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Friday, Dec 20 2019, 6AM
Good morning and happy Friday. We're counting down the top albums of the DECADE!! during today's Morning Show. This is No. 56."Leisure Seizure" was Tom Vek's second studio album and was released in June, 2011.
Number 55. This third album from the Austin quintet came out in 2010. It was recorded in L.A. with producer D. Sardy (Black Mountain, Holy F**). Watch the band perform the title track live for KEXP listeners: www.youtube.com
Number 54. The seventh full-length album by Portland band Portugal. The Man was their first in collaboration with Danger Mouse. It came out in June, 2013. Here's a review: pitchfork.com
Number 53. "Odd Blood" was Yeasayer's sophomore release; it came out early in 2010. It was eagerly awaited, following their 2007 debut, "All Hour Cymbals."
Number 52. "Love at the Bottom of the Sea" is the tenth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. Enjoy this video essay about "Andrew in Drag": www.npr.org
Number 51. Swedish singer and songwriter Lykke Li's second album, "Wounded Rhymes," came out in February, 2011. Watch the video for "I Follow Rivers": www.youtube.com
Number 50. Perhaps you've heard of this band before. Radiohead's eighth studio album came out in 2011. Here's an appreciation from 2018: www.brooklynvegan.com
Number 49. Michael Kiwanuka's "perfect" second album came out in 2016 and was nominated for The Mercury Prize in 2017. See an acoustic live version of the wonderful title song: www.youtube.com
Number 48. Foals' fourth studio album, released August 28, 2015, was released to favorable review. One critic wrote, " "For ‘What Went Down’, written in their Oxford “stinkbox”, they have found their fulcrum. Riffs. Massive, fucking heavy cavern rock riffs, the size of cathedrals and the weight of God's balls. They slammed into your eardrums like wrecking balls the first time you heard the compulsive title-track..."
Number 47. The sixth studio album from The New Pornographers, "Brill Bruisers" was released in 2014. A.C. Newman called it "a celebration record... After periods of difficulty, I am at a place where nothing in my life is dragging me down and the music reflects that." Perhaps they'll sing this song when they come to the KEXP studio for a LIVE performance at noon on Thursday, January 30th, 2020.
Number 46. "Further," came out at the beginning of the decade, on June 14th, 2010. "Just remember to fall in love...there's nothing else, nothing else..." Watch the official music video for "Swoon": www.youtube.com
Number 45. After their debut album won The Mercury Prize, Young Fathers released this extraordinary album in 2015. "As far as being boxed in, we've had to deal with that," Kayus Bankole said. "We don't want to be trapped into one particular genre. For us, we don't give a fuck about hip-hop. We don't give a fuck about indie music. We just do us." John welcomed them into the KEXP studio in 2015 to perform "Nest": www.youtube.com
Number 44. "High Violet," The National's 2010 fifth release, received glowing praise. Pitchfork said that they "remain masters of widescreen, emotionally engaging rock.": pitchfork.com
Number 43. "Bloom" was released in May, 2012 by this duo. It was the product of two years of touring and was recorded in Tornillo, Texas over seven weeks. (The band chose to record there after west Texas after being captivated by the area while resting there during a tour.) According to John, KEXP has played "Wild" 72 times since its release.
Number 42. "Serpents in my mind..." "Tramp," Sharon Van Etten's powerful third album came out int 2012.: www.youtube.com
Number 41. Santi White released this fine second studio album in the United States on May 1st, 2012.
