Top 10 EPs of the 2000s
It’s easy to overlook EPs. They’re usually intended as teasers or add-ons, just a little taste before the main course comes along. Sometimes, though, a smaller sample size can be a positive, with individual songs being given the opportunity to have more impact. On an EP, there really isn’t much room for filler. These 10 EPs are proof that good things come in small packages.
This is me officially kicking off my decade in review. I’m in the middle of my top 100 albums of the 2000s. There will be a couple lists following that and then it will be back to normal. Expect to see part one of my top 100 within the week.
10. Fiery Furnaces EP (2005) Only the Fiery Furnaces could release an “EP” that is 10 songs and over 40 minutes long. While that would count as full-length status for most, if not all bands, 40 minutes is almost a cakewalk for the Friedberger siblings. Since 2003’s Gallowsbird’s Bark, the Fiery Furnaces have been peddling on the indulgent side of music writing, overstuffing their albums with sounds and ideas. The two both seem ADD-riddled, but also prone to intense focus, creating albums the are sprawling messes – fresh ideas squirting out every which way, but so much so it’s all a little boring. You can only take so much, so a 40-minute “EP” makes sense and it also proves to be a satisfying entry point to this divisive duo. The Fiery Furnaces have never seemed so accessible.
9. Ted Leo/The Pharmacists Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead EP (2003)The first time I ever saw Ted Leo live, he was doing the one-man band thing. Just him and his guitar, no Pharmacists. Instead of doing acoustic sets, however, Leo stuck with his electric, cranked the volume, and just tore through his songs like he had a full band anyway. It was pretty great. That’s essentially what’s going on here, as Leo goes solo on seven of this album’s eight tracks (a ninth track, “(Decaying Artifact)” is just a filler), giving listeners a fresh take on past album cuts (“High Party”), a glimpse at future album cuts (“Bleeding Powers”), a handful of expertly selected and performed covers (always Leo’s forte) and a couple of new tracks that stand tall in Leo’s considerable backlog (“Sword In The Stone,” a power pop track that hits so hard you’ll hardly notice there’s no one else accompanying Leo, and “Loyal To My Sorrowful Country,” one of Leo’s most overt political statements). Granted, this EP is constructed like a half-assed addendum to a popular album, but the results satisfy as much as the real thing.
8. Cursive Burst & Bloom EP (2002)After finishing the still-stunning marital examination of Domestica, Tim Kasher discovered he had something going for him in terms of self-exploration. With that, Kasher went forward and released his version of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius with the ultra-meta Burst and Bloom EP, a precursor to 2003’s The Ugly Organ, essentially Adaptation: The Musical. Kicking off with “Sink To The Beat,” a song about being the song that opens an EP that is meant to create awareness for the upcoming full-length. I think. Doesn’t matter. It rocks just like the rest of this underrated EP. Kasher kicks off with his band’s resume and RIYL: “They’ve got a good fanbase / They’ve got integrity / They’ve got a DC sound / Shudder To Think, Fugazi / In Chapel Hill around the early 90s / This is the latest from Saddle Creek.” It’s a ploy, but it remains entertaining for this EP’s 22 minutes. Cursive would follow down this rabbit hole for the next few years to arguably diminishing returns, but Burst & Bloom shows that the impulse to go meta had some validity to it.
7. Juno & The Dismemberment Plan EP (2001)God loves a good split EP, even if only one half of the split (two songs) is what really matters to you. No offense to Juno, whose contribution (“Non-Equivalents” and a cover of DJ Shadow’s “High Noon”) are more than quality, but it’s the Dismemberment Plan’s contribution that serves to bolster this EP’s legend. With just two songs, the Plan establishes the breadth and depth of what the band could do. “The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich” catches the band at their most frenetic, bug-eyed and exciting, outpacing even the most hair-rising moments of Emergency & I. It’s perhaps the best example of “crazy D-Plan.” On the other end of the spectrum is the band’s cover of 90s pop one hit wonder Jennifer Paige. Unlike the insufferable original, “Crush” takes a stark and foreboding turn. The song sounds like it would make more sense if it were called “Stalk.” Re-appropriating pop crap is an age old indie/punk move, but here the song really does become something quite enthralling and a touch, I don’t know, menacing. It’s a testament to the Dismemberment Plan, that with two songs they can capture such different sounds, ideas and emotions.
5 & 6. Wire Read & Burn 01 & 02 (2002)For all the ground that Wire broke back in the 70s, it turned out they were equally influential in the 21st century, proving that it could be worthwhile for a new generation of bands to go the reunion route. After Wire released the first two installments of the Read & Burn EP trilogy (the third installment was released in 2007), the waters became safe for other non-mainstream acts to return, whether the result be continued artistic success (Mission Of Burma, Dinosaur Jr), financial rewards (Pixies, Gang Of Four) and, well, a reminder of how good their original work was (Big Star, The Stooges). The risk/reward is scary with a reunion. No one wants to end up a Washington Wizards Michael Jordan, only tarnishing a spotless reputation. Fortunately, with these first two EPs, Wire were able to recapture their former glory and advance the band’s sound with one fell swoop. Returning to the brutal and terse punk of 1977’s Pink Flag, Read & Burn is gnarlier and surlier than most punk albums from the last 20 years.
