I still made an "best of" playlist for Juya since 2013.. I don't remember why I stopped listening to music, maybe it was because losing my online guild caused me to downward spiral, or because I found comfort in listening to podcasts about nerd culture. Or was it because I was a ... we'll talk about that later.
I still kept tabs on metacritic and album of the year talks. I still google "best album/songs so far" just to check out the meta. I read the post over on popheads and indieheads. But like I said a few years ago, my taste in music has harden and I'm a guy in my 30s now. I'm done genre exploring, I just want safety. There was lots of stuff coming out that sounded good, but I just wasn't connecting with. We all consume music differently. My life experience are my life experience.
Anyways, I still love music and the joys of discovering something new. I love reading about the music landscapes and seeing which albums critics get hot and cold over. I like knowing what connects us all. what's our common ground? whats the consensus? If millions of people are listening to someone sing or rap, they must be doing something right. I also found myself disagreeing with a lot of music critics whom i use to find common ground on. although i didn't make a list for 2015 and beyond, if you had asked me on December 31 of each respective year what was my favorite album, I probably would have said:
2015 - Carrie & Lowell
2016 - Coloring Book
2017 - Sleep Well Beast
2018 - Bark Your Head Off, Dog
I'm still just one guy, listening to music on spotify. Even thought pop is my core, I love hearing about other people's experience with music. What resonates? what connects us?
favorite albums of the decade
50. Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial (2016)
"you have no right to be depressed"
by the time I discovered this album in 2016, indie rock had soured on me. crunchy guitars sounded boring. Still, "Fill in the Blank" blew me away on first listen. It was the song that reminded me of that Okkervil River vibe and how it feels to be a "fuck up" in society.
Favorite Song: Drunk Drivers
49. Charly Bliss - Young Enough (2019)
"if you think it's bad today, just wait"
This album came out the week before Dedicated, so i was looking on twitter for Carly Rae Jepsen fans and someone said that this band is like if CRJ was in an alt/pop rock band. and it's interesting because on the surface, its 100% sunshine, but every song has some catchy hook to it.
Favorite Song: Young Enough
48. Spoon - They Want My Soul (2014)
"i don't got time for holy rollers"
2014 was a weird year for me musically, i was disagreeing with a lot of critics and i felt like i was incapable of discovering new music. Spoon has always been a consistent band, but this album stood out because of how polish that mid 00's indie rock sound. There's nothing new, but i found it comforting to hear something familiar.
Favorite Song: Inside Out
47. Sorority Noise - You're Not As _____ As You Think (2017)
"and if there's a race to heaven, i will surely come in last"
Is this emo? is this punk? whatever, I just love how this album made a reference to The Gaslight Anthem.
Favorite Song: No Halo
46. Beyoncé - Beyoncé (2013)
"it's the soul that needs a surgery"
Surprise release and all, this album is an album. I actually liked 4, but as an artist? no, i dismissed her since she has a team of writers. This album changed that narrative. XO may be my favorite stand alone song, but the rest of the album is full of 5-6 minute songs and she has a lot to say.
Favorite Song: XO
--------------------------------------------------
45. Driver Friendly - Unimagined Bridges (2014)
"the distance between us will keep us together"
the best compliment i can give this album is that it is a carbon copy of Bury A Dream and that's all i care about. Some songs feel better, some songs feel like auto-pilot, but i love when albums feel like albums. This band uses lyrics early on, and then repeat them later as a callback and i always love that.
Favorite Song: The Conversation
44. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps (2017)
"i hate you for what you did, and i miss you like a little kid"
originally, this album didnt get much praise, i remember Michelle Branch posting this album on her IG stories and Phoebe would do stuff with The National. When boygenius was formed, Phoebe's parts on "me & my dog" were the reason why I gave her a second chance. This album isn't perfect, some songs aren't catchy at all, but there's something here that i go back to.
