Tens Albums

Rules/Guidelines: Some combination of past/present/future feelings about the album, objective opinion of quality, and immediate instinctual feelings.  Several of my friends made albums that probably belong here, but no friends/locals allowed.

Honorable Mention:
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away (2013)
Field Music - Plumb (2012)
Foster The People - Torches (2011)
Glocca Morra - Just Married (2012)
G.L.O.S.S. - Demo 2015 (2015)
Juliana Hatfield Three - Whatever, My Love (2015)
Jens Lekman - An Argument with Myself (2011)
Luther - Let's Get You Somewhere Else (2012)
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (2012)
Priests - Nothing Feels Natural (2017)
Real Estate - Days (2011)
The Sidekicks - Awkward Breeds (2012)
Spoon - Transference (2010)
Sundials - When I Couldn't Breathe (2012)
Swervedriver - I Wasn't Born To Lose You (2015)
Title Fight - Floral Green (2012)
Vivian Girls - Share the Joy (2011)
Wild Nothing - Nocturne (2012)

40). The Weather Station - The Weather Station (2017)
Strange pick to start with. I have some very fond memories of listening to this album while walking through snow covered trails on lunch breaks at work. I've probably listened to this more than any other album on the list while making the list. I don't feel like any kind of authority on anything about this album, but I'm very attracted to it and I wouldn't be surprised if it was an all time favorite in five years.

39). Bob Mould - The Silver Age (2012) 
I missed! Things were different in 2012. I was thrilled by any kind of upbeat open chord melodic indie rock. Bob Mould started writing songs like he did in Husker Du again and it was amazing. Then he did it three more times by the end of the decade and I feel like it kind of watered down this album. But still, this is pretty good.

38). Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness (2015)
This delightful album reminds me of walking around on the streets of London, Ontario, Canada. Wow!

37). The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream (2014)
Lost in the Dream is very special album for me that evokes a specific kind of earnest midwest rock with songwriting and performance that is hard to replicate.

36). Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin down... (2015)
b'lieve i'm goin down...is a very special album for me that evokes a specific kind of earnest midwest rock with songwriting and performance that is hard to replicate.

35). Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains (2019)
It is my understanding that people often feel upset or depressed when they hear this album, but I don't feel that way at all. To me this sounds like one last defiant laugh in the face of the inevitable. I've never been comfortable with death, but this is one of the most reassuring pieces of art I've experienced that makes me feel like maybe death is NBD.

34). Tune-Yards - I can feel you creep into my private life (2018)
The only other time I missed! Still special, but there were several albums that came out in 2018 that I will continue to like more for the rest of my days. Still, so much to like about this album.

33). Tame Impala - Currents (2015)
*siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* This is some Coachella shit, but yeah, it rules.

32). Twerps - Range Anxiety (2015)
V: G - D - C; Ch.: Em - C - G - D??? But like, from New Zealand???

31). Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (2015) 
Father John Shitty.

30). The Feelies - Here Before (2011)
V: G - D - C; Ch.: Em - C - G - D??? But like, from New Jersey???

29). My Bloody Valentine - mbv (2013)
Do you remember where you were when mbv came out? I was sitting at home in my bed on a snowy winter night, and it was just fucking cool. Seeing them in Chicago in 2018 was one of the great live experiences of the decade.

28). Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (2010)
This GD genius pervert...man, remember when "Round & Round" came out and I listened to it five times in a row the first time I'd heard it and it was the greatest song I'd ever heard at the time and the artwork for the single was the dude frenching a dog? Long live Ariel Pink.

27). Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)
Courtney B was one of the most consistently great artists of the decade.

26). Beauty Pill - Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are (2015) 
Super dense, thoughtful stuff. Listening to/reading CC talk about these songs, it feels like there are all kinds of little secrets and surprises to discover within this album. I wish more people put this much consideration into their work.

25). David Bowie - Blackstar (2016)
If Purple Mountains is an end of life album that isn't hard to listen to, this is one that's super hard to listen to. Specifically, "I Can't Give Everything Away"...what a perfect, amazing ending.

24). Solange - When I Get Home (2019)
I get the impression that everybody else liked A Seat At The Table more, but this was my shit. I spend most of the time listening to this wondering how something like this gets created.

23). The Spirit of the Beehive - Hypnic Jerks (2018)
Some days this is the best album of the decade. This is the best kind of art - something that reaches into your subconscious and hits on something you didn't know was there, and you feel like you come away with a richer understanding of the universe. Some real Jimes Tooper shit.

22). Tancred - Nightstand (2018) 
I love Tancred. Jess Abbott is responsible for consistently making the best melodies of the decade.

21). Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer (2015)
I actually don't think I like Speedy Ortiz. Their stuff always seems kind of ramshackle, like throwing together lines of poetry, shredding guitar parts, and complex progressions and whatever comes out is what it is. I've never enjoyed it before or since Foil Deer, but somehow everything miraculously clicks into place here and makes perfect sense to me. "Mister Difficult" and "My Dead Girl" were two of the decade's most influential songs on me.

It's much harder to talk about albums #20 through #1because of how familiar they've become. Also, based on all the stops and starts I've had trying to write here I'm apparently a lot more earnest than I was ten years ago when I was writing just to crack myself up. Everything I want to say about these albums is just how I feel about them, and that sounds terrible. So I would prefer to look at this list and hope that in ten years I can remember how it felt to realize that these simple albums that I enjoyed listening to and spending time with had truly become some of my favorite albums of all time.

20). Lydia Loveless - Real (2016)
19). Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs (2018)
18). Haim - Days Are Gone (2013)
17). Radiohead - The King of Limbs (2011)
16). Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor (2011)
15). Beach Fossils - Somersault (2017)
14). St. Vincent - St. Vincent (2014)
13). Ought - More Than Any Other Day (2014)
12). Tancred - Out of the Garden (2016)
11). Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (2017)
10). David Bowie - The Next Day (2013)
09). R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (2011)
08). Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel... (2012)
07). Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
06). Women - Public Strain (2010)
05). Frank Ocean - Blonde (2016)
04). Laura Groves - Committed Language (2015)
03). Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again (2015)
02). King Krule - The Ooz (2017)
01). Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again (2014)