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!

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 2016 - 39. CHAIRLIFT - MOTH

39. CHAIRLIFT - MOTH

Chairlift have just announced that they're splitting up in the new year. But no worries, as this American synthpop band have had a trio of glorious albums. This one is their best in that they splatter  even more production on the canvas and it still sounds succinct.

Maybe I've said too many times this year about pre-gaming but I mean it. If I say it, will you listen to it? Moth is a very sardonic name for this album and that makes me love it more. The way Caroline Polachek's vocals double up against the bass for example in "Romeo" are utterly irresistible.

There are not too many pure pop albums on this list but growing up as a kid, with Rick Astley and The Spice Girls every which way - I've got those leanings at times. But as this came out at the beginning of January, it was nice to hit the ground running.