Unbelievable E.P. but apparently it's an album. This artist could well and truly have made the album of the decade with one of his other efforts. Let's focus on this one for now - all will be revealed soon.
Morning pays tribute to the artists Indian heritage - with a stunning vocal that comes in over a clementinian beat and lasts 20 minutes. I used to play this track when I DJ'd at Bobwundaye each Thursday in Taipei - it really allowed me to speak to other people and get away from the decks.
Evening wavers organically, recalling Animal Collective, before giving some more mesmerising Indian opera vocals. Consequently, beats come in freeflow like evening rain. Consequently, moreover, furthermore, in essence, on the whole, in a nutball.
Was listening to this today and felt svelte. This is smooth rhythm & blues sans thuglife. The song "Back to the Future" will feature on my compilation of the decade that I am soon to make. A track about going back to how you once were - I've been trying to do that for 10 years now and ironically this list has brought me right back to it.
Maybe my decade best songs list will be a mix, maybe a desert island disk. Maybe a suffusion or deconstruction of all three courses traditionally served over a set meal and then wolfed down like an alligator. Not sure.
One thing I am sure about is how much this artist means to me. I used to borrow CD's from the local library and burn them to Minidisc (if anyone remembers that !?!) when I was 17. In 2000 they had got in Voodoo - at the turn of the decade! Just in time for tastemaking! It was a brand new album among a load of scratchy ones like Moon Safari and OK Computer. I listened and got hooked. Then fourteen years later, cuntwolf follows it up and we're covered in glory again!
44.VAMPIRE WEEKEND - MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY (2013)
Christmas is inspiring me to bring this album to the fore. Back in 2013, when I worked at a kindergarten, I taught K1, the youngest group at the school. We had to put on a winter performance in an ampitheater to the parents and I went for The Snowman, a timeless animation, but in mine I featured a silly penguin so the kids could do a stupid dance. And from thereonin, in a posh university came a day with a flaming hangover - but my Canadian boss played Modern Vampires Of The City between the intervals and before the opener, as the parents were arriving - and, suddenly, christmas hit. The timelessness of this album is just timeless. It's the bands third album and certainly hitting "maturity" - there's less gimmicks, about 7 life-affirming tracks - it would be the best album of all time if it had 12/12 - those 7 are that good - but for me this is all about the memory of that kindergarten show we pulled off like whoa.
45. CORNERSHOP - CORNERSHOP & THE DOUBLE 'O' GROOVE OF (2011) Cornershop gave a great Punjabi album here. It's the best band name in history maybe. Famous for Brimful of Asha in the nineties, I've tried to enthuse to so many people about the validity of the statement that they're one of the best British bands of their generation, but I usually get curried for it.
There is an inherent funk to this LP that has to be span to be experienced. The intensity and then looseness and sheer smorgasbord of colour on this teapot effort sends Darjeeling down my spine. I used to chuck a couple of these cuts on, when DJ'ing in Taipei and it always raised an eyebrow, while it shimmied my hips. I wanted to sway with the yoga teacher after the picnic we'd had - have a red wine and then go back to mine. Of course not gonna bed her to this music or she would've curried me for it.
It's advent, one of my favourite times of year, and this Leonard Cohen farewell album typifies that cold night by the fire aesthetic. The build up to Christmas often gets lauded as a commercial fuck-around, but I had three cheeseburgers last Sunday and just avoided it.
I think I walked around 15 kilometers in the sun, it started snowing at some point too - I don't deliberately try and be off-kilter to not wear a christmas jumper or bake gingerbread, but I'd eat Goose if served some.
The deep baritone is not even croaky at this ripe old age; it was carved before he caved in. There's a voice welded like deep cut steel, trenched, mined, experienced. "You want it darker?" he asks the listener. Yes we do, no ice.
47. TYLER CHILDERS - PURGATORY (2017) Modern hillbilly getting high, drinking moonshine, growing a beard, trying to call his girl, but getting a shot instead. This was a breakthrough album for this artist who represents a modern kind of country; Americana - a very rich, strong flavor in the mouth kind. The new America:
48. RADIOHEAD -A MOON SHAPED POOL (2016) Radiohead have always been a sinister band for me. It's ironic that I got into them through "No Surprises," their most beautifully melodic single. Also, their prettiest song on here "Present Tense" has an undercurrent of tango to it - a threatening kind of depression - plus as it's common to misconstrue what Thom Yorke is harping on about as he sings "A self defence against the present" it sounds like "president" - so if you couple that with the ominous shades that the HBO show "House of Cards" was putting forth with Kevin Spacey's excellent but scary character -the cream at the top; you'll hopefully catch my interpretaive drift.
There's no point in dissecting through this one, track by track. That was for Kid A in 2000 which was going to be the winner of the last decade until I took a last minute red wine u-turn and sold out with The National's "Boxer" - it soundtracked a breakup - say no more. So sans dissection on this write-up but I'm absolutely endorsing the most full-bodied, least wonkiest album Radiohead have ever done. They misled us again, it wasn't at all a "low-flying panic attack" but a measured, rich, shiraz with hints of radios and a few heads and no vanilla in sight / smelt.
49. RADIOHEAD - THE KING OF LIMBS (2011)
There's an electronic stutter, then a surge on Radiohead's wonkiest album - before "Little by Little" reins in the nutball effect, after which "Feral"does exactly that - goes mental, for those who don't know what that word means - usually when an animal is in a wild state, especially when held in capitivity or being trapped in domestication. This album is slop-start in the most measured way possible, the most contradictory thing Radiohead have ever done - especially as it's not even scary, like the title would suggest - see Thom Yorke's 2018 soundtrack Suspiria for that aesthetic.
I've domesticated myself and arrested my development. I've codexed my proteins and endorphined my silo. Galvanized my groceries and dreamt of a return to Waitrose. Slopped down the lighbulb that popped out in the bathroon. Aired out the cobwebs and smoke-bombed my numbness. Nothing has to be linear, be it narratives, monologues or expectations - and this band are dead proof of that. Once a boheme, always.
50. JENS LEKMAN - LIFE WILL SEE YOU NOW (2017) A fizzy sherbert of spring life, spring fever, spring in your step kind of album by one of the most earnest singer-songwriters out there. Spinning yarns was the thread here. It smells of sandalwood, just as per "What Is That Perfume You Wear" - Lekman was 36 when he wrote this - probably the kind of age that craving comforts kick in. I have butterflies in my stomach as I type this and it's maybe this album that does it to me as when it came out I was in a hell of a situation in Stuttgart, Germany living in a place that was not my place - trying to make the most of a bad situation - which is what a lot of this aesthetic is about for Jens. He's come a long, long way and matured immensely since 2005 when he sang about killing the party again in "Black Cab." And that is what makes his crescendo-like career even more beautiful; rose petals in toilet times.
51. MARK MCGUIRE - LIVING WITH YOURSELF (2010) Mark McGuire probably didn't mean in the same vein as Freddie Mercury did with living on your own and not having any time for monkey business. The way I interpret the album title is by coming to terms with oneself, one can go on a diet of asparagus more comfortably for example.
Lavendar used to be a smell I didn't like so much, but last year I bought a bar of lavendar soap by mistake from the store, having not smelled it correctly, and at first I was a bit mortified. However, after some thorough application and perseverence, I managed to get aquainted to acquire the appreciation for this nice smell - and felt fortified.
This album and the strumming of acoustic guitars in an electronic coating feels like hushed layers of zzzzzs from another dimension, especialiy the mesmeric "Brain Storm (For Erin)" which strokes your hair, holds your earlobe and whispers "Soak me up" after drenching itself in mouthwash, lavendar soap and other parfum. Though not a household name by any means, McGuire created a lost classic here that is an enveloping, frosty beauty. I do like.
Jogging has always saved me. Tranquilised the soul. The beats on this thing are primed for a good old jog as a devotion to the old school shifts weight and clacks the week into place.
The steel drum on "Obvs" is as exotic as Tropicana juice, the bassline on "Seesaw" holding down that London bass that Burial and Four Tet put forth, and, of course, both Oliver and Romy from The XX spread their vocals throughout like Billy Butter.
This decade has had some great electronic albums from John Talabot and The Field. With Jamie XX and Leon Vynehall flying the flag for the UK, it's safe to say that we're in good hands. Bass. Nostalgia. Style. Swagger. Almost as cool as Jamie Oliver. :)
53. HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER - HEART LIKE A LEVEE (2016)
Almost went to see this band at xmas in 2016 but went to Lisbon instead and dreamed of being in Leeds. I went to Hamburg to a christmas market with a disco-ball and snowdrops flying, polished off a few mugs of mulled wine and then flew to Portugal. Felt like true jetsetter, instead of a trendsetter or a bedwetter.
This album is pure Jimmy Fuller in its capacity for a beautiful blonde beard, Worked with that guy in a call-center in 2008 and this goes out as a tribute to you Jimbeam. You shaped my love of folk. That guy and the lean-ins on dates. The lunchtime pints. The gigs. The "yeah boy" - the yak and the sulk. The No 1 ' "Who's a bellend? / You are" - then he drenches me in a pint. "I like it!"
Jimmy's with a kid now and he's beautiful. Hope he grows up supporting West Ham too. Maybe he'll end up loving Leeds - I will buy him a Leeds bib when he's 18 and tell him it's the yak and the sulk and the smile going for a glass of milk or a pint. Heart Like a Levvee is "prismatic" as Uncut magazine said - I'll lean in to that.
54. FEVER RAY - PLUNGE (2017) There's a town in Lithuania called Plungė, which apparently has a crab-stick factory within it's amenities. Not sure Fever Ray would be into that, but when this album does get kicking, at around the third track, she does start singing about planting a walnut tree - which I take as a sexual euphemism or metaphor por favor. I actually saw her and her amazing band play in Vilnius in 2018 - her support act was Tami T - who works with Fever Ray on the aforementioned track "A Part Of Us" - but was warming up that night with a big-strap on Dildo that she beat as percussion. It was a mesmerising set littered with sexual euphemisms por favor. Modern dating is often the cause for concern for both Tami T and Fever Ray - "IDK About You" - is the double flash negative stance that a lot of cautious minds take now because of Tinder and #metoo. Before there'd be takers. Now, when we do plunge into dating, we feel bored faster - so let's not jackknife maybe, and bring back not necessarily old chivalry - but ditch the apps and learn how to talk to people again.
55. HOLY FUCK - LATIN (2010)
There's a track on this old chestnut called "Stay Lit" and it bounds along with a choppy rhythm but still retains its buoyancy. It sums up an aesthetic / concept of not swaying to the pressure of the mainstream and generally keeping true to yourself; no matter how much they are trying to dictate you. The old ravey vibe which resonated with acts like Crystal Castles and Fuck Buttons has long gone now in the modern precept - but I can feel a load of cravings for that to change ahead in the new decade from 2020, which feels weird to type that number.
As blogs and sites abound rein in Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Frank Ocean into the top end of the discussion, authentic albums of the decade will appear in various other places - but at the time of writing, only Gorilla VS Bearbears any semblance of what Spaghetti Blogonese is trying to achieve. Nothing against those three artists, but when you think back to Radiohead and Daft Punk - or even compare them to Killer Mike or Shabazz Palaces - there is no contest for vitality or quality, regardless of genre.
Holy Fuck, with the right amount of hype could've born the torch for electronica over the last 10 years - but the powers that be in places like pitchforkare now the taste-makers, the Kanye worshippers, the zeitgeist zippers - when you previously zigzagged away from it, now it's just one big pressed arrow - with the illusion of choice that is Spotiify. Where there were other choices amongst publications - Dusted Magazine, Stylus (now gone) and Tinymixtapes(thank fuck for this place) - that deviated from what EVERYONE was saying, now it's harder to find than a needle in a raygun.
56. LAMBCHOP - FLOTUS (2016) Lambchop's Flotus was a joie de vivre of vocodered folk. Like a reinvention, a rebirth, a calming come-uppeth though; not the kind of makeover like in a salon or on a TV show. Kurt Wagner soothes in this outing. He's a kindred spirit who sounds crisp and fuzzy at the same time. His own autotuned vocals sound as backing vocals to which there is no real lead. As I lay on the sofa typing this on the phone, which is rare please, as I don't want to sit at the desk, I melt into a scuzzer of an LP, the kind that Uncut Magazine gave 5 stars back in 2016. Those five stars alerted me to a band that truly changed genre - not direction - not style - but genre - who does that? Tell me? I can tell you: Lambchop did it in 2016, with their twelfth (!!!!!!!) LP. Boom.
57. SUN KIL MOON - BENJI (2014)
An epic album of sardonic and often tragic circumstances - capturing euthenasia, adolescence and people popping off this earth in the blink of an eye. His second cousin dying from taking out a can of aerosol that exploded and burned her to death, an ode to his Mother, an ode to his Dad, his Dad's friend Jim Wise - a convicted husband for helping his poorly wife die at her bed, a mentally handicapped friend named Micheline and his own regrets about bullying a kid at school - this isn't an easy listen - but it's beautiful and beguiling.
Anxiety is never easy. It has always befounded and confounded me. It envelopes me and flows right through - and no coffee can put it out. Neither does a glass of wine in the long term - as it only makes it worse. Luckily the answer often comes in the form of musical therapy - and luckily here came one of the most beautifully meditative works in decades from the master of ambience.
Just 2 tracks covering 43 minutes, the first one - a tribute to Bowie - is sumptuous tape loop featuring a fractured saxophone - it really sorted me out when I was blue two years ago in Germany, in a hellhole of a flat organized by my former employer. The bed was uncomfortable - the sofa shocking - I wanted to get out but the city had a massive deficit of flats - I moved out eventually to another place where the water from the shower flooded the whole studio....
,...better to flood your life with dissonance maybe. This changes the game. Breathe it in.
The bend he puts on the guitar. The off-kilter vigour and experimentation - yet still falling on the right cylinder of accessibility - David Longstreth and his amazingly orchestrated backing singers put out their best album here - as it jets into twee territory and all the better for it.
When the highlight "Impregenable Question" was first heard by moi - the hopeless romantic I was back then - I wanted the song to be heard, received and shared - but the lady in question just batted it away and gave me a bottle of Heineken - and though nothing surfaced between us - the picnic that we had suffuses itself on that track and remains etched in my memory.
"Just From Chevron" has a punch-like imapact, whacking me in the gut with it's appetite for wit, and "About To Die" has a penchant for hedonism - which bangles along a great trajectory. Mega fan all around then - an understated career highlight from the dirties. <3 p="">
Top of the decade in Taipei - felt liberated - this was my soundtrack. Pitchfork described it as a landscape of a record - and they weren't wrong, especially with all the percussion on here - it's an urbanity of session musicians and synths. Their album before this, the magnificent In Ghost Colours came in at #15 on Spaghetti Blogonese - a great achievement for a stellar offering.
They sound a lot like New Order actually and I think they should sing this poem I wrote:
This was just an experiment in the kitchen going wrong I am not gonna go and buy a new oven glove I just got some pizza out the oven Not with my bare hands I took it with a towel And it was okay anyway I know that I can't sing now I know my rhythm's pretty good I thought I'd sing to you I'm shit at typing - you know I am - would?!? I don't know why my grammar's bad I'm a native English speaker Gonna just rhyme with you anyway Gonna try and rhyme something with speaker - "beaker" I got a beaker full of tea Gonna go and drink it now You're a fucking cousin That's the way i'm proud now - uh!
What a fucking day of up-in-the-air feeling as so much was achieved but not in an empowering way at all. Feel like I am shapeshifting, when all I want to do is be mellow and sink into one thing - not just pam pam pam all over for different people. If there was ever a soundtrack for pam pam pam'ing all over for different people, then this it. Oh, and it's actually a soundtrack for a real film too.
I haven't even seen Couple In A Hole, but I might as well give it a whirl; I like the concept of imaginary soundtracks anyway - for example David Holmes' Bow Down To The Exit Sign came in at #14 in my list last decade. Imagining a movie scene to the tracks themselves add a filmic layer that wouldn't be there otherwise, just gotta do a bit of make-belief aintcha. Ok then, this soundtrack: it's drone, it's motorik, it's seismic, it's subliminal - and it might just get me through my F___ working week.
62. LAND OBSERVATIONS - ROMAN ROADS IV: XI (2012)
Visual artist James Brooks crafted this gorgeous piece to accompany his visual art concerning mapping and cartography. Think boundaries and surface area infused with gently ruminative guitar licks over looped pedals. It is in keeping with the theme of one of my favourite novels of the decade,The Map and the Territory by Michel Houlebecq - in which an artist is doing amazingly successfully in depicting Michelin maps, is dating a Russian model - but the boiler in his house is broken and keeps fucking up - the text a paean to try and find some structure in ones own existential crisis.
Luckily with Roman Roads, no shit hits any fan, as the burnished film on these licks oscillate and oscillate. The album actually leaves the artists house on opeenr "Before the Kingsland Road" and takes some existent routes and others philosophical. I'll pander now:
When does one go? Where does I depart How come I didn't hang the clothes out to dry and instead you put them on the clothes horse? When will you send that fax? Map me out my future would you? Thanks.
Back when I DJ'd in 2013, I dropped a few of these cuts into my sets and wrote about how it was as if Axel Willner had sat down at the kitchen table, plotting away his fourth LP and thought to himself "you know what? I'm gonna sort everyone right out." For this underrated project, Cupid's Head does the best job in showcasing the breadth and depth of The Field's textures.
Starting with the gloriously sinister "They won't see me" at bang on nine mintes long, it then clacks into rhythmic shape with "Black Sea" which I always found perfect for jogging. The title track comes next, and is slightly annoying, but bearable if you sing "Cupid and Robin" - imagine them as sidekicks :) - but the real organic electricity comes in the unbelievably gorgeous "No...No."
That aforementioned track is preceded by the pulsating "A Guided Tour" which reminds me of a racehorse doing its rounds - and the album closer "20 Seconds of Affection," lacing on the fuzz and crystal mesh, culminating in decades of excess distilled into nigh on ten minutes of glorifcation. There - a full track by track analysis for a change, well you've got to mix it up a bit haven't you?
64. SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - BURNING THE THRESHOLD (2017)
Posting a quick one-two here of folk, which as swift as a Ferrari one two in the days of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barichello. Gotta hit up the Wikipedia here for a change: "Six Organs of Admittance is the primary musical project of guitarist Ben Chasny. Chasny's music is largely guitar-based and is often considered new folk; however, it includes obvious influences, marked by the use of drones, chimes, and eclectic percussive elements" It is a tres rich and balanced, meditative kind of folkoid - and I would give it the colour orange - but which shade? I am saying definitely not 5.1, 5.6 or 5.10 - perhaps 5.4, 5.15, 5.22 or 5.27 ;)
65. JULIE BYRNE - NOT EVEN HAPPINESS (2017)
A sweet and tender trip into a folk kind of nostalgia. Last FM has her down as a mix of Leonard Cohen and Vashti Bunyan. Easy shapes. I'm deep into her. Don't marry him. Don't carry him into paradise. Melt into the heat of the passion. Don't turn away from me. Send me away from me. Was listening to James Blake and RZA again as I wrote this.
I felt pretty blue yeterday morning (Monday) - so I played this album and it really calmed my chambers, as I worked out some semi-structure to the week. I managed to bang on the blackboard in my kitchen to buy some tea, pesto, sandwich filling, milk and vegetables - and that was achieved, plus a can of tuna I recall - a cheap legendary shop.
66. CLAMS CASINO - INSTRUMENTALS (2011)
Chunky with the bleak; this is the best pre-game manifesto still out there - as in if you want to play songs before the pub - these instrumental jams will see you through. If there was a Grand Theft Auto game to be made, set in the chillwave, cold and broken isolation of the last 10 years, then surely this album would be apt as the whole soundtrack - just saying.
Pitchfork described this mixtape back in 2011 as "woozy" and I think that it is as close as it gets. Further, I just checked up on said site, and Michael Volpe has just today announced his new album drops on November 2nd this year - I am listening now and I can't believe how opportune and seasonable this all is. It is chilly outside, but things are looking up and this can go soundtrack that shit.
Tonight is James Blake night once more; autumnal and wet. Perfect. For anyone new to this man, it's not James Blunt or James Joyce or Blake Yeager (a 2 year old youtube star - wtf.) If you ever feel like you're walking a tightrope with someone (and believe me - this is currently happening to me more than ever) - then this is the soundtrack. Piano and vocals with a bunch of candle and a pinch of bluetooth speaker.
I write and jam my head to Put That Away and Talk To Me which is very lamentable a notion - that whole smartphone thing. It's an epic journey this album, bundling up 17 tracks into 76 minutes - messy as a messy room, but all good :) - He is my singer-songwriter of the decade for sure - catching him in concert in Taiwan in 2014 was incredible. I won't write some sloppy journalism like "so good I can't describe" - but it was something along those lines.
James Fake. Fake Jimbo. Plain Blake. Plan Blake. He's a star, depite the plain name. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Total Immersion of impluse Manifesting itself into every audio corner Hatred can back-off Especially when love is like.... Crack cocaine and occasionally like... Ketmaine, popping ito a hole, but impossible to.. Erase from memory, as it's Recorded forever like all your data
This one's about to play a gig that I'm regretfully not gonna attend. Nevertheless, a pair of phones will dutifully do, as Love Streams gives a whole lotta love the closer it spuzzes into your ear.The glitch and pulse of the noise of the drone of the white noise of the dissonance. Nobody does it better. Nobody.
Could pick either three of his dusty records for an entry on-board these parts, but this sophomore LP secures it, as it is just dusty enough before his dub became widescreen. Think Ry Cooder mixed with Lee Scratch Perry mixed with Burial mixed with garlic and onions.
When the drums rumble through the sensational "Onward," it makes this gravelly journey feel paradoxically smooth; a smooth rumble. Also the superb densened vocal jam on "Gathering" is wedged into such a tail section of the wagon overall, that the dust wags off.
I just shot down a glass of apple cider vinegar, and while it might take for some tough-going at first, the benefits pay off later with some perseverance and trying. With the fantastic and optimal closer "Friend, You Will Never Learn" we know that we've secured the dub record of the decade. Not everything is pretty on the outside, but it's what's buried beyond the surface that counts.
This band were a multi-coloured lightning bolt that came from nowhere in 2010, with this debut of insanity, syncopation and flamboyance. The falsetto vocals of Jonathan Higgs play on one going insane; see 2:07 in, on second track "Qwerty Finger:" "I can't Let you turn yourself off oooh..."
...which has got the kind of awkwardness in the title that only the British could muster in a spewy imagination that constantly has a battery in its leg before warbling: "To draw asunder every leper curtain, would be a hail of every flower to ash Ah!!!" - well that's according to one lyrics site. Every. Day. Life. Is. Fucking. Weird. And. We. Should. Acknowledge. It
As the decade comes to a close, and we lay in a quagmire of uncertainty, it's a pity that we can't jog back nine years and yank this out as a soundtrack to show how fractured the inner-soul was before it exploded outwards into vanity and massive societal meltdown. (editors note - especially hear the track "Photoshop Handsome")
72. DELICATE STEVE - WONDERVISIONS (2011)
Half an hour of noodly instrumentals that is so rare that it's not commonly found on music review sites or the cannon of Spotify. In the summer of 2011, the blogosphere was hypng up Delicate Steve, as the awesome new instrumental surf-pop, Afro-rock, 1970's pop - whatever - just in the main goofy band. This band have previously had time in the studio with Tame Impala, Amen Dunes, Paul Simon, Mac De Marco and The Black Keys.
"Why so significant on this list?" you may ask. Well, at the time, I was just embarking on my second summer in Asia and I was mostly full of glee, shimmering my way through Taipei City, and this was the perfect soundtrack. I would love to hear how this sounds on vinyl, crackling it's way through the air, like a multi-coloured audio smoke machine.
73. FLEET FOXES - HELPLESSNESS BLUES An affinity for this band Definitely one of my favorites. Night-kissed Sun-drenched, Autumnal-blend, Fortune-kissed, Wipe-the-slate-clean kissed Harmony-drenched, I am heavenless.
74. WILD NOTHING - NOCTURNE Light a candle. Burn the wax. Play this record Bedroom pop Do it yourself. DIY. All those sleepless nights I've ever had - This one holds up to them Right now, I am on precious little Sleep also, and I'm staying up Fighting and braving elements To get a normal sleep routine Tonight I made a cream of mushroom and chicken soup I even threw some shrimp in I can't even think straight
Sputter. Whiz. Gargle. This LP came at the mid-region of the decade in about the summer of 14. Aphex Twin has had such amazing breadth of balls-busting electronica aplomb. If Selected Ambient Works or Drukqs is heralded as his finest output, then I'd slight at that and proffer Syro to be in with the broth too.
I wanted to type "sprawling 12 tracks at 1 hour and 4 minutes" - but it's hands-down the most elasticky Aphe material out there. I am grimacing, as I just left my Bluetooth speaker, basically my go-to soundsystem at my Mum's house in the UK, so as I was cooking a bolognese - added tobasco, honey and cayenne pepper to this one - and the experiement paid off - so I have only one supermarket speaker working and it doesn't do the material justice.
Sometimes you don't get everything you want in life, sometimes you don't get what you think you want. I had no idea this record is what I'd add on here today, but it feels good. Experimental electronica, experimental cooking. Exceptional circumstances.
Back to back with Kode9 on this list for a straight-up double dose of irresistable dub and jungle. Sometimes I wish shit lke this would get a better playout in public, be it a bar or a mall, a carwash or a salon. Essentially a sketchbook of barbed melodies, arpeggiated and off-kilter - it just kicks up a skank and then mellows out, before kicking up a skank again and then mellowing out once more.
Zomby typifies the mess of London in a non-unabridged way. There is a childlike zig-zag to the thematics of this album. It's all over the shop stylewise, but the synths permeate through. When it's 16 songs with smatterings of bass @ just over 35 minutes - you might feel a bit pertubed on paper and I wouldn't blame ya. I was too, until I hit the big green play button; you won't regret it.
This took the cake for my album of 2011, before the tragic passing of the poet and MC Spaceape in 2014. Think exceptional dub, truncated arpeggios, coupled with grizzly ragga rhymes. The syncopation of "Love Is The Drug" for example provides a cut that outwardly pumps its chest forth while burying the looped vocals under the belt of the mix. If Burial, also on the Hyperdub label is sheltery and mysterious, then this album provides the best of both worlds, a secluded bolt-hole but primed in the brilliance of day.
Kode 9, a.k.a. Steve Goodman is the flagbearer for the Hyperdub record label, and I urge you to check out its roster of artists. No, I'm not pitching the shit to the man, merely endorsing a carriage-load of London. This album may have zoomed higher up the charts, had it been a bit more recent - there is other poetry to tuneage on this shitstorm of a blog. I need to promote the hashcakes / hashtags a bit better to get my own content ranked further up the brilliance of Google.
Sometimes there's a time and place for an LP. This was the summer of 2015. I had a trip to a surfers beach in Taiwan and drank a lot, a lot of whiskey and played this in the boiling, boiling heat, before trying to fight my friend in the station on the way back.
Oh Jump that 43 Are you wild like me Raised by wolves and other beasts I tell you all the time I'm not mad You tell me all the time I got plans
Upon first listen, I felt like this was a precocious debut, but it's like a well sugared meal; a pinch of castor brings out all the other ingredients a treat. It's like twelve different bands have been put on a mixtape - much messier, but more fun than their refined follow-up, which actually took more plaudits.
The crowning moment has to be on "Silk" which provided the apex to Trainspotting 2, the excellent follow-up to the first Glaswegian saga. The track suits Mark Renton more than anything else in musical history, as he battles to protect himself constantly.
Just looking for a protector God never reached out in time There's love, there is a savior But that ain't no love of mine
My Love it kills me slowly Slowly I could die And when she sleeps she hears the blues Sees shades of black and white
79. MOON DUO - MAZES
Tonight is Moon Duo night, continuing the cosmos theme after my last Bowie post. Moon Duo are one of the most underrated bands of the last decade - producing psychedelic space-rock in the same vein as Spacemen 3 or My Bloody Valentine. Prolificacy is the key, as they have put out seven albums in eight years.
I have picked their debut album from 2011 as their go-to though, as it sets the tone for their irresistable pulse. Scuzzy as a fuzz. Less fussy than your cuz. Dress-uppy and plus plus plus. Scrappy and the band. Bandwidth and truck temptation. Drive and speed-up a degree. Go up the gears and feel like you just turned twenty-three. <3 p="">
80. DAVID BOWIE - BLACK STAR
The cultural significance of this one propaply deserves to place this one higher up the listathon. I was sitting in Lee's Sandwiches in Taipei talking about his new LP on the day it came out and the fact that he was in bad condition, and then hey two days later he gone :(
It has to be one of the biggest exits in art history, never mind things like Nevermind, the sheer proximity of hello new record and goodbye world made me twitch and talk. I'll leave this one at that. No more to say. He's a black star.
42. FOUR TET - MORNING / EVENING (2015) 
