My Decade in Music So Far: Evan Minsker

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.

Jessica Pratt: Jessica Pratt [Birth]

The story goes that when Tim Presley (White Fence) heard Jessica Pratt's self-titled album, originally recorded in 2007, he decided that he had to release it. It's a quiet record, but it makes total sense why Presley would dump his resources into getting it out there. These are beautiful songs, fingerpicked and sung by a woman whose voice is so warm and singular. It's an album you push toward everybody you know to make sure they're aware of its existence. I'm concerned that I'm going to wear out my copy of this record. It has become a frequent habit to drink coffee and enjoy an afternoon while it's on.

One of my favorite shows I saw in the past five years was Pratt. She was hunched over her guitar and a microphone, sitting in an alarmingly humid MOCAD, barefoot, singing these songs while her hair obscured her face. Hearing those songs in person after living with them for a while was a legitimately moving experience. The newer stuff sounded good, too.

Thee Oh Sees: "The Dream" [In the Red]

On one hand, it's hard to pick a favorite Oh Sees song in a five-year period when they made Floating Coffin and Putrifiers II. It could've been "Lupine Dominus" or "No Spell" or "Contraption/Soul Desert". But then, "The Dream" is the obvious choice. In many ways, it's their apex—pure momentum for scaling hills and driving fast and knocking over mailboxes. It's an incredible song and a symbol of what John Dwyer and co. are capable of at the height of their power.

My Music Highlight of the Last Five Years: In 2010, I moved to Michigan. When I first got here, I'd go see touring bands in Detroit, but would leave feeling less-than-excited. That's probably why it felt so invigorating to see local, sometimes-unknown bands playing incredible shows in small rooms to packed crowds. Perhaps my favorite of all these happened in January during that brutal, never-ending polar vortex. Protomartyr, Haunted Leather (R.I.P.), Chit Chat, and Bad Indians played a poorly ventilated, cigarette-choked warehouse space near Zingerman's Bakehouse. It was the dude from PRTYNGG! Records' birthday party, but it was a weekend and I was drunk on keg beer while watching all my favorite local bands. People said hello and I left with a Bad Indians tape, the new Chit Chat 7", and a Haunted Leather t-shirt in the too-big pockets of my oversized winter coat. It felt like my birthday.

Also, my wedding.

Favorite Albums of 2010-2014:

1. Protomartyr: No Passion All Technique
2. Ty Segall Band: Slaughterhouse
3. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city
4. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. Thundercat: Apocalypse
6. Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo
7. Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma
8. Tame Impala: Lonerism
9. Dum Dum Girls: I Will Be
10. Majical Cloudz: Impersonator
11. Jessica Pratt: Jessica Pratt
12. Action Bronson / Party Supplies: Blue Chips
13. Sun Kil Moon: Benji
14. Mac DeMarco: 2
15. OFF!: First Four EPs
16. Drake: Take Care
17. Thee Oh Sees: Carrion Crawler/The Dream
18. Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
19. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica
20. Twerps: Twerps

Favorite Tracks of 2010-2014:

1. John Maus: "Believer"
2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "Round and Round"
3. Action Bronson: "Larry Csonka"
4. Thee Oh Sees: "The Dream"
5. Mac DeMarco: "Ode to Viceroy"
6. Ty Segall Band: "I Bought My Eyes"
7. Bill Callahan: "Riding For the Feeling"
8. Schoolboy Q: "There He Go"
9. Tyvek: "Say Yeah"
10. Kanye West: "All of the Lights"
11. Dum Dum Girls: "Season In Hell"
12. Sky Ferreira: "I Blame Myself"
13. Jai Paul: "Jasmine"
14. Chairlift: "I Belong in Your Arms"
15. 2 Chainz: "Feds Watching" [ft. Pharrell]
16. Parquet Courts: "Stoned and Starving"
17. Rick Ross: "Keys to the Crib" [ft. Styles P]
18. Chit Chat: "Attitude"
19. Courtney Barnett: "Avant Gardener"
20. J Mascis: "Is It Done"