My Decade in Music So Far: T. Cole Rachel

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.

The Besnard Lakes: Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO [Jagjaguwar]

For some reason, The Besnard Lakes’ fourth album—much like the last War on Drugs record—never grew tiresome for me. It speaks to the album’s weird amorphous nature that it manages to suit pretty much any mood. For an aging shoegaze romanticist like myself, the celestial guitar vibes on this record were beamed straight from heaven.

Cat Power: "Manhattan" [Matador]

Full disclosure—Chan Marshall and I are old friends, so sometimes it’s hard to separate my love for her as a human being from the love I feel for the music she makes. Both of us have had our own ups and down with living in the big city, but “Manhattan” was just the love letter that I needed in 2012. The song—and the gorgeous video—remind me that it’s too easy to be cynical and snarky and jaded. Sometimes it’s important just to love something, even when it’s hard on you.

Musical Highlight of the Last Five Years: Slowdive’s Souvlaki was released in 1993—the same year I graduated high school. I listened to the album religiously while moving out of my mom’s house and going away to college. I never thought I’d see the band play live, let alone be standing side stage at the 2014 Pitchfork Festival as they played some of my all-time favorite songs in front of 20,000 people. I spent the duration of their set with tears peeking out from the corners of my eyes.

Favorite Albums of 2010-2014:

1. Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
2. Sky Ferreira: Night Time, My Time
3. Sun Kil Moon: Benji
4. The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream
5. John Maus: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
6. Beach House: Teen Dream
7. Cass McCombs: Wit's End
8. Real Estate: Atlas
9. Kurt Vile: Wakin on a Pretty Daze
10. Crystal Castles: II
11. Tame Impala: Innerspeaker
12. Lower Dens: Twin Hand Movement
13. The Knife: Shaking the Habitual
14. Goldfrapp: Tales of Us
15. Low: The Invisible Way
16. Deafheaven: Sunbather
17. The Besnard Lakes: Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO
18. Forest Swords: Engravings
19. Caveman: Caveman
20. Body/Head: Coming Apart

Favorite Tracks of 2010-2014:

1. Cass McCombs: "County Line"
2. Cat Power: "Manhattan"
3. Real Estate: "Primitive"
4. Crystal Castles: "Not in Love" [ft. Robert Smith]
5. Deerhunter: "Desire Lines"
6. Forest Swords: "Thor's Stone"
7. Beach House: "Zebra"
8. Light Asylum: "Dark Allies"
9. John Maus: "Hey Moon"
10. Mac DeMarco: "Passing Out Pieces"
11. Yo La Tengo: "The Point of It"
12. Azealia Banks: "212"
13. Lower Dens: "Blue & Silver"
14. My Bloody Valentine: "In Another Way"
15. Kurt Vile: "Girl Called Alex"
16. Sky Ferreira: "Nobody Asked Me (If I Was OK)"
17. The War on Drugs: "An Ocean in Between"
18. Robyn: "Call Your Girlfriend"
19. Sun Kil Moon: "I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same"
20. Bat For Lashes: "Laura"