Favorite Song: Funeral
43. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (2010)
"i'm not, i'm not, i'm not fucking around"
is this album even good? has it aged well? its tough. no other album sounds like this. Plus, we have Carrie & Lowell for that sweet sweet angelic voice of him. When putting this list together, one of the factors i wanted to include was how often i actually listen to them this past decade. This album is no doubt a sufjan album, it's weird, layered, but also so unnecessary, and it feels like an alien cult sing-a-long. I don't know much about sufjan's personal life, but i love the concept that this album was from a mad scientist.
Favorite Song: Impossible Soul
42. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)
"put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you"
I never got into 90s female-fronted alt rock bands like Hole, Garbage, or Veruca Salt, but i was seeing the label "90s grunge" on female-fronted bands like Speedy Ortiz and Bully. Aside from the awesome title of this album, these guitar sounds with her dry humor made me keep listening.
Favorite Song: Depreston
41. FKA twigs - magdalene (2019)
"it's a sad day for sure"
"Two Weeks" is a great song. Nothing she has done since has been as stand alone. When the cellophane video came out, i didn't get it. but giving this album a chance, hearing "sad day" blew my mind and it unlocked the rest of the album for me. There's a foreign nature to the album, bleak, fragile.
Favorite Song: mary magdalene
--------------------------------------------------
40. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (2010)
"the enemy is everywhere"
this is a rock opera. it's long, it's fun, and it's over the top.
Favorite Song: A More Perfect Union
39. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
"what if I take my problem to the United Nations?"
this album is not personal to me, but there's a uniformity about this whole album that feels cohesive and every song has some memorable hook to keeps it interesting.
Favorite Song: On Battleship Hill
38. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (2015)
"i believe, i believe, and tell myself to think forward"
this is just more of the same from their first album. the surprises are gone, but i still enjoyed the album.
Favorite Song: Down Side of Me
37. Twin Shadow - Confess (2012)
"some people say you're the golden light"
i still don't listen to the 80s, yet this album is what i picture what the 80s were like. this dude is cheesy as fuck, and at the time, i declared this album my aoty. i still think its a great record because there are so many sing-a-long moments, but i also cringe for how 80s it sounds.
Favorite Song: I Don't Care
36. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt (2010)
"but rumor has it that I wasn't born, i just walked in one frosty morn"
there are a lot of dudes who just play guitar and sing, and its hard to pinpoint why this album stands out compared to other dudes who just play guitar and sing. every follow up album of his has been the same, but perhaps the landscape has moved on from folk.
Favorite Song: Burden of Tomorrow
--------------------------------------------------
35. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
"i pray my dick get big as the eiffel tower"
rap is not my wheelhouse, but i try. i remember listening to Section.80 during my bus ride home from college and thinking he had a cool low key vibe, but it was what i expected from exploring the conscious rap genre. with this album, every song clicked for me, he sounded so smooth and some songs, you know he's just fooling around with friends, but then there are stuff that feel more internal.
Favorite Song: Poetic Justice
34. The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There (2014)
"just remember when, you'd call me to come, take a deep breath, and then jump"
this was my aoty for 2014, and i'm not an emo kid. in fact, the lyrics arent really important to me. I liked how lively this album felt, it was short enough so i wouldn't get exhausted, and the vocalist isn't a complainer. when he does scream or use that throaty voice, i feel a sense of a release.
Favorite Song: Your Deep Rest
33. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (2018)
"young, black, wild and free"
look, 2018 was a rough year for me musically. it seemed like all the top praised albums was not connecting with me. i liked the archandroid back in the day, so i gave this record a lot of chances on my drive to college. she sounds great when she sings, but she can drop those rap bars, it feels next level.
Favorite Song: I Like That
32. Hop Along - Get Disowned (2012)
"there are some parents whose children long for divorce"
I discovered them in 2015 and worked my way backward. they definitely got tamer as the years went on, but for this record, it's such a call back to those freak folk bands that have pretty instrumentation, but there's just something weird about it. it could be her voice, it could be the audibles during the songs. I love that sense of tribalism where it just sounds like noise. but of course, some of the lyrics make me do a double take in a good way.
