18. Blueberry Boat – The Fiery Furnaces

17. Rainy Day Music – The Jayhawks

16. You Are There – Mono

15. Embryonic – The Flaming Lips

14. Songs III Bird on the Water – Marissa Nadler

13. It’s a Wonderful Life – Sparklehorse

12. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood – Neko Case

11. Revelator – Gillian Welch

Oh my Mama
She did give me fancy feet
I’ll be dancing on
And I’ll tap tap tap my toes
Into those creaking floorboards

9. Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show

Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I’m thumbin’ my way into North Caroline
Starin’ up the road
And pray to God I see headlights

8. Chop Suey! – System of a Down

Wake up
Grab a brush and put a little, makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the, shakeup

7. Emily – Joanna Newsom

There is a rusty light on the pines tonight
Sun pouring wine, lord, or marrow
Down into the bones of the birches
And the spires of the churches
Jutting out from the shadows

6. The Flames Beyond Cold Mountain – Mono

5. Sea of Teeth – Sparklehorse

can you feel the rings of saturn on your finger?
can you taste the ghosts who shed their creaking hosts?
but seas forever boil, trees will turn to soil

4. Lower Your Eyelids To Die With the Sun – M83

3. Tornadoes – The Drive By Truckers

Pieces of that truck stop, litter up the highway, I been told
And I hear that missing trucker ended up in Kansas, or maybe it was Oz

2. He’s Dumb, He’s Simple, He’s the Pilot – Grandaddy

How’s it goin’ 2000 man?
Welcome back to solid ground my friend,
I heard all your controls were jammed,
Well it’s just nice to have you back again

1. Do You Realize – The Flaming Lips

Do You Realize that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize we’re floating in space?

Picking “Do You Realize” as the top track of the decade was incredibly easy. It has no peer in this timeframe, and is already effectively lodged in place as one of the all time classics.

She put $900 on the fifth horse in the sixth race
i think its name is “chips ahoy!”
it came in six lengths ahead, we spent the whole next week getting high

19. Xmas Curtain – My Morning Jacket

you pay to get behind her Christmas curtain.
you’re the criminal that never breaks the law

18. December’s Child – Mark Olson

newspaper roses on the side of the road
born and so soon you leave home

17. 3rd Planet – Modest Mouse

When you get to the promise land your gonna shake that eye’s hand
Your heart felt good it was drippin’ pitch and made of wood
And your hands and knees felt cold and wet on the grass to me

16. Time(The Revelator) – Gillian Welch

Darling remember from when you come to me
that Im the pretender,
Im not what Im supposed to be
but who could know, lf Im a traitor?
times the revelator, revelator

15. Playground Love – Air

I’m a high school lover, and you’re my favorite flavor
Love is all, all my soul
You’re my playground love

14. Hercules – Mercury Rev

One becomes two then before you becomes three
Words climb your tongue like a ladder to speak
Drifting as you go but you row till it seems
All is one, All is mind, all is lost and you find, all is dream

13. Black History Month – Death From Above 1979

Do you remember a time when this pool was
A great place for waterwings and cannonballs
A nice place for astrologists and blow up dolls
And on, and on…

12. Frankie’s Gun – The Felice Brothers

Work zones double fines
Don’t pass the double lines
Trailer McDonald’s rest stop trailer double wide
I saw a man hit my mom one time, really
I hurt him so damn bad I had to hide in Jersey

11. Lost Cause – Beck

There’s a place where you are going
You ain’t never been before
No one laughing at your back now
No one’s standing at your door

1. And the Hazy Sea 8/10

A disjointed and pretty indie track, celebratory in nature, almost primitive towards the end. Big time Pavement influence, with a flair of psych.

2. Some Trees 6/10

A jacked up old DX7 sounding synth choir warbles and soothes around a Smashing Pumpkins style bass line to kick off the song. Unfortunately, it veers into a peppy sort of “every sound”.

3. Indiana 5/10

I’ve never really wanted to go to Indiana except when I would visit my sister down at U of I, usually to help her move shit around with my pickup truck. She had some hot friends, but most of the drive was boring.

4. Cold Spring 6/10

Some cool production tricks give the intro a crunchy yet clean vibe, which then folds into a sort of hazy indie jog. You can hear the Pavement here in major doses. That said, it’s an interesting enough track.

5. Share 8.5/10

The old DX7 sounding synth choir comes back, this time layered with extra vocals. It sounds pretty cool, perhaps fogging around the base of the main song like vegetables around a steak. Some Crazy Horse guitar rips through the landscape, creating a slow moving anthem with building sized walls.

6. What Dogs See 7/10

A rather experimental track, which just aimlessly swirls like wine in a bumped glass. Some fantastic electric piano, but a song needs more than that. It kind of comes off as an indie Moody Blues.

7. Wind Phoenix 6/10

A thrashing guitar and some horns rumble around, and exchange moments with a rather nice melody. The big moment at 3:00 is very attractive, but it can’t hold the entire song together.

8. The Living North 5/10

Similar sounding to “Wind Phoenix”. Seems to be standard indie fare with a bit more energy behind it.

9. Like Blood Does 6/10

Super compressed lightly affected electric guitar nips along with the desperate vocals. Later the track explodes into a more upbeat atmosphere, but ultimately seems incoherent.

In the end, this is a rather “in the middle” piece of work that has some very nice moments which show flashes of potential. However, it also shows flashes of the loose “indie sound” beginning to appear about as dated now as rap rock and nu country.

Response Keywords after hearing this album:

energetic, indie-ish, melodic, middling, earnest, urban

Album Total 6.4/10

You can buy the album or download MP3’s here:

Why There Are Mountains

9. In The Future – Black Mountain

8. Stay Positive – The Hold Steady

7. Tape – Luminarium

6. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

5. All – Colour Haze

4. Brighter Than Creation’s Dark – The Drive By Truckers

3. Felice Brothers – Felice Brothers

2. Chinese Democracy – G n R

1. Saturdays = Youth – M83

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