I’ve never felt comfortable writing about music. Sports? Of course. Struggles with anxiety? Yup. Music? TERROR.
This likely stems from my insecurity when it comes to the music I like, combined with my inability to talk or write about music in the technical sense. I’ll use words here like “produced” and truth-be-told, I have no idea what I’m actually talking about.
The music that I like is very white and for most of my life trended very, very male. And you’ll see a lot of that here, if for some reason you’ve decided to tackle this very long post, which I doubt many, if any, of you will.
These albums are ranked solely on their importance to me. This is important to stress. I am not ranking the 100 greatest pieces of art in the 2010s. I am ranking albums based on how much I, the writer of this post, enjoyed and continue to enjoy, these albums.
The difference between 100 and, say, 50, isn’t huge. The albums at the top of this list are ones that I connected with on a grand scale. The ones closer to the top of the post, well, I’ll explain each of them, but suffice to say, they each had their moment. Some of those moments were just shorter.
There are great or critically-acclaimed albums from this decade that I simply did not connect with. I’ve tried to get better at just accepting that as being what it is, but I still feel like I should have liked “Lemonade” or one of FKA Twigs’ albums more. But I didn’t. Again, I am not a music expert or an authority. I’m fully aware of the lack of diversity in this list.
The only rule here is that I limited each credited artist or band to 3 albums. As I’ll explain, there is one artist who appears here five times, as a member of a band, as a producer, and as a solo artist.
So let’s get it started on a weird one or two, shall we?
100. Taking Back Sunday “Tidal Wave”
At the start of the decade, if you had told me that this list would start with a Taking Back Sunday album, I would have institutionalized myself. I strive for personal growth in all that I do. And yet, here’s a band from my time in high school, creeping onto a list I’m writing as a 35 year old. It’s here largely because it’s a fun album that felt like growth from a band that had previously been fairly retrograde in its treatment of its female antagonists. To be clear, there are clunkers here and it’s not a “good” album, but it felt like a nice link back to my previous decade.
99. Waka Flocka Flame “Flockaveli”
From the moment this album begins (with cartoon gun noises that continue throughout), you can tell you’re listening to the “Abbey Road” of the 2010s. Kidding aside, this was, for a good chunk of 2010, my go-to “hype up” album. I could be asleep and if you played “Karma” I would jump out of bed and sprint 5 miles through brick walls. This is hip-hop very much of a certain era. The production is miles beyond the mumble-core, Soundcloud rap of the current moment, but the lyrical content is, um, not exactly on a level with Kendrick and other contemporaries.
98. Bright Eyes “The People’s Key”
This will probably remain the final Bright Eyes album. Released in 2011 it was such a departure from every previous Bright Eyes album, filled with electric guitars. In fact, if you had said this was a Desaparecidos album and not a Bright Eyes one, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. This is not the best Bright Eyes album, but for as long as Conor Oberst continues to make music, I will continue to listen to it and hold it in regard.
97. Foster The People “Torches
History will not be kind to a band like Foster the People. They will be the “Pumped Up Kicks” band forever and ever. For those who looked beyond that one song, you found a really interesting indie/dance-pop-rock piece of music. This is one of those albums that I’m less proud of myself for listening to. There’s nothing cool about a Foster the People album, but alas, I can’t deny that I enjoyed this one.
96. Cut Copy “Zonoscope”
This is from my electronic phase, which I never actually had. But this was probably the first guitar-less non-hip hop album that ever truly pulled me in. It opens with “Need You Now,” a beautiful, pulsing 6 minute love song that is all build throughout. Elsewhere, you’ll get a very 80’s new wave feel from “Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution.”
95. Death Cab for Cutie “Codes and Keys”
Death Cab’s “Transatlanticism” is my favorite album of all time. No other piece of music has ever captured how I felt at a time in my life like that album and I often find myself swept back to that era of my life when I play it. “Codes and Keys” is not that album, but it is the end of an era, so to speak, for Death Cab for Cutie. This is the last album with Chris Walla fully on board and really, the last Death Cab album I found myself emotionally invested in. Also, I once tried to introduce Chris Walla to Madeline Albright. My life used to be so weird.
94. Adult Jazz “Gist Is”
This is surely the weirdest album on this list (I say surely because I’m looking at a list I made and writing these capsules in order, so maybe I’m forgetting something). Amanda once walked into a room where this was playing and said, “What is this?” It’s electronic, the vocals are at times buried beneath layers of drum, and the most lovely song on the album is called “Pigeon Skulls.”
93. Carter Tanton “Jettison The Valley
Tanton is a member of Lower Dens, but this solo effort, with contributions from Sharon Van Etten and Marissa Nadler, is his only appearance on this list either solo or in a band. This is simply a lovely album and a really great “side project.”
92. Telekinesis “12 Desperate Straight Lines”
A fun indie rock album. Isn’t that enough? “Country Lane” is my favorite track.
91. Destroyer “Ken”
Dan Bejar (of New Pornographers fame) is a wonderful weirdo who makes weird music under this moniker. He’ll make another appearance much higher on this list, but for now, here’s “Ken,” an electro-pop album from one of the most creative lyricists of this era. It’s not a perfect Destroyer album (again, be patient, we’ll get there), but it’s a nice breezy listen.
90. Arcade Fire “Everything Now”
Oh my! Look! It’s the Arcade Fire album that everybody is supposed to hate! And you know what, sure, it’s not “Funeral.” Nobody is making another “Funeral,” and that’s perfectly okay. This album is a showcase of the evolution of Arcade Fire. I think it’s a better record than its predecessor (“Reflektor,” which would have been number 102 on this list). I know that we’re all supposed to hate when bands who make classic albums don’t retire, but I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to listen to the new stuff. Oh, and we’ll be talking about Arcade Fire again, but you’ll have to wait a long while for that.
