Diversions :: The Whigs On Albums of The Decade

(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)

With three weeks left in 2009, we asked the Whigs vocalist/guitarist Parker Gispert to run down his ten favorite LPs of the decade. The Whigs have a new album (their third) due in 2010. Stay tuned.
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1. Modest Mouse :: The Moon and Antarctica I was in high school and had just gotten into Modest Mouse.   It was the days of Kazaa and Napster and I had been downloading live versions of the songs that would eventually constitute this record when I saw them at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta.   The new songs blew my mind in the live setting and then supremely blew my mind when I heard the record.   Truly an artistically tasteful embrace of what I assume was a larger recording budget.

2. Godspeed You Black Emperor :: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven The seemingly eternal pitch ascension that climaxes into the   “Gathering Storm” movement of this disc is bewildering.   I don’t know how many frets are on the stringed instruments I’m hearing, I don’t know how a piece of modern rock music could possibly create more tension.   My favorite six and a half minutes of music from the decade.   The only time I had the privilege of seeing them live they opened the show with the title track and I missed it because I was studying for an exam.   I’ve now spitefully repressed anything I learned for that exam.

+ Check out the rest of Gispert's picks after the jump...

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