"Totally Awesome..."

so this came across the wire from Pitchfork last nite:

Remember when everyone was partying like it was 1999 because it was, in fact, 1999? That was 10 years ago. Yes, the first decade of the 21st century-- "The Aughts"-- is coming to a close, and for music fanatics such as ourselves, that means it's a good time to make some lists. Pitchfork rounds up its favorite albums, tracks, and videos at the end of every year, of course, but once in a while we go all-out and tackle an entire decade-- The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s, the Top 100 Albums of the 1990s, and so on. Since Pitchfork has been around for all of the 2000s, we've decided to take this opportunity to put together a comprehensive story of what happened in music in the last 10 years, the centerpiece of which will be three extensive lists-- the first of which kicks off August 17, a week from this coming Monday. And we'll have a lot of other juicy features to sate your appetite for retrospection along the way.

It all kicks off on Monday, August 17, when we'll begin a weeklong countdown of our Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s (most of which you'll be able to listen to), before winding to a close the week of September 28, when we present the Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. In between these two massive lists, we'll also be posting a list of the greatest videos and an extensive re-tracing of the news of the decade-- not just what happened, but what it all meant. And we've commissioned in-depth essays from several of our contributors that will zoom in and expand upon the many changes music and culture went through in the last 10 years-- the rise of the mp3, the changing nature of local music scenes, the shifting relationship between performer and audience, and more. And finally, we'll be hearing from the artists themselves, with a decade-spanning Guest List feature, in which musicians will run down their favorites.

In the meantime, the half-decade albums and singles lists that we ran in 2005 give some indication of what we thought of the first five years. Of course, a lot has changed since then. I mean, surely, a better album has come along since 'Kid A', right? (...Right?)

Here's the schedule of what's to come:

August 17-21: The Top 500 Songs of the 2000s

August 24: Eric Harvey on the social history of the mp3

August 27: Tom Ewing on the decade in pop

August 31: The Top 50 Videos of the 2000s

September 8: Guest Lists, Decade Edition

September 14: Marc Masters on the decade in noise

September 16: Nitsuh Abebe on the mainstreaming of indie

September 21: The Decade in News

September 28-October 2: The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s

http://pitchfork.com/