(t5!) Tracks Of The 2000s (Redux) [200 to 151]
Hey, Marc! Didn’t you already do this once? What gives?
Well…
- Ten years ago I started a ridiculous (admirable?) crusade to hear EVERYTHING I possibly could. Part of it is because I wanted to recapture that experience when I first listened to Pet Sounds or You Forgot It In People and I didn’t want to rob myself of a moment because I ignored something on point of principal or lazinss/ . Part of it is because I wanted to have this anti-music snobbery stance in which the only way to know for sure that an album or a song can’t be dismissed if you haven’t given it at least a suitable once-over. Part of it is because I wanted to have an opinion, and in order to have one, I concluded that I needed to cover everything because otherwise, I would just be another one of these half-cocked appreciators of music who claim they love music but they don’t love music. Most of it is because I was bored and lonely.
- As a byproduct of this “need” to consume and collect anything with a note and a beat, my hard drive is filling up with albums and songs that I have kept solely as proof that I have listened to them. Frankly, I have no use for them anymore, especially now that every song that ever existed can be streamed in YouTube, Soundcloud, Spotify, or Rdio. Ironically though, in order to get rid of the stuff that I don’t want to listen to anymore, I felt that I have to listen to everything that I have stored in my archives to distinguish which ones were disposable. By doing so, it gave me a chance to reassess my taste in music, and if you’re a 21st century music geek, that means putting them in some sort of ranked list.
- I created that original (t5!) 2000s songs and albums countdown while 2009 was winding down, which means that I most likely didn’t properly take into account the brilliant songs from that year because I considered them too new. I was also living in the Philippines at the time, and the absence of an Internet connection with ample speed meant that I didn’t get a chance to sample everything that I needed to hear. Now that we’re three and half years removed from the end of the decade, enough time has passed now that I can give with some certainty a more accurate representation of the best from those ten years.
- I have already established a protocol to determine the order of my albums (rank each track, take the average, duh). To add to that though, I have recently created a pseudo-objective rubric that basically allows me to take a long list items and assign them into tiers. I want to keep my processes vague because I don’t want to air out my compulsions, but I’ll say this: putting a list of 1000 songs in order is a tedious enterprise, but it becomes massively less of a big deal when you break it down five at a time.
- My wife just gave birth to our first born child, and hopefully one day, when he’s old enough to become inquisitive about music, I can give him these lists as a jumping-off point. I know that when I started to form an opinion about music, the first person that I consulted was my dad. Think of this as 1001 Rules for My [Newborn] Son: Music Edition.
- Just to let you know in advance, I’m planing to release rankings of my favorites from every decade, extending these all the way to the 50s possibly, and I gather that it’s only appropriate to give a refresher on the decade that most recently ended.
- Some people dedicate their life to end Third world famine, some people dedicate their life to find the cure for cancer, some people dedicate to find world peace. I list things; this is my calling.
I’m going to post one at a time, every fifteen minutes or so, until I post twenty in one day. If you want to follow along, you can subscribe to me on Twitter, like the Let’s Touch Fives! Facebook page, or check back here every time to time. Let’s get this party started!
#200: St. Vincent — Marry Me (2007)
from Marry Me
#199: Cam’ron f. Juelz Santana — Oh Boy (2002)
from Come Home With Me
#198: The-Dream f. Fabolous — Shawty Is Da Shit (2007)
from Love Hate
#197: Kanye West f. Adam Levine — Heard ’Em Say (2005)
from Late Registration
#196: Rilo Kiley — Does He Love You? (2004)
from More Adventurous
#195: Of Montreal — Gronlandic Edit (2007)
from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
#194: Dashboard Confessional — Hands Down [EP Version] (2001)
from Hands Down [EP]
#193: Black Leotard Front — Casual Friday (2004)
from Casual Friday [12"]
#192: Feist — Let It Die (2004)
from Let It Die
#191: My Chemical Romance — Helena (2005)
from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
#190: Gwen Stefani — Hollaback Girl (2004)
from Love.Angel.Music.Baby
#189: Larry Heard Presents Mr. White (2006)
from You Rock Me/The Sun Can’t Compare [12"]
#188: Grizzly Bear — Knife (2007)
from Yellow House
#187. Luomo — The Present Lover [Digital Disco Version] (2002)
from Digital Disco
#186: Glass Candy — Rolling Down The Hills (2007)
from B/E/A/T/B/O/X
#185: Kings Of Convenience — Homesick (2004)
from Riot On An Empty Street
#184: Jay-Z — Public Service Announcement (2003)
from The Black Album
#183: Antony And The Johnsons — Bird Gerhl (2005)
from I Am A Bird Now
#182: High Places — From Stardust To Sentience (2008)
from High Places
#181: Jackie Chain f. Jhi Ali — Rollin’ (2008)
from Rollin’ [12"]
#180: DJ Sprinkles — Grand Central, Pt. 1 (Deep Into The Bowel Of House [MCDE Bassline Dub] (2009)
from Sisters, I Don’t Know What This World Is Coming To [12"]
#179: Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx (2005)
from Late Registration
Delia Gonzalez & David Russom — Relevee [Carl Craig Remix] (2006)
from Relevee [12"]
#177: Nelly — Hot In Herre (2002)
from Nellyville
#176: Lindstrøm And Christabelle — Baby Can’t Stop (2009)
from Real Life Is No Cool
#175: LCD Soundsystem — Losing My Edge (2002)
from LCD Soundsystem
#174: Freeway f. Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel- What We Do (2002)
from Philadelphia Freeway
#173: The White Stripes — Fell In Love With A Girl (2002)
from White Blood Cells
#172: Paramore — That’s What You Get (2007)
from Riot!
#171: Partial Arts — Trauermusik (2007)
from Trauermusik [12"]
#170: Bon Iver — Lump Sum
from For Emma, Forever Ago
#169: Sufjan Stevens — Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois (2005)
from Illinois
#168: Jim O’Rourke — Good Times (2001)
from Insignificance
#167: Girls — Hellhole Ratrace (2009)
from Album
#166: Grizzly Bear — Two Weeks (2009)
from Vecktamist
#165: Coldplay — Viva La Vida
from Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
#164: !!! — Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story) (2003)
from Louden Up Now
#163: Grouper — Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping (2008)
from Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
#162: Junior Boys — Birthday (2003)
from Last Exit
#161: Camera Obscura — Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken (2006)
from Let’s Get Out Of This Country
#160: Basement Jaxx — Where’s Your Head At? (2001)
from Rooty
#159: Electrik Red — 9 To 5 (2009)
from How To Be A Lady: Volume 1
#158: Joker — Digidesign (2009)
from Digidesign/You Don’t Know What Love Is [12"]
#157: Black Eyed Peas — Weekends (2000)
from Bridging The Gap
#156: Oni Ayhun — OAR003 B (2009)
from OAR003 [12"]
#155: Sweet Female Attitude — Flowers [Sunship Mix] (2000)
from Flowers [12"]
#154: Robyn — Be Mine! (2005)
from Robyn
#153: Jay-Z — Takeover (2001)
from The Blueprint
#152: Daft Punk — Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (2001)
from Discovery
#151: The Knife — We Share Our Mother’s Health (2006)
from Silent Shout