Favorite Song: Tibetan Pop Stars
31. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt (2013)
"i said to you on the night that we met, 'i am not well'"
i get big elliott smith vibes from her. there arent songs i would put on a playlist, but as a whole, i like how basic it sound. it isn't super sad, but it's just a person who realized that life as a child is no more.
Favorite Song: Swan Dive
--------------------------------------------------
30. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour (2018)
"and now you're lifting me up instead of holding me down"
this album is very polish, the way her voice flows with the melodies, there's not a lot of surprises, there's no rough edges, but the melodies are very pretty. it reminds me of old disney movies where the soundtrack feels timeless. to keep that going for the entire album is an impressive feat.
Favorite Song: Love Is A Wild Thing
29. Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle (2015)
her album covered looked DIY. on the first listen, i remember thinking "whoa, hope she's okay." her voice isn't perfect, but that's probably why i like it. her lyrics are super depressing, self hating, and i can feel her anxiety with every word she says.
Favorite Song: Everybody Does
28. Adele - 21 (2011)
"we could've had it all"
who broke her heart? I rarely go back to this album due to its popularity, but i have to give it credit because Adele sings the heck out of these songs. I never got into that british soul that amy whinhouse or duffy was suppose to bring over, but listening to this album was song after song, hit after hit. the only questionable choice was to include a cover of lovesong, but whatever.
Favorite Song: Someone Like You
27. Billie Eilish - when we all fall asleep, where do we go? (2019)
"duh"
what genre is her, because she's rad. I discovered her because Clairo and Girl in Red got me interested in the bedroom pop sound. I always had this spooky feeling with Billie's songs and whenever she would release a track, i was just confused. As a whole, i thought this album was what Lorde would have been if she didnt go 80's pop.
Favorite Song: ilomilo
26. Jessie Ware - Devotion (2012)
"from the outside, everyone must be wondering why we try"
after adele's success, i appreciated this album for being elegant and intimate. the music feels glittery with that 80s drum beat.
Favorite Song: Wildest Moments
--------------------------------------------------
25. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe (2013)
"come in misery, where you can seem as old as your omens"
50. Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial (2016)
"you have no right to be depressed"
by the time I discovered this album in 2016, indie rock had soured on me. crunchy guitars sounded boring. Still, "Fill in the Blank" blew me away on first listen. It was the song that reminded me of that Okkervil River vibe and how it feels to be a "fuck up" in society.
Favorite Song: Drunk Drivers
49. Charly Bliss - Young Enough (2019)
"if you think it's bad today, just wait"
This album came out the week before Dedicated, so i was looking on twitter for Carly Rae Jepsen fans and someone said that this band is like if CRJ was in an alt/pop rock band. and it's interesting because on the surface, its 100% sunshine, but every song has some catchy hook to it.
Favorite Song: Young Enough
48. Spoon - They Want My Soul (2014)
"i don't got time for holy rollers"
2014 was a weird year for me musically, i was disagreeing with a lot of critics and i felt like i was incapable of discovering new music. Spoon has always been a consistent band, but this album stood out because of how polish that mid 00's indie rock sound. There's nothing new, but i found it comforting to hear something familiar.
Favorite Song: Inside Out
47. Sorority Noise - You're Not As _____ As You Think (2017)
"and if there's a race to heaven, i will surely come in last"
Is this emo? is this punk? whatever, I just love how this album made a reference to The Gaslight Anthem.
Favorite Song: No Halo
46. Beyoncé - Beyoncé (2013)
"it's the soul that needs a surgery"
Surprise release and all, this album is an album. I actually liked 4, but as an artist? no, i dismissed her since she has a team of writers. This album changed that narrative. XO may be my favorite stand alone song, but the rest of the album is full of 5-6 minute songs and she has a lot to say.
