TOP ALBUMS OF THE DECADE - THE 2010's

All year I have been listing my favorite albums by decade....all of those lists working up to this one...my favorite albums of the 2010's. These are the albums that I have come back to and listened to the most over the past ten years.

20. Elbow, The Take Off And Landing Of Everything

In my humble opinion, Elbow is one of the great bands of their generation. With each album they further establish themselves as a class unto themselves. With The Take Off and Landing of Everything, they deliver another collection of stellar songs. While the lengthier tracks might be mistaken for a shift toward greater ambition, Elbow has always been about crafting specific soundscapes. On this album they simply give these songs the room to fully inhabit the spaces where they live.

19. Hippo Campus, Bambi

Bambi is an album I just can't get out of my head. Marked by a shift in their sound, Hippo Campus embraces a more experimental, synth-driven approach compared to their earlier, guitar-heavy indie rock. The album feels both introspective and restless, with lyrics that explore anxiety, change, and emotional vulnerability. Tracks like Golden highlight the band's willingness to play with unconventional song structures, layering shimmering synths and glitchy beats over heartfelt vocals. There’s a looseness to the record, yet it still carries the sharp melodies and youthful energy that define Hippo Campus. I love how the band continues to evolve, balancing personal reflection with a fresh, dynamic sonic landscape.

   

18. Susanne Sundfør, Music For People In Trouble 

In an interview,Susanne Sundfør talked about living in a time of great changes. "Everything is moving so rapidly, sometimes violently, sometimes dauntingly. I think a lot of people experience anxiety these days."The Irish Times wrote that there is something bewitching about the Scandi brand of sadness. Perhaps it is why I fell so hard for Susanne Sundfør’s sixth album, 'a sweeping, seductive cinematic slice of sorrow.' An album that succeeds at 'reaching out to anxious souls to put them at ease in this turbulent time.'

17. Alt-J, An Awesome Wave

An Awesome Wave introduced Alt-J with a sound that was hard to pin down but immediately gripping. Built on clipped beats, layered vocals, and sudden shifts in rhythm, the songs never lose their shape or intent. The Guardian called it “rich and quirky enough to match the imagistic literacy of the lyrics,” and that balance of sound and substance is what makes the album stand out. For me, An Awesome Wave hit me like a tidal wave when I first heard it. It’s an intelligent, innovative, frisky, and wildly engrossing album.

16. Max Jury, Max Jury

Max Jury’s self-titled debut took me by surprise. Paste magazine wrote that it is 'a winning collection of songs with a lot of heart and swagger that defies his young age." So true. PM added that Jury’s songs bring to mind many classic songwriters of the Laurel Canyon area, as well as musicians such as Billy Joel, Elton John and Carole King." Also true. Most of the songs on this album do have elements of those....dare I say vintage songwriters....yet Jury’s songs feel modern and fresh. This album has been a family favorite since its release in 2016.

15. Noah & The Whale, Last Night On Earth 

Last Night On Earth, Noah & The Whale's third studio album was a loose concept album about....the Last Night On Earth, or not. But as far as concept albums go, this one succeeded by not trying to do too much with it. There is a great mid-'80's rock-anthem feel to these songs, but it never feel like the band was pressing hard to deliver them to be bigger-than-life. Honestly, one song is better than the next and singing along becomes an automatic reflex when the music starts.

                                                            

14. David Bowie, Blackstar

Blackstar is a parting gift wrapped in mystery and cosmic noise, an album that stares straight into the void and grins. Bowie, always a step ahead, transforms death into a final art piece, playing with jazz, industrial textures, and narrative surrealism. The title track alone is a miniature universe, shifting form and tone with theatrical precision. There’s a profound stillness in the spaces between the notes, like Bowie is already halfway gone but still speaking in riddles from the other side. It's not just a final album, it’s a final statement.

13. Tool, Fear Inoculum

Tool fans, such as myself, waited 13 long years for the band’s follow up to 10,000 Days. And now, in 2019, we have Fear Inoculum to consume and ponder. This is a monster of an album built on patience and precision, each track unfolding like a slow-turning wheel. TOOL moves through extended passages where riffs spiral outward, dissolve, and re-form, carried by Danny Carey’s intricate drumming that feels equal parts ritual and calculation. Adam Jones’ guitar work cuts and swells in perfect balance with Justin Chancellor’s bass, while Maynard James Keenan’s voice arrives with patient, deliberate phrasing, threading its way through the dense and deliberate arrangements.

