I’ve said numerous times here, in chats, and on social media that I’m not an album guy – I tend to prefer individual songs, and to assemble my own playlists of songs by various artists, even across genres, that work together for me. It’s uncommon for me to put on an entire album and listen to it straight through, less so now than when I was younger and would just wear out a tape or CD of Apple or Nevermind or Badmotorfinger or It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back or …And Justice for All or Passion and Warfare. So while 25 isn’t a very long list for an entire decade of music, it’s a good representation of my decade of listening to music, because these are albums I will listen to start to finish (or mostly so), and ones to which I go back again and again.
For those of you who enjoy some of the more challenging metal I sometimes put at the end of my monthly playlists, the top metal album of the decade for me is still Carcass’s Surgical Steel, beating out Mastodon’s Emperor of Sand, Alcest’s Kodama, and Insomnium’s Shadows of the Dying Sun.
A few honorable mentions for this main list: TVAM’s Psychic Data, Thrice’s To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, whenyoung’s Reasons to Dream, Turbowolf’s The Free Life, and Black Honey’s Black Honey.
25. The Horrors – Skying.
I’ve done some kind of year-end music post for every year this decade except for 2011, which was sort of deliberate at the time because I didn’t hear as much music I liked that year as I did each year afterwards, but also I think a function of how much easier streaming services made it to find new music after that point. (I started using Spotify in the fall of 2012.) So I’ve had to go back and fill in the gap in my music memories, and it turns out that 2011 wasn’t a great year for the kinds of music I enjoy. I only sort of remember Skying from the time, but a few readers have recommended The Horrors to me over the years, and I feel like this is the zenith of their sound – still shoegazey and expansive like their earliest stuff, but a bit more accessible and melodic, while less commercial than everything that’s come afterwards. Standout tracks include “I Can See Through You,” “Still Life,” and especially “Endless Blue.”
24. School of Seven Bells – SVIIB.
School of Seven Bells’ final album was a tribute to member Benjamin Curtis, who died of T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in 2013 at age 35. The remaining member Alejandra Deheza went back to their unfinished last record and completed the songs, releasing this album, their best work, in February of 2016. The nine-song LP has seven tracks that sound like their first three records, electronic, atmospheric music with a melancholy tinge even when the music is more upbeat, and then closes with two mournful songs, “Confusion” and “This is Our Time,” that are absolutely devastating in the context of Curtis’ death. My personal favorites from the album are still “Open Your Eyes” and “Ablaze,” but it works so well as a complete experience that I rarely just pull any single song out of it.
23. Superhumanoids – Do You Feel OK?
Superhumanoids appear to be done after two albums, but their second release, coming in 2015, deserved a much wider audience than it received. It’s pop music by another name, just done better and without autotuning or overly slick production – why would you autotune the vocals with a singer as talented as Sarah Chernoff, or overproduce music that’s this smart and builds so well within tracks like “Anxious in Venice” or the wonderfully titled “Norwegian Black Metal?” The electronic/indie trio crafted great pop hooks that would fit on any mainstream radio station, and it’s a shame it never happened for them.
22. Drenge – Drenge.
Lots of duos have tried this same formula – one guitarist, one drummer, a heavy sound made more ominous by the lack of bass – but Drenge did it best on their debut album, which runs just 37 minutes for 12 songs, and just 25 songs for the first ten tracks, after which you could probably put something else on. The album opens with six songs that are all short bursts of energy with great riffs, varying a little in tone and tempo, peaking with “Bloodsports,” “Backwaters,” and “Gun Crazy,” where the brothers make the most of their limited instrumentation to give the songs a full sound, then getting out before the 3:30 mark every time. I also recommend “Nothing” and “I Don’t Want to Make Love to You.”
