Album of The Year

Pitchfork's Top 200 Albums of the 2000s

LIST SUMMARY
List Rating: 85
Based on 838 album ratings

Genre Breakdown:
Indie Rock (46), Hip Hop (28), Electronic (27), Alternative Rock (12), Experimental (10), Indie Folk (10), Experimental Rock (8), Indie Pop (8), Electropop (6), Folk (5), Ambient (4), Rock (4), Garage Rock (3), Soul (3), Post-Rock (3), Noise Rock (3), Minimal (2), Post-Punk (2), Alt-Country (2), Folk Rock (1), Dubstep (1), Punk Rock (1), Trip Hop (1), Mashup (1), Chamber Pop (1), Lo-Fi (1), Drone (1), Post-Hardcore (1), Dance-Punk (1), Grime (1), Pop (1), Progressive Metal (1)
Radiohead - Kid A
MUST HEAR
Released: Oct 3rd, 2000
Genre: Experimental Rock
Overall Rating: 100

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Arcade Fire - Funeral
MUST HEAR
Released: Sep 14th, 2004
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 94

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Daft Punk - Discovery
MUST HEAR
Released: Mar 13th, 2001
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 71

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Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Released: Apr 23rd, 2002
Genre: Alternative Rock
Overall Rating: 93

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Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Released: Sep 11th, 2001
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 89

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Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Released: Jun 13th, 2000
Genre: Alternative Rock
Overall Rating: 97

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The Strokes - Is This It
MUST HEAR
Released: Oct 9th, 2001
Genre: Alternative Rock
Overall Rating: 95

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Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Released: May 15th, 2001
Genre: Post-Rock
Overall Rating: 94

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Panda Bear - Person Pitch
MUST HEAR
Released: Mar 20th, 2007
Genre: Experimental
Overall Rating: 87

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The Avalanches - Since I Left You
MUST HEAR
Released: Nov 27th, 2000
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 97

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Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
Released: Jan 25th, 2000
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 90

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The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Released: Jul 3rd, 2001
Genre: Garage Rock
Overall Rating: 92

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OutKast - Stankonia
Released: Oct 31st, 2000
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 100

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Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
MUST HEAR
Released: Jan 20th, 2009
Genre: Experimental
Overall Rating: 94
Pitchfork says..

With their constantly evolving sonic identity, in-your-face vocal mannerisms, and open-ended ideas about what their music might "mean," Animal Collective seem designed to inspire obsessive fans and vociferous detractors in equal measure. Merriweather Post Pavilion, their latest full-length, has been anticipated to an almost ridiculous degree, with blogs and message boards lighting up with each scrap of new information or word of a possible leak. No one who's been looking forward to it should be disappointed. Everything that's defined the band to this point-- all those strands winding through their hugely diverse catalog-- is refined and amplified here.


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The Knife - Silent Shout
Released: Jul 25th, 2006
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 85

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Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Released: Jul 5th, 2005
Genre: Indie Folk
Overall Rating: 90

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LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
MUST HEAR
Released: Mar 20th, 2007
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 87

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Kanye West - Late Registration
Released: Aug 30th, 2005
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 87

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Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
Released: Aug 20th, 2002
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 88

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Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Released: Aug 22nd, 2002
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 91

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Radiohead - In Rainbows
Released: Oct 10th, 2007
Genre: Alternative Rock
Overall Rating: 90

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M.I.A. - Kala
Released: Aug 21st, 2007
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 89

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Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
MUST HEAR
Released: Jun 3rd, 2003
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 91

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
Released: Apr 29th, 2003
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 79

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Madvillain - Madvillainy
Released: Mar 23rd, 2004
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 92

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Fennesz - Endless Summer
Released: Jul 3rd, 2001
Genre: Ambient
Overall Rating: 91

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Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Released: Jun 1st, 2004
Genre: Experimental
Overall Rating: 90

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Kanye West - The College Dropout
Released: Feb 10th, 2004
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 86

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Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
MUST HEAR
Released: Feb 19th, 2008
Genre: Indie Folk
Overall Rating: 86
Pitchfork says..

