Best Records of the 00's - Idlewild "100 Broken Windows"

In the year 2000 my now wife/then girlfriend lived with a couple of guys (what a beginning to a post). One of whom was (is?) an indie rock loving dude who shared some of the same musical interests as me and whom I also watched a lot of Saved By The Bell with. A band he was totally on the nose with that I wasn't really familiar with was Idlewild.



I give him major props for this one. Once I heard it I was immediately hooked. It was punky, but it also for some reason reminded me of R.E.M. at times. It's the scottish band's second album, and their first one (titled Hope Is Important), sounds totally raw. 100 Broken Windows is like taking that record and making it more catch and melodic. I probably listened to it 100 times in 2000 and 2001, especially the song Roseability. Idlewild unfortunately doesn't tour as much as they should so I've only seen them twice but both times they really delivered. The records after this are also worth checking out (although really only The Remote Part and Warnings/Promises). Here's what you should listen to:

Best Records of the 00's - Jimmy Eat World "Bleed American"

Jimmy Eat World came on the scene in the late 90's and made a bit of splash with their album Clarity. Clarity has a huge fanbase, and old school fans of theirs also have a special place in their heart for Static Prevails. While I really like Clarity, and kinda like Static Prevails, the band's breakthrough for me is Bleed American.



Coincidentally (or not?) that was also their breakthrough commercially. The band refined their sound a bit from slower melodies to a lot of fast paced power pop songs for this album, and you can feel it. It's definitely a record that zooms all the way through the end. Although I like some of the follow up albums Futures and Chase This Light, they are nowhere near as good as Bleed American, or what came albums that came before it.

Best Records of the 00's - Miracle of 86 "Every Famous Last Word"

Every once in a while a record will come along that is really great and nobody knows about it. It feels good to be one of a few people who really appreciate it. You feel bad for the band because they never got big because of the record, they were never playing arenas, never signed a multi record multi million deal. In fact they put the record out and then broke up like a year later. If you meet someone that knows and also loves this record, you are instantly surprised and taken aback that they know of it, but you also immediately trust their taste in music.



Oh yeah I'm talking about "Every Famous Last Word" by Miracle of 86. Every song is great. And nobody ever bought it or talked about it. You all done fucked up. Although Kevin Devine, luckily, is doing just fine and still making great music. But this record ruled. In fact I can't find any Miracle of 86 shit on YouTube - so here's Kevin doing a couple of songs solo. They sound different though obviously.

Check it out:

Best Records of the 00's - Eminem "The Marshall Mathers LP"

I think in the summer of 2000 there was a couple of records I had in rotation - but nothing ruled like that year's Eminem release. Every song seemed so crazy and angry, but at the same time clever, and I loved it.



At the time I worked for a really really small company, where I basically sat in a room with my boss and my one coworker. Me and my coworker Andy listened to this so much we knew pretty much all the words, all the background noises and sound effects and would recite them at times. Although it seems really dated now, with the references to the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Carson Daly, at the time it fit as an angry piece of music countering the smiley pop music that dominated. The next record from Eminem "The Eminem Show" was also good, but not quite as great. The two after definitely slipped with "Encore" probably under the category of albums that blow. Here's some of my favorite tracks from Marshall Mathers LP:

Best Records of the 00's - Against Me! "Searching For A Former Clarity"

I had been pretty familiar and interested in the band Against Me! before this record, as their previous albums were solid punk sing along fun. This is the one that really brought it home though. The songs sounded loud, the lyrics were great and it felt like it had been a while since a new punk band really made things sound new. To me this sounded new and it sounded relevant.



I also totally played the shit out of this when I got it, listening to it just about every day, singing along and driving my coworkers who sat in cubes near me crazy. A couple of them even started to know the choruses to songs like "Miami" and "Holy Shit".

The band is also one of the best live bands around. I can't praise them enough. The record after this "New Wave" is also very good, but a little different and "Searching For..." is still my go to Against Me! album. Check out a couple of these tracks here on YouTube:

Best Records of the 00's - Brand New "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me"

Since we are about to bring this decade to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to spotlight my favorite records of this decade. I typically haven't been writing about music, as I'm honestly not that good at it, but I'd like to share my opinions on what records I think are awesome and write about it briefly. These records are in no particular order. Although with this one, it really is probably my favorite record of this decade.



After putting out two CDs that were either pop punk or emo or whatever you want to call it, Brand New released "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" at the end of 2006. I didn't get it at first really, the songs didn't grab me and didn't seem catchy enough. As I listened to it a few times more, they started to seep into my subconcious. Dark and moody with some interesting themes, I still find that three years later this record is still in my heavy rotation. Also, look for the demos to this album where all nine of the songs are called "Untitled".

Favorite songs: Millstone, Degausser, Archers

All songs

NBA Draft Live Blog

Let's try to do this, I will mostly just comment on picks and my thoughts on them.

7:16pm: Apparently some big names have been traded today. And if you put Bilas, Mark Jackson and Van Gundy on a team with LeBron and Shaq they'd win a title. He's already annoying me, any way we could have Stuart Scott switch places with Michael Jackson right now?

7:22pm: 9.8ppg for Rubio. They shouldn't even show international players stats, they are just embarassing.

