IndieVinylDen.com founder names favorite albums since 2000

After thirty-five years in radio and the music-selling biz, Christopher Carter has named his favorite vinyl records since the turn of the 21st century.

These records, in no particular order, have returned to my turntable most often since 2000.

 

The Midnight Organ Fight

by Frightened Rabbit

It is hard to listen to now after Scott Hutchinson's death. It was a sparse musical construction, yet the trio of Scott, his brother Grant, and Billy Kennedy delivered a powerful plea for help that never came. 

The essential songs: "The Modern Leper" "Old Old Fashioned" "My Backwards Walk"

Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

Courtney Barnett

How can you not fall in love with Courtney Barnett's wry wit? She leads a trio through an entire hit-filled record, including her powerful guitar play. 

The essential songs: Too many to list; drop the needle and enjoy them all.

 

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

The third White Stripes record is their apex. Jack and Meg inspired DYI artists everywhere, but what sounds easy to recreate is its great deception (see The Black Keys.)

The essential songs: "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" "Fell in Love with a Girl" "We're Going to Be Friends" "Hotel Yorba"

 

Purple Mountains

Purple Mountains

There is only one Purple Mountains record. Less than a month from its release and days before embarking on a tour to support the record, David Berman died by suicide. Berman's previous group Silver Jews are more than an adequate build-up to this last project.

The essential songs: "All My Happiness Is Gone" "Darkness and Cold" "Margaritas at the Mall"

 

Since I Left You

The Avalanches

I can best describe this as Australian electronic, dance, sampling, hip-hop-ish, potpourri of music that grows on you like kudzu. We sell the hell out of this because people keep discovering it.

The essential songs: "Since I Left You" "Frontier Psychiatrist" "Electricity"

 

The Sophtware Slump

Grandaddy

The first time I heard the song "The Crystal Lake," I knew I wanted more. They did not slump on this second effort. The record came out just after the non-events of Y2K and certainly feels influential. 

The essential songs: "The Crystal Lake" "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"

Honorary Mentions: 

• Radiohead - Kid A
• Mitski - Puberty 2 and Be the Cowboy
• Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
• Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
• The Strokes - Is This It
• OutKast - Stankonia
• Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
• Big Thief - Capacity
• War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
• Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness and My Woman
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
• Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
• Arcade Fire - Funeral and The Suburbs
• Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
• Snail Mail - Lush
• Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
• Cat Power - You Are Free
• Spoon - Transference and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga