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The Best
Music of 2007
This
year I've included as many links as I could find to my favorite tracks
on each album. When I couldn't find the album version on MySpace
or Google, I've included clips to either music videos or live
performances on YouTube. I've listened to around 250 albums this
year, so in order to include most of my absolute favorites, there are
12 honorable mentions in addition to the Top 30.
HONORABLE MENTIONS (In
Alphabetical Order):
Alex Delivery - Star Destroyer
I heard this album pretty early in the year, loved it and assumed it'd
catch on somewhere. Unfortunately, no dice. These guys are noisy and
abrasive and kinda all over the place, which is part of what I like
about them. The opening track, "Komad", starts off in angry post-punk
territory, abruptly shifting tone about 3 minutes in to eventually
transform into some sort of bizarre dance punk hybrid. While they don't
quite reach the heights of that song again, their other two epics,
"Sheath-Wet" and especially "Milan", more than hold their own, making
this one of my favorite albums that no one's talking about this year.
Recommended tracks: Komad, Milan ( live
sample)
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Certainly among the most anticipated albums of the year, aside from the
ten
days following Radiohead little surprise, and the Canadian octet
delivered a pretty solid album. Given, it's no Funeral,
but far from a sophomore slump. Aping on Bruce Springsteen on a few
songs, while still remaining true to their bombastic yet genuine sound,
Neon Bible proved (to me, anyway) that these guys
are one of the
few bands that deserve most of the hype surrounding them the past few
years.
Arp - In Light
I'll admit it right now. I'm a sucker for almost anything krautrock or
influenced by krautrock. Arp come at from more of an ambient angle with
most of the songs marked by repetition and slowly adding layers. The
result is a beautifully textured sound that will evoke either feelings
of bliss or boredom.
Recommended tracks:
Potentialities,
Fireflies
on the Water,
Premonition Of The Sculptor Steiner
Busdriver - Roadkillovercoat
As mentioned before, this is the first and last rap album to make my
list and easily the one I've listened to the most this year. His
positivity and social awareness come through in his lyrics and he has a
distinct rhythm by which he delivers them that I connect to whether
it's more traditional or rock-based backing. And seriously, any rapper
who's not only deemed cool enough to tour with Deerhoof and rhyme
neo-con Nazi with Noam Chomsky is a-okay in my book.
Recommended Tracks: Less
Yes's, More No's (starts ~50 seconds in), The Troglodyte Wins,
Secret Skin
Caribou - Andorra
There's no excuse for this album not to be in my top 30, but the
decline of quality in the middle third always bothers me. Still, 6 of
the 9 songs are outstanding sun-dretched psychedelic pop - you know,
the kind of sun that melts your skin or drove Meursault to kill that
Arab in The Stranger.
It has such a warm, inviting sound that even sitting in my parents
house, freezing my ass off in actual winter weather for a change, I can
feel my extremities coming back to life.
Recommended tracks: Melody
Day, Sandy, Niobe (which brilliantly ends a psych pop
album with a totally badass electronic track)
James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing
Blackshaw creates a wonderfully rich, dense atmosphere with only a
12-string guitar and the occasional backing. As simple as the concept
sound, the results are surprisingly rewarding and this is not the
acoustic picking you'll hear in your local coffee shop. There are many
times throughout this album where it seems literally impossible that 10
fingers are pulling it off. Dude's the real fucking deal.
Recommended tracks: Running to the Ghost, The
Cloud of Unknowing, The Mirror Speaks
Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Jinx
KK's music is so creepy, I would've sworn they're from Finland. Creaky
guitars and slow, but determined drumbeats, violins and ambiance create
a palpable sense of isolation from, well, pretty much everything. I
don't mean to make the album sound depressing, however, cuz it's not.
It's simply a beast that sucks you in unrelentingly until it's over or
you hit pause to escape it's hypnotic grasp. It took me a while to warm
up to the last 3 or 4 (of the 8) tracks and while I still think it's
not quite up with the first 4, I've come to accept that's mostly
because the first half is so friggin' grand.
Recommended tracks: Jinx, Palimpset, Both Eyes Tight Shut
A Place to Bury Strangers -
A Place to Bury Strangers
Industrial shoegaze may not sound like a great idea, but at least it's
a pretty novel one and these guys really make it work. Instead of
aiming for the ethereal as most of the dream pop-tinged shoegazers do,
A Place to Bury Strangers goes for a harder, more rough-edged approach
that still keeps the spacey sound and swirling guitars that defined
shoegaze in the first place.