89. Allison Crutchfield “Tourist in This Town”
This is Crutchfield’s first (and to date, only) solo LP and it’s a solid effort with a handful of truly excellent pop-tinged rock songs that dominated my early 2017. I also saw her recently in Silver Lake, but I didn’t bother her, even though I’m sure she’d be stoked to make this list.
88. Peter, Bjorn, and John “Gimme Some”
These are the guys who made that whistling song that you remember from last decade. That album was really good and I’m here to report that they continue to make music. I like some of it, like this album from 2011. The thing I’ve always really liked about PBJ is their vocal harmonies. And, much like the whistling song that you remember, they’re damn good at writing hooky earworms.
87. Into It. Over It. “Intersections”
This was the first time that music critics told me I was cool for liking emo music. Previously, I was very uncool. But now…
86. Lykke Li “Wounded Rhymes”
Two Swedish artists in the last three selections. Sweden is taking over. Lykke Li makes very, very sad music, often over pulsing drums. Her voice is beautiful, I think most so on this album. One of the songs is called “Sadness is a Blessing.” She’s upfront with what you’re getting.
85. Adult Mom “Soft Spots”
Such a lovely album, albeit a very short one. The music is jangly, evoking a 1990s indie rock sound. The lyrics often tell highly specific, first-person stories, like on the gorgeous “J Station.” I happened to hear that song on an indie radio station somewhere in North Carolina, further validating my belief that it’s a good idea to drive long distances to see minor league baseball.
84. Whitney “Light Upon the Lake”
Plucked straight out of 1965, this is a truly beautiful album, full of waltzy guitar lines. The most striking thing to me the first time I listened to this album was how the vocals were placed out in front of the guitars and drums and horns, which felt so innovative for an album that was actually released in 2016.
83. The Hotelier “Goodness”
The cover of this album is a group of elderly naked people standing in a meadow. There are three comically silly interludes that were clearly not meant to be silly. In between all of that though are such perfectly produced, emotional (“emo” for short) songs about life and death, two of my favorite subjects. If not for the interludes, I’d probably be writing this much, much later in the process. “Sun” is my favorite song on the album. Listen to that if you want an idea of what to expect.
82. Kendrick Lamar “To Pimp a Butterfly”
I feel like I’m committing some kind of act of sacrilege putting a Kendrick Lamar album this low. But here’s the thing about “To Pimp a Butterfly:” it’s a great album, so perfectly of the moment that it was released, but it’s also very, very long to the point of feeling bloated at times. If you’re offended, “DAMN” is much higher.
81. The Men “Open Your Heart”
You like blues rock? Cool. Punk? Gotcha. Hardcore? Yup. Country? Kind of (there is a song called “Country Song”). My reaction to my first listen to this album was something along the lines of “What the hell did I just listen to?” You can’t really pin down The Men, on any album. This is their best according to me. There’s beauty here and ugliness and when it’s over, you’ll likely have the same reaction I did 7 years ago.
80. The National “I Am Easy To Find”
I had a hard time trying to decide what to do with albums from 2019. I didn’t want to over-rank any of them, but I also didn’t want to under-rank. It’s hard comparing the importance of something a few months old versus something that you’ve had in your life for 8 or 9 years. Anyway, here’s the first album from 2019. This feels like an under-rank, in the pre-emptive sense. Nearly every track on this album features Matt Berninger accompanied by a different female vocalist, making for the most unique National album to date. The accompanying short film is gut-wrenching, as one would expect a short film set to The National’s music to be. I have a feeling that if I were to re-rank these albums in five years, this album would be much higher than 80.
79. Generationals “Heza”
Generationals released four albums this decade and truth be told, each had their moment for me. In fact, I may have overplayed each Generationals album to some extent. So none of them had a ton of lasting power, save for “Heza.” This is Generationals at their “toe-tappiest” and, for me, few artists I listened to throughout this decade wrote more infectious songs.
78. Delta Spirit “History From Below”
Come, gather round and listen to an album that begins with a song called “9/11.” Delta Spirit would go on to release a handful of other albums this decade, but only this one left a lasting impact on me. And there’s a certain warmth I feel when I hear “Golden State,” especially now as a resident of that place.
77. Tennis “Cape Dory”
The story behind this album is a little hokey (married couple sails and writes an album). There’s also a strong parallel for me between Tennis and Delta Spirit. Each made a number of albums during this decade, but only had one that had an impact on my listening. This is a really pretty album with a low-fi, 1960s Laurel Canyon vibe. It had been a few years since I went back and re-listened to this (until I undertook this project) and I’m glad I got to come back to it.
76. Haim “Something to Tell You”
The second album from the sisters Haim was bigger sounding, though for me, not necessarily better. That said, you’d be hard pressed to find a band more skilled at making incredibly catchy, harmony-filled music than Haim.
75. Pinegrove “Cardinal”
It’s emo! But it’s a little country!
74. The New Pornographers “Together”
This is the New Pornographers at their best this decade. AC Newman, Neko Case, and Dan Bejar each get their moments to shine and each do.
73. Into It. Over It. “Standards”
I made the comment on the other Into It. Over It. album on this list that emo became cool again this decade. Amanda very astutely said recently it’s because the people who were told it wasn’t cool 15 years ago are now the tastemakers. I think she’s right. Anyway, this is a really lovely record. Evan Thomas Weiss (the man behind the clunky moniker) knows his way around hooks and bouncy melodies.
72. Houndmouth “Little Neon Limelight”
71. Lord Huron “Strange Trails”
For whatever reason, in 2015, I got really into pop rock and thus, these two bands landed at #3 and #2 on my year-end album list. I couldn’t tell you which one was which. It doesn’t matter. Much like Foster the People, I’m a little ashamed that each of these records are on here, but, again, I cannot deny that they more than had their moments. The Lord Huron record is very big and melodramatic, but also undeniably well-produced and full of soaring choruses . Houndmouth had a song in a car commercial that was a very good pop song.
