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Music News: Slant's Best Albums of The Decade
Member Since: 10/9/2008
Posts: 9,835
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Slant's Best Albums of The Decade
1. OutKast, Stankonia
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Though OutKast's "B.O.B." seems prescient now for other, more specifically historical reasons, Stankonia as a whole seemed to forecast the mood of this past decade by its very nature. Excessive, weird, endlessly ambitious and cryptic, and very, very long, Stankonia is a record that must be reckoned with as well as listened to, even 10 years later. From the hits (the omnipresent "Ms. Jackson," the mind-blowing "B.O.B.," the fantastically sleazy "So Fresh, So Clean") to the bizarre personal mythology about a place "seven light years below sea level," no other album from the decade better presses the limits of what popular music can do. On "Humble Mumble," Andre 3000 confronts a rock critic who "thought hip-hop was only guns and alcohol," and makes her "**** her drawers" with a groovy "Oh, hell naw!" Thus, a decade was born
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2. Radiohead, Kid A
3. Björk, Vespertine
4. Arcade Fire, Funeral
5. Jay-Z, The Blueprint
6. The Avalanches, Since I Left You
7. Jay-Z, The Black Album
8. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
9. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
10. Portishead, Third
11. Sigur Rós, Ágætis Byrjun
12. M.I.A., Arular
13. Kanye West, Late Registration
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Though his public appearances and constant blogging demonstrated an ego run so amuck it headed right into South Park fish-in-a-barrel territory, signing up to co-produce a rap record with PT Anderson mainstay Jon Brion was a pretty genius move. Brion's strings and general sense of kooky bombast make for a consistently challenging record that never forgets that it's still a pop record. Despite a tinge of melancholy on tracks like "Hey Mama" and "Roses," or the outrage of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," Late Registration mostly captures the joy that can only be found in creative invention.
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14. Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
15. Beck, Sea Change
16. PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
17. M83, Saturdays=Youth
18. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion Version)
19. The Strokes, Is This It
20. Daft Punk, Discovery
21. Ghostface Killah, Fishscale
22. Dizzee Rascal, Boy in Da Corner
23. Annie, Anniemal
24. M.I.A., Kala
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A beautifully weird and evocative kaleidoscope of a record, a socially-conscious dance record that finds M.I.A. reckoning with the hypocrisy of lobbing cherry bombs at the very capitalist system that has padded her pockets. Arular is the catchier, prettier record, but Kala is the more thoughtful one, what with its slyly intelligent and honest considerations of cultural displacement and ponderings of travels through the third world. M.I.A.'s moral conviction, emotiveness, playfulness, and crafty musical innovation shames almost every artist who produced music in the last decade.
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25. Basement Jaxx, Rooty
26. Spoon, Kill the Moonlight
27. Robyn, Robyn
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Unlike Madonna, Robyn raps with humor and knowingness, and even though the album's sonic landscape suggests she's trapped inside a PlayStation console, short-circuiting its motherboard before busting right out of it, there's nothing cold or canned-sounding about this platinum blonde's voice. Even her boasting is charming. Robyn's complex feelings on everything from the nature of seduction to escape are thrillingly paralleled to the album's equally emotive production, most thrillingly on the writhing "Cobrastyle" and "With Every Heartbeat," the most vibrant jewel in a crown of perfect pop songcraft.
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28. The Streets, Original Pirate Material
29. The White Stripes, Elephant
30. Modest Mouse, The Moon & Antarctica
31. Madonna, Music
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Though Madonna would collaborate with William Orbit on three tracks on her follow-up to Ray of Light, the album otherwise represented a seismic shift from its predecessor's warm-and-gooey spirituality (a Book of Revelation to many fans, anathema to others). Mirwais's defiantly experimental, Eurotrashy, wholly artificial production—awash in Auto-Tune and Nintendo beats—was bound to disappoint some, but no one does ersatz like Madonna, and fittingly, this is also one of her most soul-bearing works, from the feminist "What It Feels Like for a Girl," to the Toni Morrison-alluding "Paradise (Not for Me), to "Nobody's Perfect," a slow burn that's never less than affecting.
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32. The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
33. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
34. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell
35. Santogold, Santogold
36. No Doubt, Rock Steady
37. Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It in People
38. Madonna, Confessions on a Dance Floor
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Confessions on a Dance Floor could've just as easily been called Ghost of Madonnas Past: at once a thumping tribute to the restorative power of dance music (this was the workout album of the decade if there was one) and a treatise on the singer's own fame ("I spent my whole life wanting to be talked about"), in which all her musical tics headily come to fore (singing in foreign languages? Check. Faux-tribalistic hymn? Check.). References to the past are everywhere, from the ABBA sample of "Hung Up" to her silly love letter to the city where she got her start, "I Love New York," but Madonna has always been a thoroughly postmodern pop artist, and as such, songs like "Hung Up," Sorry," and "Forbidden Love" aren't so much throwbacks as updates of the disco sound to which she's indebted.
