Thanks for joining us. We are proud to reveal a feature some ten years in the making. Though mxdwn was born in the early portion of the 2000’s, we did not start creating album of the year or song of the year designations until 2003. The 2010s were the first decade where each and every single year we worked tirelessly to sum up the year that was. Each year we went on we were more and more happy with the decisions we make and how it reflected our unique way of looking at this incredibly diverse world of music. It’s with pleasure that we present to you the aggregate of our accumulated knowledge, Album of the Decade for the 2010’s. Just being on this list means we think the album is amazing, so don’t look at position 75 or 73 any knock on relative quality. We will pause only for one moment more to point out that much of what is ranked here is deeply evocative of the troubling and uncertain times we find ourselves in as the 2010s draw to a close. While ascribing a predictive truth to records done seven years ago can be difficult, it became very obvious to us that the larger societal problems we’re all struggling with were pervasively present even in 2010, and like all brilliant artists throughout time, the artists and albums you find here somehow all tapped into those troubles and strife, mainlining fear, anger, sadness and determined optimism in the face of encroaching darkness. Here is our top 75 albums for the decade that was, the 2010s.
– Raymond Flotat
75. Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Original mxdwn rank: 19
Release year: 2019
Billie Eilish crashed into the mainstream scene in 2019 with her marked melancholy pop style.
– Marianna Salcedo
74. Grimes – Visions
Original mxdwn rank: –
Release year: 2012
This album is filled with notes of electro-pop giving it a robotic feel. It is clear Grimes was ahead of the times with this album and the technological innovations that have occurred since its release.
– Alessia Milstein
73. Marichi El Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx III
Original mxdwn rank: 16
Release year: 2014
On this album, two cultures come together to create something amazing.
– Yasmin Alber
72. Tame Impala – Currents
Original mxdwn rank: 10
Release year: 2015
The transience of music has never felt so believable as it did on the obsessive production of Tame Impala’s Currents.
– Alessandro Gueli
71. Mogwai – Atomic
Original mxdwn rank: 10
Release year: 2016
An apt score to the fraught history and implications of the atomic age.
– Reuben Merringer
70. Russian Circles – Guidance
Original mxdwn rank: 20
Release year: 2016
Doom and brooding melodicism weave unfolding tonal narratives that navigate between Wagnerian post-rock and escalatory metal riffage.
– Reuben Merringer
69. Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror
Original mxdwn rank: 15
Release year: 2012
Sleigh Bells have always worked to go above and beyond the typical boundaries of rock, noise and pop. Here, their exploration results in the breaking of new ground emotionally and in terms of scope within rock.
– Matthew Jordan
68. Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2011
One of the most influential indie albums of this decade, it will continue to be a classic.
– Yasmin Alber
67. Santigold – 99¢
Original mxdwn rank: 7
Release year: 2016
Leading with the brassy and upbeat “Can’t Get Enough Of Myself,” 99¢ from Santigold is joyous and exuberant.
– Jahan Raymond
66. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2010
The Suburbs had an air of Bowie to it, particularly in the title track: cool and masculine in its vulnerability.
– Rene Cobar
65. Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
Original mxdwn rank: 13
Release year: 2018
Monae dared to embrace electro-pop in this record, which is dance-licious and provocative: another win for the artist.
– Rene Cobar
64. The Black Keys – Brothers
Original mxdwn rank: 20
Release year: 2010
A monument to quality songwriting and continued innovation within a genre that many believe had lost some commercial viability in the 21st century. Rock on, brothers.
– Matthew Jordan
63. The Black Queen – Fever Daydream
Original mxdwn rank: 8
Release year: 2016
This album stays true to his name with songs that incorporate a hybrid of various electronic music spanning across different decades. The Black Queen certainly left a mark on the decade with this hit album.
– Alessia Milstein
62. Neko Case – Hell-On
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2018
Crystalline vocals against generally soft instrumentation, great storytelling, and an air of mystery all in an alt-country package.
– Rene Cobar
61. Lorde – Melodrama
Original mxdwn rank: 31
Release year: 2017
Lorde took her style up a notch with her sophomore album Melodrama. From teen-struggles to life of a young adult, Lorde continues to stay relevant with her catchy indie-pop beats and raw lyrics.
– Marianna Salcedo
60. Chelsea Wolfe – Birth of Violence
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2019
The gothic-folk artist makes a strong return in her 2019 album. This heavy album is filled with deeply personal stories. Interestingly enough much of the lyrics hauntingly parallel the “world of violence” our earth has entered in this past decade. Specifically the song “Little Grave” which touches on the several mass-school shootings that have occurred in the past decade.
– Alessia Milstein
59. Tyler, the Creator – IGOR
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2019
Star-studded Igor showcases how much Tyler, the Creator has evolved in the industry as well as in his own personal sound. While the project still falls into the hip-hop/rap style, it definitely shares many other genre influences; including R&B flare, some ’80s vibes and an overall pop-feel.
– Marianna Salcedo
58. St. Vincent – Masseduction
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2017
Many virtuosic guitarists want nothing more to do than show-off. Fortunately Annie Clark has the intelligence and grace to let her music do the talking. “Pills” is a frightening, spot-on observation of modern America.
– Willie Witten
57. Evanescence – Evanescence
Original mxdwn rank: 20
Release year: 2011
Amy Lee’s vocals are well known for being powerful and spectacular, and on the self-titled Evanescence, they truly shine. From “What You Want,” to “Lost in Paradise,” each song on this album are a masterpiece of their own.
