2000-2010: The Music List

The Best of 2000’s

I want to do some best of the decade lists before I do my top ten lists for 2010.  When I first started doing the top ten albums for the decade I thought it would be fairly simple.  “Just look up your top ten lists from the past 6 or 7 years you’ve done this.”  But I forgot that I closed my Myspace account last summer which had all of my top ten lists that I had done, movies and music.  So, I had to start from scratch and go through my sizable iTunes collection (18,719 tracks), and pick out my favorites.  Well, my list started at 55 albums and now I have whittled it down to ten.  My favorite two songs are added at the end of each entry.  Enjoy.

10. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife  10/3/06  It was a tough choice between The Crane Wife and Picaresque.  Really can’t go wrong with either, but I played Crane Wife beginning to end for about a month straight after I first heard it.  It is a little time consuming to listen to the two ten minute plus tracks, but definitely worth your time.  “Sons and Daughters” “The Crane Wife 3”

9. The Libertines – Up The Bracket  9/30/02  I remember driving with my brother Jerry after he got his degree from the U of M listening to “I Get Along,” blasted in my car.   Good times.  Pete Doherty’s drugged out vocals fits the music perfectly, and it never slows down from the first track to the last.  It’s a shame they broke up after only two albums.  “I Get Along”  “Boys In The Band”

8. De La Soul – The Grind Date  10/5/04  My favorite hip hop album from the 2000’s.  I’ve been a fan of De La Soul since the first time I heard “Bitties in the BK Lounge.”  It’s too bad the first single off this album was the only bad track, “Shopping Bags.”  I think it would have had more success with another song.  “The Grind Date” “Rock Co.Kane Flow”

7.LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver  3/12/07  I wasn’t a huge fan of LCD Soundsystem’s debut album, so I missed this one when it first came out.  But after seeing it on a lot of end of the year top ten lists I gave it a chance, and I’m glad I did.  “Someone Great”  “All My Friends”

6.Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot  4/23/02  Not a bad song on this one, it’s just missing that really great single to put into my top five.  Probably the best Wilco album.  Based on the last two, I think they’re on the way down instead of up.  Hope I’m wrong, but at least I’ll still have this one.  “Jesus, Etc.” “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”

5.Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit  2/7/06  It doesn’t sound much different from their past albums, but everything just seemed to come together on this one.  Upbeat and catchy throughout, and unlike Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, The Life Pursuit has some of the best songs on the best album for Belle and Sebastian.  “White Collar Boy”  “The Blues Are Still Blue”

4.Spoon – Gimme Fiction  5/10/05  If I had to choose one band for best of the decade, it would be Spoon.  They released five excellent albums between 2001 to 2010.  Gimme Fiction was when they went from being a good indie band to just a great band.  “I Turn My Camera On”  “I Summon You”

3.Modest Mouse – The Moon and Antarctica  6/13/00  It’s not my favorite Modest Mouse album, but their best stuff was in the late 90’s.  Still, not the best Modest Mouse is still great.  I’m sure most people would pick Good News For People Who Love Bad News, but this is my list and I want my early Modest Mouse back.  Not the post “Float On” Modest Mouse.  “Gravity Rides Everything”  “I Came As A Rat”

2.Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood 3/7/06  I wish Neko Case would sing me to sleep every night.  She has the most beautiful voice ever, in my opinion.  Fox Confessor and Blacklisted are my two favorite Neko Case albums, and would both probably be in my top ten, but I’m not going to take two spots for one artist.  “Star Witness”  “Dirty Knife”

1.Arcade Fire – Funeral  9/14/04   I can’t imagine anybody not enjoying this one.  I remember reading about this album somewhere on the internet, then listening to the 30 second preview on iTunes and immediately buying the entire album.  It was about 5 months before they hit it big, and I missed their show at the 7^th Street Entry by about a week.  Still pissed about that one.  “Rebellion (Lies)”  “Crown of Love”

Honorable Mentions:

Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards

Cody Chesnutt – The Headphone Masterpiece

Elbow – The Leaders of the Free World

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Muse – Absolution

The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That

Yelle – Pop Up

Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

Kings of Leon – Because of the Times

Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights

I know I’ll look back at this and think to myself, “What the hell were you thinking?”  I’ve done that with pretty much every end of year post that I’ve done.  Well that does it for that decade.  I hope you enjoyed reading my list, and feel free to rip it apart in the comments.

Happy New Year everybody.

May the Force be with you,

CHUD

Top Ten: Year in Review

I have to say that 2010 was a pretty good year for me.  I traveled more, made some new friends and started taking better care of myself.  I like to do lists and this will not be the last one.

