A word of warning: This is not a top songs of the year list for us. Rather, these are five good songs from 2000 that are worth your time. And yes, we plan on doing this with every year of the decade over the next few months. Agree with these choices? Disagree? Debate here.
1. Elliott Smith’s later period is one highly debated by fans. He went big around the time of “XO” and went even bigger around the time of 2000’s “Figure 8.” For some fans, this made the album a bit of a wash, but the single, “Son of Sam,” still holds strong nearly a decade later. 2. It’s easy to forget, but The Mars Volta started from the split of the At the Drive-In, a band which did more to justify Thursday’s existence than it did The Mars Volta. A precursor to screamo, “One-Armed Scissor” is far less embarrassing than that descripiton sounds. 3. What a shame. Grandaddy’s “The Sophtware Slump” is a great album best known as the answer to a trivia question. The question: “What album was Jason Lee’s son, Pilot Inspektor, named for?” A damn shame for a great album. “Jed the Humanoid” is a definite highlight for sure. 4. Yo La Tengo will likely never break out of its cult audience, but they make great musical arguments why they should. “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” is one of the band’s peaks, and “You Can Have it All” is a quiet triumph. 5. For us, hearing Radiohead’s “Nude” on 2007’s “In Rainbows” gave “Motion Picture Soundtrack” context. Many superfans were spoiled by a spare acoustic version of the song that made the “Kid A” version seem overly grand. But in the context of “Nude,” you see exactly what the band was going for. Worth revisiting for sure.source
1. The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” is one of those albums that feels like you’ve heard it a million times, even if it’s only your first time. Phil Lesh’s coming-out party as a lead vocalist, “Box of Rain,” is the album’s honest, emotive high point. 2. The Beach Boys hit creative peaks long after Brian Wilson hit his personal creative peak, especially on the less-Beach-more-Boys classic “Sunflower.” The album was a truly collective work, and songs like “Add Some Music to Your Day” earned accolades, if not chart success. 3. When critics call Wilco “dad rock,” it’s because they think Wilco sounds like America. We’d prefer to leave that comparison alone and just appreciate the fact that “Sister Golden Hair” is a worthy guilty pleasure. 4. Neil Young is one of those guys who records music by the bucketful but is very picky about how it’s released. It took nearly 30 years for “On The Beach,” one of his best albums, to reach the CD format. Screw “Heart of Gold” – the dim, bluesy “For the Turnstiles” is how Neil Young should be remembered. 5. Did someone say AM Gold? Because you don’t get more golden than The Hollies‘ “The Air That I Breathe,” perhaps the best cheesy pop song to come out of the 1970s. Fun fact: Albert Hammond co-wrote this; his son, Albert Hammond, Jr., is The Strokes’ guitarist.source
1. We needed some euphoria, and Dananananaykroyd (what an annoying name!) provides it in spades on their latest album, “Hey Everyone.” “Pink Sabbath” makes us want to leap in the air like the coolest six-year-olds ever. 2. The Dodos are awesome. Hewing a little more closely to the “Sung Tongs” sound than Animal Collective does now, 2008’s “Visiter” was an underrated gem. And new album “Time to Die,” which we ganked “Longform” from, keeps the quality high, avoiding the fate of fellow blog buzz bands. 3. We’re suckers for sensitive white guys singing in unison. And you don’t get more sensitive than Kings of Convenience (featuring unsung indie hero Erelend Oye), whose “Winning a Battle, Losing the War” always wins our hearts. 4. YACHT’s killer “See Mystery Lights,” which looks like a huge breakthrough for the duo, has a lot of highlights, but the highest is “Ring the Bell,” a slow-building calling card for DFA’s newest act. 5. Like Grizzly Bear, Nurses plays in the space between electronic and natural sound, and while their victories on “Technicolor” split evenly between the percussive, the vocal and the digital, they do it with a little more flair than Grizzly Bear. Pure engagement.source
1. Lots of good memories come from this song – and from the Jayhawks. They’re an iconic band that never got huge, which is too bad. “Blue” is one of the ’90s best acoustic singles. 2. We’re convinced that Max Tundra has no clue what cheesy is. He sounds like Michael Jackson on acid on “Which Song.” 3. Ah, the preprogrammed hi-hat – Daedelus stretches and bastardizes it heavily on “Get off Your Hi-Hats,” which is interesting because you don’t know where he’ll take it next. 4. Kath Bloom is one of those forgotten-era songwriters appreciated by songwriters, none moreso than Red House Painter Mark Kozelek, who breathes new life into “Finally.” 5. You can feel the tension bleeding through the shoegazey aura of Cass McCombs’ “You Saved My Life,” which begs to be your new favorite love song. (It’s ours for sure.)source
1. YACHT is the digital-leaning indie act most likely to make a breakthrough this year, and “Psychic City,” with its instinctive catchiness, will probably be the reason why.
2. After years of hearing the album was an unheralded classic, we finally grabbed a copy of American Music Club’s 1991 platter “Everclear,” and the simmering fury of emotive, personal AIDS hymnal “Sick of Food” confirmed this was a good purchase.
3. Rootsy acoustic stompers Hoots and Hellmouth are perhaps one of the hardest-touring bands on the East Coast, and new album “The Holy Open Secret,” along with pretty track “Three Penny Charm,” shows their continued improvement as both musicians and dust-kickers.
4. One of the best things that came out of Wes Anderson’s 2004 movie “The Life Aquatic” – the film itself was just OK – was the novel way it exposed American audiences to Brazilian singer Seu Jorge via David Bowie covers. “Suffragette City” is one of the best.
