Top Ten of The 2000s: Michael Lopez

​10. Daft Punk -- Discovery (2001)

This album was an absolute eye-opener when I first heard it. We all know Daft Punk from their Homework days, with songs like "Around The World," "Da Funk" and "Revolution 909." Discovery came along, however, and blew that album out of the water. We have Kanye West to thank for keeping alive "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," as much as it pains me to admit that. It is a testament, however, to the strength of the album, to still be celebrating a single song some 7-8 years later. Discovery is a simple formula -- the fellas of Daft Punk dusted off some of their favorite funk records, sampled the hell out of them, and produced one of the finest electronic/dance music albums of the decade.

Has there been a finer debut album in indie rock since Montreal rockers The Stills burst onto the scene in 2003? I don't know just this yet, but I do know that the band's full-length debut Logic Will Break Your Heart knocked me on my ass when I first heard it. 2003 was ripe for the taking as far as that popular 80's influenced, new-wave sound was concerned. The Stills made it their own with Logic, proving just how polished a band can sound. "Lola Stars and Stripes" kicks things off with an absolutely charming bass-line, rollicking guitars and Tim Fletcher's yearning vocals. The tone is therefore set for songs like "Changes Are No Good" with its cascading guitars and feel-good guitar riff -- it still gives me goosebumps to listen to it to this day. When Fletcher pines on "Yesterday Never Tomorrows:" "Some things last forever, why can't this last forever?" I simply shake my head and ponder that possibility with him.

​8. Micachu & The Shapes -- Jewellery (2009)

What more can be said about this album that I already haven't stated? Mica Levi & company's impressive debut flips pop music on its ear and forever changes the landscape of what experimental pop can be. For someone as young as Levi to craft such an impressive debut as this says so much about the musician's maturity and overall genius.

​7. Interpol -- Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)

"Sleep tight, grime rite, we have 200 couches where you can sleep tonight" sings Paul Banks on the band's single "PDA." That lyric, however nonsensical, made all the sense for NYC-based Interpol in 2002. Their stellar debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights, set into motion the impressive career for the post-punkers. Bright Lights is bolstered by other tracks, "Obstacle 1," the fun, head-bobbingly catchy "Say Hello To The Angels" and the demure "Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down." Considered by many to be one of the finest albums of the decade, Turn On The Bright Lights still captures that moment for me -- that time in my life when I started to really appreciate good music, shucking my juvenile tastes for more sophisticated fare, even though it was, at first, difficult to wrap my head around. The effort, however, was well worth the reward, and I have Interpol to thank for that.

​6. Lightspeed Champion -- Falling Off The Lavender Bridge (2008)

Devonté Hynes, at one point in his musical career, was toiling away as the bassist for British indie punk outfit Test Icicles. While the band's actual impact is less than amazing, I worship the very ground Test Icicles ever walked on because they let Hynes break into the music scene. Four years after the dissolution of that band, Hynes released his debut album under the name Lightspeed Champion, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. The country-infused, acoustic/indie romp was by far the best album I heard in 2008. Hynes' earnest singing style, matched with his brutally honest lyrics, endeared the album so intensely to me. "Galaxy of the Lost" tells such a painful struggle with failed expectations, "Dry Lips" describes the last time Hynes had a hangover, his drinking curbed by painful stomach ulcers. Even the "Wendela" mentioned in "No Surprise (for Wendela) Midnight Suprise" is Hynes' own mother. The aforementioned track still gets me to this day -- it is one of my favorite songs from the past 5 years, and I have no problem admitting that I still get emotional when I hear, or even talk about, the song. Just ask my girlfriend -- she's seen me lose my shit merely describing it. 

​5. Maxïmo Park -- A Certain Trigger (2005)

It is damn near impossible to describe the feeling I had after listening to Maxïmo Park's debut album A Certain Trigger back in May of 2005. I was beside myself with joy -- I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I didn't know that post-punk/indie rock could sound like this, and I had already heard Bloc Party's debut album earlier that year. Maxïmo Park captured divine lightning in a bottle with A Certain Trigger, and that is in thanks to Paul Smith's wavering, brutally honest vocal style set to Duncan Lloyd's brilliant composition. "Apply Some Pressure" is a brilliant introduction to the band -- a brutally simple song that is insanely fun to listen to. "I Want You To Stay" tweaks things, introducing some interesting keyboards, but Smith's vocals are so fucking honest, "I always said you could rely on me, Now it seems that I was wrong, I want you to stay, I want you to stay with me." The album is one big brutally honest love letter, and I, for one, am glad to know a band like Maxïmo Park has no problem wearing their collective hearts on their sleeve. 

​4. TV On The Radio -- Return To Cookie Mountain (2006)

"Staring At The Sun," from their 2004 debut album may have introduced the world to TV On The Radio, but it was 2006's Return To Cookie Mountain that showed the world just how accomplished the band really was. Turning down the super artsy tone that endeared Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes to many, TV On The Radio tweaked their sound to craft their magnificent achievement Cookie Mountain (odd sounding sentence, isn't it? Well, it's an odd album title, I suppose). Dave Sitek, Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe showed how impressive a force they really were with songs like "Hours," the fuzzed-out "Wolf Like Me," and staccato, jumbled "I Was A Lover." Cookie Mountain was hardly unnoticed by critics and fans alike, being named Spin's best album of 2006 and placing in the top five of many other respected publications. It's rare that an album with such an experimental sound finds such a widespread acclaim, yet that is just how talented TV On The Radio truly are. 

