The Best/My 25 Favorite Albums of the Last 10 Years (2005-2014)

I've never had a desire to do this list until about 2 weeks ago. I've been stocking up on my "half-decade" list (2010-2014) since I've been back home from my mission. At the end of 2014, I realized: The hour hath cometh. But I've lately wondered: How do 2010 albums compare to 2009 albums? One does not simply cross decades of music! Or can you?
I didn't become a Pitchfork junkie until 2008-2009, but I got into Rolling Stone around 2006-2007. So it's fair for me to say I've been following music intently for almost all the last 10 years. If I made this list go any further back, I'd be lying to myself about actually remembering when these albums came out. Also, for me, albums from over 10 years ago have reached a new level of vintage status.
It was hard to make this list. It was 2013 when I started listening to (roughly) a new album every week! So I have a firm opinion on music from the latter end of this 10-year span. However, I also have nostalgic emotions toward my beginning days of reading music reviews and year-end lists in the late oughties. When making this list, I had over 50 different albums I considered putting on it. I have a long, admirable "honorable mentions" list of albums basically tied for 26th place. It was sad to see a lot of these albums not make this list. But who cares...
The last 10 years have possibly been the worst 10 years in music history (and things will probably only get worse). It's hard for me to say the music world has made a lot of "progress," yet it seems like there's something new brought to the table every year. That's just how it works. This list covers albums that demonstrate studio production progressiveness, new songwriting approaches and front-to-back quality of listen-ability. And small doses of my personal bias.
So here it is: A top 25 collection of the best- or perhaps the most influential-- or perhaps just my personal favorite--- albums from the past 10 years.

#25~ The Flaming Lips Embryonic [2009]

Lots of folks (Flaming Lips fans included) don't like Embryonic because it took away the confetti cannons and Wayne Coyne's space-bubble crowd-surfing from their fun live shows, but this gives a guy like me reason to love it.
This album is a dark, heavy, patient take on what's basically an intergalactic jungle remake of Physical Graffiti (including some discomforting music videos).






#24~ Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [2010]
Why This Album Could Be #1:
Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous, POWER, Monster, Devil in a New Dress, Lost in the World, Gil Scott-Heron outro, horns on All of the Lights, Pusha T's Runaway verse, Chris Rock talking about Twista's watch on Blame Game, overall cohesiveness.
Why This Album Shouldn't Be On This List:
Nicki Minaj storybook intro, every guest artist on All of the Lights, So Appalled's lazy chorus, Runaway's lazy chorus, Hell of a Life's lazy chorus, John Legend's lines on Blame Game, corny melodramatics.



#23~ Flying Lotus Cosmogramma [2010]

Cosmogramma is an important step in the world of electronica, a genre I usually don't care about.
The incorporation of jazz music is respected even by the highest standard of jazz purists and production emphasizes on zany keyboard sounds and FlyLo's signature chopped-up beats.








#22~ Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago [2007/2008]

As long as this list has something to do with their influence on modern culture, I'm going to put it on here.
And screw it, I love this album.










#21~ Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca [2009]
There's not a lot to say about the last 30 years of prog rock, although Dirty Projectors have always been weird enough to fit the genre.
Their strategy here is to both strip down prog to its basics and utilize their pop senses, making for some beautiful, harmonic, rare "prog-pop" music.







#20~ TV On The Radio Return To Cookie Mountain [2006]
Here we have some harmonic, blues-influenced vocal parts blended in with mysterious noise instrumentation.
At times it comes of as complex and dark, and some times it can sound natural and soulful.

#19~ Run The Jewels Run The Jewels 2 [2014]
This can be passed off as a nice little cocky indie-rap album from two aging hip-hop veterans, but Killer Mike and El-P cover an important topic here.
Between the (sometimes comical) images of violence and self-centered bragging, there's a dark reality hanging over the conscience of RTJ: Death.

#18~ LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening [2010]

Not only did James Murphy have to follow up a decade's worth of singles critics were hailing as modern classics, he had been considering discontinuing LCD Soundsystem as a whole.
This album is their most fun, mixing some nonsensical and romantic lyrics with musical throwbacks to electo-new wave, cementing the band's legacy.







#17~ J Dilla Donuts  [2006]
I guess 'instrumental hip-hop" wasn't a new genre in 2006, but Dilla made it sound like it was.
The sampling on here still sounds fresh and fantastic, the beats are still original and this 31-song compilation jerks from track-to-track with surprising flavors at every corner.








