Your Favorite Musician, Artist, or Band of the Decade (2010-19)

Maybe it's too early to start talking about this. But probably not. Taking all musical output into account from 2010-18 (and eventually 2019) into account, which musician/artist/band would you cite as your #1 favorite (or "best," if you prefer) over the last ten years, collectively?

Father John Misty
Run the Jewels
Wooden Shjips/Moon Duo
Kurt Vile
Kendrick Lamar

(at least, based on what I've bought + listened to the most)

CHVRCHES, Kendrick Lamar & The 1975.

For me it's either gonna be saxophonist JD Allen or guitarist Hedvig Mollestad.

Mollestad's first album with her trio, Shoot!, came out in 2011; their fifth (there's also been a live album) just came out in Norway, and will be out in the US in January.
Allen's been around since 1999 but launched his trio in 2008 - 2011's Victory!, their third album, was a real breakthrough and they've only improved since then.

Kendrick does makes a pretty strong case, right?

Overly Dedicated (2010)
Section.80 (2011)
Good Kid, m.A.A.d City (2012)
To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
Untitled Unmastered (2016)
DAMN. (2017)
Black Panther: The Album (2018)

If we're including bands that have reformed this decade and put out a string of albums that are up there with their earlier work, then Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Suede too.

(xxpost)

Shearwater. Two great albums in the last decade, but three more in this decade so far (and probably another one to come before the end of 2019).

Alongside Kendrick, I have to admit Future comes to mind for me personally... not all of these are excellent, per se, but he's put out so much music in the last 6-7 years that I feel like there's more substance than almost any other hip-hop/rap artist of the 2010s.

Astronaut Status (2012)
Pluto (2012)
FBG: The Movie (2013) – with Freeband Gang
No Sleep (2013) – with DJ Esco
Honest (2014)
Monster (2014)
Beast Mode (2015) – with Zaytoven
56 Nights (2015) – with DJ Esco and 808 Mafia
DS2 (2015)
What a Time to Be Alive (2015) – with Drake
Purple Reign (2016)
EVOL (2016)
Future (2017)
Super Slimey (2017) – with Young Thug
HNDRXX (2017)
Superfly: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2018)
BEASTMODE 2 (2018) – with Zaytoven
Wrld on Drugs (2018) – with Juice Wrld

Ariana Grande-Butera

kendrick, future, thug in some order

Wire:
Red Barked Tree (2010)
Change Becomes Us (2013)
Wire (2015)
Nocturnal Koreans (2016)
Silver/Lead (2017)
...and maybe one more in 2019?

The Black Watch:
Led Zeppelin Five (2011)
The End Of When (2013)
Sugarplum Fairy (2014)
Highs And Lows (2015)
The Gospel According To John (2017)
Witches! (2018)

Neko Case:
The Worse Things Get (2013)
Case/Lang/Veirs (2016)
Hell-On (2018)
...and all her appearances with New Pornographers

Wussy:
Strawberry (2011)
Duo EP (2013)
Attica! (2014)
Public Domain Vol. 1 EP (2015)
Forever Sounds (2016)
Getting Better EP (2018)
What Heaven Is Like (2018)

Probably between Kendrick, Future, Dan Snaith/Caribou, Adrienne Lenker/Big Thief

Probably Julia Holter.

Tragedy (2011)
Ekstasis (2012)
Loud city song (2013)
Have you in my wilderness (2015)
In the same room (2017)
Aviary (2018)

Gareth Liddiard (Drones/solo/TFS), Joyce Manor, Kendrick, and assuming the next record keeps the streak up, Baroness.

vektroid

I have no idea tbh.

it's absolutely Wednesday Campanella for putting out something like 8 albums of consistently inventive and exciting pop since 2013

second place is probably The 1975, then Gang Gang Dance, Paramore, and Sufjan Stevens as far as less prolific but consistently great acts go

mewithoutyou, the 1975, paramore, deftones

Two stand clear above the rest: some Geordie roustabout with a gift for the old magics, and some Missourian ultrapessimist who thinks nothing of adding frets to his guitars or letting dice share his compositional duties

Ha, I was thinking Jute Gyte might be my answer as well.

oh Deftones is a good answer

KRALLICE

jamal moss
ingrid laubrock
tim berne

This thread has made me realize with horror how very, very little music I've even listened to from the past decade. Dear god, I'm officially old.

This thread has made me realize with bemusement that albums have mattered far more to me than bands over the past decade.

