When we first launched Lost in the Cloud in 2010, we were on a roll from our previous blog, hoping to take LITC into different territory. One thing we carried over from our previous blog was our love for lists, especially music lists. We began Lost in the Cloud with productive intentions, but life, as it can so often do, got in the way of our keeping up with the blog.
For the first six years, we were diligent in posting the lists of our favourite albums of the year, complete with short descriptions of each. In those last couple of dwindling years, our ‘Best Albums’ lists were becoming the only new material we were producing for the blog. In time, even that dropped off of our list of priorities and Lost in the Cloud went quiet.
This year, we have decided to revisit our ‘Best Albums’ lists and to even elaborate on our whole ‘Best Albums’ corpus by travelling all the way back to the prehistoric year that was 2000. This post is part one of two. With hindsight and in living with particular albums for longer, we have compiled lists of our ten favourite albums for each year from 2000-2019. Perhaps these lists will be of some interest for those who wish to walk down Memory Lane, or indeed, for those who might wonder if any of these [subjective] gems passed them by (as we have discovered from comparing our respective lists). Whatever you—dear reader—might glean from our produce, we are grateful for the opportunity to indulge in our list-making and music-listening passions here.
Elijah & Greg
— E —
- Figure 8
Elliott Smith - Kid A
Radiohead - The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN
Sigur Rós - Bachelor No. 2
Aimee Mann - Winners Never Quit
Pedro the Lion - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
PJ Harvey - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Yo La Tengo - Rising Tide
Sunny Day Real Estate
— G —
- Kid A
Radiohead - Figure 8
Elliott Smith - Bachelor No. 2
Aimee Mann - All That You Can’t Leave Behind
U2 - ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN
Sigur Rós - Fever & Mirrors
Bright Eyes - Heartbreaker
Ryan Adams - Rising Tide
Sunny Day Real Estate - Winners Never Quit
Pedro the Lion - MASS ROMANTIC
The New Pornographers
— E —
- Amnesiac
Radiohead - Jane Doe
Converge - The Glow, Pt. 2
The Microphones - White Blood Cells
The White Stripes - Blue Screen Life
Pinback - Hot Shots II
The Beta Band - Vespertine
Björk - “Love and Theft”
Bob Dylan - The Photo Album
Death Cab for Cutie - Discovery
Daft Punk
— G —
- The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads
Lift to Experience - Oh, Inverted World
The Shins - Asleep in the back
Elbow - Musicforthemorningafter
Pete Yorn - Origin of Symmetry
Muse - The Invisible Band
Travis - The Only Reason I Feel Secure
Pedro the Lion - Skyscraper National Park
Hayden - The Photo Album
Death Cab for Cutie - AMNESIAC
Radiohead
— E —
- Control
Pedro the Lion - Turn on the Bright Lights
Interpol - Fantastic Damage
El-P - Alice / Blood Money
Tom Waits - The Creek Drank the Cradle
Iron & Wine - Sea Change
Beck - Unfortunately We’re Not Robots
Curl Up & Die - [A→B] Life
mewithoutYou - We Are the Only Friends We Have
Piebald - Give Up
Postal Service
— G —
- Control
Pedro the Lion - Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Bright Eyes - The Creek Drank the Cradle
Iron & Wine - Sea Change
Beck - The Last Broadcast
Doves - Give Up
Postal Service - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Coldplay - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco - Turn on the Bright Lights
Interpol - The Seamonsters
The Seamonsters
— E —
- Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State
Sufjan Stevens - The Ugly Organ
Cursive - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
Explosions in the Sky - Sumday
Grandaddy - You Forgot it in People
Broken Social Scene - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Belle & Sebastian - Monday at the Hug & Pint
Arab Strap - Frail Words Collapse
As I Lay Dying - Happy Songs for Happy People
Mogwai
— G —
- Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State
Sufjan Stevens - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - Cast of Thousands
Elbow - Absolution
Muse - Final Straw
Snow Patrol - Marvelous Things EP
Eisley - O
Damien Rice - Transatlanticism
Death Cab for Cutie - Log 22
Bettie Serveert - Desprate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
TV on the Radio
— E —
- From a Basement on a Hill
Elliott Smith - Funeral
Arcade Fire - Seven Swans
Sufjan Stevens - Antics
Interpol - You Are the Quarry
Morrissey - Sung Tongs
Animal Collective - Achilles Heel
Pedro the Lion - Our Endless Numbered Days
Iron & Wine - A
Cass McCombs - How It Ends
DeVotchKa
— G —
- Sung Tongs
Animal Collective - From a Basement on a Hill
Elliott Smith - Antics
Interpol - Seven Swans
Sufjan Stevens - Achilles Heel
Pedro the Lion - Our Endless Numbered Days
Iron & Wine - FUNERAL
Arcade Fire - The Autumns
The Autumns - How It Ends
DeVotchKa - Turning Tide
The Seamonsters
— E —
- Illinois
Sufjan Stevens - The One Above All, The End of All That Is
Curl Up & Die - Emoh
Lou Barlow - Takk...
