Albums of the Decade - 42. Four Tet - Morning / Evening (2015)

42. FOUR TET - MORNING / EVENING (2015) 

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.

Albums of the Decade - 43. D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014)

43. D'ANGELO - BLACK MESSIAH (2014)

Art. Art. Art. Art. Art.

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!

Art. Art. Art. Art. Art.

Albums of the Decade - 44. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of The City (2013)

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.

Albums of the Decade - 45. Cornershop - Cornershop & the Double 'O' Groove Of (2011)

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.

Albums of the Decade - 46. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker (2016)

46. LEONARD COHEN - YOU WANT IT DARKER (2016)

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.

Albums of the Decade - 47. Tyler Childers - Purgatory (2017)

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:

hipster

• New Age traveler.
• beatnik.
• bohemian.
• free spirit.
• freethinker.
• liberal

And that's the review.