7:26pm: We are about to hear from Dick Vitale. I guarantee when they wake him up after the draft to recap, he will yell about some good college player falling to round 2 and international players getting taken too early.

7:39pm: Obvious #1. Glad there is one Clipper fan there with an itchy chest. I guess Yuraslov Koralev wasn't available?

7:42pm: Oh god I forgot they have fun facts. Thabeet's should be something like "Fun Fact: Has never actually played basketball."

7:47pm: So glad Thabeet went to Memphis, where we don't ever have to see him and he can learn how to play from Marc Gasol. Somewhere Jim Calhoun just passed out.

7:53pm: An asthmatic who has bad workouts and disappears in big games, James Harden have fun in Oklahoma City. Actually I think this can be a good pick, Russell Westbrook didn't want Rubio around.

7:57pm: Who knew Bilas loved Tyreke Evans this much? Maybe he took his SATs for him. I guess Rubio is going to Minnesota? Also why does it look like he's wearing so much makeup?

8:06pm: I'm sorry but I already love this guy. "I'm Ricky Rubio I don't play like anybody else". Sounds like something Starbury would say.

8:09pm: Love the draft cam. All the people in the Timberwolves draft room were just staring at the TV! Damn I was hoping to have Jonny Flynn as a Knick in case Curry wasn't there. I guess I have to hope that Golden State passes on him and goes Jordan Hill. Applause from the Timberwolves draft room.

8:16pm: I'm slightly crushed. I was really thinking we had a good shot at Curry falling there. Jrue Holiday? Jordan Hill? DeRozan?

8:23pm: Jordan Hill - you better not be the next Channing Frye. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm a little disappointed, but he seems like he could fit in with the team ok. I'm glad it's not Gerald Henderson though.

8:28pm: No surprise with the Raptors pick of DeRozan. I'm more surprised I haven't heard Bilas say the word "long" yet as a description. He wants to say it so bad though, I can feel it.

8:34pm: Did Fran Fraschilla/Nathan Lane just say that "the experiment has worked"? A guy who people thought could have been top 3 or top 5 falls to 10 and that's good? The experiment failed.

8:39pm: Could the Nets be one of the more fun teams in the NBA? Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Skip To My Lou, goofy Brook Lopez, asian Yi Jianlian (ok that was a stretch he sucks), CDR who never plays and now T-Will.

8:41pm: T-Will just made a slight dig at Bilas. Awesome.

8:50pm: Psycho T joins Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy in Indiana. That seems like a good idea to me. Did you know he's an unbelievable competitor with a great work ethic?

8:56pm: Brandon Jennings crashes Earl Clark's party. The experiment worked!

9:03pm: I like Daye on the Pistons. Reminds me of Tayshaun Prince.

9:06pm: Can we just stop having Vitale on the NBA Draft? All he does is champion the winning college players every single time.

9:13pm: For some reason I really like Jrue Holiday, I think a lot of it is because I thought the Knicks would end up with him and I talked myself into him. But I saw him a good bunch and he showed flashes. The sixers I think are kind of a mess though.

9:19pm: Are you kidding me? The T'wolves pick another PG? There has to be a trade. Rubio or Flynn should be a Knick.

9:26pm: So Lawson goes to Denver and now Atlanta picks Teague which makes sense. Time to open some party mix.

9:40pm: Any chance the Blazers said "DeJuan Blair" and someone misheard as "Victor Claver". Probably not. Also, sad that on the Blazers "Potential Depth Chart" Greg Oden is listed as the third key reserve.

9:45pm: That was a better reaction for Omri Casspi going to Sacramento than there was for Jordan Hill drafted by the Knicks.

9:49pm: For a second I thought there weren't even highlights for BJ Mullens. "He needs to learn how to play." I think says it all. He'll be in the DL for a while.

9:54pm: Did people forget about when DeJuan Blair destroyed Hasheem Thabeet? How has he not gotten picked? Someone is going to be really happy to have him fall to them. Maybe my Knickerbockers?

10:13pm: Some internet problems going on there. Still no DeJuan Blair or Sam Young. Can the Knicks please take one of them?

10:15pm: I liked you Q Rich, but we don't really need your contract any more.

10:16pm: Toney Douglas! I'm cool with this at 29. Still would have liked Blair who now goes to the second round?

10:31pm: Adam Silver gets his own chant from the drunks at the start of the second round. Deno's Party House USA is going to be on fire tonight. Dallas and Oklahoma City officially make one of the most meaningless trades in NBA history.

10:41pm: Great reaction by Adam Silver as he reads off the Q Rich/Darko trade. These fans are overpowering him. There better be a Stephen A Smith puppet asking for cheetos on YouTube tomorrow. Also, Dante Cunningham somehow gets drafted before Blair and Young. Um, these guys were the main cogs in a #1 seed.

10:46pm: If Summers gets his act together he can definitely be helpful for the Pistons.

10:51pm: If healthy an outright steal for the Spurs with Blair. They are really fucking smart amidst all the stupidity.

11:15pm: Once Chase Budinger gets picked is when I stop blogging. Later.

11:28pm: I couldn't resist. Do the Suns love having the suckier brothers of better players on their team?