21. CHVRCHES – Every Open Eye.
I’ll spoil this now by saying that CHVRCHES appear twice on this list, the only artist to do so, with their debut record at #11 and their sophomore album here. The first one was more novel, while this album was more of the same but with higher production values. I liked this album in its initial release, which included the standout tracks “Leave a Trace,” “Make Them Gold,” “Never Ending Circles,” and “Bury It,” and the deluxe edition also includes “Get Away,” released shortly afterwards on the reworked soundtrack to the movie Drive.
20. HAERTS – HAERTS.
I think two factors hurt HAERTS’ debut album commercially/on radio, not including their orthographical issues. The best songs on this album, “Hemiplegia,” “Wings,” and “All the Days,” all appeared on a 2013 EP called Hemiplegia, and by the time this album appeared those songs had sort of come and gone already, and while the album brought more solid tracks like “Giving Up” and “Heart,” it wasn’t entirely ‘new.’ The second is that they sort of vanished afterwards, releasing just two singles/EPs (one of which included a 7-minute song, “Eva,” that was never going to get any airplay) in the next four years before their second album, New Compassion, appeared. Nini Fabi’s voice is superb and there are so many great hooks here that, around 2013, I thought they’d be the next big thing on alternative radio. It just never panned out.
19. Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal.
I wore this album out, and I have a hypothesis that it would be remembered more fondly if it hadn’t crossed over into the mainstream and then been played so heavily on the radio and elsewhere for a good two years after its release. It’s not innovative, but it is perfectly executed, with strong harmonies, the tremendous voice of lead singer Nanna, and, on this album at least, more layered arrangements from the six band members who played instruments (not counting the occasional brass section). Standouts for me are the tracks you know – “Little Talks,” of course, “Mountain Sound,” “Lakehouse,” and “King and Lionheart.”
18. Savages – Silence Yourself.
Silence Yourself could be the soundtrack to the #MeToo movement, although it was released in 2013 and was lyrically ahead of its time, an angry, unapologetically feminist record of modern punk songs punctuated by Jehnny Beth’s vocals, which swing from exhausted to enraged. Their second album, Adore Life, didn’t have the same righteous anger, and while Jehnny Beth has continued to release music on her own (and with her partner Johnny Hostile), we haven’t heard from Savages since 2016. Standouts from this record include “Shut Up,” “I Am Here,” and “She Will.”
17. black midi – Schlagenheim.
The most purely interesting new album I’ve heard since the record that’s #1 on this list, the 2019 debut from these British upstarts is experimental, bizarre, counterintuitive, abrasive, and totally fascinating. I have struggled to describe this record to friends who are into new music; it sounds like black midi has somehow taken rock music and turned it inside out. This isn’t accessible, and sometimes it just doesn’t work, but it’s the kind of record that makes me eager to see what they’ll do next. I was a bit disappointed that their single “Talking Heads,” released in the spring, didn’t end up on the album, as I think it’s the most immediately compelling thing they’ve done so far.
16. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit.
Barnett’s laconic delivery isn’t for everyone, but her lyrics are brilliant, and she showed on this full-length debut that she can craft strong tracks whether uptempo or down, electric or acoustic. Barnett’s best songs tell complete stories replete with tangents and amusing details, along with solid hooks. Standout tracks here include “Pedestrian at Best,” “Dead Fox,” “Depreston,” and “Elevator Operator,” although her two earlier singles “Avant Gardener” (a song about an asthma attack, of all things) and “History Eraser” didn’t reappear, as they were only on her A Sea of Split Peas double EP.
15. The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers.
It seems like critics and TNP fans will grade every album the supergroup releases as lesser because it’s not Twin Cinema, but that’s hardly fair to the group, especially since they’ve put out some great songs in the fourteen (!) years since that album first appeared. This is their best complete record since then, in my view, although it suffers from the heavy influence of the now-departed Dan Bejar (Destroyer) on some of the middle tracks. Standouts include the title track, “Fantasy Fools,” “Dancehall Domine,” and “War on the East Coast.”
