100 Best Albums of the Decade: 40-31

40: Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

Compared to Modest Mouse's last two record The Moon & Antarctica is a strange case. Where is the chaotic songwriting? Where is the yipping and howling vocals? But have you ever seen Antarctica? Notice how there is absolutely nothing there? The simplest of sounds can carry on endlessly in the bitter cold and biting wind. That's what this record sounds like. Acoustic guitars and somber singing by Isaak Brock make this a true gem in the Modest Mouse library.Top Tunes:(3rd Planet, Gravity Rides Everything, I Came As A Rat)

39: The Black Keys - Attack And Release (2008)

Who knew that Akron, Ohio would be the home of the best blues outfit this side of The White Stripes? The Black Keys (consisting of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney) hired Danger Mouse to produce this raunchy set of blues jams that make a man feel big while he struts down the street. White boys can have soul power too sometimes. Top Tunes:(I Got Mine, Lies, Oceans And Streams)

38: Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)

"I need a gun to keep myself from harm," Damon Albarn sings in his ever so paranoid falsetto. I can't really blame him for being so fearful. In a decade which saw the 9/11 attacks, two endless wars in the Middle East, a planet that's steadily warming, famine and genocide... ya know, normal things that we as humans create, Gorillaz tried to make us aware of the dangers around us on Demon Days. What happened just a few months later? Hurricane Katrina. Thanks for the warning guys. Guess we all have to learn to swim sooner or later. Top Tunes:(Feel Good Inc., Dirty Harry, Demon Days)

37: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (2008)

When Led Zeppelin united for a one off show in December of 2007, rumors abounded that the icon rock group would finally bury the hatchet and go on tour - fat chance. Robert Plant has always been uneasy about such a thing. And besides when you have an excellent duet project with blue grass songbird Alison Krauss (whom he's most likely banging), why would you want to leave? At times hauntingly gothic, and others romantically upbeat Raising Sand is a modern country masterpiece. Thanks to producer T. Bone Burnett, this duo never seem to falter from their already lofty pedestals. Top Tunes:(Killing The Blues, Through The Morning Through The Night, Polly Come Home)

36: U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)

Some had written U2 off as just another once great band falling by the wayside at the turn of the century. But these Irish rockers took a look around and realized that art and rock going hand and in hand was a thing of the past. So they decided to focus on tunes and tunes alone for their incredible comeback album All That You Can't Leave Behind. The man who sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" has gotten "Stuck In A Moment". And what a moment it is. It'sThe Joshua Tree for the new millennium. Top Tunes:(Beautiful Day, Walk On, In A Little While)

35: The Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz! (2009)

That isn't just any old egg getting squashed to bits by Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O. That little egg is called perception - perception of what you would expect from a YYY record. It's Blitz! sheds the bombastic guitar licks, powerful drumming and screeching vocals. Instead a new kind of band that relies on synthesizers, drum machines and subdued singing emerges. Though it might be a departure from their first two albums, this one seems like a natural progression instead of a giant mis-step into a failed experiment. Get on your dancin' shoes. Top Tunes:(Dull Life, Runaway, Hysteric)

34: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (2007)

Techno and electronica can be tedious genres. It's so easy to sound mundane and obnoxious and so hard to make things truly memorable. LCD Soundsytem thought outside the box when they made Sound Of Silver. Each track sounds like a completely different band blasting one of their greatest hits. However there is enough common elements to tie all these idea together and keep under one roof. They sure know what the kids like these days. Top Tunes:( North American Scum, All My Friends, Us Vs Them)

33: The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)

This is the album that got The White Stripe's foot in to door. In an era dominated by shitty rap-rock outfits (I'm looking at you Fred Durst, Korn, Linkin Park and Papa Roach) Jack and Meg White went back to the vaults of garage rock and wrote some of the best tunes they ever concocted. Whether it's a simple folk diddy or an all out fuzz rock assault The White Stripes kept the flame of rock lit. Their sound and influence would spread like wild fire throughout the decade - and better things were still to come. Top Tunes:(I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman, Offend In Every Way, We're Going To Be Friends)

32: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2007)

Drama, drama, drama. That's all that Miss Winehouse seems to want to talk about. Drugs, rehab, love, hate... God get over it. Just kidding. Amy Winehouse took the pop world by storm with her retro soul classic Back To Black which read like a musical diary filled with some of the most personal lyrics of any album - let alone an album made by a tattooed crack smoker with emphysema. After winning 5 Grammys for her work on this record the stakes on much higher for her follow up. It'll probably be titled I Have AIDS. Top Tunes:( Back To Black, Rehab, You Know I'm No Good)

31: The Strokes - Is This It (2001)

Voted the best album of the decade by New Musical Express and the second best by Rolling Stone, I suppose ranking Is This It at 31 makes me an odd ball - or maybe it makes me a realist. Don't get me wrong, this record is a grand debut from The Strokes as well as one of the freshest albums of the previous 10 years. I will give the band credit for being one of the first garage rock revival bands to come out at the turn of the century, but plenty of bands who came later built a glorious house on top of the strong foundation The Strokes put down. Top Tunes:( Last Night, Is This It, Someday)