The record’s scale demands full attention. Across its hour-and-a-half runtime, Fear Inoculum creates an atmosphere where time feels suspended. Every note, rest, and shift in texture is placed with intention. This is TOOL on their own timeline, crafting something vast enough to step into and stay for a while. It was an album worth the wait.

12. Little Cub, Still Life

What a debut album! South London’s Little Cub shine on Still Life, mixing synth-driven pop with sharp, observational lyrics. The songs balance bright, danceable production with themes that touch on politics, disconnection, and the challenges of modern life. Each track is tightly constructed, layering pulsing rhythms, clean guitar lines, and cool, detached vocals. While the sound pulls from both electronic and indie influences, the writing gives it a distinct voice. This is one of the best debut albums that I can remember being this excited about.

11. Arcade Fire, Reflektor

Influenced by Haitian rara music, the 1959 film Black Orpheus, and Søren Kierkegaard’s essay Two Ages, Reflektor marks a bold shift in Arcade Fire’s sound. The band leans into dance rhythms, layered percussion, and expansive arrangements, moving away from the more straightforward rock structures of their earlier work. 

Across its two-disc, 75-minute runtime, the album unfolds like a journey, full of stylistic shifts and sonic experiments that still feel tied together by its ambition and scope. Lyrically, it wrestles with themes of identity, isolation, and the ways technology shapes human connection, often blurring the line between intimacy and distance. 

From the propulsive opener “Reflektor” to the haunting 11-minute closer “Supersymmetry,” it is a record designed to be experienced as a whole...grand, immersive, and unapologetically committed to its vision.

10. Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Navigator

Alynda Mariposa Segarra, who fronts the band Hurray For The Riff Raff, grew up in the Bronx. Over time, they had become increasingly aware of how gentrification had eroded the Puetro Rican culture which stood in stark contrast to how it continued to flourish in Puerto Rico despite the damage being done to so many communities by the many economic and social challenged that they faced. 

This awareness lead Segarra to conceive of The Navigator, which follow a protagonist named Navita, a 16 year old street kid, who is navigating an over-gentrified city sometime in the near future. With a perfectly formed '70's rock storytelling sensibility, in a similar vain to The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Segarra and the band unfold Navita's story and journey in a wonderful fashion. One which brings understanding to the challenges Navita and community face and inspiration from how they ultimately take back their culture.

9. Jonathan Wilson, Gentle Spirit

Gentle Spirit is an album that completely exudes the groove and warmth that reflects what Wilson described as “that golden late ‘60s, early ‘70s period when rural and urban sensibilities colluded in producing some of rock’s most imperishable recordings.” As a longtime student of Los Angles’ Laurel Canyon, its musical heritage, and its Canyon Culture, Wilson wanted his musical ideas to “echo many of an earlier generation.” Slow burning, mellow, and laidback, Gentle Spirit really does carry you off to another time and place and holds you there through 13 songs that span close to an hour and 20 minutes. 

8. Arctic Monkeys, AM

My son says that AM is the best Arctic Monkeys album yet. It is hard for me to agree or disagree with him, because comparing it to the band’s first two albums feels like comparing apples to oranges. I loved the explosive energy, sharp edges, and youthful swagger of those early records, and I never really wanted their sound to change. But bands evolve, and Arctic Monkeys have done so without losing their identity. AM trades some of that raw speed for a slower, heavier groove, pulling in elements of R&B, hip-hop beats, and desert rock alongside their guitar-driven core. The result is a record that feels both sleek and assured, filled with memorable hooks and lyrics that stick. Over the years, the band has grown and matured, and so has their songwriting. Now I find myself not only accepting where they are today, but absolutely loving it, with AM standing as proof that change can bring out the best in a band.

7. Sandro Perri, In Another Life 

Sandro Perri defies logic on In Another Life, which he describes as an experiment in “infinite songwriting.” The 24-minute title track drifts without urgency, unfolding like a dream that refuses to resolve. Built on slow-moving chords and gentle melodic shifts, it creates a sense of time suspended, where moments stretch and dissolve before ever settling. There’s no climax, no chorus, just the quiet confidence of a song content to exist.