Favorite Song: XO
--------------------------------------------------
45. Driver Friendly - Unimagined Bridges (2014)
"the distance between us will keep us together"
the best compliment i can give this album is that it is a carbon copy of Bury A Dream and that's all i care about. Some songs feel better, some songs feel like auto-pilot, but i love when albums feel like albums. This band uses lyrics early on, and then repeat them later as a callback and i always love that.
Favorite Song: The Conversation
44. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps (2017)
"i hate you for what you did, and i miss you like a little kid"
originally, this album didnt get much praise, i remember Michelle Branch posting this album on her IG stories and Phoebe would do stuff with The National. When boygenius was formed, Phoebe's parts on "me & my dog" were the reason why I gave her a second chance. This album isn't perfect, some songs aren't catchy at all, but there's something here that i go back to.
Favorite Song: Funeral
43. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (2010)
"i'm not, i'm not, i'm not fucking around"
is this album even good? has it aged well? its tough. no other album sounds like this. Plus, we have Carrie & Lowell for that sweet sweet angelic voice of him. When putting this list together, one of the factors i wanted to include was how often i actually listen to them this past decade. This album is no doubt a sufjan album, it's weird, layered, but also so unnecessary, and it feels like an alien cult sing-a-long. I don't know much about sufjan's personal life, but i love the concept that this album was from a mad scientist.
Favorite Song: Impossible Soul
42. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)
"put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you"
I never got into 90s female-fronted alt rock bands like Hole, Garbage, or Veruca Salt, but i was seeing the label "90s grunge" on female-fronted bands like Speedy Ortiz and Bully. Aside from the awesome title of this album, these guitar sounds with her dry humor made me keep listening.
Favorite Song: Depreston
41. FKA twigs - magdalene (2019)
"it's a sad day for sure"
"Two Weeks" is a great song. Nothing she has done since has been as stand alone. When the cellophane video came out, i didn't get it. but giving this album a chance, hearing "sad day" blew my mind and it unlocked the rest of the album for me. There's a foreign nature to the album, bleak, fragile.
Favorite Song: mary magdalene
--------------------------------------------------
40. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (2010)
"the enemy is everywhere"
this is a rock opera. it's long, it's fun, and it's over the top.
Favorite Song: A More Perfect Union
39. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
"what if I take my problem to the United Nations?"
this album is not personal to me, but there's a uniformity about this whole album that feels cohesive and every song has some memorable hook to keeps it interesting.
Favorite Song: On Battleship Hill
38. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (2015)
"i believe, i believe, and tell myself to think forward"
this is just more of the same from their first album. the surprises are gone, but i still enjoyed the album.
Favorite Song: Down Side of Me
37. Twin Shadow - Confess (2012)
"some people say you're the golden light"
i still don't listen to the 80s, yet this album is what i picture what the 80s were like. this dude is cheesy as fuck, and at the time, i declared this album my aoty. i still think its a great record because there are so many sing-a-long moments, but i also cringe for how 80s it sounds.
Favorite Song: I Don't Care
36. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt (2010)
"but rumor has it that I wasn't born, i just walked in one frosty morn"
there are a lot of dudes who just play guitar and sing, and its hard to pinpoint why this album stands out compared to other dudes who just play guitar and sing. every follow up album of his has been the same, but perhaps the landscape has moved on from folk.
Favorite Song: Burden of Tomorrow
--------------------------------------------------
35. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
"i pray my dick get big as the eiffel tower"
rap is not my wheelhouse, but i try. i remember listening to Section.80 during my bus ride home from college and thinking he had a cool low key vibe, but it was what i expected from exploring the conscious rap genre. with this album, every song clicked for me, he sounded so smooth and some songs, you know he's just fooling around with friends, but then there are stuff that feel more internal.
