I remember when 2000 was far away. And then not so far away. And then the past. And Conan continuing the "In the year 2000" skits regardless. It's just a number. An idea. It used to be the idea of the future. So whatever the number is. It's just a number. When everybody was freaking out about Y2K and apocalypse and whatnot I just kind of laughed it off because of how arbitrary numbers are anyway.
2000 was the year I started my senior year in high school, it was a year I started off by being blown off by my friends but hanging out with my brother so it's fine, it was the year I got a serious girlfriend and went to school dances instead of making movies on school dance nights.
The future.
Now 15 years gone.
Music blog.
I'm going to start off the actual portion of this that is not a meaningless/meaningful introduction by talking about hip hop. 2000 was an insane year for great hip hop. I didn't know at the time because my mind was still closed, but there was a lot.
Soon to be one of my favorite MCs Del The Funky Homosapien had a very fantastic album Both Sides of the Brain that for a long time was the most recent Del solo album so it always felt like latter era Del. He's really upped his productivity in recent years, however, and now I guess I'd call it "mid period" because it is still pretty far removed from his early 90s repertoire. Same attitude, new production. But of course the big one was Deltron 3030, his project with Dan the Automator and Kid Koala. The future! Not sure how much I need to explain to this audience, but this concept sci-fi album is so much fun to listen to, as Del seems to bring out the best in Automator and vice versa (Koala's input is somewhat limited in comparison to his solo stuff...). It's just vivid, it's catchy, and impeccably done all around.
Deltron 3030 "Virus"
More hip hop, quick rundown style...
Ludacris, whom I would pretty soon discover for myself, has been historically viewed by me as just a fun, funny MC without too much to say. I think he's broken that stigma but he was very entertaining on Back for the First Time. De La Soul's Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump is a great showcase of a band still at the top of their game a decade in. Quality Control by Jurassic 5 is kind of a peak for the group creatively as a bunch of MCs that manage to find a level of harmony rarely heard in this century's hip hop, and also exemplified by the dual-DJ attack and "Swing Set," an awesome track of a couple DJs just showing off in a way that usually only MCs attempt. Speaking of DJs (producers?), Quasimoto is an interesting showcase of Madlib's behind-the-mic skills. I don't have the Wu-Tang Clan album The W, but I have "Gravel Pit" and yeah. You know that one is grand. Umm, Train of Thought by Reflection Eternal starring Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek is master class 2000 hip hop.
And of course Outkast. Stankonia was the last super collaborative album they put out together and pretty much the best. "Ms. Jackson" and "B.O.B." and other songs I haven't given their proper due. But "B.O.B." will always get me going nuts. I hated Eminem at the time but he's grown on me a little. The homophobia is pretty awful but he's not the only one with awful homophobia in his music from this time, so I guess he shouldn't have been singled out as much as he was...I know Common was guilty of some homophobia as well but Like Water For Chocolate is praised. And it should be for most reasons.
And now the stuff from the genres I really listened to back in 2000.
I hate being one of those guys that gets mad at a band for going in a new direction or whatever because you're the artist/follow your muse/etc, but The Suicide Machines really pissed me off when they put out their self-titled album in 2000. My saviors, a band that helped me understand this complicated world and work through it, put out some awful pop music and I was pissed. I took it personally. They kind of made up for it later, realizing their mistake and signing to an indie label and being punk again, but my relationship with what was once one of my favorite bands was never the same.
One of my oldest shirts is what I now kind of use to prove my punk rock credentials. It's from the CD release show for Problematic by All. You can barely read it, but it spells out the show date in 2000. At the time it seemed like I was late to the party on it, but at this point 15 years are a lot of years. I don't listen to Problematic all that often but it does take me back. Not my favorite All record but still good.
The Impossibles got back together while I was still into their ska stuff. And became sort of power pop, in a way that outside observers said they sounded like Weezer (in a good way). I had not really listened to much Weezer, but you can give The Impossibles credit there, for directing me that way. Because Return is a fantastic pop album with great hooks and great heartbreak. "Never Say Goodbye" was my anthem when I was graduating high school. Not that I see any of those people anymore (with approximately 1 exception), so maybe I should have said goodbye?
