Here we are with part five of my ten-part review of critic’s choices for the 52 best albums of 2010-2019! Halfway there! (52’s a weird number isn’t it? See below for the reason why…)

If by chance you missed the earlier editions, you can find them here:

(Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4)

This is one of three musical blog series I’m doing this year. So go check out the final installment of my overview of the critical consensus on the 20 best albums of 2020, and my latest monthly review of 2021 new releases en route to finding the best 21 albums of 2021.

So. 52. It’s like this: I took “best of decade” lists from the AV Club, Billboard, Jim DeRogatis, Greg Kot, the New Yorker, New Music Express, Paste, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Vice. For any album that appeared at least once in these lists, I tallied up votes between them. Albums getting 4 votes and up totaled 52, which was close enough to a top 50 that I decided to go with that as a cutoff.

I’m doing 10 posts of 5 albums each (or 6 each on the last two) and then a final wrap-up. With that explained, let’s get on with Part 5!

DAMN. (Kendrick Lamar, 2017, 5 votes)– From the first this made musical and lyrical choices that show something special is going on here. The dense weaving of storytelling, the unusual vocal mixing choices, the strategic deployment of music samples to set a mood, it all works. His 2012 album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was a heck of a thing to have to live up to. Darned if this doesn’t do it!

Days Are Gone (Haim, 2013, 5 votes)– For my 2020 list I’d listened to their album Women in Music, and quite liked it. This feels like it leans even more poppy than that, but retains what I really liked about that album- a nearly perfect pop sensibility but some power and substance behind it. This does register as lighter than their later album, though. Is this the earlier album’s fault? No, and yet they must reverse-chronologically suffer for my knowledge!

Daytona (Pusha T, 2018, 4 votes)– It’s got energy and swagger, all right, and the wordplay is top notch. The music mix and sampling is crisp and sharp. The lyrics have some weight and meaning too. A little derivative (you’ll hear lots of influence of Jay-Z and Kanye West here- who produced it) but all in all, this is a very worthy effort.

Dirty Computer (Janelle Monae, 2018, 5 votes)– If you make a sexy, smooth R&B/dance album, I’m on your side. If you make an album with political/social import that doesn’t get polemical, I’m on your side. If you make an album full of smart, unusual lyrical, vocal, and musical choices, I’m on your side. If you make an album with sci-fi/tech themes, I’m on your side. If you do all of these together, you are Janelle Monae, and I’m over the moon.

DS2 (Future, 2015, 4 votes)– Early on I’m thinking this is a little more autotuned than I like, but the lyrical content is interesting at times, and there’s a pleasing air of menace in the music. However, there seems to be a lot more “bitch” and “pussy” here than I like. On balance, it’s a “no” for me.

And there we are with Part Five. 25 down, 27 to go. Five more posts. We can do it!