Favorite Song: Poetic Justice
34. The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There (2014)
"just remember when, you'd call me to come, take a deep breath, and then jump"
this was my aoty for 2014, and i'm not an emo kid. in fact, the lyrics arent really important to me. I liked how lively this album felt, it was short enough so i wouldn't get exhausted, and the vocalist isn't a complainer. when he does scream or use that throaty voice, i feel a sense of a release.
Favorite Song: Your Deep Rest
33. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (2018)
"young, black, wild and free"
look, 2018 was a rough year for me musically. it seemed like all the top praised albums was not connecting with me. i liked the archandroid back in the day, so i gave this record a lot of chances on my drive to college. she sounds great when she sings, but she can drop those rap bars, it feels next level.
Favorite Song: I Like That
32. Hop Along - Get Disowned (2012)
"there are some parents whose children long for divorce"
I discovered them in 2015 and worked my way backward. they definitely got tamer as the years went on, but for this record, it's such a call back to those freak folk bands that have pretty instrumentation, but there's just something weird about it. it could be her voice, it could be the audibles during the songs. I love that sense of tribalism where it just sounds like noise. but of course, some of the lyrics make me do a double take in a good way.
Favorite Song: Tibetan Pop Stars
31. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt (2013)
"i said to you on the night that we met, 'i am not well'"
i get big elliott smith vibes from her. there arent songs i would put on a playlist, but as a whole, i like how basic it sound. it isn't super sad, but it's just a person who realized that life as a child is no more.
Favorite Song: Swan Dive
--------------------------------------------------
30. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour (2018)
"and now you're lifting me up instead of holding me down"
this album is very polish, the way her voice flows with the melodies, there's not a lot of surprises, there's no rough edges, but the melodies are very pretty. it reminds me of old disney movies where the soundtrack feels timeless. to keep that going for the entire album is an impressive feat.
Favorite Song: Love Is A Wild Thing
29. Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle (2015)
her album covered looked DIY. on the first listen, i remember thinking "whoa, hope she's okay." her voice isn't perfect, but that's probably why i like it. her lyrics are super depressing, self hating, and i can feel her anxiety with every word she says.
Favorite Song: Everybody Does
28. Adele - 21 (2011)
"we could've had it all"
who broke her heart? I rarely go back to this album due to its popularity, but i have to give it credit because Adele sings the heck out of these songs. I never got into that british soul that amy whinhouse or duffy was suppose to bring over, but listening to this album was song after song, hit after hit. the only questionable choice was to include a cover of lovesong, but whatever.
Favorite Song: Someone Like You
27. Billie Eilish - when we all fall asleep, where do we go? (2019)
"duh"
what genre is her, because she's rad. I discovered her because Clairo and Girl in Red got me interested in the bedroom pop sound. I always had this spooky feeling with Billie's songs and whenever she would release a track, i was just confused. As a whole, i thought this album was what Lorde would have been if she didnt go 80's pop.
Favorite Song: ilomilo
26. Jessie Ware - Devotion (2012)
"from the outside, everyone must be wondering why we try"
after adele's success, i appreciated this album for being elegant and intimate. the music feels glittery with that 80s drum beat.
Favorite Song: Wildest Moments
--------------------------------------------------
25. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe (2013)
"come in misery, where you can seem as old as your omens"
although i rarely listen to 80's new wave, by the time this album came out, i was starting to embrace these 80's aesthetic. the music is ridiculous glittery that shoots lasers at you, but her voice is so pure sounding. i haven't heard an album like it at the time.
Favorite Song: The Mother We Share
24. Beach House - Bloom (2012)
"found yourself in a new direction"
Favorite Song: The Mother We Share
24. Beach House - Bloom (2012)
"found yourself in a new direction"
when i went on a cruise in the summer of 2012, i had to fill my phone with albums i wanted to listen to and i included Bloom because it had just came out. I already was a fan of the band, but being stuck at sea with lots of downtime between eating, this was my soundtrack.