70. Langhorne Slim “The Way We Move”
Speaking of car commercials, you’ve heard plenty of Langhorne Slim songs if you’ve ever watched TV. He’s at his best when he’s playing a good old-fashioned stomper and there are plenty of those on “The Way We Move.” And I’ll never not love an album that ends with a person screaming “And I’m not dead anymore.”
69. Waxahatchee “Cerulean Salt”
Katie Crutchfield will make two more appearances on this list. I think she’s one of the best songwriters in music today.
68. Chvrches “Every Open Eye”
There was no more vexing band in the 2010s for me than Chvrches. They should have been my favorite band of the decade. Scottish band, fronted by a dynamic woman making expertly produced, big, electronic-leaning rock songs. And yet, no Chvrches album has ever truly been perfect. This feels unfair (to criticize a band for making two appearances on this dumb list), but I’ve always wanted more from Chvrches records. When you want one more big, anthemic song, Lauren Mayberry hands the microphone off to the guy who warbles his way through some dreadful song. It’s a testament to her strength as the leader of the band and the way that she commands the vocals that their records are as good as they are. And they are definitely good, despite my negativity.
67. Bon Iver “Bon Iver”
There was a point at which, probably after the first listen, I assumed this would be my album of the decade. It did not, alas, have that kind of staying power. This is Justin Vernon’s most accessible record as Bon Iver (Big Red Machine, his side project with The Nationals’ Aaron Dessner, is slightly more accessible and also missed the cut by a hair). This album wraps itself around the listener and takes them to another place, which seems like maybe too on the nose of a statement to make about an album whose song titles are almost all physical places. Regardless, this is my favorite Justin Vernon record.
66. The War on Drugs “A Deeper Understanding
A lot of bands in the 2010s tried to do Bruce Springsteen, but nobody did it as well as The War on Drugs. This is the weakest album of their catalog, for me, which I think says a lot about how highly I hold this band.
65. Best Coast “Fade Away”
Only one EP made this list of my 100 favorite albums and it’s this one. Bethany Cosentino’s lyrics often bring a slight cringe to my face with predictable rhyming patterns dotting every song. “It was bad it made me sad,” stuff. Those moments are few and far between here. It’s Cosentino’s best written collection of songs by quite the distance.
64. Car Seat Headrest “Twin Fantasy”
This is a very well done re-imagining of a previous Car Seat Headrest release. Will Toledo’s songs are raw and direct. There’s nary a metaphor or illusion in his songs. They play like first person re-tellings of very specific moments and conversations from his life. Listening to a Car Seat Headrest album is like listening to a person’s therapy sessions. But with guitars.
63. Saintseneca “Such Things”
One of my favorite bands to come out of this decade. And one of the best live performers I saw during it. There’s another entry from them to come.
62. Jenny Lewis “The Voyager”
“The Voyager” is a sad album that sounds like a happy album if you’re not thinking too hard. It was also produced by human scumbag Ryan Adams, but lets not hold that against Jenny Lewis. Truth be told, some of these capsules are easy to write and others aren’t and this is the hardest one yet. I can’t quite pin down what it is that I like about this album, as I’m honestly not much of a Lewis fan. Maybe I already summed it up with that first sentence…
61. Yo La Tengo “Fade”
Maybe there’s a song from this decade that I love more than “OHM.” Maybe. I talked a bit ago about Bon Iver’s most approachable album. For me, this is Yo La Tengo’s most approachable. It sounds effortless and ethereal. And, man, that opener gets me every single time.
60. Charly Bliss “Young Enough”
Our second appearance of a 2019 album. Put me in the small camp of people who did not love their debut album. Put me in whatever size camp of people who absolutely love “Young Enough.” It took a few listens for me to buy into the layers of whatever (see, technical wizard I am) are all over Eva Hendricks’ voice. The album is full of dark lyrics (opener “Blown to Bits” is about a nuclear holocaust) over pitch-perfect pop melodies. It’s a wonderful sophomore album that portends the potential for the next album to make it even higher on my Albums of the 2020s list.
59. Cults “Cults”
Cults were destined to be my favorite band after this, their debut album release. Alas, as with Chvrches, that did not happen. Later releases fell kind of flat. But this debut was one of the best, most exciting surprises of the decade for me. The album cover, featuring both band members mid-rock out, is me every time I hear “Oh My God.”
58. Real Estate “Days”
Real Estate make really mellow, laid back, approachable indie rock. When I want to turn the lights out, light a candle, and listen to some music alone, Real Estate is my usual go-to. The music is airy. They lyrics are reflective and sad. If you’re noticing a pattern in my listening, good on you. Another Real Estate album will come later.
57. John K. Samson “Winter Wheat”
Samson is a wonderful storyteller with a very unique voice. These are slow-paced, narrative-driven songs. “17th Street Treatment Center” is the most honest depiction of receiving drug or alcohol treatment that I could possibly imagine. “Most of us are probably not getting better, but not getting better together” is the saddest lyric of celebration that I can think of from this decade.
56. The War on Drugs “Lost In The Dream”
Coming off of “Slave Ambient” (read more about it much, much later in this list), this sounded like a different band. The lyrical approach was similar, but from the opening of the album, if you were at all familiar with their previous approach, you could tell this was going to be the breakout album. It’s bigger. It’s longer. And it’s louder. This is not always with great results. This is, after all, an hour long, 10 track album. This is my lowest ranked “Album of the Year” from this decade. There’s no denying that, musically, this had all the potential to be a top five album, but I had trouble connecting to it long-term.
55. Springtime Carnivore “Springtime Carnivore”
Gosh, I love Greta Morgan’s voice. Her work with Gold Motel didn’t necessarily highlight it, but in this, her solo project, her vocal abilities really shine through. She writes and sings such beautiful sad songs. The sad and spare vocal/keyboard combo on “Find A New Game” is a decade musical highlight for me.
54. Waxahatchee “Ivy Tripp”
There’s measurable growth on this album from the relatively spare “Cerulean Salt.” The guitars are louder and more distorted, but the star of the show is Katie Crutchfield’s songwriting. I’ll have one other opportunity to praise that on this list.
53. Blink 182 “Neighborhoods”
Critics hated it. The band hated it and broke up (again) because of it. I found and find myself on an island when it comes to this album, because I love it. The story goes: Blink breaks up, Travis Barker nearly dies, they reunite for a tour and decide to make an album, but they are never in the studio as a threesome to record it, and nobody enjoyed the process. Except for me. There’s a lot of Angeles and Airwaves influence on this album and it’s very much a “Tom” record. These are Blink 182’s fullest, richest songs. There’s nostalgia and heartbreak, and love, and no songs about having sex with dogs or grandmas. Nothing that Blink 182 has released without Tom (and I’m including Mark and Travis’ +44 side project) carries as much heft as this album. Also, Travis Barker is the best drummer in the last 30+ years of popular music. Have I lost you yet?
52. The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die “Harmlessness”
As the name probably gives away, this is an emo band that writes very serious songs. Or maybe, Very Serious Songs. Either way, this is probably the heaviest album you’ll find on this list, in terms of music, which really, just says that I don’t listen to a lot of “heavy” music. Rarely do the songs follow a normal verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus structure. They just happen. The whole thing feels very organic, even for a band with such a preposterously long and dramatic name.
51. The Wonder Years “Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing”
At some point in the year 2012 or early 2013, I discovered that there was a growing scene of new emo and pop-punk bands that were making the genres “cool.” This was my first dive into that scene (because, I mean, that album title, obviously) and holy shit what a dive it was. This was my gateway drug. “Came Out Swinging” is the natural progression from the music I was listening to and flailing my body around to 10 years earlier, but the lyrics were smarter and didn’t treat female antagonists as subhuman. These are songs about escaping from something. In that way, it’s almost closer to Springsteen than Silverstein.
50. Lorde “Pure Heroine”
I was on my solo cross country road trip in 2013 the first time I listened to Lorde. I hated it. Months later, I gave it a second chance and I saw the error of my ways. Lorde is a marvel. She was the only teenager making music that was truly worth listening to no matter your age. Her songs are timeless. Yes, she’s writing from the perspective of a teenager, but we’ve all been there. We’ve all wanted to fit in. We’ve all resigned ourselves to the fact that we aren’t going to be rich and famous. We’ve all been young and in love. She captures that age better than any artist I’ve ever heard. This is definitely not her only entry here.
49. Rostam “Half-Light”
At the end of the day, there are probably no more than 3 people beyond Rostam Batmanglij whose music has had more of an effect on me in my adult life. His work with Vampire Weekend drove the success of the band on their first three albums. His work with Hamilton Leithauser will come up later. And then there’s his production with everyone from Tokyo Police Club to Haim to Cass McCombs to Charli XCX. Few artist have been more prolific in the background than Rostam was this decade. This album is his only solo effort to date and it sounds very much like what you’d want in a Rostam album. His vocals are actually quite impressive and his lyrics of bittersweet longing are touching. The choir layered beneath his vocals on “EOS” is a favorite of mine.
48. Frank Ocean “Blonde”
Genres don’t matter with Frank Ocean. He’s not a traditional R&B singer. He’s definitely not exclusively a rapper. Frankly, he’s probably an indie singer-songwriter, but that feels far too dismissive of his work. “Blonde” is a truly incredible album. His ballads (“White Ferrari” comes to mind) are some of the best of that genre that I heard this decade. Each Frank album is a moving experience.
47. The Districts “Popular Manipulations”
For most people, this is/was probably a fairly pedestrian indie rock album. I am (regrettably perhaps) not most people. “If Before I Wake” is on my top 10 list of favorite songs from this decade, to say nothing of the rest of the album. The lyrics are a little obtuse at times, but the hooks are there.
46. Japandroids “Celebration Rock”
Few records from this decade get off on a more invigorating note(s) than this album with “The Nights of Wine and Roses” (sidenote: I love when songs have long, seemingly random titles that are actually included in the lyrics). This, Japandroids’ second album, bridges a sort of gap between the loud, messiness of “Post-Nothing” and the refined sound of “Near to the Wild Heart of Life.” There’s still lots of guitar and lots of anthems for the drunk, hopeless, and emotionally vulnerable.
45. Chvrches “The Bones Of What You Believe”
I won’t be mean to the boring guy in Chrvches again. I’m sure he’s a very nice person. The synths are louder and more frenetic here than on “Every Open Eye.” And the lyrics are more pointed and direct. In all, it’s just a better record and one that I connected with more.
44. Slaughter Beach, Dog “Birdie”
From the ashes of Modern Baseball came Slaughter Beach, Dog. Album opener “Phoenix” is a beautiful narrative about longing. The album is full of down-on-their luck characters, but not in the Bruce Springsteen factory worker way. Everyone is kind of a loser and frontman Jake Ewald does a great job making you feel invested in those losers.
43. The Front Bottoms “Going Grey”
The Front Bottoms are the standard-bearers of the modern folk-punk movement. “Going Grey,” their most recent album, though, adds an electronic element and just an albeit bigger sound to their thing. And I really appreciate that thing.
42. The Walkmen “Heaven”
This is the final album from a band that started out making post-punk in the style of Interpol. While that band has continued making the same album over and over again, The Walkmen refined their sound over a decade and ended with this clean cut piece of straight-ahead rock, that features Hamilton Leithauser’s voice prominently. And that is a very good thing.
41. Real Estate “Atlas”
We’re running through a streak of decidedly “white guy rock,” approaching its apex with “Atlas.” The songs here are a little more amped-up than on “Days,” which isn’t really saying a whole lot. Like its predecessor, this is an album you want to listen to on a winter night. “How Might I Live” is also the worst wedding song ever/makes me wish we had had a wedding so that I could have forced the DJ to play it.
40. Vampire Weekend “Father of the Bride”
…and we have reached the apex. Only one other artist or band has 3 albums in the top 40 of this list. Draw any conclusion you’d like from that. Each Vampire Weekend album in the discography is different. “Father of the Bride” is the most different, evoking an oft-cited Grateful Dead feel. I was concerned that Rostam’s departure would affect Vampire Weekend and it did, just not in a bad way. This is a long album that never feels long. It’s also an album that, despite its newness, has a signature listening moment (a fast, open-sunroof tear through the backroads of a northwest Arkansas night).
39. Frank Ocean “Channel Orange”
The only album on this list that features a John Mayer contribution. “Channel Orange” is a little more scatter-shot than “Blonde” but go ahead and try to find a clunker on here. Even the nearly 10 minute long “Pyramids” is worth every moment (and I’ll add, I was shocked when doing this exercise to discover that the song is nearly 10 minutes long. I would have guessed 5.).
38. Waxahatchee “Out in the Storm”
When it comes to the next decade, there is probably no other artist whose music I’m more excited to hear than Katie Crutchfield. Her growth from album to album is a marvel. This, her most recent release, is her strongest and it announces itself as being different from “Ivy Tripp” right off the bat with the loud, rocking, refined “”Never Been Wrong.” She’s also such an impressive singer that if she put out an album of her reading a James Patterson novel (and I didn’t have the 3 album limit), it would have made the top 100 too.
37. The National “Trouble Will Find Me”
This year’s “I Am Easy To Find” is, on the spectrum of National albums, diametrically opposed to “Trouble Will Find Me.” Find a light moment here and you’re our generation’s most daring explorer. This is, even for this band, an especially heavy and dark album. And if you’re wondering why an album I described as “heavy and dark” is ranked so high, you’ve just stumbled upon a stranger’s long-ass blog post. The vocals on “Slipped” get me every time.
36. Sylvan Esso “What Now”
This feels like a good time to talk about 2017. 16 albums from that year (including this one) make it on this list, with still 4 more to come. But on to “What Now” which deserves as much space as my tiring mind can allow. If you don’t like dance music, this isn’t for you. If you don’t like sometimes sad dance music, this isn’t for you. If you don’t like heavily electronic music, this is not for you. If you don’t like beautiful vocals, this isn’t for you and also, seek help immediately. When this album hits what would probably be side B in a different era (“Song”) I enter this zone where all I want to do is dance. I once spent a fairly quiet morning in the Senate listening to this album on my committee hearing rounds and the combination of the bleakness of the Capitol and the beauty in Amelia Meath’s voice made for such a significant juxtaposition. That listen has especially stuck with me. I’d also note here that we’ve entered a phase were ranking these albums got much harder as basically everything from here to the end holds a significant amount of importance to me.
35. Paramore “Paramore”
You can scoff all you want. This is a really great rock album. Paramore’s sound has refined and Hayley Williams’ star has continued to rise, deservedly so, but this is the kind of rock album that a lot of pop-punk bands try (poorly) to write. “Fast In My Car” is a stomper of a first track. “Proof” is my favorite love song of the decade and “Be Alone” isn’t far behind. Williams is an incredible vocalist and for anybody who wrote them off 11 years ago, you’re missing out.
34.Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes “Here”
This was my 2012 Album of the Year and yet no song from it made my end of year “Best Of” playlist. This is an easy band to hate, even if “Home” (from their previous release) is a catchy ass song. You’ve got the whole cult leader frontman thing. And the frontman was in the band Ima Robot. And they make folksy gospel music. This is absolutely the kind of thing I would hate on its surface. And yet, this album was so damn different from anything else I listened to in 2012 or any year, hence no song making that playlist. In 2013, my grandfather suffered an aneurysm and one day, on the hour-long drive back from the rehab hospital with my Nana, I was trying to find an album that would be enjoyable for both of us to listen to. The only one I could think of was this one. And she liked it. And I’ll always remember that drive when I listen to “Here.” Personal things like that should matter with art. If someone tells you otherwise, they’re probably a joyless person.
33. LCD Soundsystem “American Dream”
The final album from LCD Soundsystem is their most directly angry. There are very pointed songs about modern American life here with “call the police” being the headliner. There are also some of the band’s most lovely sonic elements scattered throughout. Album closer (and band closer, perhaps) “black screen” is how any of us should hope to go out.
32. Kendrick Lamar “DAMN”
Speaking of albums that were very much of their moment, I have no idea how much this album spoke for marginalized peoples living in the U.S. under the Trump regime, because, you know, I’m not one of them. But the experiences that Kendrick writes about here feel ripped from the sad state of modern American life. And the album itself is his tightest, most cohesive long-form work in his career. We do the “voice of a generation” thing, well, every generation. I’m too old to give this generation their voice, but I will say, it it’s not Kendrick, they’re doing it wrong. And if it’s Post Malone, we’re all in trouble.
31. Amen Dunes “Freedom”
2018’s Album of the Year. In a down year for music (for me), this album shone brightly. The lyrics are sometimes barely decipherable and when you can manage to make out what Damon McMahon is saying, you’re on your own when it comes to interpretation. “Freedom” works very well as a whole album. It evokes a feeling. For me, that feeling is relaxation. For you, maybe it’s complete and utter fear. Again, it’s all up to your interpretation.
