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The Best Artists of the 00s (So Far)

In less than two years this decade will be over. It's hard to believe, as most of us still haven't decided what to call it (the "oughts", the "naughties"?) let alone get a grip on what it means. It's been a blur of stolen elections, downspiraling economies, mounting debt, and a paranoid entertainment industry relentlessly jerking their customers around. Despite all the BS, some people still managed to release some good albums. The era of blockbusters are over, because the industry no longer has a stranglehold on bottlenecking the variety of what we choose to listen to. As much as they'd like twenty million people to all buy the same ten albums at Walmart, we have a far wider variety of choices than ever before. The era of consensus is over, and canons are always questionable. That may sound strange coming from a compulsive listmaker, but I'm all for supporting a variety of opinions. Lists aren't very interesting if they're all alike. Just because lists can be challenged doesn't mean they aren't valuable. I excluded Animal Collective, The Liars, M.I.A., The Arcade Fire and many others for many reasons, and I believe fans of all those artists will still find ones they'd like here. I've used critic's polls and books like the MOJO Collection and 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die to find albums I've overlooked, reconsider ones I've dismissed, and get a different perspective on ones I'm familiar with. Whether I agree or not, I often hear things I didn't notice before.

Even with the endless streams of new music and the explosion of music blogs, some cluster groupthinking does occur, and many of the artists at the top of my list will seem, *yawn*, predictable. That part is inevitable. Don't let it distract you from digging deeper and finding out what's so special about Nação Zumbí, My Computer, Ampop, Arto Lindsay, The Czars and The Flaming Stars. You just might find a new obsession.

Like the 90s list, I made this list by taking the rank each album appeared in its respective year and averaged it with the other albums. More weight was given to artists with more albums. At least those with consistent albums. Take Amon Tobin, for example. He started the decade strong with two albums that each placed 3rd in 2000 and 2002. But his album in 2006 didn't make the top 200, so he barely made the list. Competition is fierce, despite the fact that without hindsight, it seems many of the artists lack the larger than life quality as those from other decades, especially the dead ones. I'd like to see all these artists stay alive and release their best albums yet in the next two years. At least two have broken up (Sleater-Kinney, 16 Horsepower), but there should be plenty of artists (Edan, The Knife, Benoît Pioulard, Yeasayer, White Rabbits, etc.) following up their debuts, making the list and pushing off any slackers. I excluded the ones who only have one album so far. A few one album wonders might make the individual album list, but the top 100 artists of the decade should have more than one load in their holsters.

  1. TV On The Radio
  2. Radiohead
  3. Nação Zumbi
  4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  5. Patrick Wolf
  6. The White Stripes
  7. Mastodon
  8. My Computer
  9. Arto Lindsay
  10. Tom Waits
  11. Spoon
  12. Junior Boys
  13. Sleater-Kinney
  14. Sigur Ros
  15. Queens of the Stone Age
  16. Field Music
  17. Franz Ferdinand
  18. Broadcast
  19. Gorillaz
  20. Mark Lanegan
  21. Moreno/Domenico/Kassin +2
  22. Opeth
  23. Maximo Park
  24. The Rakes
  25. PJ Harvey
  26. The Mars Volta
  27. Hawksley Workman
  28. Ed Harcourt
  29. Shack
  30. Out Hud
  31. Four Tet
  32. Max De Castro
  33. Tinariwen
  34. Editors
  35. Burial
  36. LCD Soundsystem
  37. Mogwai
  38. The Czars
  39. The Strokes
  40. Neko Case
  41. The Flaming Stars
  42. Menomena
  43. Bloc Party
  44. Enslaved
  45. Colder
  46. Wilco
  47. Fennesz
  48. Godspeed You Black Emperor!
  49. Mission Of Burma
  50. 16 Horsepower
  51. Hot Chip
  52. Otto
  53. The Books
  54. John Vanderslice
  55. El-P
  56. Ampop
  57. N*E*R*D
  58. The Rapture
  59. Tony Allen
  60. Elbow
  61. Eluvium
  62. Black Mountain
  63. Rob
  64. The Black Keys
  65. Witchcraft
  66. Björk
  67. Nina Nastasia
  68. Russian Futurists
  69. The Futureheads
  70. Café Tacvba
  71. Handsome Family
  72. M83
  73. Lali Puna
  74. Roots Manuva
  75. Tunng
  76. !!!
  77. Built To Spill
  78. Dälek
  79. The Roots
  80. Joanna Newsom
  81. Dungen
  82. Tom Zé
  83. Tokyo Jihen
  84. Robert Wyatt
  85. Delgados
  86. Sparklehorse
  87. The Coral
  88. Gogol Bordello
  89. Frog Eyes
  90. 65daysofstatic
  91. Boris
  92. The Walkmen
  93. Prefuse 73
  94. Parts & Labor
  95. Blue States
  96. Stars
  97. Cornelius
  98. Amon Tobin
  99. Black Moth Super Rainbow
  100. A Frames