Favorite Song: Myth
23. Charli XCX - Pop 2 (2017)
"(beautiful)"
Favorite Song: Myth
23. Charli XCX - Pop 2 (2017)
"(beautiful)"
I actually liked her earlier albums, but when i return from my break from music, i would hear about this album a lot. it's a little weird with some of the rappers and computerized vocals, but man, when it goes full pop, its really cool.
Favorite Song: Unlock It
22. Robyn - Body Talk (2010)
"I've got some news for you, fembots have feelings too"
Favorite Song: Unlock It
22. Robyn - Body Talk (2010)
"I've got some news for you, fembots have feelings too"
this album isn't pretty, but now that we're at the end of the decade, i think about this album a lot. it's pop, it's dance, but sometimes her lyrics just make you go, "damn."
Favorite Song: Hang With Me
21. The National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)
"nothing i change changes anything"
Favorite Song: Hang With Me
21. The National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)
"nothing i change changes anything"
it's tricky because they are my favorite band and by default, they are what i keep coming back to. I discovered them back in 2007 and most bands have highs and lows, but their lows can be narrowed down to one or two songs per album (turtleneck), but as a whole, they never disappoint me.
Favorite Song: Guilty Party
--------------------------------------------------
20. Lana Del Rey - Norman F*****g Rockwell! (2019)
Favorite Song: Guilty Party
--------------------------------------------------
20. Lana Del Rey - Norman F*****g Rockwell! (2019)
recency bias maybe, but as a whole, this album just works. i mean, her other albums sounds like this, but they tend to feel static. NFR has a bunch of songs that stand out on their own.
Favorite Song: Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have – but I Have It
19. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011)
Favorite Song: Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have – but I Have It
19. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011)
"come into my heart"
I had this album pretty high on my 2011 list and when i went back to re-listen, it really holds up. it's a shame they broke up. i don't like listening to old music, but this album really captured the surf rock vibe of the 60s/70s really well.
Favorite Song: Vomit
18. Taylor Swift - 1989 (2014)
Favorite Song: Vomit
18. Taylor Swift - 1989 (2014)
"you got that james dean daydream look in your eyes"
this album isn't perfect, and i actually disliked it because it was pop friendly and her lyricism became more streamlined, but at the end of the decade, i love taylor swift and this album is just easy to listen to. those first 4 tracks are strong as fuck.
Favorite Song: Style
17. Grimes - Art Angels (2015)
Favorite Song: Style
17. Grimes - Art Angels (2015)
"when I get up, this is what I see welcome to reality"
visions was an album full of new experiences, but you could find those melodies, however on art angels, those melodies are front and center and in your face.
Favorite Song: Flesh without Blood
16. Driver Friendly - Bury a Dream (2012)
Favorite Song: Flesh without Blood
16. Driver Friendly - Bury a Dream (2012)
"only skin deep"
i was never an emo kid, but i had friends who loved that pop-punk vocals. when i started going to the gym, my normally long and drawn out indie music wasn't going to work and i somehow discovered this album filled with melodic hooks and catchy sing-a-long chorus. I'm not a screamer, but i shout these lyrics while running.
Favorite Song: You're A Legend, Sir
--------------------------------------------------
15. Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION Side B (2016)
Favorite Song: You're A Legend, Sir
--------------------------------------------------
15. Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION Side B (2016)
"don't tell me this is how it ends"
because of its title, i figured these were demos or unfinished song, but driving home to the carly rae jepsen playlist, there were songs that felt like singles, but i knew were not singles. when i finally gave side b a proper listen, i could not believe how ridiculous catchy the first 7 songs were. i never had so many amazing back-to-back songs on a first listen before.