30. Against Me! “Transgender Dysphoria Blues”
I’ve written a little bit in this lot of writing about shared experiences and how in many cases, my existence as a non-marginalized person makes it harder for me to truly connect with the music I’m listening to. Enter “Transgender Dysphoria Blues.” In the latter stage of the previous decade, Against Me! was basically known for “selling out.” Of course, like most “sell outs” this meant that the music that they made was much better-sounding and allowed the band members to live more comfortable lives. Then in 2012, lead singer Tom Gabel announced in a Rolling Stone profile that he had been living life as a woman named Laura Jane Grace and was in the process of transitioning. Two years later, this album dropped. It was more raw than the band’s previous two major label releases. But it’s the lyrics that really mattered. Grace sings so directly about her transition, how she perceives her public perception, and how she perceives herself. I don’t know that any artist released a more personal piece of music this decade. And certainly no artist did it in a way that was so direct. It’s hard to listen to this album and not hear Grace’s struggles and joys.
29. Pusha T “Daytona”
The best thing that Kanye West has done in the last few years was produce this album. Album opener “If You Know, You Know” was my most listened to track in 2018 AND 2019. I often say that I don’t necessarily know what “well-produced” music sounds like. But if I had to guess, it’s this. Pusha raps about Pusha things: cocaine (selling it), being very important, being better than Drake, etc. Unlike the previous album on this list, where the lyrics are the focal point, it’s the music here. This is a very tight 21 minute, 7 track musical masterclass. Oh, and “Infared” killed Drake. If you see someone else performing as Drake now, it’s kind of an Ultimate Warrior type thing.
28. Destroyer “Kaputt”
What a wonderfully weird, completely unrelated group of three albums we have here from 30-28. This is the perfect Destroyer album that I mentioned way back at entry number 91. It’s a smooth jazz record, laden with horns. And there’s some disco beats (“Savage Night at the Opera”) thrown in. And some synths too. Oh, and the lyrics are completely bonkers. “Step out of your toga and into the fog. You are a prince on the ocean. In a pinch in the sky. In your eye.” Like I said, this is the perfect Destroyer album.
27. Car Seat Headrest “Teens of Denial”
We’ve entered a point in this process where a lot of artists are going to repeat. In fact, one will have three albums between 10 and 21. This is Car Seat Headrest’s second entry, their breakthrough album, and 2016’s “Album of the Year.” It’s cleaner than previous Car Seat Headrest releases. One of the things I really like about Will Toledo is that his songs take their time. 7 of the 12 tracks here clock in over 5 minutes (one at 11 1/2 minutes). And yet, there’s not much here that you could call “boring” or “down time.” Each guitar solo or extended bridge feels thoroughly necessary. And each word, even the seemingly superfluous where he’s talking directly to his antagonist(s), carries heft.
26. Japandroids “Near to the Wild Heart of Life”
As I look at this very long list, written out over pages of notebook paper, I see a lot of “rock” records. That is to say, there are guitars and drums and riffs. When the decade ends in a few days, few artists will be able to say they wrote better rock records than Japandroids. Here, the lyrics are a little more mature (overlooking that “I used to be good, but now I’m bad” one from the opening track) and the sound a little more polished, all without losing any of the urgency or energy of their previous two releases.
25. Rick Ross “Teflon Don”
Mainstream rap albums tend to lean towards the bloated and overwrought, filled with intros, interludes, and many bad ideas that a good producer would have left behind (See: every single Drake album). “Teflon Don” is the literal opposite. It’s a tight 49 minutes. Not an interlude in sight. Just banger after banger, with a guest list that reads like a hall of fame entry: Jay Z, Diddy, TI, Jadakiss, Kanye, Gucci Mane, even Erykah Badu makes an appearance. On the title track, Ross raps, “My (community of friends) never sing, if I need ’em, I go to Ne-Yo” and then Ne-Yo pops up later in the album. Yes, his raps are comically boastful. And yes, he used to be a corrections officer. If authenticity means that much to you, I’m so sorry that you can’t sit back and enjoy this giant-sounding masterpiece in audacity.
24. Maggie Rogers “Heard It In a Past Life”
Catch artists 26-24 on tour this summer! As with each of the 2019 albums on this list, time will tell whether I overshot (or undershot). My introduction to Maggie Rogers was her performance on SNL. My normal course of action with the SNL musical guest is to save eight minutes of my life. But I was curious as to why this person I’d never heard before was performing on this show I don’t even enjoy watching anymore. I heard one second and I didn’t skip either performance. I’m familiar with the Pharrell story now, and it’s remarkable to watch, not so much for his response to “Alaska” but as compared to his reaction to the other stuff he was hearing. I played this album over and over and over again this year. Rogers’ ability to jump through genres is remarkable and a testament to her incredible voice. She’s also a really good songwriter, which, you know, only adds to the appeal.
23. Gold Motel “Summer House”
You know exactly what you’re getting from the moment you hit “play” on “Summer House.” This is jangly, sweet, 60’s inspired California surf rock for the modern world. This album is almost 10 years old and continues to feel so fresh every time I listen to it. And, honestly, listening in California makes it even better.
22. LCD Soundsystem “This is Happening”
I joked earlier about having an “electronic” phase, but maybe it was just an LCD Soundsystem phase. Though phases are supposed to end, right? James Murphy is as talented of a lyricist as you’ll find on this list and at times downright funny. At about 3 minutes in, this album explodes in an electronic melange of noise. Murphy is also a tender songwriter, and album closer “Home” highlights that wonderfully. Like Gold Motel, this is a 2010 album that never feels old.
21. Kevin Morby “Singing Saw”
Ah, entry number one of three for Kevin Morby. Is three too many? No, it’s my list and Morby’s music was so important to the last half of this decade for me. His lyrics are direct, bordering on simple. His music is accessible, mostly acoustic guitars and drums and maybe a mandolin or banjo here and there. And it’s all tinged with the right amount of melancholy. The last two tracks on “Singing Saw” are a couple of movers. “Black Flowers” uses dying flowers as a metaphor for a relationship gone wrong and “Water” sees Morby, singing in the first person, dragging himself back to life. But it doesn’t feel that melodramatic. It feels genuine. And I like that.
