20 Favourite Albums of the 10s

I wanted to make a decade best-of list for albums but I didn't feel like going through EVERYTHING from the past ten years. So I decided to adopt the Decadeology rules, two albums for each year, making for a concise 20 album list. Tough choices were made, I can tell you that. Some of these, you'll obviously know. Others, maybe not so much. In any case, I know there are any number of ways I could have gone, but these are the ones that sing my heart at this writing.

2010: LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 

2010: Robyn - Body Talk

2011: Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2012: Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man

2012: Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...

2013: Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

2013: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

2014: Javiera Mena - Otra Era

2014: The CRY! - Dangerous Game

2015: Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion

2015: Joanna Newsom - Divers

2016: David Bowie - Blackstar

2016: Beyoncé - Lemonade

2017: Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness

2017: Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

2018: Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

2018: The Beths - Future Me Hates Me

2019: Charly Bliss - Young Enough

2019: Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

Decadeology II

Ten years ago, my friend Joseph came up with the Decadeology challenge. He made a 20-track mix featuring two songs from each year of the decade. It's pretty fun, you really have to make some difficult choices. I've gone ahead and made my own Decadeology II mix for the 10s, screenshot as you can see, and posted here for anyone who wants to check it out (I'm unable to post a Spotify widget on this page, please let me know if you know how). If you end up making your own mix, please list/link it in the comments!

Decadeology

I tried my hand at Madmadcat's decade mixtape challenge: 20 songs, 2 songs from each year, with no band duplicates. I tried to go for a mix with a decent flow and I think I succeeded somewhat. Naturally, it was difficult to pick just 20 songs to represent the past 10 years, but that is part of the fun. And really, it's in no way representative of the entire decade. Get the download link below. You can peruse the tracklist while you wait for the file and clown (or praise) me in the comments.


1. Elliott Smith - Everything Reminds Me of Her (2000)
2. PJ Harvey - This Is Love (2000)
3. Curve - Gift (2001)
4. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl (2001)
5. Neko Case - I Wish I Was The Moon (2002)
6. Tom Waits - Alice (2002)
7. PUFFY - Planet Tokyo (2003)
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (2003)
9. Lali Puna - Left Handed (2004)
10. Ted Leo / Pharmacists - Me and Mia (2004)
11. Kate Bush - How To Be Invisible (2005)
12. The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno (2005)
13. Asobi Seksu - New Years (2006)
14. El Perro Del Mar - God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get) (2006)
15. Grinderman - No Pussy Blues (2007)
16. Kaela Kimura - Ground Control (2007)
17. Perfume - Puppy Love (2008)
18. Portishead - Machine Gun (2008)
19. Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (2009)
20. Sweet Trip - Your World Is Eternally Complete (2009)

>>zip file<<

Decadeology: Listening too long to one song!

I really like all of the New Pornographers' output, you really cannot go wrong if you were to choose only one of their albums to spin. That being said, I think Twin Cinema is a really, really great power pop album. For me, Sing Me Spanish Techno is the focal point of that album. It's an incredibly catchy, driving pop song with great singalong-ability. If you have heard the song, then chances are you know what I'm talking about (and possibly agree with me). If you haven't heard it, I honestly think you're missing out and you can give it a chance here.

The New Pornographers > Sing Me Spanish Techno

Decadeology: I must above all things love myself

Grinderman's No Pussy Blues starts off with a tapping typewriter and the nervous click of a hi-hat, while a bass drum keeps time like a heartbeat. It reminds me of someone sitting at a table, drumming their fingers while waiting for bad news. The voice of Nick Cave comes in to tell the tale of how he's aged and how he's not taking it so well. He meets a girl at a gig and, try as he might, he can't seem to maneuver her into the sack. He lets out his pent-up frustration and shouts out "DAMN!" as the song explodes into a screeching fury of guitars, banging drums and crashing cymbals. This song takes everything down to base levels. Drums, guitars and bass. Dude just wants to get laid, is that so wrong? Easily one of my favorite songs and albums of the past decade. Not to mention it was an absolute treat to see them live at such a small venue.

Grinderman > No Pussy Blues

Decadeology: Bleed you dry

I only recently came across the Twilight Sad, perhaps around summertime. I had liked what I heard from Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters, and then I read that a new album (Forget The Night Ahead) was gonna drop this fall. The first single, I Became A Prostitute, hit sometime in August; it completely blew me away and quickly became a favorite. I love the noise, I love the singer's thick Scottish accent and I love the darkness they conjure up. This song is devastating.

The Twilight Sad > I Became A Prostitute

Decadeology: It's the gift that you're given

Curve's Gift details a controlling relationship. Toni Halliday's voice is as cool as ice as she tells her lover to "do it to please me". The "gift" in the song is the one that she gives to him. She is basically the gift, and she expects him to act accordingly. Do it to please her. I love this song because it's about some totally dysfunctional relationship (as most Curve songs seem to be), to which I can relate. Musically, the song walks in-between electronica and rock. The guitars are fiery, the beats are aggressive and the vocals are coolly detached. I think you might be able to describe a lot of their songs as such. This one is one of my favorites in their catalog, and also of this decade.

Curve > Gift

Decadeology: I close my eyes and I let go

Kaela Kimura's Ground Control is ridiculously catchy. In a perfect world, this would be a worldwide #1 hit. It's the sassiest song of the summer you've ever heard. I almost wish she sang it in Japanese, but it's so much easier to sing along with in English. I love the flow of the song, it's so seamless and perfect. I also love the "HEY!". To me, it's just a song about how someone can send you into orbit and also be your tether to the real world. It never sounded like so much fun. Easily one of my faves of the decade.

Kaela Kimura > Ground Control

Decadeology: Go and come back

A slightly less well known band, Fleeting Joys were recommended to me by a friend. We both share a love for shoegaze and noise pop, he mentioned to me that the Fleeting Joys' album, Despondent Transporter, was reminiscent of Loveless era My Bloody Valentine, which is right up my proverbial alley.

This song, Go and Come Back, is gorgeous. It's like floating on a cloud, while passing in and out of brief thunderstorms. I love the wispy, ethereal vocals; the noisy and vibrating guitars. Yeah, it's a lot like MBV, but but who cares when it sounds this good. They just come off as a band who loves this particular genre and they do it well. Alternatively, it could be that I love this sound so much that I'm probably being a bit forgiving, but hey, it sounds good to me.

Fleeting Joys > Go and Come Back

Decadeology: You gotta give to get

I wasn't very impressed with my first encounter with El Perro Del Mar. It was the song, Candy, which is actually still one of my least favorite EPDM songs. I generally like sad, slow songs but this one was just too mopey, even for me. My opinion of her changed once I heard God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get). God Knows is like a slice of heavenly pop. The horns and strings give the song a sweet and elegant feel while she repeats her mantra. I know some people who have complained that her lyrics are too simplistic and repetitive, but I feel that she's using her words to evoke a feeling rather than try to create a lyrical masterpiece. This especially shows on her first album. I felt the second album, From The Valley To The Stars, wasn't nearly as strong but that's a whole other post.

Back to the song, I love how the sad, guilt-ridden lyrics that are wrapped up inside this gorgeous pop song. Musically, it's a bouncy number that harkens back to 60s girl pop, and maybe even a little ballroom style in the middle section. Easily one of my faves from this past decade, I love this song. The video is very sweet, as well.

El Perro Del Mar > God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)

Decadeology: Welcome to my life, tattoo

One of the coolest albums of the past decade is Petra Haden's 2005 a cappella album cover of The Who Sell Out, titled Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out. The album sounds like it's borne out of joy or simply, an unabashed love. It's fresh, inspired and thoroughly enjoyable, whether you are familiar with The Who's original album or not. Even the little commercial bits are done with a with a straight face. It's a celebration of art while creating something entirely new at the same time. And I haven't even gotten to her voice yet. You know how you hum different parts (other than the vocals) of a jingle or some song. She does it and makes it sound wonderful. And on top of that, her voice is absolutely lovely. Check out Tattoo, which probably is my favorite song on either album. After you're done with that, do yourself a favor and go get this album.