Sigur Rós - Feels
Animal Collective - LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem - Headphones
Headphones - And the Glass Handed Kites
Mew - Guero
Beck - Surf
Roddy Frame
— G —
- Illinois
Sufjan Stevens - Takk...
Sigur Rós - Several Arrows Later
Matt Pond PA - Silent Alarm
Bloc Party - Feels
Animal Collective - Emoh
Lou Barlow - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs
Andrew Bird - I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning
Bright Eyes - Headphones
Headphones - Pixel Revolt
John Vanderslice
— E —
- Yellow House
Grizzly Bear - The Avalanche
Sufjan Stevens - Happy Hollow
Cursive - No Heroes
Converge - Everything All the Time
Band of Horses - Victory for the Comic Muse
The Divine Comedy - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
Tom Waits - Sing the Greys
Frightened Rabbit - Brother, Sister
mewithoutYou - The Eraser
Thom Yorke
— G —
- The Avalanche
Sufjan Stevens - Gang of Losers
The Dears - The End of History
Fionn Regan - The Eraser
Thom Yorke - Begin to Hope
Regina Spektor - Everything All the Time
Band of Horses - Sing the Greys
Frightened Rabbit - The Cost
The Frames - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Neko Case - Camping by the Railroad Tracks in December
Harmony and Pollution
— E —
- Neon Bible
Arcade Fire - In Rainbows
Radiohead - Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
The Twilight Sad - Strawberry Jam
Animal Collective - White Chalk
PJ Harvey - Cease to Begin
Band of Horses - Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!
Orchid - The Shepherd’s Dog
Iron & Wine - Person pitch
Panda Bear
— G —
- In Rainbows
Radiohead - Strawberry Jam
Animal Collective - Boxer
The National - A Few More Published Studies
The XYZ Affair - Wincing the Night Away
The Shins - PERSON PITCH
Panda Bear - Cease to Begin
Band of Horses - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY
Bloc Party - Voxtrot
Voxtrot - Neon Bible
Arcade Fire
— E —
- The Midnight Organ Fight
Frightened Rabbit - Songs in A&E
Spiritualized - Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes - In Ear Park
Department of Eagles - Dig That Treasure
Cryptacize - Dropping the Writ
Cass McCombs - Microcastle
Deerhunter - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
David Byrne & Brian Eno - In Ghost Colours
Cut Copy - Rip It Off
Times New Viking
— G —
- The Midnight Organ Fight
Frightened Rabbit - Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes - The Seldom Seen Kid
Elbow - Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Sigur Rós - Dropping the Writ
Cass McCombs - Words & Music
Aqualung - In Ear Park
Department of Eagles - At War with Walls & Mazes
Son Lux - @#%&*! Smilers
Aimee Mann
— E —
- Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective - Axe to Fall
Converge - Album
Girls - Forget the Night Ahead
The Twilight Sad - Logos
Atlas Sound - These Four Walls
We Were Promised Jetpacks - Mythomania
Cryptacize - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Curse Your Branches
David Bazan
— G —
- Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective - Middle Cyclone
Neko Case - Curse Your Branches
David Bazan - Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear - Far
Regina Spektor - Romanian Names
John Vanderslice - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
The Low Anthem - Hospice
The Antlers - Manners
Passion Pit - Goodnight Unknown
Lou Barlow
Lost in the Cloud 
Why are there almost no women on your lists? Is it because you hate women?
Hi there,
Thank you for this comment as it highlights some significant issues.
We absolutely acknowledge the underrepresentation of female artists within our lists above. Out of the 156 unique albums listed from 2000-2009, only 29 albums (18.6%) feature female musicians prominently. This figure does improve slightly in our forthcoming 2010-2019 list (66 albums feature female musicians prominently), though the imbalance remains. In making our highly subjective choices, we are in no way condoning that imbalance. With that stated, we have not excluded female artists consciously and we in no way harbour any negative attitudes toward women.
That same imbalance is also present in demographics concerning self-identifying (to our knowledge) LGBTQ+ artists or artists of colour. The vast majority of our lists are composed of indie rock/folk/pop artists and the patriarchy that permeates every level of Western culture has not spared these musical genres.
As ever, we are open to exploring artists/albums that we have missed and we encourage you to offer up any suggestions that you believe we have overlooked. We are learning and growing and appreciate any guidance.
Warm wishes,
Elijah