Best Albums of the 2010’s
I heard somewhere (actually, I’m pretty sure it was Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!) that a person’s tastes in music stop evolving once they turn 30. I surpassed that milestone in the middle of this decade – at last tally, I am 34 – but I feel comfortable saying that my tastes are continuing to expand and evolve. The more I listen to music, the stronger I believe that any piece of music can be appreciated more fully by contextualizing it with a greater variety of music.
The following is a list of my 30 favorite and most important albums released in the last decade, and it features an array of artists that, I hope, reflects the diversity I aim to find when pursuing new music. Hopefully it encourages you to expand your boundaries, as well.
30) Daft Punk, Random Access Memories (2013) – Daft Punk dominated the airwaves in 2013, but they also created an album that has both an immediate appeal and surprising depth. Sleekly produced and infinitely listenable, Memories is as much of an earworm today as when it dropped 6 years ago.
29) Jack White, Lazaretto (2014) – Every track on White’s second solo effort is meticulously sculpted, and White’s deceptively layered production showcases his continued curiosity. Several songs are as formally adventurous as anything from White’s catalogue, as well, and the title track is probably the least formally conventional radio song in recent memory.
28) Spoon, They Want My Soul (2014) – Spoon’s consistently great output has long been their calling card, but Soul elevates itself from their repertoire because of its increased scope of style and sound. The songs here are still driven by stripped down grooves, chunky guitars, and melodic bass, but the addition of synths and a more ambient production vibe are incorporated seamlessly into their signature sound.
27) Field Music, Plumb (2012) – Field Music exhibit two traits that are rarely seen in tandem in music: adventurousness and brevity. Plumb clocks in at 35 minutes, no song breaks the 4-minute barrier, and a majority of the tracks are under 3 minutes. Despite this conciseness, each song explores a vast and wonderful sound world, and taken as a whole they create a nice balance between abstract sonic expression and infectious hooks with driving grooves.
26) The War on Drugs, A Deeper Understanding (2017) – There is a homogeneity to The War on Drugs’ songwriting – they are mostly down-tempo anthemic epics saturated in a brine of warm reverb. That sounds like a complaint, but it’s really not. They may be exploring a very refined niche, but their compositions are undoubtedly gorgeous, and their commitment to their established sound world works well when sustained for a full album.
Essential listening: “Strangest Thing”, “Nothing to Find”
25) Tune-Yards, I can feel you creep into my private life (2018) – What stands out on life is how intricate the music sounds with so few elements. Tune-Yards, which is the brain child of vocalist Merrill Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner, often relies primarily on those two sounds. Garbus’ vocal timbre and inflections are so unique and wide-ranging that they are their own self-contained orchestra, and Brenner’s hooks and warm bass tone complement them exquisitely.
24) Wing Walker Orchestra, Hazel (2019) – This New York-based jazz large ensemble combines a feverish juxtaposition of rock and jazz music with succinct and expertly constructed forms to boldly show that jazz can stay obstinately forward-thinking into the next decade.
23) Father John Misty, Pure Comedy (2017) – Misty’s unique combination of rambling balladry and vocal timbre sounds like if Elton John were raised on a steady diet of Faulkner and Country & Western music. Phrases extend seamlessly and ceaselessly in ways that recalls late Romantic writing, which is fitting, because Misty is an unapologetic romantic at heart.
22) John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up (2011) – Putting their own takes on a killer playlist of protest and socially conscious music, John Legend and the Roots crew fit seamlessly together on this soulful and lively set of tunes that still remains vital a decade later.
21) Sleepy Kitty, Projection Room (2014) – St. Louis (represent!) duo Sleepy Kitty have a drippy, post-punk sound that is not unlike other contemporary buzz bands from the middle of this decade, but their compact songwriting and diversity of influences distinguish them from the pack. “Nothing = You,” for example, is one of the most efficient songs I can recall from recent memory – it’s a fully-formed barnburner of a pop tune that blends elements of The Pixies and Spaghetti Western scores, yet it doesn’t even hit two minutes.
