So Pitchfork's end-of-decade articles & lists have all been published. Obviously, a lot of that stuff isn't music I'm particularly into. & I don't mean that as a judgment of those who are; it's just that over the past decade I've been drawn to other music. When being absolutely honest with myself about the kinds of music I enjoyed & (as importantly, I think) the kinds of music I wanted to discuss, I was much more heavily involved with rap, R&B, dance, pop and jazz, the music that I grew up with.

I'm not particularly enamored of Pitchfork's final albums list as a canon. I think the "Pitchfork canon" is frankly guilty of all kinds of biases & blind spots, that its continued centrality and 'significance' to wider music discussion is in some ways damaging, its treatment of other genres often arbitrary and skewed. It's not so much something Pitchfork itself is guilty of; rather it's the continued reverence to 'indie' as a primary trait of ‘quality’ in the wider discourse of popular music, the assumption that a truly discerning listener must or should be keyed in to this particular subculture's aesthetic worldview. Indie can be an interesting window through which to experience culture; it can also be an oppressively limiting one.

Pitchfork is also home to some of the best music writing that I've ever read, and I feel honored to be able to write alongside guys like Scott & Mark, Tim Finney, Tom Ewing and a few others, because really there is no better venue to write and be read by a wide and engaged audience. Even if 70% of that audience only reads the number (ugh) or the ranking of a record, yr still talking about 30% who read for insight and discussion.

So at any rate, here's my not-particularly-strategic list of favorite albums released in the past decade.

More on some of these soon.

1 Avalanches Since I Left You
2 T.I. Trap Muzik
3 Beanie Sigel The B. Coming
4 The-Dream Love/Hate
5 Daft Punk Discovery
6 Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele
7 Luomo Vocalcity
8 Three-6 Mafia Da Unbreakables
9 Kylie Minogue Fever
10 Andrew W.K. I Get Wet
11 Aaliyah Aaliyah
12 DJ Quik Trauma
13 UGK Underground Kingz
14 Madvillain Madvillainy
15 Shanks & Bigfoot Ayia Napa – The Album
16 D'Angelo Voodoo
17 Various Artists Get Physical - 2nd Anniversary Label Compilation
18 Basement Jaxx Rooty
19 Missy Elliott Miss E ... So Addictive
20 Kaito Special Life
21 50 Cent Get Rich or Die Trying
22 Scarface The Fix
23 Devin the Dude Just Trying Ta Live
24 Ricardo Villalobos Alcochofa
25 Erykah Badu Mama's Gun
26 Gucci Mane Back to the Trap House
27 Big Tymers I Got That Work
28 Common Like Water for Chocolate
29 Michael Mayer Immer
30 M.O.P. Warriorz
31 Richard “Humpty” Vission Big Floor Funk
32 Pastor Troy Face Off
33 Lil Boosie & Webbie Gangsta Musik
34 Jay-Z The Blueprint
35 Anthony Hamilton Comin from Where I'm From
36 DJ Green Lantern, DJ Vlad & DJ Harry Rap Phenomenon Part II: 2Pac
37 Luomo The Present Lover
38 Young Jeezy Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101
39 DJ Harvey Sonic Disco #1
40 Killer Mike I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind
41 N.E.R.D. In Search Of...
42 DJ Shadow The Private Press
43 Lil Wayne The Carter
44 Various Artists Total 3
45 The Knife Silent Shout
46 Z-Ro Let the Truth Be Told
47 Res How I Do
48 Chemical Brothers Come With Us
49 Erykah Badu New Amerkyah Part 1
50 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours
51 Exploding Hearts Guitar Romantic
52 Juvenile Juve the Great
53 Brandy Full Moon
54 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas BBC Essential Mix
55 MRI All That Glitters
56 Big L The Big Picture
57 Justin Timberlake Futuresex/Lovesounds
58 Trick Daddy Thug Holiday
59 Teedra Moses Complex Simplicity
60 Theo Parrish These Days & Times
61 OG Ron C Fuck Action 40
62 Bubba Sparxx Deliverance
63 Vybz Kartel Up 2 Di Time
64 Trae Restless
65 Soulja Slim Years Later ... A Few Months After
66 The Beatnuts Originators
67 Abdullah Ibrahim Cape Town Revisited
68 Young Dro Best Thang Smokin
69 Lil Scrappy/Trillville Lil Scrappy/Trillville
70 Maxwell BLACKsummers'night
71 Tha Dogg Pound Cali Iz Active
72 8Ball & MJG Living Legends
73 DJ Quik & Kurupt Blaqkout
74 T.I. King
75 Project Pat Mista Don't Play
76 Suga Free The Features, Vol. 2
77 T-Rock Rock Solid/4:20
78 Diddy Press Play
79 Mariah Carey The Emancipation of Mimi
80 Simian Mobile Disco Attack, Delay, Sustain, Release
81 Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf
82 Al Kapone Memphis Drama Vol. 1
83 Ghostface Killah The Pretty Toney Album
84 Basement Jaxx Kish Kash
85 Logan Sama RWD AAA Mix
86 Mary J. Blige The Breakthrough
87 El-P Fantastic Damage
88 Coup Party Music
89 Sean Paul Dutty Rock
90 Monster Magnet God Says No
91 The Streets Original Pirate Material
92 Louis Logic Sin-A-Matic
93 Roisin Murphy Overpowered
94 Fabolous Street Dreams
95 Clipse Lord Willin
96 Shyne Shyne
97 I Self Divine Self Destruction
98 G-Ha & Olanski Sunkissed
99 T.O.K. Unknown Language
100 Diverse One A.M.