A few weeks back, as some of you may remember, I did a list of 70 perfect albums of the 90s. Some of you may also remember that I can’t leave well enough alone with this sort of thing, so…now I’ve done one for the 2000s as well.
I did ask people to share perfect albums of the 2000s on bluesky after I’d worked on my list for a bit but before I finalized it. As with the 90s, suggestions tend to lean towards rock and alt rock and variations (freak folk, etc.) I am not opposed to rock and alt rock, but I tried to vary things at least a bit with genre.
To repeat myself from the 90s list:
What does a “perfect” album mean? Obviously I tried to pick albums I love. I also feel like the prompt calls for albums which do whatever they’re doing with commitment and flare. That can mean lots of different things, though!
I’ve arranged albums by year, and alphabetically within year. Some covers and some tracks are embedded more or less at random. Enjoy!
2000
The Avalanches
Since I Left You
Electronic plunderphonic sound collage landmark
Boss Hog
Whiteout
Grungy New Wave rawk.
Damon and Naomi
With Ghost
Dream pop duo meets psychedelic Japanese collective.
Merle Haggard
If I Could Only Fly
Bitterness and nostalgia on late career country triumph.
Various artists
Disco Not Disco: Left Field Classics From the New York Underground
Herky jerk post-punk no wave disco, plus Steve Miller.
VA
Kings of the Gospel Highway
Quartet singing from the classic African-American gospel quartets.
2001
Björk
Vespertine
Ambient ethereal whispered winter Björkness.
Jewlia Eisenberg
Trilectic
Communist vocal group celebrates love life of Walter Benjamin.
Khanate
Khanate
Agonized super-slow ultra-loud self-flagellating doom/drone metal.
Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya & Aadesh Shrivastava
Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham
Bollywood blows up and takes over the world.
Lovage
Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By
Sexy trip hop for lovers to get into loving.
Toya
Toya
Teen pop R&B that won’t stop.
Gillian Welch
Time (The Revelator)
Hypnotically goth-tinged country-folk.
2002
Bobby Bare Jr.
Young Criminals Starvation League
Alt country for Pixies and Smiths fans.
Leonard Cohen
Ten New Songs
Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson make Leonard Cohen music.
Otis Taylor
Respect the Dead
Uncompromising anti-racist blues.
Trina
Diamond Princess
There’s filthy hop hop and then there’s Trina.
Tweet
Tweet
Missy Elliot produced neo-soul classic.
Brooke Valentine
Chain Letter
Forgotten R&B/funk masterpiece.
Arthur Verocai
Saudade Demais
Bossa nova legend returns.
2003
Boris
Akuma No Uta
One of the best from Japanese sludge weirdos.
Bebo & Cigala
Lágrimas Negras
Flamenco singer and Cuban pianist find romantic apotheosis together.
Camera Obscura
Underachievers Please Try Harder
Scottish jangly twee pop.
Dizee Rascal
Boy In Da Corner
Weird beats, weird wit, great UK grime.
Virginia Rodrigues
Mares Profundos
An amazing Brazilian singer revisits Afro-Sambas.
Britney Spears
In The Zone
Her best.
2004
Amadou and Mariam
Dimanche à Bamako
Transcendent Malian blues/rock guitar music.
Lila Downs
Una Sangre (One Blood)
Mexican singer-songwriter channels sounds from everywhere.
Konono No. 1
Congotronics
Ultra-amplified traditional African electric bludgeon music from Kinshasha.
Madvillain
Madvillainy
MF Doom and Madlib with tripped-out genius cartoon hip hop.
Natural Snow Buildings
The Winter Ray
French post-rock ambient drones.
Tinariwen
Amassakoul
Saharan desert blues/rock collective shreds.
Various artists
Tetine Slam Dunk Presents…Funk Cariaco
Blaring Brazilian hip hop from the favelas.
2005
Anonhi and the Johnsons
I Am A Bird Now
Ravishing queer torch songs.
Vashti Bunyan
Lookaftering
Pioneering fey British folk artist returns.
Liz Carroll and John Doyle
In Play
Fiddle/guitar Irish music duets.
Julius Eastman
Unjust Malaise
Queer Black massive minimalist compositions
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
Éthiopiques, Vol. 21: Piano Solo
Contemplative bluesy piano solos from an Ethiopian nun.
J.Dilla
Donuts
Pioneering hip hop collage.
MIA
Arular
Fierce, catchy, political grime.
Aump Nuntiya & Boonta Muangmai
Wong Kalamae
Thai country music garage rock.
2006
Cassie
Cassie
Sultry candy-coated R&B electropop
Morton Feldman
The Viola In My Life
Minimalist ambient strings.
Nelly Furtado
Loose
Timbaland-produced pop shoegazy wall of sound.
The Knife
Silent Shout
Swedish gothy synth techno.
Outkast
Idlewild
Makes the case that all Black music is hip hop.
Pritam
Dhoom 2
Trashy Bollywood dance pop.
Spires That in the Sunset Rise
This Is Fire
Chicago collective makes witchy spooky freak folk.
2007
John Luther Adams
Red Arc-Blue Veil
Oceanic New Wave classical hippie music.
Vijaya Anand
Asia Classics 1: Dance Raja Dance
If Morricone and Carl Stalling went to Bollywood…
Antipop Consortium
Tragic Epilogue
Disorienting conscious psychedelic hip hop.
Gallhammer
Ill Innocence
Female Japanese blackened doom.
Midori
Second
Crazed Japanese jazz punk.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Raising Sand
Haunting rock/bluegrass roots crossover which sounds like both and neither.
Marc Ribot and John Zorn
Asmodeus: Book of Angels, Volume 7
Spiritual jazz klezmer noise guitar rock.
Various artists
Music and Lyrics OST
Adam Schlesinger pop parody is the best pop.
2008
The Bug
London Zoo
Apocalyptic UK dub.
Cut Copy
In Ghost Colours
Australian New Wave dance rock.
DJ Elmoe
Burn Up Vol. 1
One of Chicago footwork’s earliest masterpieces.
Fabulous Diamonds
7 Songs
Australian electronica drone pop.
Maga Bo
Archipelagos
Grime/hip hop/dub from Brazil to South Africa to Senegal and beyond.
Juana Molina
Un Dia
Oddball Argentinian folktronica.
Pyha
The Haunted House
Doomy antiwar Korean black metal.
Tissa Mawartyassari
Three
Harsh noise wall static.
2009
Avett Brothers
I And Love and You
Alt country baroque pop.
Gnaw Their Tongues
All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity
Belgian orchestral horror film black metal.
Kid Sister
Ultraviolet
Juke goes pop, for the first and last time.
Funeral Mist
Maranatha
Twisted experimental Swedish black metal.
Legion of Two
Riffs
Grimy Irish electronica throb and echo.
Nadja
When I See The Sun Always Shine On TV
Doomy Canadian shoegaze.