Albums of the Decade - 37. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar (2018)

 37. YOUNG FATHERS - COCOA SUGAR (2018) 

The grooves behind this thing are utterly shuffletonic and razorwired. It's a bizzare suffusation of TV on the Radio and Cypress Hill, mixed with a glass of tropicana. When this actually came out, I'd just moved to Vilnius, Lithuania to start a new life and would often blast it on, on bar speakers galore - it always went down with mixed results as it seemed like noone really knew what it was, or was ready for it. After all, I wouldn't have guessed Edinburgh for the origin - but life is indeed strange.

If this kinda hybridized funk, soul, punk-hop had been released a decade back, it would have been met with absolute mega-critic praise, but as it stands - Young Fathers remain a below the radar, tucked-under-the-bonnet kind of band which suits them quite nicely, but it still feels like they're just one album away from absolutely clearing up an end-of year Metacritic list if they just got the praise across the board.

Albums of the decade - 84. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer

84. JANELLE MONAE - DIRTY COMPUTER 

Finally woke up to her. This album begins like Prince and kicks up the jams like something you'd simply wanna wake up to. My door is always open to any artist - for example I only very recently realized that I like a few Limp Bizkit Songs.

Janelle Monae is nothing like Nu Metal however, instead she brings the funk and quality R & B to what could be her most poppy album. I am typing this from my phone as this list is a big commitment and I'm catching what could be the last night of summer. I didn't take my laptop out, instead I had 2 chicken and mushroom cutlets / kievs - whichever way you wanna spin it and just headed out after work.

Dirty Computer also has an accompanying film with it, which is brilliant in terms of costume and set design.  Recently cleaned the house to the new Lana Del Rey album. Might be getting more cheesy, but it's a nice antitdote to Kanye West - who, sorry for the spoilers - won't feature on this list. However, some hip-hop will and here's one of the best sugary caramel albums of the decade.

Albums of the decade - 100. Adrian Younge - Something About April II

100. ADRIAN YOUNGE - SOMETHING ABOUT APRIL II

I originally thought that this was a soundtrack to a film, but instead was thankful to discover that the record was a sequel to the producers original debut in this series. The vibe here in this room, right now, is that I'm waiting on roast cauliflower, onions and garlic to come out of the oven. I also threw half a bag of peas into a carrot soup - but it's hardly as exploratory as what Younge was doing in 2016. I'm just going to go and stir the peas and then I'll write the second paragraph.

This list is intended as a diary through the last ten years, and where I'm at now. I'm not so bothered about rankings as I used to be - but still it's good to have some vertebrae, Whatever follows this album at #99 - it doesn't mean I like it more than #100 - Adrian Younge has driven my mood today and it's nice to pull this soulful treasure out of the crypts.

I think he did something else with Ghostface Killah a few years ago, so it may make sense to give that a listen, as when Tony is rapping over this wholesome kind of sampling, it sets the day alight. Without a rapper though, Younge still called in some cats like Bilal and Laetitia Sadler from Stereolab and while there are not vocals on every track - it adds some kind of glue.

One of my best friends has just MOVED the place I'm living, so after a Friday blowout - Saturday was actually a day of being in my own kind of crypt, despite spring starting afresh. After today's jog and the upcoming veg however - there couldn't be a better album to play to signal renewal, even if the second song on this is called "Winter Is Here". Oops.

albums of 2012 - 1. Killer Mike - R.A.P Music

1. KILLER MIKE - .R.A.P. MUSIC


You got Public Enemy. You got Wu Tang. Man, you can add Killer Mike to the cannon. Vital hip-hop isn't hard to come by, but it's not my most known about genre.

This album combines beats from El-P and the callaboration is one to be. Future. They bitch about Reagan. They travel in a Batmobile. They lament shootings of innocent familes. They go to clubs. Hell, this is inferno!

You're loving it. You're blazing - but only for a bit non-weed-heads- and you're glued - fucking glued to the seat of the best hip-hop album since I rapped in my shower. This takes the crown. I pout.

albums of 2012 - 2. Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

2. FLYING LOTUS - UNTIL THE QUIET COMES

Listening to this shit right now at the time of writing and it's an electronic wonder / wondress. I say this because this album has masculine beats at times and femine beats. If you're queer, then you'll probably say "get born you bent dickhead". True, true. I catch ya drift.

Female presence has a say here on the vocalists like Erykah Badu. Today I had 2 blog post complaints and one letter in the post to my address - not sure how she got it - about how racist I am. Give me a break chuck.

Flying Lotus hails from a city in America named Los Angleles. I like this. It's not hip-hop. It's electronic. Aubrey Ford was right. Bam. Again I lose Sam.

Albums of 2012 - 10. Action Bronson - Blue Chips

10. ACTION BRONSON - BLUE CHIPS

I don't care what anybody says. This man stole Ghostface Killah's voice. Hardly matters though. Action Bronson truly delivered with this mix-tape after pairing up with shit-hot producer Party Supplies.

The witty wordplay discusses food,(after all, Bronson is a chef) women and of course Bronson himself. This man is arrogant and self-deprecating. He's witty where Kanye is boring. Bronson is captivating where Kanye is overwleming and finally he's vital where Kanye is insultingly shocking.