#16~ Destroyer Kaputt [2011]

Indie songwriting veteran Dan Bejar destroys any signs of indie rock and pop in exchange for a lovable, surprisingly suave and sexy musical display of early '80s soft rock, disco and jazz.
In the songwriting world, I have a thing for old men, and due Kaputt's  sonic value and relevant, stream-of-conscience lyrical content, I refuse to call this a "novelty" album.

#15~ Panda Bear Person Pitch [2007]
With Animal Collective winning streak of 2000s albums, what else could have Noah Lennox possibly added?
This album is as much a producer's goldmine where the sound schema is a matter of distance, reverb and random sampling, creating a magically genre-less album that sounds like it's buried under ice.

#14~ M.I.A. Kala [2007]
M.I.A. enters the big leagues on Kala.
After impressing us with her catchy world-music rap of Arular, she experiences even more modern electronica, claustrophobic lo-fi beats, a wide array of guest artists both popular and underground and even disco.

#13~ Kanye West Late Registration [2005]
Kanye takes a step up from 2004's The College Dropout and presents an album full of fresh '70s R&B samples, hypnotic melodies and impressive lyrical concepts.
Switching back and forth between laughable pride and unique political commentary, this album makes for an eyebrow-raising conceptual experience.

#12~ The Knife Silent Shout [2006]
With this album, The Knife introduce a new artistic personality and become what some still call the perfect band.
Yes, it's dark, but its wide variety rhythms (from world music to Euro-techno) are crazy and Fever Ray's vocal delivery is so unique, it's as creepy as it is goofy.








11~ Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires Of The City [2013]

Modern Vampires is a triumph in both the songwriting and studio production world.
The band's songs are as catchy as ever, yet somehow their usual sunshine pop turns into a murky fog driven by cathedral-esque keyboards, instrumental experimentation and Ezra Koenig's tongue-in-cheek outlooks on God and growing old.







#10~ Burial Untrue [2007]
What is dubstep-- or rather, what has it become?
This album will change the way you think of beats and without only a few, distant spoken-words, it tells a story of adolescent city life.









#9~ Sun Kil Moon Benji [2014]
At age 47, Mark Kozelek released some of the deepest, most personal music of his career (making it some of the most personal music you'll ever hear).
Benji tells life stories (everything from '70s childhood movies to dying relatives) accompanied by raw acoustic instrumentation, making for an eternally gorgeous, 1-man road trip album.






#8~ Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP [2008]
Every man in a plaid jacket with an acoustic guitar and a thick beard starting up a multi-vocalist chill indie rock band should take all the money from their pockets and mail it to Seattle, WA.
The 16 gorgeous, mountainous tracks between these two releases definitely weren't the first indie folk songs to hit the scene, but what they have done to the genre has changed everything from the Ho-Hey's and the Take-Me-To-Church-ey production styles all the way to the very clothing worn by that one guy who always shows up to your bonfires.




#7~ Deerhunter Halcyon Digest [2010]
Indie rock has become a thing of the past, and I'm not saying that Halcyon Digest killed it or that it perfected it, yet somehow the genre's gone nowhere since it's release.
Bradford Cox dubs his voice on every track like he's a pop star underwater, Locket Pundt's guitars range from fuzzy marijuana lounging to bright shoe-gazing and with some various percussion approaches, this album turns into a fun, psychedelic, low-budget adventure for the lonely (and/or stoned).




#6~ Radiohead In Rainbows [2007]
In 2007, I really thought I was a cool kid in high school for being the only guy who listened to Radiohead, but in my 2015 college days, it's like EVERYBODY annoyingly worships In Rainbows.
(sigh) I'd hate to admit it, but fact is... between the sci-fi keyboards, lush guitars, beautifully executed strings arrangements and its hopeless-yet-romantic tracks... it's a freaking good album.








#5~ Beach House Teen Dream [2010]
I dare say, this is both the dreamiest (ex: Galaxie 500) and poppiest (ex: Fleetwood Mac) dream pop album ever made.
I've yet to hear such a lo-fi album sound so pretty and radio-pop inspired, with Alex Scally's Hawaiian shoegaze guitars meshing with an impressive variety of percussions (both raw and electronic) and the sentimental, harrowing, heartbreaking, soulful singing of Victoria Legrand working together to make these 10, ridiculously lovable songs.





#4~ LCD Soundsystem Sound Of Silver [2007]
This album proved that James Murphy was more than the anxious Steve Malkmus songwriter of the EDM world.
These songs take influence from a slew of innovative '70s artists (Brian Eno, Lou Reed, David Bowie, David Byrne, Steve Reich, to name a few) and fuse them with modern techno tactics for the musical recipe while Murphy delivers some of the smartest, most unique lyrics ever written on eternal friendships and the falsehoods of the New York partying life.




#3~ Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion [2009]
Just to settle any contention (or perhaps I'm raising some), everything from hereon out is stuff I've considered being #1.
Meanwhile, Animal Collective released a run of (what I believe to be) 4 great LPs before MPP, and it's amazing to me that they were able to top all of them with an album that changed the course of synth-pop of all genres with this progressively psychedelic, exciting, grandiose, bright, positive, romantic, accessible album that remains as harmonic and weird as their past work.





#2~ Sufjan Stevens Illinois [2005]

Illinois is an adventurous ode to the state of Illinois with a dazzling, ambitiously vast variety of raw instrumentation, layered on top of each other in the most theatrical Aaron Copeland/100% American manner, a humbled singer telling childhood stories, his relationship with God and in-depth Illinois history lessons, making for epic songs structured like you're walking home (filled with a heart full of love and painful questions) after watching the 4th of July fireworks with all your best friends.
So basically, I'll never think of folk music the same way again.




#1~ Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city [2012]
Via the stories told within the songs and the recorded phone call samples abridging its tracks, Kendrick Lamar's major label debut tells the story of a shy Kendrick at age 17, having a night on the town in Compton, CA with the "homies" where he hooks up with his hoodrat girlfriend Sherane, robs somebody's house, gets drunk, watches a man get killed then comes to Jesus.
Each song is like a monument in their own right to their concepts, as Dr. Dre's lead-production beats sound crisper than a $100 bill, the music shifts drastically from track-to-track and Kendrick spits at the mike like he's the voice of poverty... or perhaps just the voice of The New King.




EXTENSIVE/LOVEABLE ALBUM TITLES HONORABLE MENTIONS LIST
2005: I Am A Bird Now, Feels, Arular, The Sunset Tree, The Woods, LCD Soundsystem
2006: Hell Hath No Fury, Boys And Girls In America, Fishscale, The Warning, Ys
2007: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Night Falls Over Kortedala, Strawberry Jam, Hissing Fauna..., Boxer
2008: Vampire Weekend, Microcastle, Nouns, Dear Science
2009: Album, Fever Ray, Veckatimest
2011: Helplessness Blues, Bon Iver, Strange Mercy
2012: The Money Store, Channel Orange, The Idler Wheel...
2013: Settle, Sunbather
2014: To Be Kind, LP1

The Bends

Time for a rant! Radiohead's The Bends was released 20 years ago today. Why should people give a hoot?

I consider myself a Radiohead fan and The Bends isn't even my favorite album by them. Most of the time, I'd place it 3rd behind OK Computer and Kid A [although it's my 2nd favorite on a good day (and In Rainbows follows closely as my #4 pick)]. No, I dare say Radiohead is now considered by many as one of the all-time greats, and The Bends can be ranked among the most influential albums of all time!

Now I'm making some big boasts about this 1995 album and it's not even my favorite 90s album. Radiohead made some of their best music in the 90s. Not because they sounded like the 90s, but it was "the sound of the future." Radiohead even improved on their futuristic sound on OK Computer and Kid A, but let's remember that The Bends came first and is a totally different animal. It's often overlooked as a sonic leap in the world and is mostly looked at as an innovative album for song-structures to come.

Thom Yorke claims the sound for this album was heavily influenced by The Pixies (whom he even called the greatest band of all time). Yet only 15 years after its release, The Observer claimed that neither Coldplay, Keane nor James Blunt would exist without The Bends. So this album is the bridge between The Pixies and Snow Patrol. Fascinating...

"The (Sometimes Annoyingly) Sad Guy
with a Guitar at Parties"

I believe every pasty white British male who tries rocking out on acoustic guitar and moaning/singing songs about depression should give 80% royalties to Radiohead. Not like this album is extremely acoustic, but the acoustic guitar makes an appearance in every song as a track's most comforting, playable instrument. Cue the (sometimes annoyingly) sad guy with a guitar at parties for the next 20 years.

The electric guitar riffs shred like The Pixies and solo like U2. Thom Yorke's vocal delivery is more neurotic. The bass lines are fuzzy, firm and are never hiding. The song topics are freaking depressing. Mostly about having no friends and feeling weak. Musically, it's actually quite loud; quite dynamic. The songs shift from being comforting to being creepy.

