The 10 best songs from the 00's

The short answer

Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country (2000)
Björk - Cocoon (2001)
Grouper - Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping (2008)
Fever Ray - keep the streets empty for me (2009)
Dntel - (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (2001)
The MFA - The Difference It Makes (2004)
Little Dragon - Twice (2007)
Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (2004)
Erykah Badu - The Healer (2007)
Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (2008)

The long answer

2000-2004

1. Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country (2000)
2. Björk - Cocoon (2001)
3. Dntel - (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (2001)
4. The MFA - The Difference It Makes (2004)
5. Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (2004)
6. Clinic - The Second Line (2000)
7. Daft Punk - Digital Love (2000)
8. Ricardo Villalobos - Easy Lee (2003)
9. Lali Puna - Nin-com-pop (2001)
10. David Darling & The Wulu Bunun - Lugu Lugu Kan-Ibi (2004)

2005-2009

1. Grouper - Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping (2008)
2. Fever Ray - keep the streets empty for me (2009)
3. Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (2008)
4. Little Dragon - Twice (2007)
5. Erykah Badu - The Healer (2007)
6. The Books - Be Good to Them Always (2005)
7. Broadcast - Corporeal (2005)
8. Milanese - Caramel Cognac (2006)
9. Burial + Four Tet - Moth (2008)
10. Shrift - Snow Samba (2006)

Previous threads:

The 10 best songs from the 70’s
The 10 best songs from the 80’s
The 10 best songs from the 90's
The 10 best songs from the 2010s

Here's 9!

of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit
Plaid - Assault On Precinct Zero
The Notwist - Pilot
Animal Collective X Vashti Bunyan - Prospect Hummer
Royksopp - Remind Me
The Knife - The Captain
Fischerspooner - Emerge
X-Press 2 X David Byrne - Lazy
Wolf Parade - Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts

But as with all these things it's freaking impossible and I could easily write one just as good but completely different

Oops forgot one
Let's go for Guillemots - Trains To Brazil

Animal Collective X Vashti Bunyan - Prospect Hummer

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin)

Yes!

this was my top ten when we polled the decade a couple years ago, only change is that I’d probably swap bjork with “ante up”

Broadcast - Come On Let's Go
Jay-Z - Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)
Luomo - Tessio
The Microphones – The Moon
Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission
Erykah Badu - The Healer
Bat for Lashes - Daniel
Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
D'Angelo - Send It On
Björk - Cocoon

These were considered: Radiohead - Worrywort, Paul Kalkbrenner - Gebrünn Gebrünn, Grungerman, Moderat, Ellen Allien, Joanna Newsom, Oni Ayhun, TVOTR - staring at the sun, Stereolab - The Black Arts, MIA - paper planes, Air - playground love, Fennesz - Circassian, Samamidon - Saro, Tom Waits - Alice, Califone - bottles and bones, Spoon - everything hits at once, adult. - hand to phone, Flying Lotus - tea leaf dancers, People Under The Stairs - Acid Raindrops, Fergie - glamorous, Amon Tobin - Slowly / deo, The Fiery Furnaces, dubtribe soundsystem - do it now, The Clientele - reflections after jane, Broken Social Scene - anthems for a 17 year old girl, MF DOOM - accordion, Moodymann - Shades of Jae, Kanye West - Slow Jamz, panda bear - comfy, Sufjan, Electrelane - greater times, Pantha Du Prince - Saturn Strobe, UGK ft. Outkast - Int’l Players Anthem

i guess, to expand, here was my list broken up by half decade

00-04
Broadcast - Come On Let's Go
Jay-Z - Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)
Luomo - Tessio
The Microphones – The Moon
Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission
Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
D'Angelo - Send It On
Björk - Cocoon
M.O.P. - Ante Up
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Where Have all the Rude Boys Gone?

