In Review: The 2010s
I wasn’t planning on doing any sort of decade wrap-up post, but then the finish line came into view and I felt the need to take a look back on things. So, here are my Top 10 Albums & Songs from 2010-2019 (compiled from my actual annual lists). For fun, I also did a bit of reflecting. Enjoy.
By the way, a Spotify embed only runs up to 100 songs (apparently), so if you want all of my top 10 albums from ever year of the decade in one playlist, you’ll have to jump here. The only one missing is The Splinters’ Kick, which has largely disappeared from the internet, but you can sort of check it out here on Myspace (of all things).
The Spotifly playlist for my top 10 songs from every year is embedded right here. Six tracks are missing, but there are Youtube links for those down below.
2010 Albums:
10) Spoon – Transference
09) Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
08) The Black Keys – Brothers
07) The Splinters – Kick
06) Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings – I Learned The Hard Way
05) Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
04) Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
03) Sleigh Bells – Treats
02) The Mynabirds – What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood
01) Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
2010 Songs:
10) Tame Impala – Alter Ego
09) Spoon – Written In Reverse
08) She And Him – In The Sun
07) The Black Keys – Tighten Up
06) The Arcade Fire – Ready To Start
05) Japandroids – Art Czars
04) Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union
03) The Mynabirds – Numbers Don’t Lie
02) Sleigh Bells – Tell ‘Em
01) The Morning Benders – Excuses
Kind of a weird album list. If I were to re-arrange, I’d move Titus, Sharon and Tame up and knock Phantogram, Sleigh Bells and The Mynabirds down. I do still think that the Surfer Blood album was fantastic, but boy did that band not stand the test of time. Excuses still registers as the best song that year, but like Surfer Blood, The Morning Benders (now Pop ETC) took a dive after 2010.
2011 Albums:
10) White Denim – D
09) Explosions In The Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
08) Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien
07) Wild Flag – Self Titled
06) Jeff The Brotherhood – We Are Champions
05) Tune Yards – WHOKILL
04) St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
03) Yuck – Self Titled
02) Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks – Mirror Traffic
01) Yellow Ostrich – The Mistress
2011 Songs:
10) Yellow Ostrich – Hate Me Soon
09) Wild Flag – Romance
08) Tennis – Origins
07) Purity Ring – Bellispeak
06) Dum Dum Girls – Coming Down
05) Tune Yards – Powa
04) Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks – Senator
03) Oh Land – Bloodbuzz Ohio (The National Cover)
02) TV Girl – Baby You Were There
01) Ages And Ages – So So Freely
I miss Yellow Ostrich. The Mistress was such a cool album, and it’s still something I revisit a lot. Actually, I still listen to all of these albums frequently, especially the one from Explosions In The Sky. My song list is wonky, but I’d still go with the joyous So So Freely at the top.
2012 Albums:
10) Tame Impala – Lonerism
09) Cat Power – Sun
08) POS – We Don’t Even Live Here
07) Lee Fields And The Expressions – Faithful Man
06) Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel
05) The Sword – Apocryphon
04) Terry Malts – Killing Time
03) Purity Ring – Shrines
02) Japandroids – Celebration Rock
01) Lace Curtains – The Garden Of Joy And The Well Of Loneliness
2012 Songs:
10) Icona Pop – I Love It
09) Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built
08) David Byrne And St. Vincent – Who
07) Ellie Goulding – High For This (The Weeknd Cover)
06) TV Girl – I Wonder Who She’s Kissing Now
05) Tame Impala – Elephant
04) MS MR – Hurricane
03) Dum Dum Girls – Lord Knows
02) Twin Shadow – Five Seconds
01) Purity Ring – Fineshrine
As much as I love that Lace Curtains LP, in the years since then I’ve become obsessed with Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel. I’d definitely move that into the top spot. I’d also likely bump Cat Power right out of the top 10, as I don’t know the last time I listened to Sun. Purity Ring’s Fineshrine is still a jam, but I think Tame’s Elephant may have actually been the best song that year.
