This week, we bring you Top 10 Albums from 2000-2009 lists as determined by Loud Loop Press editors and contributors. Today, Associate Editor Andy Kahn starts things off with a bang with his list for the Top 10 Albums from 2000 – 2009.

1. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
It took a long and arduous process both creatively and commercially to ultimately produce what is the best album of the decade, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Painstakingly and meticulously crafted with the aid of Jim O’Rourke at the Wilco Loft on the North Side of the Chicago, it manages to hide the conflict eating at the band.  We’ve all seen the movie and know the story of the struggle and butting of heads between Jeff Tweedy and the late Jay Bennett, and how the record label rejected the album only to have its subsidiary buy it back.  But forget all that and just listen to the melodies and lyrics of these intricately crafted songs.   Benath the wash of sounds and layers of sonic tricks there are lyrics which are raw and their delivery pure.  Tweedy is the melody maker and the poet, but Bennett was the studio genius – perhaps too smart for his own good – who allowed for this attempt at something new and different to both work and be exciting.  The Poor Places and Reservations one-two punch to close out is as good as any ending to an album since Exile on Main Street. From start to finish there is no wasted moment, no wasted note, everything is in its place and delivered with purpose and a sense of urgency.

2. Gorillaz – Demon Days
Demon Days is hip-hop, it’s rock, it’s rap, it’s electronic, it’s a brilliant snapshot of exactly where we were as humans in the post-post modern world. Sure it took a fictional cartoon group to tell us this, but in reality Damon Albarn created this audio saga to simply lay down what was happening around us and lay down some of the dirtiest beats of the decade. The atmosphere of the album is thick, hovering over each track like a thick fog. The mood is undeniable and a bit indescribable but it bleeds from song to song like a waterfall of subtle unrest and angst. There’s social commentary but never preaching, the message is that yes the planet is fucked up but screw-it all, let’s dance. And if you don’t find yourself bobbing your head, punching the sky, straight up shaking your ass and clapping your hands well, you’re suspect. Albarn with the genius of Danger Mouse, lays it all out: the air we breathe is dirty, the kids have guns and are fighting in wars and we’re basically all alone in this search for happiness. All this is happening, yes, but damn it if it isn’t best to shrug it all off and follow the beats? Call me crazy but I’m with Albarn and his cartoon band on that one.

3. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Much like the band the Flaming Lips it’s hard to describe what it is that makes both the group and this album so great. Something about Wayne Coyne’s ability to tell stories in his songs as well as present kick ass rhythms and driving beats sets them apart from the rest.  On Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots even though many of the songs feature electronic drums often they’re paired with acoustic guitars and Coyne’s delicate voice tying everything together. This is a concept album, no doubt, and a thinly veiled ode to Yoshimi P-We drummer of The Boredoms who performs on some tracks, but it’s also a bunch of really cool tracks that when mixed together weave a common thread but explore new grounds.  It’s a bit ironic how ubiquitously commercial “Do You Realize” became considering how stark and sincere the lyrics seem at first pass. Throughout the album you’re compelled to both shed a tear and get up and dance.  You’re assaulted with electronic pounding on “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 2” and then gently wrapped in the dreaminess of “In the Morning of the Magicians.”  You never drift too far away from the core of the album; it’s all a part of the narrative whether it’s bombastic loops or peaceful lullabies.

4. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Look at the titles of the songs on Illinois and you will get a glimpse into the complexity and eccentricity of the album – “To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament” “They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!”  ”Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run”  as bizarre as they are, what they label are mid western songs from a mid western boy about a mid western state. Simple enough, perhaps, but what Stevens does on Illinois is anything but simple. The album is more orchestra than rock, more bluegrass and folk than pop, but pop and rock elements are sprinkled throughout. It’s haunting at times (John Wayne Gacy, “Casimir Pulaski Day”) and dare I say emotional often with a sense of mystery tucked in for good measure.  Banjos and horns, and strings and drums, choirs and bells, this album has a little bit of everything. Stevens carefully crafted the album so that big songs are huge and little songs are charming and effectively attention grabbing. Each song sounds like a lot of thought and studio takes went into constructing and completing the final pieces.

5. My Morning Jacket – Z
Z is My Morning Jacket branching out from behind their hair banging and swirling duel guitars with the inclusion of keyboards and studio generated sounds that shifted them from being just another Southern rock influenced band into perhaps one of the most important bands of the decade. Z captures the band using the studio to tweak its sound just enough to catch you off guard but still suck you in.  Jim James continues to rely on reverb thicker than and delivers simply haunting vocals on “Dondonte” and “It Beats for U.”  The hooks on the album are plentiful and pleasant, if they get stuck on repeat in your head you don’t really mind. Though the blistering guitar riffs are toned down a bit you still get a heavy dose of embellishing runs and assaults of notes. There’s a maturity to their sound on Z without sounding all grown-up and certainly not over the hill. Indeed this album sounds like a band proudly standing at the top of the hill on the top of their game showing that they aren’t one trick ponies and demanding everyone’s attention.