Favorite Song: Fever
14. Beach House - Teen Dream (2010)
Favorite Song: Fever
14. Beach House - Teen Dream (2010)
"it can't be gone we're still right here"
very similar to bloom, but because this was first, i feel more attached to these songs. at this point in my life, i wanted music to be creative, but this band is just two people and they use a drum kit, yet i really enjoyed this hazy fog, dreamlike setting these songs created. plus her voice is so deep that it takes repeated listen to fully appreciate.
Favorite Song: 10 Mile Stereo
13. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan (2012)
Favorite Song: 10 Mile Stereo
13. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan (2012)
"you're my love and i want you in my life"
what a shame this is the last album with amber because i thought her voice complimented dave's very well. i rank this very high simply because every song is catchy and enjoyable and they are good at harmonizing with each other
Favorite Song: Impregnable Question
12. Hop Along - Painted Shut (2015)
Favorite Song: Impregnable Question
12. Hop Along - Painted Shut (2015)
"the witness just wants to talk to you"
this album was my first exposure to frances quinlan and so i have a soft spot for it. i remmeber letting the album play out and being blown away, laughing at the lyrics to waitress and immediately being gutted hearing her raw vocals on happy to see me. her rapsy voice does things to me and im amazed at how well she controls her range.
Favorite Song: Horseshoe Crabs
11. HAIM - Days Are Gone (2013)
Favorite Song: Horseshoe Crabs
11. HAIM - Days Are Gone (2013)
"and if it gets rough, it's time to get rough"
i don't listen to the 80s, but these girls sound straight from some michael jackson or wilson phillips jukebox because it's such a cheesy, groovy, but ultimately joyous rock album. its loaded with hooks and harmonies and its an album i keep defaulting back to because the first half is so strong.
Favorite Song: If I Could Change Your Mind
--------------------------------------------------
10. The National - Trouble Will Find Me (2013)
"god loves everybody, don't remind me"
Favorite Song: If I Could Change Your Mind
--------------------------------------------------
10. The National - Trouble Will Find Me (2013)
"god loves everybody, don't remind me"
because they are my favorite band, its easier to point out what i don't like about the album and for this one, it's mostly because of that early section with fireproof, sea of love, and heavenfaced. it's fine, but i rather skip and get to the good stuff because the rest is absolutely amazing. what else can i say, i listen to this album because i want to, its my comfort band.
Favorite Song: This is the Last Time
09. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book (2016)
"socks on concrete, Jolly Rancher kids"
Favorite Song: This is the Last Time
09. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book (2016)
"socks on concrete, Jolly Rancher kids"
i like to be aware of what's popular and i had enjoy some of acid rap because it gave me old kanye west vibes, but coloring book to me was what i thought kanye was going to be when he said he was doing gospel.
Favorite Song: Summer Friends
08. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me (2010)
Favorite Song: Summer Friends
08. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me (2010)
"hey hey hey the end is near"
she needs to be on spotify so people can remember her. i honestly don't visit this album much, but when i was reflecting on my list, this is an album that rewards your time. every track is good. some tracks are ridiculously good.
Favorite Song: In California
07. Lorde - Melodrama (2017)
"in my head, I do everything right"
Favorite Song: In California
07. Lorde - Melodrama (2017)
"in my head, I do everything right"
as dumb as this sounds, i didn't like this album because it felt too easy to listen to. green light felt like it was riding on that synthwave trend after 1989. but i gave this album another listen because taylor said she was watching a movie and was inspirited to write a song about a montage of cuts of your life, which had supercut playing. and so maybe in 2017, i wasnt ready for this album. but in 2019, this album seriously sounds perfect.
Favorite Song: Hard Feelings
06. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
"No one man should have all that power"
Favorite Song: Hard Feelings
06. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
"No one man should have all that power"
like many, i was annoyed with kanye and i hated 808s and heartbreaks so i was expecting this album to flop, instead, what we got was a grand rap opera with dense lyrics, some laugh out loud moments like "choke a south part writer with a fishstick" but for the most part, a lot of "holy shit" moments because only kanye could have made this type of album.
