The 100 Best Albums Of The 2010's

Here it is! A decade's worth of obsessing over new music condensed into one list that will probably get a handful of page-views and a Facebook comment from my dad or something.
Just so you know, I've been thinking about this too much. Seeing Pitchfork + Paste + Uproxx all publish their own lists this week made me feel like it's okay to overthink music lists and just throw something out there. Even if it's a couple months too soon.
Also, this list was really hard to compile. I was going to write a blurb for each album, but I don't trust my journalism skills nearly as much as I let on. And why try harder?
I think my top 4 is pretty unimpeachable. I think my top 10 should have 11 albums in it, but numbers are stupid. It was pretty hard to come up with 100 albums, no more/no less, because I simultaneously care too much yet don't care at all about what's gonna be #88 as opposed to #87 and whatnot. I like lists. This kind of stuff is therapeutic to me.
Feel free to bark at me about my terrible music taste, or entirely base your newfound musical opinions on this, or whatever. I wouldn't mind sparking some conversation!

Here's the list.

100 
Rosalia
El Mal Querer
2018

99 
Andy Stott
Luxury Problems 
2012

98 
YG
Still Brazy
2016

97 
Erykah Badu
New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh)
2010

96 
A Tribe Called Quest
We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
2016

95 
DJ Rashad
Double Cup
2013

94 
Noname
Room 25
2018

93 
U.S. Girls
In A Poem Unlimited
2018

92 
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Skeleton Tree
2016

91 
Flying Lotus
You're Dead!
2014

90 
Dean Blunt
Black Metal
2014

89 
Beach House
Bloom
2012

88 
Janelle Monae
The ArchAndroid
2010

87 
Killer Mike
R.A.P. Music
2012

86 
My Bloody Valentine
m b v
2013

85 
Big Boi
Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
2010

84
Pusha T
DAYTONA
2018

83 
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
2012

82 
Oneohtrix Point Never
Garden Of Delete
2015

81
Women
Public Strain
2010

80
Earl Sweatshirt
Some Rap Songs
2018

79 
SZA
Ctrl
2017

78 
Savages
Silence Yourself
2013

77 
Kanye West
The Life Of Pablo
2016

76 
Tune-Yards
w h o k i l l
2011





75 
Low
Double Negative
2018

74 
Caribou
Swim
2010

73 
Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
2016

72 
Scott Walker
Bish Bosch
2012

71 
The Caretaker
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
2011

70 
Ariel Pink
Pom Pom
2014

69 
The Knife
Shaking The Habitual
2013

68 
Perfume Genius
Too Bright
2014

67 
Shabazz Palaces
Black Up 
2011

66 
Grouper
Ruins
2014

65 
Anderson .Paak
Malibu
2016

64 
Colin Stetson
New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
2011

63 
Tim Hecker
Virigins
2013

62 
Beyonce
Lemonade
2016

61 
Titus Andronicus
The Monitor
2010

60 
Car Seat Headrest
Teens Of Denial
2016

59 
Lana Del Rey
Norman Fucking Rockwell!
2019

58 
Four Tet
There Is Love In You
2010

57 
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Pinata 
2014

56
Bjork
Vulnicura
2015

55 
Japandroids
Celebration Rock
2012

54 
Tame Impala
Lonerism
2012

53 
Darkside
Psychic
2013

52 
Vampire Weekend
Contra
2010

51 
Kurt Vile
Wakin On A Pretty Daze
2013

50 
PJ Harvey
Let England Shake
2011

49 
Daughters
You Won't Get What You Want
2018

48
D'Angelo And The Vanguard
Black Messiah
2014

47 
Bon Iver
Bon Iver
2011

46
Perfume Genius
No Shape
2017

45
The War On Drugs
Lost In The Dream
2014

44
Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
2017

43 
Jamie xx
In Colour
2015

42 

Angel Olsen

All Mirrors

2019

41 
Chance The Rapper
Coloring Book
2016






40 
Angel Olsen
MY WOMAN
2016

39 
Solange
A Seat At The Table
2016

38 
Daft Punk
Random Access Memories
2013







37 
David Bowie
Blackstar
2016

36 
Disclosure
Settle
2013

35 
St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
2011

34 
Julia Holter
Have You In My Wilderness
2015

33 
Danny Brown
XXX
2011

32 
Arcade Fire
The Suburbs
2010

31
Deafheaven
Sunbather
2013

30 
Swans
The Seer
2012

29 
Fiona Apple
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
2012

28 
Joanna Newsom
Have One On Me
2010

27 
Mount Eerie
A Crow Looked At Me
2017

26 
Iceage
Plowing Into The Field Of Love
2014

25 
FKA Twigs
LP1
2014

24 
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
2010

23 
Weyes Blood
Titanic Rising
2019

22 
Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell
2015

21 
Father John Misty
I Love You, Honeybear
2015

20 
Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
2011

19 
Death Grips
The Money Store
2012

18 
James Blake
James Blake
2011

17 
SOPHIE
OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES
2018

16 
Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
2010

15 
Oneohtrix Point Never
Replica
2011

14 
Swans
To Be Kind
2014

13 
Run The Jewels
Run The Jewels 2
2014

12 
Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
2016

11
