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themousai · 4 years

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Top 10 Albums of the Decade: Matt Clark

The Experiment Dane Rumble

[2010]

It's weird to me that this album is even from this decade as I was still in high school when this album came out. Despite whatever level of cringe people perceive this album to be, the songwriting is undeniable and somehow the (extremely 2010-esque) production holds up pretty well.. Depending on who you ask. I was 16 when this album came out and I listened to it every day for nearly a year straight. Perhaps my nostalgia for this one It may have something to do with the fact that I'm writing this list at Christmas time in snowy Canada, but this album reminds me of driving in the summer through New Zealand in the middle of the day.

Favourite tracks: Cruel, Let You Down, Just Don't Care.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys My Chemical Romance

[2010] MCR’s fanbase continues to grow year after year (in life.. and death) and as the band and it’s music is passed down to the next generation of emo kids, mixed with the feverish excitement online of their reunion earlier this month. The feeling of excitement that 16 year old me had while waiting for this record comes back to me in a big way. This album came out the summer that I left high school and perhaps that nostalgic quality helped it get onto this list. I’m not banking on a new album that matches up to the incredible legacy that this band created during the 2000’s (although if they can prove me wrong then I will gladly eat my words) so to me, this sounds like a swan song and up until about a month ago, a fitting end to an amazing career.. Favourite tracks: Bulletproof Heart, The Kids from Yesterday, Summertime.

The Difference Between Hell and Home Counterparts

[2013]

I entered this decade as a pretty big fan of metalcore and hardcore. Sadly over the last five or six years, my love for the genre has somewhat waned. This is the last album of this style that I truly fell in love with. Going back to it now, it still sounds as good to me as it did when I first heard it. Lots of bands go for the “chaotic but heavy but hauntingly beautiful” thing but these guys really nailed it. This was one of my favourite albums to go back to while I was writing this list because every song is just so damn good and heavy. Favourite tracks: Ghost, Lost, Compass

Nothing Was The Same Drake

[2013]

When I first found out I was going to be compiling this list, this was the first album that stood out to me. Not because it was the biggest album for me, nor is it my number one of the decade. But because Drake somewhat represents the manifestation of working hard and chasing the life you want. I heard this album for the first time at 19 years old and fell in love instantly. My favorite thing about this album now that time has passed, is the fact that I used to listen to this album every day on my way to work in New Zealand, rapping along to every lyric that referenced Toronto - fast forward many years later and I live here now and pass a lot of the places he sings about during my commutes through the city. Life has a weird way of working out like that.

Favourite tracks: Pound Cake, Furthest Thing, Hold On We're Going Home.

FVEY Shihad

[2014]

Electronic music rules the world now. No doubt about that, and I do think it’s a good thing for how much you can really do with a computer now. I choose to embrace this fact and look forward to whatever crazy music comes out in the next decade, but sometimes it’s just nice to listen to four people in a room playing together and this album, for me, really scratches that itch. This sounds like Shihad in a tiny room jamming out together and that’s exactly what this is. When I hear this album I get excited to pick my guitar up which is not something a lot of modern music does for me. It’s an important side note that I got to see Shihad on the first night of the FVEY tour back in 2014, and bought a telecaster the next day just because Jon Toogood is such a badass.

Favourite tracks: Cheap As, Think You’re So Free, FVEY.

1989 Taylor Swift

[2014] If the Dane Rumble album listed earlier in this list represents driving during a summers day, this album is for driving during a summer night. This album stayed on repeat in my car for many many summer nights back in 2014. There's something about T-Swift's music (the last three albums in particular) that are just so visual to me. Every song is filled with imagery, whether it's the lyrics, the vocal performance or even the production. This album is vibrant, and hooky as fuck. T has been the queen of pop music for the longest time now and if you've ever wondered why, then this album is a great place to start. Favourite tracks: Blank Space, All You Had to Do was Stay, I Know Places.

The Life Of Pablo Kanye West

[2016]

This album, perhaps more than any others on this list, benefits from my personal nostalgia. Rather than a balance of having some kind of impact in life AND being a kickass record. Going back to it, parts of this album still sounds fantastic. Other parts, not so much. The one big drawcard this album received while I was compiling this list was the fact it came out the day I left New Zealand and started my big overseas adventure. This album quite literally dropped about an hour or two after I had got off a 30-hour flight to London, England. When I hear this album now, all I can picture is young me walking around London for the first time by myself, feeling equally terrified and excited. I'm glad music exists, because I don't know how else I'd be able to retain such vivid and life changing memories.

Favourite tracks: Famous, FML, Ultralight Beam.

Who Build The Moon? Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

[2017]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person on team-Noel in the great Gallagher battle of the last couple years. But at a point where Noel could have cashed in on the resurgence in popularity of Oasis (like his brother..) he flipped the switch and made the most anti-Oasis album of his career. This album sounds more like a film soundtrack than a normal rock record from him or any of his peers. NG was 50 when this album came out. If that does not prove that there's always room to grow, explore, and improve as a songwriter than I don't know what does.

Favourite tracks: The Man Who Built the Moon, She Taught Me How to Fly, Fort Knox.

After The Party The Menzingers

[2017]

I discovered this band and album at an interesting time of my life - the first time I had experienced the death of a friend. Although this album doesn't directly deal with that theme, the theme of "reality is starting to hit, what the hell am I doing with my life" is a constant on this record and really helped guide me through that time in my life. This album to me is the perfect mix of the lust for nostalgia and years past, with a fear of the future and the unknown. Not to mention this album just fucking rocks.

Favourite tracks: Lookers, Tellin' Lies, Your Wild Years.

Nine Blink-182

[2019]

It's possible that this album benefitted from the fact that it hasn't had the time to age as much yet, but being a blink-182 super fan in 2019 was a weird time. Weird tour rollouts, strange collaborations, controversial singles leading up the album, but as always blink did what they do best - delivered a kick ass album. Having grown up with this band, it's pretty amazing that they released an album this year that I enjoyed just as much as I did the albums I listened to as a teenager. This record further cemented blink in my life and in my heart as my favourite group.

Favourite tracks: On Some Emo Shit, Happy Days, Pin the Grenade.

Listen to our decade wrapped over on Spotify!

Written by Matt Clark / Selfhood

[more decade round ups here]

#matt clark #decade round up #music round up #top 10 of 2010 #music reviews #blink-182 #dane rumble #drake #the menzingers #noel gallagher's high flying birds #taylor swift #kanye west #shihad #counterparts #my chemical romance #top 10s of 2010s

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