Championship Round: Acclaimed Music Best of the Best - ILM's #1 picks from the 2000s Album polls

It's quite something when you think about it, that the best record of the whole decade should appear in the first year of that decade.

Very true, it's just too bad "Acclaimed Music" doesn't give Warriorz the acclaim it deserves.

But I guess, based on these polls, only white people are acclaimed enough.

Not only white people, robots too.

Robots can be white people too!

Bringing race in this leaves me scratching my head... these are the records most people in ILM voted for, from another list. I honestly don't know or even care how most of the artists in the top 10 each year look like. Anyhow, you'll notice 1/3 of the second places in those polls are black so no, not only white people can be acclaimed.

Dizzee Rascal (2003)
Madvillain (2005)
Erykah Badu (2008)

MIA and Outkast also on 3rd on 2003 and 2005 if you want more.

I love Kate Bush madly, but Madvillain should've been the top pick for 2005.

2003 list is weak. Also I'm not sure I've even listened to the Wrens am I missing out on something? Would've preferred Four Tet or Dizzee up there but I don't know Meadowlands...

boring discussion but let's say Madvillain was a big white man from Ireland, Or maybe Radiohead were a band from Singapore, or the Knife were from Peru and they ended up making the same music... would it actually change anything?

I mean Radiohead per example are huge not because they're white but because they're British and they started in the 90's. If they looked and sounded exactly yhe same but were from Guatemala noone would know about them but it's not a matter of race, it's cultural. In latinamerica they would've never found an audience or the budget to promote their songs and albums internationally.

I per example believe Kraftwerk would've been huge popstars back in the early 80's if instead of Germany they were US or UK based. I know they had some minor hits but I'm talking proper pop stardom.

Er, that's not the way the world works. People from different backgrounds usually make different type of music because of their backgrounds. A Radiohead from Singapore would probably sound way different than Radiohead from the UK because of where they grew up, what sort of music surrounded them, etc. The problem is that the music coming from a specific, white & middle-class background tends to get more acclaim than music from other backgrounds, because the taste-makers tend to be white & middle-class too, and they're often too lazy to go outside their comfort zone.

Do Radiohead do instrumentals? Something the whole world could enjoy.

Is Disintegration Loops really THAT good? I can't fathom sitting through five fucking hours of ambient music fo find out.

I can't separate the Disintegration Loops from the process of their creation and the timing of Basinksi's 'rediscovery' of them. They're monumental, I think.

A Radiohead from Singapore would probably sound way different than Radiohead from the UK because of where they grew up, what sort of music surrounded them, etc.

idk about Radiohead but there are tons of punk and metal bands from Singapore who don't sound 'different' to similar Western bands in any evident or measurable sense

The Meadowlands is one of my favorite albums of all time (and Charles Bissell's cancer is in remission, apparently!)

In Rainbows is the one I return to, gets my vote

this is a terrible list

yeah, but that's because it's made out of the records most ilxors liked

the disintegration loops is by far the best piece of 9/11-related art imo. captures the mood of the city that fall better than anything else. i have a good memory and i can't easily access the fall of 2001. the disintegration loops bring me back in a visceral way, i feel it in my nerve endings. i listen to Kid A more, but Basinski's is the more monumental & moving work.

haven't ever listened to it, think i might have to correct that.

own everything else on here.

oh sorry, except that and Kate Bush.

Album of the decade will be Third.

It's not even close

Kid A isn't even the best Radiohead on this list.

Disintegration Loops is beautiful. Just listen to the first volume if nothing else.

Voted Aerial.

Saying you don't care what race any of the top ten are is just a little bit privileged.

This is a great list, love almost all of these but In Rainbows is just a notch above.

In Rainbows is the one I listen to the most.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Last few hours to vote, then a break before doing songs.

Also I'm not sure I've even listened to the Wrens am I missing out on something?

this. I don't think I'd even heard of the Wrens. will have a listen to them :-)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

it't settled then. {wink}

Yup, thought as much!

Turrican, are you an In Rainbows fan?

i love that album and think it's the last great Radiohead album. also haven't bothered too much with the two newer ones. i will get to know the new one before the end of the year however. just waiting for the seasons to change to start listening to it.

what the hell

Turrican, are you an In Rainbows fan?

― Bee OK, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 1:25 AM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I think it's a great record! I listened to it a hell of a lot when it first came out and it's still one of the Radiohead albums I reach for whenever I'm in the mood to listen to 'em. I voted for it in the "Acclaimed Music Top 30 Albums from 2007 poll", too.

Thanks for running these polls Bee OK, it's been fun!

I rarely listen to Kid A but today I'll give it a spin

Good one, closer than I thought it would be.

I have to admit I don't quite get Disintegration Loops. I understand the concept and like the music but it's too self-indulgent for me. I think other Basinski work is better and there are other ambieny artists like Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent) that were making similar things in the 00s but better imho.

No idea how it came to be THE ambient album of the 00s. The 9/11 relation is purely coincidental but I guess people thought it was a sign of god or something.

Listened to all of Kid A yesterday, it is truly a beast of an album - and even though I listen more to In Rainbows, Kid A is probably the better record. So of its own, it's like a parallel universe or something, just too impressive.

But also depressing.