Best Albums of the 2010s
This was the decade I finally reached music saturation, and realized that the albums at the lower rungs of this list, let alone the ones that did not make it, were records I barely listened to. Only the top 20 or so truly had a huge impact on me in the past 10 years, mostly being ones to which I can attach memories and moods.
The 2010s were also a decade defined by a handful of artists, whom all appear here more than once: Sharon Van Etten, Thao Nguyen, Matt Berninger, Katie Crutchfield and her sister Allison, Kristian Matsson, Jenn Wasner, Phil Cook, and Justin Vernon. It is no coincident that most of these artists are friends and collaborators, many of them united around the nexus of Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver and others) and Bryce Dessner (of The National and others).
In countless ways, those two bands, Bon Iver and The National, whom I fell in love with in the previous decade, have shaped my musical taste in the years since. From attending Eaux Claires festival to catching each of them live closer to home whenever I could, they have become my north stars, not just for the music, but for the way they go about their business, building a community of collaborators and friends out of shared principles and desires.
As I age, this sort of thing, seemingly ancillary to the enjoyment of a record, has come to the forefront, and those records to which I respond with the most emotion are those which stick with me. Sometimes it’s just about an e•mo•tion if you know what I mean, but for the most part, these records definitely sound like something a thoughtful, (gasp) now-40-something dude would be listening to.
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Choice Cuts: “The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs”, “Symmetry”
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Choice Cuts: “Future Me Hates Me”, “Not Running”
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Choice Cuts: “On and On”, “Need Your Love”
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Choice Cuts: “Need to Feel Your Love”, “Can’t Play It Cool”
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Choice Cuts: “Sagres”, “Timothy”
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Choice Cuts: “Why Is It So Hard”, “No Time for Dreaming”
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Choice Cuts: “Kalama”, “Arkansas”
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Choice Cuts: “Every Body”, “Holly Roller”
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The Road From Memphis
Booker T. Jones
Anti-, 2011
Choice Cuts: “Progress”, “Representing Memphis”
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Choice Cuts: “Have to Pretend”, “Northern Lights”
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Choice Cuts: “Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo)”, “I’m the Man to Be”
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Choice Cuts: “Hard Luck Kid”, “Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas”
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Choice Cuts: “Volunteers”, “Carolina Days”
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Choice Cuts: “Major Minor Love”, “3 Days”
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Choice Cuts: “Avant Gardener”, “History Eraser”
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Choice Cuts: “Sorry Is Gone”, “World Won’t Stop”
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Choice Cuts: “The Oil Slick”, “The Woodpile”
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Choice Cuts: “Astonished Man”, “Nobody Dies”
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Choice Cuts: “Pilgrim (You Can’t Go Home)”, “Candy”
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Choice Cuts: “11 O’Clock Friday Night”, “I Don’t Need Anyone”
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Choice Cuts: “The Circle Married the Line”, “The Bad in Each Other”
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Choice Cuts: “We Are Fine”, “Serpents”
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Choice Cuts: “Wild Imagination”, “Pretty Pimpin”
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Choice Cuts: “Oo La La”, “Fire”
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Choice Cuts: “Turns Turns Turns”, “Bugs Don’t Buzz”
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Choice Cuts: “There Can Be Only One”, “Home on the Range”, “Aeon of Aquarius Blues”
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Choice Cuts: “I’m a Stranger Now”, “Waiting for My Ghost”
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Choice Cuts: “Überlin”, “It Happened Today”
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Choice Cuts: “Holding On”, “I’ll Get You”
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Choice Cuts: “Lyk Dis”, “Sidepiece”
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Choice Cuts: “Advanced Falconry”, “Golden Wake”
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Choice Cuts: “Cause I’m a Man”, “Let It Happen”
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Choice Cuts: “Metallic Cloud”, “Plains to Crash”
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Choice Cuts: “Night Still Comes”, “Local Girl”
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Choice Cuts: “Everything Is Happening Today”, “Semaphore”
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Choice Cuts: “Over and Even”, “No More Shelter”
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Choice Cuts: “Baybee”, “The Bus Song”
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Choice Cuts: “Best to You”, “But You”
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Choice Cuts: “Love More”, “Peace Signs”
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Choice Cuts: “Atomic Number”, “Best Kept Secret”
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Choice Cuts: “Blue Moon”, “Country Down”
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Choice Cuts: “When I’m With You”, “Summer Mood”
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Choice Cuts: “Julie’s Place”, “French Press”
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Choice Cuts: “The Roundabout”, “Sullen Mind”
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Choice Cuts: “The Space Program”, “We the People…”, “Movin Backwards”
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Choice Cuts: “How Simple”, “Not Abel”
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Choice Cuts: “King of the World”, “Emmylou”
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Choice Cuts: “La Loose”, “Breathless”, “Air”
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Choice Cuts: “The Only Thing”, “All of Me Wants All of You”
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Choice Cuts: “Time to Run”, “The Man Who Lives Forever”
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Choice Cuts: “Miles Away”, “Now That I Know”
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Choice Cuts: “Street Joy”, “Drug”
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Choice Cuts: “Madness”, “Born Again Teen”
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Choice Cuts: “Tarifa”, “Every Time the Sun Comes Up”
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Choice Cuts: “Every Other Sunday”, “Fast Moving Clouds”
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Choice Cuts: “Seventeen”, “Comeback Kid”
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Choice Cuts: “Midnight to Morning”, “Near to the Wild Heart of Life”
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Choice Cuts: “Depreston”, “Pedestrian at Best”
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Choice Cuts: “Up All Night”, “Strangest Thing”
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Choice Cuts: “This Is Why We Fight”, “Down by the Water”
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Choice Cuts: “Dirty Cartoons”, “TAOS”
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Choice Cuts: “Don’t Let Me Bring You Down”, “I Feel Your Love”
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Choice Cuts: “Till It’s Done (Tutu)”, “Really Love”
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Choice Cuts: “Be Good”, “Grass Stain”
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Choice Cuts: “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone”, “Multi-Love”
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Choice Cuts: “Steady”, “Make It Holy”
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Choice Cuts: “Give Up the Ghost”, “Separator”, “Codex”
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Choice Cuts: “Cold Light”, “Blue Wave”
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Choice Cuts: “Inside Out”, “Do You”
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Choice Cuts: “Astral Plane”, “Shakedown”
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Choice Cuts: “Another Go Round”, “Hesitation”
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Choice Cuts: “Freedom”, “Sorry”
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Choice Cuts: “Talking Straight”, “Mainland”, “The Hammer”
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Choice Cuts: “Honey & I”, “The Wire”
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Choice Cuts: “Afraid of Everyone”, “Conversation 16”, “Terrible Love”
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Choice Cuts: “Dance Yrself Clean”, “Home”, “I Can Change”
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Choice Cuts: “Until We Get There”, “Two of Us on the Run”
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Choice Cuts: “Make It Better”, “Never Going Home”
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Choice Cuts: “Trouble”, “Happy Idiot”, “Ride”
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Choice Cuts: “Beyond”, “Bad Bad News”
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Choice Cuts: “Mile Away”, “I Don’t Ever Wanna Leave California”
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Choice Cuts: “Recite Remorse”, “Never Been Wrong”
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Choice Cuts: “Hope You Know”, “Resurrection”
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Choice Cuts: “Get Lucky”, “Fragments of Time”, “Touch”
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Choice Cuts: “We Used to Wait”, “Ready to Start”, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
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Choice Cuts: “Hot Knife”, “Every Single Night”
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Choice Cuts: “Run Away With Me”, “I Really Like You”
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Choice Cuts: “Souvenir”, “Me & My Dog”
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Choice Cuts: “One More Night”, “Black Man in a White World”
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Choice Cuts: “The House That Heaven Built”, “Younger Us”
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Choice Cuts: “Heavy Sails”, “Ancient Jules”
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Choice Cuts: “In the Kingdom”, “Common Burn”
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Choice Cuts: “Power”, “Lost in the World”, “Blame Game”
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Choice Cuts: “Wide Awake”, “Drifter”
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Choice Cuts: “Lost (Season One)”
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Choice Cuts: “Love Is All”, “King of Spain”
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Choice Cuts: “Am I Wrong”, “Room in Here”
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Choice Cuts: “Byegone”, “Dancepack”
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Choice Cuts: “Michicant”, “Perth”, “Holocene”
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Choice Cuts: “Die Young”, “Just Dancing”, “Rewind”