Recommended tracks: The
Falling Sun (this really doesn't do justice to the album version), Ocean, Another Step Away
Prinzhorn Dance School - Prinzhorn Dance School
I was a little worried my last pick would be a divisive one, but
Prinzhorn Dance School walks a much thinner line between brilliance and
annoyance, genius and pure charlatanry. Stripping post-punk to the
barest of essentials, Prinzhorn's boy-girl twosome only makes me
appreciate Jack & Meg's noodling even less. This album is defined
by how much it rocks, but silence, perfect timing and an absolutely
wicked sense of humor. I literally laugh out loud while listening to
this, which is more than I can say for almost any non-comedy based
album. Yet the humor isn't so much found in hilarious lyrics, but how
the songs unfold (or often don't) and the ways they toy with minimalist
conventions. These guys strip everything
of excess, blending form and content into a perfect blend of wicked
guitar riffs, verbal sparring, cocky British accents, absurdist lyrics,
spare drum beats and great pacing. It's a love it or hate it sound, but
I find it completely invigorating and entertaining.
Recommended tracks: You
Are the Space Invader, Lawyer's Water Jug, Crackerjack
Docker
St. Vincent - Marry Me
Annie Clark's voice is just gorgeous and is especially fitting for the
albums busier songs backed by synths, violins, and an assortment of
other instruments. It leaves me wondering why the second half of the
album is so stripped down when most of the first half succeeds so
brilliantly when the backing is as interesting and offbeat as her
voice. But as for the demand made in your album title, uh, indeed.
Recommended tracks: The first three on the album - Now Now, Jesus
Saves, I Spend, Your Lips Are Red
Thomas Fehlmann - Honigpumpe
The dripped honey used to spell out his name and album title on the
cover is very fitting given its warm, soothing beats. It's one of the
lesser talked about albums in a year of great ambient techno, likely
because of its patience and unassuming nature. Fehlmann buries complex
beats so deeply within his rhythms that you don't even realize the
depth a song has reached until its nearly over. Tracks are washed over
with swarms of ambiance, yet leave room for various riffs and ideas to
play out beneath.
Recommended tracks: Soziale Warme, Little Big Horn, T.R.N.T.T.F.
Various Artists - After Dark
Like St. Vincent, this is another album that I'm disappointed I
couldn't find room for in the top 30. At its best, the After Dark album
evokes the rain-soaked streets of the city and its still pulsating beat
at 3am. Songs manage to be minimal yet rich, isolating yet inviting. It
turns disco on its head, slowing down beats, stretching songs to a near
eternity, adding dark, foreboading synth and sexy voices reminiscent of
the most memorable and tempting femme fatales. Farah's spoken word on
the deadly "Law of Life" draws me in like few tracks this year. Sure,
it takes 4 1/2 minutes to technically "get going", but once it does,
it's the most frightening and seductive song I've heard since Silent
Shout.
Recommended tracks: Farah - "Law of Life" (original, not remix), Chromatics - "In the City", Mirage - "Lake of Dreams"
30
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion
Gum
Mmmmm, gooey psychedelic
pop drenched with electronic fuzz, distorted
vocals and smoothed over by a luscious flute. Unlike much of the
distorted pop sounds you hear from modern bands, Dandelion Gum is still
full of catchy, upbeat hooks, using their wide assortment of
instruments not to bury rhythms and melodies, but to heighten them.
These guys aren't exactly groundbreaking, but the album is incredibly
consistent and packed with groovy pop tunes with a summertime flavor
that's still good all year round.
Recommended
tracks: Drippy
Eye, Sun
Lips, Jump
Into My Mouth and Breathe in the Stardust
29
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
While I do fall into
the camp that finds the second half a little too
soft and inconsistent, the brilliant first half capped by the album
highlight, "Armchairs", alone is enough to put this right up there with
Mysterious Eggs.
Bird is one of the most talented musicians out there
and his triple threat of violin, guitar and whistling makes for a
wonderful mix of traditional songwriting and his own unique flare. Full
of moments of both delirious quirkiness and emotional depth, Armchair
Apocrypha is one of those albums that's right for just about
every mood.
Recommended Tracks: Armchairs,
Plasticities, Sycthian Empire
Pole - Steingarten
I'll freely admit my general indifference towards dubstep and while
even its peak, Burial's Untrue from this year, has a few great tracks,
there's really no album that's begged me to return. I mention this not
because Steingarten is
strictly a dubstep album, but because it takes
what I find unengaging and flat about it and breathes life and
creativity into it. Oddly enough, it's probably even more alienating
and initially off-putting, but the songs are so unpredictable and
filled to the brim with offbeat sounds (from soft crackling to whirring
sirens) that take you in completely different direction that it
eventually becomes gripping. Pole's pacing is nearly glacial at times,
but it's incredibly rewarding to the patient listener. It's a shame
this album got lost in the mix of all the other great minimal techno
albums out there (thou really, it's more accurate to call this
electronic music than techno, cuz no one's dancing to this shit unless
there's a lot of cough syrup being passed around) since it's actually
more inventive than quite a few of them.
Recommended Tracks: Achterbahn
(only a small clip), Warum, Jungs
27
Do Make Say Think - You, You're a History in Rust
In the Naughts, there are
few bands that I can think of that are more
consistent than Do Make Say Think. Over the past year or two, post-rock
has taken some hits from critics, some deserved, others not, but with
this album, the band seems to have weathered the storm. Of course it
helps that while many of the bands they're lumped together with have
stuck with the slow build to a powerful crescendo song structure, DMST
continue to create a journey within each song rising, falling and
plateauing only when the music calls for it. With their army of
multi-instrumentalists (nearly every band member seems to play 2 or 3
instruments), they are able to create a unique sound that varies from
album to album and song to song while remaining identifiable to fans.
