check out the composite album list here.ddd
Ryan Allen's Top Ten Records of the Year

1. Spoon- "Girls Can Tell"
2. Stereolab- "Sound Dust"
3. Ted Leo- "The Tyranny of Distance"
4. The New Pornographers- "Mass Romantic"
5. Death Cab for Cutie- "The Photo Album"
6. Radiohead- "Amnesiac"
7. The Shins- "Oh, Inverted World"
8. Kings of Convenience- "Quiet is the New Loud"
9. Lenola- "Treat Me to Some Life"
10. The Strokes- "Is This It?"


DJWrestlingmask has made his picks....

1. Tortoise - Standards - Thrill Jockey
2. HiM – New Features - Thrill Jockey
3. Dialated Peoples - expansion team - Capitol
4. Mouse On Mars - Ideology - Thrill Jockey
5. Nabukazu Takemura - hoshi no koe - Thrill Jockey
6. Bjork - Vespertine - Elektra
7. All Natural - second nature - Thrill Jockey
8. New Order - Get Ready - Warner Brothers
9. Kingsbury Manx - let you down - Overcoat Recordings
10. Various Artists - immediate action compilation - Hefty Records

I believe Tortoise's "Standards" was indeed the best of 2001. It came out early in the year and soon enough people forgot about Tortoise to concentrate more on helping trendy 70's throwback bands like... The White Stripes and the The Strokes get major lable contracts. Standards was a very listenable album, and the most accessable to date, broadening their fanbase, and slicking up their live sound. Next year, when The Strokes and The White Stripes are passe' and dropped  from thier labels, Tortoise will still be "cool" and still pushing the musical envelope.

Biggest disappointment of 2001 was Stereolab's "Sound dust." Plainly forgettable songs filled the critically favored!! album. The band just doesnt feel secure on the recording at all..(case in point)... the first 2 songs of the album. Its as if the band was afraid to begin the album. The first song is a huge vintage synth buildup into...uh..uh.... Song 2! ....Another 3 minute build up to a snore. I expected better.

there it is... Honest to goodness.


Greg Evangelista

1. Fugazi "The Argument"
2. Daft Punk "Discovery"
3. Uakti "'aguas amozonias' music composed by Phillip Glass"
4. Calexico "Even My Sure Things Fall Through"
5. "Across Woodard vol. 1" compilation v/a
6. Gorillaz s/t
7. Tortoise "Standards"
8. Showshane "You Can't Eat the Scenery"
9. Red Shirt Brigade "Home of the Cannon Saints"
10. Gillian Welch "Time (the revelator)"
....these are last minute picks.... maybe not the most thought out list, but you get the idea... later...Gregg.


Cassie Glanney's Top 10

1. Spoon - Girls Can Tell - Merge
2. Red Shirt Brigade - Home of the Cannon Saints - Arborvitae
3. Milemarker - Anasthetic - Jade Tree
4. Fridge - Happiness - Temporary Residence
5. Volta Do Mar - At the Speed of Light or Day - Arborvitae
6. The Strokes - Is This It? - RCA
7. American Analog Set - Know By Heart - Tigerstyle
8. Dismemberment Plan - Change - desoto
9. Modest Mouse - Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks - Epic
10. The Shins - Oh, inverted world - Sub Pop


Justin Grimm

1. Radiohead – AMNESIAC
2. Album Leaf – ONE DAY I’LL BE ONTIME
3. Hey Mercedes – EVERYNIGHT FIREWORKS
4. Juno – A FUTURE LIVED IN PAST TENSE
5. Park – NO SIGNAL
6. Haymarket Riot – BLOODSHOT EYES
7. Rumah Sakit – TRAVELS IN CONSTANTS 
8. Tortoise STANDARDS
9. Ghosts and Vodka – PRECIOUS BLOOD
10. Pilot to Gunner - GAMES AT HIGH SPEEDS


Eric J Herboth's "picks" for 2001

TOP TEN ALBUMS
1. Radiohead - Amnesiac - Capitol
2. Fugazi - The Argument - Dischord
3. Mogwai- Rock Action- Matador
4. Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense - DeSoto
*5a. Volta Do Mar - At the Speed of Light or Day - Arborvitae
5b. Convocation Of - Pyramid Technology - Tigerstyle
6. Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons In the Sea - Fueled by Ramen
7. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Tyranny of Distance - Lookout
8. Tortoise - Standards - Thrill Jockey
9. Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Maander - Temporary Residence Ltd
10. Tomahawk - Tomahawk - Ipecac
* Disclaimer - I run the record label that released this. In some circles, that disqualifies it.

