My Decade in Music So Far: Joel Oliphint

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This week, Pitchfork shared lists featuring the best albums and tracks of the decade so far. We asked Pitchfork writers and editors to share a favorite song and album that didn't make the list, along with a music highlight and their personal Top 10s or 20s. Check back for more installments of My Decade in Music So Far.

Bill Fay: Life Is People [Dead Oceans]

Producer Joshua Henry grew up listening to English songwriter Bill Fay’s two albums from the early ’70s, and that reverence comes through in this record’s restraint and brittle beauty. Henry got out of the way when he should (see Fay’s solo piano version of Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.”) and added a gospel choir or a string quartet only if it helped. On Fay’s first proper studio album in 40 years, his subject matter feels particularly relevant in 2014 as he pleads for mercy on behalf of the suffering. (Fay also donated his share of the record’s proceeds to Médecins Sans Frontières.) “Something’s gotta happen soon—something to set us free from this world”, he sings. Like Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits, Fay never lost his vigor as the decades passed. He just kept it hidden till now.

Divine Fits: "My Love Is Real" [Merge]

When two of indie rock’s greatest frontmen, Britt Daniel and Dan Boeckner, teamed up with drummer Sam Brown (previously one of Columbus, Ohio’s best-kept secrets), my expectations were high. This leadoff track from A Thing Called Divine Fits satisfied on every level—the locked-in groove and open space of every Spoon song ever; Boeckner’s ear for synth-pop hooks; and lyrically, there’s perhaps no better summation of how and why relationships end than this: “My love is real… until it stops”.

Musical Highlight of the Last Five Years: 

The top highlight? I’m unable to make that claim without qualifications. But last weekend, in a parking lot in Columbus, I watched a red-faced, bug-eyed Ron House lead the reunited Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments through a short but blistering set of songs from Bait and Switch while Bob Pollard stood front and center below the stage pumping his fist and playing air guitar. When House eventually brought Pollard on stage to sing “Cheater’s Heaven” with him, I don’t know if I’ve smiled wider. 

Favorite Albums of 2010-2014:

1. Bon Iver: Bon Iver
2. Strand of Oaks: Pope Killdragon
3. Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City
4. Bill Callahan: Dream River
5. Bill Fay: Life Is People
6. Bill Callahan: Apocalypse
7. Volcano Choir: Repave
8. Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz
9. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
10. Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
11. Jason Isbell: Southeastern
12. Spoon: Transference
13. Doug Paisley: Strong Feelings
14. Rhye: Woman
15. Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation
16. The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream
17. Divine Fits: A Thing Called Divine Fits
18. Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt
19. Phosphorescent: Muchacho
20. Cold Specks: I Predict a Graceful Expulsion

Favorite Tracks of 2010-2014:

1. Kurt Vile: "Wakin on a Pretty Day"
2. Divine Fits: “My Love is Real”
3. Rhye: "Open"
4. Bon Iver: "Perth"
5. Father John Misty: "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"
6. Strand of Oaks: "Kill Dragon"
7. Daft Punk: "Get Lucky" [ft. Pharrell]
8. Bill Callahan: "The Sing"
9. Spoon: "Written in Reverse"
10. The War on Drugs: "Red Eyes"
11. Yo La Tengo: "Ohm"
12. Youth Lagoon: "17"
13. Vampire Weekend: "Step"
14. Haim: "The Wire"
15. Guided By Voices: "Keep It in Motion"
16. Wussy: “Teenage Wasteland”
17. Strand of Oaks: "Sterling"
18. Kanye West: "Monster" [ft. Justin Vernon, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj]
19. Jason Isbell: "Cover Me Up"
20. Bon Iver: "Beth/Rest"