Best of 2010 • The albums we adored pt. I

A lot of painstaking thought went into compiling this list: the fifty albums of 2010, made by or prominently featuring women, that really knocked our socks off. Some did it quietly and with heart, others by sheer force of will, but all of them got under our skins and stayed there. In this first part, we count down from 50 to 26. Let us know what you think.

Honourable mentions | 25–1

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[Bella Union; January 2010]

“Like all the best summer landscapes, July Flame dances across fields and prairies, busy with buffalo and bees and coloured with peaches, wood smoke and fireflies animating the rural planes of its songs. Though it resonates with inner desires of the heart, the living, changing landscape of the seasonal outdoors is also explored, a metaphor that captures both the welcome joy of summer and its impermanent nature.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Carol Kaye’, ‘Where Are You Driving?’, ‘I Can See Your Tracks’

Read our interview with Laura

[Nettwerk; July 2010]

“From the warm groove and banjo picking of lead track ‘Firecracker’ onwards, the whole album feels as if it’s come from an earlier era. There is a strong whiff of the authentic about it in the very best way. Ford’s vocal contributions to The Be Good Tanyas have always been in the realms of quavering colour, and here the only difference is a choice of material that reveals the richness of the soul in her dues-paid folk. Add a little country, bluegrass and gospel to the mix, and the end result is a recipe ripe with cultural folklore.” – Martyn Clayton

Try these: ‘Firecracker’, ‘Gospel Song’, ‘Lost Together’

[Smalltown Supersound; January 2010]

“Real Life Is No Cool listens like a potted history of the disco movement, but rarely sounds dated. Sure, to a Lindstrøm virgin it might reek of Studio 54 and poppers, but step down from your white Palomino and there’s a rich and subtle album here. Real life may not be all that, but Lindstrøm and Christabelle’s ray of illuminated disco heaven definitely is.” – Seb Law

Try these: ‘Music In My Mind’, ‘Baby Can’t Stop’, ‘Keep It Up’

[J; November 2010]

“Jazmine Sullivan may be more familiar to her native US audience than to we Brits, but second album Love Me Back should go some way towards remedying this. Sullivan brings a genuine strength to everywoman themes in the empowering ‘Good Enough’ and the softer, endearing ‘Stuttering’, and though she can claim a healthy portion of the writing credits on Love Me Back, her vocals are the true power here, rich with heart and passionate with the same fevered drive that has made Aretha Franklin such a legendary figure.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ’10 Seconds’, ‘Holding You Down (Goin’ In Circles)’, ‘Luv Back’

[Tzadik; February 2010]

“As with much of Honda’s solo work, Heart Chamber Phantoms is focused on instrumental creations and is only sparsely accompanied by vocals, always hushed and curious. Yet it ticks all of the boxes – it is captivating, innovative and displays true emotion. Yuka Honda does not distract herself with the sometimes evident superficiality of electronic music and gets straight to the point with a heartfelt take on reminiscence that leaves the listener peculiarly touched.” – Anja McCloskey

Try these: ‘Phantom With An Armor’, ‘Don’t Be So Naïve’, ‘Little Hope’

[Park The Van; February 2010]

“Conceived during a drive along the Montauk highway while listening to Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde, the album was intended to sound like the experimental lovechild of Dylan and Deerhoof, and both sides of the genepool run deep here; a ‘hoofian jittery, spluttery percussion style perfectly complements the bold and visionary lyrical approach that has unmistakably been formed from years of exposure to Dylan, the way fine wine is imbued with the scent of the oak barrels in which it is matured. And much like fine wine, the effect of East Is East creeps up on you gradually, with a pleasingly slow-burning intoxication.” – Katy Knight

Try these: ‘Lost River’, ‘Shake This’, ‘Coal To Diamonds’

[Brille/Rabid; March 2010]

“For all its grand performances, Tomorrow, In A Year is clearly not an opera. Many classical elements are present but the synthetic looping approach, actions replaced by abstract images and feelings, and addition of non-operatic vocals make this album more of an avant-garde, high-art musical. Nevertheless, The Knife’s inventive forms of expression, sense of catchy rhythms, and gift for choosing the right collaborators make Tomorrow, In A Year a rewarding trip through human and musical history that, like all the most startling works, strikes a highly-evolved balance between complexity and simplicity.” – Tomas Slaninka