The second half of the album consists of three versions of “Everybody’s Paris,” each one reimagined with new collaborators and shifting textures. What could feel repetitive instead becomes a study in perspective, as melodies reshape and emotional tones recalibrate. Perri leans into ambiguity and space, letting atmosphere do the heavy lifting. It’s an ambient pop suite that feels both meticulous and unbound, mesmerizing, hypnotic, and quietly unforgettable.

6. Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate

On Love & Hate, Michael Kiwanuka steps fully into his own voice, shedding the retro-soul comparisons to deliver something more expansive and deeply personal. Produced with Danger Mouse and Inflo, the album opens with the sweeping ten-minute “Cold Little Heart,” setting the tone for a record that is cinematic in scope and emotionally unguarded. Across its tracks, Kiwanuka grapples with identity, doubt, and resilience, his voice carrying both weariness and resolve. The arrangements are rich but restrained, with strings that swell, guitars that brood, and rhythms that simmer without overwhelming the message. It’s a soul album, yes, but one that reaches outward, fusing rock, psychedelia, and gospel into something raw and resonant. Love & Hate is simply a revelation.

5. Metronomy, The English Riviera

Back in 2011, The English Riviera was nominated for Britain's The Mercury Prize for best album of the year. In an interview, Joseph Mount, the driving force behind the band, described the album as a kind of love letter to both his hometown of Totnes in Devon, and a romantic fantasy of the title's seaside resort he used to drive around in, blasting Ace of Base as a youth. Eccentric, slightly avant-garde leaning British Pop (Drowned In Sound Description) has always been my thing. And this album is, as Allmusic wrote, an unmistakable English Affair, which is perhaps why I was immediately drawn to it. I just love this one.

4. LCD Soundsystem, American Dream

In 2011, James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem played their farewell concert at Madison Square Garden. Seven years later, Murphy had more to say, to share, to question. And so he gave us the gift of American Dream. It's a modern work of art about aging, love, regret, friendship, and ultimately an arduous search for meaning (Paste Magazine). A meticulous sonic architect and exuberant performer (Pretty Much Amazing), Murphy wraps his inner-monologs in "mind-bending knotty, constructs of synth, drum beats, and guitar riffs" that build as the album progresses to epic levels before drifting out in near silence in a fitting tribute to David Bowie (Black Screen). What a return.

3. Damien Rice, My Favorite Faded Fantasy

It had been eight long years between the release of My Favorite Faded Fantasy and Damien Rice's prior album. So where was he? In an interview he did for The Telegraph, he described his self-exile as a time of "transition." One in which he shedded old attitudes to life and explored new ones. "I am really curious about life, about why we are all here. I notice my skin is aging, things are changing, I've seen people dying, so that's the train we are all on. And I would like to figure some shit out before I reach the destination." With this album, Rice takes us into the mind of a man searching and yearning for many answers, but is getting more comfortable with just living the journey.

2. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine

In 2011, Scottish singer-songwriter Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote, and English electro composer and producer Jon Hopkins collaborated to create Diamond Mine, a heartfelt reflection on the town and landscape of Fife, where Anderson lives. This absolutely beautiful and stunning album exemplifies what is possible when two artists marry two very different musical reference points in a cohesive and near perfect way. Together they have created a magnificent and timeless musical space where Anderson's quiet and soulful songs radiate earth, warmth, and richness and perfectly capture his fondness and love for life in this small town. This is a special album.

1. Destroyer, Kaputt

The 9th album from Vancouver, BC native, Daniel Bejar, who records under the name Destroyer, is simply irresistible. Uncompromising, Bejar is one of those artists that seems to change musical direction with each new release. With Kaputt, Bejar creates dreamy-ambient pop songs that pay tribute to the sounds and sensibilities of artists like Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry at their best. The songs here are chalk-full of wonderful musical elements. I love the inclusion of the trumpet, sax, and flute on many of these songs. This album has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it back in 2011. Note: If you can get your hands on it....the European version with the 20 minute The Laziest River is a must! It takes Kaputt to a whole other level.