Aaron's Best of the Decade: #100-91

The aughts (2000-2009) were a decade of amazing musical development. I could wax poetic for pages about the convergences and divergences of genres, the rise of the internet as a tool for spreading music and the adoption of indie music by the mainstream, but I'd rather get straight to the good stuff. Amanda and I have distilled a decade with significant life importance for us (ages 15-25) into the 100 tracks each of us consider essential listening. We'll post ten tracks (each) at a time until we reach #50, at which point we'll slow down to five at a time to discuss each at further length, concluding with an individual track-by-track countdown of our five chart-toppers. Here goes:

Aaron

#100
Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance
Album: Vampire Weekend
Year: 2008


Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut album copped the Paul Simon Afro-pop sound something fierce and maintained a pleasant upbeat vibe throughout. After hearing it all hundreds of times, the standout track is the one that takes the road less traveled - "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance" is minimalist on an album that otherwise ignores the concept, tracing the spare elements of a gorgeous melody and topped by a surprisingly restrained Ezra Koenig.

#99
Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes
Album: More Adventurous
Year: 2004

Rilo Kiley's songwriting is always a good time, but their individual tracks only go as far as frontwoman Jenny Lewis takes them. On "Portions for Foxes" she spins a tale of sexual frustration, fraught with tension and regret. She makes it eminently clear that she is bad news, while the track is anything but...

#98
Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
Album: Attack Decay Sustain Release
Year: 2007

Simian Mobile Disco aren't exactly the picture of consistency or class, but they attain their moment of perfection on "I Believe", melding the haunting synths of The Knife with the icy R&B of Junior Boys to devastating effect.

#97
Passion Pit - Moth's Wings
Album: Manners
Year: 2009

Passion Pit will always be divisive and intriguing because of his falsetto, and I was first drawn to the high-pitched histrionics of "Sleepyhead." After prodding and repeated plays by my roommate and my girlfriend, I've acquiesced - the melodramatic sparkle of "Moth's Wings" is the bee's knees.

#96
Radiohead - A Wolf At The Door
Album: Hail To The Thief
Year: 2003

Expectations were crushingly high for Radiohead in 2003 after the trio of OK Computer, Kid A and cast-offs album Amnesiac positioned them as simultaneously the most critically acclaimed rock band and electronic act on the planet. "A Wolf At The Door" called to mind their old-school cyclical guitar riffs paired with the eerie tone and pacing of their electronic masterpieces.

#95
The Long Winters - Cinnamon
Album: When I Pretend To Fall
Year: 2003

Seattle's own Long Winters write punchy, off-kilter pop with equal parts joy and regret. On "Cinammon", John Roderick distilled both into a tune that is so damn catchy they should have just sold out and mass-marketed themselves as pre-teen mixtape fodder.

#94
Kanye West - Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix f/Jay-Z)
Album: Late Registration
Year: 2005

Kanye and Jay-Z act out the essential conflict of hip-hop, with Kanye attempting a socially conscious narrative of his people in Africa and the exploitative diamond mines while Jay-Z pops up for a classic guest verse,  rapping his way cleverly around the theme of diamonds without addressing any sort of meaning or responsibility. All that and a James Bond hook...

#93
Guided By Voices - Everywhere With Helicopter
Album: Universal Truths and Cycles
Year: 2002

Dayton, Ohio's own Guided by Voices rocked right through the 90's on Robert Pollard's lo-fi, short fuzz-pop gems, and entered the new decade eager to produce more of the same. "Everywhere with Helicopter" provides two and a half minutes of guitar aerobics with urgent vocals and a wonderful tension-ripping yelp at the 1:06 mark.

#92
Junior Boys - Teach Me How To Fight
Album: Last Exit

Year: 2004

Critically acclaimed from the get-go, Junior Boys' appeal slowly became apparent to me. "Teach Me How To Fight" hits none of the usual peppy benchmarks for an electronic piece and takes forever to get going, but the build from soft verses to emotional (but still soft) chorus somehow feels anthemic when given proper attention.

#91
Jim White - Static On The Radio
Album: Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See

Year: 2004

"Static On The Radio" is an overlooked gem of the singer-songwriter genre. A wiggly little melody and wistful atmospherics provide the perfect envelope for Jim White's vividly poetic verses and Aimee Mann's sublime bridge and chorus.