20) Queens of the Stoneage, …Like Clockwork (2013) – Clockwork is arguably the band’s most diverse and widely-accessible effort. The album features vintage QOTSA steam-engine-to-hell rockers (“My God Is the Sun”), haunting ballads (“…Like Clockwork”), and even a trace of disco (“If I Had a Tail”), making it the cleanest their gloomy desert vibe has ever been.
19) Shout House, Shout House (2019) – In different ways, Shout House simultaneously sound like everything and nothing else. By daftly melding elements of classical, jazz, rock, and hip-hop, this New York-based collective creates a rich musical universe that is endlessly inventive.
18) Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City (2013) – Modern is a deftly mature pop record that fully realizes the band’s desire for exploration without being overtly experimental. Careful scrutiny reveals that these seemingly simple songs feature very little literal repetition. For example, “Diane Young” (a deceptively subversive radio-friendly single) takes a simple melody and chord structure and runs wild with guitar effects, drum beats, and (gasp!) auto-tune to create a whiplash listening experience that – like the album as a whole – remains unpredictable and never devolves into schtick.
17) The Cornshed Sisters, Honey & Tar (2017) – Though they would most likely be considered a folk band, the Cornshed Sisters (an all-female and decidedly non-sister quartet from England) navigate an impressive array of styles on Honey & Tar, which spreads their tight vocal harmonies across folk and piano ballads, Fleetwood Mac-esque pop, barbershop quartets, and even a bit of skiffle. The songs here are catchy and efficient, though the album’s diversity adds depth to the music when taken as a whole.
Essential listening: “Running”, “The Message”
16) Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) – The word that most comes to mind when listening through Pool is pastoral. The stunning simplicity and restrain on display here recall works like Led Zeppelin III and even Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, though filtering them through Radiohead’s lens of digital paranoia. Radiohead has been downplaying guitars in their music ever since Hail to the Thief, but they’re almost nonexistent here, being replaced by pianos, strings, and lots of cavernous reverb. The effect is a lovely collection of subdued yet fully realized compositions.
15) Sampha, Process (2017) – Groove is at the foundation of several of Process’ songs, and these grooves are intricately composed mosaics of percussion, guitars, keyboard, and plenty of enveloping reverb. There is a layered density to these compositions, however, as there are ample angular hooks and adventurous harmonies woven throughout the album’s breezy ten tracks. Uniting everything is Sampha’s mournful, introspective singing, which is an effective complement to the sound world his production creates.
14) Kamasi Washington, The Epic (2015) – The Epic is undoubtedly a jazz record, but elements of funk, R&B, soul, classical, and even Spaghetti Western music run rampant throughout. Washington is establishing himself to be the go-to sax player for hip-hop/jazz fusion projects, which might explain how so many of his hooks would work great in either realm.
13) The Amazing, In Transit (2018) – In Transit features this Swedish rock outfit’s typical signature blend of dream pop, prog rock, and funk, but it also illustrates subversive growth for the band through its harder edge. The music continues to be excessively gorgeous, but several tracks have a more propulsive drive that makes the album an even breezier listen.
12) Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) – A hip-hop record that refuses to color in the lines, Butterfly artfully careens from one genre to the next, and sometimes within the same song. Lyrically, the album is poignant, insightful, and witty, matching the music’s vibrancy to offer a vital social commentary.
11) Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (2011) – Few artists are able to sustain creative energy and curiosity into the twilight of their career the way Simon has this decade. Beautiful is as much an homage to the wide array of styles and tastes in Simon’s past as it is a daring step forward, and the result is a catchy collection of musings on life that are mature yet boyishly curious.
10) Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, Waiting Game (2019) – Drummer, composer, and bandleader Carrington crafts an album that is vital for its time. Featuring responses to and reflections on the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, Waiting Game juxtaposes insightful and necessary social commentary with a propulsive and gorgeous fusion of jazz and R&B music.
9) D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah (2014) – Being D’Angelo’s first studio in release in 14 years, Black Messiah built itself up to expectations that it couldn’t possibly match. And then it did. Messiah sizzles with propulsive funk grooves, sultry R&B crooning, and N’awlins swagger throughout its substantial running time, and it melds its myriad influences so seamlessly that it takes several listenings to parse through how everything was so intricately crafted. It’s a great workout for mind, body, and soul.
