Guest List: Biff is Back!

Biff Swenson of Yawn Mower, Earth Telephone, Grasser

Decade's End (Alphabetical)

By Biff Swenson

[Biff returns with a run-down of his favorite albums of the 2010s.]

This past decade has been a wild one. For me, for you, for this country, for the entire planet. Lots of things have changed and are still changing rapidly. Needing music to be an escape is one thing that will never change. Having art to score the soundtrack of our lives is essential to coping with the hard times, and even more important to elevate the good times. There are a lot changes sonically every decade, so it's fun to look back at how musical shifts happen. The artists that define a generation, the albums that pivot where music is heading, the songs that capture what's essential for the time in which they exist.

I'm not a musician because I chose to be. Being a musician is all-consuming. It's my church, my aggression. It's my best friend, and it can be humbling. There would be no me without music. It defines me. The below list is just a small fraction of what has overtaken my being on a daily basis for the past ten years. I'm aware that I might be missing some key albums from the past decade, but this a list of the shit that I connected with more so than anything. If you happen to read through my list and find something new to you that you dig, I'd love to hear about it. If you read through and find that I missed something that clearly fits into this list, PLEASE send me a link so I can dive in. I appreciate anyone of you who reads this! We are part of a dwindling group of aging people who are constantly on the hunt for new and exciting music, and I'm always grateful for the platform Jim gives to our local scene to continue growing and evolving as listeners and participators of audible art. Happy new year! Happy new decade! Keep up the search


Algernon Cadwallader, Parrot Flies

alt-J, An Awesome Wave

Anderson .Paak, Malibu

Anderson .Paak, Oxnard

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

Bad Books, II

Big Sean, Finally Famous

Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe

Blood Orange, Negro Swan

Bon Iver, 22, A Million

Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Bon Iver, i,i

Born Ruffians, Birthmarks

BROCKHAMPTON, GINGER

BROCKHAMPTON, iridescence

BROCKHAMPTON, Saturation Trilogy

Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox

Childish Gambino, "Awaken, My Love!"

Childish Gambino, Because the Internet

Daft Punk, Random Access Memory

D’Angelo, Black Messiah

David Bazan, Strange Negotiations

Death Cab For Cutie, Codes and Keys

Death From Above 1979, The Physical World

Dentist, Night Swimming

Dirty Projectors, Dirty Projectors

Dirty Projectors, Lamp Lit Prose

Dogs On Acid, Dogs On Acid

Drake, Nothing Was The Same

Drake, Take Care

Drug Church, Cheer

Father John Misty, Fear Fun

Father John Misty, I Love You, Honeybear

Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

Foster The People, Torches

Foxing, Nearer My God

Frank Ocean, Blonde

Frank Ocean, channel ORANGE

The Front Bottoms, Back On Top

The Front Bottoms, Talon Of The Hawk

Future Isalnds, Singles

Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Goldlink, And After That, We Didn’t Talk

Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off, Dog

Hop Along, Get Disowned

Hop Along, Painted Shut

IDLES, Joy as an Act of Resistance.

Jay Som, Everybody Works

Jay Som, Anak Ko

Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience

Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo

Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.

Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d. city

Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp A Butterfly

LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening

Local Natives, Gorilla Manor

Mac Miller, Swimming

Maps & Atlases, Beware And Be Grateful

Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s, Rot Gut, Domestic

mewithoutYou, Pale Horses

mewithoutYou, Ten Stories

mewithoutYou, [untitled]

Mike Krol, I Hate Jazz

Mike Krol, Power Chords

Modern Baseball, Holy Ghost

Ovens, Ovens

Owen, Ghost Town

Pedro The Lion, Phoenix

Pharrell Williams, G I R L

Pusha T, DAYTONA

Real Estate, Atlas

Real Estate, In Mind

Sheer Mag, Compilation (I,II,&III)

The Shins, Port Of Marrow

Snowing, I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted

Spoon, They Want My Soul

The Strokes, Angles

The Strokes, Comedown Machine

St. Vincent, Strange Mercy

Tame Impala, Currents

Tame Impala, Lonerism

Thin Lips, Riff Hard

Thundercat, Drunk

Tierra Whack, Whack World

Tokyo Police Club, Champ

Tony Molina, Dissed and Dismissed

Toro Y Moi, Causers of This

TV On The Radio, Seeds

Tyler, The Creator, Flower Boy

Tyler, The Creator, IGOR

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, II

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Multi-Love

Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride

Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City

Warm Soda, Symbolic Dream

The Weeknd, Trilogy

Weezer, Everything Will Be Alright In The End

Weezer, Weezer (White Album)

Well Wisher, This is Fine

The Songs of My Decade

Lucky 15

Here are 15 songs that defined the 2010s for me. Is each one of these songs the absolute best from each of these bands' catalogs? Not necessarily, but they're all important to me for their own reasons. As a matter of fact, I could probably do separate posts for most of the bands on this list covering the ways in which they musically shaped the 2010s for me.

There are lots of really great decade-end lists out there in the world. They all have otherworldly songs by Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, and more on them; and you should absolutely go check those out. These are just the songs that, for one reason or another, came into my head when I asked myself what I'd put on this list. Some of those reasons are quite specific, and some were just more of a general feel. I was gonna write some big blurb about every one of the songs here; but, really, you can either just listen to them or look back through the archives to get a sense of why these songs made it.

Admittedly, my musical taste is pretty narrow for someone who claims to be a music blogger; but it is what it is.

Anyway...

15. "Out of Tune," Real Estate (2011)



14. "I Can Change," LCD Soundsystem (2010)



13. "Erasure," Superchunk (2018)



12. "Step," Vampire Weekend (2013)



11. "Queen of Hearts," Fucked Up (2011)



10. "Sleep When Dead," A Giant Dog (2016)



9. "Jellyfish," Laura Stevenson (2015)



8. "Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas," Beach Slang (2015)



7. "Resilient Bastard," Shellshag (2010)



6. "Real Bad Case," Hot Blood (2014)



5. "Sleep Wounds," Lowlight (2017)



4. "Same Mistakes," The RockNRoll Hi-Fives (2018)



3. "Bird in a Cage," Dentist, (2014)



2. "It All Means Nothing," Screaming Females (2012)



1. "A More Perfect Union," Titus Andronicus (2010)