Petra Haden > Tattoo

Decadeology: I Wish I Was The Moon

In 2002, Ben was obsessing over the then-new Neko Case album, Blacklisted. He burned a copy for me to check out and, to be honest, it really didn't do much for me and I kinda just put it away with little fanfare. A couple months later, Neko was playing and Ben happened to have an extra ticket, so I went along. I probably figured at the least, it's a night out and I could have a few drinks or whatever...no biggie. I think we saw her at the always great Bimbo's 365 Club. Let me tell you, I was blown away, and I walked out of that show a fan.

Hearing her songs live made so much sense to me, I totally connected with them. The power of her voice really shines in a live setting. I think the best description I've read characterized her voice as "golden, burnt honey", which someone posted on a message board I used to frequent. I was also charmed by Ms. Case's sense of humor. You've got to see her if you haven't already, her between-song banter is quite amusing. In the days after that gig, I was able to listen to that burned disc with a new enthusiasm and ended up collecting her other works. So I have Ben to thank for introducing me to Neko Case, as well as Mogwai. I Wish I Was The Moon is probably my favorite song from Blacklisted, it's gorgeousness on a stick and definitely one of my favorite songs of the past decade.

Neko Case > I Wish I Was The Moon

Decadeology: Stop coming to my house

2003, I went to see Mogwai with Ben. Ben was already a big fan and had been listening to them for some years, and he persuaded me to check out this show. I had only heard of the band, but not the music. Basically, I went in cold to the gig. So we went, it was at Bimbo's 365 Club, and I emerged at the end a Mogwai fan. Loved the whole quiet/loud/quiet thing. There were moments at that show where you could hear mice scurrying about, or pins dropping. Other times, you might have been wishing you'd brought earplugs. You get the picture. Seriously, I had never seen or heard anything like it at that point in my life. Since then, I've seen them live nearly every time they've come through San Francisco. My favorite gigs being the aforementioned Bimbo's show, and the time they played Coachella in 04. That Coachella gig, they closed their set with 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong, and it was sublime.

On my way out of the show, I picked up Happy Songs for Happy People, which was the latest Mogwai disc at the time (eventually, I worked my way backwards and collected everything I could of their discography). Happy Songs became part of my soundtrack to that year, I listened to it constantly. Stop Coming To My House is one of my favorite tracks on the album (and I love the title). Understated. Devastating. Beautiful.

Mogwai > Stop Coming To My House

Decadeology: This is really happening

To me, Radiohead's Idioteque is the sound of paranoia, or the progression of insanity. With its eerie, metallic, hollow, and echoing soundscape, it captures the feeling of the end of the world or someone on the edge of completely losing their mind. It reminds me of everyone scrambling to make sure their systems were Y2K compliant. It reminds me of Bush's Florida election recount. Even though the song predates the 9/11 attacks, it still makes me think of it. Maybe Idioteque was a harbinger of things to come, or maybe it's me who is paranoid. Whatever the case is, I feel that this is one of the songs that completely expresses the detachment, fear and paranoia of this decade; perhaps even the 21st century.

Radiohead > Idioteque

Decadeology: Candy says

When I first heard about Asobi Seksu in 2004, it was all the buzzwords that got me interested in them; shoegaze, dream pop, noise pop, swirling guitars, japanese girl singer. You know, stuff like that. I picked up their self-titled debut album and was underwhelmed, to say the least. I caught fleeting glimpses of something beautiful (Sooner, I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me) but, despite the great cover image, that album came off as unfinished or incomplete. I ended up putting it on the shelf and forgetting about it.

Fast forward to the spring of 2006, I had read somewhere that Asobi Seksu were about to drop a new album, Citrus. I was curious, but it wasn't something I was eagerly awaiting. A few weeks later, I lazily clicked on a preview of one of the new tracks, New Years. Holy shit, I was blown away. I think I put it on a mix for someone with a similar taste for such things (Jen R?), and she was enthralled as well.