I don't know how many friends I introduced to the brilliant Shellac when I discovered them, but people did not need to be post-rock/math-rock/experimental music followers to follow the message on "Prayer to God." Profane, hilarious, but so true to the raw emotions that people have, when I was faced with a similar situation the song just got stronger and stronger to me (but still funny, because I'm not a psychopath that takes it seriously). The rest of the album 1000 Hurts is part of what got me into the post-rock stuff later on, but it's easy if you've had a broken heart to latch right on to this song.
Shellac "Prayer to God"
I was always a few steps behind my friends on The Weakerthans. Not sure why. I love their music. Pretty astonishing that this was a guy from Propagandhi being poetic and not political. But John K. Samson is among the greatest lyricists not only in indie rock but in rock. "How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you, how you don't know where you should look...so you look at my hands." Oh yeah, the album is called Left & Leaving. Fantastic stuff.
Speaking of lyricists, Stephin Merritt. This is the right-after-69-Love-Songs Stephin Merritt and even though the 6ths album Hyacinths and Thistles was not as well received critically, I feel like he was still on a roll. There are plenty of songs on this album that could have been 69 Love Songs standouts, particularly "As You Turn to Go" and "You You You You You."
Cursive's Domestica was one of my favorites. An examination of a bitter divorce with nothing held back. A modern Here, My Dear. But emo or whatever. I just always loved how Tim Kasher seemed to know exactly what he did wrong and acknowledged his weaknesses on here, not really pointing the blame in any direction but exploring the roots of the problems. It's uncomfortable but everything from his wife's point of view is the most poignant and you can see that he understands it. This will always be my favorite Cursive album because it taught me to look at myself and examine my own flaws in this area, and hopefully avoid making some of the same mistakes. This song I take very personally because it echoed the mistakes that I would eventually learn from in my relationship at the time to be a better partner today.
Cursive "The Martyr"
When I introduced my friend to the music of The Broadways, he said they reminded him of this other band that I should check out. So I was really excited to hear this band that sounded like The Broadways. But then when I heard them I couldn't really figure out the similarities he'd drawn between the bands. But it didn't matter because this was one of the most intense, aggressive, energy creating bands I'd ever heard. I made an analogy a while back on this blog about a band creating all this potential energy and releasing it and I don't remember who I was talking about, but the same could be said for At The Drive-In. Then I saw them on Letterman and knew I HAD to see them live. Then they broke up.
At The Drive-In "One Armed Scissor" Live on Letterman
I saw a very early The Mars Volta show a little while later but it just was not the same.
In the summer of 2000, Asian Man Records put together the Plea for Peace tour featuring all of the great bands on its roster. Maybe the best lineup I have ever seen. And my family was going to fly out to Florida on vacation the day before the show got to Denver. Somehow I convinced my brother to wait back with me so I could go to this show and convinced a friend who wasn't really interested in that type of music to go with me so I wouldn't be driving to Denver alone. And I SOMEHOW convinced my parents to let me and my brother drive across the country to meet up with them in Florida. All of those pieces fit together and I got to go to this show. And I will never forget that experience. The skapunk of the past (MU330! Mike Park doing Skankin' Pickle songs with them!) met the melodic punk of the future (Alkaline Trio! The Honor System! The Lawrence Arms!) and it was an amazing experience.
Alkaline Trio quickly became one of my favorite bands when they put out Maybe I'll Catch Fire, an album I could get and not feel awkward about its title. While not as great of an album as Goddamnit, it was special and it showed me some dark visions and introduced me to their world. The Honor System was close enough to The Broadways that I was immediately hooked. Single File was their debut and really echoes "Dan songs" by The Broadways. The passion in the political. Similar guitar licks.
