Favorite Albums Of 2010s

Favorite album by year in the 2010s.

2010: Treats by Sleigh Bells













2011: All Hail The Crown by All Hail The Crown


2012: A Different Kind Of Truthy by Van Halen













2013: Rewind The Film by Manic Street Preachers


2014: Do To The Beast by The Afghan Whigs


2015: Doubt & Distortion by Bicentennial Bear


2016: Unnecessary Evil by The Lees Of Memory


2017: Slowdive by Slowdive


2018: In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind by Failure


2019: Sound And Fury by Sturgill Simpson

Albums That Changed My Life

At Pencil Storm they have a recurring series of posts about albums that "changed your life." I decided to tackle this in my own way.

My first question was - how did it change my life? In what way? For the better or the worse? I’ve listened to albums that were so lyrically and thematically dark, I spent days in a depressed fog afterward. I’m still haunted by them, and revisit when I want to wallow, but they are certainly not my favorite in any sense, nor did they make my life better. Maybe they acted as a temporary salve on wound - hey bud, you suffering? Here’s some minor chords to commiserate and some dissonance to drown your sorrows.

To actually change my life, something good had to come out of it. A better path had to be opened and explored. That’s the directive I’m following with this. Here goes.

Repeat These Words After Me: Black Love by The Afghan Whigs

I tend to shy away these days from using words or phrases like greatest, most important, best, etc. when it comes to art, namely movies, books and music. As many who are deeply invested in such things, to apply such definitive tags to something subjective and personal gets tiresome.

Two Word Reviews: Summer/Fall 2014

Recent movie and music reviews, with patent-pending two work reviews.

MOVIES
22 Jump Street – bar set
Sunset Strip – debauched history
Pain & Gain – ultimate Bay-ness
Vehicle 19 – paper thin
Fast & Furious 6 – more nonsense
Ender’s Game – well played
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – enjoyably empty
Escape Plan – predictably dumb
Riddick – franchise revival
Gravity – tensely brilliant
Taken 2 – disappointing follow-up

MUSIC
Manic Street Preachers: Futurology – welcome detour
The Lees of Memory: Sisyphus Says – shoegazy fun
Weezer: Everything Will Be Alright In The End – needed return
Prince: Art Official Age – classic Prince

Two Word Reviews, Winter 2014

Recent movies and music I’ve checked out, with patent-pending two word reviews:

MOVIES
American Hustle – acting class
Identity Thief – stolen time
The Hollywood Complex – disturbing insight
Gangster Squad – shiny surface
The Master – superior performances
Searching for Sugar Man – fascinating tale
Oblivion – overloaded twists

MUSIC
Manic Street Preachers: Rewind the Film – welcome detour
Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolt – vaguely familiar
Mark Lanegan: Imitiations – that voice