Andy Johnston’s Top 100 Albums of the Decade (2010–19)

~in alphabetical order~

A few ground rules:

1. One album per artist, because that gives exposure to more artists
2. A-Z order, because I’ve become disillusioned with rankings (except my Top 10, which have been labelled accordingly)
3. Blurbs only about a select few records, because there aren’t enough hours in the day
4. There are TRY embeds to song/video highlights, and BUY links to bandcamp pages, etc., because Support Artists!
5. I will be publicising the list 10 albums at a time

The list:

2020

by RICHARD DAWSON

Domino Recording Co./2019/UK

LIYL: Everything Everything, The Drones, and playing five-a-side football on a rain-sodden astroturf with a bunch of slightly overweight, middle-aged Messi wannabes.

Other Essential Listening: Peasant (2017)

TRY:

Richard Dawson — Jogging

BUY

After Laughter

by PARAMORE

Atlantic Recording Co./2017/USA

LIYL: Orchards, The Long Blondes, and cry-dancing on your own.

Other Essential Listening: Paramore (2013)

TRY:

Paramore — Hard Times

BUY

The Age of Adz

by SUFJAN STEVENS

Asthmatic Kitty Records/2010/USA

LIYL: Owen Pallett, The Antlers, and beating your depression by imagining that you’re a giant robot made of wind instruments.

Other Essential Listening: Carrie & Lowell (2015)

TRY:

Sufjan Stevens — I Want To Be Well

BUY

Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

by GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

Constellation/2012/Canada

LIYL: Explosions in the Sky, Ennio Morricone, and the prospect of the death of capitalism.

TRY:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor — We Drift Like Worried Fire

BUY

All We Love We Leave Behind

by CONVERGE

Deathwish/2012/USA

LIYL: Botch, Cave In, and sobbing in the mosh pit.

Other Essential Listening: The Dusk In Us (2017)

TRY:

Converge — Precipice/All We Love We Leave Behind

BUY

Anxiety

by AUTRE NE VEUT

Mexican Summer/2012/USA

LIYL: Oneohtrix Point Never, How To Dress Well, and getting weirdly turned on by sadness.

TRY:

Autre Ne Veut — Play by Play

BUY

Arca

by ARCA

XL Recordings/2017/Venezuela

LIYL: Holly Herndon, Yves Tumor, and wearing bondage gear to Holy Communion.

Other Essential Listening: Mutant (2015)

TRY:

Arca — Desafio

BUY

The Archandroid

by JANELLE MONAE

Bad Boy Records/2010/USA

LIYL: Erykah Badu, St Vincent, and imagining a version of Blade Runner with more dance scenes and black people in it.

Other Essential Listening: Dirty Computer (2018)

TRY:

Janelle Monae — Cold War

BUY

Art Angels

by GRIMES

4AD/2015/Canada

LIYL: Purity Ring, Azealia Banks, and chucking metal balls at a Tesla CyberTruck.

Other Essential Listening: Visions (2012)

TRY:

Grimes — Flesh Without Blood

BUY

Atrocity Exhibition

by DANNY BROWN

Warp Records/2016/USA

#3 Album of the Decade

LIYL: JPEGMAFIA, Freddie Gibbs, and airing your dirty laundry in public whilst tripping balls.

Other Essential Listening: XXX (2011); uknowhatimsayin¿ (2019)

TRY:

Danny Brown — Ain’t It Funny

BUY

Attack on Memory

by CLOUD NOTHINGS

Wichita Recordings/2012/USA

LIYL: Japandroids, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and 'Clocks' by Coldplay

Other Essential Listening: Here And Nowhere Else (2014)

TRY:

Cloud Nothings — Wasted Days

BUY

Autumn Eternal

by PANOPTICON

Nordvis/2015/USA

LIYL: Fluisteraars, Waldgefluester, and trudging through endless snowdrifts across desolate tundras to get back to your cabin in the woods, where you can continue to work on growing your beard to the floor whilst practicing your banjo.

