Best of the decade: 1-10

10.

Band: Sufjan Stevens
Album: Ilinois

It's hard not to be repetitive when I've already outlined why I like Sufjan Stevens. Illinois is better than Michigan. The crazy arranged stuff is more fun, the subtle beauty is more subtle. "Chicago" is just such an amazing song, with Stevens' voice taking center stage.

Best of the decade: 11-20

20.

Band: Mastodon
Album: Leviathan

And so it began.

Best of the decade: 21-30

30.

Band: Battles
Album: Mirrored

As previously written, Mirrored is the sound of the future, for worse or for (mostly) better.

Best of the decade: 31-40

40.

Band: Pinback
Album: Blue Screen Life

As mentioned in the bit about the Raconteurs, this list is often a romp through my life story since Jan. 1, 2000 (and mostly since May 2003, my college graduation). Thhe deeper I go into the list, the more I find the records that soundtracked my daily existance: The Metro, playing video games, girlfriends, whatever.

Best of the decade: 41-50

50.

Band: Wale
Album: The Mixtape About Nothing

In making the list, I said I wasn't going to put any mixtapes on this list -- Lil Wayne would've been a bigger presence, for sure -- but I just couldn't put a list of great music of the 2000s without this record. Living here in DC, Wale is a big fucking deal. He's really talented and is a huge part of the DC hip-hop scene, whatever that is. He calls himself Wale Ovechkin, echoing the city's one great athlete.

Best of the decade: 51-60

60.

Band: Outkast
Album: The Love Below/Speakerboxx

OK, complete honesty here: I don't love Outkast. More and more I think they fit my Kanye West/Lil Wayne theory of white journalists liking hip hop: it's graded on a certain curve. The dudes in OutKast are, essentially, hipsters (not unlike Common, see below) and journalists fancy them more than, say, Jay-Z. Jay, by the way, is infinitely more talented.

Best of the decade: 61-70

70.

Band: Tara Jane O'Neil
Album: Peregrine

I admit I'm too much of a slave to my own tastes. TJO is an early musical crush of mine and I saw her touring this record in college. The "City in the North"/"City in the South" diad is beautiful and TJO's voice sounds as delicate and pretty as it ever has on this record.