2013 Albums:
10) A Giant Dog – Bone
09) Kanye West – Yeezus
08) Thee Oh Sees – Floating Coffin
07) FIDLAR – Self Titled
06) Sigur Ros – Kveikur
05) Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City
04) Chvrches – The Bones Of What You Believe
03) Veronica Falls – Waiting For Something To Happen
02) Speedy Ortiz – Major Arcana
01) Mikal Cronin – MCII
2013 Songs:
10) Jonny Fritz – Ain’t It Your Birthday
09) Veronica Falls – Buried Alive
08) Quasi – You Can Stay But You Gotta Go
07) Ellie Goulding – Tessellate (Alt-J Cover)
06) Haim – The Wire
05) Diarrhea Planet – Separations
04) Yuck – Middle Sea
03) Chvrches – Recover
02) Mikal Cronin – Shout It Out
01) Vampire Weekend – Step
I’d flip Kanye and Chrvches on the album list and maybe slide Thee Oh Sees further down, but there’s no way I’d touch MCII – Cronin was and is still a beast. I like the song list thoroughly, even the semi silly selection of Jonny Fritz in the ten-spot. Side note, was anything more fun to sing live than Separations by the now-defunct Diarrhea Planet?
2014 Albums:
10) The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
09) Tycho – Awake
08) Spoon – They Want My Soul
07) Cloud Nothings – Here And Nowhere Else
06) Solids – Blame Confusion
05) Lace Curtains – A Signed Piece Of Paper
04) St. Vincent – Self Titled
03) Tony Molina – Dissed And Dismissed
02) Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
01) Run The Jewels – RTJ2
2014 Songs:
10) Run The Jewels – Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck) (Featuring Zack De La Rocha)
09) FKA Twigs – Two Weeks
08) St. Vincent – Digital Witness
07) Interpol – All The Rage Back Home
06) Leon Bridges – Coming Home
05) Sharon Van Etten – Every Time The Sun Comes Up
04) Ought – Habit
03) Speedy Ortiz – American Horror
02) Parquet Courts – Instant Disassembly
01) Spoon – Inside Out
Another full set of albums that I still listen to frequently. Even though they’re now overblown, Run The Jewels ruled my life in 2014, so I wouldn’t dare move them out of the top spot. Also, I firmly believe that Tony Molina made the best 11-minute album of all-time that year. Spoon’s Inside Out is still a perfect song.
2015 Albums:
10) Bop English – Constant Bop
09) Youth Lagoon – Savage Hills Ballroom
08) FIDLAR – Too
07) Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
06) Annabel – Having It All
05) Tame Impala – Currents
04) Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
03) Screaming Females – Rose Mountain
02) Doomtree – All Hands
01) Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
2015 Songs:
10) Chairlift – Ch-Ching
09) Tame Impala – Let It Happen
08) Ratatat – Cream On Chrome
07) Annabel – Having It All
06) Speedy Ortiz – Raising The Skate
05) Sheer Mag – Button Up
04) Built To Spill – Living Zoo
03) Ought – Beautiful Blue Sky
02) Kendrick Lamar – Alright
01) Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
Sleater-Kinney returned and dominated me. No Cities To Love is one of my favorite albums of theirs. Kendrick should be higher. I wish that Bop English (James from White Denim) would do another album. Annabel’s Having It All is one of the best emo albums of the decade. A little surprised I went with Courtney Barnett in the top song spot (I blame heavy 90s nostalgia). Likely should have been Kendrick.
2016 Albums:
10) White Denim – Stiff
09) Whitney – Light Upon The Lake
08) Basketball Shorts – Hot And Ready
07) Angel Olsen – My Woman
06) Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
05) Kanye West – The Life Of Pablo
04) The Coathangers – Nosebleed Weekend
03) Frank Ocean – Blonde
02) Car Seat Headrest – Teens In Denial
01) White Lung – Paradise
2016 Songs:
10) P.O.S. – Wave (Featuring Moncelas Boston And Sophia Eris)
09) White Lung – Kiss Me When I Bleed
08) Chance The Rapper – Angels (Featuring Saba)
07) Whitney – Golden Days
06) Coathangers – Squeeki Tiki
05) Shura – What’s It Gonna Be?
04) Cymbals Eat Guitars – Have a Heart
03) Frank Ocean – Solo
02) Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me
01) Kanye West – Ultralight Beam
As much as I adore White Lung, it was silly of me to not make Frank Ocean’s Blonde the album of the year. I’m still into how the rest of the top 10 is placed though, so there’s that. I’d largely leave the song list the same, outside of maybe pushing Angel to the top spot and bumping POS out.
