Artist Opinion: E-603
Ethan Ward (aka E-603) gives HEAVE his top albums of the decade.
Keep in mind when the ball dropped in 2000 I was in 5th grade and 10 years old.
Strokes - Is this it – Now, how could this album not be in top spot. This record has been an eleven song anthem and sound track to my preteen high jinks and throughout whatever I have already lived of adulthood. This is the only album in existence that I would say is a masterpiece. Every song perfectly complementing the others and the whole album crafted with the don’t-give-a-fuck attitude that makes it so amazing. I have looked up to Julian Casablancas for half of my life because his lyrics have meant more to me than the preaching of my own parents. No album will be able to match this in my mind.
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells – I think it is safe to say that The White Stripes are one of the most important bands of this past decade. I think that this album really showed their true colors in terms of what they were capable of with such a simple idea. In addition to being an incredible album it is close to my musical heart. I wish I could tell Jack White that he essentially taught me how to play guitar. Learning how to play every song on this album with my cd player next to me, my prepubescent hands trying to keep up with the chord changes of “Fell in Love With a Girl”. In conclusion, if you don’t like this record than you don’t like rock and roll.
Daft Punk - Discovery – Talk about a band that was way ahead of its time. I think the proof is in the pudding with this one because this album started getting the most recognition in the late 2000’s when this album came out in ’01. This album is in a league of its own in terms of the dance genre. I have witnessed type of person, from crust-punks to frat-bros, loving the shit out of this album, which speaks for itself.
Girl Talk - Night Ripper - Girl Talk is undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the past decade. Night Ripper is a 16 song commentary on the content of pop music and the structure of music itself. There is nothing else in the history of music like this record.
The Unicorns - Who Will cut Out Hair When We’re Gone? – What a rad album. The Unicorns sound like no other rock group, between the silly synths and mumbled harmonies they achieved their very own sound. I started many high school days blasting “Les Os” while stuck in morning traffic with no regard to whether or not the other nerds from my neighborhood riding with me wanted to listen to it. I have broken lamps and shattered glasses listening to this album.
Hot Chip - The Warning - From start to end this album is masterfully crafted with moments of extreme accessibility to opposite moments of experimentation. This album is just so enjoyable it’s hard not to put it on this list. The “love songs” on the album are so uniquely beautiful it gives this album what most electronic albums are lacking, emotionality.
Ratatat – Ratatat - This album came out at the prime of my musical education. I could not stop listening to this album because of its genius counter pointing melodies and rad musical structures. The expression that comes from the instrumentation really reignites my love for music, and music for what it is. God damn - what a breathtaking album.
Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher – This album introduced the beauty of glitch to me. Scott Herren is truly an artist that meticulously fabricates completely new pieces of work out of fragments of others. I have been such an avid fan of Prefuse 73 and I have him to thank for my beginnings in music production. If someone can’t see the beauty in the music contained in this album they should then at least be able to see that an impressive amount of work went into it.
Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic – This is such a catchy and accessible album. Its filled with pop structured indie hits. I remember I was listening to my iPod in school and hard-ass my teacher asked what I was listening to and if I could sing it for the class, I don’t know what kind of test this was but it was a stupid one. Needless to say I gave her an extravagant one-man acapella version of “My British Tour Diary”. Before I got to the second verse she stopped me because I was standing on two chairs and singing into a pen cap. Fucking bitch.
Deltron 3030 –Deltron 3030 - Everyone has that MC that they favored over all others for a significant period of time. Del was my Biggie, I knew almost every song off this album by heart. A super fresh hip-hop side project about space and the future of the human race, it doesn’t get much better than that. For many years I waited for Dan The Automator, Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Kid Koala to get together for another Deltron 3030 album, but now that I think about it this is a spectacular note to end on.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jan 08, 2010 @ 8:00 am
