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My Favorite Albums of the Decade

The 2010s was my first decade of adulthood, the first decade of living on my own, and the first decade where I paid an exorbitant amount of attention to music. Now that the decade is done, I’m sharing a list of my favorite 60 albums. I originally planned for 50, but found if I expanded just a little bit, it felt much more complete. This list will look different ten years from now, but I will too. So I invite you to dig in, and hopefully you find something new to love, or are reminded of music that made the decade special for you.

#fave albums of the decade

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Contra - Vampire Weekend

January 11, 2010

One of my favorite album covers of the decade is to Vampire Weekend’s Contra. The woman in the photo is not ready for her photo to be taken. It’s a moment of surprise. I learned years later that this photo was quite controversial, but when I saw it on my phone as I walked to class my freshman year of college, I just thought it was cool. That first year of school was when I was finally able to enjoy the “college band” with Contra. Vampire Weekend weathered the storm of their insane hype to release a sophomore album that was just as good as their debut. The band employed auto-tune, and spiced up a song of personal revelation with an MIA sample. Contra is cool, and unlike its cover, its songs are ready, just waiting to win you over.

Listen: “Giving Up The Gun”

#fave albums of the decade #contra #vampire weekend

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Gorilla Manor - Local Natives

February 16, 2010

Local Natives had various styles of facial hair, “hipster outfits”, and a twinkling charm in their NPR Tiny Desk Concert. After watching, that charm won me over, and Gorilla Manor became an album that never left my side. It was released in the transition away from the hallowed age of indie, into the explosion of genre disregard that defined this decade. Gorilla Manor combines the style, instrumentation, and spirit of the landmark records that came before it. Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, and Arcade Fire all influence this album; one that soundtracked countless walks to class, car trips home, and my journey out of college and beyond. I’ve screamed “Sun Hands” live with the band a few times over the years, an act that never gets old. A part of my heart lives in Gorilla Manor, and it has made quite a home there.

Listen: “Wide Eyes”

#fave albums of the decade #gorilla manor #local natives

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Fave Albums of the Decade

This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem

May 17, 2010

For the recording process of This Is Happening James Murphy had the band move into an LA mansion, wear all white, and have their food prepared for them by a private chef. Pretension knows no limits with LCD Soundsystem, and even though they said the carpet was dirty, their ability to laugh about something so objectively extravagant drives this point home. This Is Happening is labored and luxurious. Each strum of a guitar or strike of a drum feels perfectly curated. As the the supposed swan song for one of the previous decade’s most established acts, it left nothing on the table, and that’s why it still sounds like music from a man that wanted to make the defining record of his life.

Listen: “Dance Yrself Clean”

#fave albums of the decade #this is happening #lcd soundsystem

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Treats - Sleigh Bells

May 24, 2010

The thrill of Treats is how its sounds like nothing else. There are a lot of guitars, but also big bombastic Ableton beats. Everything is turned up to the extreme, and distortion becomes another member of the band along with Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller. At the beginning of the decade this band sounded new. Their breakout at CMJ 2009 was an early signal that Treats would change the landscape. Today, mixing guitars and aggressive EDM, or pop’s obscuring of beauty á la the cover of their debut, isn’t original, but in 2010 it felt like the beginning of something infinite.

Listen: “Infinity Guitars”

#fave albums of the decade #treats #sleigh bells

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Fave Albums of the Decade

King of the Beach - Wavves

July 13, 2010

Nathan Williams can write a good song. That was always evident, but he needed King of the Beach to show he could elevate his lo-fi aesthetic to something grand. It’s an album that has been strong enough to sustain his career over the last decade, where his output has often retread the same skater punk vibe that King of the Beach perfected. Williams’ is “just having fun with youuuuuuuu”, but sometimes that facade is cracked with lyrics centered around being bummed out. Regardless, it’s always rewarding in its quest to deliver the quintessential sun-soaked bop.

