Best local LPs of the decade

10. Private Dancer

ALBUM: “Trouble Eyes” (2008)

LABEL: Learning Curve Records

It’s not complicated. It’s not critically lauded and Solid Gold’s “Bodies of Water” would serve as a trendier pick. But “Trouble Eyes,” simply put, is 2008’s best local release. The group’s punk-meets-surf sound is honed to a tee and tracks like “I See Trouble,” “Do the Hot Dog” and “Do You Like to Read?” possess stellar replay value.

9. Caroline Smith & The Goodnight Sleeps

ALBUM: “Backyard Tent Set” (2008)

LABEL: Self-released

Haley Bonar is a better songwriter and Lucy Michelle’s band has more complex arrangements, but Caroline Smith’s debut is far and away the best Twin Cities girl release of the decade. Smith brims with charm throughout the disc’s 10 tracks but never comes off grating. What sets “Backyard” apart, though, is her knack for earnest lyricism and tot-notch pop sensibilities.

8. STNNNG

ALBUM: “Dignified Sissy” (2005)

LABEL: Modern Radio Record Label

“Dignified Sissy” is blessed with album art that brutally and hilariously describes the music within. The cover, by the way, is men with rifles at war with vicious polar bears in the arctic; it’s a perfect metaphor for the music … er, sort of. A full-on punk guitar assault, “Dignified Sissy” features singer Chris Besinger sing-talking while the instruments do battle around him. It’s a poppier, funnier Black Flag record for Minnesotans.

7. P.O.S.

ALBUM: “Never Better” (2009)

LABEL: Rhymesayers

Tough call to rank this one ahead of P.O.S.’s 2006 LP “Audition,” but his almost militaristic intensity on “Never Better” simply does more. The production is raw and forceful and P.O.S.’s machine gun flow overtly calls the listener out. It’s a challenging listen, but a few spins of tracks like “Purexed” and the title track reveal “Never Better”’s density doesn’t mask its quality; it simply makes you work for it.

6. Lifter Puller

ALBUM: “Fiestas + Fiascos” (2000)

LABEL: Frenchkiss Records

Finn’s pen was sharp. The band’s loose, indie sound was on. And Nightclub Dwight (possibly) died. Lifter Puller died with this album too, but it went out strong with a concept record ripe with Finn-isms (themes like liquid tans and dripping wet things) and standouts like “Lake Street is for Lovers,” “Touch My Stuff” and “The Flex and Buff Result.”

5. The Plastic Constellations

ALBUM: “Mazatlan” (2004)

LABEL: 2024 Records

“We wrote this/and laced up our shoes/we came to play” sings frontman Aaron Mader on “Mazatlan”’s opening track. Somehow, that song, like many on the record, melds humor with unrelenting anthemic energy. It’s a post-punk cocktail that doesn’t take itself seriously or compromise integrity — there’s obvious depth to the arrangements. The tempo-shifts, the enthusiasm and the general accessibility make “Mazatlan” an underrated local classic.

4. Atmosphere

ALBUM: “God Loves Ugly” (2002)

LABEL: Rhymesayers/Fat Beats

Atmosphere’s third LP epitomized and perfected Slug’s self-loathing. If his shtick gets tiresome on later releases (it does), “God Loves Ugly” balances harder-edge (“One of a Kind,” “Shrapnel”) with sentiment (“Modern Man’s Hustle,” “F*@K You Lucy”), and the protagonist remains a skilled and relatable anti-hero throughout. Also, any record that boasts so many songs every Minneapolitan knows is doing something right.

3. Low

ALBUM: “Things We Lost in the Fire” (2001)

LABEL: Kranky

Why is “slowcore” a genre? Yes, Low doesn’t play fast. A lot of bands don’t. It’s a stupid genre name and a stupid use of a suffix. Rant aside, “Things We Lost in the Fire” is a lush, thoughtful and gorgeous record. It’s a record ripe with Sparhawk and Parker’s pitch-perfect vocal melodies, and it both tests and rewards the listener’s patience. Culminating with the insanely poignant ode to Parker’s child “In Metal;” “Things” ranked as one of finest national indie records of the decade by Pitchfork, coming in 117th.

