6. Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy
(Doghouse Records, 2004)
Even though he overreaches with the meta sometimes, Max Bemis is still one of my favorite rock lyricists of the last few years. But where most ‘good lyrics’ bands these days are really just Hold Steady-style verbose talk-singing over perfunctory riffs, ...Is A Real Boy is an epic, full-throated rock record full of huge choruses like “Alive With The Glory Of Love,” dazzling guitar work like “Chia-Like, I Shall Grow,” and weird moody grooves like “Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat.” It was really a huge loss for mainstream rock that Say Anything wasn’t the next big platinum emo band after My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. I’m not really counting the ...Was A Real Boy bonus disc with the 2006 re-release, since there’s only a couple songs I like on that, and even then nowhere near as much as my favorites on the album proper.

7. Apollo Sunshine - Apollo Sunshine
(SpinArt Records, 2005)
The Boston trio Apollo Sunshine’s first and third albums, 2003’s Katonah and last year’s Shall Noise Upon, were both lush, layered studio creations, the former with a playfully psychedelic Elephant 6 aesthetic, and the latter with sleepy, mannered Dave Fridmann production. But in between those records, they expanded to a quartet for a two-guitar lineup, and made a relatively straightforward album that just sounds like guys jamming in a room together, with big whooping hooks and face-melting guitar solos, and it was far above and beyond anything they made before or after that sounded so much more cautious and labored.



8. Ludacris - Back For The First Time
(Def Jam Records, 2000)
‘00s Southern rap has grown by huge leaps and bounds over the years, taking on so many sounds and personalities. But in a way, I’m not sure it ever got better, at least in album form, than the big rude kinetic lightening bolt that was Luda’s first album and initial run of singles. Bangladesh’s work on this album is so ridiculous that it depresses me to think that he’s better known for “A Milli” and a bunch of similar beats now.

9. Enon - Believo!
(SeeThru Broadcasting, 2000)
Even though they bore the clear fingerprints of the two bands it was born out of, Brianiac and Skeleton Key, their debut album immediately marked Enon as kind of its own distinct entity with John Schmersal’s songwriting adding something new and interesting to the aesthetic informed by the band’s predecessors. For a while every song on this album sounded to me like it was by a completely different band, swinging wildly in the first few songs from the lurching funk of “Rubber Car” to the dusty noir of “Cruel” to the hummable synth pop of “Conjugate The Verbs.” And while subsequent Enon albums have settled them into a more predictable groove that has retroactively made Believo! seem more cohesive, this record still just knocks me out with its energy and variety.

10. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II
(Cash Money/Universal Records, 2005)
Wayne in the past four years is a lot like Robin Williams for at least the past couple decades: once he figured out that he could be both wildly entertaining (endless giddy punchlines vs. manic mugging and impressions) and gain respect in more traditional circles (New York gatekeeper approval vs. weepy Oscar flicks), he started flipping between the two extremes with increasing frequency and decreasing consistency, until it was all just a blur of constant contradictory career moves. But this was the point where he got the balance perfect, when he’d mastered his croak but hadn’t yet fallen in love with the sound of his voice, when he was still finding new ways to say he’s the shit without talking about poop in every verse.

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