Wait, didn’t I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…

It turns out that 2024 was the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to discover the 25 best albums of the first quarter century of a new millennium! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.

But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for my aspired Grand Review of 2000-2024!

So far we’ve had: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And with that, let’s get on with part 5!

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (Sturgill Simpson, 2014)– Simpson’s 2021 album The Ballad of Dood and Juanita made my top 21 list that year, so I came into this listen well-disposed. That would have been awkward if this album let me down, but in fact it’s knocked my socks off! Everything I’ve come to expect of him from his later projects is on display here- both a reverence for traditional country music, and a playful subversion of it. Picture an album that musically puts you in mind of achingly authentic honky-tonk, bluegrass, outlaw country, and the 80s neo-traditionalists. Now picture that album opening with an ode to psychedelics, including a cover of an 80s synth pop song, and being shot through with a very modern take on mental health and addiction issues and throwing in some psych rock distortion for good measure.

Red (Taylor Swift, 2012)– Damn can the girl write a song! And perform it, by which I don’t mean the extravaganza stage shows (though she does do that), but the phrasing, the delivery, knowing just when to let something out, pull back, get serious, or silly. One of the other things I look for in historical reviews is ongoing influence, and there’s no missing how a whole school of female singer/songwriters of the teens and twenties owe their approach to her. For this album in particular, I appreciate how the sound is grounded in the kind of pop country she started out with, but it goes from there to incorporate rock pop, and the techniques of electronic dance music. And every single song hits when it fires. I do find myself wondering toward the end if it’s gone on just a hair too long, but there’s no denying this album delivers.

House of Balloons (The Weeknd, 2011)– I just don’t know what to think of The Weeknd. He’s clearly artistically serious and talented. And there are times I find his songs to be so damn catchy! Then there are others when the extremely processed vocals and music gets to me and feels alienating. On the other hand, that alienation in the midst of poppy overdrive is kind of the point and many of his songs harness this contradiction and ride it. I was caught in that cycle throughout this album- feeling like I was in the midst of greatness, but then flickering to wondering if it was getting a little tiresome. So I guess, maybe?

The Monitor (Titus Andronicus, 2010)– I was a little familiar with Titus Andronicus, their 2022 album The Will to Live made my honorable mention list that year. But this, their second album, was a revelation! It’s a kind of trip-tych of New Jersey, and concept album based on the Civil War combined. Which could be way too heady a mix, but imagine all of that in the hands of a punky Bruce Springsteen. At times it’s unhinged, at times tongue in cheek, and others total in earnest, and rocking the whole way through!

Astroworld (Travis Scott, 2018)– I appreciate the minimalism of the mix, and the artistry and intent of the rhymes. But, this is an exemplar of the autotuned monotone mumble rap school of 21st century hip hop that I just cannot abide by. I’ve tried, and I just can’t!

Titanic Rising (Weyes Blood, 2019)– I was pulling for this, and it does have a lot going for it. Intelligent and emotionally sophisticated lyrics. A sometimes wickedly on target vocal phrasing. And harmonies and melodies that combine with crashing chords to make something truly grand. But, at the end of the day, there’s just too much all one energy level and tone musically and vocally for it to really come together for me.

And with that we have made it through group six of six! Of this batch, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, The Monitor and Red seem to be yeses, and House of Balloons is a maybe. So we’re done with this re-reevaluation, right?

Well, stay tuned…