Frank Ocean
Channel Orange
2012

10
LCD Soundsystem
This Is Happening
2010

9 
Destroyer
Kaputt
2011

8 
Vampire Weekend
Modern Vampires Of The City
2013

7 
Deerhunter
Halcyon Digest
2010

6 
Sun Kil Moon
Benji
2014

5 
Beach House 
Teen Dream 
2010

4
Frank Ocean
Blonde
2016 








3
Kendrick Lamar
good kid, m.A.A.d city
2012 

2
Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2010

1 
Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp A Butterfly
2015

#101: The Honorable Mentions

This weekend, I will be releasing my list of the 100 best albums of the decade.
Yeah. I know. The grand-daddy of them all.
But first, here are a bunch of albums I considered adding to the list at some point. The honorable mentions. A big fat respectable tie for the 101st best album of the decade.
This also includes a forecast of how many albums from each year will be on the list.

Here we go.

2010

Gorillaz 

Plastic Beach

The National

High Violet

Waka Flocka Flame

Flockaveli

The list will have 16 albums from 2010.

2011

Tim Hecker

Ravedeath, 1972

Nicolas Jaar

Space Is Only Noise

M83

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Death Grips

Exmilitary

Liturgy

Aesthethica

Real Estate

Days

Kendrick Lamar

Section.80

James Ferraro

Far Side Virtual

The list will have 12 albums from 2011.

2012

Grouper

A I A: Alien Observer

Grimes

Visions

Mac DeMarco

2

Perfume Genius

Put Your Back N 2 It

Traxman

Da Mind Of Traxman

Cloud Nothings

Attack On Memory

The list will have 12 albums from 2012.

2013

Jon Hopkins

Immunity

Arcade Fire

Reflektor

Kanye West

Yeezus

Youth Lagoon

Wondrous Bughouse

Julia Holter

Loud City Song

Blood Orange

Cupid Deluxe

Bill Callahan

Dream River

The list will have 11 albums from 2013.

2014

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

St. Vincent

St. Vincent

The list will have 13 albums from 2014.

2015

Destroyer

Poison Season

Kamasi Washington

The Epic

Joanna Newsom

Divers

The list will have 7 albums from 2015.

2016

Sturgill Simpson

A Sailor's Guide To Earth

Kendrick Lamar

untitled unmastered.

The list will have 14 albums from 2016.

2017

Ibibio Sound Machine

Uyai

Kelela 

Take Me Apart

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Rest

The list will have 4 albums from 2017.

2018

Beach House

7

A.A.L. (Against All Logic)

2012-2017

Yves Tumor

Safe In The Hands Of Love

The list will have 8 albums from 2018.

2019

Little Simz

Grey Area

Purple Mountains

Purple Mountains

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

Bandana

Lingua Ignota

Caligula

The list will have 3 albums from 2019.

Part of me feels bad for making this list before 2019 is even over. I could have waited 6 more weeks. Some of the albums above could grow on me. But I've realized that when it comes to what I'm getting in return for all this [AKA nothing], the worst thing I could do is overthink this.

My Life's Musical Road Map

I was born in California. I moved to Idaho in the middle of high school. I lived 2 years in Canada's British Columbia. I've now spent most of my adulthood here in Utah.
This is a blog post dedicated to the music of my hometowns.

CALIFORNIA
I lived in my childhood in California's Central Valley. Born in Yuba City, lived in Linden as a toddler, but spent most of these years on the East side of Stockton. Stockton CA was ranked the #1 "most miserable city" in America by Forbes back in 2009. I didn't live there at the time, but you get the point. It's a pretty stupid town. It's also home to a band with a pretty stupid name: Pavement.
Lead singer Stephen Malkmus eloquently describes Stockton like this:

"A suburban locale. Very flat. Very hot in the summer. Skateboarding. Policemen. Cheerleaders. Stuff like that."

...So that sounds pretty stupid. But it's true! In fact, the beauty of Pavement is that all their material is pretty stupid. And in doing so, I don't think any band is more true to their roots.
If you have never heard of Pavement, they were an indie band in the 90s that received much critical acclaim, and thanks to the internet, their lo-fi legacy will live on forever. Just Google-search "best 90s albums" and scroll around. There's a really good chance you'll come across their Slanted and Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain LPs; both of which are listed among Rolling Stone's top 500 greatest albums of all time.
Just south of Stockton is the city of Modesto, home to another great 90's lo-fi band: Grandaddy. They also do a great job at personalizing their crappy locale. Try their albums Under the Western Freeway and The Sophtware Slump. And of course, Sacramento is just north of Stockton. While it's home to many bands, I think it's worth noting that it's home to one of alt-rock radio's most unrefined bands: Cake. Their vocal and instrumental performances all sound like they could be done by you. My older brother owned Prolonging the Magic when I was a kid.