Other Essential Listening: Kentucky (2012); The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness (2018)

TRY:

Panopticon — Into The North Woods

BUY

Below the House

by PLANNING FOR BURIAL

The Flenser/2017/USA

LIYL: Drowse, Have A Nice Life, and going to bed because you are bored, but then waking up early because you’re still bored.

Other Essential Listening: Desideratum (2014)

TRY:

Planning For Burial — Whiskey and Wine

BUY

Benji

by SUN KIL MOON

Caldo Verde Records/2014/USA

LIYL: Bill Callahan, Mount Eerie, and the rambling personal anecdotes that precede recipes on food blogs.

TRY:

Sun Kil Moon — Carissa

BUY

Big Wheel and Others

by CASS McCOMBS

Domino Recording Co./2013/USA

LIYL: Andy Shauf, Damien Jurado, and watching old Westerns whilst on mescalin.

Other Essential Listening: Mangy Love (2016)

TRY:

Cass McCombs — Brighter! (feat. Karen Black)

BUY

Black Messiah

by D’ANGELO AND THE VANGUARD

RCA Records/2014/USA

#10 Album of the Decade

LIYL: Rapsody, Miguel, and celebrating black excellence, whilst showing off your chiseled abs.

TRY:

D’Angelo and the Vanguard — Really Love

BUY

Blackstar

by DAVID BOWIE

Columbia Records/2016/UK

LIYL: Radiohead, BADBADNOTGOOD, and being confronted with the cold, merciless specter of death.

TRY:

David Bowie — Blackstar

BUY

Black Up

by SHABAZZ PALACES

Sub Pop Records/2011/USA

LIYL: Billy Woods, Cannibal Ox, and taking your snakes for a walk.

Other Essential Listening: Lese Majesty (2014)

TRY:

Shabazz Palaces — Free Press and Curl

BUY

Blonde

by FRANK OCEAN

Boys Don’t Cry/2016/USA

LIYL: Sampha, Solange, and building spiral staircases with your bare hands.

Other Essential Listening: Channel Orange (2012)

TRY:

Frank Ocean — Pink + White

BUY

Bloom

by BEACH HOUSE

Sub Pop/2012/USA

LIYL: Lower Dens, Mazzy Star, and having the best soundtracked dinner parties out of all your peers.

Other Essential Listening: Teen Dream (2010), 7 (2018)

TRY:

Beach House — On the Sea

BUY

Body Talk

by ROBYN

Konichiwa/2010/Sweden

LIYL: Empress of, La Roux, and channeling your inner Lena Dunham.

Other Essential Listening: Honey (2018)

TRY:

Robyn — Dancing On My Own

BUY

Book of Souls: Folio A

by SECRET CHIEFS 3

Web of Mimicry/2013/USA

LIYL: Mr Bungle, John Zorn, and sneaking some death metal into your local Lebanese restaurant’s Spotify playlist.

TRY:

Secret Chiefs 3 — FORMS: Scorched Earth Saturnalia

BUY

Caligula

by LINGUA IGNOTA

Profound Lore/2019/USA

#5 Album of the Decade

LIYL: The Body, Uboa, and having all your preconceived notions about the emotional power of art torn up in front of your astonished, terrified, crying face.

Other Essential Listening: All Bitches Die (2017)

TRY:

Lingua Ignota — DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR

BUY

Charli

by Charli XCX

Asylum Records/2019/UK

LIYL: Caroline Polachek, MUSA, and reminiscing about what things were like when you were 7 years old.

Other Essential Listening: Pop 2 (2017)

TRY:

Charli XCX — Gone (feat. Christine and the Queens)

BUY

Chris

by CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS

Because Music/2018/France

LIYL: Shura, Miya Folick, and watching anything starring Isabelle Huppert or Juliette Binoche; subtitles be damned!

Other Essential Listening: Chaleur Humaine (2016)

TRY:

Christine and the Queens — La marcheuse

BUY

Cold and Black and Infinite

(aka Not The Actual Events, Add Violence & Bad Witch)

by NINE INCH NAILS

The Null Corporation/2016–2018/USA

LIYL: David Bowie, William Basinski, and ignoring basic rules about your “albums” of the decade list.

