My favorite albums of this mysterious decade. Ranked. Limit two albums per artist.
Tentatively, (1= 200 and 200=1)
I like a countdown.
1.
200. Nostalgia dripping pop. A Vaporwave precursor with melodies to spare. Universally enjoyable
Essential Track: Elise
4.
197. It’s funny how time can make albums really capture a specific space that will never exist again. Even when people are consistently listening. This album doesn’t feel the same as it did. Obama idealism. It was nice. So we decide to forget everything.
Essential Track: Shuffle A Dream
5.
196. Cynicism and death and meaningless sex. The lead singer of Arab Strap, Aidan Moffat, matures and he hates it, even more miserable. There are moments of clarity and hope but they are reduced by solipsistic nihilism. As depressing as this might sound, the album whisks by, helped by the imaginative arrangements and thoughtful track sequencing. Melancholia at its best.
Essential Track: The Copper Top
6.
195. The apocalypse was eons ago. The world is cold and metallic. Depressed life is emerging, stern and determined. Pummeling tragic inevitability into commonplace existence. We are dancing in desolate radiation despite.
Essential Track: Pictures of Today/ Victorial
7.
194. Remember The Summer of 8th grade. Riding around on your bikes with your friends in the sun, only to race back home in the hot rain, smiling? Yeah, neither do I. But this album is me trying to conjure that fleeting moment. It definitely happened but you can’t place it. There’s a tinge of sadness encircling the fond memories. If only things could be that simple again, if they ever were.
Essential Track: Out of Tune
8.
193. Rightfully riotous. Dancing through your disgust. Gothic. The choral backing is like singing with a swarm of ghosts looking for revenge. Blues.
Essential Track: Death March
11.
190. Introspective and beautiful. Sampha has an amazing voice that is on the brink of self destruction, always teetering on the edge of complete loss. The lyrics are dark and metaphoric and cryptic. The mixing is pristine. Even when things seem grim, the pace is quick and keeps things modern and interesting. It’s a cathartic, almost danceable record.
Essential Track: Reserve Faults
12.
189. I went to the theater and saw the movie Sunshine with my friend, Lauren. As I watched the movie, I thought the sound was incredible because you felt like you were traveling through space. Throughout the entire movie a whirling sound, like a low steady engine, repeated.
I went back to that theater and saw La Vie En Rose and the same sound was there.
This album is space travel and interstellar ennui.
It is not that theater.
13.
188. Who else was raised in a cult? God becomes pervasive. The Art of Pretending to Swim has God everywhere and nowhere at all. Everything hinges on the existence.
14.
187. Enigmatic alt country. Sexuality aside. Authenticity aside. From Hank Williams to Patrick Wolf.
Essential Track: Big Sky
15.
186. Lost in the snow. It’s more loud and clear than it should be but that makes it so much more immediate and inescapable. One of the last great garage rock records.
19.
182. The Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami really fucked me up. There were images I will never forget. Now imagine living through that trauma. That’s what this album is. But it uses brainwaves...
20.
181. A veil over death. Calming and losing everything. There’s a warmth that feels good.
21.
180. Scary scratchy electro junk but sometimes I get a little bit sleepy
22.
179. When I was very young there was a McDonald’s that had a small children’s carousel in the heights. I can’t remember why we would go up there but I remember the tune it would play when you would circle around. This album is that memory and it is strangely sad.
26.
175. Blown out speakers playing the hits of your neighbor that likes to sing. Catchy and disturbing.
33.
168. Liquid-y guitar. Fairport Convention, Cowboy Junkies, into acid garage. You walk into a misty forest for quite awhile and come upon a band. Not sure if they are real.
Essential Track: Beneath Fields
36.
165. I had heard Le Kov once before. I was at a party and queued this up. We started a new game right when this began to play. Everyone thought it was the music for the game. It’s in Cornish.
40.
161. The one time I really got my heart broken was around the time this album came out. A good gut punch to wake up from the mopey sad sackness. The obsessive desperation of every detail and ultimate catharsis of About Farewell made for a personal yet relatable experience.
44.
157. I have replayed the first stanza of this album many times.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of love and hate for a lost soulmate and disgust for yourself.
At the end:
“Never let myself love like that again”
The rest of the album plays out like a Fleetwood Mac inspired break-up record. It’s rock n roll. It’s mid tempo. And it’s yearning for the fucker you love.
Essential Track: A Crime
45.
156. Beautiful tripping through the weeds, dandelions from childhood grow into painful, soft scars. Gentle guitars guide Marissa Nadler’s path while her voice evokes the past.
Essential Track: The Sun Always Reminds Me of You
50.
151.
Essential Track: White Fire