Millennium Mixtape: DJ Toph

Putting together this list was a surprisingly introspective exercise. I was born in 1993, always most interested in newer music, and didn’t really learn to search for music more off the beaten path until my college years (2012-16). So for all intents and purposes, this isn’t just my top 25 albums of the millennium, but also the top 25 albums of my life.

As I sifted through my old playlists, concert list, and memory, it became clear to me that the albums that stood out as worthy for inclusion in my mind weren’t necessarily those that are the most critically acclaimed or technically impressive, but rather those that are full of songs that I keep coming back to because they transport me to a specific time, place, moment, thought, or feeling. The serenity of a Spring night’s sunset on the porch with friends and War on Drugs on in the background. Sweaty Summer runs during the anxious unknown of a Pandemic with Parannoul and Modern Baseball blasting through the headphones. And the calming blanket of Justin Vernon’s falsetto on a night in bed where insomnia has once again taken hold.

It’s these moments and connections that in my mind keeps us music lovers coming back, over and over, looking for that next album or song that’ll create another notch in the timeline of our lives. And I’m excited to think about what more the next 25 years of music will bring, and new memories it’ll create!