Paste's Best 50 Albums of the Last Ten Years is Indie-tastic

Paste’s 50 Best Albums of the Decade list, out today, is a mixture of A-list indie rock standards and token hip hop and mainstream picks. These selections are mostly successful releases that cater to a white audience of semi-alternative persuasion. Even if this roster is more a reflection of who's reading than the music itself, though, at least they climbed the mountain -- and hey, the album streams are cool.

Here is the list.

50 Björk - Vespertine (Elektra, 2001)
49 Libertines - Up The Bracket (Rough Trade, 2002)
48 Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose (Interscope, 2004)
47 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Domino, 2006)
46 Once - Music From The Motion Picture (Columbia, 2007)
45 Radiohead - In Rainbows (self-released, 2007)
44 The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music (Lost Highway, 2003)
43 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian, 2007)
42 Jay-Z - The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella, 2001)
41 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Capitol, 2007)
40 TV on the Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain (Interscope, 2006)
39 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge, 2007)
38 Gentleman Jesse - Introducing Gentleman Jesse (Douchemaster, 2008)
37 Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (Sub Pop, 2004)
36 Pedro The Lion - Control (Jade Tree, 2002)
35 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino, 2009)
34 Various artists - O Brother Where Art Thou? (Mercury, 2001)
33 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (Capitol, 2002)
32 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Warner Bros., 2002)
31 Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (Barsuk, 2003)
30 Damien Rice - O (Vector, 2003)
29 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar, 2008)
28 Paul Westerberg - Folker (Vagrant, 2004)
27 Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day (New West, 2003)
26 Over the Rhine - Ohio (2004)
25 Sigur Rós - Med ud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust (XL, 2008)
24 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop, 2003)
23 Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (Bloodshot, 2000)
22 The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (Capitol, 2006)
21 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL, 2008)
20 The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet, 2007)
19 Beck - Sea Change (Interscope, 2002)
18 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (Universal Republic, 2007)
17 Kanye West - The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella, 2004)
16 Rufus Wainwright - Want One (Dreamworks, 2003)
15 Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses (ATO, 2002)
14 The Strokes - Is This It (RCA, 2001)
13 Josh Ritter - The Animal Years (V2, 2006)
12 Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (Merge, 2002)
11 The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant, 2006)
10 M.I.A. - Arular (Interscope, 2005)
09 The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You (Columbia/American, 2009)
08 OutKast - Stankonia (Arista/LaFace, 2000)
07 Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) (Acony, 2001)
06 The White Stripes - Elephant (V2, 2003)
05 Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek, 2005)
04 Radiohead - Kid A (Capitol, 2000)
03 Arcade Fire - Funeral (Merge, 2004)
02 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch, 2002)
01 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005)

[Via Stereogum]

Yeah, we did talk about it before, I think. I understand that their perspective is primarily focused on the people who consider Relix to jam-band friendly but Harp too rock friendly, but it has always bothered me that their tagline is "Signs of Life in Culture, Music and Film" which implies that there is no life 15 minutes from their offices. I mean, anyone that thinks that a bloody Ludacris album (even his last one) has less "signs of life" than a Josh Ritter album is kidding themselves. Also, it bothered the hell out of me that when they did their international issue a while back, they covered hip-hop in other countries, but don't cover it here. It's like hip-hop is only authentic when it's from another country and doesn't have references to women's anatomy or drugs.