20150515

Best of 2001




Until researching this post, I didn't even know this performance occurred or that video existed. I love it!

The early part of the 2000's was fun for me, because a bunch of bands that I loved--originally that no one had ever heard of--began getting heard. Two bands specifically that I had been loving in the 90's got HUGE in 2001: Jimmy Eat World and P.O.D.

For a couple years in the late 90's/early 00's I made mix CD's for my friends called Buy This Music. What I was doing was technically illegal, I guess, because I was burning a bunch of CD's and giving them away. But, my intentions were good, as I was promoting indie bands by making compilations that included one song each from 20-25 bands I loved (plus, I called the CD's "Buy This Music"!). I did this for 2 or 3 years, and gave the CD's to a couple dozen friends.

On the late 2000/early 2001 "Buy This Music" CD I included a short demo song from Jimmy Eat World. The Bleed American demos were circulating on the internet (Napster?), and I had a full album worth. I picked this song for the CD because of its length (the shorter the song, the more songs I could put on the CD!). Who knew it would go on to be one of the most popular songs in the world in 2002, and then performed by Taylor Swift a decade later?! I speak of "The Middle", of course.

Friends gave me a ton of credit for predicting the rise of these bands, but that was silly, because I listened to hundreds of indie bands, and it was inevitable that some would break into the mainstream. (And if someone had asked me to predict who would make it, I am sure I would have always guessed wrong.)

My number one album of 2001 was far from popular then, and far from popular now; not a single song among 26 tracks could or should ever be played on the radio. But it is a landmark album for me, and I previously ranked it as my #4 album of the decade. Back in 2001 I only ranked it #7 from that year, but it was obviously a grower and I didn't know how influential it would be both on my personal tastes and the independent music scene as a whole.

Top 20 albums of 2001:

1. Appleseed Cast- Low Level Owl Volumes 1 + 2
L to R: LLOv1 CD cover, LLOv2 CD cover, LLOv1+2 double vinyl cover

OK, first of all, this album is on Bandcamp for NAME YOUR OWN PRICE. If you don't own it, get it! Now!

When this album was first released (volumes 1 and 2 were originally released a few months apart), I am not sure I even knew the term "post-rock", much less listened to any bands in that genre. My brother had made me aware of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the late 90's, but I didn't yet listen to them. I am now a huge Mogwai fan, and also love Explosions in the Sky. But for me, Low Level Owl is post-rock at its best.

Appleseed Cast blew me away with their album from the previous year, Mare Vitalis, which is celebrating its 15th Anniversary right now with an exclusive vinyl release. But everything about LLO is a huge step up, from the creativity, to the vocals, to the production. The rawness was lost, but I didn't mind. Appleseed Cast should be given a ton of credit for their experimentation, and how radically they have often shifted from album to album.

2. Tess Wiley- Rainy Day Assembly
By the time Tess Wiley's debut album dropped in 2001, I had already been a fan of her for six years. That is obviously atypical, as most of the time myself or anyone discovers musicians through their debut album. But Tess released half a dozen EPs and demos from 1995 on that contain original versions of nine of the ten songs found on this full length. The only song that was a surprise--that had not been released previously in any form--is "Nice and Warm."

This is by far Tess' slickest album, and benefitted from a huge budget, diverse instrumentation, and outstanding production. If I fault it in any way, it is too "big" and often the great songs get lost amongst the layers. But I love it, and was thrilled at the time that Tess' music was finally able to be heard by the masses.

3. Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American
As mentioned previously, I had demos of all of these songs months and months before the album actually released. That was a first, and has rarely happened since. Number one, obviously demos don't usually circulate like those did, and two, now I'd just rather wait and hear the finished product. What makes this different than the Tess album prior to this one on the list, is that her demos were released officially over years, and these Jimmy Eat World demos were leaked through file-sharing, which was still fairly new at the time. (The demo of "A Praise Chorus" is the one I remember the most clearly, as it had a completely different bridge that did not have the part sung by Davey von Bohlen.)

I bought the album on its release date, July 18, at a Best Buy. Exactly a week later on July 25 I saw Jimmy Eat World play a live studio X-session for 99X in Atlanta. I somehow won tickets (email list?) and my friend Micah and I got to see them play "The Middle", "Lucky Denver Mint", "Bleed American", "No Sensitivity", and "Sweetness".