– Caitlin Wills
56. The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2019
Daniel Lanois’ production unites and augments contributions from D’Angelo, Willie Nelson and many more for an emotionally complex and mythic story of salvation in the Wild West which transcends its status as a soundtrack.
– Spencer Culbertson
55. HEALTH – Death Magic
Original mxdwn rank: 5
Release year: 2015
HEALTH proves on Death Magic that they are able to craft genuinely dark noise rock songs better than nearly anyone else. The boldness of this group might be their most admirable quality, as shown in their propensity for mixing together typically opposing musical elements like synths and heavy industrial sounds.
– Matthew Jordan
54. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
Original mxdwn rank: 11
Release year: 2017
LCD Soundsystem delivered in this 2017 entry that contained singles like “Call the Police,” which reminded many how influential the group was to the subsequent use of synths in indie rock: you’re welcome, The Killers.
– Rene Cobar
53. David Bowie – Blackstar
Original mxdwn rank: 9
Release year: 2016
“Look up here, I’m in Heaven,” sings Bowie on “Lazarus.” He is gone, but his ever-changing, genre-jumping art remains. Blackstar serves as a pensive denouement to one of the finest musical careers of this century.
– Willie Witten
52. Gary Numan – Savage
Original mxdwn rank: 5
Release year: 2017
Gary Numan’s post-apocalyptic Savage (Songs from a Broken World) is a brilliant display of dystopian synth-pop. Numan pushes the genre’s boundaries with breathtaking musicianship a rich sonic palette.
– Matt Matasci
51. Devin Townsend – Empath
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2019
With the soul and dedication put into every track, it’s no wonder Empath claimed the top spot in the top album of the year and also finds itself on this list.
– Erin Winans
50. A Perfect Circle – Eat The Elephant
Original mxdwn rank: 36
Release year: 2018
A Perfect Circle took a fourteen-year hiatus and came back together for 2018’s Eat the Elephant, a record that is both a departure, and return to form for the super-group led by the enigmatic Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Billy Howerdel. Eat the Elephant sees the group flex its soundscape muscles with airy compositions, water-like orchestrations, and almost upbeat tongue-in-cheek, Douglas Adams references. See “So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish.”
– Brian Furman
49. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
Original mxdwn rank: 13
Release year: 2013
A departure from 2008’s garage rock opus Dig Lazarus Dig!!, this 2013 release introduced textures and tricks that would color the next two albums. Whimsical, free-floating instrumental elements underly Cave’s tongue-in-cheek guarantees of armageddon, and the ear can’t help but follow the charming dark-eyed troubadour straight into the fire.
– Reuben Merringer
48. Between The Buried And Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2012
Any music lover can appreciate Between the Buried and Me’s ability to test their hand at many genres across albums. Their 2012 release, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, is a prime example that encompasses a lot in one album. Even from the opener “Goodbye to Everythinng” to “Lay Your Ghosts to Rest,” fans go from acoustic and soft vocals to deep growls.
– Erin Winans
47. The Gentle Storm – The Diary
Original mxdwn rank: 11
Release year: 2015
Concept albums are hard to do well, but when they are they leave a lasting impression on the music scene. The Diary by The Gentle Storm is a perfect example of this, as the love story presented is told beautifully (and sung beautifully by Anneke van Giersbergen) through both the folky and heavy metal versions of the songs on both sides of the album.
– Caitlin Wills
46. Various Artists – Black Panther Soundtrack
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2018
While Black Panther was the highest grossing movie of 2018, the soundtrack was a great work of art on its own merits. With songs ranging from the hyped “Opps” by Vince Staples to the deep and emotional track “Seasons” by Mozzy, the common thread is afrocentricity. Kendrick Lamar, who finds himself on all tracks in one form or another (especially the killer tracks “All the Stars” and “King’s Dead”), gives the soundtrack a fluidity that makes it feel more like of a cohesive album than a compilation.
– Rigo Bonilla
45. How to destroy angels_ – Welcome Oblivion
Original mxdwn rank: 9
Release year: 2013
Welcome Oblivion is the product of the collaboration between Industrial veterans Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig and Rob Sheridan. It retains the mark of Reznor and Ross through its sleek and mechanical motion, while impressively creating a unique listening experience through the group’s inventive integration of vocal, instrumental and electronic elements.
– Gabby Victoria
44. alt-J – This Is All Yours
Original mxdwn rank: 10
Release year: 2014
After smacking the indie-alt scene with their revolutionary debut, This Is All Yours was the perfect comeback – restrained but changed, left but right, tame but untamed. They had already pioneered a vocalization unlike any of their peers, but This Is All Yours pushed that voice beyond it’s imaginable peak, and refreshingly so. They’re a band made for the detail, the beauty of subtlety, and above all else, the rawness of intensity.
– Alessandro Gueli
43. Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence
Original mxdwn rank: 13
Release year: 2014
Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence was her statement to the world, and it’s because of this that we know Lana Del Rey for the tender artist she is today. It’s hyper-romanticized, it’s saturated, it’s moody, it’s everything we thought we’d hate in a record, somehow culminated in a subtle and believable way. Its nature is also thanks to Black Keys member and producer Dan Auerbach, a resilient figure in the industry to match Del Rey’s profound vision. This is an eternal love story that will forever be Lana Del Rey’s most unique and moving release.
– Alessandro Gueli
42. TEEN – In Limbo
Original mxdwn rank: 6
Release year: 2012
One aspect that jumps out when listening to this album is the variety of sonic textures across the songs, but the relative sparsity within individual numbers. Focused and deliberate, the musical quality is taken to another level through the Lieberson sisters’ natural and effortless harmonies.