Try these: ‘Colouring Of Pigeons’, ‘Annie’s Box’, ‘Variation Of Birds’

[Siltbreeze; February 2010]

“On first listen, the patriotic, sorority evoking moniker of Philadelphia-based DIY ingénue Megan Remy seems rather discrepant. Go Grey is nine songs long, full of hissing feedback, lashings of reverb and stripped back, high impact, psychedelic noise. But this second album, from an artist who allegedly carries all the equipment she needs in one suitcase, actually harbours many a thread of Stateside originated genres. With hallucinogenic sounds evoking the futuristic space-age pop that rose out of the ’60s and ’70s, fused with the kind of ’50s-inspired lo-fi experimental punk styles that are currently raging, Go Grey glitters with veins of discernable influences but manages to sound avant-garde and decidedly original all the same.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Red Ford Radio’, ‘I Don’t Have A Mind Of My Own’, ‘Blues Eyes On The Boulevard’

[Nonesuch; June 2010]

“Homeland does not flaunt its politics, nor does it exaggerate its personal, emotional qualities. Instead, it’s a much defter and more subtle work capable of simultaneously providing accessible entertainment and challenging the listener’s heart and head. Of course it will have its detractors who will declaim it as pretentious and, god forbid, ‘arty’, but the fact that Anderson is still putting out music that is intelligent, thought-provoking, sometimes intensely sad, often hilariously funny and bizarre, is a cause for celebration.” – Matt Barton

Try these: ‘Only An Expert’, ‘Thinking Of You’, ‘Transitory Life’

[ACT; March 2010]

“Returning after a five-year absence, Josefine Cronholm has gone back to the source of her being to tap into a vibe that’s uncluttered and sophisticated, bridging the gap between lush chamber pop, stark folk and jazz with a personal touch that feels pure and intuitive rather than forced. Atop these compositions, Cronholm’s fragile voice arises as light and graceful as the falling feather of the title, perhaps to be savoured as a delicacy at first but soon becoming warm and familiar over successive listens. An intensely personal minor masterpiece.” – Sabine de Greef

Try these: ‘Paralysed’, ‘Sailor’, ‘Mystery’

[Wichita Recordings; August 2010]

“As the Love Heart-candy platitude of the title suggests, Crazy For You radiates with infatuation. The hum-along first single ‘Boyfriend’ is indicative of the album as a whole; crushes, breakups and summer sun sentiments fill the songs of Crazy For You with the kind of teen-holiday yearning that ranges from heart-thudding need on ‘I Want To’ and lonesome pining on ‘Bratty B’ to a lazy haze of sunbathed contentment on ‘Our Deal’.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Boyfriend’, ‘The End’, ‘Honey’

[Kill Rock Stars; October 2010]

“It is clear from the outset that 1,000 Years marks a new phase in Tucker’s musical career. These are not Sleater-Kinney songs under a new moniker; their closest relatives, SK-wise, are the uncharacteristically muted tracks that closed 2000’s All Hands On The Bad One. Ultimately, though, there is plenty here to please old fans and new fans alike. Don’t come expecting The Woods Mk. 2 and you may well be quietly wowed by the intimacy, variety and subtlety on offer.” – Danny Weddup

Try these: ‘Doubt’, ‘Riley’, ’1,000 Years’

[Ba Da Bing!; September 2010]

“Sharon Van Etten’s debut album Because I Was In Love could have grounded her audience in a state of utter dejection were it not for the strange euphoric feeling of having just discovered one of those artists who can touch you profoundly with even the slightest shift in tone. Barely a year has passed and Van Etten is back with the aptly titled Epic. Despite comprising a mere seven tracks, the disc lives up to its name by the sheer grandeur of the songwriting. Who knew Van Etten had such confidence in her? Seemingly having passed the stage of discomfiting mourning, a powerful sense of catharsis evaporates from this collection of songs.” – Anja McCloskey

Try these: ‘Don’t Do It’, ‘Dsharpg’, ‘Love More’

[Memphis Industries; October 2010]

