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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Shit Talk / History So Here We Are, Closing in on the Second Half of the Last Year of the Decade...

Posted by David Schmader on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 10:42 AM

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db41/1245777182-scaled.kanyewest_lateregistration_cover.jpg 70f8/1245776929-scaled.mia-kala.jpg

And as Idolator wisely warned, "Get ready to hear a lot of pontificating about the best records of the decade."

Now that you're ready, let's get this shit started, with my non-pontificating but entirely factual list of the ten best records of the past decade. (By "best" I mean "my favorite," and by "my favorite" I mean the ones I play and love the most. Also, this list was thrown together in six minutes. Neverthless, it is entirely factual.) In alphabetical order:

Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
Bob Dylan, Love & Theft
Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP
Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
Kanye West, Late Registration
K'naan, The Dusty Foot Philosopher
The Libertines, Up the Bracket
M.I.A., Kala
Outkast, Stankonia
TV on the Radio, Dear Science

Alternates (because there can only be ten greatest works of anything):
Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock n Roll
Burial, Untrue
Ghostface Killah, Fishscale
PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Radiohead, Kid A
White Stripes, White Blood Cells
The Wrens, The Meadowlands

No hard feelings:
The College Dropout, Arular, Amnesiac, Silent Shout, and various works by Spoon, the Shins, Mountain Goats, the Hold Steady, and Of Montreal

We will address this matter again in ten years.

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Shit, if I'd known people were going to putting their lists out now, I would have worked harder to get my next album out sooner. Not that it's likely to be one of the 10 best albums of the decade, but it's nice at least to be in the running.

If my timing on albums of the year lists past is any indication, I should have my "best albums of the decade" list ready by 2013 or thereabouts.

Posted by Levislade

on June 23, 2009 at 11:10 AM

Ooh, I love this time of the decade! I better get my ten, etc in order.

But how do you figure Feed the Animals over Night Ripper? Other than its use of "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)"?

Posted by Eric Grandy on June 23, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Stankonia is garbage.

Posted by comeon on June 23, 2009 at 1:05 PM

First, "Stankonia is garbage" is a hilarious sentence.

Second, "Feed the Animals" wins for density and cohesion--it hits me as a unified piece of work, whereas "Night Ripper" is a collection of more-and-less thrilling tracks.

Posted by David Schmader on June 23, 2009 at 2:31 PM

Feed the Animals is a better album, in your mind, than Neon Bible. (Hell, than Funeral.)

Just thought I'd go ahead and write it out for myself, see if it made any more sense. Nope.

Posted by Nick on June 23, 2009 at 3:56 PM

5: I love pleasure.

Posted by David Schmader on June 23, 2009 at 4:17 PM

David-you prefer Clipse's 2nd album to their first??

Posted by Thig Nat on June 23, 2009 at 4:22 PM

Clipse? Eminem? Kanye "Gayfish" West?...

This list is mediocre at best, except for those terrible three choices. There have been waaaaaay better hip-hop albums than those three. (Three better albums in three seconds: Deltron 3030, Madvillain, and J-Dilla's "Donuts")

Wake up and smell the end of the decade. Maybe first though, you should go back and take another listen.

Posted by Proud Faggot

on June 23, 2009 at 4:30 PM

I like both Madvillian and Donuts, but neither compares to any of the records listed.

Posted by David Schmader on June 23, 2009 at 5:46 PM

Also, I was sure the record people would give me the most shit about would be "Love & Theft"...

Posted by David Schmader on June 23, 2009 at 5:48 PM

I've been thinking hard about this since it turned to 2009. I suspect it will take me all year, and maybe longer.

Posted by bunnypuncher

on June 23, 2009 at 8:18 PM

#8 aka "Proud Faggot"

Couldn't agree with you more, pretty obvious that these people don't actually listen to hip-hop.....KANYE CAN'T FLOW......Though Fishscale and Clipse deserve their praise.

Posted by Ty on June 24, 2009 at 2:34 PM

What about....

Jim O'Rourke's Insignificance
Fennesz Endless Summer
Radiohead's In Rainbows
Smog's Rain on Lens
Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein
Dinosaur Jr. Beyond/Farm
Joanna Newsom Ys

Love and Theft is absurd. When will you all realize how much Bob Dylan sucks!!!!

Posted by Hosono on June 24, 2009 at 2:41 PM

I'd also throw "turn on the bright lights" in ring. But serious, Art Brut? Come on......

Beisdes as list that this is completely unnecessary

Posted by Ty on June 24, 2009 at 2:43 PM

I am guessing that you are right Ty. I can't imagine he knows his ABC's of hip-hop when it appears that he listens to nothing but watered-down radio hip-pop.

You are right Schmader. None of the aforementioned albums really does compare to the records on your list. The reason being is that they are in a whole different league of category: Masterpiece.

Posted by Proud Faggot

on June 24, 2009 at 3:49 PM

You should listen to more metal.

Posted by PigDestroyer on June 24, 2009 at 7:27 PM

#16 - yes. you could certainly throw terrifyer up there. so many albums missing but obviously a list created with a deadline.

#13 - the cold vein is great.

good to see clipse get some love. hell hath no fury is steps beyond any kanye shit.

Posted by x's as your eyes on June 24, 2009 at 10:33 PM

Some decent records on Schmader's list, but I wouldn't put any of 'em on my list.

@16 & 17. Terrifyer is #2 on my list, believe it or not. Now I just need to get a writing gig.

Posted by J. Burns on June 25, 2009 at 12:50 PM

Seems like he's missing some real, essential great records on his top 10: Arcade Fire- Funeral, Radiohead- Kid A, The Knife- Silent Shout, TVOTR- Return to Cookie Mountain, The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles The Robots just to name a few.

Factual my ass!!!!!!
Apparently, David Schmader is too young and too stuck on crap music to know what makes a good quality record. Let's hope The Stranger is as far as his career goes.

Posted by DirtyDeeds on June 26, 2009 at 9:23 PM