Can't forget Greta van Fleet

That one goes without saying.

"albums have mattered far more to me than bands over the past decade"

yep, and individual songs also, plus I'm the least loyal person I know, so this is hard.

I'll say Possessed by Paul James

over:
Of Montreal
Young fathers
White Denim

> Gareth Liddiard (Drones/solo/TFS)

Gareth Liddiard - Strange Tourist (2010)
The Drones - I See Seaweed (2013)
The Drones - Feelin Kinda Free (2016)
Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (2018)

Good call, an incredible body of work, and a reminder to revisit his solo album.

I have absolutely nothing to contribute to this thread.

Susanne Sundfør. She's made four beautiful albums including my album of the decade.

Miguel, Charli XCX, Julia Holter, Lana Del Rey and Jessie Ware are some of my other favourites.

Oneohtrix Point Never

though Vektroid and George Clanton are up there too

Le Butcherettes, Hedgehog.

It’s Wizkid for me (and this one’s totally about single(s) tracks - his few albums so far have been largely afterthoughts).
From 2011 onwards (although I would pick up on Afropop and him only the next year) he’s been a never-drying well of fantastic dance tracks and love jams, with great melodies, hooks and vibes, drawing from a large pool of homegrown and foreign influences, both with his own releases and through his contributions on other people’s songs, and after all this time he’s still only getting better. The past year has been his best ever. A true provider of musical happiness if there ever was one.

Steven R. Smith
Cate Le Bon
Heron Oblivion
Mats Gustafsson
Marisa Anderson

Death Grips

Gareth Hulse

dreesen, svn, sw, pg sounds and the rest of the acido / sued crew
sotofett, fett burger, jayda g, lns and the rest of the extended sex tags / wania family
kyle hall, jay daniel, big strick, generation next and the rest of the latest detroit wave
roza terenzi, dj zozi, and everyone else revitalizing the 90s breaks sound
kassem mosse

what pomenitul said

everyone gets their own answer but this is objectively Kendrick

Laurel Halo, Oneohtrix, Autechre

Parquet Courts

what tlg said. off the top of my head i'd add pender steet and mood hut, blondes, demdike stare, dj sprinkles, and prince of denmark et al

lol jimmy eat world

this might actually be Beach House for me:

Teen Dream (2010)
Bloom (2012)
Depression Cherry (2015)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (2015)
7 (2018)

Miranda Lambert
Vince Staples
Vampire Weekend
Eric Church
Kendrick Lamar

Janelle Monae
The Mountain Goats
Laura Marling
CHVRCHES

Vampire Weekend
Rihanna
Future
Frank Ocean
Ty Dolla Sign
The 1975
Chief Keef
Deerhunter
Grouper
Miranda Lambert
Kendrick Lamar

baby shark

Telepath
2814
Mindspring Memories

If Drive-By Truckers release a great record in 2019 they’re on list. If you count Jason Isbell solo then the 2004 version of DBT is fer sure the best rock act of 2010s.

I love VW but the problem is my favourite album wasn’t released this decade and I don’t like Contra much. So it’s just one (great) album this decade...

I might go with Drake actually !
Thank me later (2010)
Take care (2011)
Nothing was the same (2013)
If you’re reading this / what a time (2015)
Views (2016)
More life (2017)
Scorpion (2018)

he’s been pretty productive and constantly solid !

1-future
2-frank ocean
3-lana del rey
4-young thug

My top 10:

Janelle Monáe
Kuniko Kato
Recondite
Unsuk Chin
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Donato Dozzy
TBA
Meg Bowles
Galina Grigorjeva

Beach House
Grimes
Shabazz Palaces

Other good ones off the top of my head:

Shabazz Palaces
Anderson Paak
Kendrick Lamar
Grouper
Nicolas Jaar
J Balvin
Mac DeMarco
Dj Koze
Thee oh sees
Robyn

Oops Shabazz Palaces twice but they’re that good.

That no one so far has mentioned Beyoncé is unexpected, to say the least. If I hadn’t taken the thread title literally and had listed my top 3 instead, she would have been in it.

This is hard. I don't know why. Are we including acts that released music prior to 2010 though?

For me, contenders would include:

Young Thug
Ought
Autechre
Future Islands
Todd Terje
Jlin
Scott Walker

I'll bite, sort of:

Helena Tulve
Mark Andre
Raphaël Cendo
Anna S. Þorvaldsdóttir
Alberto Posadas

Nico Muhly
Clammbon
De Staat

Mesarthim
Moderat
Nils Frahm
ólafur Arnalds
Ghost

?