8) David Bowie, Blackstar (2016) – Has there ever been a more eloquent, poignant, and creatively bold reflection on death by an artist staring it in the face? Circumstances aside, the music is an incredibly ambitious synthesis of rock, classical, jazz, and world musics, all of which are on display in the album’s epic 10-minute eponymous opener. As sad as Bowie’s passing was, Blackstar made it beautiful in a way because it allowed us to not remember Bowie but to continue to ponder his genius.
7) Blood Orange, Freetown Sound (2016) – Fusing 90’s hip-hop with soul-baring neo-soul, Blood Orange (AKA Devonte Hynes) has a knack for layering catchy hooks with subversive twists of form, harmony, and phrasing. Tracks like “EVP” and “Desiree” are effortlessly enjoyable to listen to, but they also reward diligent listening with their unorthodox use of structure.
6) M83, Junk (2016) – There are plenty infectious pop jams and cocoon-like synths here, but devices such as modal borrowing and intrastructural modulations add excellent, unexpected twists. And with their Gorillaz-esque rotating cast of musicians, M83 blur the sense of a steady narrator to create a welcoming communal vibe. Like any great pop record, Junk puts equal emphasis on creating both killer hooks and a nuanced sound world.
5) Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues (2011) – Among the myriad folk rock revival acts that emerged at the beginning of the decade, Fleet Foxes always stood out because of their organically raw sound, the gorgeously vocal harmonies, and their inventive approach to form. Nowhere is that combination on fuller display than in Helplessness Blues features the lush vocal harmonies and serene melodies that defined the group’s sound in their previous albums, but it is also driven by explorations of form and timbre that elevate it beyond just a collection of pretty songs.
4) Darcy James Argue’s Secrety Society, Brooklyn Babylon (2013) – Secret Society is a jazz big band by design but not by function – Argue treats his ensemble like a chamber orchestra one minute and a hard rock collective the next, and Babylon is a wonderful synthesis of his vibrant writing and ambitious approach to form as well as the technical facility and diversity of Society’s musicians. A lot of what I do with Heisenberg Uncertainty Players is modeled on this band and this album in particular.
3) The Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio (2012) – This masterpiece boasts a seamless blend of modern jazz, hip-hop and R&B, proving that bold experimentation and some creative cross-breeding can add vitality to all three genres. And while others have attempted similar fusion projects, Glasper’s shines because it manages to stay genuine to every style it incorporates. On a personal level, perhaps no album has had a greater impact on the trajectory of my writing voice as this one did.
2) Laura Marling, Once I Was an Eagle (2013) – I can’t recall ever hearing an album that is simultaneously so simple yet ambitious. With Eagle, Marling crafts a modern folk masterpiece, filled with gorgeous songs that are orchestrated in a way that enhances the music without ever distracting from it. Most impressively, Eagle is a structural marvel – musically, the album breaks into three distinct sections defined by their use of motives and general aesthetic vibes (“Take the Night Off” through “Master Hunter”, “Little Love Caster” through “Undine”, “Where Can I Go?” through “Saved These Words”), with the first five tracks all being built abstractly around the same riff (there is no break in the music until after the fifth track, “Master Hunter”). Not only that, but the riff returns in the album’s closer (“Saved These Words”), thus satisfying the musical journey on which Marling embarks. The album works on so many levels, and it’s a riveting listen whether it’s your first or tenth.
1) Gorillaz, Plastic Beach (2010) – An album so personally influential for me that it inspired this very blog, Plastic Beach is simultaneously immediately accessible and infinitely nuanced. I have probably listened to this album cover-to-cover more than any other released this decade, but I still feel like I find something new in it every time I hear it. Damon Albarn’s writing and production have been massively influential towards my melding of pop and jazz elements in my own writing, and the lyrics as well as the metastructural assemblage of the album masterfully juxtapose critiques of environmentalism and the disposable nature of pop music. Even after 10 years, it remains my gold standard for the vast potential for postmodern composition.