The decade is almost over, miraculously, and there had never been another one whose art would soundtrack my life with such dogged devotedness. With its highlights and lowlights. Loves and hates. Records, movies, books. So to celebrate it all, if that is even possible, I am going to do a few lists of things that had the biggest impact on me over these last ten years. No order, though do believe me - confining it all to such a small number was fucking hard.
MUSIC
Nick Cave - Skeleton Tree (2016)
In the end, it is the second album of the trilogy that moves me the most. Hearing Nick Cave perform "Rings Of Saturn" live will surely go down as one of the highlights of my life.
John Moore - Lo-Fi Lullabies / Floral Tributes (2014)
Two albums released on the same day by the most underrated songwriter currently in business. Just thinking about these songs sends shivers down my spine.
Mirel Wagner - Mirel Wagner (2011)
This is not just a modern folk classic for a rainy day in late autumn. The stark melodicism here is astonishing, and timeless.
Cold Specks - Neuroplasticity (2014)
One of the biggest musical disappointments of the decade was Cold Specks' third LP. All the more reason to appreciate this dark and rich and jazzy and soulful masterpiece.
The North Sea Scrolls - The North Sea Scrolls (2012)
Two great songwriters working on a bonkers concept that has to be heard to be believed. Incidentally, some of the best songs ever written.
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
One of the rare cases when universal acclaim did not lie. This really was as good as they told you. I remember seeing her perform the title song a few months before the album's release. Odd black outfit, lyrics about Constantinople... You just knew it would be a classic.
Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light (2012)
You can have your Lazer Guided Melodies and Ladies And Gentlemen... This, to me, had Jason Pierce's best songs. "Hey Jane" is worth the admission price alone.
The Indelicates - David Koresh Superstar (2011)
I could have gone for Songs For Swinging Lovers here - arguably, though, this bizarre concept album about a 90s religious cult in America was even stronger. More songs, too.
The Wave Pictures - A Season In Hull (2016)
A very personal choice, of course, but over this decade The Wave Pictures grew to be something of a favourite band. These impressionistic, melodic, laid-back songs work like medicine. Or cocaine. Or whatever.
The Delines - Colfax (2014)
Music for a late evening following a hot day in July. Big city, tired lights. Get it. Get in on vinyl.
FILMS
Holy Motors (2012) / Leos Carax
I went to the cinema with no idea what I was going to see and I came out with a feeling I had just been through the greatest cinematic experience of my life. Accordion in the church? The Sparks song? Eva Green scene? The latex dance? For better or for worse, this will stay with me forever.
Boyhood (2014) / Richard Linklater
This is not just about a gimmick. This is the quintessential coming-of-age film.
Personal Shopper (2016) / Olivier Assayas
All the conversations that Kristen Stewart cannot act should have stopped right after this film. She was brilliant here. Personal Shopper should go down in history as a cult classic.
The Master (2012) / Paul Thomas Anderson
I watched this one in a London cinema, and there was a point early in the film when I began to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. People were looking at me like I was insane - but this was simply my reaction to greatness.
The Irishman (2019) / Martin Scorsese
Three and a half hours, and yet I could not look away. To me, the quintessential Scorsese movie.
Ida (2013) / Paweł Pawlikowski
I am a big fan of Polish cinema, and there were several contenders I could include here. This year's Corpus Christi, for instance, was utterly brilliant. Still, Ida it is, if only for the hypnotism that has not weakened over the years.
The Great Beauty (2013) / Paolo Sorrentino
The kind of great beauty that only Italy can truly express.
The Frenchman (2019) / Andrei Smirnov
My favourite Russian language film of the decade is a stylish black and white swansong from Andrei Smirnov. This is a very timely reminder of the Soviet Union in the 50s. Some of the performances, too, are out of this world.
Part 8 (Twin Peaks) (2017) / David Lynch
Technically, not a film. Just the greatest visual experience of the decade.
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) / Peter Strickland
This is a very unsettling and extremely underrated British film that toys with your nerves, gets under your skin and stays there. Toby Jones in the role of his life.
BOOKS
John Banville, Ancient Light (2012)
They say John Banville is always writing one book. Maybe so - but what a book that is.
Javier Marias, The Infatuations (2011)
Having spent quite a few months this decade entangled in Javier Marias's prose, I would not trust any best-of-decade list that overlooked The Infatuations.
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (2011)
Like Pnin or Seize The Day, one of the most perfect short novels in existence.
Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers (2013)
If books had balls, they would be called The Flamethrowers.
Daniel James, The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas (2018)
Would be too fucked up were it not so remarkably clever. House Of Leaves fans will feel right at home here.
Mark Haddon, Pier Falls (2016)
George Saunders and David Szalay had some good ones, but this was the greatest short story collection I read this past decade.
Michel Houellebecq, Submission (2015)
Uncompromising French literature at its provocative best. Horrifying dystopia for the modern times.
John Niven, Straight White Male (2013)
Well, I laughed and I cried. In my eyes, John Niven's best book.
David Grossman, A Horse Walks Into a Bar (2014)
A stand-up comedian undergoing a complete existential collapse onstage - intriguing set-up and an even better resolution.
Martin Amis, Lionel Asbo (2012)
Not his best by any stretch, but this could well be Amis's most entertaining novel since The Information. And, in the midst of all the violence and swearing, there is real raw emotion. 'Who let the dogs in?..'
BONUS - 5 Best Music Books
My Big Midweek (2014) by Steve Hanley
Grant & I (2017) by Robert Forster
M Train (2015) by Patti Smith
Morrissey (2013) by Morrissey
Post Everything (2011) by Luke Haines