Good Throb

Close to DL's list, it seems. Top 5 off the top of my head:

Autechre
William Basinski
Owen P4ll3tt
Jute Gyte
Young Thug

(Scott would be at #6. Or #1, on another day)

What, no Kanye? MBDTF in 2010, Yeezus in 2013.

"Kuniko Kato"

not caught up with her last two releases, but loved the Pärt/Reich stuff she did.

Honest answer would probably be Terreke and Moon B

And LDR I guess

would go club with the late great and karl

LDR a good answer imo

i almost want to say OPN, but i haven't been a huge fan of his latest stuff (Age Of left me cold), and the Rifts comp came out in 2009

Def should have included Laurel Halo on my list, she is a godsend to music imo

Chance of Rain is so great, loving the new one too

That no one so far has mentioned Beyoncé is unexpected, to say the least. If I hadn’t taken the thread title literally and had listed my top 3 instead, she would have been in it.

― breastcrawl

She has only released one good album and at most three decent singles this decade.

And I’d argue Countdown is the only good single she has released this decade.

ok but surely you realize that's not exactly a widely shared opinion

No one mentioned Swans yet?!

Owen P4ll3tt

His two solo albums from this decade are definitely big for me.

Really great live performer too

Swans
Beach House
King Gizzard
Ty Segall
Kurt Vile
Ariel Pink

not in any order:

Ty Segall
Titus Andronicus
Chance the Rapper
Kendrick Lamar
Jason Isbell
Miranda Lambert
Neko Case

If Anderson .Paak would get a hit, I'd add him.

Overall:

Mica Levi (Micachu, Mica Levi, and her production work)
Total Freedom
Demdike Stare
Grouper
Frank Ocean
Cass McCombs
US Girls
The Knife

Up-and-comers:

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Big Thief
Katie Dey

An album:

Beyonce
Julia Holter

Maybe it's just me:

Alex Cameron

Really enjoy them live:

How To Dress Well
Grimes

First thoughts are Cass McCombs/Kendrick/Miranda Lambert

the 1975
oneohtrix point never

diddy dirty money
dawn richard
beyoncé
young thug
kehlani
miguel
blondes
sabre
omar-s
peter evans
taylor swift
miranda lambert
kacey musgraves
dj nigga fox
one direction

joyce manor

Archy Marshall / King Krule, no contest.

Absolute domination:
unofficial Zoo Kid recordings (2010)
self-titled EP (2011)
Rock Bottom / Octopus 12" (2012)
6 Feet Beneath the Moon (2013)
A New Place 2 Drown (2015)
The OOZ (2017)
Live on the Moon (2018)

yeah i restricted myself to dance / electronic music but if i were picking rock acts it would be ty and archy no contest

The Ooz is one of my favourite albums of the decade for sure

it's pretty great

Earl Sweatshirt

i almost want to say OPN, but i haven't been a huge fan of his latest stuff (Age Of left me cold), and the Rifts comp came out in 2009

― Karl Malone, Thursday, December 13, 2018 8:59 AM (thirteen hours ago)

same

i had a lot of answers that i scratched off the list for similar reasons (madlib comes to mind, for one)

i think the decade is not a particularly natural way for me to think about music ... i definitely have a sense of what i like by decade from the 40s-90s, but i tend to think of recent chunks of my musical listening history more along the lines of ... um, maybe the bush years / obama years / trump years? that probably sounds stupid but i honestly feel like it maps my listening history a little better than drawing a line between what i was listening to in 2009 and what i was listening to in 2011.

which musician/artist/band would you cite as your #1 favorite (or "best," if you prefer)

tbf seems like there's a marked preference for "best" over "favorite", and i suppose if you're into that sort of question the decade makes as much sense as any other division

tend to think of recent chunks of my musical listening history more along the lines of ... um, maybe the bush years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3GiUAvjJ8

re: OPN, I'm not really sure what run of albums in the 2010s is better than Returnal, Replica, R Plus Seven, Garden of Delete, Age Of

execpt maybe Hour Logic, Quarantine, Behind the Green Door, Chance of Rain, In Situ, Dust

*except*

and Raw Silk Uncut Wood

'Garden of delete' is the only one that left me kinda cold.
the best musician i can think of from the last decade, for sure.

Tim Hecker:

Ravedeath, 1972 (2011)
Dropped Pianos (2011)
Instrumental Tourist (2012) – with Daniel Lopatin
Virgins (2013)
Love Streams (2016)
Konoyo (2018)

I agree that OPN makes a strong case:

Returnal (2010)
Replica (2011)
Instrumental Tourist (2012) – with Tim Hecker
R Plus Seven (2013)
Garden of Delete (2015)
Age Of (2018)

Four Tet:

There Is Love in You (2010)
Pink (2012)
Beautiful Rewind (2013)
Morning/Evening (2015)
New Energy (2017)

Four Tet, OPN, and Tim are probably my top 3 electronic musicians of the decade.

(or should I say Kieran, Daniel and Tim...)

I mean in terms of raw material Autechre has got to be #1 but it's hard to consider them "of the decade"

GHOST.

Barely listened to anything new in this period but I guess I should bump Oneohtrix Point Never higher up my shopping list. So Scott Walker is my obvious choice. Cant remember the last HTRK album I listened to.

hey hatrack had an album out this year iirc. not heard it tho

Cate Le Bon
Thee Oh Sees/Oh Sees/OCS

autechre
marc baron
olivia block
jürg frey
laurel halo
graham lambkin
michael pisaro
john tilbury
xuiqen

(if i had to choose one)

xp to Robert I think there's a new HTRK full length coming soon, FYI

I have absolutely nothing to contribute to this thread.

I mean in terms of raw material Autechre has got to be #1 but it's hard to consider them "of the decade"

My favorite artist tends to be whoever made the last album I fell in love with. I have a hard time thinking in terms of a decade. I don’t feel like any one artist was that dominant. I guess I’m saying I have nothing to contribute to this thread.

Really excited about the new Deluge Grander album. Havent heard it yet.

Look, I'm old (going to be 40 later this year!), but I definitely try to stay current. I spend hundreds of hours a year, every year, listening to artists’ born in the 90s. And that investment absolutely pays off for me every year with regards to my most listened-to genres: hip hop, pop, electronic, and indie-rock genres. I see no reason to change the way I discover music given the results I always receive.

All that blathering leads me to my favorite artist of the 2010’s - The War on Drugs. Each of their albums from this decade will most likely land in my top 50 for that decade - with Lost in a Dream and A Deeper Understanding landing in my top five.

It’s a strange place for me to be in. Up until this point, my all-time favorite artists have always been pretty universally-endorsed by general audiences. Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, My Bloody Valentine, Wu Tang, Outkast, Christian Fennesz, Robyn and Junior Boys, just to name a few from the top of my dome.

The War on Drugs - while not totally original - have adopted the styles of some of my favorites, such as Bob Dylan’s singing, Pink Floyd’s more proggy-stylings, Bruce Springsteen’s everyman lyrics (and the E-Street’s keyboards), with a shade of Kevin Shields’ shoegaze production.

I never thought I’d find a band’s record (or records) that fully satiates my needs as a consumer. This may sound absurd, but after 2014’s Lost in a Dream, followed by 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, I can, if I want, stop listening to music altogether. I’ve hit a pivotal point that I didn’t think was possible. I thought I’d already discovered all that I would’ve loved, as far as all-time albums go, but clearly, I’ve still have room to grow.

I just wanted to post this as someone who knows he’s in limbo, or stasis, as far as all-time favorites go.

Grouper

AIA: Dream Loss / Alien Observer
"Water People" b/w "Moving Machine"
Violet Replacement
The Man Who Died in His Boat
Ruins
The Original Faces (w/ Helen)
"Headache" b/w "I'm Clean Now"
Grid of Points
After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house (as Nivhek)

Adrian Younge

Mary Halvorson

(maybe tied with Mica Levi)

Julia Holter and Colin Stetson.

I think Diddy Dirty Money/Kalenna/Dawn Richard if I can consider them one.

this might actually be Beach House for me:

Teen Dream (2010)
Bloom (2012)
Depression Cherry (2015)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (2015)
7 (2018)

Think might be for me too. Which is odd cause I hardly listen to anything else in their genre.

nicolas jaar / against all logic / darkside

wild nothing

bibio if i can include his 2009 breakout record

theres a lot of acts i like that peaked from like 2007-2013 which makes a strict decade time window awkward

oh i forgot ELDER

and wye oak i guess

mitski

Lush (2012)
Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013)
Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014)
Puberty 2 (2016)
Be the Cowboy (2018)

Kanye

It's not even close

Most likely Kendrick.

I want to make a case for Beach House, but Bloom is the last record of theirs I've enjoyed front to back. That's not to knock the highs that came after, but each album has had fewer deep cuts, more the feel of filler.

If D'Angelo releases another Black Messiah tho...

Mica Levi easy

Oneohtrix Point Never, for all the reasons already stated upthread

Daniel O'Sullivan, for Mothlite, Miracle, Grumbling Fur, and solo (new one out next month)

Tim Bowness has had a strong latter-career run with his four albums in the past five years

dawn richard definitely the answer to this whatever i said upthread

Wussy, no one else close (even if 3/7 of their 6/7 near-perfect discography goes back to the previous decade).

looked back at my top tens for names that appear more than once...

Julia Holter, Kelela, Girlpool, Laura Veirs, Dawn Richard, Kendrick, Owen P, Devon Williams, Deerhunter, Joanna Newsom

but the actual answer is The Radio Dept.

Robert Glasper.

The bloom may be off him but Drake had an exceptional decade.

probably st. vincent, which feels weird to say as i didn't really like her last one, but she's probably had the most influence on me as a person over the course of the decade

It's Grouper. But it's a weird question for her because we're still not really sure of when this music is coming from right?

Overall though been a pretty wack fucking decade musically imo

Oneohtrix Point Never, Laurel Halo, Joanna Newsom

Shabaka Hutchins - three Sons of Kemet albums, two Comet is Coming, one for the Ancestors, two with Melt Yourself Down, pretty sure he played on the final Polar Bear record, plus numerous guest appearances and is great live in every incarnation.

Four Tet - his own albums and his production work, especially the last two Neneh Cherry records.

These New Puritans

I’m sure there are others if I go looking through the collection.

Half of these are unfamiliar to me and that's fine/expected when music is so big but I do worry that my current journeys I'm so engrossed in somehow wont insect with new exciting movements I might like.

Kanye

It's not even close

kanye sucked ass this decade

First thought best thought (in this instance):
The World of Arthur Russell (reissued several times this decade)
Laurie Anderson: Life of a Dog, Landfall (w Kronos)
Allen Ginsberg: The Complete Songs of Innocence and Experience
Guerilla Toss: Gay Disco, Smack The Brick
Death Grips: Government Plates
Jane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
David Murray Cuban Ensemble Plays Nat King Cole En Espaňol
Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes Complete
Rough Guide To Ethiopian Jazz
Rough Guide To African Disco
Willie Nelson
Miranda Lambert
Pistol Annies
Jlin
Harriet Tubman

but the actual answer is The Radio Dept.

― geoffreyess, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 10:57 AM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Clinging to a Scheme is all-time great. I had to stop listening to that album for fear of burning out on it.

I think my vote's gonna have to go to saxophonist JD Allen:

Victory! (Sunnyside, 2011)
The Matador and the Bull (Savant, 2012)
Grace (Savant, 2013)
Bloom (Savant, 2014)
Graffiti (Savant, 2015)
Americana: Musings on Jazz and Blues (Savant, 2016)
Radio Flyer (Savant, 2017)
Love Stone (Savant, 2018)

Grace and Bloom are the only albums from that list that I don't absolutely love, and that's because he swapped out his regular band (Gregg August on bass, Rudy Royston on drums, and Nir Felder on guitar on Radio Flyer and Love Stone) for some other folks.

there was quite a lot of good music but only few artists who delivered regularly. especially my old heroes yo la tengo disappointed me totally. my top three:
- low
- julia holter
- jessie ware (when she hit it she hit it)

I feel like this isn't a great way to judge the decade. If I try to think of artists who were consistently great through the whole 70s or 90s I would think of one or two for each - and my favourite artists of all time were at their peaks then. For this decade, I only can think of Julia Holter, everyone else started too late, tailed off at the end or simply didn't release enough music.

Cate Le Bon

(in large part based on live performances)(Drinks an unnecessary diversion, much as I love both of them)(new album announced today)

and then:

Ty Segall
Susanne Sundfør
Jane Weaver

This had to have been a more lively topic in the days when most artists released an album a year or so. You could have a more dazzling track record.

(I know, there are exceptions I like who still maintain that pace)

I agree, I chose artists who have most affected me during that time, not some quantum of achievement or untarnished greatness.

Jane Weaver has made 3 great albums the second half of the decade but I wasn't into the first 3 between 2010 and 2013.

"Sad Song" is one of my favorite songs by anybody

"Slow Song" i mean