05-09
Erykah Badu - The Healer
Bat for Lashes - Daniel
Okkervil River - For Real
DJ Kaos - Love The Nite Away (Tiedye Mix)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric
The National - The Geese Of Beverly Road
Three Six Mafia - Stay Fly
Maxwell - Pretty Wings
E-40 - Tell Me When To Go
DG Yola - Ain’t Gon Let Up

We have an artist in common!
(Following your style guide, with year in parentheses)

The short answer:

Little Dragon – “Feather” (09)
TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” (06)
Ms. Dynamite – “Krazy Krush” (02)
Bloc Party – “The Prayer” (07)
Sons and Daughters – “Darling” (08)
Girl in a Coma – “Their Cell” (07)
The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition” (09)
N.E.R.D. featuring Kelis – “Truth or Dare” (02)
The Libertines – “Death on the Stairs” (02)
Res – “Tsunami” (the part around 4:45 into the song where it gets rowdy) (02)

The long answer:

2000-2004:
1. Ms. Dynamite – “Krazy Krush” (02)
2. N.E.R.D. featuring Kelis – “Truth or Dare” (02)
3. The Libertines – “Death on the Stairs” (02)
4. Res – “Tsunami” (the part around 4:45 into the song where it gets rowdy) (02)
5. McLusky – “Their Ain’t No Fool in Ferguson” (03)
6. Pretty Girls Make Graves – “The Getaway” (02)
7. The Walkmen – “The Rat” (04)
8. Visqueen – “Vaxxine” (03)
9. The Raveonettes – “Noisy Summer” (01)
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Bang” (02)

2005-2009
1. Little Dragon – “Feather” (09)
2. TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” (06)
3. Bloc Party – “The Prayer” (07)
4. Sons and Daughters – “Darling” (08)
5. Girl in a Coma – “Their Cell” (07)
6. The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition” (09)
7. Asobi Seksu – “Thursday” (07)
8. The Hold Steady- “Cattle and the Creeping Things” (05)
9. The Joy Formidable – “Austere” (09)
10. Franz Ferdinand – “What She Came For” (09)

2001-2005 really was an amazing time for music

I think it was the time of my life where I was the most excited about music in general. Almost every music genre was doing interesting things. The late 90’s didn’t feel as adventurous to me, the amount of possibilities that opened through global internet adoption played a huge part in making the audience more receptive to new sounds and the artists themselves all became cratediggers of sorts.

The Clientele - Saturday (00)
Neko Case - Porchlight (00)
Gillian Welch - Everything Is Free (01)
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Christina (01)
Jesse Sykes - Reckless Burning (02)
Low - Silver Rider (04)
Go-Betweens - Finding You (05)
Annie - Come Together (05)
Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (06)
Portishead - The Rip (08)

“The Rip” is amazing and I completely forgot about it. The way it substitutes the guitar figure into a synth in the middle of the song is such a simple but cool trick

I also forgot about Hope Sandoval and Lhasa de Sela and “la llorona” and “bavarian fruit bread” were heavy obsessions of mine back then… haven’t listened to those in years.

Wait the Lhasa album is actually 1997.

Brb falling asleep to this beautiful Hope Sandoval album. See you tomorrow.

Life Without Buildings - The Leanover (yes, even before it took off on TikTok)
The New Pornographers - Letter from an Occupant
Gillian Welch - Revelator
Robert Wyatt - Just as You Are
Neko Case - Deep Red Bells
MOP - Ante Up
Exploding Hearts - I’m a Pretender
The Fall - Sparta 2XX
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Mysteries
King Geedorah - Fazers

All Saints - Black Coffee
Kylie Minogue - Love at First Sight
Amerie - Why Don't We Fall in Love
The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing
Annie - Heartbeat
Nelly Furtado - Do It
Closer Musik - Maria
Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo
The Smashing Pumpkins - Stand Inside Your Love
Brandy - Talk About Our Love

Had no idea “the leanover” got popular recently via tiktok but that is a great choice.

