2010s¶
2010s Overview¶
This was an interesting decade for music and for my relationship with music. When it began, we were at the point I like to call “peak indie” where a collection of small labels were releasing the most culturally relevant albums, and the big labels were trying to pretend they were the small labels in order to compete. I was writing for a local music blog, and attending multiple large music festivals per year. These were mostly the (now rare) club festivals that were spread out among multiple small venues over several days. These were the kind of festivals that demanded research and study to attend properly. I loved the process of reading about all the bands, getting ahold of a sample of music, and laying out my plan to rove about the clubs to catch my favorites. The tee-shirts and vinyl records bought from merch stands at these shows are now staples of my wardrobe and album collection today.
When the decade closed, mainstream pop from the major labels had returned as the dominant force in the music scene. This kind of mainstream music had never really gone away, it was more that independent music had receded to the shadows again. I have nothing against mainstream pop, as my lists for earlier decades show. My objections mostly have to do with the impacts of how modern pop music is made. Today, your average pop single is written and produced by a committee of dozens. When that many folks contribute to the creative process it has the effect of sanding every edge off of the track by the time it reaches the finish line. Any remaining distinguishing characteristics are so intentionally created, that it can’t help but feel contrived. I haven’t been to a music festival since 2013. That last one was the inaugural “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, a combination of the most high brow indie combined with artists that typically get labeled as contemporary classical. This was my Woodstock, lol. The rest of the decade, 75% of the live music I saw was the local symphony orchestra, This was where “I got old”, but where exactly did it happen?
2010s Stats/Favorites¶
Section started: 13 Aug 2021
Section complete: 7 Nov 2021
Latest update: 31 May 2025
Total Albums: 185
Top Artists:
6 albums (1) - Lana Del Rey
5 albums (1) - Beach House
4 albums (5) - Ariel Pink, Ghost, Son Lux, Sufjan Stevens, Steven Wilson
Favorite album:
At the risk of sounding like a cliche’ indie music bro…
The Suburbs by The Arcade Fire
…but how in the world did this get the album of the year Grammy?
Favorite Song:
Braids made one of my favorite songs of all time and put it on a really boring electronic album:
“In Kind” by Braids