In a perfect world, James Cameron’s Avatar would have died like a quiet fart in the dark night of the director’s imagination. Instead, we live in the depressingly “post-Avatar” world where late night hosts are tossed aside like so much Avatar-related promotional material, catastrophic earthquakes bring systematically oppressed island nations to their knees, and American economic policy is held together by bits of tape and chewed gum. It didn’t set in after the opening weekend numbers or even the third to be honest, but the director of Aliens is currently riding the tidal wave of a fifth straight weekend at the top of the box office right through the fabric of America and the essence of what makes film great. For all their summer-tentpole-style promotions (James Cameron’s Avatar Big Mac Meals! James Cameron’s Avatar Coke Zero Cans!), it seems like it’s the perfect storm of TV shows on hiatus, lackluster competition, stay-cations and the public’s growing interest in the new 3D movie technology that is driving Avatar towards beating James Cameron’s previous highest grossing film of all time, Titanic.

That’s right America. We have given this asshole the TWO highest grossing movies of all time. We live in a country where directors whose vision, ambition and follow through have created incredible depictions of events, true or fiction, that exceeded the limits of our very imaginations. And the guy who made your two most popular movies phoned in a script, sat on it for fifteen years to wait for technology that could make up for his lack of technique and in the meantime somehow got lucky on the world’s riskiest bet: a movie that made one of history’s most intriguing disasters into one of its most predictable movies. I think that’s why we (and I’m using “we” here because I too am guilty of buying into “event” entertainment, not because I’ve seen this abomination) support these guys. We love a gambler, win or lose. We’ll vote for the guy who bombs a country on a hunch even AFTER we’ve figured out that he was wrong. We’ll sit our fat asses down on the couch night after night to watch people humiliate themselves on American Idol auditions. We’ve somehow sustained Kenny Rogers for decades now on the shoulders of one novelty “story song.” (“Islands In The Stream” doesn’t count because that could’ve been anyone and Dolly and it would’ve been a hit. He’s the Peabo Bryson to her Roberta Flack.)

And we’ve basically just written James Cameron a blank check to make his next recycled braintrash into the the next thing we’ll slap down fifteen dollars to see in hyper-real 5-D (I skipped a D because Dreamworks will have figured out the fourth one by the time he dusts off whatever other script he finds in his high school writing assignments.) Though I can’t say I’m not disappointed in our new cultural depths, I think the film’s record setting profits make a strong and definitive argument for how to get the American economy back on track. While Barack Obama promised to revive our troubled financial system by “harness(ing) the energy and ingenuity of the American people,” his first year in office has passed and there are no new financial regulations in place. The U.S. is still hemorrhaging jobs. James Cameron has doubled half a billion dollars in five weeks inviting us to see his distinctly American mediocrity. Like many of our American heroes (and presidents), James Cameron’s success came because the American people don’t want “exceptional.” They want “middle of the road. “ They want a plot that they understand because they’ve seen it before. They would rather look at Avatar’s half-human half-puma Navi and “exotic” (read: colorful) locales because then they don’t have to think about whether life that formed from a different set of primordial oozes would look anything like any life we’ve seen. Even the film’s proper nouns lack imagination: Pandora. Unobtanium. Jake Sully.

Mining well-worn ideas isn’t the end of the equation though. Washington hasn’t stopped doing that. What they lack is James Cameron’s magically unceasing sense of self-importance. The kind of mind that writes an eighty page treatment and then abandons it because he honestly believes that he’s ahead of his own time has to be coupled with the will to revive and create it fifteen years later on a reportedly almost half-billion dollar scale. Finally, when the moment comes and the big reveal occurs, you’ve got to keep up a strong front regardless of how many holes your idea has. Remind your angry elitist friends that the nifty idea and the technology make up for the flimsy plot and crude execution. (I say “crude execution” because no matter how realistic everyone claims Pandora looks, it will never make most rational people care if the Na’vi will save their planet the way one could care if William Wallace will defeat the English at Stirling or if Tom Hanks will ever find Private Ryan or run with leg braces on. Also, Americans generally don’t care about planets. Or races other than their own. Sorry, Slumdog Millionaire, it just wasn’t gonna happen no matter how many Oscars you won. You too, Spike Lee.