20. Saintseneca “Dark Arc”
We have reached the top 20. If you’re still reading, you’re either a good friend or a very interesting stranger. You know how I’ve written about accessible lyrics and voices? Yeah, Saintseneca doesn’t do that. These are spiritual songs sung in such a way that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this band to everybody I know. There’s not a lot of conventionality here. Big songs become quiet. Quiet songs become big. Saintseneca is one of the most interesting bands of this decade. And this is their best record.
19. Kanye West “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
Kanye West is a little-known rapper and producer from Chicago, who now lives in Los Angeles County with his wife and children. He released this modest album in 2010, clocking in at a mere 68 minutes and featuring other underground rappers, such as Jay-Z. The primary theme of the album is that Kanye West is better than you and everybody that you know or love. Little has been heard of Mr. West since the release of this album.
18. Kevin Morby “Oh My God”
In early 2019, my grandmother died. Grandmothers typically do that. My grandmother’s death was the lowest moment of my life and I miss her every single day. Kevin Morby, a musical artist I like, released this concept album about death, the afterlife, goodness, and spirituality two months later. He did not write this album about my grandmother. That would have been weird. But music has its way of forcing us to make connections between what we’re hearing and our own lives. I listened to this album on a flight home this year and thought a lot about my Nana. So when I hear the lyric ‘O Behold this hole in my heart,” I’m regularly moved to tears. And if this whole exercise is about making a connection with the music, well, mission accomplished.
17. The Gaslight Anthem “American Slang”
Fair to say this album doesn’t carry the same emotional weight…This is a great rock album by a really good rock band. Imagine someone gave 1980s Springsteen only two electric guitars, a bass guitar, and drums and said, “you have to keep the guitars plugged in.” That’s this.
16. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues”
Robin Pecknold’s ability to write absolutely beautiful orchestrations might only be outmatched by his incredible voice. There is so much happening in nearly every song on this album that repeated listens are frequently rewarded. Little notes you never heard before. An instrument buried beneath others that jumps out at you six years later. Sometimes I honestly forget how much I love this album and whenever I listen, I’m instantly reminded.
15. Haim “Days Are Gone”
This album got me through the more dreadful and lonely parts of my 2013 solo cross country road trip. And it’s a good thing I was solo, because nobody should have to listen to me try to sing Haim songs. On those days where I felt trapped, I would simply roll the windows down and blast “Days Are Gone.” Haim’s harmonies are on full display here. The sisters’ different singing styles blend so wonderfully. Some of the criticism of Haim is that they resemble Fleetwood Mac in sound, which is like trying to insult me by saying I look like Daniel Day-Lewis. Yeah, I kind of do and that’s perfectly okay.
14. Hamilton + Rostam “I Had A Dream That You Were Mine”
Hamilton Leithauser’s voice, with its soaring croon, is my favorite male singing voice. Rostam Batmanglij’s production and instrumentation is some of my favorite, as evidenced by his presence on this list once as a solo artist, once as part of a duo, and thrice as a member of Vampire Weekend. This is one of those albums that takes its time. It’s not over-long, but no song feels rushed. It’s clear that you’re listening to two seasoned veterans making a grown-up music album. And, for Leithauser, it sounds like the most fun he’s had making a record in a long time.
13. Beach Slang “The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us”
Depending on where you fall, you either find Beach Slang to be inauthentic and thus a pointless listen (Hi Amanda!) or you buy into lead singer James Alex’s heart-bleeding-all-over-sleeve message and you find Beach Slang to be a thrilling, emotional defibrillator of a rock band. I’m clearly in the latter camp. This was the runaway 2015 Album of the Year. If you enjoy The Replacements, you’ll, um, see some similarities here. Like, a lot. This is not transcendent music trying to be something it’s not. It’s straight forward emotional, punk rock.
12. Sky Ferreria “Night Time, My Time”
Oh, Sky. It’s been almost six years since she released this album and in the interim, she has released exactly one song. And yet, there was no hesitation on my part to include her. At no point in the last six years have I not perused an “upcoming albums” list looking for her name. That’s how good this album is. There’s a direct line between “Night Time, My Time” and mid-1980s, synth-heavy pop-rock music. Ferreria is a skilled songwriter and singer, with an obvious ear for hooks. This album is littered with them. Time will tell if the next one, whenever that is, resembles it. But until it’s released, I’ll happily keep replaying “Night Time…”
11. Vampire Weekend “Modern Vampires of the City”
When Vampire Weekend released “Modern Vampires…” it signaled the end of that first era of Vampire Weekend. They threw out the boat shoes and the afro-beats, and the bookwormy lyrics that spilled over, sometimes obnoxiously, on their debut album and showed up on “Contra” (more on “Contra” to come). Here is Ezra Koennig at his most open and direct. “Hannah Hunt” is a lovely, somber first-person account of a break-up during a road trip, if you believe that the singer was actually road-tripping from the physical cities of Providence and Phoenix and not the idea of providence and the representation of phoenix. And yes, this was Ezra at *his* most direct.
10. Kevin Morby “City Music”
Morby says he wrote this album from the perspective of an old woman in a high-rise apartment looking down on the city living beneath her (paraphrase). Morby’s music is not exactly brimming with fist-pounding anthems, but by comparison to that catalog, “City Music” is slow, quiet, and full of reflection. And whether you listen to it from the perspective of a lonely old person or through your own lens, or choose to listen to the first-person lyrics as coming from Morby, about Morby, you’re bound to be moved by the quiet sadness in this album.
9. Youth Lagoon “The Year of Hibernation”
2011’s “Album of the Year” comes from a person from Idaho making reverb-filled electronic songs of deep sadness and desire, presumably in a bedroom or cave. There is so much space around each of the songs on “The Year of Hibernation.” This is not a masterpiece of music production and it’s not supposed to be. Some of the drum tracks sound like they are taken from a Casio keyboard. None of these remarks should be read as flippant. I love this record. I love Trevor Powers’ vulnerability. This is a dream pop album just brimming with moments of soaring emotion. It’s not for everyone. But it’s absolutely for me.