Favorite Song: Gorgeous
--------------------------------------------------
05. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (2011)
Favorite Song: Gorgeous
--------------------------------------------------
05. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (2011)
"and at once, i knew, i was not magnificent"
i was late to the "for emma, forever ago" bandwagon, but after justin's guest vocals on MBDTF a year before, this band's music started to click. i just think the instrumentation is pretty and every song is an enhancement to each other.
Favorite Song: Holocene
04. Taylor Swift - Red (2012)
"you told me about your past, thinking your future was me"
Favorite Song: Holocene
04. Taylor Swift - Red (2012)
"you told me about your past, thinking your future was me"
its funny because i gave taylor swift a listen because what could a teenager possibly know about love? and i liked speak now, but it was no fearless. and i originally didn't like red because it was not fearless either and i felt like she was chasing those radio hits and chasing trends (dubstep). but "All Too Well" was that song that i knew, she was a writer first, singer second. and because of its non cohesiveness, i never ranked this album high, but as we come to the end of the decade, i come back to this album so many times simply because it has aged the best out of all her albums. and of course, she's really good at being specific in her lyrics that somehow, i can imagine it and it makes me feel like i'm there with the song.
Favorite Song: All Too Well
03. The National - High Violet (2010)
"it takes an ocean not to break"
Favorite Song: All Too Well
03. The National - High Violet (2010)
"it takes an ocean not to break"
with this album, they began to add horns and their sound became ready for a bigger audience. if there is a dip in quality, i would probably say its around track 3 or 4, but everything else is iconic, at least to my little world. terrible love is such a great opener, lemonworld has this interesting texture to it, and conversation 16 has lyrics that make me go "huh?" but i love it. Boxer grew on me, as did High Violet. it's just weird how some of their lyrics just stay with you.
Favorite Song: Conversation 16
02. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion (2015)
"'cause you make me feel like, i could be driving you all night"
Favorite Song: Conversation 16
02. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion (2015)
"'cause you make me feel like, i could be driving you all night"
my "end of the year playlist" for 2017 was one of the worst ones i ever
made, but i included a song for giggles, it was called "cut to the
feeling." at the end of 2018, i was trying to make a mix cd for a
classmate and while testing it, i had the urge to listen to carly again, but free spotify
only lets you play an artist on shuffle, but luckily, it played "run away with me," then "cut to the feeling," and i let it play out. i was aware she was an r/popheads darling, but her music didn't click with me until i gave Side B a chance. lyrically, her words resonated with me because its always about a reciprocal feeling that you can't have, or a emotion you can't control. it might be recency bias, but listen to carly rae jepsen a lot during the last 2 years of this decade, my entire taste in music has lean towards a more 80s pop sound.
Favorite Song: Run Away With Me
01. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (2015)
Favorite Song: Run Away With Me
01. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (2015)
"the only reason why I continue at all"
i remember in an interview in 2010 that sufjan said he was sick of hearing his own voice and after what we got with age of adz, i set aside that folk sufjan was no more. so when this album was announced and i heard "should have know better" for the first time, i actually cried because of how beautiful it sounded. as flawless as his discography was in the 00s, they were stories about other people. as i get older, the realities of death keeps coming closer and that's what this album is about, losing people and finding closure.
Favorite Song: Should Have Known Better
Favorite Song: Should Have Known Better
FAVORITE SONGS OF THE DECADE
1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
2. Sufjan Stevens - Should Have Known Better
1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
2. Sufjan Stevens - Should Have Known Better
3. Taylor Swift - All Too Well
4. Lorde - Ribs
5. The National - This is the Last Time
4. Lorde - Ribs
5. The National - This is the Last Time
6. Taylor Swift - Style
7. Robyn - Hang With Me
8. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share
7. Robyn - Hang With Me
8. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share
9. Beach House - Myth
10. Hop Along - Tibetan Pop Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment