Tag: 2000

2000, Music

Dopethrone (2000) by Electric Lizard

This is, from some accounts, the quintessential British doom metal record. I have no idea whether or not that’s true because I honestly didn’t know there were separate regional doom metal scenes before I read this album’s reviews. But, listening to it, I think I understand why.

2000, Music

Suburban Light (2000) by The Clientele

I often wonder about the historical perspectives (or lack therefore) of ’90s and ’00s music critics, particularly the young people. Because I often encounter highly acclaimed albums from these decades which sound to me as extremely derivative of other times and places. Sometimes it sounds like nostalgia, sometimes almost outright plagiarism but, regardless, I’m always …

2000, Music

The W (2000) by Wu-Tang Clang

One of the things I find strange about musical collectives – especially collectives with multiple vocalists – is what the vocalists get out of it. This is somehow my first ever Wu Tang record – I have heard multiple solo records by members, though – and I had no idea how many rappers are in …

2002, Music

Mass Romantic (2000) by The New Pornographers

Will never understand the big deal with power pop. I’ve listened to many power pop albums over the years and I just don’t get why people like it so much. I can only conclude that the people who love power pop – and get way too excited by records like this – like different things …

2000, Music

Sound Loaded (2000) by Ricky Martin

This is a very slick, well-made Latin pop record which I just absolutely wanted to hate with a passion but I can’t. Now, don’t get me wrong: I don’t like it. But, having now listened to a fair amount of mainstream pop records from the ’90s, I admire the effort that was put into making …

2000, Music

Close to a World Below (2000) by Immolation

Like others, I am surprised that this record is considered such a classic. There is a tendency in internet criticism to get pretty excited by a band’s best record – or even just a band’s best record in years – and decide it is therefore a “classic”. I know nothing of Immolation but I do …

1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, TV

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)

When I was younger and had recently fallen in love with serialized TV dramas, I had this idea that I was going to write a book about the antecedents of the Golden Age of Television. (At first this was going to be about the Golden Age of Television, but that book already exists.) This book …

2000, Music

Stankonia (2000) by Outkast

In first year university I lived a few doors down from a girl who played “So Fresh and So Clean” and “Ms. Jackson” on repeat for what felt like weeks. (There were probably other songs in between but I don’t remember them. I certainly don’t remember a single other track from this album.) That, combined …

2000, Music

Hybrid Theory (2000) by Linkin Park

My roommate was so excited when Meteora came out and I was just like “What are you talking about? You like Linkin Park? What are you, 12?” Or something like that. And I moved on and probably didn’t think about them much again until their singer died. Maybe it’s because I just endured a Limp …

2000, Music

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000) by PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey is one of the great songwriters of her generation, and this album is another fine example of her abilities. but the record marks a bit of a change in aesthetic for her (as far as I know) that I don’t exactly love.

2000, Music

Whoa, Nelly! (2000) by Nelly Furtado

I’ve paid basically no attention to Nelly Furtado. I was aware of her hits – and remember the hits from this record – but was otherwise utterly uninterested. Some of that has to do with my music tastes – specially my tastes when I was 19 – and some of that appears to have to …

2000, Music

Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000) by Limp Bizkit

Limp Bizkit are so monumentally dumb that, while I’m listening to a Limp Bizkit record, I have trouble imagining there are dumber bands. Now, I know there are plenty of dumb bands, but the scale of the Bizkit’s dumbness is so immense that, during the album, you just sort of forget that there could be …

2000, Music

Let’s Get Ready (2000) by Mystikal

When I first started purposely listening to hip hop about 5 years ago, the idea that a rapper had charisma was something I couldn’t really stomach. As a music fan I am primarily a fan of chops and, for me, vocal chops had to do with singing, not rhyming. I didn’t understand flow and I …

2000, Music

Music (2000) by Madonna

For one of the few times in my life, I can actually say I’ve heard the previous Madonna record before listening to this one, so it gives me context that I normally wouldn’t have. (Normally my context would be “I remember the hit singles.” And I do! But I’ve actually listened to Ray of Light.)

2000, Music

Felt Mountain (2000) by Goldfrapp

The British really did like a certain sound circa the turn of the millennium. It was one I was entirely oblivious to, living in rural Quebec, even though I had what was then an incredible internet connection. I suspect some of my radio station friends were into stuff like this, but I was honestly unaware.

2000, Music

The Teaches of Peaches (2000)

Remember electroclash? It felt like such a big deal for a couple of years there, but I must say I tried to pay as little attention as possible. I was super into prog rock, and post rock, and I was getting into jazz and “classical”, and I had no taste for minimalist things. And, also, …

2000, Music

Hearbreaker (2000) by Ryan Adams

Faithless Street (specifically the expanded edition from 3 years later) is one of my favourite albums of the 1990s and easily my favourite alt country album of all time. I went through a phase where I was chasing that dragon a bit, listening to the other Whiskeytown records and some Adams solo stuff, and never …

2000, Music

Sing When You’re Winning (2000) by Robbie Williams

It is one of the strangest musical careers of our time, that Robbie Williams was perhaps the biggest star in the UK, for like nearly a decade, and was just a guy with some minor hits in North America. It’s something that has happened over and over and over again – with British stars failing …

2000, Music

The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (2000) by Wyclef Jean

Why are Wyclef’s albums so fucking long? I don’t know the answer but it feels like it’s not just a case of the ’90s album bloat. Here is a man with a lot of pretty decent material (arguably more than on his debut) who doesn’t seem to know how to present it to the world. …

2000, Music

Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1

I don’t know if I can tell you who Jill Scott is, but I can tell you what she is: she’s ambitious. Scott wants us to both accept her as a very talented singer and a poet. That’s something very few people can pull off.

2000, Music

Parachutes (2000) by Coldplay

Imagine early Radiohead with none of the energy or edge (i.e. none of the alternative/grunge influences) and none of the aritness or idiosyncrasy, and imagine them playing mostly ballads (and the up-tempo songs are so soft they sound like ballads) and I guess you get some idea of what Coldplay sound like on their first …

2000, Music

Ooops!…I Did It Again (2000) by Britney Spears

A lot of people think pop music is supposed to be ephemeral, disposable. I guess that’s one reason I don’t like so much of it. One of my criteria for deciding whether or not something is “great” is transcendence. And, if pop music is supposed to be disposable, it should be very hard for it …