Mine tends toward the slow and folky for the most part.

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Elephant Micah - And the Agrarian Malaise
Elephant Micah - And the Palmyra Palm
Songs: Ohia - Didn't It Rain
Jason Molina - Pyramid Electric Co
J. Tillman - Long May You Run
J. Tillman - I Will Return
Wrens - The Meadowlands
Thee More Shallows - More Deep Cuts
Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat

quote:

Originally posted by equestion:
Can't keep my list to 10. I'll just throw out albums that haven't already been mentioned.

The Notwist - Neon Golden
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
The Dismemberment Plan - Change

I like this list. I didn't include the first two in mine because I don't consider them indie, but they're both great.

quote:

Originally posted by Failureninja:

And what's the point of going negative and telling people that in a thread called "Top 10 Indie Must Haves Of The Naughts" they can't post their favorite albums hip-hop or otherwise. Yes it's the Indie-Rock forum, but where else on this site can you post about independant and experimental music? I say as long as no one is trying to pass off the latest pop video starlet as their fave "indie" release, the only criteria should be:

1. Album is from 2000 and beyond
2. Artist, regardless of genre affiliation, must have some kind of connection to independant, experimental, self release, smaller labels, etc.
[Another way to say point to: ARGUABLY not mainstream]
3. Must Be A "Must Have Album"

Boy, I think I just gave myself a hedache typing all that. Also, although I didn't add it to my list one of my favorite releases of this decade is that Deltron 3030 album. If we aren't going to allow people to post about albums like that in this topic, why have this thread at all?

Yay! Someone has my back!

1.Arcade Fire - Funeral
2. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
3. Black Keys - Rubber Factory
4. YYYs - Fever to Tell
5. Death Cab for Cutie - The Photo Album (I think Transatlanticism is their worst album actually..I could never get into it)
6. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
7. Radiohead - Kid A
8. Modest Mouse - Moon and Anartica
9. Beck - Guero
10. Scissor Sisters - s/t

This message has been edited. Last edited by: typewriter,

In some sort of rough order:

01. Arcade Fire - Funeral
02. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
03. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
04. Neko Case - Blacklisted
05. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
06. The Postal Service - Give Up
07. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
08. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
09. A.C Newman - The Slow Wonder
10. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism

Honorable Mention:
Serena Maneesh - S/T
Roots Manuva - Brand New Second Hand
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Animal Collective - Feels
The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity

Top10
10.Menomena - Friend and Foe
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
8. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
7. Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
6. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
5. The Strokes - Is This It?
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Blur - Think Tank
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T
1. Arcade Fire - Funeral

I don't really know what indie means anymore, but these are 10 of my favorites from the 00s.

Radiohead - Kid A
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Wilco - Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Starlight Mints - Drowaton
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Sigur Ros - Takk
The Wrens - The Meadowlands

quote:

Originally posted by AggravatedYeti:
Honorable Mention:
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

He's totally not allowed in this thread. Douche.

quote:

If music be the food of love then SPLIT ENZ be the silverware. - Tim Finn

This sig looks familiar.

1. Mates of State - Our Constant Concern
2. Bright Eyes - Lifted
3. Broken Social Scene - Self-Titled
4. The Format - Dog Problems
5. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
6. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
7. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
8. Saturday Looks Good to Me - All Your Summer Songs
9. The Get-Up Kids - Live @ The Granada Theatre
10. Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress

I'm still trapped in its honeymoon phase, but I suspect that The Reminder will easily crack the Top 5.

quote:

Originally posted by Jaye H.:
09. A.C Newman - The Slow Wonder

Interesting choice there. I don't like the New Pornos, but I like this record, though it's not near my top 10.

quote:

Originally posted by Jonas42:

Starlight Mints - Drowaton

What are these guys like? I've heard of them but never listened to any of their stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Jaye H.:
09. A.C Newman - The Slow Wonder

Interesting choice there. I don't like the New Pornos, but I like this record, though it's not near my top 10.

I love The New Pornos (hence Twin Cinema being at #2 on my list), but I love what Newman did with The Slow Wonder, it is essentially in the same category/genre as The New Pornos music (power pop) but features some really interesting musical choices (like the trumpet in The Cloud Prayer and the Double Bass in The Town Halo) that make it distinct from The Now Pornos body of work.

ETA: I think you are the first person who I am aware of who doesn't like The New Pornos.