I assume nobody loves this album more than someone who was an introverted teenager in the mid-90s. I mean, sure, Radiohead was, is, and always will be "cool" music. But the shy kid in the corner loved The Bends. The loved Radiohead (ahem) 'before it was cool." Because they personally associated with it. It's depressive. It's anxious. It's relate-able.

The Bends was a lot more popular in the UK than in the US, where the only song to technically reach the Billboard Hot 100 was the simple, sad "High & Dry." My personal tracks are "(Nice Dream)" and "Black Star." The obviously most influential track was the heart-wrenchingly climactic anthem to crappy, materialistic relationships: "Fake Plastic Trees."

Now as weird as Radiohead is, this album was successful. It has 12 tracks. 6 of them were released as singles. The hooks are catchy. They made this album with a lot of money. It's multi-platinum selling record and people still cover "Fake Plastic Trees" at every Utah State PoBev I've ever been to. Some people play these songs straight faced, on the verge of tears, inwardly thinking "nobody knows how I feel." This is the emotional character of The Bends. Zero fun, sir. Just ask Beavis & Butthead.

...So maybe that wasn't that funny. BUT...
The Bends was the beginning of one of the greatest trio of albums ever:
The Bends > OK Computer > Kid A.
I consider it the second greatest only behind The Beatles:
Rubber Soul > Revolver > Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(And The Beatles did that in under 3 years!)

Some consider The Bends to be one of the greatest albums of all time. I'm not sure where I stand on that. Listening to it these days doesn't shock me much because it just sounds so standard. Every track sounded like I heard it a million times after I heard them once. But I can imagine a time when hearing tracks like "Just" or "My Iron Lung" on the radio was some hardcore experience.

The radio music world owes a big debt to The Bends (especially for Brits). You owe a lot to The Bends. Because we live in a world where everyone's emotions are important and the answers to everything can be found on something as powerful yet impersonal as the internet. And when Radiohead was the poster-band for "the sound of the future," they reminded us "the future" is a sad place to be. 

"Immerse your soul in love, immerse your soul in love..."

Here are some Bends copycats. Enjoy!

Muse

Travis

Coldplay

The Best/My 50 Favorite Songs of the Last 10 Years (2005-2014)

#50~ Janelle Monae (ft Big Boi) Tightrope [2010]
As popular as Janelle Monae may be, I still believe her to be among the most shafted female artists alive.











#49~ Of Montreal The Past Is A Grotesque Animal [2007]
People often forget that the original purpose of glam rock wasn't just too sound glossy and fun, but too sound ambitiously layered and anxious.








  

#48~ Run The Jewels (ft Zach de la Rocha) Close Your Eyes (And Count To F***) [2014]
"Run them jewels fast- run the- run them jewels fast!"












#47~ Girls Hellhole Ratrace [2009]
To me, Girls' Album stands as one of the last great, true indie pop albums and this is the singalong centerpiece to its drunken walk on a sunset beach.










#46~ Frank Ocean Thinkin' Bout You  [2012]
I often hate alternative-R&B due to its lack of true soul, although that's not an issue with Frank Ocean.











#45~ Bat For Lashes Daniel [2009] 
I'll never understand why people listen to Grimes.












#44~ Neon Indian Deadbeat Summer [2009]
"Ah, 2009: The summer of freshwave!"  
-Ross Irwin











#43~ Los Campesinos! You! Me! Dancing! [2007]
On a personal level, this was legitimately my initial 16 year-old introduction to modern "indie" music.











#42~ Deerhunter Desire Lines [2010]
I must say, the (ahem) "guitar solo" on this track isn't necessarily hard to play, but it's shiny and easy to get lost in, which is the point.










#41~ Band Of Horses The Funeral  [2006]
Some people love the ever-blurring lines of indie and radio pop, but for nostalgia's sake, I say screw that.
  










#40~ Justice D.A.N.C.E. [2007]
2 years after Daft Punk released their fairly crappy Human After All, Justice realized someone else had to do their job.











#39~ Hot Chip Ready For The Floor [2008]
By 2008, Hot Chip had effortlessly mastered the art of "copy + paste" hooks.











#38~ Daft Punk (ft Pharrell) Get Lucky [2013]
I'm glad there's a soulful, representative single for the "cheesy throwback" production movement, but what's hilarious is that this probably only Daft Punk's 5th best song they've ever made.










#37~ Panda Bear Bros [2007]
Panda Bear has this way of producing with a voice that sounds like Brian Wilson recorded under layers of snow and music that blinds you with its excess sunshine (which is cool).