2017 Albums:
10) Japanese Breakfast – Soft Sounds From Another Planet
09) Spoon – Hot Thoughts
08) Jay Som – Everybody Works
07) Gang Of Youths – Go Farther In Lightness
06) Waxahatchee – Out In The Storm
05) St. Vincent – Masseducation
04) The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
03) Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent
02) Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
01) The National – Sleep Well Beast
2017 Songs:
10) The War On Drugs – Holding On
09) The Coathangers – Captain’s Dead
08) Spoon – Do I Have To Talk You Into It
07) White Reaper – Judy French
06) Alex Lahey – Every Day’s The Weekend
05) The National – The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness
04) SZA – Supermodel
03) Kendrick Lamar – Humble
02) St. Vincent – Los Ageless
01) Alvvays – In Undertow
Outside of figuring out a way to push Gang Of Youths and Protomartyr further towards the top of the album list, it still looks great to me. I’d honestly probably swap Alex Lahey and Alvvays on the song list. I feel like Every Day’s The Weekend has been perpetually stuck in my head since 2017.
2018 Albums:
10) White Denim – Performance
09) Antarctigo Vespucci – Love In The Time Of Email
08) Screaming Females – All At Once
07) Caroline Rose – Loner
06) Black Panther Soundtrack
05) Snail Mail – Lush
04) The Beths – Future Me Hates Me
03) Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour
02) Jeff Rosenstock – Post
01) MGMT – Little Dark Age
2018 Songs:
10) Caroline Rose – Soul No. 5
09) Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Middle America
08) Protomartyr – Wheel Of Fortune
07) Hop Along – How Simple
06) Rosalia – Pienso En Tu Mira
05) Screaming Females – I’ll Make You Sorry
04) The Beths – Happy Unhappy
03) Iceage – Catch It
02) Kacey Musgraves – High Horse
01) Snail Mail – Pristine
I wouldn’t change anything here (it was only a year ago!), but I would like to at least point out that Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther mixtape is the only soundtrack that broke the top ten of any of my album lists this decade. That’s neat.
2019 Albums:
10) Orville Peck – Pony
09) Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated
08) Nilufer Yanya – Miss Universe
07) Jay Som – Anak Ko
06) Whitney – Forever Turned Around
05) Crumb – Jinx
04) Malibu Ken – Self Titled
03) Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
02) Mannequin Pussy – Patience
01) Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride
2019 Songs:
10) Crumb – Fall Down
09) Whitney – Giving Up
08) Karen O & Danger Mouse – Perfect Day (Lou Reed Cover)
07) Bon Iver – Hey, Ma
06) Haim – Summer Girl
05) SOAK – Knock Me Off My Feet
04) Nilufer Yanya – In Your Head
03) Shura – The Stage
02) The National – Rylan
01) Mannequin Pussy – Drunk II
No comment on 2019 because I’m still currently happy with it. Let me instead pick 10 overall albums and songs from the last decade.
Top 10 Albums of 2010-2019:
10) Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride
09) Mikal Cronin – MCII
08) Gang Of Youths – Go Farther In Lightness
07) Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
06) Screaming Females – Rose Mountain
05) MGMT – Little Dark Age
04) Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour
03) The National – Sleep Well Beast
02) Frank Ocean – Blonde
01) Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel
Top 10 Songs of 2010-2019:
10) Ages And Ages – So So Freely
09) Alex Lahey – Every Day’s The Weekend
08) Kendrick Lamar – Alright
07) Vampire Weekend – Step
06) The Morning Benders – Excuses
05) Mannequin Pussy – Drunk II
04) Spoon – Inside Out
03) Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me
02) Tame Impala – Elephant
01) Snail Mail – Pristine
Cool exercise. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Because of your effusive praise for Mannequin Pussy, I reconsidered its position on my year end best of and put it in the Top 25. I just went back to check out Fiona’s “The Idler Mill” but, man, I just do not connect with her at all going all the way back to “Criminal.” That said, I hope that her cover of “The Whole of the Moon” makes it onto Spotify. Definitely best cover of 2019.
Merry Christmas, John.
Merry Christmas Jay!