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20 From 20: Our favorite albums of the past 20 years

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Editor’s note: Had your fill of year-end and end-of-decade lists? Here’s something you probably haven’t seen yet—a list of favorites from the first 20 years of the current century. That’s right, we’re a fifth of the way through the 2000s, so to mark the occasion (and because we’re between print issues of Las Vegas Weekly at the moment), for the next few days we’ll highlight some of our favorite books, albums and TV shows from 2000-2019, a period that roughly coincides with the history of the Weekly itself. Enjoy, and look for our new issue on racks around town starting on January 9.

SPENCER PATTERSON

My intent here isn’t to suggest these are somehow the 20 “greatest” albums from the past 20 years (even though they might be to my particular ears and brain). It’s simply to recommend them to those who might be unfamiliar. Hope you find something to love here, too. (And headphones are highly recommended.)

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Mandatory Reality (2019) Meditative minimalism, recorded in real time by an eight-piece jazz band. My favorite album of 2019.

Erykah Badu, Mama’s Gun (2000) Soul/funk/rap/jazz power!

Björk, Vespertine (2001) The all-timer in her catalog of all-timers.

Boston Spaceships, Let It Beard (2011) A rock double-album from Robert Pollard, Chris Slusarenko and John Moen that stands with Quadrophenia and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway on my shelves.

Kate Bush, Aerial (2005) It continues unfolding for me 14 years later.

Cannibal Ox, The Cold Vein (2001) Kinda like a RZA/El-p baton handoff.

Aaron Dilloway, Modern Jester (2012) Strange and wonderful noises, blurring the sound/music boundary.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000) Bliss, grief and bewilderment, laid across four (mostly instrumental) grand suites.

Grouper, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (2007) A shadowy dreamworld, just out of reach.

Tim Hecker, Virgins (2013) If my Spotify play counts determined this list, five of his drone/noise/ambient masterworks would surely make the cut.

Julia Holter, Aviary (2018) A dizzying web of experimental pop.

J Dilla, Donuts (2006) The beats live on forever.

Innercity Ensemble, II (2014) A calming electronic/jazz hybrid from excellent Polish label Instant Classic.

The Necks, Drive By (2003) One hypnotic, hour-long groove.

Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me (2010) The pinnacle of progressive folk.

Frank Ocean, Channel Orange (2012) The playlist for this list starts with “Pyramids.”

Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co. (2003) Jason Molina’s country-rock will make you feel things.

Sunset Rubdown, Random Spirit Lover (2007) Squeezed between Wolf Parade and Moonface hides Spencer Krug’s most mystical gem.

Unwound, Leaves Turn Inside You (2001) The last—and perhaps best—word on artful, urgent 1990s indie rock.

Yellow Swans, Going Places (2010) A hypnotic veil, for when it’s time to turn off the outside world and reset your brain.

CASE KEEFER

There’s only one thing the following 20 albums have in common—greatness, at least from a personal perspective. It’s hard enough to come up with a unifying theme and set aside biases for a single-year list, yet alone for one spanning two decades. So here are 20 albums from the past 20 years that meant something to me, and I think could mean something to you too if given the chance.

Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014) Put a copy in the Smithsonian, because Laura Jane Grace’s soul-baring exploration of gender identity is high-art punk rock.

Bane, Give Blood (2001) Many hardcore bands spend their entire career trying to craft a song or two that transcend into sing-along anthems live; Bane might have gone 10-for-10 on this album alone.

The Blood Brothers, …Burn, Piano Island, Burn (2003) Post-hardcore never sounded so spastic and bewildering before, and it will never sound so spastic and bewildering again.

Converge, Jane Doe (2001) An unassailable hardcore game-changer, opening the genre up to a new level of experimentation, atmosphere and fury.

Deftones, Diamond Eyes (2010) A triumph of the human spirit, as the band channeled the devastation of losing its heart—bassist Chi Cheng fell into a coma after a car accident and eventual died—into the most dynamic record of its career.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dissociation (2016) “I gave you everything you wanted/You were everything to me.” Truer words have never been screamed, as the math metal legends went out with one of the best all-time farewell records.

Every Time I Die, Hot Damn! (2003) Aggressive party music so thrilling that it pulled off the rare trick of uniting hardcore kids, metalheads and punk rockers all at once.

Fugazi, The Argument (2001) Do we cry that it’s been nearly 20 years since Fugazi released new music or celebrate that the band went out on such a creative and conceptual high?

Gang of Youths, Go Farther in Lightness (2017) Stadium-ready indie rock that’s made the Sydney-formed, London-based act the biggest band in the world in a more just parallel universe.

Have Heart, The Things We Carry (2006) Last summer’s run of reunion shows sold out in seconds, proving what anyone who’s been paying attention already knew: Have Heart’s debut is the defining hardcore record of the century so far.

Jason Isbell, Southeastern (2013) The most personal and fully realized set of songs from an artist who deserves to be in any discussion of the best songwriters alive.

Modern Life Is War, Witness (2005) A stirring portrait of growing up in small-town, middle America that somehow packs a lifetime of emotions into a concise 27-minute runtime.

The National, Sleep Well Beast (2017) It’s too bad the indie institution’s second-most-recent release is generally considered outside of its defining run, because it’s the moment where The National thoroughly congealed its strongest elements.

Poison the Well, Versions (2007) The most forgotten entry in the metalcore pioneers’ discography is also the most exploratory, with the Miami band holing up in remote Sweden and toying with unique instrumentation to make a haunting masterpiece.

Self Defense Family, Have You Considered Punk Music (2018) Patrick Kindlon dives into a deeply moving meditation on the causes and effects of dedicating a life to creating and spending it in a subculture.

Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob (2013) The Canadian sisters’ pivot to full-fledged synths could have been titled The Shape of Pop to Come considering how many bigger stars unsuccessfully tried to ape its glistening aural joy.

Thursday, War All the Time (2003) In hindsight, it’s hilarious that the emotional hardcore band’s major-label debut was considered an attempt at commerciality given its extensive sonic palette, unabashed wordiness and overt political nature.

Tim Barry, Rivanna Junction (2006) Who knew a train-hopping, down-on-his-luck Southern punk rocker possessed this level of folky songwriting aptitude?

Title Fight, Floral Green (2013) A perfect marriage of early-2010s hardcore with 1990s alternative rock. Many bands have tried to emulate the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, trendsetters, but none have come close to pulling it off as proficiently.

Touché Amore, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (2011) There’s both beauty and ruin in its brevity, with only one of 13 breakneck songs crossing the two-minute mark—and none failing to hit heavily behind Jeremy Bolm’s pensive lyricism.

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Case Keefer

Case Keefer has spent more than a decade covering his passions at Greenspun Media Group. He's written about and supervised ...

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Spencer Patterson

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