2010-2019--Your top ten albums of the '10s

[sonic_discord]

As others have stated, narrowing the past decade down to only a top ten is extremely difficult (especially limiting it to one album per artist), but I think this is fairly accurate:
(in no particular order)

Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch (2018) / Add Violence (2017) / Not the Actual Events (2016) (since others have counted these as one album, I'm following suit)
Ghost – Meliora (2015)
Tool – Fear Inoculum (2019)
Dr. Dre – Compton (2015)
Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork (2013)
The Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania (2012)
Metallica – Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016)
Atmosphere – Southsiders (2014)
A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant (2018)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Hypnotic Eye (2014)


And I'm including my list of honorable mentions as well because why not.

Ghost – Prequelle (2018)
Prof – Pookie Baby (2018)
Atmosphere – Mi Vida Local (2018)
Alice in Chains – Rainier Fog (2018)
Queens of the Stone Age – Villains (2017)
Death From Above – Outrage! Is Now (2017)
Weezer – Weezer (White album) (2016)
Atmosphere – Fishing Blues (2016)
David Bowie – Blackstar (2016)
Prof - Liability (2015)
Puscifer – Money Shot (2015)
Baroness – Purple (2015)
Ben Folds – So There (2015)
Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor (2015)
Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright in the End (2014)
Royal Blood – Royal Blood (2014)
The Struts – Everybody Wants (2014)
Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks (2013)
How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion (2013)
Ghost – Infestissumam (2013)
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (2013)
Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013)
Tenacious D – Rize of the Fenix (2012)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Prof – King Gampo (2011)
Atmosphere – The Family Sign (2011)
Cake – Showroom of Compassion (2011)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Social Network (2010)
Eminem – Recovery (2010)

[elevenism]

@Jinsai , idk, man.
Ghosts is my least favorite NIN thing. It just doesn't work. I feel like it might have worked better if they'd spent more time on it, but, they didn't.
Of course, there's still a LOT of good stuff on ghosts. It's fucking nin, and, they're still rolling like that.
But, for me, it's nowhere NEAR the best. It's not as good as PHM, WT, Broken, HM, WT, YZ- hell, it's not as good as Fixed.

I still like it alright, though. I guess that's how it works with your favorite band, when they're still rolling.

Edit: the only nin album I like less is the YZ Remix album. That's the only one i really, REALly, disliked

[elevenism]

BTW: i sure would dig it if more of you cats try a top 10. I REALLY wanna see it.

[ManBurning]

@Jinsai , idk, man.
Ghosts is my least favorite NIN thing. It just doesn't work. I feel like it might have worked better if they'd spent more time on it, but, they didn't.
Of course, there's still a LOT of good stuff on ghosts. It's fucking nin, and, they're still rolling like that.
But, for me, it's nowhere NEAR the best. It's not as good as PHM, WT, Broken, HM, WT, YZ- hell, it's not as good as Fixed.

I still like it alright, though. I guess that's how it works with your favorite band, when they're still rolling.

Edit: the only nin album I like less is the YZ Remix album. That's the only one i really, REALly, disliked

I have to agree with you about Ghosts being bottom of the barrel NIN wise. Instrumentals are OK here and there, but not 2 discs full of them. I can cut Ghosts I-IV down to a nice 10-12 track record that flows better.
There's just too much filler on it.

As for Hesitation, someone else said it best above... It starts out really strong and has some new ideas and then it kind of fizzles out and briefly comes back again, but by that time, it's over. There is a mid section of like 4-5 songs that are just down right terrible. I can cut Hesitation down to a very solid 7 track EP.

I think TR was onto something with these smaller, more digestible blocks of music (The EPs). I wouldn't mind more artists taking this approach if it meant we got like 5-6 songs every year for 3 years rather than 1 giant group of 15 songs every 3 years. I find the EPs kept things interesting. They all sounded different from one another to keep them sounding fresh.

[elevenism]

Most def, @ManBurning . And, perhaps we'll get an EP of tracks like Copy of A, and Came Back Haunted, before it's all said and done.

It SURE wouldn't surprise me.

[Jinsai]

@Jinsai , idk, man.
Ghosts is my least favorite NIN thing. It just doesn't work. I feel like it might have worked better if they'd spent more time on it, but, they didn't.
Of course, there's still a LOT of good stuff on ghosts. It's fucking nin, and, they're still rolling like that.
But, for me, it's nowhere NEAR the best. It's not as good as PHM, WT, Broken, HM, WT, YZ- hell, it's not as good as Fixed.

I still like it alright, though. I guess that's how it works with your favorite band, when they're still rolling.

Edit: the only nin album I like less is the YZ Remix album. That's the only one i really, REALly, disliked

I thought TPD remix ep wasn’t that great either... I’m not really sure, and despite what people might assume I’m not really a mega fan... but you didn’t like Fixed? Fixed was rad! And I guess I liked how Ghosts wasn’t overthought or overproduced. I think Reznor works best on instinct. Still one of the things that sinks With Teeth for me, really. It felt too careful and considered

[r_z]

These albums - out of all I listened to - excited me the most. If I had to narrow them down to just ten I'd pick the bold ones:

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening 2010
Grinderman - Grinderman 2 2010
Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz 2010
Cut Copy - Zonoscope 2011
The Horrors - Skying 2011
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact 2011
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up 2011
Big Black Delta - BBDLP1 2011
The Antlers - Burst Apart 2011
A Place To Bury Strangers - Worship 2012
Seluah - Red Parole 2012
Matthew Dear - Beams 2012
EL-P - Cancer 4 Cure 2012
The Knife - Shaking The Habitual 2013
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away 2013
Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty 2013
Factory Floor - Factory Floor 2013
The Flaming Lips - The Terror 2013
Aphex Twin - Syro 2014
The Bug - Angels & Devils 2014
The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream 2014
Suede - Night Thoughts 2015
The JSBX - Freedom Tower 2015
The Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ 2015
David Bowie - Blackstar 2016
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool 2016
Convextion - 2845 2016
Guerilla Toss - GT Ultra 2017
The Breeders - All Nerve 2018
Gabe Gurnsey - Physical 2018
Anna Calvi - Hunter 2019
Ex Hex - It's Real 2019

[elevenism]

I thought TPD remix ep wasn’t that great either... I’m not really sure, and despite what people might assume I’m not really a mega fan... but you didn’t like Fixed? Fixed was rad! And I guess I liked how Ghosts wasn’t overthought or overproduced. I think Reznor works best on instinct. Still one of the things that sinks With Teeth for me, really. It felt too careful and considered

to be clear, I fucking LOVED Fixed. Like you probably did, I started out with PHM, Broken, and Fixed. I guess I threw it in that way because it was the weakest, by a hair, of those three. TPD ep goes hard as fuck, if you're into the drums and the bass and such.

[Toadflax]

Here's a rough assembly:

Honorable mentions: Leonard Cohen, Rammstein, How To Destroy Angels, Richard McGraw, Brand New, and score work (The Social Network, The Book of Eli, Doom, Dragon Tattoo)

10. Geographer - Animal Shapes / Myth (2010 / 2012)
09. Pink Floyd - The Endless River (2014)
08. David Bowie - Blackstar (2016)
07. A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant (2018)
06. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (2013)
05. Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole (2011)
04. Arcane - Known/Learned (2015)
03. Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019)
02. The Black Queen - Fever Daydream (2016)
01. Nine Inch Nails - The Trilogy (2016 - 2018)

[Zipfinator]

Logged in for the first time in a while to go through my list. I found it too difficult to choose 10 so I'm doing 25 with my 10 favorites in bold.

Autolux - Pussy's Dead (2016)
Arcade Fire - Reflektor (2013)
Arctic Monkeys - AM (2013)
Baths - Obsidian (2013)
Beach House - Depression Cherry (2015)
Beck - Morning Phase (2014)
Big Black Delta - Big Black Delta (2013)
The Black Queen - Infinite Games (2018)
Deftones - Koi No Yokan (2011)
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror (2019)
Failure - In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing From Your Mind (2018)
Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins (2017)
Grimes - Art Angels (2015)
Health - Death Magic (2015)
LCD Soundsystem - American Dream (2017)
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (2011)
Metronomy - The English Riviera (2011)
Nine Inch Nails - NTAE/AV/BW Trilogy (2016-2018)
Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork (2013)
Sonoio - Red (2011)
St. Vincent - St. Vincent (2014)
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell (2015)Tame Impala - Currents (2015)
Telefon Tel Aviv - Dreams Are Not Enough (2019, preemptive based on singles)
TR+AR - The Social Network (2010)

