Something You Said’s top albums of the decade
Another decade has passed, and it’s been a mighty good one for music. We’ve delved into our ‘Best Of’ lists over the the past ten years and have come up with our definitive top 20 LPs of the decade. This is the order in which they’ve fallen, but to be honest the exact order of this top 20 is pretty interchangeable. They are all belters!
1. DAVID BOWIE – BLACKSTAR
Looking back in retrospect about Blackstar, I try to recall what I thought of the album when it was released. I try to think of it as the brilliant but challenging record that took me ages to love rather than in the context of the black hole that Bowie’s passing subsequently created in the world. Accompanied by a phenomenal backing band, this is the sound of an icon creating something very special with total disregard of past glories or expectations of his sizeable global fan-base. From the mysterious opening title track through to the sorrowful I Can’t Give Everything Away, this is an album that took many, many listens to seep into the brain and heart. Bowie’s passing put a mirror up to our own mortality, yet his final act was to produce something so dense, you couldn’t not return multiple times and give it your undivided and repeated attention. Gary Page
2. GRIMES – VISIONS
This is the way quirky electro-pop should be done, filled with delicious melodies, pulsating basslines and atmospheric vocals which seem almost extraterrestrial. All the while producing a sense of hyperactive spontaneity. Compiled entirely by herself, this homemade masterpiece took its influence from an array of genres; RnB, dance, synth-pop, and witch house just to name a few. It was even compared to the likes of The Knife, the Cocteau Twins, Salem, Aaliyah and Prince. Quite the mixed bag of reference points really, but it does allow for one heck of an interesting combination. Grimes pinned the tail right on the donkey for this one. High freakin’ five. Liana Gow-Killingbeck
3. TAME IMPALA – LONERISM
How does a band follow up a hugely hyped first album? They’re almost doomed to fail. People want more of the greatness they heard on the first outing with evidence of growth and enough “new” elements to keep them interested. But if you go back to the idea that musicians make music because they love their art form rather than to please their fans or have commercial success, it should be a pretty natural process. Clearly it is for Tame Impala writer and producer Kevin Parker. It’s not by chance that Lonerism offers the listener total escapism. Kevin Parker understands the way music affects our brains and takes us on a trip. No doom here. Definitely no fail either. Harriet Cheney
4. SUFJAN STEVENS – CARRIE & LOWELL
Few other albums will have as much of an emotional impact on you as Carrie & Lowell. The record documents Sufjan Stevens’s often troubled relationship with his late mother and the almost lullaby arrangements on this album expose stories of neglect that simply destroy the listener with its power. The ‘Lowell’ of the title is Carrie’s second husband and Sufjan’s stepfather who was a stabilising force in Carrie’s life while also becoming her son’s greatest champion and supporter at the start of his career. It beautifully, and at times painfully, documents a son coming to terms with the end of his mother’s life with the juxtaposition of his feelings towards her years of maternal absence. Brutally honest but delivered in the most gentle way, this album isn’t embarrassed to confront real, grown up issues. Words by Gary Page
5. THE WAR ON DRUGS – LOST IN THE DREAM
Like pulling out of a city onto the motorway in the evening, where the car begins to speed up and the traffic drifts away. It’s contemplative, city-like, and erie. You may be in a car or journeying your way through a glass of red wine alone on your couch, and it’s just the right touch to any of these ‘alone’ moments. It nods to the best kind of dad music. Dire Straits, Dylan etc, this really does capture the heart of it all. Ruth Hodge and Golden Lady
6. FIRST AID KIT – STAY GOLD
Such is the dexterity of the songwriting and so vast is this album’s landscape of emotion that it can soundtrack times of heartbroken fragility as well as those chest-beating moments when you feel like you can take on the entire world single-handed. Bobby Townsend
7. LORDE – PURE HEROINE
“I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air,” New Zealander Lorde tells us. In a time when popular music lyrics were so heavily based around generic good times or flashing the cash, this record was a celebration of counting shrapnel on the way to hang out with true friends… small-town truths and defiant optimism of which Jarvis Cocker would be proud. While her second album shot Lorde into the stratosphere, this debut LP was a much-needed breath of fresh air. Bobby Townsend