HONORABLE MENTION
Milemarker - Anasthetic - Jade Tree
Red Shirt Brigade - Home of the Cannon Saints - Arborvitae
Explosions In the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever - Temporary Residence Ltd
Saso - Big Group Hug - Melted Snow Records 
Sonna - We Sing Loud Sing Soft Tonight - Temporary Residence Ltd 
Ghosts and Vodka - Precious Blood - Six Gun Lover 
Lumen - The man Felt An Iron Hand... - Temporary Residence LTD

DISAPPOINTING / BAD / PATHETIC
1. George Bush becoming the President
2. WPGU - possibly the worst radio station ever
3. The Strokes - over rated
4. Weezer - over rated
5. Brian Cook - waste of a scholarship
6. Bill Self - questionable coaching
7. Robert Archibald - thus far, waste of a scholarship
8. Dismemberment Plan "Change" DeSoto - a good record, but not as good as I thought it'd be
9. Sloan "Pretty Together" Murder - bombed


Avery Jones

1. Radiohead - Amnesiac - Capitol
2. Tortoise - Standards - Thrill Jockey
3. Fugazi - The Argument - Dischord
4. Volta Do Mar - At the Speed of Light or Day - Arborvitae
5. Avalanches - Since I Left You - XL
6. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Relative Ways EP - Interscope
7. Papa M - Whatever, Mortal - Drag City
8. Spiritualized - Let It Come Down - Arista
9. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Tyranny of Distance - Lookout
10. Mercury Rev - All Is Dream - V2


Jeremy Keller

1. radiohead-amnesiac
2. ted leo/pharmacists-tyranny of distance
3. the strokes-is this it
4. dismemberment plan-change
5. figurine-the heartfelt
6. smashing pumpkins-judas o
7. radiohead-i might be wrong:live recordings
8. beauty shop-yr money or yr life
9. wolfie-tall dark hill
10. new order-get ready


Trevor Naud's Top Ten of 2001

1. Spoon - Girls Can Tell - Merge
2. Radiohead - Amnesiac - Capitol
3. Fridge - Happiness - Temporary Residence
4. The Strokes - Is This It - RCA
5. Crooked Fingers - Bring On the Snakes - Warm Records
6. Magnetophone - I Guess Sometimes I need to be Reminded of How Much You Love Me - 4AD
7. Mum - Yesterday was Dramatic—Today is OK - Thule Iceland
8. Windy and Carl - Consciousness - Kranky
9. Sparklehorse - It’s a Wonderful Life - Capitol
10. Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades - Choreographed Man of War - Rockathon Records


John Steinbacher

#1) Fugazi – The Argument Just when you think Fugazi could begin to get musty, they release an album that blows the rest away. Old school Fugazi mixed with the free flow of End Hits. Within songs are hidden pop anthems and chaotic museums of rock n’ roll dissidence. To top it all off, it contains the song entitled “The Argument”. Obviously written before Sept. 11, it still works as the perfect indictment of both the terrorists’ actions and the U.S. government’s response. Ian MacKaye's singing gently about bombs and morals, could anything else fit this year any better?

2)Tortoise – Standards The first song on this CD absolutely rules. It’s hard to argue with anything that comes later either. If you ever have to drive across this land or another by bus or train, put this album on and watch as the landscapes perfectly match the music no matter where you are. Thus, standards.

3) Califone – Roomsound Tim Rutilli’s triumphant return to the top of his own cruel world. Piled high in off-kilter instruments and drooping vocals. Perhaps the least danceable album of the year, it hit all the right notes. 

4) The Potomac Accord – Self titled I can’t find the goddamn CD. I lost it and I don’t know how to get another copy and this bothers me a lot because the CD was so damn good. A pretentious piano band with the audacity to back it all up with some of the best songs of the year. 

