Monday 12.21.2009 | 4:23 AM UTC

Best of the Decade: Music

This is not Pitchfork. (Ok, obviously not, but stay with me). It’s a grand organization, to be sure. Those talented young boys from Chicago have given me much to love, laugh and barf about. Their opinionated slant, overwrought prose and sharp fashion sense serve as inspiration and anathema to the spirit of this little forum.

That said, any arbiter of all that is Pitchfork-y will be quick to jump on some of the more obvious choices made here. Take it easy. I got a lot of weird records, man. But like old Robyn Hitchcock says, “if you can’t dig cliches, you can’t dig rock and roll.”

So, with that spirit in mind, this list does not give representation to a large swath of the really really cool kids of the decade. Fuckin’ a, there’s like a brazillion coolie bands out there. And while my record collection contains entries for at least a gazillion of them, I’m sticking with just the ones that spent the longest time spinning my disks between Jan 1 2000 and Dec 31 2009. The big guns are such for a reason…

In no discernible order:

Top 20:

1. The National: Boxer
2. Richard Thompson: The Old Kit Bag
3. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
4. French Kicks: The Trial of the Century
5. Midlake: The Trials of Van Occupanther
6. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrox
7. The National: Cherry Tree EP
8. Spoon: Girls Can Tell
9. Radiohead: In Rainbows
10. The National: Alligator
11. Bon Iver: Blood Bank
12. Arcade Fire: Funeral
13. Spoon: Kill the Moonlight
14. I’m Not There (OST)
15. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
16. Dustin O’Halloran: Piano Solos, Vol 1.
17. Elliot Smith: Figure 8
18. Explosions In The Sky: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
19. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver 2007
20. The National: The National (debut)

The Other 30

1. The Pink Mountain Tops: The Pink Mountain Tops
2. My Teenage Stride: Ears Like Golden Bats
3. Flight of the Conchords: Flight of the Conchords
4. XX: XX
5. Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans
6. Friendly Fires: Friendly Fires
7. P.J. Harvey: Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
8. The Strokes: Is This It?
9. Magnetic Fields: Distortion 2008
10. Songs Ohia: The Magnolia Electric Co.
11. Ambulance Ltd: Ambulance Ltd
12. The Black Angels: Passover
13. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: The Assassination of Jesse James… (OST)
14. Blur: Think Tank
15. Calexico & Iron and Wine: In The Reins
16. Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
17. Who Made Who: Who Made Who
18. Cat Power: You Are Free
19. Peter Bjorn & John: Writer’s Block
20. The Clientele: Strange Geometry
21. Interpol: Turn On the Bright Lights
22. Crooked Fingers: Bring On The Snakes
23. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
24. Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank The Cradle
25. The National: The National
26. Jens Lekman: Oh You’re So Silent Jens
27. Pernice Brothers: Yours, Mine & Ours
28. Robyn Hitchcock: Spooked
29. Sea Wolf: Leaves In The River
30. Menomena: I Am The Fun Blame Monster