10 Years Later: The Top 50 Albums Of 2010
Ten years is a long time, you'll realize that as you stumble upon records on this list that you vividly remember when they were released, and suddenly feel very old, I know I did. But ten years adds a lot to a record, we can see how albums become influential, or forgotten in the wake of the trends they either pioneered or rode in on the tail end of. Had I made a list like this in 2010 I'm sure it would have looked very different from top to bottom, and there are almost no records that we all view the same way today that we did in 2010. But for the sake of retrospective I poured through every album in my catalog from 2010 and even many more that I hadn't heard in years and assembled the 50 albums that sound the most fresh, influential and captivating today.
The debut record from Best Coast isn't going to wow you with compositional density or instrumental complexity, but its attitude is impeccable. From the surf rock riffs to frontwoman Bethany Cosentino's sugary indie pop vocals the record is to the point in a way that is just as satisfying in 2020 as it was in 2010.
Listen To: Boyfriend, When I'm With You
On their third record Band Of Horses were still holding tight to the indie and alternative rock that had garnered so much critical acclaim for the band on their first two records. While the climaxes on the album may not be as dramatic there is still a thick layer of emotion soaked into everything the band does that gives it a unique timelessness even though indie music sounds so different today.
Listen To: Factory, Infinite Arms
The second record from Jack White side project The Dead Weather was even heavier and punchier than the first one, and while they are by all means a supergroup there is absolutely none of The Kills or the Raconteurs left. With gritty blusey rock and roll from start to finish the record doesn't necessarily push the envelope but it is rewarding from start to finish.
Listen To: Die By The Drop, Jawbreaker
The first Sun Kil Moon album that was truly a solo effort of Mark Kozelek is instrumentally simple and sonically cohesive. While he still had some ways to go in developing the Sun Kil Moon sound into the prolific excellence he would end the decade on, all of that charisma and songwriting ability shows up on Admiral Fell Promises as well.
Listen To: Alesund, Admiral Fell Promises
Given the universal acclaim of the two Swans records following this one it feels like this album should have eventually gotten the credit it deserved. But to this day the record doesn't get enough credit for its dense experimental rock sound that also manages to avoid the long-winded headassery of some of the bands later mistakes.
Listen To: You Fucking People Make Me Sick, No Words/No Thoughts
Nicki sounds very different today than she did in 2010 but that doesn't mean her sound wasn't incredibly influential in the development of the bad bitch aesthetic that is so potent in rap music today. Pink Friday was uncompromising from start to finish but that also didn't mean Nicki wasn't willing to show her more personal side when appropriate, but a handful of these tracks haven't aged quite as well as the rest.
Listen To: Moment 4 Life, Fly
The massive Canadian indie rock collective Broken Social Scene returned after a five year absence to drop their highly anticipated 4th record. Forgiveness Rock Record sees the band calling back to the instrumentally dense approach to composition that they had been so well known for, and while it may not have blown anyone away with songwriting the sound was as crisp and catchy as ever.
Listen To: World Sick, All To All
Hot Chip's slick and impossibly catchy brand of synth pop was already well established by the time One Life Stand came out. But on the back of their biggest song to date Ready For The Floor the band was facing high expectations, and the record mostly lived up to it. A collection of dancable, creative and absolutely infectious synth pop that is as crisp and smooth today as it was the day of its release.
Listen To: I Feel Better, One Life Stand
The meeting of minds of Super Producer Danger Mouse and frontman of The Shins James Mercer was a unique little side project that allowed both artists to step outside their comfort zone. While the record initially inspired some eye rolls for its spacey and distant brand of indie rock time has been kind to the record. Not only does it sound contemporary given how in vogue its sound is within the world of indie music but it also serves as a unique creative piece of both artists greater discographies.
Listen To: The High Road, The Mall And Misery
Manic Street Preachers didn't have anything to prove after bending and conquering genres throughout their career. But returning to their politically charged socially critical assault on the status quo was a welcome reuniting on Postcards. Though musically the record rests on a comfortable rock sound for a band that was ten records deep there is so much rewarding creativity sewn into these songs.
Listen To: Postcards From A Young Man, It's Not War Just The End Of Love
Big Boi's first act as a solo artist in the wake of Outkast's extended and still ongoing break-up was to drop a bass heavy southern rap classic on Def Jam records. Despite the turmoil that led up to the release of the record it was unanimously acclaimed upon its release. While the rise of trap music out of the south hasn't necessarily been kind to this records legacy there is absolutely no denying that most of these songs still hit hard and groove tight ten years later.
Listen To: Shutterbug, Shine Blockas
Dan Snaith's third album under the Caribou moniker became the breakout moment for him and for the name and set up for a decade of success for this and other of his projects. If not for the excellent 2014 follow-up this would likely be seen by many as one of the best chill electronica and deep house albums of this entire decade. With a smooth sound and a strong aesthetic Swim is a treat that has only gotten better with age.
Listen To: Odessa, Sun
The Way Out was a weird, wild and ultimately fitting end for one of the most unique groups to ever touch plunderphoncs. At over 50 minutes the record assembles a captivating and wonderful sound collage that still to this day sounds like almost nothing I've ever heard before. For a record to continue to sound so interesting and groundbreaking ten years after its initial release is something really special.
Listen To: The Story Of Hip Hop, Chain Of Missing Links
The world didn't realize ten years ago when a rapper with a silly name and an off the wall attitude showed up out of the blue that he would drop one of the most influential hip hop albums of the 2010's. The fiery aggression, simple lyrics and hard-hitting southern hip hop beats made the album impossible to look away from and found critics divided on it. Now that trap has become the genre that has dominated the mainstream for so long, Flockaveli looks like gospel and listening back to it is like taking a trip to the roots of many of the most popular hip hop artists today.
Listen To: Hard In Da Paint, Grove St. Party
Nobody quite knew at the time their second record came out how fantastic Sam Herring's Future Islands could be when operating at their best. Thankfully In Evening Air showed us all how good they could be whether we knew it at the time or not. Retrospectively the album is a beautiful and tasteful synth pop odyssey with all the nuance of the bands best work paired with Sam's touching intimate vocals and lyrical poetry. The combination was infectious throughout this entire decade and retrospectively In Evening Air was one of the most complete collections the band released.
Listen To: Vireo's Eye, Long Flight
Perfume Genius is yet another artist that the world wasn't ready for when he released his debut record in 2010. His incredibly unique brand of lo-fi chamber pop and art pop would become lavish and expansive on later records, but Learning is an intimate, personal and touching record. The albums home recording process gives it a bedroom pop glimmer that allows Mike to completely overwhelm the songs in his passionate performances, and contextualizes one of the most beautiful artistic progressions of this decade.
Listen To: Mr. Peterson, Learning
Vampire Weekend's second studio album didn't take long after their breakout self-titled debut took over the indie scene a few year earlier. Contra by comparison is a little bit more rustic and true to form indie. With extra instrumentation and wild compositions the band trades out catchiness for sophistication and pens some explosive but grounded songs. Though the album isn't for everyone and may be the bands weakest, there is still so much here that is worthwhile and predictive of the bands next two records.
Listen To: Cousins, Giving Up The Gun
Before David Bowie's Blackstar and Leonard Cohen's You Wanted It Darker we got a different kind of farewell album from Gil Scott-Heron. The legendary spoken word musician went off with a treat on a record that embraces the worlds of trip hop and downtempo electronica to add another dimension to his already incredibly potent sound. Paired with personal and confessional lyrics it feels like a perfect curtain call for such a legendary artist, and the only shame about it is that more people didn't realize it at the time.
Listen To: New York Is Killing Me, I'll Take Care Of You
By the time they were gearing up to drop their 5th record Deerhunter already had a reputation behind their name in the world of indie music. But Bradford Cox and company took it to another level on Halcyon Digest where they fuse the world of psychedelic dream pop with tight compositions, detailed musical texture and some of the most entrancing indie tunes of 2010. The album was universally acclaimed upon release and holds up well, despite the fact that the band hasn't been able to one-up themselves yet there is still plenty to love about this powerfully performed indie record.
Listen To: Helicopter, Desire Lines
Of all the wonderful things M.I.A has contributed to the world of music through her own releases, we also have her to thank for the discovery of noise rock and pop duo Sleigh Bells, who dropped one of the biggest sleeper hits 2010 had to offer in their free to download debut Treats. The records explosive unstoppable sound turned heads and garnered near unanimous critical acclaim for good reason. Through this entire decade and seeing the PC Music and Hyperpop communities embrace noisy insane pop music Treats still sounds refreshing, catchy and unpredictable in 2020.
Listen To: Tell 'Em, Infinity Guitars
30. There Is Love In You - Four Tet
Of all the very long and diverse series of records Kieran Hebden has released under the Four Tet moniker, There Is Love In You may be the most loved, and for good reason. The album is a detailed and textured blending of electronica, dance and folk music that was predictive of the explosion of experimentation we would see in the world of electronica in the wake of this record.
Listen To: Love Cry, Angel Echoes
Women's short run of indie tinged post-punk was a fascinating but tragically short-lived experiment. Even following through with the work of Viet Cong and later Preoccupations shows how creative these guys were and makes me wonder what they could have sounded like if this original project carried on. Despite the fact that this ultimately became Women's final statement there is no denying the genre bending compositional excellence the album exhibits from start to finish and how well it holds up to this day.
Listen To: Eyesore, Locust Valley
Foals second album took the established sound of their solid debut and pushed it to expansive new heights that immediately set them on the fast track to being one of the predominant indie bands of the 2010's. With measured but detailed compositions building up moments into explosions of blissful sound there is so much to love about these songs from start to finish and despite how much indie has changed over ten years they are still fan favorites that we can look back on with awe.
Listen To: Spanish Sahara, Blue Blood
What can be said about Katy Perry's landmark 2nd album that hasn't already been said. With it's unstoppable commercial success she went a long way to shaping the two way pop star world of the future. Mastering both the touching subtle ballads and contemporary pop bangers the records is everything pop music has to offer. And while the ten years since its release feels like an eternity in pop years the album influence gives it an already apparent classic status.
Listen To: Teenage Dream, The One That Got Away
Looking at how many bedroom indie rock records have become legendary in the 2010's its amazing more credit isn't give to Dustin Payseur for writing, recording and producing Beach Fossils entirely on his own. The records catchy surf rock riffs and dreamy bedroom pop sounds come together for an intoxicating blend of lo-fi bliss. Speaking to the records influence is easy enough given the wave of jangle pop records that have crashed into the indie meta over the past decade. But even while the bands individual albums all have their own distinct style, the music of the self-titled debut is looking more and more timeless as the years go by.
Listen To: Youth, Sometimes
Two Door Cinema Club showed up in 2010 with an unstoppable brand of indie pop that nobody was quite prepared for, but we were all ready for. The near universal impulse to clap along to the opening instrumental passage of the bands hit Undercover Martyn is evidence enough of how sweeping their success was and how perfectly the songs have aged. From start to finish the album is bright, fast paced and completely irresistible in a way that screams early 2010's for all the right reasons.
Listen To: Undercover Martyn, What You Know
One of the projects that has grown on me most over the past ten years is Earl Sweatshirts debut mixtape Earl. To this day there are vile lyrics that would get someone well beyond cancelled in 2020, but unlike most of his Odd Future contemporaries Earl has managed to re-contextualize and even heighten his edginess retrospectively. Not only has his music gotten much darker and more despondent, but increasingly personal and as we track the mental woes of one of the sharpest lyricists in hip hop today looking back to where he got his start is a real treat. These songs absolutely pop off their mix time and time again with catchy hooks, great features, and a relentless lyrical assault of violent clashing with anyone willing to stand in his way, in 2020 Earl sounds better than ever.
Listen To: Epar, Earl
The Prince protege sexually charged icon Janelle Monae we know today is very different from who she was on The ArchAndroid, but when we catch a glimpse of that indelible swagger on this record it is an absolute treat. The records fusion of neo soul, R&B and pop music centers around Janelle's versatile performance ability and while her proper introduction to the music world may not have been conclusive or final, it was infectious and intoxicating.
Listen To: Tightrope. Cold War
Kristian Mattison came into his own in 2010, when his music went from being influenced by folk legends like Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, to picking up the torch for the genre and running away with it. The record is a rustic, emotional and intimate stool and guitar folk album but what really sells it is Kristian's brilliant vocals. His command over these tracks and their simple instrumentals is absolutely timeless and could have sounded just as crisp and compelling in 1965 as it does in 2020.
Listen To: King Of Spain, The Wild Hunt
Massive Attack's fifth studio album, and first in seven years at the time of its release was still so deeply connected to the world of trip hop that its re-invention felt more like a natural progression. The band as effortlessly as ever mixes the worlds of hip hop with electronica and dance music for one of the most compelling sets of songs to date. The record is a treat to listen to with brilliant guest performances who breathe life into the cold calculated world of the records instrumentals. To this day though many have tried it is still impossible to replicate that Massive Attack feeling, which makes it still so easy to love.
Listen To: Paradise Circus. Saturday Come Slow
When 2010 rolled around there was already a well established cult following for Ariel Pink and his lo-fi nostalgia pop. But with Before Today he was about to launch into a world of more critical acclaim and a wider net of success than ever before. His music had finally rolled into the crossroads of being so catchy it was impossible to ignore and despite sticking to his guns with the records lo-fi pop tendencies, the album ultimately became one of the most acclaimed of the year, and for good reason. As creative as any working in the indie pop field it comes as no surprise to anyone that the music had aged like a fine wine, and still to this days contains some of the best songs of his prolific career.
Listen To: Round and Round, Beverly Kills
Another one of the biggest growers on this list in M.I.A's Maya. The record received mixed reviews at the time of its release as it was a very different sound than her last record the universally loved Kala. The records explosive boom bap sound was challenging when it was first release but here ten years later with the rise of increasingly louder and angrier hip hop, it looks so innovative. With zany off the wall beats, performances dripping with charisma and songs overflowing with personality Maya fits in much more in 2020 than it did in 2010, and shows how ahead of the curve M.I.A continues to be.
Listen To: XXXO, Born Free
Five years after Sufjan Stevens dropped his indie classic Illinois he geared up to push his sound into a new direction. The grand orchestral arrangements paired with fluttering electronics make for a record that is uniquely cold yet homely. With grand compositions and intimate performances from Sufjan the record shines in with a distinct indie flare. At nearly 75 minutes the album may not be water tight but it is one of the most outside of the box records from one of indie musics most beloved artists.
Listen To: Futile Devices, Impossible Soul
The Blacks Keys had just made the successful transition from underground garage force to contemporary rockers when they released Brothers in 2010. But in the wake of the record they turned into radio rock super stars and never looked back. Paired with the slick production of the legend himself Danger Mouse they formulated a slick, punchy and relentlessly catchy rock record. The swagger filled vocals pair with explosive intricate guitar work for a timeless rock sound. Albums sounding fresh a decade later is becoming a strong theme on this list, and Brothers is no different.
Listen To: Tighten Up, Everlasting Light
This may be one of the most unpopular opinions on the list. The second record from electronic music duo Crystal Castles was a bit of a change of pace that wasn't as universally praised as its predecessor, and that was before the abusing of Alice Glass at the hands of Ethan Kath was unveiled years later. Despite this the resulting album is a catchy and unique blend of synth pop and some lighter elements of the bands industrial origins that is more inherently catchy than its predecessor, though less experimental. Regardless of this change of pace the songs here continue to pop from a songwriting perspective and feature wild muted vocals from Alice Glass that sound just as stunning to this day as they always have. The album definitely warrants a return listen for those who made up their mind on the record years ago, you'll be glad you did.
Listen To: Not In Love, Baptism
By today's standards Tame Impala is one of the biggest bands in the entire world blending pop and psych into impossibly catchy compositions that can be hard to resist. But back in 2010 they were a fiery blistering psychedelic rock band who were breaking down barriers for a genre much more associated with decades ago. Kevin Parker self-produced and assembled a bedroom rock classic that hit hard but never skimped on catchy riffs and refrains or beautiful pop inspired soundscapes. While Tame Impala would hit their peak a few years later everything they would eventually do is foreshadowed by the excellent Innerspeaker.
Listen To: Solitude Is Bliss. Alter Ego
After their landmark 2017 debut album Oracular Spectacular made MGMT a breakout success the one thing nobody expected them to do was take three years off, then show up with a much more experimental sound on their sophomore record. Despite a little bit less immediacy to the songs here Congratulations is definitely the sound of a sonic maturity that we only recently saw the fruits of on the bands 4th record Little Dark Age. As the bright and youthful sound of their debut blended with increasingly wild psychedelic soundscapes and dense detailed compositions the band latched onto something beautiful, compelling and passionate on this record and time has only been kinder to it.
Listen To: Congratulations, Siberian Breaks
While The Roots are primarily known as the backing band for Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show in 2020 ten years ago the Black Thought and Questlove project was already legendary in the hip hop world, and was only going to become more so after the release of How I Got Over. The record was immediately seen as the groups best since 1999's legendary Things Fall Apart and it's easy to see why. The tracklist is full of the rich instrumentals that the band had always been known for but they shine brighter than ever across the album. Black Thought and Dice Raw both command praise with warm, socially conscious rap verses the blend together world of old and new in hip hop. For a rap group known less for their rapping these days. How I Got Over is still proof of the bands mastery of the craft.
Listen To: How I Got Over, Dear God 2.0
If there is a genre that gets dated faster than any other, it's pop. The constant stream of artists playing copycat to whatever is successful means the in vogue sounds of the genre bend and shift constantly. So it is an incredible testament to Marina's work that The Family Jewels still sounds like a future of pop music we haven't reached yet over a decade after it was originally released. Even her most recent records don't hold up to the bold faced attitude and strong punchy instrumental palette of her first effort. The record is uncompromising in its vision of Marina as the next pop superstar and has aged like a fine wine over the last ten years as the world of pop music consistently fails to keep up with it. As experimental pop music is becoming more popular than ever Charli XCX, Grimes and PC Music fans owe it to themselves to take a look back at The Family Jewels.
Listen To: Hollywood, I Am Not A Robot
After some strange experiments and increasing pushes into new sonic directions in the ten years since Titus Andronicus released their sophomore record The Monitor it may be hard to remember a time when they were considered one of the brightest up and coming groups in the world of indie music. Even coming off of their best record in years last year, The Monitor is a different beast entirely. The record is a punk rager with a loose concept surrounding the American Civil War that has strong has strong sonic and compositional influence from the worlds of indie and folk music. Not only is it a unique concept even a decade later but the record sounds incredible. The fiery instrumental are only out down by the riveting lead vocals that channel the anger of classic punk with a distinct New Jersey emo flare. The Monitor is a treat from start to finish that not only spawned one of the best songs of the decade, but a collection of deep cuts that rivals almost any other indie records since.
Listen To: A More Perfect Union, The Battle Of Hampton Roads
After a decade where they released two of the most essential records in all of the indie pop canon and a number of the best EP's of all time, 2010 was a turning point for the group and the fact that we are still talking about them to this day is proof that it was a rousing success. The ethereal lo-fi sonic bliss of the instrumentals pair brilliantly with the sugary sweet vocal harmonies and subdued performances in the way that had always made the group so incredibly unique. The record is short and to the point but the songs serve as moments of sheer indie pop beauty as their Broadcast meets Pet Shop Boys combo serves as one of the many high points in the bands career.
Listen To: Heaven's On Fire, David
At over two hours long, Joanna Newsom's third album is a triple disc epic that sees her scaling back the layers of her compositions for a challenging but uncompromising listen that represents some of the most ambitious music in all of modern folk. With long compositions and a huge scale of dynamic vocal performances the 18 tracks on this album show off everything that makes Joanna one of the best songwriters of our time. The album is a blend of the harp instrumentals that had made Ys a classic with the piano that made her debut Milk Eyed-Mender so strongly connected to folk music of the past and the tracks paired back to back consistently pop. While the records long awaited follow-up may be an even more calculated success for Joanna Have One On Me is no less a major highlight in her discography and one of the best records of 2010.
Listen To: Good Intentions Pavement Company, Have One On Me
Before her 2018 comeback album Honey it looked like we had all forgotten to appreciate just how fantastic Robyn is. But once her critically acclaimed 6th record hit our ears and she cleaned up on numerous best of the decade lists we all clearly remembered how amazing her discography is. The crown jewel of the Swedish pop sensations catalog is 2010's Body Talk a bright and explosive pop record that manages to feel like such an intimate portrayal of who Robyn is as a person. The albums formula has become an incredibly influential one in a decade where personality has invaded pop music stronger than ever before but that doesn't mean that the sounds and performances on the record weren't predictive in their own right. The glistening and loud electronic palette of the album is a sound that has made its way through almost every popular music genre in the year since and while Body Talk certainly isn't entirely the cause of that, these songs being as incredible as they are definitely helped.
Listen To: Call Your Girlfriend, Dancing On My Own
A loose concept album approaching the vapid isolation and despondent loneliness that can come with growing up in suburbia sounds like something much more common in 2020 than it did in 2010, speaking to how ahead of their time Arcade Fire were in their pre-disco days. The universal and immediate success of the record from the charts to the critics and even the Grammy's speaks to how instant and all-encompassing its appeal is. Win Butler and Regine Chassagne deliver vocally time and time again across this album as a wide variety of song types and styles are knocked out of the park one after another with their huge and brilliant vocals. But what really makes The Suburbs a classic is the awe-inspiring instrumental palette that set a new standard for being complex but accessible within the world of indie music. From blissful indie pop ballads to nihilistic alt-rock jams the record hits one home run after another.
Listen To: The Suburbs, Sprawl II
Fly Lo got his career off to a pretty solid start but I don't think anybody could have predicted he was capable of something as unique, groundbreaking and timeless. The impressive roster of guest performers is all the evidence you need of the fact that people saw something special in Fly Lo's blend of electronica, jazz and hip hop but the quality of the record goes way deeper than just its ideas. The sounds on this album are warm, rich and textured as well as assembled so perfectly crisp that it pops out of the mix with every moment it can. Given how many artists he produced for over the past ten years its easy to say that Flying Lotus had a huge hand in shaping the sound of underground hip hop, but there is no denying that even on its own Cosmogramma is predictive, beautiful and an IDM classic.
Listen To: Do The Astral Plane, Zodiac Shit
Ten years out of the (maybe) final MCR record its clear that time has been very kind to a record that was unappreciated in its initial release. Sure a song like Sing sounded like a dive into a shallow pool of pop rock music in 2010, but the slick concept and genre bending songs that line the album were truly the shape of whats to come in the internet age. Smashing together electro pop synths with wailing pop punk guitars or tight syncopated drum machine with explosive emo vocals made the record tough to pin down and define. But with ten years to unpack what the band unloaded on us the stylized world of the Fabulous Killjoys is more of a treat than ever before. One of the records greatest strengths is something the band learned on their previous critically acclaimed hit a few years earlier, cohesiveness. This record is the very definition of greater than the sum of its parts as the only thing more thrilling than some of these tracks on their own. is how fantastically they fit together to tell the entrancing story of the Killjoys in the way only Gerard and company could.
Listen To: Na Na Na, Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back
Following up 2007's brilliant sophomore effort from the band Sounds Of Silver was going to be a tall task no matter what. But with the 65 minutes of This Is Happening the band saw the challenge ahead of them and promptly knocked it down. The album is another helping of smart fusions of electronica, dance and punk that is part Talking Heads, part Aphex Twin and all brilliance. With the compositional excellent and witty lyricism that LCD Soundsystem has always displayed the record had nothing but hits to provide over its 9 songs and not a moment on the album feels wasted. In fact I'd be more than willing to let some of these winding compositions take me on for even another half hour as the instrumental approach of the record is expansive and impossibly catchy. Whether through intimate vocal diatribes or soaring sung hooks James Murphy gets his trademark wit and unmistakable personality all over ever bit of the record, and while the album felt great retrospectively as a closing moment for the band. No amount of reunions could diminish how great these songs still sound to this day.
Listen To: Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want
One of the more controversial placements is a record that has divided people since it first came out. For every one person who admires the tight thematic world Damon Albarn crafts around the destruction of our environment on Plastic Beach, there is another person who disdains it for the robbery of Gorillaz lo-fi hip hop inspired sound on Demon Days which it represents. But with three more records released since Plastic Beach it seems like its time to finally look back on the record with a more reflective eye, and realize that it is not only the bands most complete album statement, but their best as well. Pairing the always charming performances Damon delivers as 2D with some of the best features you'll hear anywhere this decade from Lou Reed, Little Dragon, Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, De La Soul and Mark E. Smith makes for far and away the best set of performances from an ensemble that 2010 has to offer. The record is textbook cohesiveness and its consistency is only outdone by just how high the highlights across the record are, not only making some of the most catchy and unforgettable songs of the decade, but also some of the most explicitly contemplative. Fitting all the people, concepts and sounds together on this record was a huge undertaking for Damon, but the results are a career defining moment for an artist who already had a few with Blur in the 90's.
Listen To; On Melancholy Hill, Rhinestone Eyes
So here it is, the album from 2010 that everybody expects to be #1, falling just short. Even though that may seem like a defeat if you're a Kanye stan for anybody else in the world its a celebration of one of the most triumphant rap records of all time, and the moment we all realized just how transcendent of an artist Kanye West was. Since this record there has been a turbulent up and down for Kanye with highs like The Lift Of Pablo, Watch The Throne and Ye as well as lows like Jesus Is King, Kids See Ghosts and Yeezus and everyone of these projects comes from something we can find on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The difference is that this album drains every single shot it takes and despite bringing some of the biggest instrumentals you'll hear in the realm of hip hop the moments are never to big for Kanye. While Plastic Beach steals some of the thunder as far as impressive features go we can't forget that this album features some amazing contributions from the likes of Bon Iver, Rick Ross, GZA and Raekwon. Not to mention serving as a coming out party for Nicki Minaj, and the verse that I called my favorite feature of the entire decade, Pusha T on Runaway. But this album is ultimately and primarily a reflection of Kanye and everything that makes him who he is for better or for worse. But a decade out and with a very different public perception of the man this album starts to feel like more of a character study of an artist flirting with fame getting to his head, and fighting to keep his sanity in tact. Viewed through a retrospective lens My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is dated, but fantastically, even brilliantly so. And the record could only be outdone by an already critically acclaimed masterpiece, that sneakily became the most influential record of the 2010.
Listen To: Runaway, Power
Across this list we've seen records that have aged like a fine wine for their sonic influence into the worlds of hip hop, rock and pop. But the massive wave of dream pop and shoegaze blending indie music that took over so vehemently it spawned all new genres of its own like clockwork, traces its origins directly back to Beach House, and their absolutely brilliant third album Teen Dream. While just about everyone loved this record when it came out nobody could have predicted how essential it would become to the sonic landscape of indie music for the next decade and how refreshing and lively it would sound all these years later. From the chill inducing chords of Zebra to the smashing vocal harmonies of Norway and even the touching intimacy of Take Care the albums ability to evoke emotions hasn't wavered an inch, and may have even become more potent as the years went by. The bands debut on Sub Pop records was already loved at the time of its release but as it continues to climb its way up one critics choice list after another it is becoming more and more apparent that its considered among the best records of the decade, and by many as one of the best records of all time. And all is for good reason as what Victoria and Alex assembled on the album is the very definition of timeless, and a no-brainer for the best record of 2010.
Listen To: Zebra, Norway
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