Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Our recent stab at picking our favorite movies of the far-from-completed 21st century put some of us in a list-making mood. Please enjoy these selections from me, a special guest blogger, and Sax. Feel free to pitch in with your own choices in the comments and/or tell us what awful taste we have.

Heartbreaker — Ryan Adams (2000)
Parachutes — Coldplay (2000)
Ode to Bobbie Gentry — Bobbie Gentry (2000)
Smile — The Jayhawks  (2000)
Bachelor No. 2 — Aimee Mann (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack — Various Artists (2000)
The Vogue Years — Françoise Hardy (2001)
Is This It — The Strokes (2001)
Tenacious D — Tenacious D (2001)
The Green Album — Weezer (2001)
Essence — Lucinda Williams (2001)
Spend the Night — The Donnas (2002)
The Last Broadcast — Doves (2002)
Up the Bracket — The Libertines (2002)
Life on Other Planets — Supergrass (2002)
Maladroit — Weezer (2002)
Funky Kingston: Reggae Dance Grooves 1968-1974 — Various Artists (2002)
Welcome Interstate Managers — Fountains of Wayne (2003)
0304 — Jewel (2003)
The Dirty South — The Drive-By Truckers (2004)
Franz Ferdinand — Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Fought Down — Ken Layne & the Corvids (2004)
The Alternative to Love — Brendan Benson (2005)
The Best of Frank Stokes — Frank Stokes (2005)
Good For What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows 1926-1937 — Various Artists (2005)
Best of Chris Isaak — Chris Isaak (2006)
Graduation — Kanye West (2007)
God Help the Girl — God Help the Girl (2009)
Stills — God Help the Girl (2009)
Minstrel Banjo Style — Various Artists (2009)
Brothers — The Black Keys (2010)
The Lady Killer — Cee Lo Green (2010)
Speak Now — Taylor Swift (2010)
Mama, I’ll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings 1929-1934 — Amede Ardoin (2011)
El Camino — The Black Keys (2011)
Middle Brother — Middle Brother (2011)
Passive Me, Aggressive You — The Naked and Famous (2011)
Blown Away — Carrie Underwood (2012)
Red — Taylor Swift (2012)
The Essential Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys — Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (2013)
The Bones of What You Believe — Chvrches (2013)
The Vee-Jay Singles Collection — John Lee Hooker (2013)
Volume Three — She & Him (2013)
Turn Blue — The Black Keys (2014)
Classics — She & Him (2014)
1989 — Taylor Swift (2014)
Yours, Dreamily — The Arcs (2015)
E-MO-TION — Carly Rae Jepsen (2015)
Wild Things — Ladyhawke (2016)
The Neon Demon soundtrack — Cliff Martinez (2016)

Honorable mention to these retrospective box sets that are so comprehensive and essential that it didn’t seem fair to include them in the regular list:

The Stax Story — Various Artists (2000)
The Complete Hot Fives & Sevens — Louis Armstrong (2003)
Unearthed — Johnny Cash (2003)
Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy — Uncle Dave Macon (2004)
Country Music Pioneer — Riley Puckett (2011)
The King of Soul — Otis Redding (2014)

Richard Marxist writes:

Music has been my go to escape for the majority of my life as opposed to novels or cinema. I get more out of music because I enjoy the experience of listening more than I do looking. Alternate realities begin to form out of the subject matter from the mood of an album or song. I find this is more difficult to do when watching a movie or reading a novel. In the end though, choosing which realities (albums) I escaped to the most proved more difficult than originally anticipated.

When I began to assemble this list I figured it’d be an easy task. The top 50 movies of the 21st century on UR got me wanting to do the same thing but with music. Objectivity gets thrown out the window immediately because of the pull these albums had on me throughout these years, and still do. While I can certainly explain why I think a particular song objectively sounds good — for example, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” — I can’t explain why YOU should think so too. I’ve never been one to try to force an opinion or change a mind without the facts because listening to music doesn’t require facts, just taste.

The following 50 albums constitute not only a certain taste in music, but an emotional connection to something or someone. There are albums tied to unrequited love, traveling, being drunk, and a swath of other occurrences and situations in life during the 21^st century. Do they necessarily represent everyone’s experience during those years? Of course not, but it represents mine, and that is what makes them some of the best albums of the past 15 years and 9 months.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea – PJ Harvey (2000)
White Pony – Deftones (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack – Various Artists (2000)
Dwightyoakamacoustic.net – Dwight Yoakam (2000)
Stankonia – Outkast (2000)
Gorillaz – Gorillaz (2001)
Bleed American – Jimmy Eat World (2001)
Fever – Kylie Minogue (2001)
Amelie Soundtrack – Yann Tiersen (2001)
Songs For The Deaf – Queens of the Stone Age (2002)
Phrenology – The Roots (2002)
The Execution Of All Things – Rilo Kiley (2002)
Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol (2002)
Decoration Day – Drive-By Truckers (2003)
Permission To Land – The Darkness (2003)
Lesser Matters – The Radio Dept. (2003)
…Burn, Piano Island, Burn – The Blood Brothers (2003)
The Dirty South – Drive-By Truckers (2004)
O.C.M.S. – Old Crown Medicine Show (2004)
Let It Die – Feist (2004)
Demon Days – Gorillaz (2005)
Frances The Mute – The Mars Volta (2005)
Robyn – Robyn (2005)
Back To Black – Amy Winehouse (2006)
Silent Shout – The Knife (2006)
Yellow House – Grizzly Bear (2006)
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood – Neko Case (2006)
Boxer – The National (2007)
Because Of The Times – Kings of Leon (2007)
Night Falls Over Kortedala – Jens Lekman (2007)
The Age Of The Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets (2008)
In The Future – Black Mountain (2008)
xx – The xx (2009)
Actor – St. Vincent (2009)
Brand New Eyes – Paramore (2009)
Teen Dream – Beach House (2010)
Brothers – The Black Keys (2010)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Soundtrack – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2011)
Circuital – My Morning Jacket (2011)
R.A.P. Music – Killer Mike (2012)
Fear Fun – Father John Misty (2012)
Kill For Love – Chromatics (2012)
The Bones Of What You Believe – Chvrches (2013)
Run The Jewels 2 – Run The Jewels (2014)
Saudade – Thievery Corporation (2014)
Way Out Weather – Steve Gunn (2014)
Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometime I Just Sit – Courtney Barnett (2015)
E-MO-TION – Carly Rae Jepsen (2015)
Eyes On The Lines – Steve Gunn (2016)
Everything You’ve Come To Expect – The Last Shadow Puppets (2016)

Sax von Stroheim writes:

Love and Theft — Bob Dylan (2001)
Carnival of Souls — Pere Ubu (2014)
American IV: The Man Comes Around — Johnny Cash (2002)
Inward City — The Numbers Band (2009)
Masada Rock — John Zorn/Rashanim (2005)
Welcome Interstate Managers — Fountains of Wayne (2003)
Everything Must Go — Steely Dan (2003)
St. Arkansas — Pere Ubu (2002)
A Single Sky — Dave Douglas (2009)
Super Taranta! — Gogol Bordello (2007)
That’s Why God Made the Radio — The Beach Boys (2012)
Modern Times — Bob Dylan (2006)
Barfly — Rocket from the Tombs (2011)
Pruflas: The Book of Angels 18 — Dave Krakauer (2012)