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 - 83. Bullion - You Drive Me To Plastic

83. BULLION - YOU DRIVE ME TO PLASTIC  

Jamming in at just over 20 minutes, this is technicallly an EP, but there's about two albums worth of ideas in this superlative mixtape from 2011. Starting off with a space shuttle oddyssey type jam and then getting as funky as a chicken with the sublime "Magic Was Ruler" at just three minutes in - it recalls my favorite club night ever - Beats In Abundance,at which once I cycled on a bike and powered an amp.:- https://www.beatsinabundance.com/.

Funk, soul, samples and electronica forge the ticket here, recalling The Avalanches, Hudson Mohawk and J Dilla. I am typing this in one spurt, as I get lost in the jam before heading out for a beer degustation. I would rather step out the door right now than stay home and think about Trump cancelling his meeting with The Taliban. Maybe if I hash-stamp his name, I will get more likes, either that or I buy some.

Albums of the Year - 41. MICHAEL KIWANUKA - LOVE & HATE

41. MICHAEL KIWANUKA - LOVE & HATE  

The name Michael is an issue due to its spelling. The vowels are wrong in how it should be. "Kiwanuka" is easier to spell.

This is a soul classic. Micheal is only 29 and he's really sorted this out here in terms of not putting any flashes in the pan in terms of bonkers production in anything, and that comes gratefully to the forever great Dangermouse who Paste magazine named the best producer of last decade.

But the voice is the main thing. He's hurting. He's throaty. He rarely hits those raw boom-bellows, but when Kiwanuka does it's never in a spate; it's sparingly. Kiwanuka has on album #2 here and it's safe to say that if you want to traject a safe future, this here is a safe bet that safe isn't a bad thing.

Albums of 2016 - 42. THE INVISIBLE - PATIENCE

42. THE INVISIBLE - PATIENCE

There used to be a footballer for Chelsea Football Club named Didier Drogba who had so much gusto when he put the ball in the back of the net. When I hear this neo-soul, I think it's the gusto in songs like "Best Of Me" that draws the comparison. I love running to this music. It's good when it's about to go dark. Alternatively just take it into the bedroom, if you know what I mean Jonny.

It really is soul music for indie fans. That sounds like a cheesy blurb especially after a glass of Chardonnay and a sugary sweet pear cider. If this writing gets too sickly then go and read another end of year list. If you're glued to it, then unfortunately I guess you're stuck with it

The aforementioned "Best Of Me " is without a shadow a doubt one of the songs of the year; it's phenomenal. The way the bass intertwines with the vocals, it's a pick-me-up that the rest of the album suitably follows suit with in suit suitably.

Records of 2014 - 29. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kinds - Give The People What they Want

29. SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS - GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

This was one of the first great records this year. It was a nice, tender soul album that invited one into 2014 with an exceptional musical manifesto.Sharon's voice binds everything together really nicely in a soul stew that smells like vanilla. I love the way The Observer said it:

"The 50-something from Brooklyn is her own diva and sounds at once wounded, defiant and exuberant. Producer-bassist Bosco Mann runs a tight band with its own tricks and which purrs along so joyously the influences fade to leave a core of unadulterated soul."

It's stellar, Vanilla. Thriller .Listen to it will ya?

Records of 2014 - 36. Moodymann - Moodymann

36. - MOODYMANN - MOODYMANN

I think the main theme this year on the write-up is how friends inspire me and turn me on to music. I mean recommend. Not turn me on. However, this record turns me on. Don't wet yourself.

Moodymann is Detroit House and my friend who is a gentle giant at 200 cm tall and coming in at 2 on the Richter Scale recommending it to me represents good value and that's not a sentence. I DJ'd a bit on a laptop and played things like Les Sins and How To Dress Well who are also on this list. It's all in a good shift.

I don't know much about Moodymann but my 200 cm tall friend is called Ross McCarry and he's a tall boy. I went to Hong Kong with him and had a good time. Listen to Mooodymann listener, it won't make you feel moody or like a man. Propaply like a woman and happy. :)

Records of 2014 - 40. Les Sins - Micheal

40. LES SINS - MICHEAL 

The side-project of Toro y Moi finds its way onto this list by some way of a detour. Now, I'm a big fan of that man and all his light soul and funk that really came into effect at the start of the decade but I heard Les Sins as a completely different artist on my favourite radio show; BBC Radio 6's Gilles Peterson and his  weekly 3 hour extravaganza that "connects the musical dots."

I played music in a bar in Taipei about a year ago and there were a couple of Les Sins tracks that I dropped and I thought they were extremely funky and they came up in Traktor as being white labels so I thought it was some unknown stallion. I thought it was from London. I was wrong. It was the bull and me.

I just googled Les Sins before writing this and bang, it's Toro. Now by detour de force I'll wake up more to this South Carolinian master and this much richer project in terms of funk and diversity. It's full-fat dub, funk and hip-hop and this debut sounds mega. Soz Toro.

Records of 2014 - 47. How To Dress Well - What Is This Heart?

47. HOW TO DRESS WELL - WHAT IS THIS HEART?

My friend Tristan didn't treat me how to dress swell. He wears these kind of hippy pants. One day he didn't shower I remember. But I'm just of the thinking that if one tries to hard in fashion in men it's not. Looking good is feeling good and if Tristan's beard was a rug in the ground, we'd dye it red with a cherry hue and welcome drag queens.

I've dressed well once in bandcamp. So've all of us.You're not part of the plastic tree you'll be wellcomed by Tristan and Aurelius. Tread lightly on the beard and you'll get static ping pings especially if you wear nylon. You've been told.