4. Death Cab for Cutie- The Photo Album
I have written this story before, but time to write it again, because it is hilarious and shows what a shallow and terrible guy I was at times: In 2001 (maybe February) myself and a roommate of a girl I was dating drove from Birmingham to Atlanta to see Death Cab for Cutie. They were still touring We Have the Facts..., but were playing a ton of songs from the upcoming Photo Album. Here is a setlist from a show in Orlando that may have been the same week as the Atlanta one.

On the way back from the show, driving very late at night on I-20, I put Clarity in the CD player. I thought the pretty girl in my passenger seat was asleep, but when the first line of “Table for Glasses” began, she started singing along with her eyes closed. When "Lucky Denver Mint" began, she opened her eyes, sat up, and we both sang loudly to the rest of the album. Needless to say over the next hour I developed a huge crush on this girl and forgot about her roommate who I was dating.

5. Pinback- Blue Screen Life
Right before I moved to Zambia in 2002, I bought a portable CD player that played MP3 cds. While I knew all about MP3s that I downloaded from the internet, the concept of "ripping" CDs that I owned to make MP3s was new to me. But I knew I couldn't take all my CDs to Zambia with me, so I ripped them all to MP3 and made new CDs (the iPod was still a couple years away). Instead of 10-20 songs on a CD, with MP3s, I could get 100-200. (And yes, most of the time I was ripping at very low bit rates because I didn't know any better.)

I bring all this up, because while I was in Zambia, I had people mail me MP3s CDs. And someone, maybe my brother, sent me an MP3 CD that had this album on it. I fell in love with Pinback, and bought this album on vinyl when I returned to the States in 2004.

Another crazy memory about MP3 CDs is that they had them on sale in Pakistan when I visited there in 1999! I remember seeing a bootleg CD for sale that had ALL of R.E.M.'s albums on it. I didn't understand, didn't think that was possible to have that many songs on a CD, and thought it was a gimmick. Another crazy piracy memory from Pakistan in 1999 is that we rented The Matrix on VHS (maybe DVD?) while it was still in the theaters in the US. There were Russian subtitles and you could see silhouettes of people's heads at the bottom of the screen, but who cares, right?


6. The Spirit That Guides Us- The Sand, the Barrier
I am almost positive I heard the song "Real Life Motion Picture" back in 2001 or 2002, but I have no idea how or where. It was in 2003 when I went to the Netherlands that I really discovered this great Dutch, melodic, sometimes-hardcore band and bought this CD. They didn't play at Flevo Fest in 2003, but I bought TSTGU shirt there, that became my favorite shirt for years.

I wrote at length about The Spirit That Guides Us back in 2011 when a member of the band sent me their entire discography. This isn't their best album, but it is probably their most accessible.

7. Rosie Thomas- When We Were Small
"Wedding Day" could be my favorite song of the year. I am not sure when I first heard it, or first heard Rosie. I do know that I heard a few songs by her before I saw her in concert, because when I did see her perform, I think at either Cornerstone 2001 or 2002, I was shocked.

If you don't know, Rosie's singing voice and speaking voice are VERY different. Not only that, Rosie does a stand-up comedy routine mid-set as an alter ego, which is hilarious and very, very weird. When Rosie sings, it is a radical shift and as if an angel has entered her body.

Many of Rosie's albums suffer from over-production that distracts from her amazing, angelic voice. But this album, along with 2007's These Friends of Mine, have perfect, minimalistic production that keeps it simple and the focus on the vocals.

8. Starflyer 59- Leave Here a Stranger
By this point in Starflyer's career, Jason Martin was almost four years post-feedback. However, I still had hope he would revert back to his initial sound. For years and years I hoped that when I popped that SF59 CD in I would hear a wall of heavy guitars. When that experiment failed with Leave Here a Stranger, surprisingly, for the first time, I was OK with it.

Looking back, I love both The Fashion Focus and Everybody Makes Mistakes just as they are. But when they were released myself and most of the fan base were pissed because they weren't heavy shoegaze as the first three SF59 albums had been (most were also pissed that the album covers weren't solid fields of color). With Leave Here a Stranger, Martin had established a new sound with lush, orchestrated instrumentation. As the photo from the album cover implies, this album sounds like a soundtrack for a film.

9. Further Seems Forever- The Moon is Down
My interest and liking of this album has waxed and waned over the years. I initially loved it, then I lost all desire to listen to it; and back and forth that went for a decade. I finally decided for good that I do really like it a few years ago.

