# 20

I've decided to fashion a return to the blogosphere. The "indie" music nerd that lives so vividly inside me couldn't resist the creation of an essential album list. However pointless these "best of" lists are, I must take a stab at making one for my own inner peace. Album analysis is actually an extremely fun activity. Sitting down with (or hilariously dancing to) the exciting range of musical styles provides endless joy. Music can enhance the sensations and perception of your own world or they can vividly create their own. And joy can be found in the process of quantifying the very diverse music. So here I am, quantifying what I consider to be the best albums of this decade, the 00's, the Naughties, the Aughts, the whatevers. Keep in mind the strong subjectivity of this list. I am in no way trying to remove my personal feelings and associations with these albums from this list. Art mingles very strongly with the observer (listener), so I feel I should not try to disassociate my personal attachments to these works of art. These are very much my favorite albums of the 00's...



20. The Life Pursuit by Belle & Sebastian (2006)


Belle & Sebastian have been a staple of the indie scene since their breakthrough album If You're Feeling Sinister in 1996. They basically perfected low key soft pop enhanced by witty storytelling lyrics. Ten years later they shifted their sound towards the rock end of the spectrum. With this album, they released an energetic soft rock collection of mini pop masterpieces. The tone is still very much light and fluffy, but the atmosphere contains an extra charge. The songs here are pretty much all major key and upbeat. The great thing about this album is the beautiful simplicity of the songwriting. We have all heard songs like this throughout our lives and the listener instinctively "knows" each song. While this doesn't provide much excitement from the exploration in new sound, it evokes a sense of comfort. The listener feels like they have always experienced good memories with this album. The familiar chord changes and sparkling melodies conjure a joyous sense of fun and happy nostalgia. Another great aspect of the album is the expansive production. All the songs sound vast and thick. Each instrument sounds heavy and syrupy. This adds a colorful dimension to the potentially boring songwriting. This is an album to dance to at parties (or on your own), it's for Sunday afternoon drives, it's an album to create bright, joyous memories to. One of the essential pure pop releases of the decade.