Category: The 2010’s
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We Were Sharks ‘Lost Touch’ (2018)
Crunchy guitar riffs, fat drums, and catchy vocal hooks. We Were Sharks Lost Touch slams just about every pop punk trope into the album’s 28 minute runtime with a slight dose of Canadian flair that helps keep things interesting. The band certainly cuts a path down well-traveled roads but there’s a time and place for…
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Brooks & Dunn ‘Reboot’ (2019)
The concept of Reboot is beautiful in its simplicity– take one of the most successful country music recording acts in music history (39 Top 10 songs since 1991, 20 of them hitting #1), rearrange 12 of their most classic songs two decades after they were released, and pair them up with the most popular contemporary…
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Grizzly Bear ‘Shields’ (2012)
I remember being in an absolute haze watching Grizzly Bear at Outside Lands in 2013, the year after they went on tour supporting Shields, and being absolutely blown away by their live performance. This was a band who had found a way to tap into the more obscure side of Indie Rock, infused with peculiar…
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Dorothy ‘ROCKISDEAD’ (2016)
I’ve always had a soft spot for high-octane rock and roll female lead singers that totally kick ass. Dorothy’s ROCKISDEAD checks that box. Lead singer Dorothy Martin raises hell for 35 straight minutes on the band’s debut album, and while the whole affair is a pretty meat and potatoes version of dirty southern rock that…
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HAIM ‘Days Are Gone’ (2013)
HAIM’s brand of pop rock that harkens back to the days of Fleetwood Mac and the Doobie Brothers was somewhat of a revelation in 2013. The trio of sisters, who grew up together in a music-loving family and formed a family band that played at local county fairs alongside their parents, made R&B infused soft…
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The London Souls ‘Here Come the Girls’ (2015)
The London Souls’ 2015 album Here Come the Girls puts a unique spin on the traditional classic rock and roll formula, updating it in bits and pieces along the way to form a cohesive experience that sounds like an echo of the past reverberating in a modern room. Taking elements of 60’s jangly psychedelic rock…
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Wallows ‘Nothing Happens’ (2019)
Nothing Happens is the debut studio album from Indie Pop group Wallows, who has taken the city of Los Angeles by storm in the past few years. One of the primary reasons why? The band is comprised of B-list actors Dylan Minnette (best known for his role as Clay Jensen in the Netflix smash hit…
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Orville Peck ‘Pony’ (2019)
From the opening note of Orville Peck’s Pony, his respect for traditional country in the vein of Glen Campbell and Merle Haggard, a natural storyteller whose vignettes of love and all the anxiety that can come along with those feelings spill out of his guts in passionate fashion. Peck’s rich baritone soaked in reverb is…
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Local Natives ‘Gorilla Manor’ (2010)
Gorilla Manor was an absolute gem of an album when it was released in 2010 and almost immediately became a fixture during my final years of college. Everything about this album brings me back to those sunny days in Isla Vista, feeling the wind on your face as you biked past front yards littered with…
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Hail the Sun ‘Wake’ (2014)
If you mistake Hail the Sun for an Anthony Green project like Circa Survive or Saosin you’re not alone– upon first hearing “Rolling Out the Red Carpet” I thought I’d stumbled upon one of his many side projects. Lead singer Donovan Melero is a dead ringer for Green vocally (always a good thing) and the…
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The War On Drugs ‘A Deeper Understanding’ (2017)
A Deeper Understanding felt like a spiritual experience the first time I heard it. Principal songwriter and lead vocalist Adam Granduciel had created a world so lush and abundant it was almost disorienting at first– melodies that bloomed and transformed before your eyes, soft and sentimental, seemingly lacking a true center. It all sounded so…
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Touché Amoré ‘Stage Four’ (2016)
One thing I’ve always loved about American post-hardcore is the genre’s willingness to tackle difficult subject matter head-on. Cancer kills almost 10 million people per year worldwide, and yet it’s rare to find songs (let alone entire albums) which directly reference the disease and detail the visceral impact it has on the families and friends…
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Title Fight ‘Shed’ (2011)
Released 8 years after their official formation, Title Fight’s debut album Shed takes all the things that made the early aughts a haven for post-hardcore bands and cranks them up to 11. Featuring heavy electric guitars that delight in dissonance, gravelly lead vocals that sit buried in the mix, and a heavy rhythm section that…
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Corelia ‘Nostalgia’ (2011)
I first stumbled on Corelia a few years after college and can’t really recall how I found them. But I purchased the album digitally in 2012 on my iTunes account (remember when people did that?!?!) and I’m constantly reminded of them every time I connect my phone to the Bluetooth speakers in my car. Nostalgia…
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Elder ‘Reflections of a Floating World’ (2017)
It’s rare that I hear a band for the very first time and am immediately impressed by their ingenuity– listening to a full album every day for 450 days in a row will do that to you, especially when you supplement that already staggering habit with hits of singles throughout the day. But when I…
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Future ‘DS2’ (2015)
DS2 kicked off an epic run for Future that saw him release three platinum albums in a row, solidifying him as the face and voice of Atlanta trip hop that has been a constant on the hip hop charts since its genesis in the mid 2010’s. Say what you will about the aesthetic qualities of…
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ScHoolboy Q ‘Oxymoron’ (2014)
When ScHoolboy Q set out to release his first major label record distributed to music retailers (his first two albums were digital only) he had a clear vision of what he was looking to accomplish– a true gangsta rap album in the vein of late 90’s greats like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg that represented…
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Earl Sweatshirt ‘Some Rap Songs’ (2018)
Some Rap Songs is a study in restraint and artistic performance. Featuring one of hip hop’s most well regarded contemporary lyricists, everything from Earl Sweatshirt on Some Rap Songs feels effortless and yet purposefully designed. His laid back flow, dragging behind the beat in a relatively monotone delivery, sounds like he’s recording in his bedroom…
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Parcels ‘Parcels’ (2018)
The true magic of Parcels is their obsession of seemingly endless repetition that still finds a way to surprise you in the midst of its relative monotony. The candy-coated pop hooks that loop endlessly for three and a half minutes, stacked with instrumental and vocal accoutrement that enhance the flavor of the song with each…
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Big Thief ‘U.F.O.F.’ (2019)
There’s a real beauty in seizing a moment in space that captures a specific period of time. It’s a concept that Big Thief managed to capture during the recording of their third full-length album U.F.O.F. Featuring majestic soundscapes, ethereal vocal melodies, and subtle mood changes that matriculate throughout the entirety of the experience, Big Thief’s…
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The Story So Far ‘Proper Dose’ (2018)
Walnut Creek’s The Story So Far has been a part of the new wave of pop punk bands for going on about a decade now, bringing an emotive and earnest approach to songwriting that pays homage the foundations of the pop punk genre while updating that sound for a new generation of listeners. What sets…
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Trinidad James ‘Don’t Be S.A.F.E.’ (2011)
When I was in my young 20’s fresh out of college there was probably a three-week period where I listened to “All Gold Everything” 10 times a day. I don’t know what exactly it was about that song that captured my attention so much, but much like the meteoric rise of Bobby Shmurda during that…
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The Civil Wars ‘Barton Hollow’ (2011)
The Civil Wars debut album Barton Hollow is filled with tales of love, loss, and longing that find a way to burrow deep into your soul immediately when the first note hits. Comprised of singer-songwriters Lucinda Williams and John Paul White, the pair inexplicably find a way to tug at the tender notes of romantic…
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Luke Combs ‘This One’s For You’ (2017)
Luke Combs debut album This One’s For You took the country world by storm when it was released in 2017, staying at Number 1 for 50 weeks which ended up being an all-time record for a male artist. It’s easy to understand why– Combs is an incredible vocal talent, filled with tone for days and…
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Pierce The Veil ‘Collide With The Sky’ (2012)
Pierce The Veil’s third studio album Collide With The Sky saw the band take their brand of post-hardcore and screamo to new heights, incorporating power pop hooks and massive arrangements into their torrent of guitar hooks. This album has everything that’s fun about the emo genre– high pitched vocals, massive drums, and abrupt dynamic changes…
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Peach Pit ‘Being So Normal’ (2018)
As a guitar player I sort of hate listening to Being So Normal by Peach Pit because it’s such a goddamn perfect guitar record. Neil Smith and Christopher Vanderkooy absolutely shred their way through the entirety of the album with dynamic and unique lead and rhythm parts– it’s in their phrasing, note selection, rhythm, and…
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Bad Religion ‘Christmas Songs’ (2013)
Earlier this year I spoke about the impact Bad Religion had on the punk rock music I grew up on in my write-up on their 1988 album Suffer. A brief refresher in case you missed it: It’s hard to overstate just how influential Bad Religion was on the punk rock I grew up on during…
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Butch Walker ‘Over the Holidays and Under the Influence’ (2017)
Butch Walker is one of America’s best songwriters and producers that you’ve likely never heard of. His personal catalog is extensive and filled with his unique blend of grimy rock bangers sandwiched in between saccharine sweet love songs (The Rise and Fall of…Butch Walker and The Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites being his definitive solo album in my book)…
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Neck Deep ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ (2015)
Neck Deep’s 2015 sophomore album absolutely bucked the trend of the sophomore slump, delivering some of the best pop punk of the 2010’s which is saying something considering how much the genre had seen a resurgence in popularity that decade. Life’s Not Out To Get You sounds incredible– Lloyd Roberts’ and Matt West’s guitars are…
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Cigarettes After Sex ‘Self-Titled’ (2017)
We’ve talked previously about how some albums are an aesthetic as much as they are a collection of songs (The XX’s self-titled 2009 debut and Bon Iver’s 2008 album For Emma, Forever Ago being two great examples), and Cigarettes After Sex is undoubtedly a band that fits that mold perfectly. Featuring reverb-soaked guitar arpeggios, soft…
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The Black Keys ‘El Camino’ (2011)
Garage rock is one of my purest loves, and The Black Keys were one of the bands that encompassed the garage rock movement of the early 2000’s. Initially the band was just a two-piece drummer/guitarist blues rock combo a la The White Stripes, and while they experienced some underground success during the decade alongside their…
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Chance The Rapper ‘Acid Rap’ (2013)
Chance The Rapper’s 2013 mixtape Acid Rap celebrated its 10-year anniversary earlier this year. I remember first being turned onto Chance after his initial mixtape 10 Day by two old friends who run Oxalis restaurant in NYC. One of the founders had spent a lot of time in Chance’s hometown of Chicago (where Chance was…
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Ninja Sex Party ‘Cool Patrol’ (2018)
Ninja Sex Party’s Cool Patrol is a rollicking ride through 80’s synth pop and over the top glam metal. Their brand of juvenile comedy is fun as hell, with lead singer and narrator Dan Avidan channeling his inner Ryan Reynolds through his voice inflection and general love for obscene jokes to drive home his point.…
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La Bouquet ‘Sad People Dancing’ (2019)
80’s music has had a significant resurgence over the past decade or so, rolling back in full force over a range of genres. You don’t need to look further than pop heavyweight The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, the success of films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Top Gun II in…
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Pretty Lights ‘A Color Map of the Sun’ (2013)
Pretty Lights flipped the script on EDM in a relatively big way during recording sessions for A Color Map of the Sun. Whereas his prior album releases all were based off digital samples of others original work, he entered the studio in 2013 with the intention to compose an album filled with 100% original material.…
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William Wild ‘William Wild’ (2014)
Along with having an absolutely kick ass album cover (this cover is seriously great), William Wild’s self-titled debut is a rollicking fun ride through Americana, Western folk, and 70’s rock and roll. Wild’s voice reminds me a whole helluva lot of Petter Ericson Stakee from Alberta Cross with a heavy dose of Local Natives vocal…
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