Musical Decade: The Sounds that moved me in this first 10 years of the END TIMES Keith Boyd 12.25.9
As Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his brilliant essay Nature, said; “Our age is retrospective. It builds sepulchers of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”

This sentiment is spot on for our current dilemma. As we roll steadily towards the end of this decade we see an ever increasing desire to encapsulate our experiences by looking backward and categorizing them. Ends of years always bring out this tendency. Every major media outlet from the New York Times to Spin to on-line entities such as Pitchfork spend the better part of every December compiling lists of the “Best of” the various artistic offerings from the previous 11 months. In a sense this trend continues the distancing and soul excluding paradigm Emerson railed against. The thought is that by categorizing art, music and literature we somehow end up positing ourselves as writers of the new canon. While this illusion may satisfy our need for control it ends up short-circuiting the opportunity for deeper interaction with the vital beating heart of the creative spirit. Also, given the reach of many of these media outlets, there is a reductive and narrowing filter effect that further limits what reader may potentially be exposed to. That distancing, cataloging and narrowing are some of the same impulses that went into the making of natural history museums of the 18th and 19th centuries. The ideas seems to be that it is enough to simply capture, label and display wild nature without further attempts at individual investigation. The message is “Here is NATURE! BEHOLD!”. Meanwhile bell-jars and interactive computer displays and giant, blown up wall graphics aren’t nature. They are the finger pointing at the moon rather than the moon itself. I would suggest that you could learn more about nature by simply sitting quietly in the woods or your backyard. I’d apply some of the same logic to music. What does it matter that certain releases win awards or end up on lists of the greatest or best of whatever era? Given these meandering thoughts you might conclude that I’m not a big fan of written criticism. But, I am in fact. There is almost nothing I find more satisfying than curling up with Sunday New York Times book review and a coffee. I suppose the key is depth. What I enjoy about criticism is when it is done from a place of love. That is not to say that the critic must lather praise on the subject. They may even hate the thing they are reviewing. The point is that when the author is writing from a place filled with love, they are deeply interested in their subject. They are filled with a passion for the genre or artist they are investigating and in being so smitten they transfer this vivid excitement to the reader.

All of this is to say that I have compiled a list. This list is, I hope, reflective of a wide band investigation of the musical stream on offer from the last 10 years. Being my list it will of course be more reflective of my idiosyncratic tastes than a more subjective look at market trends, sales or popularity. It will also not try to cover every musical genre in current usage. While it may omit some particular styles of music I think it might also uncover a few gems people might have either overlooked or not been exposed to. Either way it is my list and my feelings so if you find that it comes up short PLEASE compile your own and send it in. We’ll publish it and then you too can add to the never ending stream of backward-looking sea of retrospection!

A Highly Subjective List Given in No Particular Order:

6 Organs of Admittance - School of The Flower
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Cat Power - You Are Free
Beck - Sea Change
Tool - Lateralus/10,000 Days
O Brother Where Art Thou? - Soundtrack
White Rainbow - Box/Prism of Eternal Now
Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
Om - Conference of the Birds/Pilgrimage/Variations on a Theme
SunnO))) - Monoliths and Dimensions/White1/White2
Boris - Flood
The Ditty Bops - Self Titled
Black Crowes - Before the Frost….Until The Freeze
Old Crow Medicine Show - O.C.M.S.
Derek Trucks Band- Songlines
Marisa Monte - Universo ao Meu Redor
Akron Family – Meek Warrior
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down in the Light
Colour Haze – Los Sounds Des Krauts
Willie Nelson – Bubbles In My Beer
Tinariwen – Amassakoul/Aman Iman