14. Portugal. The Man – Woodstock.
Just a great album from start to finish, Woodstock feels like the culmination of steady growth from P.tM after the uneven but often brilliant In the Mountain in the Cloud (maybe my #2 album of 2011, the year I didn’t do any year-end posts) and Evil Friends. You know “Feel It Still,” one of the top songs of the decade for me, but this album is way more complete than that, with “Easy Tiger,” “So Young,” “Live in the Moment,” “Rich Friends,” and “Tidal Wave.”
13. Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar.
The Mercury Prize-winning rap trio put it all together on their third album, which stands out in a crowded field of contemporary hip-hop records because it sounds so little like everything else. The production is sparse, and the three members aren’t afraid of quiet passages without vocals or with half-sung lines, a clear case here of less is more. Standouts include the incredible “Toy,” “Fee Fi,” “Turn,” and “In My View.”
12. The Wombats – Glitterbug.
For pure pleasure of listening, this was a top 3 album of the decade for me; it’s peak Wombats and just generally peak indie-pop, with smart and frequently hilarious lyrics and plenty of good hooks throughout the record, the kind of stuff I hoped they’d produced when I heard their first single, “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” It’s a joyous, silly album that overflows with great singles, including “This is Not a Party,” “Greek Tragedy,” “Emoticons,” “Curveballs,” and “Your Body is a Weapon.”
11. CHVRCHES – The Bones of What You Believe.
CHVRCHES’ debut album came after a year-plus of singles and EPs, and, to their credit, they put all of the key songs they’d released in that buildup on the actual album, by which point they’d already cultivated enough of an audience for this record to peak at #12 on the Billboard 200, a remarkable feat for a debut by a Scottish alternative group. Lauren Mayberry’s charisma and voice are the stars here, as they remain even as the music they’ve produced has tapered a bit towards their third album. Standouts here include “The Mother We Share,” “Recover,” “We Sink,” “Gun,” and “Lungs.”
10. Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA.
One of the challenges I have in making any list like this is dealing with my own recency bias, and then worrying I’m overcompensating if I try to, in effect, regress my feelings on a record (or game, or movie) back to the mean a bit. I’ve been listening to KIWANUKA more than any other record in the seven weeks since it came out, often going start to finish and losing myself in the transitions between certain tracks because I’m so enraptured by his voice and the old-school R&B vibe of his guitar work. Standouts here including “Rolling,” my #1 song of 2019; “You Ain’t the Problem,” and “Hero.”
9. Hundred Waters – The Moon Rang Like a Bell.
It sounds like this group, a quartet at the time but now a trio, might be done, which would be a shame given how tremendous this record was. Featuring the ethereal vocals of Nicole Miglis above music that is trip-hoppy, ambient, spacey, or simply a piano line, it was like nothing else out there – adventurous without becoming so experimental that it would push listeners away, never overtly hooky but still melodic because of Miglis’ voice. Standouts include “Xtalk,” “[Animal],” “Murmurs,” “Show Me Love,” and “Out Alee.”
8. Grimes – Art Angels.
On the heels of another album Grimes scrapped, salvaging just one track (“Realiti,” which appears here in a new form), Art Angels was Grimes’ weird art distilled into their most accessible form, with less of the baby-voiced vocals from her previous album and, unfortunately, that seem to be back for her forthcoming Miss Anthropocene. Grimes, also known as Claire Boucher and now called c because that’s what Elon Musk suggested she go by, is capable of brilliance across a wide range of pop/alternative styles, showcased here on the guitar-driven “California,” the hard-edged “Kill v. Maim,” and her feminist collaboration with Janelle Monae, “Venus Fly.”
7. Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now.
My thoughts from KIWANUKA apply here as well – maybe I’m overrating this album because it’s new, and I’ve listened to it so much in the last few months, but I also know I am a sucker for this kind of throwback to the halcyon days of post-punk and nascent new wave. Ceremony have perfectly captured that moment when Gang of Four and Wire were the shiny new things and the synth-based new wave movement was just starting but hadn’t quite gone full Human League. Standouts include the title track, “Turn Away the Bad Thing,” “Further I Was,” and “Say Goodbye to Them.”