5. You would not believe this song is from a 22-year-old Scottish dude who’s on the way to becoming one of the U.K.’s biggest pop stars. Paolo Nutini sounds like Louis Prima doing ska on “10/10,” and it sounds very timeless.source
1. School of Seven Bells, featuring one former member of The Secret Machines, feels culled out of 1991 on “My Cabal” – particularly with its drum machine beat and the sweet vocal harmonies.
1. We love how much Crocodiles sounds like vintage Jesus and Mary Chain. It’s like they borrowed all the old gear used to record “Head On” and decided to go all JAMC for “I Wanna Kill.”
3. It’s always interesting to listen to a new song by Deerhunter, easily the biggest band on this mixtape. Because you never know what you’ll get. Pop, noise, haze, dust, brood? They’re all possible. “Rainwater Cassette Exchange” is all haze, closer in feel to Bradford Cox’s work with solo project Atlas Sound.
4. What the heck is a Nick Drake acolyte doing on Ninja Tune, a label known for its DJs and electronic musicians? We don’t know, but we know that Fink’s “Sort of Revolution” is a calm killer – coming off like a more soulful Mark Kozelek.
5. Japandroids, much like Wavves and No Age and all those other noisy acts, manages to hide some pretty killer hooks under all those layers of distortion. “The Boys Are Leaving Town” will be stuck in your head. Trust us.
1. St. Vincent could easily get placed into the same bargain bin as indie femme fatales like Feist or Bat for Lashes, but Annie Clark is way more subversive than that, plus the girl can rock out as much as the guys – see “Actor Out of Work.”
2. We’re on an female indie superstar kick this week, so it’s only fitting that Neko Case, she of New Pornographers and awesome solo career, get a mention for “Your Control,” a near-perfect meshing of vocals with Crooked Fingers’ Eric Bachmann. *
3. This cover gives us goosebumps. A b-side off of Iron & Wine’s killer new rarity collection “Around the Well,” Sam Beam’s cover of “Waitin’ for a Superman” somehow matches and exceeds the hushed desperation of the Flaming Lips’ original.
4. Ben Gibbard and Feist may as well be the king and queen of indie rock to mainstream audiences, and this cover of Vashti Bunyan’s “Train Song” from the “Dark Was the Night” compilation doesn’t become either of theirs. They share in the beauty. *
5. The Appleseed Cast, a long-running post-rock band, likes to build slowly then go huge. It takes nearly six minutes for vocals to show up on the epic “As the Little Things Go,” and we wouldn’t have it any other way. *
* – Thanks much to friend of the site Davey Jones for these picks.
1. The Refreshments are far more known now as the creators of the “King of the Hill” theme song, but “Banditos” is still an unsung classic. And lead singer Roger Clyne is still around with his band The Peacemakers.
2. With “Brimful of Asha,” Cornershop managed to create an simple-sounding but ultra-nuanced pop tune – there are dozens of obscure references to Bollywood cinema in this song.
3. The Cardigans sounded destined to sit next to Sixpence None the Richer on the Radio, but they were far more interesting than that. Check out “Explode,” a solid attempt at electronica by them.
4. “Closing Time” might be a perfect example of a one-hit wonder, but Semisonic didn’t deserve the fate. Songs like “Delicious” brim with songcraft. And singer Dan Wilson later won Grammys for his songwriting
3. Fountains of Wayne started as a pretty awesome synthesis of power-pop when nobody cared about power-pop. Eventually “Stacy’s Mom” pigeonholed them, but “Leave the Biker” is still a funny ditty.source
1. Mark Lanegan had a much more nuanced career after the heyday of Screaming Trees. Even so, it wasn’t because the band sucked – see “Nearly Lost You” for an example.
2. Los Angeles is a popular topic in indie rock, but trailblazer Frank Black of the Pixies got there early. This scatterbrained tune also drew a line in the sand for Black’s solo output.
3. Nobody broods like Greg Dulli. The former Afghan Whigs lead singer (currently of The Twilight Singers) came off as sophisticated on “Debonair,” off of Gentleman.
4. Sunny Day Real Estate suffered from overhype at first. Their self-titled debut (which also has killer cover art) shows why – songs like “In Circles” grab right for your collar.
5. Why does Shoegazer music begin and end with My Bloody Valentine? There’s other great bands from the era like Catherine Wheel, whose “Black Metallic” sparkles.source
1. Welcome back, Kate Bush! Seriously, though, Bat For Lashes’ latest album has been showered with crazy praise, and “Daniel” sounds like the best single of 1987.
2. The second we heard The Cool Kids make references to the Bad Boy-era Detroit Pistons, we were enamored with “Pennies.” It sounds like the best single of 1989.
3. Eddie Argos makes recovering from a bad hangover sound like the funniest thing ever on “Alcoholics Unanimous.” Bring me tea! Bring me coffee! The ending kills, BTW.
4. The trend towards fuzzy continues with Woods, who sound like Crazy Horse-era Neil Young on “Rain On,” except with dissonant noise giving it a layer of intrigue.
5. In the fuzzy vein, Times New Viking’s recorded-through-a-telephone, cheery cover of the Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” is as interesting as the original.source
” is one of those albums that feels like you’ve heard it a million times, even if it’s only your first time. Phil Lesh’s coming-out party as a lead vocalist, “Box of Rain,” is the album’s honest, emotive high point.
.” The album was a truly collective work, and songs like “Add Some Music to Your Day” earned accolades, if not chart success.
” is a worthy guilty pleasure.
,” one of his best albums, to reach the CD format. Screw “Heart of Gold” – the dim, bluesy “For the Turnstiles” is how Neil Young should be remembered.
‘ “The Air That I Breathe,” perhaps the best cheesy pop song to come out of the 1970s. Fun fact: Albert Hammond co-wrote this; his son, Albert Hammond, Jr., is The Strokes’ guitarist.