Best Albums of the 00s (So Far)

  1. Radiohead - Kid A (Capitol) 00
  2. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain (4AD/Interscope) 06
  3. Björk - Vespertine (Elektra) 01
  4. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (Touch & Go) 04
  5. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (Island) 00
  6. Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music (London) 00
  7. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (Capitol) 03
  8. Four Tet - Rounds (Domino) 03
  9. Café Tacvba - Quatro Caminos (MCA) 03
  10. N*E*R*D - In Search Of ... (Virgin) 02
  11. Amon Tobin - Supermodified (Ninja Tune) 00
  12. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (Interscope) 02
  13. Amon Tobin - Out From Out Where (Ninja Tune) 02
  14. The Notwist - Neon Golden (City Slang) 02
  15. Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Reprise) 06
  16. Opeth - Ghost Reveries (Roadrunner) 05
  17. Patrick Wolf - Wind In The Wires (Tomlab) 05
  18. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (Interscope) 06
  19. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub) 07
  20. The Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium (GSL/Universal) 03
  21. Kassin +2 - Futurismo (Video Arts Japan/Luaka Bop) 06
  22. Radiohead - In Rainbows (ATO) 07
  23. Apparat - Walls (Bpitch Control) 07
  24. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free) 07
  25. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (Interscope) 00
  26. Sussan Deyhim - Madman Of God: Divine Love Songs of the Persian Sufi Masters (CramWorld) 00
  27. Hawksley Workman - For Him And The Girls (Isadora/Ba Da Bing) 00
  28. Hawksley Workman - (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves (Universal) 01
  29. The Strokes - Is This It (RCA/BMG) 01
  30. My Computer - No CV (Tesla UK) 05
  31. Fennesz - Endless Summer (Mego) 01
  32. Brian Wilson - SMiLE (Nonesuch) 04
  33. Mastodon - Leviathan (Relapse) 04
  34. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (Domino) 05
  35. Junior Boys - Last Exit (Kin UK) 04
  36. Rob - Satyred Love (Source/Virgin Fr) 02
  37. My Computer - Vulnerabilia (13 Amp UK) 02
  38. Arto Lindsay - Invoke (Righteous Babe) 02
  39. The Walkmen - Bows And Arrows (Record Collection) 04
  40. Arto Lindsay - Salt (Righteous Babe) 04
  41. Sketch Show - Loophole (Third Ear) 04
  42. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner) 02
  43. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch) 02
  44. Nina Nastasia - The Blackened Air (Touch and Go) 02
  45. The Rakes - Capture/Release (V2 UK) 05
  46. Robyn (Konichiwa Records) 05
  47. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (Wichita/V2) 05
  48. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant) 06
  49. The Knife - Silent Shout (Rabid/Mute) 06
  50. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (Universal/Polydor) 07
  51. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed (Ghostly International) 07
  52. Jesu - Conquerer (Hydra Head) 07
  53. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (Graveface) 07
  54. White Rabbits - Fort Nightly (Say Hey) 07
  55. Nação Zumbi - Fome De Tudo (Deck Disk Brazil) 07
  56. Björk - Medulla (Elektra) 04
  57. Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things (Tirk) 06
  58. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti) 06
  59. Joanna Newsom - Ys (Drag City) 06
  60. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell (Interscope) 03
  61. Hot Chip - The Warning (DFA/Astralwerks) 06
  62. The White Stripes - Elephant (V2) 03
  63. Plush - Fed (After Hours Jpn) 02
  64. Tom Waits - Alice (Anti/Epitaph) 02
  65. Neko Case - Blacklisted (Bloodshot) 02
  66. Field Music (Memphis Industries UK) 05
  67. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (Sub Pop) 05
  68. At The Drive-In - Relationship Of Command (Grand Royal) 00
  69. Sigur Rós - Ágaetis Byrjun (FatCat/Bubble Core) 00
  70. Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher (Warp) 03
  71. Otto - Sem Gravidade (Trama) 03
  72. Shack - Here's Tom With The Weather (North Country UK) 03
  73. Broadcast - Hahasound (Warp) 03
  74. Annie - Anniemal (679) 04
  75. Gang Gang Dance - God's Money (Social Registry) 05
  76. Boris - Pink (Southern Lord) 05
  77. The Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum (Beggars) 04
  78. Benoît Pioulard - Précis (Kranky) 06
  79. Nação Zumbi - Futura (Trama) 06
  80. Tony Allen - Lagos No Shaking (Honest Jon) 06
  81. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye (Domino) 06
  82. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld (Drag City) 04
  83. Electrelane - The Power Out (Too Pure/Beggars) 04
  84. Orphaned Land - Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven (Century Media) 04
  85. Nação Zumbi (Trama) 02
  86. Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy (Tomlab) 04
  87. Sleater-Kinney - All Hands On The Bad One (Kill Rock Stars) 00
  88. Nação Zumbi - Radio S.AMB.A. (Stern's Brasil) 00
  89. Ed Harcourt - From Every Sphere (Astralwerks/Heaven) 03
  90. Fugazi - The Argument (Dischord) 01
  91. Mercury Rev - All Is Dream (V2) 01
  92. Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life (EMI/Parlophone) 01
  93. Ed Harcourt - Here Be Monsters (Virgin) 01
  94. Cannibal Ox - Cold Vein (Ozone Music) 01
  95. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (Epic) 01
  96. Ampop - Nature Is Not A Virgin (R&R Iceland) 00
  97. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (Kranky) 00
  98. 16 Horsepower - Secret South (Razor & Tie) 00
  99. Cappablack - Facades and Skeletons (Scape Germany) 06
  100. Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island (Kemado) 06