Repeating myself but looking at these past lists from Gavin and Chris I keep remembering how stacked the early 00s were. Even looking at the billboard charts and pazz and jop lists have great songs from a world that seems so far away now. They describe a time that seems so naive but youthful in retrospective.

Repeating myself but looking at these past lists from Gavin and Chris I keep remembering how stacked the early 00s were. Even looking at the billboard charts and pazz and jop lists have great songs from a world that seems so far away now. They describe a time that seems so naive but youthful in retrospective.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, November 5, 2021 8:47 AM (forty-seven minutes ago)

I’m guessing someone on ilx has already dove into this idea in more detail, but the most remarkable phenomenon from that era was how it seemed like everyone from hip hop, rock, R&B, electroclash, emo, indie, you name it, were all partying at the same club (which was neatly encapsulated by “Hey Ya!”, Pitchfork’s “We Are The World” column, the Soulwax/”A Stroke of Genius”, et al). And it wasn’t some forced monoculture, rather it felt like everyone, artists and fans alike, arrived there by choice. Instead of fighting over control of the CD player, it was as if we were encouraging each other to take a turn, curious to what new sound may emerge from the speaker(boxxx).

That uninhibited rush we felt from a few years where a confluence of Napster/WinMX/Soulseek (not to mention the availability of cheap used CDs & vinyl) allowed us to toss aside the genre adherence of our older siblings. At least in my immediate world, where the prevailing rigidity (“Dude, how can a Yes fanatic also like Pink?”) melted away to where party playlists containing sequences of “Southern Hospitality” to “House of Jealous Lovers” to “Love at First Sight” to “PDA” to “12:51” became the new normal, and there was definitely something magical to be there to witness it in real time.

I love that thought, it definitely felt like that to me too. There was a sense of a bigger community and common goal, of course it was too good to last and cracks started to appear everywhere by 2002/2003.

2004/2005 onwards feels closer to where we are now.

I mean it obviously is “closer” in time haha but I mean in how the world felt like it went to shit.

These 3 would probably make mine. I'll stew on this.

Grouper - Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping (2008)

Daft Punk - Digital Love (2000)

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, November 4, 2021 4:13 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” (06)

― Front-loaded albums are musical gerrymandering (Prefecture), Thursday, November 4, 2021 6:14 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
Shawna, Ludacris, Twista - RPM
Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
The Knife - Heartbeats
Broadcast - Black Cat
Studio - Out There
Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (Ewan Pearson Objects In Space mix)
Erykah Badu - The Cell
House Of House - Rushing To Paradise

Jakob - Oran Mor
Lusine Icl - In Flight
Gas - Pop 4
Skyramps - Sky Ramping
Circulation - Magenta
Appleblim - Circling
Markus Guentner - Express Yourself
Viktor Vaughn - Lickupon
Loscil - Sickbay
Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive

Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
Shawna, Ludacris, Twista - RPM
Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
The Knife - Heartbeats
Broadcast - Black Cat
Studio - Out There
Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (Ewan Pearson Objects In Space mix)
Erykah Badu - The Cell
House Of House - Rushing To Paradise

― nashwan

Studio! Good call!

For a long time I was torn between picking “black cat” and “the cell” instead of “corporeal” and “healer”

Yes those are from albums it's particularly troublesome to elevate a single track from for these purposes

Listening to some other 00s favorites; I feel like I have to swap out Pub's Summer for something.

M83 - Skin of the Night
Burial - Ghost Hardware

.. maybe I should split into early and late, too.

in no particular order..