Listen: “Post Acid”

#fave albums of the decade #king of the beach #wavves

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Fave Albums of the Decade

The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

August 2, 2010

When The Suburbs was released Arcade Fire became the biggest band in the world. They got there on a record with lyrics like “cops shone their lights on the reflectors of our bikes”, and “running through the yard”. The band took the subject matter seriously, and created a sprawling record about growing up, finding a place, and nostalgia. The songs glisten with light electronics, jaunting piano, and a sense of purpose. The Suburbs closes with a stunning tribute to longing, and moving beyond your home. Arcade Fire show how the suburbs can represent the past for everyone.

Listen: “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

#fave albums of the decade #the suburbs #arcade fire

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Fave Albums of the Decade

The Age of Adz - Sufjan Stevens

October 12, 2010

The Age of Adz begins and ends with acoustic plucking. “Futile Devices” is another exquisite example of Sufjan’s roots at their best, and the end of the album’s epic closer “Impossible Soul” is in the same vein. Between these acoustic bookends is a sonic adventure that exists on its own island in Sujan’s body of work. Each song is exploding with ideas: vocals laced with auto-tune, big vocoder segments, classical horn rips, flute trills, and beeping blips filling every second of available space. Stevens grapples with his faith and mortality through this record, which becomes more clear once you know it is the product of a prolonged illness that left him unable to create for months. The Age of Adz can also be seen as frenetic metaphor for life; the journey being the most important part.

Listen: “I Want To Be Well”

#fave albums of the decade #the age of adz #sufjan stevens

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Fave Albums of the Decade

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

November 22, 2010

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy answers the question, “What if Kanye West made an album to please the people over himself?”. It’s opulent. The songs are all standouts. They are rich expressions of the man’s talent, and his ability to see talent in others. I listened to it constantly. I rapped its words at parties all through my twenties. I made my dad play it when he drove me home from a tonsillectomy. I listened to it on my drives to school, and I screamed its words when Kanye performed them on the Yeezus tour. This album is my decade. It’s hard to separate myself from it, because every time I think about, and every time I listen to it I feel there is nothing better. So if Kanye West made an album to please the people that’s nice and fine, but he also made an album that changed my life.

Listen: “POWER”

#fave albums of the decade #my beautiful dark twisted fantasy #kanye west

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Kaputt - Destroyer

January 25, 2011

Kaputt, Dan Bejar’s  tenth album as Destroyer, is a slick, futuristic lounge-rock journey with pretentious talk singing, and a cavalier spirit. It’s a holdover from the era where indie, pop, and jazz existed in silos. Even with that in mind, Kaputt is still in a world all its own. Bejar’s flippant delivery is accompanied by screeching saxophones and brass overtones. He sings “for America”, “chases cocaine to the back rooms”, and urges you to “stop calling him honey”. Bejar has “seen it all”, and that artistic exhaustion is dripping from the notes of every song.

Listen: “Chinatown”

#fave albums of the decade #kaputt #destroyer

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Fave Albums of the Decade

David Comes To Life - Fucked Up

June 7, 2011

I hugged Damian Abraham after Fucked Up played Scully’s Music Diner on September 28, 2011. I thanked him for letting me scream “where the fuck is the other shoe!” into the microphone during “Under My Nose”. He thanked me back. I went to many shows in college, but that Fucked Up show was one of the first, and probably the best. David Comes To Come Life is my favorite Fucked Up album, and my favorite rock album of the decade. Seeing it performed live was formative. It never overstays its welcome, and the songs are a rich blend of maximalist guitars and passionate storytelling. It feels just as big in 2019 as it did in 2011, and while Damian Abraham screams “we’re dying on the inside,” the album lives up to its title. It comes to life.