2. Brother Ali

ALBUM: “Shadows on the Sun” (2004)

LABEL: Rhymesayers

Before Brother Ali was a happy suburban father, he was a hungry street poet — one who would readily smack you in the mouth. “Shadows on the Sun,” Brother Ali’s Rhymesayers debut, shows a green emcee in mid-career form. “Room with a View” is an urgent introduction and “Forest Whitaker ” is a local treasure. Arguably Ant’s best production effort, Brother Ali confidently and cogitatively ushered himself in as a local force.

1. The Hold Steady

ALBUM: “Separation Sunday” (2005)

LABEL: Frenchkiss Records

Technically a Brooklyn band, but screw it. Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn put his Lifter Puller-era characters to bed with that group’s final LP “Fiestas and Fiascos” (also on this list). His new group’s first LP, “Almost Killed Me,” birthed a new clique of hapless Twin Cities deviants — Holly, Charlemagne and Gideon. It’s here, on “Separation Sunday,” where Finn breathed the most life into their collective story arch and, in turn, produced the Hold Steady’s most realized crop of tunes.

“Banging Camp” is a power chord/baptismal orgasm; “Multitude of Casualties” is as liberated musically as it is lyrically; “How a Resurrection Really Feels” is a perfect, conclusive capper to a record that navigates gripping storytelling and dynamically structured songs better than any other record of the decade. It may not be as cool to like the Hold Steady as it once was, but match any of these songs up to other groups and it’s really no contest.

And now, other local media-types picks!

Mary Lucia

DJ — 89.3 The Current

P.O.S. — “Never Better” (2009)

Tim O’Reagan — “Tim O’Reagan” (2006)

Vicious Vicious — “Parade” (2007)

Death To Our Enemies — “Death To Our Enemies” (2007)

Idle Hands — “The Hearts We Broke on the Way to the Show” (2009)

Divorcee — Music For Clean-up Men, Breakdown and In-Betweeners (2005)

Little Man — “Soulful Automatic” (2007)

Ol’ Yeller — “Good Luck” (2006)

Atmosphere — “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” (2008)

White Light Riot — “Atomism” (2007)

Jay Gabler

Associate editor — TC Daily Planet

Leadbelly — “Private Party November 21, 1948” [recorded in Minneapolis, released in 2000]

Minnesota Orchestra — “Beethoven symphony cycle”

Paul Westerberg — “Come Feel Me Tremble” (2003)

Atmosphere — “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” (2008)

Peter Wolf Crier —”Inter-Be” (2009)

Maps of Norway — “Die Off Songbird” (2008)

Walker Kong — “There Goes the Sun” (2001)

Cloud Cult — “Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)” (2008)

Charlie Parr — “1922” (2002)

Haley Bonar — “Big Star” (2008)

Kate Iverson

Editor in chief — l'etoile magazine, arts editor SecretsoftheCity.com

Atmosphere — “God Loves Ugly” (2002)

Jeremy Messersmith — “The Silver City” (2008)

P.O.S. — “Audition” (2006)

Lifter Puller — “Fiestas and Fiascos” (2000)

Astronaut Wife — “Flying Saucer” (2003)

Tapes n' Tapes — “The Loon” (2006)

Doomtree — Doomtree (2008)

The Hold Steady — “Boys and Girls in America” (2006)

Cloud Cult — “Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)” (2008)

The Soviettes — All

Jahna Peloquin

Contributing writer/stylist — Vita.MN

Solid Gold — "Bodies of Water" (2008)

Lookbook — "I Fear You, My Darkness" (2008)

Thunder in the Valley — "A Long, Long Walk" (2006)

Low — "Things We Lost in the Fire" (2001)

Faux Jean — "Kiss Life on the Lips" (2002)

Vampire Hands — "Hannah in the Mansion" (2009)

Jeremy Messersmith — "The Silver City" (2008)

12 Rods — "Lost Time" (2002)

Melodious Owl —"Melodious Owl" (2005)

P.O.S. — "Never Better" (2009)

Tom Loftus

Owner — Modern Radio Record Label

Signal To Trust — "Golden Armour" (2007)

STNNNG — "Dignified Sissy" (2005)

Lifter Puller — "Fiestas and Fiascos" (2000)

Low — "Things We Lost in The Fire" (2001)

Malachi Constant — "Zenith" (2002)

Volante — "45 Degrees North" (2001)

The Plastic Constellations — "We Appreciate You" (2008)

Vampire Hands — "Me & You Cherry Red" (2008)

The Chris Danforths — "Outside of Outer Space" (2003)

Skoal Kodiak — "Three People Are Keep Having Grape Emergency's" (2007)