6.  Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
A lot of people will have Arcade Fire’s debut album Funeral on their Best of the Decade lists, but for me I’ll take Neon Bible every time. Neon Bible sounds like a more confident band, a more confident Win Butler and all around more emphatic and sophisticated songs. The songs have an engine to them; they drive themselves powered by the spastic and dramatic delivery of Butler and the shadowy backing vocals from the female members of the ensemble group. They established themselves as capable of concept albums with their debut Funeral, and continue flaunting that skill with Neon Bible.  The theme of Butler as the manic preacher (like on “Neon Bible” “Intervention” AntiChrist Television Blues), creates a narrative that carries you from song to song.  There’s so much energy packed into the 47:03 that makes up the album, songs like “No Cars Go” push a rhythm with a driving force that starts subtly and later knocks you over the head until you’re up dancing and pleading for more. The album is aptly named, much like a neon bible they’re able to take mostly acoustic instruments and give them an electrified force.

7.  MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Oracular Spectacular, the debut and to date only full length album from the Brooklyn based art-dance pop-rocker duo, is best known for its catchy and dance driven singles “Kids” and “Electric Feel.” And rightly so, each track is innovative and powered by contagious hooks paired with neo-disco tempos that jump out from the moment you first hear them and linger with you long after the first spin ends. They compel repeated listens and put a hop in your step.  While I definitely love the poppy electronica that in many ways defines the album, the more folky, acoustic guitar driven songs like “The Handshake,” “Weekend War”s and “Pieces of What” are what truly make it special. They blend incredibly well with the dance songs, and spotlight a highly dynamic sound and approach to song production. It feels wrong to call it “retro” because nothing about MGMT is stale – despite the overt mid-70’s disco and British pop-rock inspirations. Instead the influences blend with beat machines, synthesizers and falsetto harmonies to create an eclectic collection of tracks.  They manage to capture the whimsy of the Flaming Lips, the intricacies of Animal Collective, the popular accessibility of David Bowie with a sincerity and a sense of humor all their own. “It was the future reflected/It felt familiar but new/A street was missing a building/The kids had something to do” – “Future Reflections.”

8. Kanye West – Late Registration
Don’t let the dickish moves of the past year (and beyond) cloud your judgment on Mr. West or his sophomore album that features the producer’s finest work and some of the most brilliant use of sampling to date. Kanye’s lyrics are a smart mix of intelligent social commentary without sounding like a rapping professor or pastor. He plays the role of conscientious observer, like on the sentimental “Roses” and the biting “Addiction” but he’s also extremely clever like on “Diamond’s From Sierra Leone” and “Crack Music.”  But then there are the beats, simply put West drops some of the most killer backing tracks you’ll hear.  His use of retro soul and blues artists like Ray Charles, Etta James, Otis Redding and Shirley Bassey as sources for samples coupled with the highly personal nature of the rhymes gives the album authority and sincerity. Vintage soul is artfully coupled with signature Kayne sit-up-and-take-notice beats. This is West at his finest, skillfully taking bits and pieces of classic R&B from timeless artists and manipulating them into a collection of that demands to be heard and deserves to be listened to.

9. The Polyphonic Spree – The Beginning Stages of…
The beautiful and simple lyrics paired with the crazy orchestration and collection of instruments and voices that is The Beginning Stages of… is what makes this album so special. When you hear how I’m about to describe this album you’ll probably think it’s the corniest, sappiest, happy/emo album ever – the album celebrates things like the sun, love, life, warmth, light and happiness. But, let me add the cool part – there’s a 10 piece choir fronting a standard rock band augmented with nearly every type of horns and strings, a harp, a theremin – name an instrument it’s likely there making up the more than 25 members (clad in matching choir gowns) rocking out some killer anthems, gorgeous melodies and angelic harmonies.  Former Tripping Daisies member Tim Delaughter sings lead and is the leading force behind this psychedelic ensemble. Songs are labeled as sections 1-10 and certainly there is a flow to them that really draws them together almost like a medley. In many ways the album is just pure rock n roll like on Section 8 Soldier Girl, but the group has great range showcasing ballads like Section 5 Middle of the Day and drifting into the avant-garde on Section 10 A Long Day 30+ minutes of odd hypnotic humming which closes the album.

10. Stephen Malkmus – Face the Truth
In the wake of Pavement breaking up Stephen Malkmus produced this stellar collection of authentic and catchy songs that clearly defined him as wonderfully creative solo artist. The vocabulary of Stephen Malkmus truly is one of the stars of this album. I’m not a big lyrics guy, but the way the sophisticated wordplay blends with the instruments on Face the Truth to really become an integral component of the melody is brilliant. Sure, I had to consult the thesaurus a few times, but it never comes across as pretentious.  There are elements of punk “I’ve Hardly Been” elements of pop “Freeze the Saints” some straight rockers “Pencil Rot” but clearly all of them are stamped with Malkmus’ fingerprints – daft guitar riffs and idiosyncratic words blanket the disc.  And by no means is this album Pavement-light.  Malkmus shows himself to be an utterly creative and capable solo artist even if there is a familiar tone to his past work.  Great hooks and complicated melodies shape the album’s character, and Malkmus  isn’t afraid to drift off into jam-land like on the eight-minute guitar solo driven “No More Shoes”  that features just a sick bass line with killer guitar layers weaving over each other. This is simply a great rock and roll album in the purest sense – it’s guitars and grooves, heady lyrics and pounding drums, something we all could use more of.