Why the changing opinion? Chris Carrabba. I have always found his departure from the band during the recording of this album to be selfish and ridiculous. Obviously I don't know him personally, and it was great to see him reunite with the band a few years ago and I am glad all the guys are on good terms now (despite the fact that their reunion album, Penny Black, is average at best).

But he apparently tried to leave the band before recording the vocals because of his pursuit of his solo project, Dashboard Confessional. And man, I HATE Dashboard Confessional. I understand how he got popular with the project, but whiney songs about his failed relationships with girls? Terrible. And let me make it clear I have no problem with anyone quitting a band for personal reasons, but during a recording session?

You can get a lot of insight on this album and how the problems with it changed the way record label contracts were written from Billy Power's Urban Achiever podcast. In an early episode Power talked about when he worked for Tooth & Nail and about The Moon is Down specifically, and one of the most recent episodes is with Chad Neptune of Strongarm and FSF. I haven't even listened to that yet, but I would assume this album is discussed.

10. P.O.D.- Satellite
Most of my memories around the release of this album are related to MTV and Carson Daly's love for it and the band. I found that fascinating at the time, and still do. For Christians to not only be accepted by MTV, but promoted, was radical. And they deserved it. This album was very slick, and far more melodic than anything the band had done up until this point. And in 2001 P.O.D. had been a band for almost a decade and I am willing to bet some of their original fans were put off by them getting "softer".

As I usually do, when writing this, I Googled the band. And I had no idea P.O.D. released an acoustic album in 2014, called SoCal Sessions. Time to go to listen to it...


11. Over the Rhine- Films for Radio
I am sad to say I have lost interest in Over the Rhine in the last decade. For the longest time they were one of my favorite bands, and when you combine my tastes with my wife's, they were our mutual top artist. I saw them live probably close to 10 times from 1997-2002, and then my wife and I saw them together three times in 2004 and 2005. We also worked their merch table at two Atlanta shows in that time frame, at the Variety Playhouse and Smith's Olde Bar thanks to a connection with Jake Bradley, who played bass with the at the time.

But then in 2007 they released The Trumpet Child. My wife and I did not connect to it, and I personally hated the more jazzy sound. (The Trumpet Child is by far my least favorite OTR album). Looking back, there is a certain era of Over the Rhine I really have an affinity for, 1997-2005. The albums prior to 1997 I mainly just wasn't aware of, and the albums since I struggle to appreciate. (The only exception would be 2011's The Long Surrender, which almost recaptured the magic.) Karin's voice continues to become more slurred over the years, and honestly a lot of time it sounds like she is singing drunk. And Linford is singing more and more, which is really the last thing I want to hear. His "singing" was funny on "Jack's Valentine" 15 years ago, but it is just plain bad on the new OTR stuff.

Films For Radio is right in the middle of that 8-year obsession. It is hard to believe it was released 5 years after Good Dog Bad Dog, my #1 OTR album, released in 1996 (Which I heard performed live, practically in full, twice at Cornerstone 1997). And what a radical shift in 5 years from a simple, acoustic album to a heavily produced almost-rock album. Films for Radio I would rank #3, behind the incredible double album Ohio at #2.

12. Rilo Kiley- Take Offs and Landings
I heard this album for the first time less than one year ago. Sad, I know, but it, along with 2002's Execution of All Things have had quite an impact on me. This one isn't as good as that next one, but it is still terrific.

Despite Rilo Kiley having much in common with a ton of the bands I listened to in 2001 and 2002, I didn't hear them for the first time until post-Zambia (mid-2004). When my wife and I were first married, we drove around in a loaned Madza Miata that only had a radio (no CD player and no tape deck). We lived in Nashville at the time, and rarely changed the channel from Lightning 100 (the wussy version of its defunct sister station Thunder 94).

One of the highlights of those months of Lightning 100 were the Rilo Kiley songs that were played from 2004's More Adventurous. I ended up getting that album on eMusic, and while enjoying it, it wasn't enough for me to explore the back catalog. Then my wife and I loved Jenny Lewis' first solo album Rabbit Fur Coat in 2005 (also thanks to eMusic), but for the most part I then forgot about Lewis and Rilo Kiley for almost a decade. Upon the release of The Voyager last year I finally went back and got the first two Rilo Kiley albums.


13. Thursday- Full Collapse
My memories surrounding this album are two terrific Thursday concerts, and listening to the CD in my car driving back and forth from my apartment to a laundromat in Birmingham. It's weird how the mind works, but I can remember vividly singing along to "Paris in Flames" as I drove my wet clothes (I owned a washer, not a dryer) to the laundromat on Green Springs Highway.