​3. Justice - † (2007)

Let's just get this out of the way right now: I'm an absolute sucker for French electronic music. Daft Punk and Air showed me just what it means to love French electronic music, and Justice slapped me in the face and kicked me in the stomach with 2007's † (Cross). It was fate that brought me to Justice -- I had heard their track "Waters of Nazareth" on a mixtape/DJ mix at some point in 2006. After hearing it enough times, I knew I had to have more Justice in my life. Along came Justice vs. Simian with "We Are Your Friends," a song that catapulted them into many people's radars. I remember seeing Justice at Coachella in April of 2007, with pretty much only that song to their credit, as far as fans were concerned. They had a mice mid-evening slot on Saturday night at the dance tent, sparsely attended yet enjoyed by many. Fast forward to Coachella one year later -- the duo has released their debut album to much acclaim, "D.A.N.C.E." is absolutely everywhere and the duo is now closing out the festival in that same tent to a fervent crowd, jam-packing in the place. What a difference a year makes. What Justice possesses so brilliantly is their ability to arrange an album. They weave together 12 wholly separate songs in an electro/house/dance amalgamation which had not been seen since Daft Punk's Discovery in 2001. It's truly a remarkable effort, one that went wholly noticed -- to the point of obsession -- by yours truly. I don't know when I will hear another electronic album like †, but I will always know I have Justice's stellar debut ready for my enjoyment.

​2. At The Drive-In -- Relationship Of Command (2000)

For the purposes of relating to this album, I must disclose that I was 16 when I first heard At The Drive-In. I caught the video for "One Armed Scissor" on MTV2 when it was often called M2 and actually played nothing but music videos all day (wow, those were the days). I didn't know what I had just witnessed, but I knew I needed more of it in my life. Like any crafty 16 year old with a computer in the year 2000, I immediately went to Napster to feed my urge. I snatched whatever At The Drive-In I could, starting with their final full-length Relationship of Command, of which "One Armed Scissor" was the lead single. I instantly idolized Cedric Bixler-Zavala. I loved his high-pitched warbles and his oft-nonsense lyrics -- though, if the songs "Invalid Litter Dept." and "Speechless" proved anything, it's that his lyrics carried plenty of weight. He was a positive force in contemporary music, a musician with a proud Mexican heritage that I could admire, myself being Mexican. Perhaps it was the pathetic teenage angst, the need for more sophistication in my music or the overwhelmingly complex composition of At The Drive-In -- whatever it was, I took to the band instantly, and Relationship of Command stands as their finest effort. It captures so brilliantly what the band had built with their previous two albums and other EPs -- aggressive, fast/hardcore music with complex, emotive lyrics. Listening to At The Drive-In showed me how beautiful an art songwriting can be -- even if people want to listen to your music to blow off steam and rock themselves silly. There was substance to At The Drive-In -- they straddled so many musical styles and borders, and they did it so very well. Relationship of Command stands as their shining beacon today, and it will always be one of my favorite albums of all time -- if not for the sheer pleasure of listening to it, then for the memories of just what the album means to me and when it came into my life.

​1. Death From Above 1979 -- You're a Woman, I'm a Machine (2004)

Writing about this album will be quite a task. I have never heard a more influential band for my own personal taste in music than Death From Above 1979. Their only full-length album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, will forever remain my favorite album of the 2000s, if not all time. Considering the band is merely two dudes -- drummer/vocalist Sebastian Grainger and bassist Jesse F. Keeler -- Machine's sound is absolutely unparalleled by any album in the entire decade. Machine was released in late 2004, when dance-punk was at the height of popularity, yet Death From Above 1979 created a sound that was wholly unique to the dance-punk movement. They had, with their two instruments, created a sound so complex and enjoyable that it makes it difficult for me to even convey in writing. Their music had an edge to it -- it was loud and brash, fast and corrosive -- yet Grainger's lyrics had substance and vengeance. The album was instantly danceable -- yet it carried a harsh message, epitomized when Grainger screams on "Romantic Rights," "I don't need you, to want you." It's piss and vitriol, and yet it's sometimes unclassifiable. This album quickly became the only thing I listened to in late 2004. I would drive around my sleepy college town blaring "Blood On Our Hands" and "Turn It Out" and see if I could elicit any reactions from passer-bys. I felt good when I listened to Machine -- and I still do to this day. A band like Death From Above 1979 comes along once in a lifetime, and I am blessed to have ever listened to a single song they released. They created a sound that, for many -- including myself -- was the perfect mixture of hard-edged, lightning quick punk rock and melodic, funky indie rock. There's was a music that defied categorization, and -- like At The Drive-In before them -- I instantly adopted it as my own, branding it as my favorite album in a decade full of top-notch efforts.

Elliott Smith -- Figure 8 (2000)

Late of the Pier -- Fantasy Black Channel (2008)

Godspeed You Black Emperor! -- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)

!!! -- Myth Takes (2006)

Of Montreal -- The Sunlandic Twins (2006)

Kings of Leon -- Because of the Times (2007) 

The Dears -- End of A Hollywood Bedtime Story (2000)

Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

The Mars Volta -- De-Loused In The Comatorium (2003)

The Hives -- Veni Vedi Vicious (2000)

Franz Ferdinand -- Franz Ferdinand (2004)

Grizzly Bear -- Veckatimest (2009)

The Strokes -- Is This It? (2001)

Klaxons -- Myths of the Near Future (2007)

Phoenix -- It's Never Been Like That (2006)

Elliott Smith -- From A Basement On The Hill (2004)

The Roots -- Phrenology (2002)

Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead -- Source Tags & Codes (2002)

St. Vincent -- Marry Me (2007)