8. SHAME – SONGS OF PRAISE
Songs of Praise offers sharp lyrics and venomous vocals, delivered via thrilling post-punk with nuances, gothic edges and inventive tangents. Bobby Townsend
9. ST VINCENT – ST VINCENT
Annie Clark’s eponymous fourth album, produced alongside John Congleton, further established her as one of the most daring and exciting musicians around. The record won heaps of accolades including Album of the Year awards from The Guardian, Sunday Times Culture, NME, DIY Magazine, Mojo, Uncut and Q. Not bad! Jayne Cheeseman
10. SOLANGE – A SEAT AT THE TABLE
A Seat At The Table is a stunning piece of righteous soul music. Essential! Neil Martin
11. KENDRICK LAMAR – TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY
Not only is this a harmonious culmination of his ability to spit verses, but also his smooth voice. The production on this album is supreme, and is pieced together in such a way that you’re taken into the heart of each song. Annastasia Robertson
12. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – AMERICAN DREAM
American Dream is energetic and murky and futuristic and reminiscent and represents an absolute triumph of a comeback. Bobby Townsend
13. FATHER JOHN MISTY – I LOVE YOU HONEYBEAR
Josh Tillman delivered another album filled with razor sharp, witty and occasionally cruel lyrical observations. The music still followed the alt-country blueprint of Fear Fun but introduced a few more elements of electronica into the mix, balancing on the tightrope between self-obsession and out-and-out lyrical genius. Gary Page
14. COURTNEY BARNETT – SOMETIMES I SIT AND THINK AND SOMETIMES I JUST SIT
Courtney Barnett is a national treasure. I know for a fact she will go down in music history as one of the very best quintessential Australian acts. Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit is flecked with Courtney’s usual everyday observations, sarcastic thoughts and dry humour. The album is catchy and honest, and will have you easily singing along, goofing off in your bedroom. Melissa Barrass
15. BEYONCE – LEMONADE
It’s about race. It’s about infidelity. It’s an audio/visual tour de force from Beyonce. Absolutely vital. Bobby Townsend
16. FKA TWIGS – LP1
This album is not only a stellar first insight into her auto luminescent mind but it also resonates with me. I was going through the tail end of a lengthy breakup, sobbing the lyrics ‘give me two weeks you, won’t recognise heeeeeer’ while ice cream dripped unceremoniously down my chin and into my dignity that had already fled into a messy puddle on the floor. Epitome of class and elegance, she got me through. Kaya Strehler
17. SHARON VAN ETTEN – ARE WE THERE
Haunting and filled with harmonies, Are We There is an album of exceptional intimacy, sublime generosity and immense breadth. The record documents a crumbling relationship and speaks of the impossible decisions, anticipation and resolutions that come along with this. It is a journey that transports you down to the darkness of Van Etten’s experience. Intimate and personal, it is beautifully vulnerable. Katie Helps
18. ARCADE FIRE – REFLEKTOR
Co-produced by James Murphy and based on the sounds and experiences of a journey through the Caribbean, Reflektor sounds like nothing you’ve heard before. Sure it is still stacked with superb lyrical finesse and melodies that are oh-so Arcade Fire, but compared to the more conventional indie sounding Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs, Reflektor is a walk off the beaten into a dangerous new realm. Claire Little
19. UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA – II
Nothing floats about unnecessarily, every sentence feels purposeful, every chord change oddly effective. The guitars sound like they’re being fed through mini Orange amps and all manner of reconstructed guitar pedals being stomped on for that ‘weirdo’ super sonic magic, more synonymous with bands like The Bees or MGMT. Parts of the record recalls early Beck, Mellow Gold era. Really gorgeous and pleasing, blues-tinged, solar powered, indie magic. Golden Lady
20. CAR SEAT HEADREST – TEENS OF DENIAL
This is an indie-rock masterpiece. Filled to the brim with inspired guitar-riffs, anthemic ballads, and clever reflections of 20-something life, it’s the type of album that you can listen to repeatedly and still find a rapturous sense of beginning anew. But these subtleties are not by accident, they’re the work of a deft, meticulous and incredibly talented songwriter. Thank you, Will Toledo.