As far as the shows go, I saw Thursday play in a small, coffee-shop like place in Montevallo, Alabama around the release of this album. It was so small I really can't imagine more than 30 people were there, and I was within arms length of everyone in the band.

I saw them again a few months later at The Nick, a much larger club, but still very small. I have amazing photographs from both these shows, but on film, and the prints are in a box in storage. Would love to scan them, but that will have to wait a few years.

14. Common Children- The Inbetween Time
I never imagined at the time that this would be Marc Byrd's last album with vocals, well at least his vocals. Byrd of course has gone on to be one half of the critically acclaimed instrumental post-rock band Hammock. When Hammock began, I really missed Common Children, as Hammock was very experimental and atmospheric with very little song structure. However, as time has gone on, Hammock has become more rock in the vein of Mogwai, and their 2012 double album Departure Songs is fantastic and finally surpassed anything Common Children ever did.


15. Built to Spill- Ancient Melodies of the Future
I have very little memories regarding this album, but I think it may have been the first Built to Spill album I listened to in its entirety. I heard single songs in the late 90's, but it wasn't until the early 00's that I finally "got" Built to Spill. My favorite album from the band is easily Keep it Like a Secret, and then all the rest just blend together for me. I like them all, but have trouble ordering them in any way (which is rare for me). With a quick search many rank this as one of the "worst" Built to Spill albums, which says a lot about how good this band is.


16. Tool- Lateralus
On May, 15, 2001 I went to a CD store on midnight for the release of the new R.E.M. album Reveal. (Sadly, I can't remember the name of the store, and it closed down years and years ago.) That same night, two other significant albums were released: Lateralus by Tool and Weezer's Green album. I only bought Reveal at the time, but it wouldn't be long before I got Lateralus (never liked the Weezer).

It took me a long time to get in to Tool; not because they weren't good, but because they were so freaking offensive. In 1993 a friend on my swim team had the "wrench" shirt, and had me listen to their music. I loved their sound, but couldn't tolerate their lyrics and at age 16 I felt dirty even looking at his shirt. 1996's Ænema was equally if not more offensive than 1993's Undertow, so up until 2001 I rarely listened to the band.

Lateralus is Tool's "clean" album. I hate to even classify any music as clean or offensive, but the lyrics on Tool's first two albums are sickening, disgusting, and make the music mostly unlistenable to me. But not only are the lyrics on Lateralus not offensive, I find them inspiring and full of faith, especially on my favorite song on the album "Parabola."


17. R.E.M.- Reveal
In the massive R.E.M. discography, the only album that gets less listens from me than this one is the awful, terrible Around the Sun (which is actually the only R.E.M. album I don't like). Reveal is infinitely better, I just don't find myself ever listening to it. Stereogum ranks all 16 R.E.M. LPs, and puts Around the Sun at #16, Reveal at #15, and Up at #14. However, Up is my favorite, #1 R.E.M. album. I did think Reveal was pretty good at the time, and still do, but it is not as memorable as most R.E.M.


18. Frodus- And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea
I have only had this album for about six months, because that is when I discovered Frodus was giving it away for free on their Bandcamp page. I feel like an idiot for waiting so long, as it is terrific. I was aware of Frodus in the 90's, as I was with any and every band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. But for some stupid reason I never bought any of their music (Roadside Monument was the same; man I really missed out!).

Frodus' entire discography is either for free or cheap, depending on the album, on their Bandcamp site, and if you don't download it now, you can only blame yourself. Frodus is exceptional. Thrice covered "The Earth Isn't Humming" from this album in 2008, and that wasn't even enough for me to pursue it (strangely). Thankfully now I have seen the light.


19. Penfold- Our First Taste of Escape
I don't know much of anything about Penfold. I have no other music from them, never saw them in concert, never discussed them on a message board, and never even had a face-to-face conversation about them (someone want to have coffee and tell me all about them?).

But man, this album is great. I have the CD, but no clue where I got it. I do think I got it in 2001 though, or maybe 2002. I just did a Google search and discovered someone did a terrific vinyl reissue on the album's 10th anniversary, and it is still for sale. I also just watched my first-ever Penfold concert video footage, from a 2012 reunion show in Japan.

