The Best Albums of the 2000s, Pt. 1

As part of the new Pretzel Logic regime, I’ve vowed to stop inundating my readers with multi-part lists, featuring my favorite alterna-rock guitar heroes or whatever. That said, there’s one last list I want to subject you to. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve just ushered in an entirely new decade, meaning that all the music from the 2000s has been released and critics can go ballistic arguing about what the decade’s most enduring albums should be. As one last hold-over from the old Pretzel Logic, I want to share my choices for my 100 favorite albums of the past ten years. Today, you get the first fifty and the list will be completed tomorrow. I haven’t rank ordered them and I’m not going to bore you with paragraphs of praise. I’ve just alphabetized them by artist. Basically, if someone asked me “what albums from the 2000s do you think I should listen to,” my response would look something like this:

Artists A-L

Labor Days, Aesop Rock
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective
The Crying Light, Antony & The Johnsons
I Am A Bird Now, Antony & The Johnsons
Funeral, Arcade Fire
Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
Favourite Worst Nightmare, Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Arctic Monkeys
Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Art Brut
God Loves Ugly, Atmosphere
Since I Left You, The Avalanches
Sea Changes, Beck
Silent Alarm, Bloc Party
Crimes, The Blood Brothers
Untrue, Burial
The Cold Vein, Cannibal Ox
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Mouse And The Mask, Danger Doom
Reality, David Bowie
Picaresque, The Decemberists
Microcastle, Deerhunter
Boy In Da Corner, Dizzee Rascal
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, Drive-By Truckers
Decoration Day, Drive-By Truckers
The Dirty South, Drive-By Truckers
Southern Rock Opera, Drive-By Truckers
The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem
Fever Ray, Fever Ray
Embryonic, The Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Flaming Lips
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
News And Tributes, The Futureheads
Fishscale, Ghostface Killah
Grinderman, Grinderman
Face Control, Handsome Furs
Hercules And Love Affair, Hercules And Love Affair
Préliminaires, Iggy Pop
Turn On The Bright Lights, Interpol
The Black Album, Jay-Z
The Blueprint, Jay-Z
So This Is Goodbye, Junior Boys
The College Dropout, Kanye West
Late Registration, Kanye West
808s And Heartbreak, Kanye West
Aha Shake Heartbreak, Kings Of Leon
Silent Shout, The Knife
Sound Of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
Drum’s Not Dead, Liars
Up The Bracket, The Libertines