Albums of the Decade - 56. Lambchop -Flotus (2016)

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. 

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.