4. Animal Collective Fall Be Kind EP (2009)What do you do after you’ve released the best album of your career, received untold amounts of praise from both independent and mainstream press and basically cemented your status in the musical and cultural canon? Well, you release a quickie five-song EP roughly 10 months later to prove it wasn’t a fluke, that’s what you do. Fall Be Kind didn’t need to be this good, but at this point it seems like Animal Collective aren’t capable of anything less (this coming from a guy who hasn’t always been the biggest AC fanboy). What’s perhaps most impressive about Fall Be Kind is that the it shows no signs of the well running dry, even in the wake of the flawless Merriweather Post Pavilion. To have backlogged this many quality tracks is an amazing feat for any band. “Graze’s” Pied Piper thump returns the band to MPP’s life-affirming form, while “On A Highway” and “I Think I Can” show the band can still tread in murky waters while retaining forward moving melodies and “What Would I Want? Sky,” with its Grateful Dead sample and beautifully looping and layered refrains, quickly places itself at the top of the heap of “best things Anilmal Collective has ever done.” “Sky” is gorgeous and dizzying, a further notch on the belt in AC’s quest to turn the weirdest songs into party anthems. Fall Be Kind is a victory lap that deserves its own victory lap.
3. Les Savy Fav Rome (Written Upside Down) EP (2000)Les Savy Fav were already a crazy good band before they released Rome Written Upside Down), but with this one little EP, they became post-punk’s hottest commodity and a truly legendary band. You can actually pinpoint that transition for the band on this EP. It comes at the 28 second mark of opening track “I.C. Timer,” when a little post-production tweaking adds a digital glitch on singer Tim Harrington’s voice when he says “seventy-seven.” It halts Harrington’s delivery, but it fits totally within the rhythm of the song. It’s an exhilarating moments that proves that Les Savy Fav are working on another level than most bands. From that moment, Les Savy Fav really take off, delivering the most smart, jagged and brittle rock this side of DC. It’s an angsty 18-minutes, but these five tracks remain endlessly quotable and durable. For years, Rome was the standard bearer for not just Les Savy Fav’s career, but for any band thinking about picking up a guitar. It wasn’t until Les Savy Fav released Inches in 2004 that anyone came close to this kind of anxious, dance-happy excellence.
2. TV On The Radio Young Liars EP (2003)Here’s how good Young Liars is: for their underrated full-length 2004 album Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes , TVOTR cherry picked Young Liars’ “Staring At The Sun” as its first single and, ultimately, it’s best track. On Young Liars, however, it’s not even in the top three (OK, that might be arguable, but still).TVOTR’s simple early days, when they weren’t so focused on production and layers of sounds, never actually seemed particularly simple. The sound on this, really their first major release (if you don’t count OK Calculator), is plenty textured, with producer David Sitek and company pairing their warm and angular sound with layers of electronica, gospel, barbershop and post-rock. It was always an ambitious sound, even if the band we’re merely going a cappella on an old Pixies song. Still, to me, this EP remains TVOTR’s finest hour (or 25 minutes). The band’s ambition level has increased over time, but never have the songs been this good and the mood this sustained.
1. Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EPEven at the time, Fleet Foxes’ music didn’t sound like any kind of revolution. Their cavernous production recalled Grizzly Bear, Lead singer Robin Pecknold’s honey-sweet voice recalled My Morning Jackets’ Jim James and the whole Pac Northwest bringing singing back vibe had been done by countless other bands. On top of that, a lot of Pecknold’s songwriting pointed even further back, with notable touchstones like CSNY, the Band, Judee Sill and definitely Fleetwood Mac. But while the influences are easy to place and the sound easy to pigeonhole, Sun Giant remains special, a small debut that feels like a major event. Fleet Foxes’ trick is that their vocals are exquisitely pure. Every member sings and every single one of them has a special gift. I usually don’t require wonderful vocalists, but the band’s performance here (especially on “Drops In The River,” “English House” and the stunning “Mykonos”) prove what a wonderful and truly transcendent instrument the human voice can be. Similar to the two EPs that precede Sun Giant on this list, Fleet Foxes were unable to top the short player with their subsequent full length (I originally said something to the tune of “half as many good ideas over twice as many songs,” but Fleet Foxes is still growing on me), but it really says the more about the quality of this EP than any sort of lack on the LP (same could be said for Les Savy Fav and TV On The Radio). In less than 19 minutes, Sun Giant proves that it doesn’t take long to effectively move hearts and perk ears.