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The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 20-1

These 20 best records of the 2000s feature some familiar faces, but also several that have grown more fond in memory.

                                      
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These 20 best records of the 2000s feature some familiar faces, but also several that have grown more fond in memory.

Ain't nobody as dope as the 124th most acclaimed album of all time, so fresh and so clean. It loves it when you stare at it. A hip-hop game changer is this week's Counterbalance. Break!

From the minimalist indie rock of Spoon to the extravagant performance by OutKast, day one of Forecastle did not disappoint.

The middle day of the festival on Saturday featured a strong draw for the rock ‘n' roll crowd.

Perfect weather and fantastic music lent Governors Ball 2014 the sensation of escaping from New York, even though the island itself sits snug atop the East River.

New York City's major rock-music fest, Governors Ball, has got Outkast's only regional festival appearance as well as a reunion of The Strokes.

Schweeet! Awesome mix of a huge range of Andre 3000 tracks by the Last Skeptik and you can download it. Nuff said.

So your favorites didn’t win, huh? Get over it. Bashing the Grammys is too easy. Try recognizing them as markers of what is happening in the music industry, not on your iPod.

It bears a lot of similarities to its rather stunning predecessor, but so what? If you're going to release a sequel to a great album, you might as well play to your strengths, which is exactly what Big Boi does.

Homage, the Portland Cello Project's latest masterful collection of artfully arranged takes on pop pieces, works perfectly as both background music and as an album that rewards attention.

Free download on Converse website starting February 23.

Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest" is just the latest song that beguiles as many fans as it detracts.

The way some of us disparage Southern rap, you'd think rappers like Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame had recorded a record dissing Kool G. Rap and Big Daddy Kane.

Half of rap's most exciting duo steps out on his own and puts his left foot forward.

It would appear as if the Dynamic Duo have bitten off more than they can chew, because the results are, while brilliant in places, overall astonishingly mediocre.

Reinventing hip-hop is hard work. And yet it must be done, if for no other reason than to repromote the idea that it's been reinvented. Again.

Audiotistic isn't/wasn't meant to be purely hip-hop, though. Billed as the Future Sound Festival in Southern Cali, it's typically been a cutting edge sort of venue with electronica and house at the center of its agenda.