It may not be the end of the decade, but that is not going to stop me from making this list.

I’ve been a huge music fan my whole life, and my interests and tastes in music seem to grow and evolve each year. Especially since coming to college, I’ve found the challenging music that might not be immediately catchy is what is most rewarding to listen to. That being said, I enjoy all kinds of music, from pop, as well as rap, rock, indie and electronic.

For this list, I selected ten albums that I found to be the best of this current decade, taking into consideration songwriting, production, lyrics, and some of my own personal preferences. I also excluded anything from the current year (2018) because I feel like those releases are too recent to make a definitive opinion on where they would stand in this list.

Without further ado…

10. An Awesome Wave- Alt-J (2012)

Alt-J’s debut album is one of the best indie pop albums to come out in the past several years. The lead singers nasally vocals may be a turn-off for newcomers, but it suits their sporadic music style well. Their combination of folk, electronica, trip-hop, and pop should have lead to messy results, but with their playful attitude and slick production, Alt-J streamlines An Awesome Wave into a fascinatingly beautiful album.

Best Tracks: Tessellate, Taro, Fitzpleasure, Breezeblocks

9. To Be Kind- Swans (2014)

This monumental album is probably the most challenging listen on my entire list. On To Be Kind, Swans fuses post-hardcore and ambient music into sprawling tracks that can last anywhere from seven minutes to a half hour. It may not be designed for the impatient, but taking the time to listen to layers of guitars, drums, and sounds build into epic crescendos is one of the most rewarding experiences in music I’ve heard this decade.

Best Tracks: A Little God In My Hands, Bring the Sun/ Toussaint l’ouverture, Oxygen

8. High Violet- The National (2010)

The National had been around for at least a decade by the time they released High Violet, but this album definitely showcases them at their best. The National has always been known for their melancholy rock style and on High Violet, the band delivers some of their most powerful and sorrowful tracks yet.

Best Tracks: Bloodbuzz Ohio, Anyone’s Ghost, Lemonworld

7. Blond- Frank Ocean (2016)

Frank Ocean improves in almost every way on his sophomore effort. The songs are stripped back and almost minimalist compared to Channel Orange. Frank Ocean incorporates elements of indie rock to his usual soul sound, making his asthetic more mature and unlike anything I’ve heard in a mainstream pop album.

Best Tracks: Ivy, Pink + White, Nights, Solo (Reprise), Pretty Sweet

6. A Moon Shaped Pool- Radiohead (2016)

After a long wait, Radiohead returned in 2016 with one of the best albums of their career. Their previous effort, The King of Limbs, was a bizarre mess of electronic beats and almost no melodies, so the softer sounds of A Moon Shaped Pool were a refreshing change of pace. The album keeps the experimental and progressive sounds that made some of Radiohead’s early material so great, but this time they build their songs around acoustic guitar melodies and gentle piano rifts, making A Moon Shaped Pool the most patient member of their discography.

Best Tracks: Decks Dark, Present Tense, Daydreaming, Indetiket

5. The Suburbs- Arcade Fire (2010)

Arcade Fire is one of my favorite bands of all time so maybe I’m a little biased, but The Suburbs is one of the best concept albums to ever be released. It may not be as good as their first record Funeral (my favorite album of all time), but The Suburbs is still fantastic in its own right. The album paints a vivid portrait of growing up in a suburban neighborhood across its sixteen tracks, with themes of childhood, modern life, and dystopia. With indie rock, arena rock, and orchestral elements, the whole project comes together as one of the most stunning pieces of music this decade.

Best Tracks: The Suburbs, Ready to Start, We Used to Wait, Sprawl II, Suburban War

4. In Colour- Jamie xx (2015)

I’ll admit I don’t listen to enough electronic music as I should, but every once in a while I find an album that really catches my attention. In Colour is the solo project from xx member, Jamie xx, and it is one of the most captivating collections of electronic music I’ve ever heard. Jamie creates a wavey soundscape of synth noises that sounds somewhere between a collection of handbells and timbales that are fused with meticulous drum beats. Also, he’ll occasionally bring in a guest vocalist to keep his tracklist interesting, the best example being the Young Thug feature on “Good Times.” In Colour is an essential listen for any fan of electronic music, or really any music fan in general.

Best Tracks: I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times), Loud Places, SeeSaw, Sleep Sound

3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy- Kanye West (2010)

The controversial rapper has created several fantastic albums in his two-decade-spanning career, but My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is easily my favorite. After a weird sidestep in his career with the poppy 808’s and Heartbreak, Kanye retreated to Hawaii with a collection of other artists to record his magnum opus. Lyrically, Fantasy shows Kanye at his strongest, with tracks like “Gorgeous” and “Devil In a New Dress,” reflecting his thoughts and worldviews. The features also bring out the best in artists like Rick Ross and Nikki Minaj, who I have never really been a fan of. But the real hero here is his production, with pounding drums, memorable samples, and haunting melodies. Never before has a rap album been so full of hits while simultaneously being an honest look into one of the music industry’s most fascinating personas.

Best Tracks: Gorgeous, Power, Monster, Dark Fantasy, Devil In a New Dress, Runaway

2. Bon Iver- Bon Iver (2011)

This is probably the most beautiful album I’ve ever listened to. Bon Iver’s self-titled album created a lot of buzz upon its 2011 release and it even won him two Grammy Awards, and it’s all completely justified. Bon Iver captured the essence of minimalism with his debut album For Emma, Forever Ago, but by adding just a little more production to his formula he made everything greater. Most of the songs contain nothing more than a simple guitar melody at the start, but as each track builds he slowly adds horns, strings and other subtle sounds I can’t even wrap my head around. Occasionally he’ll bring in a distorted electric guitar to create some of the most powerful moments on the record. But the biggest factor driving Bon Iver’s songs are his vocals. They’re raw and honest, and the way he layers his voice in post-production makes him sound like he is a one-man choir. As corny as it may sound, listening to this album makes me want to find a spot in the woods and watch the snow melt.

Best Tracks: Perth, Holocene, Calgary, Michicant

1. To Pimp a Butterfly- Kendrick Lamar (2015)

The greatest rap album of all time? Probably. Kendrick Lamar’s masterpiece is the most engaging, well-made album of the 2010’s, and that’s not something I say lightly. Kendrick alone has made four incredible albums this decade, and every other album mentioned on this list could be deserving of the top spot. But what makes To Pimp a Butterfly stand out is how bold it is. It lacks typical “bangers” that are found on his other albums (with the exception of maybe “Alright”) and instead focuses on a style drenched with influences from jazz, funk, soul, and rock. His track style is unconventional and unlike anything I’ve ever heard on a rap album- the track “i” is performed live and cuts out halfway through so Kendrick can give a monologue on racial inequality to his audience, and the instrumental on the track “For Free? (Interlude)” is performed entirely by a live jazz band. Kendrick is also known for being very socially conscious, and this is his most political album by far, with powerful messages on race, poverty, and America. My favorite track is “How Much a Dollar Cost?” where Kendrick narrates an encounter with a beggar in Africa that changed his worldview. In short, this album is nothing short of a masterpiece. Whether you listen to rap or not, this is an album everyone should hear.

Best Tracks: How Much a Dollar Cost?, i, Institutionalized, The Blacker the Berry, King Kunta, Alright, u

 

© Hank Michels, 2018