A Decade of Music (Also Some Poetry and Enneagram Stuff)

Here are my favorite 15 albums and songs of the decade, 2010-2019.

Every album will be accompanied by a quote from The Enneagram Institute, specifically from the "levels of development" (healthy, average health, unhealthy) of each type (1 through 9). I do not mean to "diagnose" anybody. I am not an enneagram expert. I just think it's fun to think of music in all types of different ways.

Every song will be accompanied by a poem. I don't take my poetry seriously--I think that's why I like writing it. Also, I'm discovering phones aren't the ideal way to consume poetry due to the intentionality of line breaks. Oh well!

I want to beat everyone else to the decade lists, so apologies to any masterpieces that may be coming in the next few months.

Click the spoiler to see the final, easy-to-read lists.

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Show Spoiler

Songs:
#15 "All Waters" - Perfume Genius
#14 "Ultralight Beam" - Kanye West
#13 "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" - The Knife
#12 "Did U Ever Love Me" - A. G. Cook/Patricia Edwards
#11 "Location" - Playboi Carti

#10 "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" - Jamie xx/Young Thug/Popcaan
#9 "The Well" - Mirel Wagner
#8 "Time Vampires" - Flying Lotus
#7 "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" - Flaming Lips/Erykah Badu
#6 "Prostitute" - Richard Dawson

#5 "Sugar for the Pill" - Slowdive
#4 "Are You… Can You… Were You? (Felt)" - Shabazz Palaces
#3 "Bravado" - Kirin J. Callinan
#2 "Flamingo" - Kero Kero Bonito
#1 "Beth/Rest" - Bon Iver


Albums:
#15 Needle Paw - Nai Palm (healthy 3)
#14 Treats - Sleigh Bells (unhealthy 7)
#13 some rap songs - Earl Sweatshirt (average 4)
#12 LP1 - FKA Twigs (average 2)
#11 Quiet Signs - Jessica Pratt (healthy 9)

#10 The Money Store - Death Grips (unhealthy 8)
#9 A I A - Grouper (healthy 4)
#8 Public Strain - Women (average 5)
#7 mbv - My Bloody Valentine (average 8)
#6 Bonito Generation - Kero Kero Bonito (healthy 7)

#5 Yeezus - Kanye West (unhealthy 3)
#4 Blonde - Frank Ocean (healthy 6)
#3 Have One On Me - Joanna Newsom (healthy 2)
#2 Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus (healthy 5)
#1 To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (healthy 1)

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Let's begin!

- Album #15 -

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Needle Paw - Nai Palm

Virtuosity is often a stumbling block for creativity. Few things are less interesting to me than someone playing an instrument as if to say, “Here are the notes! I’m playing all the right ones!” But sometimes—very rarely, in my experience—a musician comes along who allows their incredible talents to become tools with which to fulfill a unique vision. Nai Palm has the musical chops of jazz, the voice of honest-to-god soul, and the guts to recontextualize Bowie, Hendrix, and Radiohead songs within the realm of acoustic turn-of-the-century r&b. The result is a bold and generous record, complete with roughly a thousand little hair-raising moments.

I think Needle Paw is a healthy type 3. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Self-assured, energetic, and competent with high self-esteem: they believe in themselves and their own value. Adaptable, desirable, charming, and gracious.”

- Song #15 -

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"All Waters" - Perfume Genius

Eight simple stanzas
Five echoing kick drums
Two minutes later
Flowers cover the earth

- Album #14 -

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Treats - Sleigh Bells

And the award for best cover art goes to Sleigh Bells.

This is the type of music you make after scratching the faces off cheerleaders in your yearbook. Thing is, last semester you kind of wanted to be a cheerleader. But whatever, that was literally ages ago, and let’s be honest those girls deserve much worse.

A doctor is on tv: “Ever feel like a hot mess? I’ve got just the thing for you.”

I think Treats is an unhealthy type 7. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Desperate to quell their anxieties, can be impulsive and infantile: do not know when to stop. Addictions and excess take their toll: debauched, depraved, dissipated escapists, offensive and abusive.”

- Song #14 -

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“Ultralight Beam” - Kanye West, et al.

you can never go too far where you can’t come back home again
yes even Kanye who worships in his way and God is
implied in the silence between the notes
chance feels so reverent he says
gosh darn

- Album #13 -

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some rap songs - Earl Sweatshirt

Earl may have needed a flagship album like this to cement his place as one of the world’s greatest rappers—but didn’t all the people paying attention already kind of know? In hindsight it’s almost like he had to get the hallmarks of his old style (over-the-top provocation, internal rhymes for days) out of his system so he could stop being concerned with “the rap game” and instead play a new game, one completely his own. It’s a bold new direction for the genre: one in which everything beyond the living room door is corny, and a song is only as good as how radically it turns inward.

I think some rap songs is an average health type 4. According to the Enneagram Institute: “To stay in touch with feelings, they interiorize everything, taking everything personally, but become self-absorbed and introverted, moody and hypersensitive, shy and self-conscious, unable to be spontaneous or to “get out of themselves.” Stay withdrawn to protect their self-image and to buy time to sort out feelings.”

- Song #13 -

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"Wrap Your Arms Around Me" - The Knife

Why would someone make a love song sound this way? They were:

a) a robot army fighting for their right to love.
b) playing a gig at the eyes wide shut mansion.
c) really, really horny.
d) the knife.

- Album #12 -

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LP1 - FKA Twigs

You better have a well-adjusted friend group if there’s to be an FKA Twigs listening party. If the constant drip of odd little musical details doesn’t weird them out, then the naughty ASMR come-ons certainly will. But in a decade that enjoyed a strange renaissance for the genre, there was no more evocative or intimate an r&b album than LP1. Just remember, it’s a headphones album in every sense of the phrase—don’t make things awkward.

I think LP1 is an average health type 2. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Become overly intimate and intrusive: they need to be needed, so they hover, meddle, and control in the name of love. Want others to depend on them: give, but expect a return: send double messages. Enveloping and possessive: the codependent, self-sacrificial person who cannot do enough for others—wearing themselves out for everyone, creating needs for themselves to fulfill."

- Song #12 -

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"Did U Ever Love Me" - A. G. Cook/Patricia Edwards

There’s a problem
commercialism in pop is a snake eating its own tail

I know!
Let’s take the tackiest things
we can’t help but love
and stop being ashamed

You know!
Make the bipps really bipp
and the boops really BOOP
the drums go RAT-TAT-TAT BLAM BLAM
AND THE GIRLS GO WOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sorry I can’t keep track of whether caps lock is acceptable
in a post-ironic world, and now

There’s another problem
tea is a little less exciting once you drink a cold fizzy soda

- Album #11 -

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Quiet Signs - Jessica Pratt

As much as I love to lie around in a dreamy haze and listen to this absolutely gorgeous acoustic throwback to the summer of love, I can’t shake the feeling there’s something quietly punk about it. Let’s face it: in 2019, conflict is in. Whether you’re causing it, commenting on it, or just observing it—Jessica Pratt is off somewhere else, showing people a nice time. And that’s it. No aggression. No competition. No ulterior motives. That takes a will of iron. How much more disillusioned with the American Dream can one be?

I think Quiet Signs is a healthy type 9: According to the Enneagram Institute: “Deeply receptive, accepting, unselfconscious, emotionally stable and serene. Trusting of self and others, at ease with self and life, innocent and simple. Patient, unpretentious, good-natured, genuinely nice people.”

- Song #11 -

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"Location" - Playboi Carti

it’s a good thing carti just says a bunch of nonsense
otherwise it’d be weird to bump this ad nauseam
and sometimes all you want to do is drive around
and rap about the tattoos you may or may not have

- Album #10 -

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The Money Store - Death Grips

It sure would be a clever anarchist stunt to post a dick pic here instead of what I’m supposed to do. Oh wait. Death Grips literally did that.

If the hierarchy were based on quality shit posts, MC Ride would rule the universe.

I think The Money Store is an unhealthy type 8: According to the Enneagram Institute: “Defying any attempts to control them, become completely ruthless, dictatorial, “might makes right.” The criminal and outlaw, renegade, and con-artist. Hard-hearted, immoral and potentially violent.”

- Song #10 -

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"I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" - Jamie xx/Young Thug/Popcaan

speed racer peels out
for no less than ten seconds
cuz a simple SKIRT just won’t do
we’re talking about sex here come on

grinding in slo mo on a saturday
fixin to go home with someone
is the most beautiful thing
because of course it is

- Album #9 -

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A I A (Dream Loss and Alien Observer) - Grouper

Grouper—and ambient music in general—sometimes gets wrongfully typecast as music to be played quietly in a spa. I say that’s bogus. Turn it up. Way up. This isn’t music meant to relax so much as reveal something unknowable. “Moon Is Sharp” is your mother singing you a lullaby while you’re still in the womb. “I Saw a Ray” is Enya Plays Metal, Original Soundtrack to the Formation of the Earth. “Atone” is what it sounds like to feel sorry. And don’t skip “Alien Observer”—that one’s an actual song!


I think A I A is a healthy type 4. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Self-aware, introspective, on the “search for self,” aware of feelings and inner impulses. Sensitive and intuitive both to self and others: gentle, tactful, compassionate.”

- Song #9 -

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"The Well" - Mirel Wagner

oh it’s a lady fingerpicking her guitar

won’t that be nice

shadow swallows my reflection
suddenly i don’t feel so good

- Album #8 -

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Public Strain - Women

Do you know one of those people who, when they talk, you get completely lost in their twisty-turny thoughts? Thirty minutes go by: “Wait, what are we talking about again?” They could be on the verge of enlightenment, or possibly madness. That’s precisely where Public Strain operates—like all the best post-punk records, you never know what strange detour it will take next. It may be a little unnerving, but once you begin to piece everything together it’s surprisingly gentle, like discovering the best thing to do in a riptide is just go limp.

I think Public Strain is an average health type 5. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Increasingly detached as they become involved with complicated ideas or imaginary worlds. Become preoccupied with their visions and interpretations rather than reality. Are fascinated by off-beat, esoteric subjects, even those involving dark and disturbing elements. Detached from the practical world, a “disembodied mind,” although high-strung and intense.

- Song #8 -

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"Time Vampires" - Flying Lotus

of course the beat knocks
your hat right off
it’s FlyLo

what i didn’t expect was
an impossible melody
buried deep within
a dreaming AI

- Album #7 -

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mbv - My Bloody Valentine

Kevin Shields doesn’t care if you like his music. He took nearly a quarter-century to release the follow up to Loveless, but his infamous perfectionism has nothing to do with you. Nothing is going to get in the way of the vision: not the audience, not the label, not even the Loudness War. It may not be Loveless, but it’s in the same ballpark—and if ten years ago I knew I would say something like that then I would’ve been ready to wait however long it took. Thanks Kevin for sticking to your guns.

I think mbv is an average health 8. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Begin to dominate their environment, including others: want to feel that others are behind them, supporting their efforts. Swaggering, boastful, forceful, and expansive: the “boss” whose word is law. Proud, egocentric, want to impose their will and vision on everything, not seeing others as equals or treating them with respect.”

I love those Grouper albums. Crazy how expensive they are. I treasure my copies

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Milky Joe

I love those Grouper albums. Crazy how expensive they are. I treasure my copies

---

CD or vinyl? I saw a few days ago some vinyl reissues were available to pre-order and I snatched them up.

- Song #7 -

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"First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" - The Flaming Lips/Erykah Badu

if you ever find yourself
slow dancing with the one
don’t open your eyes
you’re floating

- Album #6 -

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Bonito Generation - Kero Kero Bonito

How to Create I. Stalker’s Favorite Pop Album Ever:

Step 1. Write a song that seems to be about something simple like “jumping on a trampoline” or “taking a selfie” or “visiting your parents,” but is actually about way more than that.

Step 2. Have an adorable bilingual girl sing and rap over the song.

Step 3. Fill every corner of the song with zany, hi-fi details.

Step 4. Repeat twelve times.

I think Bonito Generation is a healthy type 7. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Highly responsive, excitable, enthusiastic about sensation and experience. Most extroverted type: stimuli bring immediate responses—they find everything invigorating. Lively, vivacious, eager, spontaneous, resilient, cheerful.”

- Song #6 -

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6. “Prostitute” - Richard Dawson

real talk

if you aren’t down with one fat white guy
singing to another fat white guy
from the perspective of a medieval prostitute
and everyone is crying

then we’re not friends

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker

CD or vinyl? I saw a few days ago some vinyl reissues were available to pre-order and I snatched them up.

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Vinyl, yeah. I worked in a record store in Portland when those came out, a store whose owner was good friends with Liz. So she was in there on occasion. :o That's when I got all my Grouper vinyl, including the Sleep 12", which holds a special place in my heart.

- Album #5 -

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Yeezus - Kanye West

I don’t know about you, but for me Yeezus continues to shed light on the whole art vs. artist debate. You know the one that goes, “How can you support art made by such a [bad quality] person?” Look, I’ll take everything case by case—but if Kanye’s main crime circa 2013 was being a garish, obstinate megalomaniac then he sure made the most of it.

This that prom shit.
This that “what we do, don’t tell your mom” shit.
This that red cup all on the lawn shit.
Got a fresh cut straight out the salon, bitch.

Kanye isn’t exactly on his best behavior here. But there has never been a more iconoclastic hip-hop album, mainstream or otherwise. Yeezus zigs where everyone else would zag. Some people hate it for that; but for others—from the in media res buzzsaw intro all the way to “Bound 2”—it’s one of the most thrilling records ever made. Now hurry up with those damn croissants!

I think Yeezus is an unhealthy type 3. According to the Enneagram Institute: “Become vindictive, attempting to ruin others’ happiness. Relentless, obsessive about destroying whatever reminds them of their own shortcomings and failures. Psychopathic behavior. Generally corresponds to the Narcissistic Personality Disorder.”