Which brings me to the end of this rambling mess. James Cameron’s Avatar already won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, a prize that these inbred third cousin to the Oscars had to share with a slightly more heartening success story, the relatively amusing 2009 box office smash, The Hangover. James Cameron was named the “Best Director” by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Allow that to sink in. Now remember that genuinely beautiful, moving and provocative films like Inglorious Basterds, Moon and The Fantastic Mr. Fox were released this year. Films that engaged audiences with their depth of imagination and creative vision and were all relative box office flops. The American people have spoken time and again. We’re so desperate for simplicity and escapism that we’ll flock in droves to every intellectually bankrupt 3D movie (or Tea Party) because it allows the viewer to focus on the shiny objects and never consider its obligatory morality. We’ve just given James Cameron the two highest grossing movies of all time. Let’s just declare “film” dead, give him another Oscar and hope the band knows how to play whichever songs the Black Eyed Peas have won Grammys for while America tries to rearrange its deckchairs.

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1. The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree (2005)
Beginning with the best pop song ever written about a true life suicide attempt with wine coolers and baby Aspirin, The Mountain Goats’ Sunset Tree is singer/songwriter John Darnielle’s autobiographical album about growing up in an abusive home in southern California accomplishes the distinctive feat of self-examination that any listener can identify with. As touching, humorous and sincere as his words may be though, lyrics alone don’t make an album a masterpiece however and near equal credit must go to Darnielle’s mastery of simple and straightforward pop songcraft. Rarely consisting of more than three to five chords, these songs are impressive because of their strict adherence to the pop conventions that Darnielle holds sacred. The production and arrangement, courtesy of indie titan in his own right John Vanderslice, elevate Darnielle’s charming and heartbreaking tunes into something more. Few albums as vividly translate all the joy and pain of the human experience into music and words.

2. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight (2008)

3. Kanye West – Graduation (2007)

4. WHY? – Alopecia (2008)

5. Mastodon – Remission (2002)

6. Boris with Michio Kurihara – Rainbow (2006)

7. American Nightmare – Background Music (2001)

8. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007)

9. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (2005)

10. Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)

11. Neurosis – Given To The Rising (2007)

12. Daft Punk – Discovery (2001)

13. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III (2008)

14. Death Cab For Cutie – Plans (2005)

15. Cursive – The Ugly Organ (2003)

16. Girl Talk – Night Ripper (2006)

17. Converge – You Fail Me (2004)

18. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

19. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit (2006)

20. Venetian Snares – Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett (2005)

21. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005)

22. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)

23. Arsis – A Celebration of Guilt (2004)

24. Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)

25. Alkaline Trio – From Here To Infirmary (2001)

26. Gallows – Grey Britain (2009)

27. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)

28. P.O.S. – Audition (2006)

29. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine (2004)

30. Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

31. M.I.A. – Kala (2007)

32. Nachtmystium – Assassins: Black Meddle (2008)

33. Decemberists – The Crane Wife (2006)

34. Brand New – Deja Entendu (2003)

35. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (2009)

36. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

37. Enslaved – Isa (2004)

38. Jesu – Jesu (2005)

39. The Black Keys – Rubber Factory (2004)

40. Kid Cudi – A Kid Named Cudi (2008)

41. Sigur Ros – Takk (2005)

42. The White Stripes – Elephant (2003)

43. Andrew WK – I Get Wet (2001)

44. The Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera (2001)

45. Kanye West – The College Dropout (2004)

46. The Haunted – The Haunted Made Me Do It (2000)

47. Ben Folds – Ben Folds Live (2002)

48. Electric Owls – Ain’t Too Bright (2009)

49. Justice – † (2007)

50. Baroness – Blue Record (2009)

Did we leave some out? Weigh in below in the comments!

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4. WHY? – Alopecia (2008)
Yoni Wolf has spent over a decade working with his Bay Area partners in the Anticon Collective, one of the most forward thinking labels in hip-hop. As such, it’s no surprise that this Cincinnati-born musician is a gifted wordsmith and technician but Alopecia’s strength lies in Wolf’s unique ability to apply indie rock’s musical and emotional sensibilities to hip-hop without allowing one or the other to dominate the album. This could be a perilous musical journey, but Wolf’s casual flow guides the listener effortlessly through a sea of chance encounters and subsequent self-discovery. Ruminations on the nature of friendship and inadvisable personal admissions might tempt some to lump Wolf in with some of his indie rap contemporaries, but the album is elevated by the strength and melodies of the songs.

