Author Topic: RAWK Best Albums of the Decade Thread (2010 - 2019) - 2012 Discussed during June (Read 5084 times)

Zee_26 · « **on:** March 19, 2019, 05:04:55 pm »

Hey there good folks of RAWK!!!

Where has the time gone!? With the decade winding down, let's take a retrospective tour of the past 10 years and discuss our favourite music over that time. We can dedicate each of the remaining months to discuss albums of a particular year ending off with the RAWK 2019 AOTY thread in January. This should give everyone around 30 days (enough time hopefully) to go through their collections and consider which albums really left an impression for that particular year. Will your tastes and favourites have changed with the passing of time and fresh perspectives?

I'm even willing to gather the results of RAWK's finest in a monthly vote. So for each month, select your top 5 albums for the year under review and I'll consolidate into a kind of mini AOTY thread as we go along. A similar Formula One style scoring rules as in the AOTY thread will apply, but I'll extend the selection to include EPs, Mix Tapes, Soundtracks, Live albums and Compilations.

Scoring
The Formula One style scoring system will remain in place for RAWKites selections. People's top 5 albums will score as follows:- 8 - 6 - 4 - 3 - 2

And the schedule that we'll try to stick to:

April - Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
May - 2011 AOTY
June - 2012 AOTY
July - 2013 AOTY
August - 2014 AOTY
September - 2015 AOTY
October - 2016 AOTY
November - 2017 AOTY
December - 2018 AOTY

I'll consolidate the votes at the end of each month and update the OP to keep track. Here's to a great discussion and all of the best for your favourites!!! (and the eventual winner WOD

)

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #1 on:** March 19, 2019, 06:25:20 pm »

Yeah I can tell you I'm not going to be able to resist this

Chip Evans · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2019, 07:48:59 pm »

Omg. What a fantastic idea for a thread. In with bells on.

Djozer · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2019, 08:40:34 pm »

Chip Evans · « **Reply #4 on:** March 19, 2019, 08:47:02 pm »

Been looking back at 2010 for 5 minutes and I'm already angry.

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #5 on:** March 19, 2019, 10:55:53 pm »

Pretty sure my taste is always changing, or perhaps just more that there's always new stuff to discover.

The records I loved at the time are probably slightly less preferable to me now, unless they have some kind of personal attachment.
Is it dishonest to pick a record that you didn't actually listen to in the year we are compiling lists for?
Also I was probably not listening as attentively at the time as I could have been - always trying to improve this skill!

Immediate ones that spring from my (re)collection that I still play regularly, or have on the iPod:

Beach House - Teen Dream (a hit with the other half)

Kort (Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell) - Invariable Heartache (a lovely sparse country album, love the Wagner songs on it)

Sparklehorse/Dangermouse - Dark Night Of The Soul (first time I heard Vic Chesnutt)

Four Tet - There Is Love In You (Really like the cover, remember playing it a lot when it came out)

Ariel Pink - Before Today (some of my bandmates played this to death)

Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy (really great 'classic rock' Neil Young/Stones style album, sign me up for the horn sections and guitar solos)

Y Niwl - Y Niwl (Welsh surf rock instrumentals, saw these loads around this time)

Quite a few I didn't listen to at the time but became aware of since that I'm fond of:

Bill Callahan - Rough Travel For A Rare Thing (Love everything from the title down, the cover, the song choices, the performance, a really good live album for me)
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here? (this I remember being very good)
Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love (love his stuff)
Richard James - We Went Riding

I was making lots of music with my friends and various bands at this time, so I spent a lot of 2010 listening to that rather than what was actually being released* by real record labels and such. It was a good year for me IIRC.

*ie good/of releasable quality.

Zeppelin · « **Reply #6 on:** March 19, 2019, 11:00:54 pm »

Good idea for a thread -perhaps we can persuade someone to do one for every year from 1963 or so?

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #7 on:** March 19, 2019, 11:06:07 pm »

Quote from: Zeppelin on March 19, 2019, 11:00:54 pm

Good idea for a thread -perhaps we can persuade someone to do one for every year from 1963 or so?

the thought also crossed my mind...

Sheer Magnetism · « **Reply #8 on:** March 20, 2019, 01:59:38 am »

Sounds great. It'll also give me time to actually get a list together. Just five per year?

Chip Evans · « **Reply #9 on:** March 20, 2019, 10:37:16 am »

For starters to add to Sam's refresher

Measure - Field Music
Admiral Fell Promises - Sun Kil Moon
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Clinic- Bubblegum
The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
Women - Public Strain

Zeppelin · « **Reply #10 on:** March 20, 2019, 11:52:47 am »

1. Bellowhead - Hedonism
2. Richard Thompson - Dream attic
3. Joanne Shaw Taylor - Diamonds in the dirt
4. Killing Joke - Absolute dissent
5. Sabaton - Coat of arms

Zee_26 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 20, 2019, 05:14:09 pm »

Quote from: Sheer Magnetism on March 20, 2019, 01:59:38 am

Sounds great. It'll also give me time to actually get a list together. Just five per year?

Just the top five will be scored. Everyone is welcome to list as many as they'd like.

I'll happily reconsider the scoring if people want to list a top 10. It might just take some time looking back and getting to 10 records for each year over a decade. Five seems a bit more manageable and forces people to really choose their favourites and make them count.

Zee_26 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2019, 05:56:53 pm »

Sam alluded to it in his post, but I really enjoy listening to albums from the whole surf rock scene that rose up around 2010. There were loads of bands releasing albums around this time with this Beach Boys and punk (with a bit of The Strokes and Vampire Weekend thrown in) inspired sound and many of them still hold up really well, particularly for summer listens.

Real Estate released their debut the year before, but in 2010 there were albums from Best Coast, Surfer Blood, The Drums, Dum Dum Girls, Wavves, Ty Segall, and an EP from Girls. Even the Walkmen with Lisbon explored some of that sound. Guitars heavy on reverb, the lackadaisical vibe of the singing, lyrics generally on the simplistic side, and an overall sound that reminds one of the coast and the sun.

From an artistic point of view, there were stronger, more interesting albums in 2010. But, the music from this scene is just so much fun to listen to. It will be tough but I'll try and fit one into my top five

.

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #13 on:** March 20, 2019, 07:14:27 pm »

Quote from: Zee_26 on March 20, 2019, 05:56:53 pm

Sam alluded to it in his post, but I really enjoy listening to albums from the whole surf rock scene that rose up around 2010. There were loads of bands releasing albums around this time with this Beach Boys and punk (with a bit of The Strokes and Vampire Weekend thrown in) inspired sound and many of them still hold up really well, particularly for summer listens.

Real Estate released their debut the year before, but in 2010 there were albums from Best Coast, Surfer Blood, The Drums, Dum Dum Girls, Wavves, Ty Segall, and an EP from Girls. Even the Walkmen with Lisbon explored some of that sound. Guitars heavy on reverb, the lackadaisical vibe of the singing, lyrics generally on the simplistic side, and an overall sound that reminds one of the coast and the sun.

From an artistic point of view, there were stronger, more interesting albums in 2010. But, the music from this scene is just so much fun to listen to. It will be tough but I'll try and fit one into my top five .

Yeah really like the first Best Coast album too.

Quote from: Chip Evans on March 20, 2019, 10:37:16 am

For starters to add to Sam's refresher

Measure - Field Music
Admiral Fell Promises - Sun Kil Moon
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Clinic- Bubblegum
The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
Women - Public Strain

Admiral Fell Promises is a great shout.
Have to give Bubblegum another listen, especially as they have a new one out soon. Remember my mate fuming at the reviews at the time, saying 'everyone gives all their albums the same '3/5 stars good album' but it's really really good'

Djozer · « **Reply #14 on:** March 20, 2019, 07:50:52 pm »

Most of the current stuff I was listening to back then tended to be hip hop and it's close relations, so albums I got at the time and remember enjoying are:

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The Roots - How I Got Over
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson

Have since become aware of (and just found out they were from 2010):

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

I'm also far too into the Drive By Truckers than can ever be considered healthy, so even though it's not one of their best I think their 2010 album The Big To Do deserves a mention.

Dunno what my top five would be, but I think Cosmogramma (was listening to that for the first time in a while last night, and got reminded just how awesome it is) and How I Got Over are definitely in there, probably Innerspeaker too.

Hopefully y'all can educate me on whatever psych/indie/folk/jazz/noise stuff was going on nine years ago, seeing as I'm too lazy to go looking for it myself.

AndyMuller · « **Reply #15 on:** March 20, 2019, 09:11:23 pm »

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Rick Ross - Teflon Don
The-Dream - Love King

2010 was a good year. The Kanye album is his magnum opus IMO as everything from him joining Twitter to dropping new music every Friday and calling it G.O.O.D Friday’s to dropping the masterpiece was just perfect.

This was all before the Kardashian curse was set upon him.

RyanBabel19 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 20, 2019, 11:01:46 pm »

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

A perfect album I will never ever tire of. The samples, the features, the process used in order to create the album. Perfection

That is all

monkeyharris · « **Reply #17 on:** March 23, 2019, 11:49:59 pm »

Quote from: RyanBabel19 on March 20, 2019, 11:01:46 pm

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

A perfect album I will never ever tire of. The samples, the features, the process used in order to create the album. Perfection

That is all

That shit is

Fuckin' ridiclus

rafathegaffa83 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 24, 2019, 12:11:31 am »

1. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
2. Sir Luscious Left Foot, the Son of Chico Dusty - Big Boi
3. Halycon Digest - Deerhunter
4. Teen Dream - Beach House
5. The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monae
6. The Fool - Warpaint
7. Innerspeaker - Tame Impala
8. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

Lastrador · « **Reply #19 on:** March 24, 2019, 07:33:58 pm »

1. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
2. These New Puritans - Hidden
3. Beach House - Teen Dream
4. Tame Impala - Innerspeker
5. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
6. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
7. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
8. Twin Shadow - Forget
9. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
10. Belle and Sebastian - Belle & Sebastian Write About Love

19th Nervous Title · « **Reply #20 on:** March 25, 2019, 09:05:54 am »

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
3. Beach House - Teen Dream
4. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
5. Vampire Weekend - Contra
6. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
7. Sleigh Bells - Treats

List would have probably have been different at the time, but these have stood up with time.

Sheer Magnetism · « **Reply #21 on:** March 25, 2019, 12:42:39 pm »

I understand this isn't a pop board but nonetheless surprised to see no shouts for Robyn's Body Talk yet - easily one of the most influential albums of the decade.

Zee_26 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 25, 2019, 05:53:48 pm »

Quote from: Sheer Magnetism on March 25, 2019, 12:42:39 pm

I understand this isn't a pop board but nonetheless surprised to see no shouts for Robyn's Body Talk yet - easily one of the most influential albums of the decade.

Most definitely. There was probably a five to six year spell where Robyn's influence on pop music could be heard on almost every mainstream release. Listen to the driving synths on Taylor Swift's 1989 and Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotion, through to Ariana Grande's early albums and then to Lorde's Pure Heroine. Even Rihanna's We Found Love which is a strong contender for the biggest pop song of the decade owes a lot to Robyn.

Are there any other strong contenders in terms of having a similar influence on pop music this decade? Maybe Lana Del Rey (but I have a soft spot here though

). It's fair to say that hip-hop and rap's influence in recent years has made it the dominant sound in mainstream pop music. Kanye is an obvious reason for that, Drake too for taking whatever is trending in hip hop and pushing it through into popular culture.

Sheer Magnetism · « **Reply #23 on:** March 25, 2019, 06:17:12 pm »

Quote from: Zee_26 on March 25, 2019, 05:53:48 pm

Are there any other strong contenders in terms of having a similar influence on pop music this decade? Maybe Lana Del Rey (but I have a soft spot here though ). It's fair to say that hip-hop and rap's influence in recent years has made it the dominant sound in mainstream pop music. Kanye is an obvious reason for that, Drake too for taking whatever is trending in hip hop and pushing it through into popular culture.

I'd say Frank Ocean's Channel Orange would be the other big one. Looking back, maybe Nothing Feels the Same by Drake as well, but I don't know enough about the genre to know whether it was an originator of that sound or whether it was taking elements from other places. Maybe you'd classify those as R&B/hip hop, but to me it is the popular music of this decade.

AndyMuller · « **Reply #24 on:** March 25, 2019, 06:38:34 pm »

Could never get into Robyn, a bit twee for me.

Zeppelin · « **Reply #25 on:** March 26, 2019, 08:31:07 am »

I feel a bit like a Tory judge asking 'And just who are the Rolling Stones', but I have never heard, or heard of Robyn and 'Body Talk'! Perhaps it's my age, or the type of music I listen to, but it has completely passed me by.

Zee_26 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 15, 2019, 04:07:12 pm »

Sorry guys. Had quite a bit going on the last couple of weeks. Just bumping the thread to keep the discussion going.

Sheer Magnetism · « **Reply #27 on:** April 26, 2019, 02:11:11 pm »

Been meaning to post in this thread. I was going through stuff a week or so ago and it confirmed what I remembered: 2010 was a lean year that preceded the year of plenty that would come in 2011. Lots of albums with one or two fantastic tracks surrounded by too much chaff. Still:

1) Janelle Monae - The Archandroid. Still her most complete work, an album that's always musically adventurous and conceptually cohesive, and that stands up from top to bottom.

2) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye really was top of the world at this point. Lopsided, but the highs - Power, Monster and in particular All of the Lights - are really high and the terrific production more than makes up for his lyrical 'eccentricities' ("Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh? Ahh, put the pussy in a sarcophagus").

3) Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest. Dreamy, mysterious and always inventive.

4) Best Coast - Crazy For You. Everything a garage dream rock album should be. A bunch of great pop songs and nothing above three minutes.

5) Robyn - Body Talk. This would be an all-time classic if it was five songs and 20 minutes shorter, and dropped all the songs where she does a weird faux-Caribbean accent, but the rest is near enough electropop perfection. Dancing on my Own is one of the few songs from this decade that's already a standard.

wz4jc3 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 27, 2019, 06:26:03 pm »

Great idea for a thread.

The first Hurts album, Happiness, was superb, which they have not come close to matching since imo.

Son of Spion · « **Reply #29 on:** April 27, 2019, 06:56:14 pm »

Quote from: wz4jc3 on April 27, 2019, 06:26:03 pm

Great idea for a thread.

The first Hurts album, Happiness, was superb, which they have not come close to matching since imo.

Ah yes. I really liked that album and their next one, Exile.

I saw them live on the Exile Tour at Incheba Arena in Prague. What a night that was.

I'd have to give a lot of thought to a top ten of best albums. Just too many to choose from.

JerseyKloppite · « **Reply #30 on:** April 28, 2019, 08:23:46 am »

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
3. Everything Everything - Man Alive
4. Manics - Postcards from a Young Man
5. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Some others I need to give another listen to!

Zee_26 · « **Reply #31 on:** April 28, 2019, 11:01:32 am »

1. Beach House - Teen Dream
2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
3. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
4. Best Coast - Crazy for You
5. The Walkmen - Lisbon

Other notable mentions:

6. Wild Nothing - Gemini
7. Surfer Bloood - Astro Coast
8. The National - High Violet
9. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
10. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #32 on:** April 28, 2019, 12:26:14 pm »

1. Bill Callahan - Rough Travel For A Rare Thing
2. Beach House - Teen Dream
3. Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love
4. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
5. Kort (Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell) - Invariable Heartache
6. Sparklehorse/Dangermouse - Dark Night Of The Soul
7. Gil Scott Heron - I'm New Here
8. Ariel Pink - Before Today
9. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
10. Fourtet - There Is Love In You

Sticking pretty much with my initial ten.

Lots of records on my list to check out now though.

bradders1011 · « **Reply #33 on:** April 28, 2019, 04:45:38 pm »

The Suburbs - Arcade Fire.

Zee_26 · « **Reply #34 on:** May 4, 2019, 08:39:48 am »

With April having passed, that concludes the voting period for albums released in 2010.

Here are the top five albums for 2010 as voted by everyone involved.

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (32 points)
2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (28 points)
3. Beach House - Teen Dream (25 points)
4. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (16 points)
5. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (12 points)

Zee_26 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 4, 2019, 08:45:33 am »

During May, voting will be open for all music released during 2011.

Sheer Magnetism · « **Reply #36 on:** May 4, 2019, 01:28:07 pm »

So we're doing 2011 in this thread rather than starting a new one, right?

Zee_26 · « **Reply #37 on:** May 4, 2019, 01:41:15 pm »

Quote from: Sheer Magnetism on May 4, 2019, 01:28:07 pm

So we're doing 2011 in this thread rather than starting a new one, right?

Yeah mate. Just carrying the discussion through the different months in one thread. I'll update the OP when each month's vote is done.

SamAteTheRedAcid · « **Reply #38 on:** May 4, 2019, 02:33:35 pm »

2011...

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Destroyer - Kaputt
Real Estate - Days
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse (swoon)
Cass McCombs - Wit's End - not my favourite album of his but has for me his best song...
Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer
Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen
UMO - S/T
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Oursevles
Feist - Metals
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Baxter Dury - Happy Soup
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

They all look like good years, looking back

Djozer · « **Reply #39 on:** May 4, 2019, 10:19:47 pm »

The Roots - Undun
Tom Waits - Bad as Me
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
Saigon - The Greatest Story Never Told
Destroyer - Kaputt
St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
Richard Buckner - Our Blood
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Possibly in this order. Not really sure, have to relisten to a few of these. Probably missed loads too. Just listening to the King Creosote/Hopkins one and remembering how lovely it is.