Despite being one of the first to spearhead the retrostalgic lo-fi girl band sound that everyone’s now crushing on, the first twenty seconds of this debut solo LP make it clear that Frankie Rose is aiming for something way more inventive than a surf-punk hat-trick. While Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast and Rose’s original trio Vivian Girls are riding the crests of a now tried and true format, Rose has pushed away from the shore and aimed upwards, for something a little more transcendental. An undoubtedly potent and blissfully exultant solo debut.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Candy’, ‘Lullaby For Roads & Miles’, ‘Girlfriend Island’

[Bella Union; June 2010]

“Notoriously lonely but honourable creatures, mountain men would, as legend has it, help those in need whilst living in the wild, and this sense of isolation is suitably conveyed on Made The Harbor, helped by the fact that these songs were recorded in an old abandoned factory. With just a guitar supporting the harmonies and swathes of natural space surrounding their slow melodies and tranquil demeanour, one assumes an instant calm. Made The Harbor is a safety net for all those lost souls who are not sure what this ‘life’ thing is all about.” – Anja McCloskey

Try these: ‘Soft Skin’, ‘Animal Tracks’, ‘How’m I Doin’

[XL; July 2010]

“Moving consciously away from the more ethnic song-fabrics of her earlier albums, these influences are instead tucked neatly into the airtight production to really colour the work rather than dominate it. M.I.A. may still have a long way to go before being embraced as a sort of sonic Joan of Arc of the people (perhaps “the Lady Godiva of the digital age” will do for now), but in delivering such a ballsy, coherent and unignorable album as /\/\ /\ Y /\ she has really laid bare a few home truths and given us all something to gawp at. That we can also dance ourselves silly to it is really just a bonus.” – Léigh Bartlam

Try these: ‘XXXO’, ‘It Takes A Muscle’, ‘Teqkilla’

[Mexican Summer; October 2010]

“On their debut album, San Francisco-based duo Tamaryn meld the best of shoegaze with a stylishly dark sensibility and subtle electronics. Subdued and ethereal, the vocals mainly exist beneath a solid wall of noisy instrumentation yet retain the ability to convey enticing melody. Quite where the band take their electro-noir approach to the wall of sound next could be an interesting journey; Tamaryn’s sensual voice holds great potential, and it may be worth placing it slightly more centre-stage next time around. If not, it’s no real issue. It all sounds really quite lovely and intriguing as it is.” – Mark Bullock

Try these: ‘Love Fade’, ‘Sandstone’, ‘Dawning’

[Fonal; September 2010]

“With her fourth album Keraaminen Pää, Merja Kokkonen did what she’d been threatening to do for a while now and moved further away from the lo-fi, freeform folk that established her at the forefront of the surprisingly diverse freak-folk scene in Finland. Some people didn’t appreciate the amped up electronic aspects of her sound or that her vocals were pushed much higher in the mix, suggesting that these alterations made Kokkonen’s music ordinary. One listen to the devastatingly beautiful ‘Pimeyttä kothi’, however, reveals that nothing could be further from the truth.” – Alan Pedder

Try these: ‘Pimeyttä kohti’, ‘Dadahuulet’, ‘Joku toi radion’

[Polydor; May 2010]

“If the first Crystal Castles was the ferocious, epileptic bastard child of Alice Glass and Ethan Kath, this new LP is the maturing adolescent who has managed to find their way onto somewhat safer ground, with moments of dreamy calm glowing unexpectedly in places, even if the Ritalin side effects are still humming wildly in others. Rather than hurtle themselves even further into the depths of hostile, nihilistic sonic warfare, Glass and Kath have moved towards something surprisingly more accessible.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Celestica’, ‘Baptism’, ‘Doe Deer’

[Vicious Circle; November 2010]

“Scarcely a year has passed since her last album Honeybee Girls and Shannon Wright has already re-emerged from her laboratory having pieced together this newest creation. Where the former was a charming Frankenstein’s monster of ideas and influences plucked from every stage of her winding career, Secret Blood is an altogether more cohesive beast. The lace gloves are off with a raucous, angular sound not heard from Wright since 2001’s Dyed In The Wool, a sound that lingers long in the mind as the terrible beauty she clearly intended.” – Terry Mulcahy

Try these: ‘Fracture’, ‘Violent Colours’, ‘Merciful Secret Blood Of A Nobleman’

[Names; August 2010]

“Each of the ten tracks that make up Own Side Now bear the distinctive characteristics of a woman already quite sure of who she is, giving the album a rich and natural quality that seems almost paradoxical for someone who has grown up in the digital age. Rose’s songs sound more like an antidote to technology, a retaliation to what her generation is “supposed” to sound like. But Rose is far more than just another retro copyist; her perspective is disarmingly fresh and invigorating, enough to open up a wide-eyed view of the world so far removed from her Facebook-toting peers. It’s a raw yet well-produced ride through one’s first real experience of love, but done in such a way that will have us all reminiscing, musically and otherwise.” – Anna Claxton

Try these: ‘Learning To Ride’, ‘For The Rabbits’, ‘Shanghai Cigarettes’

[Nonesuch; March 2010]

“The relationship between poetry and song lyrics has often been viewed as a vexed one. Do poems ever gain anything by being set to music? Leave Your Sleep answers that question with a resounding affirmative. While it’s possible that an album featuring songs about rubagub trees, talking bears and sleepy giants might initially put some listeners off, sustained engagement gradually reveals the breadth and depth of Leave Your Sleep’s humane vision. There’s something very moving about Merchant’s achievement in getting these poems to resonate across so many genres, to find Edward Lear newly established as the co-author of a bracing country hoedown, or to hear a Victorian children’s rhyme dynamically reggae-fied.” – Alex Ramon

Try these: ‘The Sleepy Giant’, ‘The Janitor’s Boy’, ‘If No One Ever Marries Me’

[Mom&Pop/NEET; June 2010]

“Treats is, by any reasonable standards of recording fidelity, a horrible-sounding record. Nearly every sound on this debut album by Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells is saturated with distortion. You know how music sounds when you play it on crappy laptop speakers at maximum volume? That’s what every single track on Treats sounds like – at any volume. But if all that screams style over substance, fortunately Sleigh Bells have not misplaced the tunes. Everything here is built around a catchy, simple refrain that’s liable to lodge itself in the listener’s head.” – Christopher Monk

Try these: ‘Rill Rill’, ‘Infinity Guitars’, ‘Treats’

[Doomtree/Rhymesayers; January 2010]

“Dessa, born Margret Wander, is the only female member of Minneapolis hip hop collective Doomtree, though as she’s pointed out recently, she’d rather be your favourite MC than your favourite female MC. Comprehensively, this is a intricate, bare-bones debut throbbing with raw emotions and the most exquisite wordplay you’ll hear this year. From the disturbing to the seductive, Dessa’s tales are refined and delivered through an intelligent, eloquent syntax, every song rich with painstaking detail and an introspective polemic too self-aware to skirt anywhere near indulgent.” – Charlotte Richardson Andrews

Try these: ‘Dixon’s Girl’, ‘Matches To Paper Dolls’, ‘The Bullpen’

Read our interview with Dessa

[Wichita Recordings; January 2010]

“The theory that there must something in the Baltic air that imbues Swedish teenagers with maturity and wisdom beyond their years might seem like a fanciful piece of romantic stereotyping…until you take a listen to The Big Black & The Blue. Whether they’re oddly unique or an example of some larger national characteristic, there’s no doubt that Klara and Johanna Söderberg write songs which suggest a much older provenance. First Aid Kit might not believe in anything bigger than the evolved world around them, but their lyrics are sometimes full of magical wonder. And it’s these moments of wide-eyed, naïve pleasure that ultimately sound more convincing than their attempts at world-weary resignation. Nevertheless, The Big Black & The Blue feels beautifully heartfelt throughout. A sparkling, complete and accomplished debut.” – Martyn Clayton

Try these: ‘Hard Believer’, ‘Ghost Town’, ‘I Met Up With A King’

Tagged best coast, caitlin rose, crazy for you, crystal castles, dessa, first aid kit, frankie rose and the outs, frazey ford, heart chamber phantoms, homeland, islaja, jazmine sullivan, josefine cronholm, july flame, keraaminen paa, laura veirs, laurie anderson, love me back, made the harbor, MIA, mountain man, natalie merchant, obadiah, own side now, planningtorock, secret blood, shannon wright, sharon van etten, sleigh bells, tamaryn, the corin tucker band, the knife, tomorrow in a year, treats, u.s. girls, yuka honda