Number 40. (It's The Top 40!!) L.A. band Lord Huron's debut album, "Lonesome Dreams," came out in 2012. The band’s name was inspired by Lake Huron, the lake which founding member Ben Schneider grew up visiting,
Number 39. This critically acclaimed sixth studio album was self-produced by Matthew Houck and was released on the critically important date of March 19, 2013. It contained the single, "Song for Zula." Watch the band perform songs from that album live in the KEXP studio: www.youtube.com
Number 38. "Go" is the debut studio album by Icelandic musician Jónsi, frontman of Sigur Rós. Out in April, 2010, the album features predominantly acoustic music and string arrangements from composer Nico Muhly. Here's a live version of "Grow Till Tall"(Notice the headwear.): www.youtube.com
Number 37. "Born in the Echoes," The Chemical
Brothers' eighth studio album, came out in 2015 after a five-year hiatus since their previous release. Billboard called it "a triumphant return": www.billboard.com
Number 36. "Swim" is the fifth studio album by Canadian musician Dan Snaith, released under the name Caribou on April 20, 2010. "Odessa" is the "chicken steak" song. If you really want to know the lyrics, they are here: genius.com
Number 35. This terrific debut album came out on April 3rd, 2012. The day before, John Richards hosted this great live in-studio session by (now) KEXP favorites The Lumineers: www.youtube.com
Number 34. Oh, hello, Josh, from Father John Misty."Fear Fun" was the first album from Josh Tillman under the name Father John Misty. (It was his eighth album, total.) It was released on April 30th, 2012.
Number 33. The fifth album from Elbow was released on March 4th, 2011 to universal acclaim. It was the follow-up to the highly successful "The Seldom Seen Kid." "I'd give my liver to see you abide and ride shotgun..." Here are the interesting lyrics to "With Love": www.metrolyrics.com
Thanks, Henry! Ahhh....the Friday song. It's been played a number of times here.
Number 32. This self-titled debut album was released in May, 2014. That wonderful voice belongs to Amelia Meath. Her colleague is producer Nick Sanborn.
Number 31. "Skying" was British band The Horrors' third album and was released on July 11th, 2011. Enjoy a long review from The Quietus here: thequietus.com Incidentally, The Horrors were live in the KEXP studio last year: www.youtube.com
Number 30. Moby's "Innocents" came out in October, 2013. Moby recorded it from between January 2012 and June 2013 in his apartment. It features several guest performers, including Cold Specks's Al Spx , Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips), Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age), and Damien Jurado. That's Wayne Coyne singing here on "The Perfect Life."
Number 29. This was Beach House's third album, but their first with Sub Pop. It was recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blonde Redhead, and a bunch of others).
Number 28. Django Django is a British quartet that formed in 2009. They released their self-titled debut album in 2012. It was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Music Prize. It was certified gold in 2012, and then platinum in 2013. Watch the band in the KEXP studio last year: www.youtube.com
Number 27. This 2011 album by French electronic musicians M83 was their sixth studio album. It's gotten lots of airplay at KEXP, with this song and "The Frog Song" ("Raconte-Moi une Histoire") as particular favorites.
Number 26. This third studio album by The War on Drugs was released on March 18th, 2014. After their second album was released to much critical acclaim, primary songwriter Adam Granduciel spent much of 2011 touring. After the tour was finished, he had a hard time adjusting to everyday life, later recounting that such feelings "started to spiral into emotional distress and physical manifestations of depression and paranoia." These feelings served as an inspiration to the lyrical themes of "Lost in the Dream." The band came to the KEXP studio in 2014 to play "Red Eyes" and other songs: www.youtube.com
Number 25. This was the debut studio album for English producer Jamie xx, released on May 29th, 2015. The album was composed during a five-year period while he was a member of the band The xx, starting with his production on "xx" in 2009.
Number 24. Phantogram's "Voices" was the second studio album by this duo. It came out on February 18th, 2014. Watch the official music video for "Black Out Days": www.youtube.com
Number 23. W-o-o-o-lf Alice's"Creature Songs" was their second extended play . It was released on May 26th, 2014 They came to the KEXP studio that year to perform "Moaning Lisa Smile" live: www.youtube.com
Number 22. "Too" is (you guessed it) Fidlar's second album. It came out on September 4th, 2015. Here's a link to Fidlar's official website: fidlarmusic.com
Number 21. This 2010 release was the third by Scottish band Frightened Rabbit. We still grieve the death of Scott Hutchison: www.theguardian.com
Number 20. The wonderfully titled "Joy as an Act of Resistance" was Idles' second album. It was released in August, 2018. The fact that it's this high on the decade playlist shows how much we've loved (and played) it.
Number 19. "My Head Is An Animal" was the debut album (September, 2011) by this Icelandic band. The album debuted in the United States at number six on the Billboard 200. marking the best chart performance for an Icelandic musical artist in U.S. history. The previous chart record was held by Björk's "Volta."
Number 18. Did you think we would get through this most-played albums of the decade without Arcade Fire? "Reflektor" was their fourth studio album and was released as a double album in October, 2013. They performed "Normal Person" live at Coachella in 2014: www.youtube.com
Number 17. LCD Soundsystem's third studio album was released in May, 2010. In this video interview, frontman James Murphy goes through the album track-by-track: www.youtube.com
Number 16. "Rise Ye Sunken Ships" is the debut album of indie rock band Augustines, released under their original band name We Are Augustines. It debuted on CD in August, 2011. Watch them performing "Chapel Song" live on KEXP from CMJ 2011: www.youtube.com
Number 15. Elbow's sixth studio album came out in March, 2014. "It's a lethal ballet..." Watch the video for "Fly Boy Blue/ Lunette": www.youtube.com
Number 14. "Eyelid Movies" is the debut studio album by electronic rock duo Phantogram. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter, who have been friends since pre-school. Trying to pick a band name, they looked up "phantogram" and found that it referred to an optical illusion in which two-dimensional images appear to be three-dimensional They noted parallels between this meaning and their band and music.
Number 13. This album, named for a German archipelago, came out on February 8th, 2010, and was Massive Attack's fifth studio album. It was their first studio album in seven years. That's Hope Sandoval singing on "Paradise Circus."
Number 12. Is it a revelation that John likes this band? "Holy Fire' was their third studio album and it came out in February, 2013. See Foals performing it live at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2013: www.youtube.com
Number 11. This terrific album by Georgia artist Ernest Green (aka Washed Out) was his debut, released in July, 2011. Enjoy a glowing review: pitchfork.com
Number 10. This masterpiece by Tim Showalter (who records as Strand of Oaks) was his fourth album and was released on June 24th, 2014. That year, John Richards welcomed him to the KEXP for a live performance that included this song, "Shut In": www.youtube.com
Number 9. This debut album came out in May, 2012. We were knocked out when they gave a live performance for KEXP VIP Club members from Seattle's Triple Door in September of that year: www.youtube.com
Number 8. "Ice on the Dune" was Empire of the Sun's second album and it came out on June 14th, 2013. You may have heard "Alive," with its very positive lyrics, on The Morning Show a few times.
Number 7. KEXP favorites The Joy Formidable released their debut album on January 24th, 2011. They were just in the KEXP studios for a live performance. Look for that session on our Youtube channel soon.
Number 6. It's number six on our most-played albums of the decade, and it's The National's sixth studio album, released on May 17th, 2013. Dive into this fine album with this track-by-track review: www.billboard.com
Number 5. "Celebration Rock" was this Vancouver, BC duo's second studio album. It came out in June, 2012. Read an American songwriter interview with the musicians and a discussion of the great "The House That Heaven Built": americansongwriter.com
Number 4. The third studio album from Canadian band arcade Fire came out on August 2nd, 2010. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards, Best International Album at the 2011 BRIT Awards, Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards, and the 2011 Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album. (Apparently, others besides KEXP fell in love with it.)
Number 3. "Seeds" was TV on the Radio's fifth studio album. It was released in November of 2014. It came after a three-year period of mourning for bassist Gerard Smith, who died of lung cancer in 2011.: www.youtube.com
Number 2. This 2010 release was Foals' second studio album. "Spanish Sahara" builds up from a ballad-like beginning before really kicking off at the end. Drummer Jack Bevan said: "We're really proud of that song. When we first wrote it, it was like any song, where we were just playing all the way through it. And then we just decided, after Yannis had nailed the lyrics, that we'd try and kick everything out except the guitars and just some ambiance at the beginning. So it builds and really kicks off at the end. For me as a drummer, it was quite hard to get the restraint to sit back and not play over the first couple of minutes and then gradually come in, but when it does kick in, it's probably the most fun part of the set to actually play."
Number 1. We've played songs off this album more than 250 times in the last ten decade. It was Deerhunter's fifth studio album and came out on September 28, 2010. The word "halcyon" denotes a time i in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful. We wish you halcyon days ahead.