6. Beck – Colors.
Beck has two modes – his Prince-like pop mode where he seems to undergo this creative explosion and can barely contain his musical aspirations, and then his folk/acoustic mode that won him two major Grammys for Morning Phase and appeared previously on Sea Change. I prefer the first mode, as Beck is kind of a genius when it comes to creating multi-instrumental pop tracks that still challenge the listener in small ways. This album appeared two full years after the first single, “Dreams,” which was my #1 song of 2015, and features a re-recorded version of that song, along with the excellent title track, “Up All Night,” and “Dear Life.” Critics seem to prefer Beck’s other mode, and that’s fine, but it’s not for me.
5. Wild Beasts – Boy King.
Wild Beasts called it quits after this album and subsequent tour, but what a way to go out, with a perfect album of arty post-new wave tracks built around a common theme of exploring (and outright attacking) toxic masculinity, featuring vocalist Hayden Thorpe’s soaring falsetto voice. (He’s since released one solo album, Diviner, which was interesting but is a big tonal shift from Wild Beasts’ electronic vibe.) The first five tracks, “Big Cat,” “Tough Guy,” “Alpha Female,” “Tough Guy,” and “Celestial Creatures,” are all outstanding.
4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs.
The decade’s first great album, The Suburbs is the last time I agreed with the Grammys on anything, I think, as they were a bit of a surprise winner of Album of the Year, since they were the first indie artist to do so. It might be a bit overambitious, although I think Winn Butler showed this barely scratched the surface of his ambitions on their next two albums; I think The Suburbs hits the right balance between concept album (about growing up in the suburbs and the flattening influence of urban sprawl) and a mainstream, accessible rock record. Standouts include “City With No Children,” “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”, “Ready to Start,” “Month of May,” and “We Used to Wait.”
3. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here … Thank You 4 Your Service.
Phife Dawg may have given his life to finish this greatest of all comeback albums, dying of complications from diabetes eight months before the album was released, but this is very much Q-Tip’s show, with plenty of guests along for the ride and a welcome return from Jarobi White. The seminal rap group’s first album in 18 years is harder, rougher, modern in the right ways but still unquestionably the Tribe, and seems prescient in its lyrical forecast of a national lurch towards white nationalism and hate directed at blacks, Muslims, and gays, while covering plenty of other ground across its 16 tracks. Standouts include “Dis Generation,” the greatest old-school rap track of the decade; “We the People,” “The Space Program,” “Conrad Tokyo,” “Melatonin,” and “Ego.”
2. The Arctic Monkeys – AM.
Alex Turner had at least this one more great pop record in him, and while he turned the band around 180 degrees for the weird-ass follow-up Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, on AM he embraced what he does best: create huge guitar hooks and pair them with clever, engaging lyrics that tell stories while playing with words in novel ways. I prefer this even to their earth-shattering debut, and found that the best track on here, the lead single “R U Mine,” kept growing on me for months after I first heard it. I’m a guitar guy first and foremost, and this record features plenty of that, but in service of great pop songs rather than merely as its own end. Other standouts include “Arabella,” “Do I Wanna Know?,” “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?,” and “Snap Out of It.”
1. alt-J – An Awesome Wave.
This album blew me away when I first heard it, even though I would have told you there were plenty of songs or passages I didn’t care for; the more I listened, the more I fell under its spell and heard new things each time I listened. It is a meticulous album, which the members said they worked on for five years; it shows in the album’s precision and the lack thereof on their subsequent two albums. An Awesome Wave won the Mercury Prize, a decision the British press thoroughly expected, and set a bar alt-J may never reach again, but for this moment they were kings. The entire album is just so good, but if I have to pick standouts, I’ll go with “Tessellate,” “Breezeblocks,” “Taro,” and “Dissolve Me.”