2001

National Skyline
This=Everything
(Epic)

A lot of great albums came out in 2001, such as The Appleseed Cast’s atmospheric double album, Low Level Owl, a stunning return to form from The Brian Jonestown Massacre (Bravery, Repetition and Noise), outstanding albums from Frank Black & the Catholics, Juno, Moonbabies, my favorite New Order record, Get Ready, The Faint’s best, Danse Macabre and probably Mercury Rev’s best (All is Dream). Also, the absolutely stunning and haunting This=Everything by National Skyline, and great stuff from Pinback, S, The Shins, Spoon, Sparklehorse, The Strokes, Vincent Gallo and Weezer (despite its unfairly received hatred).

Those albums are mostly on the same page for me, but The Faint, BJM and National Skyline rise above the pack. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bravery, Repetition and Noise, but as great as it is, it just isn’t quite as good as This=Everything, which is just so raw and haunting and beautiful and rainy and FUCKING PERFECT. Holy OMFG I love this album so much, so it gets the slight edge.

EDIT// I just realized that The Microphones’ absolute masterpeice, The Glow Pt 2., was released in ‘01 (I always thought it was 2002). While I think I am still going to barely pick This=Everything, this decision just got 10100000000x harder.