[frankie teardrop]

david bowie- blackstar
fever ray- plunge
chromatics- kill for love
gazelle twin- unflesh
htrk- work (work, work)
tamaryn- cranekiss
them are us too- remain
blur- the magic whip
slowdive- slowdive
public memory- wuthering drum

the EP trilogy ranks, just not top ten. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ManBurning]

I might be the only person in the world that likes Bowie's "the next day" over "Blackstar"

[Archive_Reports]

Tesseract - One (2011)
Deftones - Koi No Yokan (2012)
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)
Zao - The Well Intentioned Virus (2016)
Kopecky - Drug For The Modern Age (2015)
Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer (2013)
Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues (2011)
Mol - Jord (2018)
letlive. - Fake History (2011)
Rolo Tomassi - Grievances (2015)

[Toadflax]

I might be the only person in the world that likes Bowie's "the next day" over "Blackstar"

I almost didn't put either on the list. I like TND whenever I put it on, but for some reason I just never spent enough time with it for it to click. I don't think Blackstar is a masterpiece, but I absolutely love the title track and video, the album only having 7 tracks means it was easy to listen to multiple times when it came out, and of course, the timing of Bowie's death meant that album was my mourning veil for weeks after the fact.

All of that said, while Blackstar will always have a special place in my heart for that reason, I wouldn't be surprised at all if I end up preferring TND overall once I spend more time with it.

[ManBurning]

I almost didn't put either on the list. I like TND whenever I put it on, but for some reason I just never spent enough time with it for it to click. I don't think Blackstar is a masterpiece, but I absolutely love the title track and video, the album only having 7 tracks means it was easy to listen to multiple times when it came out, and of course, the timing of Bowie's death meant that album was my mourning veil for weeks after the fact.

All of that said, while Blackstar will always have a special place in my heart for that reason, I wouldn't be surprised at all if I end up preferring TND overall once I spend more time with it.

There's a deluxe version of TND out there that has a 2nd disc with like 10 extra songs that never made the original cut, all those songs are just as good, if not better than the final cuts that made the main disc. Scope that version out if you can.

[Swykk]

Alphabetical order:

01 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (2010)
02 The Birthday Massacre - Superstition (2014)
03 The Black Queen - Fever Daydream (2016)
04 Cold Cave - Cherish The Light Years (2011)
05 Deftones - Koi No Yokan (2012)
06 How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion (2013)
07 M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (2011)
08 Mastodon - Emperor Of Sand (2017)
09 Nine Inch Nails - Not The Actual Events (2016)/Add Violence (2017)/Bad Witch (2018)
10 Slowdive - s/t (2017)

[Haysey_Draws]

Not really sure this is definite as there are plenty of albums this decade i've yet to listen too, but here's mine as of right now...

10- Failure : In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind (2018)
09- Filter : Crazy Eyes (2016)
08- Muse : Drones (2015)
07- Radiohead : A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
06- Death From Above 1979 : The Physical World (2014)
05- Bring Me the Horizon : Sempiternal (2013)
04- TesseracT : Sonder (2018)
03- Enter Shikari : The Mindsweep (2015)
02- TesseracT : Polaris (2015)
01- Nine Inch Nails : ADD VIOLENCE (And the Trilogy, but especially AV) (2016,2017,2018)

[botley]

This was HARD. Simply too difficult to narrow this down to a "top ten" for the whole decade, I had to just pick a single, really really good, album for each year (and be utterly ruthless about it):

2010: Autolux — Transit Transit
2011: Gary Numan — Dead Son Rising
2012: El-P — Cancer 4 Cure
2013: Jamie Lidell — Jamie Lidell
2014: TR & AR — Gone Girl o.s.t. (although the closest runner-up was Flying Lotus' You're Dead!)
2015: Natasha Kmeto — Inevitable
2016: David Bowie — ★
2017: Alvvays — Antisocialites
2018: A Place to Bury Strangers — Pinned
2019 (so far): Anderson .Paak — Ventura

[Jinsai]

Syro, Aphex Twin
Blackstar, David Bowie
Traditional Synthesizer Music, Venetian Snares
Hopelessness, ANHONI
Exai, Autechre
R+7, Oneohtrix Point Never
Bloom, Beach House
The Epic, Kamasi Washington
Held, Holy Other
We Got it From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest

[GulDukat]