Albums of 2012 - 19. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure

19. EL-P - CANCER 4 CURE 

Jaime Meline is right back in this shit. Jaime Meline is El-P and he dropped some fat fucking albums in the previous decade. In 2012, this boy and Killer Mike have torn shit up all over the shop. Meline sure can produce. Two albums of this year have almost defined it. This one is so apocolyptic and future sounding and "R.A.P. Music" for Killer Mike, with Meline on production just boils down all the core ingredients of hip-hop and pushes the product in such a hard-boiled way, more about that later, higher up this list.

For now, Cancer 4 Cure  is bassy, relentless and confident. I wouldn't even classify this as hip-hop, though of course there's spoken word over it, it's BASS MUSIC. Not down for copying and pasting any lyrics, they're sure good but the key thing is the bass and the production. Amazing work.

Albums of 2012 - 26. Death Grips - The Money Store

26. DEATH GRIPS - THE MONEY STORE

Never before did anything make an arrival with so much muscle. Punk, hip-hop and noise combined to swell into a pulverizing and colossal impact here. Death Grips uses booming, bassy production and the angriest roar imaginable in MC Ride. This is their first of two albums this year and the second on this list.

The Spaghetti Blogonese track of 2012 "I've Seen Footage" is on here, and this song, toward the second third of the album captures what this act are all about; disillusion, disgust with society, fear, rebellion, angst and vitality.

On that next, already know my gillicutti, like I told you...
Dont touch me
Whats up wit it
I stay noided, stimulation overload account for it
Desensitized by the mass amounts of shit

COLLOSAL!

BEST PLAYED: When you want to tear up some shit.

albums of 2012 - 35. Clams Casino - Instrumentals 2

35. CLAMS CASINO – INSTRUMENTALS 2

Hip-hop is probably the genre that I get most fascinated and bored by. I love it when rappers spit beats. Killer Mike is close to topping this list. I like aggression. I like production. I like intuition. I don’t like single-minded albums. A whole album about cruising around L.A. bores me in the same way an indie album just about drinking lager would.

However, something is happening in the creativity process now. Producers are doing well. People are collaborating. Things are meshing, evolving. Clams Casino dropped his amazing first installment in this instrumental mixtape series last year and this one nicely curves in from there. That one nicely fascinated, and this one conveniently freezes in some distant production, taking in some Burial influences.  And of course, not to mention, the legendary J. Dilla. I’m well up for a load more. I trust he’ll continue to sort it out.

BEST PLAYED: When wanting some great production.

Albums of 2012 - 47. - Death Grips No Love Deep Web

47. DEATH GRIPS – NO LOVE DEEP WEB

I just poured dome Drano down the plughole tonight and it’s highly corrosive. So is this. These guys pack some muscle and they have caused a shit-storm already - all over the interweb and with their record label, who dropped them for releasing this LP ahead of time.  Death Grips had a meeting  n a payphone with their fans by calling it and arranging a play of this album in October, to the wrath of Epic Records. I’m not sure if that matters but I’m gonna hype them anyway and say they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Do you not like toast? Fuck off you cunt. It just feels so angry and unlike anything else. Perhaps it can recall Rage or Cypress but it’s turned up to the power of max and and and and and and and………..

BEST PLAYED: When you want to release some anger.  

Records of 2010 - 18- Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Records of 2010 - 18- Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Is it hip-hop? A friend and I debated it. He thought he won. I thought I won. I won:

"00s abstract abstract hip hop abstract hip-hop acid jazz ambient america american avant-garde bass beatscalifornia chill chillout cinematic dope downtempo dub dubstep electroelectronic electronica experimental experimental electronicexperimental hip hop experimental hip-hop flying lotus flyinglotus free jazz funk genius glitch glitch hop glitch-hop hip hop hip-hop idm instrumental instrumental hip hop instrumental hip-hop interesting jazz jazz hop jazzy left-field lo-fi los angeles nu jazz producer psychedelic rapsoul trip hop trip-hop underground underground hip-hop warp warp records west coast wonky" --generated by last.fm--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uCyv05SG1g

Records of 2010 - 27. Girl Talk - All Day

Records of 2010 - 27. Girl Talk - All Day

The great thing here is that you can legally download this album for free. There are no fucking excuses. For you folk that dunno, this Australian DJ meshes hippity-hop with cheesy pop and guitar-licks of old. So you get something like Rihanna over Fugazi. Or Gaga over, er, I forget - the Teletubbies or whatever. I joke around. It's over Aphex Twin! More seriously, even if you hate most mainstream hip-hop and pop like me, this should still put a shit-eating grin on your face. He's done 3 of these now and even if it's a case of more of the same, I don't care because this party sounds like magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugf6Dl5danQ

Records of 2010 - 40. DJ Roc - The Crack Capone

Records of 2010 - 40. DJ Roc - The Crack Capone

Apparently this record has annoyed the shit out of some people. B. McGhee of Tiny Mix Tapes says:

"I have resorted to my usual devices: sitting in my living room and playing these tracks for my friends, watching their faces scrunch up with a strange mixture of bewilderment and disgust. Usually after a minute or so of cognitive dissonance, they are ready for me to switch the playlist back to Sufjan or Flying Lotus or whatever else I was listening to."

I think this is best played to yourself. It takes the violence of hip-hop and throws in the sensibilities of house music. It's highly de-constructive and is all the better for it. "The Crack Capone" has all the dirty, meaty production of an erm.. dirty, meaty, meat factory. Packaged ghetto house. Ghetto for the head, sans the annoying thuggery bullshit. Better than a bullet to the heart!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK1qfYIK76k&feature=related