It should also be noted that one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time was born in Concord and attended school at Stockton's own University of Pacific: Dave Brubeck. I'm just assuming everybody reading this has heard a Dave Brubeck Quartet song before. Unless you're an uncultured swine.
One of my favorite one-hit wonders of the 90s is from the Stockton/Modesto area: Chris Isaak. Famous for "Wicked Game."
Death Grips are from Sacramento. So are Deftones. If you don't like those band names, I'm pretty darn sure you'll dislike their music even more.
While many towns I'm tied to have had shout-outs in songs before--this even includes Tom Waits and Beck--no song can even touch the classic quality of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lodi." San Francisco's CCR writing a bittersweet classic song about the town north of Stockton... Gotta be proud of that.

Also wanted to shout-out the music of Oakland. I love San Fran, and love acting like a tourist any time I go there. But between going to A's games and trips to the Oakland LDS Temple, I never felt like a tourist in Oakland. It kind of just felt like a Bay Area extension of the Stockton ghetto. Some original rap acts from the East Bay include E-40, Digital Underground, and Souls of Mischief.

IDAHO
My family moved to Jerome ID in 2006. I was 15. I've since spent 3 summers in the gorgeous mountains of Stanley ID and have lived some on-and-off years with my parents in the cow-pie desert of Jerome. West of all this is the closest thing the state has to a real city: Boise.
The main Boise band I think is import is Built To Spill. They're another one of those great 90's lo-fi rock bands like Pavement and Grandaddy. But Idaho is a much different landscape than California's Central Valley. Less people, more rolling yellow hills. I see frontman Doug Martsch as a guitar god. And I think Built To Spill has the finest album trilogy of any 90's band: There's Nothing Wrong with Love, Perfect from Now On, Keep It Like a Secret. I highly doubt you'd like his nasally, whiny voice and confounding lyrics, but that kinda shaped how a lot of indie rock bands would sound in years to come. Because whether or not you actually live in Idaho, everyone dreams about getting out of their own "Idaho."
Youth Lagoon is from Boise. I like them. Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter is from northern Idaho, and his music is just as rustic as that terrain. The best song about an Idaho town would either be Built To Spill's "Twin Falls" or boygenius's "Ketchum."

BRITISH COLUMBIA
I served a 2-year LDS mission in the province of British Columbia. This province is home to Vancouver 80s hit-maker Bryan Adams, and Victoria 00's hit-maker Nelly Furtado (whom I've seen in concert somehow). A lot of people don't know this, but Vancouver is a real city. It's urban enough to have a tough attitude, but often seen as safe-haven for West Coast pacifist hippies. It's culturally diverse, often based on which side of town you're in. If you can imagine, compared to any American city, Vancouver seems pretty weird. But also pretty cool.
The New Pornographers are both these things. Collaborating Vancouver's indie most diverse songwriting minds together shouldn't work so well, but it does. A.C. Newman is the sideways pop lyricist. Neko Case is the drunken roots-y heart. And Dan Bejar is the sideways drunken poet. While the NP's have mastered combining the "indie rock" and "power pop" genres, the individual works from these band members are just as rewarding. Gonna focus on Dan Bejar for a sec.
I was living in North Vancouver when Dan's band, Destroyer, released Kaputt. It was 2011, I was anxious out of my mind, and I wasn't allowed to listen to radio music until I finished my mission. While Destroyer have released plenty of material worth praising, Kaputt is personally a life-changer. All its vague lyrics about America, heartbreak, memories, and endings--with musical tastes of the cool/weird Vancouver aesthetic--it takes me there.

Another one of my favorite Vancouver bands is Japandroids. Saw them live in SLC a few years back. Before the show, their lead singer complimented me on my Cancucks jersey. I felt starstruck. This band isn't weird, but much like Bryan Adams before them, they scope the rough edges of the city. I recommend Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock for all you indie punks out there.
Black Mountain is from Vancouver, but I don't know much about them. I've been more into the Victoria indie rock band Hot Hot Heat, or weirdo songwriter Frog Eyes.