– Willie Witten
41. Failure – The Heart Is A Monster
Original mxdwn rank: 6
Release year: 2015
One of the most underrated groups of the ‘90s alternative era, Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards returned triumphantly with their first album since 1996. The band never quite fit in with their alt-rock contemporaries, creating a much more nuanced, textured sound that in many ways set the stage for such a successful return a decade later. Maintaining continuity the segues from Fantastic Planet are continued on The Heart is A Monster. Singles like “Come Crashing” and “The Focus” provide focal points for the album.
– Matt Matasci
40. Poliça – United Crushers
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2016
“Crushers” is a key word here. Channy Leaneagh’s voice is sparkly, soulful and dulcet, so the massive amounts of crushing sound that this album contains makes for an interesting juxtaposition. At times, it is not immediately apparent what genre the band is channeling. That’s part of the fun. A song like “Top Coat” could easily become a prog-rock shred-fest, a tasteful acoustic ballad, or a dance hit—the core writing is rock solid.
– Willie Witten
39. 65daysofstatic – We Were Exploding Anyway
Original mxdwn rank: 13
Release year: 2011
Post Rock has been much maligned this past decade for folding in on itself. The titans of the genre from the ‘90s and early aughts had largely abandoned either the style or music altogether. 65daysofstatic saw this criticism not as a sign to quit but as a challenge and in doing so they blended new sounds and styles to create We Were Exploding Anyway, a compellingly cinematic album that blends the best of rock, electronic and experimental into a single unimpeachable package.
– Andrew Pitt
38. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, m.A.A.d City
Original mxdwn rank: –
Release year: 2012
Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City from 2012 feels almost like an ode to his birthplace of Los Angeles. It was his debut on a major label after a turn on the indie circuit, and it was clear that he could avail himself of significant creative freedom here. He worked with producers like Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams and T-Minus – and his music rooted in his youth in the treacherous streets of Compton will always be impactful.
– Jahan Raymond
37. Chvrches – Every Open Eye
Original mxdwn rank: 7
Release year: 2015
The Scottish synth-pop band released their sophomore album Every Open Eye in 2015 with confidence that it would leave their listeners with complete satisfaction. The eleven-track album reinforced the idea that the sound the band was producing was uniquely unlike anything the indie-pop world had heard in some time. The rebellious twists and turns of each track remain part of the reason this album has stood the test of time.
– Ally Tatosian
36. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2012
Indie pop fixture Black Moth Super Rainbow released Cobra Juicy in 2012, contributing to the indie essentials a sunny psychedelic pop album that was entirely funded by the group’s fanbase via Kickstarter. Signature of B.M.S.R., Cobra Juicy is dominated by layers of vocoder, synthesizer and other analog electronics. In addition to being catchy, well-designed pop, the album stands as a uniquely adequate representation of how technological advances that shaped the course of music have met modern production.
– Gabby Victoria
35. Santigold – Master of My Make-Believe
Original mxdwn rank: 7
Release year: 2016
Four years after the release of her critically-acclaimed debut, Santigold created an outlet for the underdogs of the electronic, indie-pop music world with her sophomore album Master of My Make-Believe. An album overflowing with cascading drums and musical candy that has become a staple for Santigold listeners and alternative music lovers. The artist known for her unapologetically different take on musical fusion took the time to create an electronic explosion that continues to stay relevant today.
– Ally Tatosiann
34. Mark Lanegan Band – Gargoyle
Original mxdwn rank: 13
Release year: 2017
Mark Lanegan is one of the most underrated vocalists in music today. His voice oozes out of cigarettes and a whisky-coated throat and gives any project that has his name attached to it instant credibility. Gargoyle is a beautifully written record, seeing Lanegan stretch his songwriting into new yet familiar territory punching the listener in the throat with ethereal songs about the mysteries of love and death… or maybe that is just what one hears in their own head when thinking about it.
– Brian Furman
33. Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
Original mxdwn rank: 18
Release year: 2010
Gil Scott-Heron embraces his age on his first original album since 1994, which also happened to be his last before his death in 2011. With a mature and intimate introspection, Scott-Heron delivers lyrics on his past and his soul. He is matter-of-fact, but his voice resonates beyond the confines of each song. Scott-Heron never lost his talent for sharply incisive lyrics, and his rumbling baritone voice demonstrates imbues his words with the strength of decades of writing.
– Spencer Culbertson
32. Laura Marling – Once I Was An Eagle
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2013
Sympathetic but strong, Laura Marling tells a story in two acts of emotional learning. Marling’s eagle “will not be a victim of romance” or “circumstance” as she reflects and meditates and professes. Her relentlessly churning guitar playing creates a warm background for her sharply cool voice. Act I’s pensiveness gives way to Act II’s upbeat clip after a brief interlude. The album shows Marling’s talent as a unique voice and compelling songwriter.
– Spencer Culbertson
31. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Original mxdwn rank: 7
Release year: 2011
Even though the album is longer than the average with an overall playtime of one seventy three minutes, the album is exciting and never boring. “Midnight City” is not only one of the highlights of the album but helped M83 to reach a new level of success and reaching people beyond their fan base. With Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, M83 created something not only special but an art piece, that never grows old and can always excite the audience.
– Yasmin Alber
30. Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Original mxdwn rank: 9
Release year: 2017
Amid an incredibly diverse discography that began in the field of black metal, Ulver’s The Assassination of Julius Caesar stands out as the group’s most accessible album to date. Starting with the first track, “Nemoralia,” much of the album is rife with uptempo drum beats, supportive synth rhythms and a clear pop sensibility that defines the album’s lively character. It’s an inarguably well-crafted work of art that stands as yet another testament to Ulver’s masterful versatility, and embodies well-rounded art that is not only introspective and emotively substantial, but also musically innovative and complex.
– Gabby Victoria
29. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked At Me
Original mxdwn rank: 8
Release year: 2017
Phil Elverum’s eighth studio album is a deeply poignant look into the aftermath of a young family’s tragedy; losing its mother to cancer. The lyrics are entrenched in the daily life of the narrator and his daughter, cataloging every moment, thought to thought, giving the listener (sometimes uncomfortably) intimate details of fallout from devastating loss. There are individual songs on the album, and some stand out in particular like “Ravens,” but this is a record meant to be taken in one sitting. Elverum’s ability to weave his own heart-rending circumstance into such lush, beautifully arranged folk songs is staggering, making A Crow Looked At Me one of the greatest albums of mourning to ever be released.
– Matt Matasci
28. Ministry – Amerikkkant
Original mxdwn rank: 11
Release year: 2018
In a time of political rockiness, Ministry does not hold back in Amerikkkant with their views of the current President, Donald J. Trump. From the first song (“I Know Words”), people hear distorted words that Trump is known for saying such as: “make america great again” and “we are going to build a wall” and they even take sound bits of his voice to do so. The album paints Trump as the evil clown in a weird, creepy carnival. The band boldly takes their stance and songs like “Twilight Zone,” “We’re Tired of It” and “Victims of a Clown” even sound like a protest of the people stating their done with the ways of Trump.
– Erin Winans
27. Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
Original mxdwn rank: 7
Release year: 2017
Departing from her earlier work, gothic folk artist Chelsea Wolfe reaches new creative heights in her 2017 album, Hiss Spun, in which she tackles topics of her past, such as mental health, familial struggles and former relationships. Wolfe’s music has always retained a charming darkness, which Hiss Spun not only continues, but skillfully builds on. The album is an amalgamation of a sludge metal aesthetic, heavier use of electronics, and her long-held gothic folk songwriting style. It was with the release of Hiss Spun that Chelsea Wolfe proved a mastery of blending styles while still remaining true to, and even more boldly expressing, her core artistic identity.
– Gabby Victoria
26. TEEN – Love Yes
Original mxdwn rank: 5
Release year: 2016
New York natives TEEN brought the ’80s back to 2016 with their album Love Yes. Filled with intense synths and moody pop vibes, this project feels like a flashback yet somehow manages to fit in perfectly to the indie-pop rock scene. After exploring different genres and tastes, it seems TEEN is settling well into their stylized sound. Themes of sex, love, heartbreak coupled with its retro sound will help this piece carry its relatability throughout decades to come.
– Marianna Salcedo
25. Killer Be Killed – Killer Be Killed
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2014
What happens when four very distinct voices in the heavy metal landscape converge on a singularity? Troy Sanders of Mastodon, Max Cavalera of Sepultura, Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan and David Elitch came together on the Killer Be Killed project to bake a brand of metal that combines all the elements of their main projects to forge one of the better metal albums of the past ten years. It’s brutal at times, melodic at times, but no less heavy, with the back and forth between vocalists very natural in its progression.
– Brian Furman
24. Puscifer – Money Shot
Original mxdwn rank: 8
Release year: 2015
Not so long ago many of us had given up on Tool. The prolific output of each band member implied that it wasn’t creative stoppage that caused the lengthy hiatus but perhaps something more complicated. Luckily there was no need for a new Tool album for much of the decade thanks to Maynard James Keenan’s projects A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. Puscifer, particularly on the album Money Shot provided Keenan an opportunity to explore fresh sounds and even get a little comical at times. The result is a roaring testament to creative freedom that keeps a slot in our playlists five years after release.
– Andrew Pitt
23. Austra – Future Politics
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2017
Originally ranked #4 by mxdwn for Album of the Year when released in 2017, Future Politics by Austra stills holds a special place in all of our hearts here. The synth-pop album that dealt with urgent political issues in a very optimistic way still stays relevant two years later. The third studio album from the Canadian singer-songwriter depicts an exhausted anticipation of the future through an explosion of indie-pop melodies and electronica. Led by frontwoman Katie Stelmanis, Future Politics was and still is an album of truth and difference. Each track is more experimental than the last and remains a part of the band’s major social rethinking.
– Ally Tatosian
22. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2016
Collaborating with Julie Christmas—formerly of Made Out of Babies and Battle of Mice—on this project, the pairing of Christmas’ and Johannes Persson’s vocals is superb. The range Christmas can reach helps elevate Mariner by taking things from soft and melodic to shrill screaming adding to the brutal screaming which Cult of Luna is well known for. Another element are the constantly shifting themes and this album revolves around a space journey into the unknown. While the band is Swedish, “a journey into the unknown” perfectly described the climate of the U.S. in 2016 which made it hit heavy with fans and critics alike.
– Erin Winans
21. Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra – Theatre is Evil
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2012
In 2012, Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra’s album Theatre is Evil held the coveted #1 spot on mxdwn’s year end top albums list. At the time, Palmer had risen to her rightful fame and made headlines with the largest kickstarter in the history of the music industry, crowd funding this very album. This collection holds strong to the date as the Grand Theft Orchestra add a cinematic feel to her strong vocals. “Smile” starts the album on a strong note with a drumming wake-up-call and epic piano lines. The string section of the orchestra shines throughout the sprawling “Trout Heart Replica.” With songs like “Do It With A Rockstar,” “Want it Back” and “Bottomfeeder,” it’s an album that deserves to be re-visited each year.
– Ilana Tel-Oren
20. Arctic Monkeys – AM
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2013
AM is a bold commercial renovation. For a band as anarchistic as Arctic Monkeys to come out at the helm of their musical identity, and permeate pop culture without losing any part of themselves, is what makes this one of the best albums of the decade. The youthfulness of their music, as influential as it was, never felt like it could last more than two or three records, but AM streamlined those roots in such a simple way, bringing a coolness of experience to the band’s style that proved their timeless sound. Arctic Monkeys is undoubtedly one of the most important bands to rise in our generation, and if nothing else, AM is hope of the fact that rock bands will never die.
– Alessandro Gueli
19. Kylesa – Exhausting Fire
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2015
If there’s any a band who aren’t strangers to change and metamorphosis, it’s Savannah’s Kylesa. They’ve put quite a few notches in their categorical bedpost, so to speak. At various times they’ve been hard rock, psychedelic and a little bit of heavy metal, sometimes all at once. Exhausting Fire is an “all at once” album for them, incorporating all of the above with a few heavy-hitting curveballs in the mix. There’s a lot of alt-rock going on with Exhausting Fire—like with “Shaping the Southern Sky” and “Moving Day.” Phillip Cope is also more vocally present on this one than its predecessor, pairing with that of Laura Pleasants nostalgically. Even in the midst of all this more indie-leaning experimentation, Kylesa still pulled out some of their usual tricks. “Lost and Confused” sweeps between the dazed-ness of psych with the harder aspects of punchy rock. Exhausting Fire goes further to show the lengths Kylesa will go for a new sound, and it worked for them.
– Cervante Pope
18. Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2013
Queens of the Stone Age are not new to the music scene, and though Like Clockwork came out towards the beginning of the decade, it’s still just as prominent and hard-hitting of an album now as it was almost seven years ago. It’s a softer album, drawing on indie influences as opposed to the harder rock sounds that the group is more known for, but that softness doesn’t take away from the incredible talent the album portrays. Songs like “I Sat by the Ocean,” “Kalopsia” and the power ballad “The Vampyre of Time and Memory” stand out amidst the rest, but the album as a whole is filled with great songs that have continued to be appreciated throughout the decade. Like Clockwork was nominated for two Grammys, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Queens of the Stone Age are experts at what they do, and Like Clockwork is a great example of there incredible talent.
– Caitlin Wills
17. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2014
In a decade stained by police violence against black lives, the hip-hop-heavy music mainstream failed to adequately address these issues. Run the Jewels 2 is the response of hip-hop act Run The Jewels; A thorough exercise of the first amendment.
Polished beats, complex rhyme schemes and elevated thought patterns fill this album from El-P and Killer Mike. It’s rare to see anarchist, anti-capitalist, anti-police ideas being executed at such a high level while not being just for shock value. These are evolved political ideas.
In the past decade, this type of expression seems to have been relegated to local indie punk bands. Run the Jewels finds a way to be political, with unique beats while still being very hip-hop.
Ice Cube and N.W.A. set the table with “Fuck the Police” years back. Run the Jewels expounded upon the idea by not only criticizing police, but also adding a couple things that could be done to improve things.
– Rigo Bonilla
16. Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2012
While many artists peak early in their career and later struggle to produce work greater than their initial batch of ideas, Devin Townsend’s career takes on an arc far more like that of David Bowie. His output mutates and shifts with each progressive release as he boldly forges new paths with each attempt. On Epicloud Townsend found new ambitious territory making expert use of a full gospel choir on nearly every song. This combining with his own flavor of exuberant hard rock cements an irresistible form of happy metal, one where the fruits of love and devotion are reveled in like the most joyous of celebrations. The opener “Effervescent!/True North” greets the listener into this choral-filled enthusiastic world while “Liberation” rocks like a thousand-person chorus in triumph. Softer sounds like “Where We Belong” bring a tear to the eye, but elsewhere, behemoths like “Grace” bowl you over completely with stunning twists and turns. Metal never needed reinventing more badly when Epicloud hit and it might have been the perfect record to put that ball into motion.
– Raymond Flotat
15. Laura Marling – Short Movie
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2015
Laura Marling wrote Short Movie following a move to Los Angeles from London, and the album reflects Marling’s dislocation and relocation. After her 2013 Once I Was an Eagle, Marling sought a change of pace that led to Short Movie. For the first time, Marling uses electric guitar, though her rich and emotionally-charge style of playing remains the same. Her guitar playing provides the lush backdrop upon which her voice lays, as she does on the chilling “I Feel Your Love.” Marling’s soaring lyricism remains as engaging as ever though increasingly complex and oblique. “Gurdjieff’s Daughter” Marling advises to “look at the stars” and on “Divine” she professes to feel “one with something divine.” Her lyrics feel familiar but grow more enigmatic the deeper into them you look. Marling explores this tension between beauty and meaning throughout the album as she tries to find meaning herself. Short Movie is undoubtedly beautiful, though Marling’s meaning remains elusive as you traverse the album. However, even as she remains just out of reach, the search for its meaning is where the greatest beauty is to be found in Short Movie.
– Spencer Culbertson
14. Faith No More – Sol Invictus
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2015
Faith No More has never been easy to define, and their fans like it that way. Their music is equal parts punk, metal, and every other genre put in an ever changing plasma-filled pinata, and beaten to a bloody pulp. Simply put, the band controls musical lightning, led by the ever charismatic, and equally hard to pin down frontman, Mike Patton. The band roared back to the mothership with 2015’s Sol Invictus providing fans with what they do best: loud, boisterous, tongue firmly in cheek party music for a tutu, swamp fest. Their edge not completely gone, replaced by a band that knows exactly where they stand in the music landscape, and continuing to push a boundary that they created. Sol Invictus proved that their influence abounds and Faith No More is a much-needed artist within a dire music industry.
– Brian Furman
13. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2010
At number thirteen is Kanye West’s 2010 oeuvre, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which appears on numerous ‘best of’ lists this decade.
Although this was the rapper’s fifth studio album, My Beautiful is largely considered among his most significant. Loaded with featured artists–Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Bon Iver–West famously worked on the album while he was on a sabbatical of sorts in Hawaii. Later, he talked about how he put together the album after a process of collaborating with a number of musicians and producers on the island, members of this storied creative community gathering to share their art in a free flowing environment.
It shows. Standouts from the album include “Monster,” a richly profane and gritty contribution featuring Jay-Z, Ross and Minaj and Iver while “Lost In The World,” with Iver, is sweet and melodic and has almost gospel overtones. Other standout cuts include “Power,” “All of the Lights” and “Runaway.”
It’s the album that West will always most likely be best known for.
– Jahan Raymond
12. Corrections House – Last City Zero
Original mxdwn rank: 12
Release year: 2013
When some of the most talented musicians from the darkest corners of metal come together, you’re bound to get some level of magic as a result. That was surely the expectation when Corrections House first got together. With Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Mike IX Williams of Eyehategod, Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont and Sanford Parker of Buried at Sea and Minsk at the helms, Corrections House’s debut, Last City Zero, was like an early holiday stocking stuffed with veritable sonic gifts from each members’ respective avenues. You get everything on Last City Zero—dusky and brooding folk, sludgy doom, grating noise and, at its best, incredibly hefty industrial. Album opener and particular highlight “Serve or Survive” really works to blend most of these, with its industrial elements driving the force of the track, and really the album as a whole. There are some lighter sides, like the acoustic “Run Through the Night,” but overall, Last City Zero is jarring in all the right places.
– Cervante Pope
11. Warpaint – Warpaint
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2014
Warpaint’s 2014 self-titled album is riddled with sonic gems. For most indie music enthusiasts, this album was played on repeat as soon as it came out. The intricate layers, impeccable songwriting and vocals made for a solid go-to album of the year. The hit single “Love Is To Die” was a regular on local L.A. stations like KCRW, but every song on this album is a hit. Songs like “Hi” pull from Radiohead’s sound with a prominent, consistent bass line under ethereal synth and vocals. The song unexpectedly transitions during the later half of the song into harmonic “ooohs” before executing a seamless key change. “Disco//Very” still hits just as hard as it did in 2014, with a punching beat and lyrics to match like “I’ve got a girl with a melody that will kill / she’ll eat you alive.” The album finished on a somber note with “Son,” a ballad to the likes of Thom Yorke.
– Ilana Tel-Oren
10. The Roots – How I Got Over
Original mxdwn rank: 21
Release year: 2010
In 2010 while they were Jimmy Fallon’s house band, The Roots released the work they should be recognized and remembered for, How I Got Over. This album is a milestone and signals a maturation in a relatively young genre.
How I Got Over is a strange experience. There’s something different about it that’s hard to pinpoint. The question materializes from thin air: is this hip-hop? Of course it is. What else could it be? Listen to the unmistakable boom-bap. So why does it feel different?
Part of the experience hip hop lovers have grown accustomed to, and part of the charm of the genre is finding the seams in the music. Hip-hop is typically one producer patching together various elements to make one track. Drum beats looped by a machine, samples from other songs, etc. The Roots put together a truly seamless experience that comes from from being a real band with live drums.
There’s an existential quality to the album. Not only does it inspire the questions of what is hip-hop? But paired with tracks like “Walk Alone,” “Now or Never,” “The Day” and “Dear God 2.0,” there’s a depth that seems effortless. There’s a depth that, pun intended, is firmly rooted. It’s not space and aliens, it’s hip-hop.
– Rigo Bonilla
9. Slowdive – Slowdive
Original mxdwn rank: 3
Release year: 2017
After a twenty-year hiatus, shoegaze legends Slowdive returned with a vengeance. Their 2017 self-titled album shimmers and soars with singles like “Star Roving” and “Sugar For the Pill” featuring Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead’s ethereal vocals. Each track on the album has a depth about it, filled with layers of sonic textures and beautiful harmonies from Goswell and Halstead. In the eight-track album, each song is over four minutes in length and unfolds in its own unique way. The opening track “Slomo” eases the listener into the album with swelling synths and dreamy guitars. The closing track “Falling Ashes” is the longest, and perhaps the most somber. Soft piano arpeggios are accompanied by expert melodies, with lyrics about lost love. Faster songs like the effervescent “Don’t Know Why” catch the listener’s attention immediately and unfold beautifully. Slowdive’s return has certainly paved the way for bands like DIIV and Froth to lean into a dreamier, shoegaze direction. In 2017, this album landed the third best album of the year spot on mxdwn’s list. As the new decade approaches, the album is still as relevant as ever, proving that artful songwriting, no matter how soft and subtle, holds up year after year.
– Ilana Tel-Oren
8. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2011
mxdwn’s #1 album of the year for 2011, St. Vincent’s third studio album introduced a more personal side to Annie Clark’s subject matter, ranging from her suspicions of monogamy on opener “Chloe in the Afternoon”, to the album’s closer, “Year of the Tiger,” which addresses a bout of depression she faced the year before. And in between is a range of textures popping into existence for short turns (the spastic synth squelch on “Northern Lights” comes to mind), and breakaway moods, like the peppy, fuzzed out “Cruel,” and the defiant “Cheerleader,” in which she expresses the power of withdrawing from mindless support and attaining a more critical eye to the world.
Less than five years after Strange Mercy’s release saw the spectacular unveiling of the American id leading to the current political climate. Lines like “I’ve seen America with no clothes on / I don’t wanna be a cheerleader no more” suggests Clark may have seen what was coming. If only more of us had, things might look a little different. Then again, as suggested in the title track, “I’d tell you good news that I don’t believe / if it would help you sleep,” we all like to keep our illusions close, whatever they are.
– Reuben Merringer
7. Ghost – Meliora
Original mxdwn rank: 2
Release year: 2015
Swedish rock band Ghost had a major hit this decade with their third full-length album Meliora. The sound is harder than their previous album Infestissuman, and the album is filled with rocking guitar riffs, and dynamic vocals. Some notable songs off of the 2015 release are the organ driven “From the Pinnacle to the Pit,” the folky-sounding “He Is,” and the single “Cirice.” Also, “Mummy Dust,” “Majesty” and “Deus in Absentia” are also excellent cuts. The album’s theme has been said to be “the absence of god,” and the religious (or anti-religious) themes can be felt greatly through the lyrics and the usage of organs and choirs throughout the album. The lyrics of “He Is” in particular speak to the “absence of god” theme in the album. “He’s the shining an the light without whom I cannot see/ and he is/ insurrection, he is spite, he’s the force that made be/ he is/ nostro dis pater, nostr’ alma mater/ he is.” They have a way with lyrics just as they do with music, and the album as a whole is a rock masterpiece. Not many groups can pull off what Ghost does, but they do so with a flair that has definitely earned them recognition in this decade.
– Caitlin Wills
6. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Original mxdwn rank: 10
Release year: 2013
It’s a bit of a shame that a large portion of music fans will look back on 2013’s Random Access Memories only as the vehicle that delivered the smash hit “Get Lucky” with Pharrell. True it debuted at #1, broke Spotify streaming records and took home the Best Album award at the 2014 Grammys, but this album is so much more than a commercial success for the French house duo. Instead, it should be remembered as a creative benchmark for the electronic genre, a basically flawless album that draws on a variety of influences and features a who’s-who of collaborators.
The overarching stylistic theme of the LP is a tribute to the music of the ’70s and ’80s, and specifically the sounds coming from Los Angeles at the time. The disco dance party gets started right off the bat with “Give Life Back to Music” featuring Nile Rodgers and never relents through its thirteen-song track list. The organic sounds and analog instrumentation are a major departure from the techno sound of their previous album Human After All.
Other standouts include “Giorgio by Moroder” featuring, of course, Giorgio Moroder, the rocking “Instant Crush” featuring vocals from Julian Casablancas and the other big single featuring Pharrell, “Lose Yourself to Dance.” “Touch” is meticulous in its arrangements, featuring 250 different elements, while the album’s blockbuster hit “Get Lucky” takes a more simplistic approach, aiming straight for pop-disco gold. Despite drawing heavily from past eras of music, there’s never really been an album like Random Access Memories and there certainly hasn’t been one since.
– Matt Matasci
5. Casualties of Cool – Casualties of Cool
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2016
Born in the wake of one of Devin Townsend’s most complicated records (which is really saying something for him) Deconstruction, Casualties of Cool was initially crafted late night on a Telecaster guitar after long hours of playing crazy angular arpeggios. After the shape of the music became clear to Townsend he had angelic singer Che Aimee Dorval whom he had worked with previously join him on the project. First released to Pledge Music funders in 2014, the album saw its formal, proper release in 2016 and was dubbed our album of the year for 2016. The album is a luminous, dreamy and soothing blend of atmospheric country. Townsend and Dorval’s vocals float together over immaculate tufts of auditory pleasure. Though, there’s still a ton of dynamic range as some songs aim for more straightforward chords and stomp and others are escalating walls of sonic dissonance. Most importantly, much like the soundtrack to the film Once, the album is a knockout blow in a time of complete and utter chaos. It underpins the great sadness of our time with almost painless alacrity. This may be the best album that no one in the mainstream is even remotely aware of. It’s an unforgettable nocturne journey through plaintive and soulful rumination. We dare you. Try “Mountaintop,” “Flight,” “Bones,” “Forgive Me” or any of the fifteen gorgeous songs on this album. You will not be disappointed.
– Raymond Flotat
4. Myrkur – Mareridt
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2017
Back in 2017, Amalie Bruun was causing quite a stir. Much like blackgazers Deafheaven at the time, Bruun, who records as Myrkur, entered the black metal world with an entirely different approach to how it could be done. For Bruun, black metal didn’t have to be entirely vile and gruesome—quite the contrary, as her approach incorporated swaths of beautifully delivered vocals, nodding at Scandanavian folk and, at times, classical orchestration. If her debut M was what ruffled some trad feathers, her sophomore record Mareridt was like a darkly ethereal bomb drop. Bruun seamlessly blended the tenderness of operatic folk with the rougher edges black metal (and, like on “The Serpent,” doom metal) have to offer. “Elleskudt” is like a vocal exorcism, showcasing the peaks and valleys of notes Bruun can take herself to. Mareridt’s dark haunt goes further on the Chelsea Wolfe collaboration of “Funeral,” where the qualities of both of their gloomy folk come to a depressively pleasant head. Mareridt was our number one of 2017 for a reason—it helped to show how black metal one, doesn’t have to stay within the confines it always has and two, that redefinition of the genre doesn’t have to come from a man.
– Cervante Pope
3. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service
Original mxdwn rank: 4
Release year: 2016
It would be a folly to call A Tribe Called Quest anything less than one of the most influential musical acts of all time. There’s a clear, direct line that can be traced from them to nearly any rapper worth discussing. Typically what happens to groups like this is that they are eventually passed up by those they influenced. New techniques and styles begin to be explored at a rate that is impossible for any single group to keep up with, their plaque goes on the wall, and they gather dust on the shelves of former fans. Tribe wanted something different and in 2016 after the tragic passing of member Phife Dawg, the Tribe released We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service and proved, with a searing commentary and ridiculously contemporary flows and beats proving that, well, they did indeed have it from here, no one else who came after was needed. Tracks like “Space Program” and “We the People…” near effortlessly predicted our current situation by touching on the ages long racial divide in America, that was being exacerbated by bad actors and malcontents across Washington and in capitol buildings the nation over. Beyond the eerily prescient messaging they pulled off a masterful update of their sound which called to mind groups like Shabazz Palaces, and glided smoothly into the twenty first century with “Dis Generation” blending a classic beat and flow that was ever so slightly tweaked to fit with modern sensibilities. The resulting track is crisp and relevant in both sound and message, the album it inhabits is flawless and establishes A Tribe Called Quest as a contender for the best rap group in two separate millennia.
– Andrew Pitt
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis
Original mxdwn rank: 32
Release year: 2010
Few think about how New Order’s landmark breakthrough hit “Blue Monday” was a direct response to the criticism they faced at the time attempting to move on from Joy Division’s Ian Curtis’ death. Sometimes that hotbed of adversity makes for the most fertile ground for truly brilliant art. The opposition of an unjust industry or culture can work as a slingshot, providing much-needed inertia to go even further towards what’s really needed to be done. In Option Paralysis, the indescribable brutality of The Dillinger Escape Plan found a pocket that spoke powerfully to the chaos and violence the 2010’s would ultimately deliver.
The numerous twists and turns of this album defied convention and somehow simultaneously didn’t fit both with common pop fans expect music to be nor what garden variety metal fans believe to be pure metal. Got used to that monster truck vocal in one part? Too bad. Now it’s going to be soothing, cooing vocals over light guitar. Like those clean vocals in somber tones? Hope you liked them while they lasted! Now it’s a frantic explosion of drums and stabs of noise. This band wrote like any so-called map of how music should be done was promptly lit on fire when recording was started. They know better, and we’re better off just strapping ourselves in and enjoying the ride.
Opener “Farewell, Mona Lisa” is a deathblow of sonic violence, challenging all authority and the inherent laziness both of the music listening public and the music industry in general. “Gold Teeth on a Bum” twists and turns fearlessly while “Piano” deceptively crafts a ballad against jazz piano before completely exploding into frenzy. “Parasitic Twins” ends the album as haunting lullaby and nearly pop confection. The cowardice and apathy of now? The Dillinger Escape Plan wrote this album as if they could see it coming out of the soil long before we even knew as a public what was coming. They stood up and fought against it with all their might. So much so that the band didn’t survive the end of the decade. This masterpiece will though.
– Raymond Flotat
1. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Original mxdwn rank: 1
Release year: 2010
In a decade overrun with incredible music, it takes sheer genius to be the best that happened over a course of ten years. The songs need to be unforgettable, the production needs to be timeless, the meaning needs to reverberate when the times are long forgotten. Like our #2 on this list, Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett’s somewhat cartoon band Gorillaz’s third proper album Plastic Beach is all of those things and more. It both predicts and screams about the perils of impending climate disaster but mines every possible sonic angle in one astounding, cohesive whole. The junk-punk, quasi-hip-hop the band had always played in here became melodic perfection.
It took whatever shape it needed diving deep into British grime with Kano and Bashy on “White Flag,” or dreamy indie pop with Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon on “Empire Ants.” “Stylo” immaculately takes pop and hip-hop and combines them with the retro soul a legend like the now late Bobby Womack could only have done (nestled up against Mos Def’s rhymes). Impossibly, the late Mark E. Smith from The Fall shows up for almost three spoken lines only on “Glitter Freeze” and it manages to be one of the best songs on the album. Mos Def appears again playing carnival ringmaster on “Sweepstakes” and De La Soul do a revisit of sorts of their brilliant “Feel Good Inc.” collaboration along with Gruff Rhys on “Superfast Jellyfish.”
Moments like “Rhinestone Eyes” and “On Melancholy Hill” are truly unforgettable, each an intoxicating mix of fun, sadness and mildly optimistic serenity. It all ends with a mix of longing and fear as Womack takes the party back down to Earth on “Cloud of Unknowing” and the band as a whole ties the bow on the piece directly commenting on the dangers of an unstable climate and what might be lost so arrogantly ignoring it. With the sound of a jaw harp and bouncy synths, with Devo-like sarcasm Albarn sings, “It’s all good news now / Because we left the taps running / for a hundred years / So drink into the drink, / plastic cup drink.” Never has pop music been so fearless, and so immaculately thought through. Plastic Beach is destined to go down in history as one of the great albums of all time.
– Raymond Flotat
Featured image photo credit: Raymond Flotat
Leave a Comment