Pitchfork's list. https://pitchfork.com/features/lists...KxpCYAHcxCMYfE

[somewhatdamaged]

Top Ten Decade List:
Massive Attack - Heligoland (2010)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network (2010)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Atoms for Peace - Amok (2013)
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (2013)
Queens of the Stone Age - ...like Clockwork (2013)
Oscar Araujo - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Expanded Soundtrack (2014)
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 (2014)
Saul Williams - MartyrLoserKing (2016)
Street Sects - End Position (2016)

By Year:
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network (2010)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Deftones - Koi No Yokan (2012)
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (2013)
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 (2014)
Puscifer - Money$hot (2015)
Saul Williams - MartyrLoserKing (2016)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Vietnam War - Original Score (2017)
Street Sects - The Kicking Mule (2018)
Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019) [Thus far]

There is a post similar to this one that I posted to awhile ago, so this is a modified post of the original one. If I had to pick album of the decade, I would probably pick Hesitation Marks.

[Space Suicide]

Hard question....in no order, probably not my definitive list. These all sprung to mind.

Deftones - Diamond Eyes (2010)
Behemoth - The Satanist (2014)
Deafheaven - Sunbather (2013)
Lindemann - Skills in Pills (2015)
Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun (2014)
A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant (2018)
Puscifer - Money $hot (2015)
Tool - Fear Incoculum (2019)
Rammstein - Rammstein (2019)
Ghost - Meliora (2015)

[Swykk]

Pitchfork's list. https://pitchfork.com/features/lists...KxpCYAHcxCMYfE

Come on, dude.

I know there’s an unwritten law about linking to CoS but how do we not have one for Shitfork, @Leviathant ?

[GulDukat]

Come on, dude.

I know there’s an unwritten law about linking to CoS but how do we not have one for Shitfork, @Leviathant?

It's a goofy list, but what's the harm in posting a link? It does pertain to the subject.

[BRoswell]

I always find myself reading their lists, even though I know they're going to completely ignore genres and overload them with rap/R&B albums. (I'm a fan of rap/R&B too, so that's not meant to be a criticism.) You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson, but alas...

[Swykk]

It’s nice they include some great albums like RTJ2, CHVRCHES, m83, Chromatics, Aphex Twin and Arcade Fire but they’re all ranked too low. Then they choose Sleigh Bells’ second worst album instead of Jessica Rabbit or Reign of Terror. They put turd blossoms like Tyler the Creator and The Choad Rips on the list and rank both higher than much better stuff...like, for example, Blackstar by Bowie! Fuck Sufjan. Fuck Kanye. And LOL, those fucking hipsters put Vampire Weekend in the top ten!

There is zero credibility in that cesspool.

[katara]

It’s nice they include some great albums like RTJ2, CHVRCHES, m83, Chromatics, Aphex Twin and Arcade Fire but they’re all ranked too low. Then they choose Sleigh Bells’ second worst album instead of Jessica Rabbit or Reign of Terror. They put turd blossoms like Tyler the Creator and The Choad Rips on the list and rank both higher than much better stuff...like, for example, Blackstar by Bowie! Fuck Sufjan. Fuck Kanye. And LOL, those fucking hipsters put Vampire Weekend in the top ten!

There is zero credibility in that cesspool.

I don't get how Cardi Fucking B is even on this list, let alone at #73, and that's above Aphex Twin! An embarrassment to humanity.

[ManBurning]

Pitchfork's list. https://pitchfork.com/features/lists...KxpCYAHcxCMYfE

Holy fuck, who made that list? Some 22 yr old hipster's from Sunset Blvd? Wow. I got to #55 and couldn't take it anymore and closed the page down.

[GulDukat]

This century is 1/5 over. Where is/are the new:

Hendrix
Beatles
Zeppelin
Sinatra
Pink Floyd
NIN
Nirvana
Guns N' Roses???

The 00's/10's produced no new artists of that caliber. In 300 years people will still listen to The Beatles and Frank Sinatra, not Frank Ocean and Vampire Weekend.

[BRoswell]

The 00's/10's produced no new artists of that caliber.

Not for nothing, but I don't want new artists of that caliber. I want artists who stand on their own two feet without having to be mentioned in the same breath as the greats.

And I think anyone who tries to compare what's come before with what exists now will be disappointed, just as people who compared those musicians to what came before them were disappointed. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.