UTAH
When I first moved to Utah, people asked me what kind of music I listened to. I used to answer "indie." Then the Utah person in conversation would say "Do you like Imagine Dragons? They're pretty indie." And this is what Utah's brand of music is made of.
For the record, this was about a year before "Radioactive" blew up. But that band consists of old buddies from the private Mormon college of BYU. And in the eyes of the Utah/Mormon listener, if you are a Mormon, your artistry just magically became much more validated. An unfortunate example of this is rapper James The Mormon, whose fan-base consists of people who don't actually listen to rap music.
I'm just gonna add, there's a "BYU buddies" band from Minnesota that made a lot of cute popular hits in the 80's: The Jets. Every band member is related to each other, and have the same last name as my mission companion Elder Wolfgramm. There is no way they're not somehow related to him.

Neon Trees are from Utah. They used to be pretty popular. Speaking of "used," The Used are also from Utah. My personal favorite Utah band might be experimental metal outfit SubRosa.
But let's forget about experimental metal. When I served my mission for 2 years, half the music I listened to was by Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This is an group that has been doing things the same way for 100 years. It's a tradition. I guess there are some benefits to tradition... If you like hundreds of elderly people singing old hymns with the voice of angels, you're in luck! Cuz that's always what you're gonna get! And ff you don't like it? Well, you're probably not gonna make it through a whole album. And we hope we see still you at church this Sunday.
Mo Tab is a great place to end this. Being stuck in how the world was 100 years ago is a great musical analogy for the state of Utah.
But whether I like it or not, the music of my locale kinda artistically makes up who I am. There are pieces of me that want to depict the ugliness of suburban California, fill the wide empty spaces of Idaho, take weird paths into the Northwest cities, and sing quaint praises to Jesus. There are also pieces of me that wonder why I spent so much time writing this blog post. So. Yeah. Bye now.

Everything Lasts Forever

I.
DO YOUR JOB. A thought that's been coming back to me a lot recently is not caring about what others think; particularly regarding my music. I must go forward. Experiment experiences for my own sake. Think of others, but seeing them as judges, nor myself as their judge. I want to make music. And I want to make it my way. I am worth the same as other people. I am the best at what I do. Now do something... I do nothing because I don't know what to do. Somewhat justifiable... Don't stop writing! (also: keep music-ing) I think there's a comfort when you're truly doing what's right. Whether you know it, or feel like that's the case. I guess I don't feel that comfort very frequently. And yet, I do so many worthwhile, meaningful things. There is nothing wrong with being sensitive.

II.
What the frick is going on with my right eye? There are specific different types of migraines, and OH MY GOSH it's blowing my mind. I can only hope that others could understand what I've been through and still go through. Why does it take so much to feel "here"? Real, okay, in the moment, like myself? It always takes some specific steps I kinda have to guess and find out for myself. I've been considering sharing my kidney stone story, and my life ever since.

III.
You cannot go back. You can go forward. August 2009 has been haunting me. I wish I knew why. And I wish I had answers to that time. Memories of my childhood, teen years, mission, college years, etc...I can't seem to connect the dots. Do I have to? Or is that actually part of the problem with me being too self-conscious?

IV.
I really have a hard time imagining other people loving me, for some reason. It seems like just last night my mind wasn't bothered by that...Oh my gosh. Does that thought really bother me that frequently? I mean...I like that whole "DO YOUR JOB" mindset I've had. I'm a songwriter. It's who I am. It's what I do. I woke up this morning ready and willing and able to do it; whenever, 24/7. And yet...I see it as this detriment that separates me from reality, normalcy, and surface-level intelligence/worth/maturity. Am I missing a big picture? My big picture, perhaps?

V.
I'm often in pain and I'm often sad and I struggle to find success or identity and I don't know who would ever want to be with me for any reason. I wish my life was different. I wish I was a different person. I wish I felt differently. I've been thinking about that recent post I saw on facebook about suicide awareness. The trifecta of suicidal thought: Hopelessness, Isolation, Feeling like you're a burden. I keep thinking I'm gonna explode tomorrow or mess something up or something. Like, at church, around leadership, around girls. I feel like I'm lying to people when I tell them about my job, my past, my desires, etc. I suddenly don't want to talk to anybody tomorrow. Not my parents, not my friends. And yet, talking with someone about my thoughts/feelings is what I actually kinda really what I need to do.

VI.
I think there's something freeing about leaving religion behind. And yet, I love the idea of innocence as a way to understanding yourself and reality. Do I even believe in a God? In what ways? Am I living my life right? Like, am I even doing what's right for me?

VII.
There's a core to all these feelings that I've felt for a long time; my whole life, really. I wish I could have explained that to people back then. And I wish I could explain it to people now. How I just feel different from everyone else, and weird inside, and like I know lots of other things people don't know, or rather, that people know lots of things that I don't know. There were times even in my "glory days" where I felt this way--subconsciously, consistently, really--but I wasn't giving people the full picture. I've been needing to break down and cry. I feel so misunderstood. I always have. Before, I kinda felt like my thoughts/feelings were misunderstood. Now it's like my mindset/pain is misunderstood.
And then I fell asleep.