1. My brother Jerry got married to Holly R. in Aberdeen, SD.  Holly is a wonderful person and I consider her to be a close friend.  Jerry asked me to be a groomsman, and I was honored to be one.  A week before the wedding the Best Man, Tom, threw an excellent bachelor party at the horse track followed by many drinks and swimming at his parent's house.  Had a few too many, and my first cigar at that party.  The wedding was memorable.  There was hail the size of softballs, an open bar, and a live band.  I had a few too many again, and made a fool of myself on the dance floor.

2. I bought season tickets to Target Field.  This was the first time I have ever had season tickets to any professional sports team.  I only saw about 5 or 6 games out of the 20 I had, but it was still worth it.  I have to say the coolest thing I saw at the new field was Jim Thome's home run off the top of the flag pole on Labor Day.  I renewed for the 2011 season, so I hope we have a little bit more success in the postseason.

3. Played softball during the summer with Jerry, Holly, and some of their friends.  This was the first time since I was 14 years old that I played in any sort of group sport.  It was D League coed softball, so there wasn't really any pressure to perform well.  I was happy about that, as I am not the greatest in the field or with a bat.  The play of the year was made by Jerry.  There were 2 outs with a runner on second, a line drive was hit at Jerry at first base.  He leaped up and caught it, only to drop the ball as he went to the ground.  The runner had stopped after he saw Jerry make the catch, and then started running when he realized the ball had popped out of Jerry's glove.  Jerry grabbed the ball, then proceeded to crawl on all fours to beat the runner at first base by a step.  I wish I had that on video, because it was one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen.

4. My friends Tom and Holly continued our tradition of Friday Night Tier 1's.  Every Friday, we usually get together for a drink or two of our favorite Lite Beers.  Many MGD 64's, Miller Lites and Grain Belt Premiums were consumed by us.  It's nice to have something to look forward to every week.  There's no reason for this to stop in 2011, so come on out to Sally's or Joe Senser's for some nachos, a few laughs, and some beer that you can see through.

5. My brother Tony and his wife Janelle made me the godfather of both their children, Logan and Mackenzie.  I've known ever since they were born that I was going to be their godfather, along with Janelle's close friend Lisa as their godmother, but it was made official this year.  I've lived with Tony and Janelle for the last 5 years, and I've gotten to be there for all of Logan and Mackenzie's lives.  It's been great to watch them grow up and not have to change any of their diapers.  I'll leave that to their parents.

6. I went on my first road trip in 8 years.  My friend Joe and I drove to Kansas City in late September to see the Minnesota Twins play the Kansas City Royals.  The drive down there was easy, but the hungover drive back was almost unbearable.  I'll try to remember to drink in moderation the night before a 7 hour car ride.  (Who thought that Kum & Go was a good name for a gas station?)

7. Tom and Holly invited me, Jerry, and Holly to Holly's parent's cabin last winter for some snowshoeing.  Another first for me, I had never been to Alexandria before and had never snowshoed before.  We only went snowshoeing for a short time, but it pretty much wiped me out.  It was the only time that I fell asleep before 10 o'clock all year I think.

8. I joined Anytime Fitness and started dieting.  I started the year weighing 260 pounds and ended the year weighing 220 pounds.  Not an amazing amount to lose but it's a start.  I've tried many times over the years to try to lose weight and have usually failed.  I'm hoping that I can continue this trend of losing weight and exercising into 2011.  If I don't, it will be a waste of about $40 a month for the gym membership.

9. I left the continental United States for the first time in my life.  Tom, Holly, Jerry, Holly, and I went to Vieques, Puerto Rico in August.  We went to many beaches, had some Medallas(local tier 1 beer), and ate some authentic Puerto Rican food(and some pizza, too, of course.)  The highlight of the trip was swimming in a bioluminescent bay at night.  It was amazing to watch the water light up around you as you swam around.

10. Last one doesn't involve me directly, but is still important to me.  As I'm sure most people reading this know, my brother Tony had a stroke last year in October.  Tony finished his rehab this year, and is back to almost full health.  There are some residual effects from the stroke that he'll have to deal with, but shouldn't have too many lingering effects.

That's it.  All in all, I think I had a pretty good year.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends.

May the Force be with you,
CHUD

PS - This list was in no particular order.  I just went with whatever came to mind first.

Bud of Chud

Hello everyone,

I'm a little bored and have decided to start blogging.  I'm pretty sure this is just a phase and I will close this account in a month or two, but I'll do my best to keep updating this for an entire year.  The goal of this blog is absolutely nothing.  It's just something for me to do in my free time and nothing more.  I don't expect anyone to read my horribly misspelled and improperly punctuated blog,  However, if you do read this I hope you enjoy it.

May the Force be with you,
CHUD