3. Kanye West – Graduation (2007)
Kanye West’s mark is indelibly on the last decade of music. He started the decade as one of hip-hop’s most gifted new producers and ended it as arguably it’s biggest star. While much of that success might seem to exist out of sheer bravado on West’s part, it is West’s odd status as an equally talented rapper AND producer that always guarantees his music will be ahead of the curve. Nowhere is this more evident than on West’s third LP, Graduation. Its thirteen tracks in fifty-odd minutes comprise one of the most brilliant and restrained hip-hop albums of the last decade. Early cut “Champion” is West at his most playful, creating something entirely new out of a split-second of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne.” “Stronger” transforms Daft Punk’s childish chant into a defiant anthem. Though collaborations with Lil’ Wayne and Mos Def are generally disregarded as mid-album fluff, the former’s unconventional tempo becomes more intriguing with time and the latter’s sing-songy duet with Mos Def on a modified version of Can’s krautrock lullaby “Sing Swan Song” at the very least identifies the depth of West’s musical knowledge and record collection. The back half may not be as musically inventive but West’s skills on the mic shine instead. Graduation marked the point at which West not only grew out of Jay-Z’s shadow but truly began to cast a shadow of his own.

2. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight (2008)
Frightened Rabbit’s 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight is more than a rock record. It’s an indictment and examination of all the conflicting concepts and definitions that we’ve lumped into one word: Love. As cliche as that sounds, these four lads from Glasgow make it work through a combination of clever wordplay, sincere delivery and tasteful playing. Album opener “The Modern Leper” may never quite be matched in pure energy by anything that follows, but the album delivers on so many levels that the track seems like an enthusiastic greeting rather than a bait and switch. Whether it’s “Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms” gentle balladry revealing the desire to kill a former lover’s new beau, the transformative ten minutes between “The Twist” and “Keep Yourself Warm” that reveals the flaws of casual sex or the existential questions posed by the disc’s final three tracks, Scott Hutchison’s words may occasionally border on crying but they inevitably ring true.

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7. American Nightmare – Background Music (2001)
One of hardcore music’s best kept secrets for the last ten years has been American Nightmare lyricist and vocalist Wes Eisold. Though that now-classic act only recorded a total of ninety minutes of music, the impact of Eisold’s stunning poetry and sometimes-electric presence has left its mark on the genre. The album begins with the rather melodramatic assertion that “This is the soundtrack to saying goodbye” but by the end of the opener, you’re in for an emotionally draining experience not unlike a My So-Called Life marathon on hard drugs. The absolute manner in which Eisold makes “love” and “hate” interchangeable terms without the ham-handedness and pathetic self-loathing that one might expect. It’s not that the self-loathing isn’t there; In fact, it’s at the core of almost every song and many of Eisold’s other published works. Rather, Background Music’s music is so aggressive that it proves the lyrics aren’t sad-sack sappiness, they just needed to find the right context. Equally important for fans of more aggressive music is the band’s style and sound that revived many of hardcore’s most obvious cliches as legitimate songwriting tools.

6. Boris with Michio Kurihara – Rainbow (2006)
Japan’s stoner chameleons followed up their highly acclaimed Pink with Rainbow, a collaboration with psychedelic guitar legend Michio Kurihara of Ghost. Never an artist to rest on one sound for too long, this album finds them exploring both the acid rock stylings of their collaborator and the dreamy/abrasive rock of Sonic Youth or Blonde Redhead. There are a few mellow cuts and even a Pink-styled barnburner, but the real joy of Rainbow lies in discovering just how the layers and layers of distortion and sonic manipulation build upon one another to stunning crescendos or unfold to reveal the band’s more delicate touches. Searing leads are both pushed to the forefront and dragged underneath the rest of the band in the album mix, lending the entire affair a genuine psychedelic edge in an age where artists attempting the style are a dime a dozen.