TRY:

Nine Inch Nails — Over and Out

BUY

Confess

by TWIN SHADOW

4AD/2012/USA

LIYL: Future Islands, Neon Indian, and pulling on your trusty leather jacket, smearing a handful of pomade through your hair, and cruising through the Hollywood Hills at night.

Other Essential Listening: Forget (2010)

TRY:

BUY

Days Are Gone

by HAIM

Polydor Records/2013/USA

LIYL: Fleetwood Mac, Carly Rae Jepsen, and hitting those 4–3 suspensions and avoiding the downbeat.

TRY:

HAIM — The Wire

BUY

Dose Your Dreams

by FUCKED UP

Merge Records/2018/Canada

LIYL: Primal Scream, Titus Andronicus, and Michel Gondry films.

Other Essential Listening: David Comes To Life (2011)

TRY:

Fucked Up — Normal People

BUY

Double Negative

by LOW

Sub Pop/2018/USA

LIYL: Bon Iver, Andy Stott, and watching time-lapse footage of food rotting, metal rusting, tapes disintegrating, and bodies decomposing.

TRY:

Low — Triptych: Quorum, Dancing and Blood, Fly

BUY

Excavation

by THE HAXAN CLOAK

Tri Angle_Archaic Devices/2013/UK

LIYL: Lorn, Ben Frost, and thinking about mortality like the stalker in a slasher film.

Other Essential Listening: Midsommar OST (2019)

TRY:

The Haxan Cloak — The Drop

BUY

Father, Son, Holy Ghost

by GIRLS

Matador_Turnstile/2011/USA

LIYL: Atlas Sound, The Walkmen, and escaping your cult upbringing to become a short-lived indie-rock saviour.

Other Essential Listening: Broken Dreams Club EP (2010)

TRY:

Girls — Vomit

BUY

Forget

by XIU XIU

Upset The Rhythm/2017/USA

LIYL: Wreck and Reference, Giles Corey, and saying the unsayable thing in front of your grandparents at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Other Essential Listening: Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks (2016)

TRY:

Xiu Xiu — Forget

BUY

Get To Heaven

by EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

Sony Music/2015/UK

#8 Album of the Decade

LIYL: Wild Beasts, Django Django, and the future comedy body horror of video game glitches.

Other Essential Listening: Arc (2013); A Fever Dream (2017)

TRY:

Everything Everything — No Reptiles

BUY

Go Be Forgotten

by KRALLICE

Self-Released/2017/USA

LIYL: Bosse-de-Nage, Liturgy, and not talking to anyone at the party.

Other Essential Listening: Years Past Matter (2012); Prelapsarian (2016)

TRY:

Krallice — Go Be Forgotten

BUY

Gold & Grey

by BARONESS

Abraxan Hymns/2019/USA

LIYL: Curse These Metal Hands, Horseburner, and processing trauma through boundless creativity.

Other Essential Listening: Yellow & Green (2012); Purple (2015)

TRY:

Baroness — Tourniquet

BUY

Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

by WU LYF

L Y F Recordings/2011/UK

LIYL: Arcade Fire, EMA, and finding cause to believe in the power of the word, “we.”

TRY:

WU LYF — We Bros

BUY

Halcyon Digest

by DEERHUNTER

4AD/2010/USA

LIYL: Animal Collective, Real Estate, and sharing the joy of new music discovery.

Other Essential Listening: Fading Frontier (2015)

TRY:

Deerhunter — He Would Have Laughed

BUY

Have One On Me

by JOANNA NEWSOM

Drag City/2010/USA

LIYL: Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, and re-reading your favourite novel until the pages dog-ear and the cover comes loose.

Other Essential Listening: Divers (2015)

TRY:

Joanna Newsom — Good Intentions Paving Company

BUY

Heartland

by OWEN PALLETT

Domino Recording Co./2010/Canada

#1 Album of the Decade

LIYL: Julia Holter, Perfume Genius, and playing strip-Dungeons and Dragons with your handsome lover.

Other Essential Listening: In Conflict (2014)

TRY:

Owen Pallett — Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

BUY