The 25 Greatest Hawaii Albums of the New Century

In 2004, we compiled a list of Hawaii’s 50 greatest musical albums. At the time, the most recent release to be honored was from 1997. An amazing amount of music has come out since then, and now, more than a decade into the 21st Century, we wanted to know what the best of it was. To find out, we assembled a panel of esteemed musicians, historians and producers to vote for the albums released since 2000 that it felt represented the best in Hawaii music.  The results, tabulated according to a weighted point system, are a testament to the vitality of Hawaii’s music. After slack key compilations won the Hawaiian-category Grammy award year after year, the Mainland may have gotten the idea that we play nothing but instrumental guitar, but as this list shows, the scene is a lot more diverse than that. From deeply traditional Hawaiian-language chants to breezy surf rock, the new century of Hawaii music is packed with gems.

— Honolulu Magazine