Kings of Tomorrow feat Julie McKnight - Finally
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards Dub Better)
The Avalanches - Live At Dominoes
M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames (Superpitcher Remix)
Richard Davis - Those Moves
Swayzak - Smile And Receive (Apparat Remix)
Nick Holder - America Eats Its Young
LFO - Blown
Sigur Ros - Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
Bjork - Hidden Place

"The Past is a Grotesque Animal" probably my #1

Ooh, this was fun. Very interesting choices so far from everyone. As for me, I'm going to do what I did with the '70s and '90s threads and just go through one song from my favorite album of each year of the decade. Might as well keep the theme running:
2000: Outkast - "Stankonia": "B.O.B."
2001: System of a Down - "Toxicity": "Toxicity"
2002: System of a Down - "Steal This Album!": "Mr. Jack"
2003: Outkast - "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below": "Roses"
2004: Green Day - "American Idiot": "Jesus of Suburbia"
2005: Nine Inch Nails - "With Teeth": "Only"
2006: Tool - "10,000 Days": "Right in Two"
2007: Nine Inch Nails - "Year Zero": "Capital G"
2008: Lady Gaga - "The Fame": "Poker Face"
2009: Kid Cudi - "Man on the Moon: The End of Day": "Make Her Say"

20 in descending chronology

2009-2005
Camera Obscura - Forests and Sands
Estelle - American Boy
Erykah Badu - Soldier
Big Blood - Graceless Lady
David Thomas Broughton - The Weight of my Love
Shellac - The End of Radio
Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
The Knife - Marble House
Coil - Fire of the Mind
Shit and Shine - Ladybird

2004-2000
Björk - Who is it
Moloko - I Want You
Brandy - Full Moon
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
Eve - Let me blow your mind
Björk - Hidden Place
Belle and Sebastian - The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Luomo - Synkro
Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers

^ I rarely listen to Medulla and every time I do "Who Is It" just floors me

Hercules and Love Affair (ft. Antony)- "Blind"
Gossip - "Standing In The Way Of Control"
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Nature Boy"
Casey Dienel - "Better In Manhattan"
Lavender Diamond - "You Broke My Heart"
Sam Roberts Band - "Climb Over Me"
Lucinda Williams - "Essence"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "May It Always Be"
Chuck Prophet - "You And Me Baby (Holding On)"
Matthew Ryan - "Happy Hour"

This is a strangely difficult period for me to assess. Its recent enough that I don't feel like I have a dispassionate perspective, but on the other hand the first blush of enthusiasm has worn off.

Asa Chang & Junray - Hana
Amerie - 1 Thing
Bjork - Pagan Poetry
Broadcast - Come On Let's Go
Durrty Goodz - Switching Songs II
James Blackshaw - Transient Life in Twilight
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Oneida - Sheets Of Easter
Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle
Vex'd - Lion VIP

that's a great list

still don't understand the love for "1 Thing" though. sounds like someone having a squabble with a kitchen pan cupboard

2001-2005 really was an amazing time for music

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, November 4, 2021 10:56 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think it was the time of my life where I was the most excited about music in general. Almost every music genre was doing interesting things. The late 90’s didn’t feel as adventurous to me, the amount of possibilities that opened through global internet adoption played a huge part in making the audience more receptive to new sounds and the artists themselves all became cratediggers of sorts.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, November 4, 2021 11:05 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wow, exact opposite for me.

Meaning 2000-2005 is the worst time for music?

Sorry, I meant that 2001-2005 was probably the time in my life that i was the most put off by new music, and specifically because it felt so much less adventurous and ambitious than the late 90's.

I'm not talking about mainstream pop and rap, which is what I mainly gravitated towards at that time. But I really lost interest in "alternative" music of whatever description and a lot of it felt very regressive.

And also hearing stuff like Can and Os Mutantes for the first time in the reissue gold rush of the late 90's was like hearing the Beatles for the first time, after hearing the influence of all those things on contemporary music, etc.

I didn't really get into virtual crate digging until the second half of the decade, but when i did the effect was that it kind of sidelined the new releases.

