HOTBED's Top 5 Albums of the Decade
HOTBED is a ~ sandy psych rock ~ band from Newark, Delaware, currently residing in Fishtown, Philadelphia.
The 10s. Where to begin?
Music is a personal time-capsule. An album evokes vivid memories taking you to a specific place in your life. For us, this decade was a rather intransitive time. High school, college, young adulthood. Throughout the formation and evolution we find our inner muse thanks to wav files & words.
We all have different tastes. The modern listener is blessed with accessibility & variety. While streaming mediums have its flaws (see accounts payable, Artists [$3.61]), we can shuffle between a plethora of genres at our discretion. The days of hitting the local FYE are long gone. At least you won’t be scowled at by a couple mall rats for buying a Dead Kennedys vinyl mixed in with Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.” Variety is dope. Embrace that shit.
Anyway where was I going with this?
Tru.
Our decade retrospection echos our songwriting process; collaborative. We all get a slice of the pie here. For a decade filled with prolific artists of all styles, putting together a top 5 can be overwhelming. We tried our best to funnel the dense catalog into a concise tasty smorgasbord.
Black Midi - Schlagenheim (2019)
Jim McKenney, drums
Being released in 2019, Schlagenheim by Black Midi has not been with us for very long. So no story about an album being by my side during formative years. But I can not remember the last time an album came out by a brand new band that fell out of the sky where I exhausted the repeat button. Schlagenheim is like the music equivalent to extracting all of the surprise twists and turns of all the M. Night Shyamalan movies and condensing them into individual songs. But instead of these surprises being fleshed out through long, climatic movies, they are presented through a sexually frustrated British teenager, yelling words he made up in your ears while a spastic, experienced drummer plays to every syllable. It’s awesome.
Joey Bada$$ - 1999 (2012)
Kevin Kruelle, keys
At the time, in 2012, 1999 was everything I had been looking for in rap/hiphop music. I remember sitting at home after high school one day and stumbled across a video with like 3,000 views called Survival Tactics. As soon as I played it I was kinda just like ‘woah’. I had that song on repeat until the full mixtape dropped. Joey was able to bring the golden age of hip hop sound back with a fresh new style and voice of a kid in high school. Joey was pretty much completely unknown before he dropped 1999, and it proved that he was one of the best in the game and just getting started.
Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)
Jon Diehl, bass
Synths, horns, & watery guitars.
At first listen this album sounds like a full 80’s pop embrace, however, beyond the light disco beats, & reverb-soaked saxophone solos, you hear an alluring context of lyrics juxtaposing the pleasures & agony of modern life. I remember hearing the title track as a Sophomore in college and gravitating towards Dan Bajar’s portrayal - or more so critique - of young people across America. "Wasting your days chasing some girls, alright/ Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world all night." Discouraged yet awestruck, Bajar’s eccentric lyrics continue on “Song for America” where “Jessica’s gone on vacation, on the dark side of town forever.” Bajar is lyrically witty while hinting at 80’s tropes of a philosophical yet physical saga in time.
The lyrics are a stark contrast from its sky-reveling, euphoric sound. This is avant garde art-rock made in pop form. And while Bejar’s voice and lyrics are dope, the instrumentation takes the cake. Though the album is harmonious and cohesive, there is no lead instrument or commanding melody.
Destroyer utilizes many textures & tones to align some sort of grandiose atmospheric soundscape. Sprinkle in some tasteful stanzas aane-wala you get a beautiful record. I will constantly dig this one up for its horizon-painting layers and idiosyncratic lyrics.
“I wrote a song for America, they told me it was clever.”
Steve Lacy - Apollo XXI (2019)
Jake Wipf, guitar & vocals
It’s my fix for the perfect blend of R&B and indie pop. I’ve always been attracted to soulful music and hearing the swift transition between hip-hop and a synthy laid-back funk sound shows the craft of Steve Lacy and what he has evolved into. It seems casual to go from a track like “Playground” to “Basement Jack.” Even though they’re different styles, it’s all under the same umbrella of his unique production style and sound while incorporating elements from the past and the present of music today.
Tame Impala - Lonerism (2012)
Everyone
Kaleidoscopic layers, dynamic crescendos, & dream-sleep vocale.
Lonerism is an album unanimously agreed upon. Not that we have contradictory views on each other’s taste, but Lonerism hits us all the same way. It came out when we were in the thick of high school, with its familiar Beatles inspired melodies, combined with forward thinking production we have never heard before. It was eye opening back when we were teens and still is in adulthood. Lonerism forever.