EDIT: OK, so watched a few YouTube videos and got intrigued. So turns out this is Penfold's second album, and I had a song from their first album in my iTunes database all this time ("M", it was mislabeled). 1998's Amateurs and Professionals was also reissued on vinyl in 2011, and is streaming on Bandcamp (currently listening).

20. Aaron Sprinkle- Bareface

Top 5 EPs of 2001:

1. Kerith Ravine- Lined Up in Pairs We Wait for What Comes Next
This three-song EP was Kerith Ravine's swansong, with the exception of the ridiculously amazing single track the band released in 2007. Despite only three songs, the EP is almost 20 minutes long (so almost as long as Weezer's Green album!). The three songs are so, so good, but unfortunately Michael Shepard and Adam Ladd would then end this band and start a new one--Lovedrug. I have written at length over and over on this blog and message boards on how superior I feel Kerith Ravine is to Lovedrug (despite loving Lovedrug's first two albums).

This EP concludes with "Trails to the Underworld", Kerith Ravine's longest song (of the 22 they released), and one of the best--the last 45 seconds of the 9 minutes are unreal. You can stream all of 22 of Kerith Ravine's out-of-print songs on their Bandcamp page, but most of it is not available to download.

2. Beloved- The Running
I was fortunate enough to see Beloved at Cornerstone Festival (in either 2001 or 2002, can't remember), and they were spectacular. I picked up this EP there. There are at least two, possibly more, versions of this EP. The image here is from the 2004 Solid State reissue, but the CD copy I actually have is what Vindicated Records put out in 2001. Here is a great YouTube video of the band playing at Cornerstone (while not the show I was at).

3. Cush- Brown
Another EP picked up at Cornerstone, this one definitely at the 2001 fest. A pretty radical departure from Cush's debut album, because of the loss of the vocalist. Mike Knott sang lead on all the songs on the 2000 LP, but when he left the band, they then recorded an entire EP about him (this). Lots of different vocalists appear here, and the style is radically different then the debut. This is very raw with short punk-ish songs.
4. The Anniversary & Superdrag- Split
On October 24, 2001 these two bands played at 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia. According to some websites, Mates of State also opened. If so, that is really sad, because I didn't see them (probably got there late), and didn't discover Mates of State until 2002. What is also crazy about this show is that I didn't like Superdrag. Not that I am a Superdrag fan now, but they are really good (I prefer John Davis' new band The Lees of Memory). I am surprised I have no memories of their performance. The Anniversary was awesome, and once again I have some great photos from this show that are in storage. I bought this EP at that show.

5. The Juliana Theory- Music From Another Room
I was a huge Juliana Theory fan when this EP released, as I had been completely obsessed with their first two albums. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end for this band in my eyes; this EP bridges the gap between the Juliana Theory that I loved and the Juliana Theory that I despised.

Other 2001 releases I own and enjoy in alphabetical order:

Aaron Sprinkle- Really Something EP
Absinthe Blind- The Everyday Separation
All Things Bright And Beautiful- Untitled
Amon Krist- Humble B. EP
The Autumns- Le Carillon EP
Cool Hand Luke- I Fought Against Myself... 
Crash Rickshaw- Crash Rickshaw 
Curve- Gift
Embodyment- Hold Your Breath
Explosions in the Sky- Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live...
The Frames- For The Birds
Hem- Rabbit Songs
Hundred Hands- Little Eyes EP
The Innocence Mission- Small Planes
Jennifer Knapp- The Way I Am
Jump, Little Children- Vertigo
Low- Things We Lost In The Fire
Sky's the Limit (Demos that would become the band Mae)
The Melody Unit- Choose Your Own Adventure
Mogwai- Rock Action
Neko Case- Canadian Amp
Radiohead- Amnesiac
Rainer Maria- A Better Version of Me
Sandra McCracken- Gypsy Flat Road
Sixpence None the Richer- Original Divine Discontent (Unofficial; final album with different tracklist released 2002)
Spoon- Girls Can Tell
Stairwell- The Sounds Of Change
Stretch Arm Strong- A Revolution Transmission
Thrice- Identity Crisis (Amazing that an album from Thrice couldn't make a top 20 list of mine, but they were still developing their sound and skill at this point.)
Travis- The Invisible Band
Unwed Sailor- The Faithful Anchor
Vigilantes of Love- Summershine
Wes Dando- The Tired Hours
The 77's- A Golden Field Of Radioactive Crows

2001 albums I don't own but wish I did:

Björk- Vespertine
Fugazi- The Argument
Gillian Welch- Time (The Revelator)
New Order- Get Ready