#36~ Peter Bjorn And John (ft Victoria Bergsman) Young Folks [2006]
I don't care what kind of stupid faux-hipster crowd listens to this song; it has one of the greatest whistle hooks of all time!











#35~ Burial Archangel [2007]
Burial introduces you to the world of Untrue with a beat you'll likely never forget.











#34~ Japandroids The House That Heaven Built [2012]
I don't like Japandroids nearly as much as I used to, but this song reaches the explosively romantic lyricism the band aims for.










#33~ Cut Copy Hearts On Fire [2008]
This track is a modern take on the earliest formulas for house music and adds a lovable French touch of classiness.










#32~ FKA Twigs Two Weeks [2014]
My favorite Twigs track is "Pendulum," but looking back on a decade-long perspective, this song will be remembered for its catchy-yet-uncomfortably immoral and industrial spin on alt-R&B.









#31~ The Knife Silent Shout [2006] 
The Knife don't always sound as exciting as they do on this track, but it's a great introduction to the band's distinctively dark mysteriousness.










#30~ Phoenix 1901  [2009]
I think the majority of Phoenix songs sound the same, but this is a hot track nonetheless.











#29~ Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal  [2008]
It's 2015 and I'm tired of hearing this freaking song, but I'm grateful that it happened.











#28~ Justin Timberlake (ft T.I.) My Love [2006]
Future Love/Sex Songs is overrated as an album itself, but I still love the singles, especially the use of a turntable scratch as a hook on "My Love."










#27~ UGK (ft Outkast) Int'l Player's Anthem [2007]
I don't know how "good" this song really is, but I know all the words and UGK's Pimp C passed away merely months after its release, thus making it a classic in my book.










#26~ Kanye West (ft Dwele) Flashing Lights [2007]
The beat is straight off some dusty Run-DMC vinyl, the spits are as clever as they are sincere, and the synths are made of futuristic neon.










#25~ TV On The Radio Wolf Like Me [2006]
Aside from it being an anthem for 2000's indie innovators TV On The Radio, this was somewhat of an anthem for the fake gang I was part of in high school: The Timbawulv$.










#24~ Hot Chip Boy From School  [2006]
It's rare to find a disco track as true to the genre and as beautiful/depressing as "Boy from School."











#23~ Grizzly Bear Two Weeks [2009]
Grizzly Bear's following usually annoys me, but come on, everybody loved/loves this track.
 










#22~ Battles Atlas [2007]
One might think that any kind of innovation in the drumming world would be irrelevant by 2007, but no...











#21~ Vampire Weekend Step  [2013]
Vampire Weekend has a spot between Arcade Fire and Bon Iver as one of the most hated "indie" bands of the modern era, but "Step" is an all-around crowd-pleaser, balancing sonic relevance with its encyclopedic lyrics.









#20~ Washed Out Feel It All Around [2009]
Chillwave (at least good chillwave) proved itself to be a short-lived trend, but this is the track we can all look back on as the genre's breakthrough hit.
  









# 19~ Antony & The Johnsons Hope There's Someone [2006]
Some people hate Antony's voice, but it's hard not to believe what he sings on the simplistically deep, bare-bones baroque of "Hope There's Someone."
    









#18~ Animal Collective Fireworks [2007]
As Animal Collective was shifting towards synthesizers and sounding less lo-fi, this track is a beautiful, bittersweet representation of a bridge between their eternal indie superstardom and the days Avey Tare's oddball vocals taking the lead.








#17~ Hercules & Love Affair Blind [2009]
I didn't understand disco in 2008, but looking back, this song has this heavy, dumb bassline accompanied by Antony singing heavy, dumb disco lyrics that earns this track a spot in music history next to "I Feel Love."









#16~ Bon Iver Holocene [2011]
The brief career of Bon Iver has been called "boring" more often than "ambitious," but this song is layered in all the instrumentally humbling colors Justin Vernon could combine and rises above a band's arguable reputation of being stupidly minimal.








#15~ M.I.A. Galang [2005] 
Oh, M.I.A...












#14~ Sufjan Stevens Chicago [2005]
I will always think of Sufjan's Illinois when I think of music that's full of life, and "Chicago" manages to be both the album's most lyrically relatable and instrumentally adventurous track.
 








#13~ Hot Chip Over And Over [2006] 
I'm kind of a sucker for "big rock" songs and I'm also a sucker for Hot Chip singles, so naturally this song gets a high ranking.