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39. Madvillain, Madvillainy
40. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
41. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
42. The New ****ographers, Twin Cinema
43. Missy Elliott, Miss E…So Addictive
44. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
45. Burial, Untrue
46. The Chemical Brothers, Come with Us
47. Erkyah Badu, New AmErykah: Part One (4th World War)
48. Antony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now
49. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds
50. Brian Wilson, Smile.
Full List: http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/f...ums/215/page_1
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Member Since: 10/9/2008
Posts: 9,835
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Member Since: 10/28/2008
Posts: 22,771
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sahn
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Amazing pic and YASS for the Queen having two entries! 
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Member Since: 12/8/2010
Posts: 17,643
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Radiohead , Bjork , Robyn , White Stripes , Madonna , No Doubt
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Member Since: 10/28/2008
Posts: 22,771
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sahn
1. OutKast, Stankonia
2. Radiohead, Kid A
3. Björk, Vespertine
4. Arcade Fire, Funeral
5. Jay-Z, The Blueprint
7. Jay-Z, The Black Album
10. Portishead, Third
12. M.I.A., Arular
13. Kanye West, Late Registration
15. Beck, Sea Change
17. M83, Saturdays=Youth
19. The Strokes, Is This It
20. Daft Punk, Discovery
24. M.I.A., Kala
25. Basement Jaxx, Rooty
27. Robyn, Robyn
29. The White Stripes, Elephant
31. Madonna, Music
32. The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
33. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
34. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell
35. Santogold, Santogold
36. No Doubt, Rock Steady
37. Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It in People
38. Madonna, Confessions on a Dance Floor
41. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
43. Missy Elliott, Miss E…So Addictive
46. The Chemical Brothers, Come with Us
47. Erkyah Badu, New AmErykah: Part One (4th World War)
49. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds
Full List: http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/f...ums/215/page_1 |
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Member Since: 9/27/2010
Posts: 22,568
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Madonna.
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Member Since: 9/27/2010
Posts: 22,568
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Jay-Z,Kanye,No Doubt,Lil Wayne,Justin. 
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Member Since: 5/22/2009
Posts: 436
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3. Björk, Vespertine
Great, but is Björk considered "Dance"?
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Member Since: 7/21/2009
Posts: 6,559
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If "Dance" means "Electronic" - well, yes. But Vespertine, as much as I love this album, is SO NOT danceable!
But other albums on that list arent either.
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Member Since: 11/12/2009
Posts: 14,298
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I'm confused...the title says "Dance" but I see Jay-Z on the list  can someone explain me, please?
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Member Since: 2/17/2010
Posts: 21,811
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Jay-Z, The Blueprint
"Best Dance Album"
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Member Since: 7/21/2009
Posts: 6,559
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Well, to be fair. There is HipHop you can dance to. This list obviously does not restrict to one genre.
But it is still strange as there are albums that just aren't dancey. Kid A, seriously?
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Member Since: 3/30/2009
Posts: 79,408
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49. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds
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40. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
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Member Since: 12/28/2010
Posts: 26,529
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Mariah Carey
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Member Since: 4/30/2009
Posts: 4,574
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72. Aaliyah, Aaliyah. From the time she was a teenager, Aaliyah had a distinct talent for collecting talented producers (R. Kelly, Timbaland, Missy Elliott) and labels (Jive, Virgin) like furniture. And on Aaliyah, she was able to use those collaborations to create her own sound, a smoldering, sophisticated, and decidedly adult R&B. She lets Timbaland guide, not hijack, the album (he only produced three tracks, one of them being the standout lead single "We Need a Resolution"), but what's most memorable today is the voice of Aaliyah herself, who had long ditched teen coquettishness for a slinking sexiness ("We can be like Bonnie and Clyde") that only hinted at the full-blown artist she might have been. PS
are they ****ing serious?  at least she made it
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Member Since: 7/27/2004
Posts: 3,188
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I hate these pretentious publications. Next.
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Member Since: 11/13/2009
Posts: 25,902
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Member Since: 8/24/2008
Posts: 40,932
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actual talent
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 4/4/2010
Posts: 10,437
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Great to see 'FutureSex/LoveSounds' in the list, I've been listening to that album ALOT lately, it's pretty awesome.
Of course, many of those are incredibly great as well.
And I'm happy to see some other amazing albums there like M.I.A.'s 'Kala' and Santigold's debut too. 
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Member Since: 11/21/2010
Posts: 3,809
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Ghostface Killah...... 
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