And of course The Lawrence Arms. Ghost Stories is still my favorite album of theirs. Walking out of the concert I saw Brendan talking to some dudes in the alley and I told him he'd played a great show. And that was the first time I addressed him at a Lawrence Arms show. This practice would lead to him recognizing me and remembering my name and having longer conversations as the years went on. Anyway, a few years later I was talking to Brendan in one of our longer conversations about Ghost Stories. How it was my favorite and people don't seem to get it. And it was so validating when he agreed with me and said that it's kind of the measure of the real fans, because it really takes time to get it but then it comes together. This is a cold and distant record. The production is "gritty," I guess you could say. I like the word cold for it though. You need to embrace it and warm it up and then it speaks to you. Personal stuff. Poetic stuff. I could pick any song to play for you here because they are all special to me. This was when I really got into Chris' songs in particular. I'd appreciated him in The Broadways but he sounded quite a bit like Dan. He was unique here. I could really feel that he meant what he was singing. I don't know man, what do I say about this album? Criminally underrated. They don't even play these songs anymore. That's fine, you move on. But it will always be my special gem. Due to a fluke on my ipod this played twice and for the first time in the project I did not skip the repeat because I just couldn't stop it. I just had to let it play, once I heard the opening chords, through the secret tracks without skipping past the silence. Because even the silence between "The Last One" and its bonus tracks is part of the experience to me.
The Lawrence Arms "Ghost Stories"
They also put out a split EP with Shady View Terrace in 2000. It was the first step in a brand new direction for the band that is considered the classic, favorite era. A little "better" produced but still amazing. Especially those damn Chris songs...
I remember when Elliott Smith died (I know, not way back in 2000 but this is apparently his last album). I hadn't been a huge fan but one of my friends had. We heard he'd stabbed himself in the heart! We listened to a lot of depressing music but that kind of sealed the deal as him being the pinnacle of that. And from there, it seemed too real for me to approach it without taking it seriously and with the highest amount of respect. This has always put a certain amount of elusiveness on his catalog for me.
Elliott Smith "Can't Make A Sound"
Also Noted.
- Planes Mistaken for Stars! I had the "Fucking Fight" 7" and its intensity was just ridiculous. I only saw the band live a handful of times despite them being all over the Denver indie/emo/whatever scene but every time was very memorable and intense and terrifying. Legends around these parts. The Knife in the Marathon EP was fantastic as well but didn't have the insane intensity of that 7".
- The Dandy Warhols' Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia is kind of a classic of urban Bohemia. That's pretty much what I'd call it.
- Hot Hot Heat certainly was different in these days.
- The first Jill Scott album is fabulous. I wouldn't discover her until around '07.
- I haven't listened too much to Sufjan Stevens' debut A Sun Came, but it's quite pleasant.
- Yeah White Stripes, thisclose to legendary status...
- The distant warmth of Kid A is a brilliant album that I couldn't think of what to write about, so it's just "noted" even though many would consider it the best album of 2000. Take that, expectations!
- Once all of Coldplay's albums were on Amazon for like 50 cents each or something so I got them, thinking "ha! Take that, Coldplay! That's what your catalog is worth!" But now I have to actually listen to them in this thing so who's laughing now? They have a couple decent songs though.
- I saw The New Pornographers last year for the first time in concert (I know!), and they neglected to play the standout track from their debut album Mass Romantic, "Letter From An Occupant." I know, right??
- And Neko Case solo. So country back then. But she's always had that voice!
- Flogging Molly is entertaining.
- Cat Power's deconstruction of a covers album is really cool and really frustrating. Just sing the chorus!
- Don Caballero, one last hurrah of the classic lineup.
- Add Float by Aesop Rock to that hip hop list above. Good year indeed.
- Enon was one of my favorite bands and I'm throwing their debut down here?? Believo! was awesomely diverse and catchy yet only hinted at their future prowess.
- The last Man or Astroman album for a while was A Spectrum of Infinite Scale and for a long time it was the only one I had of theirs on CD. Anyone who can make a compelling track by recording the sound of a printer printing something that they programmed is pretty brilliant in my book.
- There's too much to write about! Daisies of the Galaxy by Eels!
- American III by Johnny Cash!
- Avalanches! Since I Left You is a party!
- Ghostface Killah! Supreme Clientele! I told you it was a year of hip hop!
- I didn't listen to much Modest Mouse in 2000. I know my girlfriend liked their 90s stuff but I didn't get The Moon & Antarctica until later on. Kind of a new direction for them but a fascinating one.
2001 was a big year of changes in my life and in the world. But this is about music. 2001 had some good music by artists such as Beulah, Built to Spill, Dilated Peoples, Ee, the last Fugazi album, Gorillaz, Jay-Z taking over, The National, Polysics, Pulp, The Strokes, Tom Daily, and !!!, among other things. Happy new year!