#12~ Kendrick Lamar B****, Don't Kill My Vibe [2012]
The title itself may come off as just another cocky rap song, but any actual bragging Kendrick does here is outshined by his commentary on the music industry, his human struggles with pain and remorse, and the track's musically smooth textures.
  







#11~ Dirty Projectors Stillness Is The Move [2009]
It's pop, it's R&B, it's indie, it's about love, it's got catchy hooks, it's got some serious vocal chops, it's got this sick beat (don't sue me, Taylor Swift), it's by a prog rock band, it's one of the most important singles that transferred "indie" into what it is today.








#10~ MGMT Time To Pretend [2008]
I'll never forget hearing this song for the first time at age 17, because let's face it, as overexposed as MGMT may be (and they are), I still consider this song's synth production pretty lo-fi for the mainstream, and every high schooler can resonate with its rock'n'roll themes.








#9~ Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Round And Round [2010]
After years of making old-school pop with the lowest possible, Ariel Pink got a record deal with 4AD and saved his best hooks for a slow, hazy, unlikely hit that's become a modern indie standard.









#8~ Future Islands Seasons (Waiting On You) [2014] 
I'm not even kidding!












#7~ Kanye West POWER [2010]
While some consider My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the obvious pick for best album of the current decade, I would like it more if every song on it was given as much effort- when it comes to line delivery, production, sampling, layering- as "POWER."








#6~ Destroyer Kaputt [2011]
I learned to develop my own musical opinion without riding others' after my mission, and I believe this to be a musical and lyrical representation of where the true "indie" scene has disappeared to in the past 10 years: "Wasting your days..."








#5~ Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) [2008]
Considering she hasn't had a U.S. #1 hit since 2008, it may seem odd that Beyonce is the obvious reigning queen for female success in the music industry, but in the span of her whole career, she managed to find the hottest hooks, the most lively and heavy rhythm section, and grittiest horns for this 1 song dedicated to all independent women (with a cool dance video to boot).






#4~ LCD Soundsystem Someone Great  [2007]
Speaking of hooks... I have yet to ever hear another song like "Someone Great" where hooks just add on to each other like "Billie Jean," yet has this creative take on 25 years-worth of electronica instrumental fills and icing the cake with some of The Greatest Lyrics Ever Written.








#3~ M.I.A. Paper Planes  [2007]
M.I.A. blends world music with production techniques both lo-fi and futuristic as she turns CNN's "World News" segments into stupid, cool raps that children all over the world can sing along with (which is cool).









#2~ Animal Collective My Girls [2009]
What's cool about this song is that it redefined the word "hit," it redefined what makes something "accessible" or "cool," it redefined internet music fan bases, it redefined the indie scene, it redefined "synth-pop," it redefined the world of remixes, and our effortlessly weird heroes- Animal Collective- didn't have to sell out to do it.







#1~ LCD Soundsystem All My Friends [2007]
In addition to "Someone Great" having some of The Greatest Lyrics Ever Written and their 2002 single "Losing My Edge" already making its way into indie EDM history, LCD Soundsystem writes and records "All My Friends"-- a song that creates techno rhythms with a live drum set accompanied with sounds of a running train, a song with a disjointed piano piece chopped up like a Steve Reich track, a song that only has 2 chords and drags them out for over 7 minutes with a memorable guitar hook crammed in the middle, a song with a charming lyrical personality (referencing Pink Floyd and the U.S. Census Bureau), a song about life + death + partying + success + failing + running away to Europe + growing old + freindships-- a
                                                        memorial, emotional powerhouse.



EXTENSIVE/LOVEABLE SONG TITLES HONORABLE MENTIONS LIST
2005: Stay Fly, Trapped In A Closet, Heard 'Em Say, The Orchids, I'll Believe In Anything, Hate It Or Love It, Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
2006: Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken, Shakey Dog, What You Know, SexyBack, Chips Ahoy!, Crazy, Postcards From Italy, Knife
2007: No Pussy Blues, 1,2,3,4, The Underdog, The Crystal Cat, Skinny Love, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Keep The Car Running, A Postcard To Nina
2008: Kim & Jessie, L.E.S. Artistes, Collapsing At Your Doorstep, Oxford Comma, American Boy, Nothing Ever Happened
2009: Lust For Life, Bay Of Pigs (kinda), Warm Heart Of Africa
2010: Odessa, Dance Yrself Clean, Zebra, Sprawl II
2011: Midnight City, The Wilhelm Scream, Bay of Pigs (kinda)
2012: Jasmine
2013: White Noise
2014: I Watched The Film The Song Remains The Same