5) The New Year – Newness Ends Finally we can go see the guys that used to be in Bedhead play live and not feel like falling asleep the whole time. Soulful without having anything to do with soul, this band has a knack for playing guitars in all the right tones.

6) Papa M – Whatever, Mortal Dave Pajo amazes everyone with his ability to sing almost as well as he can play guitar. The instrumental ease is still here, too. If on his next album he can refrain from rhyming “between us” with “penis”, he may crack the top five.

7) Him – New Features Doug Scharin remains the best drummer working in rock and roll, except that he no longer plays rock and roll. Yes it probably sounds a little like Miles Davis in the seventies and eighties, but Scharin never released Kind of Blue and Miles Smiles, so we don’t hold him to any lofty ideals. And yes it is fucking good.

8) Superchunk – Here’s to Shutting Up It may not shatter everyone’s conception of this band's music, but this album was much more than a band going through the motions. Songs that ease their way into the listeners mind. One day you wake up and you are singing along to the whole album. The most underrated overrated band of all time.

9) Tool – Lateralus While the album is a bit indulgent (the last three songs leave a lot to be desired), I still was enthralled with enough of the songs this eighty-minute opus. “Schism” is one of the coolest songs that ever was released as a single. Like Quicksand meets Floyd with some questionable vocal choices.

10) Radiohead – Amnesiac I almost don’t want to put it on, but it still was a really good album. Certainly enough quality to make it at least better than all but ten. “You and Whose Army”, “I Might be Wrong”, and “Like Spinning Plates” are all inventive and twist the rock formula farther away.

Biggest disappointments: 
1) Sloan – Pretty Together Now I have no argument when my friends call them the second coming of REO Speedwagon.

2) Weezer – The Green Album After Pinkerton I though for sure this was going to be good, then I heard the album. All the conformity that the first two albums lacked.


Jeanette Samyn

1. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong- Capitol Records
2. The Faint- Danse Macabre- Saddle Creek
3. Hey Mercedes-Everynight Fireworks- Vagrant Records
4. White Stripes- White Blood Cells- Sympathy for the Record Industry
5. Radiohead-Amnesiac-Capitol Records
6. The Strokes- Is This It?- RCA
7. Ozma- Rock & Roll Part Three- Kung Fu Records
8. Mogwai- Rock Action- Matador
9. Dismemberment Plan- Change- deSoto Records
10. Stephen Malkmus (self titled)- Matador


Andy Vaughn (in no specific order): 

1. jimmy eat world - bleed american 
2. saves the day - stay what you are
3. thursday - full collapse
4. pete yorn - music for the morning after
5. hot water music - a flight and a crash
6. the strokes - is this it
7. further seems forever - moon is down
8. curbside service - i packed my bags a year in advance
9. white stripes - white blood cells
10. on the might of princes - where you are and where you want to be

Recommended Reading List (these did not come out this year but just some things i have read and loved, email me if you can find some of them and i'll let you know how to get ahold of a copy): 

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius By: Dave Eggers 
Perks Of Being a Wallflower By: Steven Chbosky 
High Fidelity By: Nick Hornsby 
Barrel Fever By: David Sedaris 
Love Is a Dog From Hell By: Charles Bukowski 
Rum Diary By: Hunter S. Thompson 
Lanky By: Aaron Cometbus, Cometbus #47 
Night By: Elie Wiesel 
Down and Out In Paris and London By: George Orwell 
Mohawks At the Diner By: Blair Beck, Menace #4


JuneWoons

1. Fridge - Happiness <Temporary Residence>
2. Calexico - Even My Surest Things Fall Through <1/4 stick>
3. Radiohead - Amnesiac <ignore this label>
4. Mice Parade - Mokoondi <Bubblecore>
5. Tortoise - Standards <Thrill Jockey>
6. Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You <KRS>
7. Him - New Features <Fat Cat/Bubblecore>
8. Adam's Castle - self-titled EP <self-released>
9. Bows - Cassidy <Too Pure>
10. ICP - Forgotten Freshness <Psychopathic Records>