Everything is there; crystal clear production, towering walls of fuzzy guitars, hooks for days, driving bass-lines, ethereal vocals (in Japanese as well as English). It is the perfect combination, and all the songs are really great. I swear, once I finally got a hold of a copy, I pretty much listened to it at least once a day for a year. I still enjoy listening to it and I still get chills at certain parts of certain songs. I totally have no problem recommending it to anyone.

For this, I'm tempted to post my favorite, Red Sea. Or maybe the unabashedly My Bloody Valentine inspired, Pink Cloud Tracing Paper. Or the haunting and soaring, Thursday. Any of those would be worth a listen. However, I'm going to drop New Years here, as it was the first song from Citrus that I heard. Honestly, though, there's not a bad track on this album. Only three years later, I daresay it's a classic. Seriously, I'll be rockin' this til I die.

Asobi Seksu > New Years

Decadeology: It's the place you want to be

Another post about my favorite songs of the decade. It was the summer of 2003, I was listening to Jellyfish's Spilt Milk, which is one of my all time favorite albums, and a great summer album, to boot. I found myself wondering what was going on with the Jellyfish guys, since they had split up in 1994, about a year after the release of Spilt Milk. I remember finding a page that said Andy Sturmer was writing and producing for a Japanese pop group called Puffy (known as Puffy AmiYumi here in the states). Intrigued, I looked for something to download so I could check it out.

After a few false starts, I finally obtained a full copy of Nice., which was the latest release, and I was finally able to click the play button. The opening track, Planet Tokyo, blindsided me the way that Scott Stevens destroyed Eric Lindros. Seriously.

This album checked a bunch of different genres, but it didn't sound like cheesy ripoff. It sounded more like a joyous celebration of all things pop. The production was airtight and pristine. The voices of Ami and Yumi melded together in harmony so perfectly, you'd never guess that it was a talent contest that brought them together. Listening to Nice. is like being on a party bus made of cotton candy. If you took Nice. along with you on a fishing trip, you'd catch more fish than you could carry home because this album has hooks for days. Okay, that was really bad, but I think you get the point.

This was the album that got me hooked into Jpop. Like the lyrics in Planet Tokyo said, "Planet Tokyo, it's the place you want to be, tonight." Yeah, I wanted to be there.

Puffy AmiYumi > Planet Tokyo

Decadeology: A veil of diamond dust

So my friend, Madcat, came up with the idea of making an end-of-decade mix. The rule being that you can have only 20 tracks, two per year. It'll be tough leaving stuff out, but it'll be interesting to see what makes the final cut. Just for fun, I will try posting some of my candidates here and, eventually, posting the final tracklist. Here is one of my candidates.

One of the biggest releases in the past ten years, for me, was Kate Bush's Aerial. I fell in love with her when I first came across her in the mid-eighties. Hounds of Love had just been released and I quickly grabbed her previous releases. In 1993, she put out The Red Shoes and I have to confess that I was disappointed. So I hoped it was just a minor misstep, even Kate Bush can make a mistake, and waited for the next album. And I waited and waited. Soon enough, it seemed like she had disappeared from music altogether. There would be whispers and rumours of a new album every now and then, but nothing. In the summer of 2005, another rumor popped up. Then, there was actually a single, and a shiny new website! The anticipation was killing me.

I picked up Aerial one day in early November and, let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It's difficult to quantify whether it was worth a twelve year wait or not (how would you really measure that?), but the fact that it was a solid album helped lessen the sting a bit. I'd say that Nocturn is probably my favorite song on the album. It's the second to last track on the album and, to me, the preceding songs are like the steps that lead up to the pedestal of Nocturn. This song is the centerpiece of the album. The way it moves, it's very sensual. Not to mention the lyrics, running around on a beach naked, just before dawn. She's very good at painting pictures with her words.

I actually wrote a review of the album that was published in a very small fanzine, I think I'll post that, hopefully, this weekend. Until then, listen to this.

Kate Bush > Nocturn