I was on my mission during this year, so unlike most years in the 2010's, I was only allowed to listen to church hymns. So making this list is kinda unfair. Especially the bottom half. But I'm pretty sure the top half accounts for some of the best music of the past decade.
So yeah, 2010 albums are turning 10. And here's a list of probably the best ones. I'm certain this list would look different/longer if I had a Spotify account in 2010.
Openly admitting I haven't listened to all these albums all the way through. But most of them, yes.
Honorable mention artists:
Grinderman, Brian Eno + Jon Hopkins + Leo Abrahams, Sufjan Stevens, Woods, Twin Shadow, Agalloch, Tallest Man On Earth
THE LIST
I did a top 33.
33 Wavves King of the Beach
32 Earl Sweatshirt EARL
31 Das Racist Sit Down, Man
30 Wild Nothing Gemini
29 Zs New Slaves
28 Pantha Du Prince Black Noise
27 The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme
26 Oneohtrix Point Never Returnal
25 Actress Splazsh
24 Emeralds Does It Look Like I'm Here?
23 Wakka Flocka Flame Flockaveli
22 James Blake The Bells Sketch + CMYK + Klavierwerke
21 Chuck Person Chuck Person's Eccojams
20 Gil-Scott Heron I'm New Here
19 Owen Pallett Heartleand
18 Gorillaz Plastic Beach
17 Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
16 The National High Violet
15 Erykah Badu New Amerykah (Return of the Ankh)
14 Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid
13 Caribou Swim
12 Women Public Strain
11 Titus Andronicus The Monitor
Let's talk about this bottom half for a second. Some of this consists of back-catalog albums I only heard this past week. Some of this comes from my love of always-obscure Tiny Mix Tapes lists. And of course, I believe the higher rankings here to be worthy of "all-decade" status. 2010 had a lot of classic albums. Haven't had a year quite like it since--like--2016. Anyways, as for who did not make the list, I think it came down to which music was and wasn't headache-inducing. Sorry, Sufjan. Let's continue.
TOP 10
10 Four Tet There Is Love in You
9 Vampire Weekend Contra
8 Arcade Fire The Suburbs
7 Joanna Newsom Have One on Me
6 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Before Today
5 Flying Lotus Cosmogramma
4 LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening
3 Deerhunter Halcyon Digest
2 Beach House Teen Dream
1 Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I think I need to change my music taste. Most of these artists were already acclaimed when I was a teenager, so I just stuck with the familiar indie darlings. Maybe Joanna Newsom should be ranked higher, but I actually prefer her 2006 Ys album, which I can listen to in 1 sitting. Same with this LCD Soundsystem album that takes a close backseat to 2007's Sound of Silver. I consider Halcyon Digest to be the climax of that brief lo-fi rock movement (see also: No Age, Jay Raetard). Teen Dream has some of my favorite vocal performances ever.
Someday I'll write a book about how simultaneously stupid and brilliant that Kanye West album is. It kinda set a new perspective for how an album can be analyzed. It's essentially a pop-rap album. Sounds loud and electric. Most of these songs are non-poetic cries for help. And it's all wrapped in the same place. Should we feel bad for him or congratulate him? Released on my 20th birthday, here we see the true turn of the decade.