5. Mastodon – Remission (2002)
It’s extremely difficult for a legitimate metal band to become bona fide rock stars but Mastodon has done just that over the last decade. While Leviathan might have delivered the crossover mainstream success, Remission laid the groundwork that established them as an epic metal band. So ambitious that it defies definition, Mastodon’s marriage of sludgy stoner doom, prog and southern rock and thrash is still among the most original and unique sounds in all metal. Virtuoso play from each of the band’s members appears throughout the album but the drum work is as immediately identifiable as that of Rush’s Neil Peart. Dailor’s ability to adapt beats on the fly is the glue that holds together each disparate concept of the band’s style, best evidenced here throughout the song “Ol’e Nessie” as the guitars waver between soft and loud. This record made an artistic leap so profound from the metal status quo that it was instantly recognized as a classic. Remission was without a doubt the defining metal album of this decade.

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10. Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)
Like the terror attacks that shook the nation on the day of its release, Jay-Z’s The Blueprint was less an album than a force that changed the world on September 11th, 2001. Hov proved on that day that not only was he one of the best rappers alive but also a brilliant artist and businessman. Kanye West and Just Blaze provided most of the album’s brilliant beats, which almost all repurpose classic soul and R&B music. While West might have transformed The Doors’ “Five To One” into a monster beat, it was Jay-Z’s rapping that makes it arguably the best diss track of all time. Written, memorized and recorded in under two weeks, The Blueprint’s lyrics represent Jay at his peak both creatively and quantitatively; the only guest spot on the album is by Eminem who delivers two solid verses over a beat of his own creation. Jay-Z’s tough-guy posturing on tracks like “The Takeover” and “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Live)” makes his vulnerability on “Song Cry” that much more appealing. Though the self-proclaimed Jay-Hova never again hit such a creative high, it’s no wonder an album this good spawned two sequels.

9. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (2005)
The Hold Steady have been one of the most notable and polarizing acts of the last decade, with Craig Finn’s spoken word vocal delivery at the center of most arguments for or against the group. For those that embrace his idiosyncratic singing, the group’s 2005 album Separation Sunday, a complex, winding triptik that follows a misguided woman named Holly and her sometimes-lover-sometimes-pimp Charlemagne through a tumultuous cycle of sex, drugs and redemption. The band expertly executes a brand of classic rock unheard since the days of the early E street Band or T.Rex and Finn immerses himself in the subject as the album’s narrator. While steeped in Biblical allusions and metaphors, Separation Sunday avoids the typical male Madonna-Whore complex by inhabiting the space in between, eschewing judgement on even Holly’s most morally questionable decisions and casting shadows of doubt upon her purest. Separation Sunday is the spirit of beat poetry set to the musical soundtrack of the generations it inspired and applied to a timeless tale of post-teenage angst.

8. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007)
The Arcade Fire’s emergence as ambassadors of a certain sort of “indie rock” to the otherwise uninitiated masses was an organic build based on strong word of mouth and critical acclaim for their 2004 debut. Neon Bible’s debut at #2 on the Billboard Album charts might not seem as remarkable in the light of Modest Mouse’s #1 debut weeks earlier but in contrast. Arcade Fire had no charting single, no radio airplay to speak of and no corporate support. Win Butler and company ratcheted up the already grandiose nature of the group’s arrangements, recorded most of the album in a renovated church and employed the talents of a Hungarian choir and orchestra. Each carefully chosen and arranged piece of this puzzle fits together into a broad brushstroke reimagination of American music and culture that benefits from the group’s Canadian point of view. The detached earnesty of Butler’s lyrics match the impatient pleading of his vocal perfectly and complete an album that undoubtedly would have wound up crushed under its own moderately pretentious weight in less capable hands. The songs have grand aspirations and in every case, they reach or surpass them. Springsteen worship, pipe organs and thousands of cubic feet of reverb might be the album’s most commonly recurring musical motifs they’re definitely only a few of the band’s tricks. Neon Bible proved to be one of the decade’s most remarkable albums because the Arcade Fire worked so much harder than everyone else.

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1. Die Hard – There isn’t a wasted second in this remarkably intelligent deconstruction of the Western mythos for the twentieth century.

2. The Princess Bride – Rob Reiner’s brilliantly cast fantasy/rom-com is universally appealing, cleverly hilarious and ultimately quite profound.

3. Goodfellas – Tautly directed and well-adapted, Goodfellas is easily the greatest true crime story ever translated to film.

4. Star Wars – Empire Strikes Back might be the better film in the trilogy, but Star Wars’ self-contained story arc lends itself to repeat viewings.

5. Rushmore – Wes Anderson’s Rushmore is the perfect storm of sharp writing, visionary direction, superb acting and handjob jokes.

