The D Man's Favorite Albums of the 21st Century

These albums captured my aesthetic imagination, fixated my devotion, and rewarded listen after listen.  While some of these albums merited inclusion in the best of the 21st Century, others were only middling from a critical perspective.  But the heart loves what it loves, and these records burrowed their way into my life in subtle and profound ways.  Enjoy.



Silver & Gold by Neil Young (2000).

The title track became a lullaby that I have sung to my children literally hundreds of times.  This underrated folk record may not be Uncle Neil's best, but it is sweet and introspective, finding the aging artist in a place of deep contentment with little to prove.



Stephen Malkmus (2001).

The Pavement frontman's first solo album was a deliriously delightful series of guitar doodles and English major drop-out scrawls.  Recency bias should not resign this record to the vacuum of oblivion, though such a fate could have been worthy fodder for a bonus track.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips (2002).

A quasi-concept album about a future Japanese girl (with a blackbelt in karate!) who battles pink robots in the face of her likely demise.  After The Lips high-water mark The Soft Bulletin, the Oklahoma weirdos rewarded us with a deeply affecting set of universal humanism.



Demolition by Ryan Adams (2002).

Though not his best record, this follow-up to the superb Heartbreaker and Gold somehow earned a spot in my Honda CRV 6-CD rotation that lasted for years.  A collection of scrappy demos, outtakes, and other experiments showcases a wide-range of Adams' influences from country to punk and folk to rock.



Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie (2003).

Death Cab's last "indie" release on Barsuk is arguably their best record.  An enchanting blend of intimate songwriting and big-hearted hooks, Transatlanticism is still the soundtrack for thousands of sensitive romantics that wrote poetry to their girlfriends and made mixtapes well into college.



Heavier Things by John Mayer (2003).

We loved young John Mayer, then we hated boorish John Mayer, then we forgot about John Mayer for quite awhile, then we realized that John Mayer had turned over a new leaf and was rather enjoyable and still quite talented after all this time.  During that first phase, there was a pocket where tracks like "Clarity" rang loud and true.



It Still Moves by My Morning Jacket (2003).

In the Louisville band's first decade, My Morning Jacket fused Southern rock, country, and psychedelia to arrive at new kind of Americana, especially on this sprawling, guitar-driven record washed in silos of reverb.  There may not be two better open-road songs than "Mahgeetah" and "Golden."



Ghosts of the Great Highway & Tiny Cities by Sun Kil Moon (2003 / 2005).

Mark Kozelek's powerful first record as Sun Kil Moon imagined a hazy world of lost fathers, tragic boxers, and haunted lovers, cast in a nostalgic spell of gorgeously rendered, guitar-drenched folk rock.  His second album then reduced an entire collection of Modest Mouse songs to sparkling acoustic poetry, which ultimately paved the way for some of his finest songwriting on records like April, Admiral Fell Promises, Perils from the Sea, and Benji. 

Riot on an Empty Street & Declaration of Dependence by the Kings of Convenience (2004).

Two soft voices, blended in perfection.  The Kings of Convenience are a way of life, a way of moving through the world, a way of declaring your dependence on each other.  Norway's Erlend Oye and Eirek Glambek Boe are childhood friends that create lovely acoustic records, and their togetherness moved The D Man into an unwavering aesthetic discipleship.  They are currently recording their first album since 2009, and The D Man has never anticipated a record with such restless pining.

In A Safe Place by The Album Leaf (2004).

Jimmy LaValle's largely instrumental album will seep its way into your winter bones.  Recorded in Iceland and produced by Jonsi (Sigur Ros), it is a gorgeous ambient record that seeks to discover the magic teeming just beyond the natural world.

Seven Swans & Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (2004 / 2005).

Sufjan's masterful folk album is an enduring aesthetic triumph, brimming with deep Christian meditations.  On the wonderful track "He Woke Me Up Again," he snaps awake, Spirit-filled, ready to proclaim the holy sound of God's intervening voice.  Sufjan followed this quiet record with his magnum opus Illinois, which is still the only record that has ever kept me from sleeping because of overjoyed excitement.


