Eventually I will break this vicious cycle of posting nothing but Mike Mixes on my site. But I fear it won’t come soon enough: good music is piling up way too fast. I’ll try my best to write about it all eventually, but in the meantime here’s a short list of amazing albums: High Violet by The National, Astro Coast by Surfer Blood, The Monitor by Titus Andronicus, and Kollaps Tradixionales by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. And that’s only half of what I hope to post. I have my work cut out for me.

While the introduction to Mike Mix 18 may be short on words, the mix is definitely long on good music. It’s also fairly upbeat, slowing down only a few tracks from the end. Highlights include “I Can Feel a Hot One” by Manchester Orchestra, “If Work Permits” by The Format, and “Satellite Skin” by Modest Mouse. But who am I kidding, Mike Mix 18 is one big highlight.

As always, I strongly recommend listening to the mix in the order presented below. Download the entire thing here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

Initially I didn’t think I could write this post. It seemed like an impossible task. How on earth was I supposed to come up with and then rank my favorite albums from the past decade? I have enough trouble doing it for just one year. There’s simply too much good music out there (despite my occasional whining to the contrary).

But when I really started thinking about it, I came to the following conclusion: a decade is a terrible thing to waste. In all reality, I may not get another opportunity like this. After all, who knows what I’ll be doing ten years from now. Also, musically speaking, the past decade was an important one for me. Over the course of ten years, my muted appreciation of music gradually transformed into a full-blown obsession. I now spend most of my free time searching for, writing about, and listening to music.

In the end I guess it was a pretty easy decision. I would’ve been extremely foolish to let the decade pass without weighing in on my favorite albums. It was a lot of work, but I managed to compile a list of my 30 favorite albums from 2000-2009. Not necessarily the best or most important albums, but those that had the greatest impact on me.

With all that said, I proudly present the Top 30 Albums of the Decade…

ALBUMS 30 – 21

ALBUMS 20 – 11

ALBUMS 10 – 1

Like I said, compiling this list was no easy task. In the end, tons of amazing albums got axed. Check the comments to see which ones barely missed the cut. And leave comments to let me know which albums I missed completely!

Sometimes I wish I was still a kid. Life was so much simpler back then — playing catch in the front yard until the last rays of light left the sky, building skateboard ramps in the driveway, cruising aimlessly around the neighborhood on my bike. No worrying about credit card bills, career paths, or social networks. No worrying about financial meltdowns, global warming, or terrorist attacks.

The problems confronting the world today seem unparalleled. But maybe they’ve always been this big; maybe I just never noticed them as a kid. And they’re getting pretty hard to ignore now. It seems like the more I learn, the more serious the problems become.

So how do we respond when faced with such daunting challenges? Barack Obama offered an answer to this question at his inauguration yesterday: stand united and work together towards a better future. It won’t be easy, but it needs to start happening. Soon.

And although I agree with him, I still miss the carefree days of childhood. Oddly enough, I’ve recently discovered two songs that remind me of those simpler times. Which is one of the many reasons I love music: a few well-placed notes can transport you to a different time and place, or even conjure up a long-forgotten memory.

The first song is “Kids” from MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular. In addition to its fitting title, “Kids” features a ridiculously catchy hook and some vague lyrics about growing up. After listening to this song a few times, it’s easy to see why MGMT topped so many lists at the end of 2008.

The second song, “Hands Remember” by Seabear (aka Sindri Már Sigfússon), sounds like a peaceful dream. A gorgeous string section accompanies Sigfússon’s gentle vocals. Again, the lyrics have a nostalgic feel, talking about revisiting and repeating the past. If you like this song, I highly recommend checking out the rest of The Ghost That Carried Us Away. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while.

[mp3] MGMT :: Kids
[mp3] Seabear :: Hands Remember