Albums of the Decade - 60. Cut Copy - Zonoscope (2011)

60. CUT COPY - ZONOSCOPE (2011) 

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!

records of 2011. 5. Cut Copy. Zonoscope

5. CUT COPY - ZONOSCOPE
This is the biggest grower of 2011. The first time I heard it, I was a little underwhelmed at first. One of those trendy music websites called this a sprawling landscape compared to the champagne immediacy of 2008's "In Ghost Colours" - thank god Australians spell that word with a "u" - and they got it bang on correct.

Sure, opener "Need you Now" is pretty instantaneous but many of the tracks take a while to show their hooks; this album is pretty refrained. Here, we're not square on with the waterfall; we're looking at it from some distance. Again, yeah there are some explosive moments of beauty but as The Onion AV Club journalist said, here "Cut Copy often lets the arrangements ride." Bang on.

And so finally, it grew on me and now it just sounds huge like a skyscraper. It's retro-future. Ouch. Apologies. It's champagne-popping. What a howler of a description. Luckily, this album ain't a howler, definitely not, as it gets me howling in the shower.

GO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=tb1o42RdVzA