Listen: “Under My Nose”

#fave albums of the decade #david comes to life #fucked up

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Go Tell Fire To The Mountain - WU LYF

June 13, 2011

“Heavy Pop” is the thesis statement to WU LYF; a song that builds for two and a half minutes with thick reverberating piano, harmonica, and drums until vocalist Ellery Roberts cries and screams that he “wants to feel at home”. It closes the band’s one and only album, and it’s not a pop song. WU LYF didn’t make pop songs. They instead wrote big post-rock anthems with cryptic vocals that were unmatched in the landscape. Just as their spark was bright, it was quickly faded, and the Manchester band moved on to different things. We will never know if this passion was sustainable, and frankly, it didn’t need to be. The fire will always be lit within these songs.

Listen: “Heavy Pop”

#fave albums of the decade #go tell fire to the mountain #wu lyf

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

June 17, 2011

Exactly two months before the release of Bon Iver, Justin Vernon stood on a pedestal during Kanye West’s headlining Coachella set. He was wearing all white, and sang “Woods”, originally released on Blood Bank. That song found its way onto Kanye West’s “Lost in the World”. So when Justin Vernon was singing on the Coachella stage it was a moment of transcendence. He had made it out of the cabin, out of the woods, and into a world of deep prestige. He was no longer just an “indie rocker”, he was the king.

Bon Iver was the album released in that moment. It still retains the acoustic elegance of the music that preceded it, but now Vernon had the panache to including bursting horns and 80s style saxophones. He made an album that struck a chord with many people. It was his moment, and contrary to what was sung one song, the album is magnificent.

Listen: “Holocene”

#fave albums of the decade #bon iver

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Black Up - Shabazz Palaces

June 28, 2011

I saw Shabazz Palaces play in the back room of Louisville bar, and in the crowd of this Kentucky show there were many black faces, white faces, and a smattering of ages. They were dancing in the sweaty reverb of Ishmael Butler’s voice as it bounced off the exposed brick walls. Just like on Black Up’s opening track, the crowd was “free”. Shabazz Palaces make cryptic, afro-beat inspired rap music that’s unapologetically for black people. That only strengthens its appeal. In a decade where streaming made the argument to appeal to as many folks as possible, Shabazz Palaces made rap music that was uncompromising, and Black Up is their best offering.

Listen: “An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum”

#fave albums of the decade #black up #shabazz palaces

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Strange Mercy - St. Vincent 

September 13, 2011

Annie Clark is a gifted composer. She knows where to let songs get messy, and how to clean them up. The album where she does this best is Strange Mercy. She sings of body horror,  a “dirty policeman that roughed you up”, and plays a theremin solo. Her guitar playing is always restrained, and never really gives away just how much she knows. Above it all, Strange Mercy contains a wry sense of humor. Clark isn’t here to show how much she can do all at once. She is sparing us; giving us strange mercy.

Listen: “Cruel”

#fave albums of the decade #strange mercy #st. vincent

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Put Your Back N 2 It - Perfume Genius

February 21, 2012

I cried to Put Your Back N 2 It. I sobbed to Mike Hadreas singing his sparse songs. A boy I thought I loved had left my city, after visiting for the weekend. The common gay love story of meeting someone from far away via the internet had reared its ugly head. I had made it worse by seeing him in person. At the end of the weekend Perfume Genius was there to pull me up. In the years since, Hadreas has become more daring, however, his second album, filled with tender songs of love and pain, is him at his most pure.

Listen: “Hood”

#fave albums of the decade #put your back n 2 it #perfume genius

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Fave Albums of the Decade

Celebration Rock - Japandroids

May 29, 2012

I lost my glasses while gleefully singing along to “The House That Heaven Built” at a Japandroids show. My thick rimmed Ray Bans flew off my face and careened to the floor. I screamed “my glasses!”. The crowd of sweating, furious fans stopped their dancing, and found them, untouched. My glasses returned to my face. We continued to sing. That moment was Celebration Rock. Japandroids captured the spirit of rock in these songs. Each one is brimming with positivity, and unmatched in spirit.

Listen: “The House That Heaven Built”

#fave albums of the decade #celebration rock #japandroids