I thought the 00's seemed very adventurous and ambitious

a few have already been mentioned, but these all meant a lot to me

Bjork - Pagan Poetry
Electrelane - The Valleys
Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo
Ricardo Villalobos – Easy Lee
The XX – Crystalised
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (also 45:33, if that counts)
Shackleton - Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos' Apocalypso Now Mix)
Junior Boys - In the Morning
Burial - Archangel
Low – Silver Rider
DJ Koze - Brutalga Square

Ah love that Electrelane song!

Actually love all of those songs tbh.

Sorry, I meant that 2001-2005 was probably the time in my life that i was the most put off by new music, and specifically because it felt so much less adventurous and ambitious than the late 90's.

I'm not talking about mainstream pop and rap, which is what I mainly gravitated towards at that time. But I really lost interest in "alternative" music of whatever description and a lot of it felt very regressive.

And also hearing stuff like Can and Os Mutantes for the first time in the reissue gold rush of the late 90's was like hearing the Beatles for the first time, after hearing the influence of all those things on contemporary music, etc.

I didn't really get into virtual crate digging until the second half of the decade, but when i did the effect was that it kind of sidelined the new releases.

― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse)

I had way too much free time in those early 00s and had terrible internet connection in my house, so whenever I got the chance of high speed internet I would try and fit as much music as I could on SD cards or USB flash drives. I even had re-recordable cds to burn in my car in case I needed them. Most of the music I was downloading I had no idea what it would sound like. I first read reviews, made a list of artists or songs or albums that sounded interesting and downloaded like crazy. It was until I got home that I actually started curating the music which I actually liked. I also ended up buying more physical albums that I have ever in my life so don’t judge me for all the piracy. I thought of it as a try-before-you-buy deal.

Anyhoo, it was like I had found the keys to the kingdom. My hometown didn’t have any indie record stores and this was a complete game changer for me. And yeah not dissing on the late 90s alternative scene, it was great. However early 00s it was both the mainstream and the underground that sounded exciting to me. A lot of it might have been that this time I was the one selecting the music instead of idk MTV.

❤️

"Rubies" - Destroyer (2006)
"Father, You're Not a Father" - Immolation (2000)
"A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" - Celtic Frost (2006)
"Paper Planes" - M.I.A. (2007)
"Pink India" - Stephen Malkmus (2001)
"New Slang" - The Shins (2001)
"Hey Ya" - Outkast (2003)
"10 Amazing Years" - Jason Forrest (2004)
"A History of Lovers" - Calexico & Iron and Wine (2005)
"Nettie Moore" - Bob Dylan (2006)

It's interesting how we experience or think about periods of time in terms of music. 1998-00 will always be largely a wasteland to my mind, even though some great albums came out then, and even though that's the period when I was 17-19 which is the era people are apparently meant to treasure the most. Roughly 2007-2009 is similar. There's something about those two time periods that I think of as lousy when it comes to music and I don't know why because of course there was great stuff going on then.

That is something I enjoy actually, the fact that my limited attention span / digesting capacity means I am constantly missing out and then have to reconstruct whole eras. For example, I'm a big fan of the classic era of r&b (90s-00s) but my only exposure to it at the time was briefly through MTV, before I properly learned English and moved away from TV to computer. And yet I still feel like I totally own this period and even feel a sense of melancholia, but I can't measure up to someone who can instantly recognize all the cameos in the video clips and dutifully followed everyone's career. Same for New wave, which I reconstruct entirely through its influence on the 90s (when I was a kid) since I wasn't born then. All those pathways through specific artists, from specific times and personal circumstances, and all the associated blindspots, are really interesting. I wouldn't trade it for a "complete picture".

Don't know if they're the best but these are ten I love just as much now as I did in the 00s. Much of the decade hasn't aged as gracefully...

Daft Punk - Digital Love
Patty Griffin - Mother of God
LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
The National - All the Wine
Animal Collective - Banshee Beat
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
Burial - Archangel
Phoenix - One Time Too Many
Ryan Adams ft. Emmylou Harris - Oh My Sweet Carolina
Outkast - B.O.B.