8. The War on Drugs “Slave Ambient”
Not every album on this list has a signature listening moment, and that’s okay. This album does. Driving through the barren state highways in central New Mexico, alongside a freight train, on a sunny April day in 2012. This is, compared to the next two albums in the War on Drugs discography, brief and sparse. It is, of course, neither of those things. But it certainly feels different than those two albums, calling to a more dense Dire Straits, as opposed to the Springsteen of “Lost in the Dream” and “A Deeper Understanding.” Few bands that I listened to this decade did as well with instrumental songs as The War on Drugs. “Original Slave” is a perfect and unexpected bridge between “Baby Missiles” and “Black Water Falls” Elsewhere “Your Love Is Calling My Name” starts with frantic energy and somehow sustains that for over six minutes. This is an album that demands to be listened to loud and I adhere to that demand strictly.
7. The National “High Violet”
I’ve said a lot of words about The National previously. They make beautiful, often very sad, music. The songs on “High Violet” are bigger than their works from the decade prior and the back half of this album (Side B if you will) is a tour de force (not to shortchange Side A). The keys on “Bloodbuzz Ohio” might be buried a bit beneath the vocals and drums and horns, but without them, it’s a different song. The National are very clearly a band that knows how to make songs, which isn’t always a given. “England,” for what it’s worth, is my favorite National song.
6. Modern Baseball “Holy Ghost”
This is, for my money, the best album of this renaissance of pop-punk and emo and, sadly, the last Modern Baseball album. Broken up into two halves, each led by a different singer, this feels like a double album despite its modest 27 minute length. This isn’t a band trying to transcend a sound or anything. More like a band perfecting that sound. I have never heard a more perfect pop-punk album. Songs about the road? Check. Songs about diagnosed mental disorders? Check. Songs about heartbreak? Check. Sing-along choruses? You bet. It hits every note I could possibly want in its 27 minutes.
5. The Walkmen “Lisbon”
You’ve read the words “beautiful” and “music” so many times on this list, but this will be the last time, I promise. Because this is the most beautiful album on this list. I care very much about the feelings that albums evoke or the settings they transport you to. Ironic it is then that on an album titled “Lisbon” I place myself behind a fogging window on a winter night with nothing but candlelight illuminating the room. Maybe it’s the guitar playing. Maybe it’s Hamilton Leithauser’s voice. It’s not all slow moving winter night songs, but it’s all that feeling. Few, if any, albums on this list put me into a better head space than this one.
4. Vampire Weekend “Contra”
Is “Run” a love song? I’ve always heard it as one. “Honey with you (oh oh oh) is the only honest way to go…” sounds so romantic to my ear. Something happens along the way on this record. When “Giving Up The Gun” shows up, we get the perfect confluence of what Vampire Weekend was and what Vampire Weekend would become. This is the oldest album on this list, having been released on January 11, 2010. It feels, at times, very much of its era. Three of the top four albums on this list were released in 2010. I guess that probably shows that I’m an old fuddy-duddy who only wants to hear the classics. For me, though, when I hear an album like “Contra” I hear a band that was making exciting music. “Contra” really is the best album that Paul Simon could have made.
3. Lorde “Melodrama”
9,000 or so words ago, I wrote about how much this list trended white and, especially, male. I wrote that because when I made this list, I realized that Lorde was the only female artist to crack the top 10. If you’re asking how that happened, you probably aren’t familiar with Lorde’s work. I touched upon this with the entry for “Pure Heroine,” but I marvel at the way Lorde writes music from the perspective of a (in this case) 20 something Kiwi woman that manages to connect with every audience. The vitriol that she feels for her ex on “Writer in the Dark” is the vitriol we’ve all felt when we become the jilted lover. She just writes about it better than anybody else. She’s essentially taken the journal of a teenager and for the last six years, allowed us all to read it. Questioning authority, falling in love, staying out late, regretting that, feeling alone. “Melodrama” is a timeless record. And if I’m ever to have a son or daughter, when they’ve reached the appropriate age, I’m excited to share this album with them.
2. Surfer Blood “Astro Coast”
Here we have the conundrum of separating art from artist. Rarely do I do that. Surfer Blood, or more aptly, this album, is the exception. A few years after the release of “Astro Coast,” lead singer John Paul Pitts was arrested and charged with domestic battery. Because it was 2012 and society collectively didn’t care much about women then, he kept making music and it mostly sucked, though that’s neither here nor there. At the time of his arrest, this was already one of my favorite albums. When I listen to this and when I rank it as my second favorite album of the decade, I am fully aware of the very awful things that he did to his girlfriend in 2012. “Astro Coast” is my second favorite album of the decade because I have separated the artist (asshole?) from the music he and his bandmates made in 2010.
As for the album, I fell in love on the first note and with the first lyric. I’ve often heard them compared to Weezer and I’ve never gotten that comparison. They’re Surfer Blood. Problematic lead singer and all. And for better or worse, I’ll take this album with me wherever life takes me.
1. Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”
This was my Album of the Deacde from the moment I finished listening to it for the first time on August 2, 2010. I’ve been thinking for a while now about what I’d write when I got to this album and how to describe how I feel about it. I could say “I love it” but I truly “love” at least 25 albums on this list. I could say that it speaks to its time, and it did, but tell me that “City With No Children” doesn’t also speak to this time, nine years later. I could say that “Sprawl II” is a really good song and that Regine Chassagne shines so brightly throughout this album in a way she hadn’t necessarily before. She’s really the star of “The Suburbs.” I could say that it’s an indie rock album that inexplicably and much to the surprise of Rosie O’Donnell, won the damn Album of the Year Grammy. I could say that it’s big. I could say that it’s emotional. I could say that it captures the feeling of being trapped in a soul-crushing existence better than any piece of art this century. I could say all of those things. And I just did. And I could say a lot more.
Mid-Atlantic Bias 