The biographical details behind the creation of an album shouldn't matter when it comes to a listener's enjoyment, but For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon's debut as Bon Iver, exudes such a strong sense of loneliness and remoteness that you might infer some tragedy behind it. So, to skirt the rumor mill, here are the particulars, as much or as little as they might apply: In 2005, Vernon's former band DeYarmond Edison moved from Eau Claire, Wiscon sin, to North Carolina. As the band developed and matured in its new home, the members' artistic interests diverged and eventually the group disbanded. While his bandmates formed Megafaun, Vernon-- who had worked with the Rosebuds and Ticonderoga-- returned to Wisconsin, where he sequestered himself in a remote cabin for four snowy months. During that time, he wrote and recorded most of the songs that would eventually become For Emma, Forever Ago.


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Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Released: Feb 19th, 2002
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 90

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TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
MUST HEAR
Released: Sep 12th, 2006
Genre: Experimental Rock
Overall Rating: 89

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Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
MUST HEAR
Released: Jun 3rd, 2008
Genre: Indie Folk
Overall Rating: 83
Pitchfork says..

Fleet Foxes may have a firm grasp on rock and folk history, but they never play to their record collection. Rather than revive a particular scene or re-create a lost sound, the Seattle quintet cherrypick their ideas from a broad spectrum of styles, pulling in Appalachian folk, classic rock, AM country, and SoCal pop to create a personal synthesis of the music of their peers, their parents, and even their grandparents.


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Basement Jaxx - Rooty
Released: Jun 26th, 2001
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 44

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Radiohead - Amnesiac
Released: Jun 5th, 2001
Genre: Experimental Rock
Overall Rating: 84

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Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Released: Jul 10th, 2007
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 85

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The Streets - Original Pirate Material
Released: Oct 22nd, 2002
Genre: Hip Hop
Overall Rating: 86

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Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
Released: Feb 22nd, 2000
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 81

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Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
Released: May 23rd, 2006
Genre: Indie Pop
Overall Rating: 64

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Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Released: Feb 6th, 2001
Genre: Noise Rock
Overall Rating: 74

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The National - Alligator
MUST HEAR
Released: Apr 12th, 2005
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 79
Pitchfork says..

The National are stuck somewhere in the emotional recesses of life, the characters in their songs adrift on roads both literal and metaphorical. They're stuck between the country and the city, but not in the suburban or exurban senses-- their music reveals the parallels between small-town everybody-knows-everybody drama and big-city alienation. The Brooklyn (via Cincinnati) quintet engage with their American anxiety with a somewhat European elegance, and Alligator-- their third album and first for Beggars Banquet-- finds them pushing the tempos and trying on bigger shoes without losing the stately sense of pacing and dour melody that made their first two albums so pleasing.


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Burial - Untrue
Released: Nov 6th, 2007
Genre: Dubstep
Overall Rating: 91

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Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Released: Sep 5th, 2006
Genre: Indie Folk
Overall Rating: 86

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Luomo - Vocalcity
Released: May 23rd, 2000
Genre: Electronic
Overall Rating: 95

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D'Angelo - Voodoo
Released: Jan 25th, 2000
Genre: Soul
Overall Rating: 80

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Fugazi - The Argument
Released: Oct 16th, 2001
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Overall Rating: 86

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The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Released: Oct 21st, 2003
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 88

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Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
Released: Mar 23rd, 2004
Genre: Indie Folk
Overall Rating: 86

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The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
MUST HEAR
Released: May 3rd, 2005
Genre: Rock
Overall Rating: 80

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Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
Released: Feb 1st, 2005
Genre: Chamber Pop
Overall Rating: 92

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Deerhunter - Microcastle
MUST HEAR
Released: Oct 28th, 2008
Genre: Indie Rock
Overall Rating: 87
Pitchfork says..

Deerhunter toured with Nine Inch Nails this summer, making a stop at Colorado's famed Red Rocks Amphitheater. That canyon found the Atlanta noise-rock quintet at a precipice. In the few months prior, Deerhunter had added a new guitarist, Whitney Petty, to replace the departed Colin Mee. Lead singer Bradford Cox had released his debut solo album, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, under the name Atlas Sound. The band's third album, Microcastle, and its would-be surprise bonus disc, Weird Era Cont., had both leaked half a year before they were due in stores. U nimpressed NIN fans were writing blog posts comparing Cox to Geddy Lee.


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Original Source: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7893-the-top-50-albums-of-2010/

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