The Top 50 Albums of the 2000s: 45-41

45 | TIEFSCHWARZ Eat Books
Fine, 2005

DOWNLOAD | “Original” (feat. Smallboy)

Much like Isolée, Germany’s Tiefschwarz crossed the house and techno divide with the help of Derrick Carter. Unlike Isolée, Tiefschwarz never really embraced the pretext of being “minimal” — in fact, just the opposite. In recent years, they’ve handed in twisted club remixes for everyone from Missy Elliott to Madonna, but the brothers Alexander and Sebastian Schwarz haven’t veered too far from their mercurial mid-decade approach: From the Kraftwerk–inspired “Troubled Man” to the jagged post-punk of “Warning Siren” — featuring the Rapture’s Matty Safer — Eat Books set forth a more diverse palette for club music in the 2000s. In other words, it wasn’t so much that Tiefschwarz went big-room house as much as big-room house went Tiefschwarz.

44 | ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS I Am A Bird Now
Secretly Canadian, 2005

VIDEO | “You Are My Sister”

Antony Hegarty was an epiphany in 2005 because — no matter your opinion of him — there was little denying that we’d never had a pop star like him: If there was another tall, socially awkward, gender-queer performer with the natural vibrato of Nina Simone and an urban cabaret aesthetic, I certainly missed him. That said, I Am A Bird Now is one of the greatest albums of the decade for its sheer emotional resonance. Ziggy Stardust toyed with androgyny and Morrissey with sexual ambiguity, but Antony’s approach was direct and heartfelt. “One day I’ll grow up and be a beautiful woman,” he sings. And for two-and-a-half minutes, he makes it possible for us to empathize.

43 | DERRICK L. CARTER Squaredancing in a Roundhouse
Classic, 2002

DOWNLOAD | “Where U At? (BHQ Revisionist History Edition)”

In twenty years as a DJ and producer, Derrick Carter has only released one full-length original artist album. To anyone with a rock-oriented paradigm to record-making, this might not make sense, but Squaredancing — as an exception to every rule — delivered as both a career retrospective and genre-defining moment. It was also just plain old joyful: If you went out to an underground party in the early 2000s, you likely couldn’t escape “Where U At?” or “A Hope” — nor would you want to. They were perfectly opposite ends of the post-millennial coin: the latter is an optimistic post-disco workout; the former, quite easily the only club-ready contemplation of the meaning of life — “Is this all there is? There must be more!” — from a house track ever.

42 | DEAD PREZ Let’s Get Free
Loud/Sony Music, 2000

VIDEO | “Hip-Hop”

Even in 2009 it seems amazing that a major record label would put money behind an album with lyrics like, “Fuck the Bible, get on your knees and praise my rifle.” At a junction in time where our president is being accused of socialist tendencies for rightly plotting to wrestle healthcare out of the hands of big business, it seems amazing that there was a hip-hop group on the radio in 2000 that openly promoted socialism. And atheism. And veganism, for crying out loud. But rhetoric aside, what’s remarkable about Let’s Get Free is how a message so inflammatory never really gets in the way of the medium. Even when I disagree with Dead Prez, I still find myself pumping a fist because when the political gets this personal, it really is bigger than just hip-hop.

41 | AZURE RAY Hold On Love
Saddle Creek, 2003

VIDEO | “These White Lights Will Bend To Make Blue”

Hold On Love was released on October 7, 2003. A little over twenty days later, I was hit by an oncoming tow truck while crossing the street in Oakland. I spent the next two months laid up in the hospital and the following two months getting around with the use of a walker — the kind with tennis balls for feet. I remember this release date because I listened to Hold On Love relentlessly before and after the accident, and by the time I managed to limp around by myself — in April of 2004 — Azure Ray came to San Francisco for a show at Cafe du Nord. I stood in the middle of the audience, happy for the first time in a long time, before excusing myself to find a corner in the back of the club where I could be alone. I celebrated my return to the live music scene with my head between my knees, suffering from a panic attack. But it was worth it to hear them sing “These White Lights Will Bend To Make Blue.”