My 2010's Music Story

The 2010s were a great time for music. The rise of widespread streaming began early in the decade, enabling small, independent artists to find devout niches, and allowing budget-tight and/or eclectic listeners to sample artists they may have never discovered otherwise.

I was one of those listeners. I downloaded Pandora to my first smartphone, an iPhone 4, in late 2010. I grew up in a small, remote town, where, as far as I was concerned, the two genres were country, which I hated, and classic rock, which I loved. At first, I used Pandora to stream music that I already enjoyed but didn't own, sticking largely to 50s, 60s, and 70s stations. My curiosity (and need for a more upbeat running station) eventually gave way to contemporary pop, and then indie pop.

By the time I left for college in the fall of 2012, I was using both Spotify and Pandora, and classic rock had been fully replaced by a range of contemporary genres. In retrospect, this pivot could not have come at a better time: I was plunging forward into an unbounded and borderless indie renaissance. By the time of this writing, December 2019, discovering new music and attending live shows is one of my favorite hobbies.

Below, I link my 2010s favorites playlist, which is broken apart in subsequent sections into less restricted annual playlists, along with some commentary on what made that year in music great. Unlike my Pete's Picks playlists, I do not restrict these playlists to having only one song from each artist that released music that year. However, I try to be judicious in selecting duplicates.

Full Decade Playlst

2010

This was the second-hardest year to create a playlist for. From a charitable perspective, this was before my time as a deep music listener. A less charitable view is that fewer bands made music that appeals to me at this point. Regardless, a few heavy hitter albums were released in 2010: The Head and the Heart's self-named album, Open Mike Eagle's Unapolagetic Art Rap, and The Naked and Famous's Passive Me, Aggressive You. Also released was Tourist History, which is easily my favorite Two Door Cinema Club album. Honorable mentions go to three tracks from artists I love, on albums I generally didn't: "Vesuvius", by Sufjan Stevens, "Love Is All", by The Tallest Man on Earth, and "Swim Until You Can't See Land", by Frightened Rabbit.

2011

2011, in my view, is the true birthdate of 2010s indie. This year is peppered with big hits and splashy albums: Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials, Beirut's The Rip Tide, The Black Keys's El Camino, and Bon Iver's self-titled album. My pet small-name band, Aunt Martha, released their Bloodshot EP, and blowup hits from M83, Young the Giant, and Foster the People all came out. An honorable mention goes to "Michigan" by The Milk Carton Kids, which became a regular cold weather warmer during my snowy walking commutes to campus when I lived in Toronto.

2012

I, admittedly, have a soft spot for 2012. It's the year I graduated high school and escaped a hometown that had long (and since) been a source of pain and moved to Bellingham, Washington, which I quickly and happily called home. My favorite artists make it easy to admire 2012: The Lumineers jump-started my enduring admiration for indie folk with their self-titled album, fun. released their splashy Some Nights, Gossamer, by my fellow bisexual, Passion Pit, came out, along with Purity Ring's Shrines, The Shins's Port of Morrow, Two Door Cinema Club's Beacon, The Tallest Man on Earth's There's No Leaving Now, Tame Impala's Lonerism, and Mumford & Son's last good album, Babel. An honorable mention goes out to "Accidents", by The One AM Radio, which became my favorite sappy love song of 2019. And finally, it was the year that Julia Nunes debuted with Settle Down, before she changed my life in 2018 with a house concert in Baltimore.

2013

Where 2012 was abundant with great albums from many phenomenal artists, 2013 is overpowered by a few albums by phenomenal artists. I can't help but single out CHVRCHES's debut album, The Bones of What You Believe and Arctic Monkeys's best Album, AM. Honorable album mentions go to Justin Vernon's Volcano Choir album, Reprave, Manchester Orchestra's Architect, Frightened Rabbit's Pedestrian Verse, and The Head and the Heart's Let's Be Still. St. Vinvent's Birth in Reverse foreshadowed her incredible 2015 self-titled album.

2014

As it does in my lived experience, 2014 falls short of expectations in indie music releases. Back in Bellingham, Kuinka (then named Rabbit Wilde) released their debut album, The Wild North.

Hozier also debuted with his flawless self-titled album. Lucius also debuted with their first (and, in my opinion, best) album, Wildewoman. Beyond that, the year is defined by decent albums from alt-J and The New Pornographers and a lot of crickets.

2015

Where 2014 fell short, 2015 delivered. This year saw phenomenal albums by Florence + the Machine, CHVRCHES, Purity Ring, Brandi Carlile, St. Vincent, Beirut, Father John Misty, and Sufjan Stevens. Julien Baker debuted with Sprained Ankle, and City and Colour's If I Should Go Before You led me to discover the Canadian artist who would color (pun half-intended) my year in Toronto. An honorable mention goes to Kuinka's Southern Winters EP, which doesn't include a single skippable song.

2016

2016 appears to have ridden 2015's fantastic music coattails. The Lumineers released their long-awaited second album, Cleopatra and A Tribe Called Quest released their even longer-awaited We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service. Frightened Rabbit released their best album in ten years, with Painting of a Panic Attack. Bon Iver broke his years-long creative dry spell with the surprisingly electronic 22, A Million. Besides the big splashes, 2016 was a fantastic year for small artists. Adia Victoria, Julia Jacklin, and Jay Som all released debut albums. My hometown favorite, Kuinka, released The Heartland, which blew up enough for them to tour nation-wide.

2017

2017 was the year of fantastic hits from new, lesser-known bands. Besides St. Vincent's flawless MASSEDUCTION, all of my favorite tracks and albums from 2017 are from bands I never would have discovered without friends' recommendations and Spotify's discover playlists. The clear standout in this year is Phoebe Bridgers's debut album, Stranger in the Alps, which contains what may be my favorite song of the decade, "Motion Sickness". 2017's honorable mention goes to "Alaska", by Maggie Rogers, which clearly foreshadowed her blowup 2019 album that I, to this day, cannot stop playing on repeat.

2018

2018 was a fantastic year for music from both little-known and well-established artists. Several bigger albums were released: God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty, Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae, Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie, High as Hope by Florence + the Machine, Love Is Dead by CHVRCHES, and By the Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile. Handsome Ghost crawled out of the ashes of Aunt Martha to release Welcome Back. Jade Bird released a few singles ahead of her 2019 debut. Lucy Dacus released her phenomenal Historian album, along with the collaboration Boygenius, alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. 2018 is perhaps too recent to fawn over a la 2015, but it will likely get there for me, with time.

2019

Other than Hozier's second (and fantastic) album, Wasteland, Baby!, 2019's best releases came from new and/or lesser-known artists. The biggest splash came from Lizzo, with Cuz I Love You and Maggie Rogers, with Heard It In A Past Life. Adia Victoria released her second album, Jade Bird and dodie released their first albums, and The Harmaleighs debuted their first concept album, She Won't Make Sense. My old-time favorites, Beirut, City and Colour, Bon Iver, The Head and the Heart, and Vampire Weekend also released albums, with varying degrees of excitement and disappointment that may or may not be shared by people that aren't, well, me. In all, 2019 was a year of great music, capping a decade of it.