The best alt/indie albums of the last decade

The Horrors - Skying
Slowdive - Slowdive
Wand - 1000 Days
Elder - Lore
British Sea Power - Let The Dancers Inherit The Party
Paul Draper - Spooky Action
Trail Of Dead - Tao Of The Dead
Minami Deutsch - With Dim Light
Nonkeen - The Gamble
Percolator - Sestra
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
Gnoomes - Mu!
Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins
Meatbodies - Alice
Wolf Parade - Expo 86
The Twilight Sad - It Won't Be Like This All The Time
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

NapoleonInRags wrote: »

What's that Wolf Parade like? Haven't listened to anything from them since Apologies to the Queen Mary which I loved.

Very good if you're in the mood for them. I listened to it a lot at the time. Still reminds me of snow as it was a white Christmas that year. The stuff I've heard from their forthcoming new album sounds very good. Think it's out next month.

Don't listen to much new music anymore but here's my top ten

Black Keys - Brothers
Tame Impala - Currents
Arcade Fire - Suburbs
The Strokes - Angles
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Beach House - Teen Dream
Jamie XX - In Colour

S.M.B. wrote: »

I'm finding it harder than usual to come up with a definitive list of my top 10 albums. This may sound blasphemous but I do think 'the album' has played a less important part in my relationship with music this decade than the previous two decades. The final few years of the 00's was when I started transitioning away from an 'add album to ipod an listen excessively' habit to acquiring small chunks of music from multiple different sources along with being introduced to Spotify which I see I first joined on 18/01/10.

It feels odd to provide a list of my favourites of the decade as there are artists that have a had songs/albums/gigs that have had a huge impact on me but their albums may not fall into the traditional flawless cohesive album mould.

The albums that do come to mind are:

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
PJ Harvery - Let England Shake
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Sharon van Etten - Tramp (all 4 of her albums from this decade are contenders)
Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown

Feck - totally forgot about Have One On Me - superb album!

My favourites:

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
The National - High Violet
Grimes - Art Angels
Beach House - Teen Dream
Alvvays - Antisocialites
Turnover - Peripheral Vision

The best of the rest:

U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
Angel Olsen - My Woman
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place
Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool
Slowdive - Slowdive
The Horrors - Skying
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
Wild Nothing - Nocturne
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Allo Darlin' - s/t
Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle

UrbanSprawl wrote: »

Have not seen Ought on any lists 'more than any other day' was a fantastic debut record.

I enjoyed that album but nowhere near a best of the decade in my book.

I think my tastes have changed a little over the years though. I think there's a bit of a pattern to my choices.

UrbanSprawl wrote: »

So this more of female songwriter type rather than a band ..I was not hooked by the few songs I listened to..

Yup, don't get all the accolades that album received. Beautifully put together, very tastefully played - but the songs are dull. It's devoid of anything memorable for me. And yet one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the decade. I must have listened to it more than fifteen times waiting for something to grab me and it never happened.

I’d agree with a lot of albums in the thread and also include the following:

Father John Misty - ‘I Love You, Honeybear’.
Baxter Dury - ‘It’s a Pleasure’ and/or ‘Prince of Tears’.
Kiasmos - ‘Kiasmos’.

Hi guys, I'm a long time lurker in the new albums thread and love the recommendations. I've drifted off the pace with new music these days so never have anything to add there but, if you'll indulge me, here's a few from the last decade I haven't seen mentioned here...

WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
The singer's voice carries this, rough round the edges but full of feeling. Recorded in an old church, giving it a slight orchestral feel despite basically being young lads giving out about the world

Lost Under Heaven: Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing
WU LYF's singer leaves, finds a girl, and they produce this masterpiece. It's my album of the decade. Her voice is a delicate counterpoint to his, though her spirit shines through strongly. It's a stunner, if you listen to anything I say then try this

Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light
I love anything Spiritualized release. Only two this decade, this is my favourite of the two

65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway
My favourite band - glitchy guitars and electro looping post rock. They had three albums this decade, this is the most accessible. Robert Smith provides guest vocals on Come To Me, if it's good enough for him...!


A good few of the suggestions already listed slipped me by, looking forward to working my way through them

Can't forget PJ Harvey - Let England Shake. Its definitely in my top 10 of the last decade. Just scrolled back and yes it was mentioned once!

A week out from the 10th anniversary of its release, I'd have no hesitation in saying John Grant - Queen of Denmark.

Never has an album taken me in so quickly since Loveless or Boxer.