds boring — is quite the magic trick.
The National - "Abel"
43. Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)
"I'm glad to see you, I had a funny dream, you were wearing funny shoes"
The lo-fi bedroom sound of Belle and Sebastian was always a large part of the band's appeal, so it's hard to believe that this leap into glossy hi-fi glory would ever seem natural. But in hindsight, it makes perfect sense. If anything could benefit from stellar, shiny production, it would be the B&S brand of pop greatness. If you weren't convinced by the time the crew took a classic Thin Lizzy riff and turned into something sweet and wonderfully new, well, you could always just go listen to If You're Feeling Sinister again. But don't ruin the party.
Belle & Sebastian - "I'm a Cuckoo"
42. Spiritualized - Let It Come Down (2001)
"The only time I'm drink and drug-free is when I get my drugs and drink for free"
If you're going to make a long, ambitious, orchestral rock album, why wouldn't you use the wall of sound? Go big or go home. Yeah, these are mostly songs about drugs ... but they're grand, sweeping, gorgeous songs about drugs. The sound doesn't excuse the subject matter as much as it brings a sense of gravitas to the whole affair. Not that Let It Come Down is humorless — make sure to read the above lyric again.
Spiritualized - "Stop Your Crying"
41. Dr. Dog - Fate (2008)
"I'm getting it back with that terrible feeling, my vision is cracked, but it looks like it's healing"
The good Dr. Dog gets flack for its nostalgic sound. Sure, these guys love the Beatles and Beach Boys and The Band (who doesn't?) but so do the Elephant 6 bands. And it isn't like this group sounds like a carbon copy of anything. Fate is a warm, inviting album filled with songs that sound like lost classics. Classics by a band known as ... Dr. Dog.
Dr. Dog - "Hang On"