Here's a Baker's Dozen, by year:

2000
The Glands - The Glands
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic

2001
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy

2002
Mendoza Line - Lost In Revelry

2003
Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day
The Wrens - Meadowlands
Fountains Of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers

2004
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous

2005
MIA - Arular

2006
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls In America

2007
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

I can't pick 10 albums. Too hard. But I can give 10 bands (Ranked, even!) that have produced the best stuff in the '00s, in my opinion.
1. The New Pornographers
The most consistent band I know. I love every single song they've written. All pop gems. "Electric Version" is my favorite album of theirs, but all of them are worth getting. I can't wait for their next album. Anyone have a rough idea of their next release date?
2. The Decemberists
I love me some archaic, anachronistic, theatrical, harmonic, Victorianesque, depressingly cheerful (or cheerfully depressing?) songs all using Cmaj7 and Am. The Decemberists have a rock-solid catalog, and nary a bad song either. Colin Meloy is an amazing songwriter, and moreover, the most learned one I know. His songs are of French Foreign Legionnaires and doomed Victorian lovers. Picaresque is their best, but all of them are awesome. The only thing I worry about is that the Decemberists are increasingly becoming the Colin Meloy show, and that his band members will resign in disgust.
3. Death Cab For Cutie
DCFC ties with the Decemberists for most songs in my catalog, at 62 each. And besides for some failed experiments (Flustered/Hey Tomcat!, for example), they are all good, all the time. Transatlanticism has my favorite songs (Title and Registration/The New Year), but on the whole, Plans is their best.
4. The Flaming Lips
Ah, the only reason they're not #1, 2, or 3 is because Soft Bulletin is '99. Still, Yoshimi and At War are almost as good. Wayne Coyne still churns out catchy, well-written songs time after time.
5. The Fiery Furnaces
This may be the most polarizing band I've heard, especially their latest album Bitter Tea (where many songs feature inverted or reversed lyrics, to add a strange hypnotizing effect to the songs [Vietnamese Telephone Ministry is their most messed-with song. The melody is reversed or inverted, with a recurring chorus of something along the lines of "Eeeeeeee...it's a sleepy pantsuit"]), but mnay of their other stuff isn't that weird. I love the Fiery Furnaces, in all their weird glory, or in their more straightforward stuff, like "EP" (which is, as a side note, a full length album of 10 songs).
6. Of Montreal
Kevin Barnes' magnum opus is definitely Hissing Fauna, but a lot of his other stuff is very good. His image of education is matched only by Colin Meloy (though I think Meloy gives off a more educated air), and his songs reflect it - he talks about Bataille, etc. Without a doubt, though, Hissing Fauna belongs in the top 10 of the decade.
7. The Shins
The Shins always seem to get left out of best song and best album and best band lists. With so many bands, it's easy to forget them, but the Shins have been solid throughout their existence. "Chutes Too Narrow", "Oh, Inverted World", and "Wincing the Night Away" are all solid albums, yet I never see them on people's favorites lists.
8. Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand isn't fancy, but they know how to write a catchy song. They manage to keep the quality of their songs from beginning to end of both albums. I find myself humming, at different times, "The Fallen" (1st track from You Could Have It So Much Better), "The Dark of the Matinée" (4th from Self-Titled), "Well That Was Easy" (8th on YCHISMB), and "Outsiders" (13th on YCHISMB). It helps that they have a seemingly endless stream of hooks to utilize, and use them they do. They only have two albums, but with both this good, their future looks good.
9. Deerhoof
Kill Rock Stars has the magic touch. The Decemberists, probably my favorite band, are former rock star killers, and Deerhoof is currently on the label. I must profess I haven't heard the vast majority of their stuff, but their last 3 years, which I have heard, are very good. Satomi Matsuzaki's voice is great, and complements the music perfectly. The only thing that knocks them down to #9 is the fact that their albums seem almost impatient - the songs finish too quickly and don't give time for the songs to develop. Still, Deerhoof is a must-have for the 2000's.
10. Art Brut
This is the most junior of the top 10 and a half-joke to put in the top ten of the decade, but Art Brut is the quintessential youthful, vigorous, ironic, stupid-love-song Brit-rock band. They only have 1.1 hours of music, but his straight-face interpretation of hilarious words (And this is my singing voice!/It's not irony/It's not rock and roll,/We're just talking...to the kids!) and the driving, simple, well, 'art brut' rhythm make Art Brut one of the most entertaining bands of the 2000's, if not the most technically apt.

quote:

ETA: I think you are the first person who I am aware of who doesn't like The New Pornos.

#2 right here. I've tried to like them again and again, to no avail.

I have a couple more albums too.

Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Eluvium - Copia
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

quote:

Originally posted by The Giraffe:
2005
MIA - Arular

I don't feel this album stood the test of time... at all. And it's been not even two years.

And why is it that every time I see "Hissing Fauna.." mentioned I have to put it on? I feel it creeping into my #1 spot goddammit.

And Eluvium's "Talk Amongst the Trees" should probably be on my list somewhere. Shit.

MIA didn't even stand the test of time in 2005.

I enjoyed it when it first came out, but I attribute that to the hype machine.

After all, what kind of lyrics are "Galang galang, llama dama ding dang"?

MIA did to stand the test of time. I believe it may have longer legs than just about anything else! Ya loonies.

my list has some familiar names, some not as much:

Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Q and Not U - Power
Ted Leo/RX - Hearts of Oak
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
The Decemberists - Picaresque
Neko Case - Blacklisted
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm