Albums Of The Decade - 85. Vampire Weekend - Contra

85. VAMPIRE WEEKEND - CONTRA 

Another band that have kind of bookended time according to how I see it  - their 2008 self-titled LP came in @ #26 on my top 100 of the last decade. This follow-up released in January 2010, was essentially the first great album to be released in this spout of years, spout of narrative, spout of time.

The vibe here was one of evolution from afrobeat into a stupendously post-modern outfit, with references to horchata, Saudi satellite dishes and a little battered radio  - we had sparse and dense production and auto-tuned vocals - which began a 'deed vs. debacle' debate. Tons of binary oppositions.

Just like the title suggests, you can't take everything at face value. I swallowed this LP with a pinch of salt and a slice of cucumber. He thinks you're a contra. He thinks that you lie. Don't call him a Contra till you've tried. He had a feeling once that you and him could tell each other everything for two months.

Albums Of The Decade - 86. Junior Boys - Big Black Coat

86. JUNIOR BOYS - BIG BLACK COAT

Seldom do I get so vogue. But this is it. Sensitive synth-pop for the lovestruck bachelor. Junior Boys bust onto the scene in 2004 with Last Exit, dropped my fave LP so far by them in 2006 -  So This Is Goodbye, DJ'd out of a clothes shop in Reykjavik in 2008, released the uber-sensitive Begone Dull Care in 2009 and followed me around constantly in car-chases travelling at 20mph.

When they came up trumps in 2016 with Big Black Coat, from the cover I'd thought they had reinvented themselves, and they did in a detective-thriler kind of way, as less of the soft-spots are present hereon in.  There's the high-octane thrill of "What You Won't Do For Love," the brilliant seven minute techy closer of title track "Big Black Coat" and the beautiful career-high ballad of "No One's Business" to contend with - as they shot for multi-layered, techniclored, synthetic, noir-tastic diversity. AKA From Ontario with love (with shouts out to Berlin too) - (Er....better just stick with Big Black Coat  - editors note)

Albums Of The Decade - 87. Beach House - 7

87. BEACH HOUSE - 7

Top of the decade brought the incredible Teen Dream and then Bloom, and with a steady outut since 2006, their seventh album arrived last year. Label it chamber-pop, dream-pop - whatever - it's all good. While the former LP's have particular tracks that froth to the fore, 7 is more of a seamless sparkle. From the opener Dark Spring and onwards, Victoria Legrand has her vocals down in the mix mostly, and the production is the real shim-shim sharee.

It's playing as I write this after I've just worked for 12 hours. I'm flat out on the sofa, and I'd previously considered taking the trash to the store to recycle to get money to buy some sour candy bottles to get an overpowering sensation, but I ate some fromage frais instead. Is my existence really getting to the point where all I have to hope for is a lie down on the sofa? Seems to have brought a new meaning to the word "Couchsurfing" or more like "couch-crashing."