6. Chung King Express – Wong Kar Wai imbues every frame of this light-hearted romance with the intoxicating influence of love.

7. Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to film, violence and pop culture is hilarious and compelling time and time again.

8. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - Long before their shameless cashgrab tarnished their legacies, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg collaborated on an amazing adventure story with a great sense of humor.

9. The Dark Knight – Christopher Nolan didn’t just make the greatest comic book movie of all time; He reminded the world why Batman has endured for sixty years.

10. Anchorman – Anchorman is an endlessly quotable feel-good comedy that showcases some of this era’s finest comic talent at their peak.

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12. Daft Punk – Discovery (2001)
Daft Punk have been an unstoppable force in electronic music for the last decade, a phenomenon directly caused by 2001’s Discovery. The universal success of lead single “One More Time” put the band on the radar and the thirteen tracks that followed helped the band change the way the world looked at techno. The enigmatic duo created music that sounded as if TONTO had gained sentience and decided to show all the puny humans what machines could really do. Elements of rock, pop and R&B are woven throughout, but they’ve all been distorted through some sort of magical Daft Punk filter pedal that one has to assume simply says “ROBOT.” The impact of this album was such that the rest of the group’s peers is still playing catch-up and its influence can be seen in everything from mainstream hip-hop to video games. As innovative as the group’s sound is though, Daft Punk’s music would never have achieved its place in the pantheon of Electronica if it weren’t first and foremost extremely effective dance music. On Discovery, Daft Punk crafts irresistible futuristic space pop that blends visionary innovation and a strong understanding of how to get a party started.

11. Neurosis – Given To The Rising (2007)
Neurosis’ two decade career reached new heights in 2007 with the release of their ninth album, Given To The Rising. The album represented another evolutionary step forward from an act that had builts its name on progress. Collaborating for the fifth time with Chicago noise god Steve Albini, Neurosis bring a focus to their composition on this album that defies the usual laws of band longevity vs. quality. Frontman Steve Von Till’s gravely bellow resembles a demonic Tom Waits, stripped of even that remotest trace of optimism. The group’s music cherrypicks the finest elements of heavy music from the blues to black metal and assembles it into a lumbering behemoth of doom and destruction. Gradual shifts in tempo are disrupted by thunderous guitars and songs themselves likewise twist and turn, patiently waiting to reveal their true nature. While younger acts spent the last ten years trying to sound like Neurosis, Neurosis spent that time learning what it takes to inhabit that sound. As the surprise finale at the end of album closer “Origin” reminds the listener of the value of patience, Neurosis have proven it with their deliberate and increasingly refined efforts.

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14. Death Cab For Cutie – Plans (2005)
Years of hard work and near constant touring combined with the growing exposure offered by the internet, Death Cab For Cutie were propelled beyond indie stardom to full blown mainstream success with their 2003 album Transatlanticism. Thus it was that a mature act found themselves with a major label deal at just the right point in their career, with the will to create something meaningful and the experience to pull it off. Plans consists of a series of meditations on death and the specific emotional responses it can conjure. Ben Gibbard seems to have an innate ability to tap into the commonality of the human experience in a way that still feels personal and that gift is put to good work here in tracks like “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” or “What Sarah Said.” The latter’s gutwrenching admission that “Love is watching someone die” is paired with the difficult question “Who’s gonna watch you die?” The acknowledgment of cowardice and courage as equally plausible options without judgment is the biggest part of what makes Plans so inviting despite its potentially dour subject matter. The album is a slight step away from the more overt pop of their previous effort, opting for some less conventional song structures and melodies. The choice creates charged crescendos, quiet releases and other memorable moments throughout and the disc’s tight sequencing adds a certain weight to the album as a whole. Plans is a series of sophisticated glimpses of death, grieving, hope and recovery.

13. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III (2008)
Lil’ Wayne recorded so much material between the release of Tha Carter II and III that it seemed almost impossible that the album could live up to the absurd hype that had built around it. Endlessly delayed by leaks and changes, the album finally came out in June of 2008 and was an immediate critical and commercial success. The ambitious blend of club hits (“Got Money,” “Lollipop”) and innovative concept tracks (“Dr. Carter,” “Let The Beat Build”) paints a compelling portrait of Wayne as an artist comfortable with the divergent elements of his personality. Where so many other rappers carefully construct a public persona, Wayne can’t help but be himself, warts and all, an endearing quality that can be attributed to his complete refusal to write anything down. His rationale in an interview with a confused Katie Couric was that his music was an extension of himself, that he and the music were one and the same, a mantra that he literally has tattooed on his face. Wayne’s voice is as unconventional as his approach to music, a stoned, easy croaking that ranges from nearly asleep to positively manic, often within the course of the same track. The production on the disc is handled by a Who’s Who of hip-hop’s hottest and the disc’s sixteen tracks represent some of these illuminaries’ finest work, most notably Bangladesh’s hypnotic groove of “A Milli” and Swizz Beatz’ unexpected David Axelrod-sampling “Dr. Carter.” Even the disc’s guests add real star power to the record. Jay-Z’s passing-the-torch verse on “Mr. Carter” adds a certain gravity to the entire album that follows and Bobby Valentino’s chorus in “Mrs. Officer” outdoes R. Kelly’s knack for sexual suggestion. Anyone not completely sold by the hour of music preceding it will likely be convinced by the magnificently executed ten minute rant that ends the record over a well used Nina Simone sample. From the beats to the lyrics and performance, Tha Carter III is a perfect rap record in nearly every way.

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16. Girl Talk – Night Ripper (2006)
Greg Gillis took most of the music world by storm with his album Night Ripper in 2006. This largely illegal and self-released work built so much word-of-mouth support that it wound up on the year-end best lists of magazines as big as Rolling Stone. While creating new works entirely out of previously existing material was hardly new (Negativland had been doing it for nearly three decades) his style of exuberant pastiche turned Pixies songs into club bangers and gave Elton John & Biggie more in common than collaborating with Eminem well after their respective primes. Night Ripper’s sonic histrionics border on irritating so often that certain passages are difficult to listen to casually, but as a self-contained dance party, the album is absolutely flawless.

15. Cursive – The Ugly Organ (2003)
Cursive’s The Ugly Organ is a supremely executed meditation on the relationship between art and artifice. The Nebraska group had established themselves as talented songwriters and performers but the added strength of accomplished storytelling add new facets to a well-mined premise. Early highlights “Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand” and “Art Is Hard” set the stage in a confrontational tone, but the album rewards patient listeners with nuance and insight. Structural organ interludes tastefully progress the conversation without ever forcing the concept. Tim Kasher’s pained vamping resembles a less sedated Robert Smith, still mad at the world for all the shit luck and not quite ready to resign himself to loneliness. If the idea occasionally feels a bit bloated, the music more than compensates. Interesting compositions and dramatic arrangements are this record’s secret weapon; It’s much easier for an artist to feign apathy when their creations back up their attitude and Cursive’s certainly do.

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18. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
The story of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago was so intriguing that it almost threatened to overshadow the album itself. Singer Justin Vernon had intentionally stranded himself in a cabin in Wisconsin to shake off six years worth of pent up emotion and the result was nine delicately beautiful tracks of indie folk. Thankfully, Vernon’s singular voice justifies the creative cliche of solitude at every turn, creating an album riddled with moments both achingly beautiful and eerily haunting. The effect of Vernon’s pained howl and ghostly falsetto are amplified exponentially by the frequent use of multi-tracked vocals, creating a new, startling aural metaphor for isolation. At times sounding like the whistling wind and at others a dying animal, Vernon’s vocals define this album so brilliantly that it’s easy to forget just how good the music is. Ambient electronic sounds and carefully sparse instrumentation lightly adorn these otherwise straightforward acoustic folk songs, creating a texture that compliments the otherworldly singing.

17. Converge – You Fail Me (2004)
Though most of the group’s fans would claim this honor should go to the band’s previous effort Jane Doe, Converge’s You Fail Me signaled the band’s emergence from that album’s transitional cocoon into a leaner, more focused killing machine. Despite having been a band for over a decade, Converge abandoned much of the discordant static of their earlier work for a different sort of chaos. You Fail Me strips away the band’s previously spastic nature and reveals a mature and deeply emotional sound. Traditional song structures seep into the songs, the guitar work becomes much tighter and Jake Bannon’s indecipherable yelps begin to take form. Converge is a band whose career has always been about defiance to a certain degree and You Fail Me is the first album where that feels intellectually fleshed out in the lyrics and imagery. This is thinking man’s hardcore played with the intensity of mindless animals.

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