The Best New Artists of 2000-2001

In 2001 I made a list of some of the most promising artists I'd heard so far in the new decade/century. Some of them had already released an album in '98 or '99, but were hopefully destined to flourish in the years to come. The White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age fulfilled their promise as well as anyone could hope, with a string of consistent albums and well attended tours. Financial success varies as always. Ed Harcourt and Hawksley Workman remain virtually unknown in the U.S. despite far surpassing the likes of Rufus Wainwright artistically. The Strokes survived the hype backlash with two good albums, but not quite able to match the excitement of their debut. Others unfortunately broke up soon after (Life Without Buildings, The Fire Show), passed away (Suba) or disappeared (Cannibal Ox).

  1. The Strokes
  2. Sparklehorse
  3. The White Stripes
  4. Queens of the Stone Age
  5. Sigur Rós
  6. Ed Harcourt
  7. John Vanderslice
  8. Hawksley Workman
  9. The Czars
  10. Eleni Mandell
  11. Cannibal Ox
  12. Beta Band
  13. Prefuse 73
  14. Shannon Wright
  15. Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
  16. Elbow
  17. The Kingsbury Manx
  18. The Tyde
  19. Life Without Buildings
  20. The Shins
  21. Mum
  22. The Fire Show
  23. The (International) Noise Conspiracy
  24. The Autumn Defense
  25. The Russian Futurists
  26. Thalia Zedek
  27. Fridge
  28. Rufus Wainwright
  29. New Pornographers
  30. Beachwood Sparks
  31. The Delgados
  32. Leila
  33. Broadcast
  34. Suba
  35. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

The Best Artists of the 90s
The Best Artists of the 20th Century