Nashville by Josh Rouse (2005).

Rouse paid homage to his new digs with this collection of smooth and well-crafted pop songs, tapping into the luster of '70s AM radio.  He later relocated to Spain and inspired substantial listening with record after record of adult contemporary ease.

And the Glass-Handed Kites by Mew (2006).

The Danish band created a dark fantasy kingdom with musical pageantry for everyone.  Epic guitar lines.  Swirling keyboards.  Strange lyrics with over-dramatic song titles.  Soaring melodies sung in the highest of male registers.  Metal heads, indie rockers, and shoegazers rejoiced together.



The End of History by Fionn Regan (2006).

The Irish singer-songwriter's debut features acoustic tracks that are at once forlorn and beautiful.  The elliptical simplicity of his lyrics spin gold on "Be Good or Be Gone," "Put A Penny in the Slot," and the utterly timeless "Abacus."

Night Falls Over Kortedela by Jens Lekman (2007).

Our favorite Swedish troubadour's bittersweet brand of literate whimsy set listeners aloft.  Bright and brilliant, blissfully melodic, Lekman's sample-laden chamber pop (packed with guitars, pianos, horns, and strings) will make you laugh and cry at the same time, and his triumphs and heartbreaks will make you want to explore his wonderful catalog.

Two Suns by Bat for Lashes (2009).

Bat for Lashes' second album lights up a lush underworld of lullabies, dreams, and dirges.  Natasha Khan's subterranean voice floats over, through, and around seriously striking songwriting.  "Daniel" is one of the The D Man's all-time favorite songs, striking up a long-running love affair with the British artist.

Gemini by Wild Nothing (2010).

Wild Nothing's dreamy, shoegaze guitar-pop hints at the ineffable.  Gemini is awash with starry-eyed synths, crystalline guitars, and wistful atmospherics, re-imagining a vein of iridescent '80s pop music, where the answers just lead to more questions.  Jack Tatum's debut led to the stunning follow-up Nocturne and endless listening for The D Man.



Celebration Rock by Japandroids (2012).

There is no need to psychoanalyze one of the best rock albums in recent years.  If they try to slow you down, tell them all to go to hell.  The line sums up the ethos of Vancouver duo Brian King and David Prowse: go hard or go home.  And if you go home, your mates will come and get you out of bed and have you partying again to fist-pumping excess.



The Ghost of the Mountain by Tired Pony (2013).

While The D Man enjoyed much of Gary Lightbody's work with Snow Patrol, it was the Irishman's two albums of American-inspired folk rock with supergroup Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Richard Colburn (Belle & Sebastian), and Jackknife Lee that captivated years of repeated listens and catapulted him to one of my favorite vocalists.



Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen (2015).

After her massive hit "Call Me Maybe," Canada's Carly Rae Jepsen somehow became indie's version of a massive pop star.  Emotion is packed with effortless and accessible dance tracks, including arguably the best pop song of the decade, the escapist "Run Away with Me."



Ocean by Ocean by The Boxer Rebellion (2016).

This late-era exercise in soaring Brit pop kept finding its way into The D Man's stream of listening.  At some point, I realized that I loved this straightforward record as much as any competitors worthy of critical acclaim.

Slowdive by Slowdive (2017).

Slowdive's self-titled record straddles time and space.  Having already established themselves as one of the leading lights of shoegaze, and having already recorded three classic albums exploring most of the genre's musical boundaries, the British stalwarts resurfaced in 2017 with dreamy and dissonant textures to rival anything from the band's '90s alt-rock heyday.



Not Even Happiness by Julie Byrne (2017).

Amid stunning and spare production, Not Even Happiness showcases Byrne's expert arrangements, fluid fingerpicking, and gorgeous alto, as she moves through tales that incorporate the land and her traveling spirit, at once earthy and ethereal.  The record alighted like a native bird settling into its habitat, bringing meditative psalms no matter where The D Man went.