This album's only mistep is "The Universe" which actually kinda rocks,
but does so in a very predictable, been-there-done-that way. The rest
is a wonderful blend of their heavier, rock-driven and softer, more
contemplative sounds. The fact that this is actually one of their
weaker albums speaks only to the strength of their output.
Recommended Tracks: In
Mind, Herstory of Glory, A
Tender History in Rust
26
Akron-Family - Love is Simple
Akron-Family’s
commune of chanters and jammers
is bound to turn off those with distaste for the hippie spirit, but
their passion
for life and music is undeniable here. With
a wonderful blend of folk and rock, jams and
traditionally
structured songs, Love is Simple is one of the years more
uplifting,
invigorating releases. Like Do Make Say
Think, Akron-Family is the type of band the fill up a stage both
literally and
figuratively and their arsenal of musicians are as talented as their
music is
inviting.
Recommended Tracks: Ed
is a Portal, Don’t Be Afraid, You’re Already Dead, I’ve Got Some Friends
25
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Deerhoof is
quite simply the best absurdist rock
band out there. Their sound is stripped
down, yet remarkably complex and their infantile lyrics bring a humor
that somehow
fit comfortably within the compressed rockouts. What
initially seems silly begins to make sense after additional
spins as it becomes more evident that the lyrics aren’t written for the
music
or vice versa. Deerhoof treats the
voice like another instrument and use their simple phrasing merely as
the base
of each song. They stretch elementary
phrases like “If I were a man and you a dog, I throw a stick for
yoooou” out
for entire songs, constantly toying with the phrasing as layered drums
intertwine, some building, others losing interest and falling to the
background. Their tactics seem varied
on nearly every song on the album; some tracks remain restrained while
other
rock out, yet none are content simply to head in the direction you’re
expecting.
Recommended Tracks: The
Perfect Me, +81, Cast Off Crown
24
Raccoo-oo-oon - Behold Secret Kingdom
Just forget about the
band’s terrible name or their music will kick
your ass. I don’t even know how to begin describing their music, but I
guess it’s a sort of drone metal, noise rock hybrid full of echoed
lyrics and distortion. These guys do, however, have the courtesy of
combining all these elements into fully realized songs. They do so not
by burying them beneath the chaos of noise, but by shaping the noise
into somewhat melodious forms, which, along with the more traditional
drums, drive the songs full-speed ahead. I realize I’m making these
guys sound more inaccessible than they really are and while you do have
to like your music a little loud and chaotic to enjoy them, they’re
worth checking out if you’re at least a little adventurous.
Recommended Tracks: Antler Mask, Visage of the Fox, Mirror Blanket
23
The National - Boxer
When I first head The
National’s first album, Alligator,
I found their
singer’s voice off-putting and his tenor crooning at odds with music.
I’ve since come to except I didn’t know what the hell I was talking
about, yet even when I first heard Boxer
it took a little getting used
to. Now that I’ve come to love it, his low monotone carries with it a
weight and depth, which makes the songs all the more tragic and
beautiful. Whether it’s a slow love ballad like “Green Gloves” or “Slow
Show” or the more Springsteen-inspired rock of “Mistaken for
Strangers”, The National’s music is always tight and efficient while
emotionally engaging. They’re more traditional than a lot of other
indie bands out their, yet manage to create a sound all their own,
making them one of the best torch-bearer of plain ole’ “rock music”.
Recommended Tracks: Fake Empire, Green
Gloves, Slow Show (cut to clips of Godard's Masculine,
Feminine WTF?)
22
Menomena - Friend and Foe
In my year-end write-up
for TV on the Radio’s, Return to Cookie Mountain,
I predicted a slew of shallow imitators. Well, not only was I wrong
about the amount of imitators, but the one band that most resembles
their sound managed to make one hell of an album. While Justin Harris‘s
voice
doesn’t quite match Tunde Adebimpe, their music has a sound of it’s
own, using mathematical patterns to drive the songs to wonderful
emotional peaks. Whether it’s the pianos on “Wet and Rusting”, the
drums on “Rotten Hell”, the sax and whistling on “Boyscout'n” or nearly
every instrument on “Muscle ‘n Flo”, Menomena leave room for every band
member to define songs and seem to find a new way of getting their each
time.
21
Islaja -
Ulual Yyy
An album so haunting and
frightening that if played for the Church of
Scientology, I’m confident they’d reverse their stance of depression.
Like Bjork after being lost in a vast forest of nothingness for a
decade, Merja Kokkonen‘s alto crooning evoke a palpable sense of
isolation and unease. The band’s often mistuned instruments create
dense, atmospheric sound and swarming madness for Kokkonen‘s fragile
yet authoritative voice to push through. One of the best groups in the
New Weird Finland movement and among the most consistent in freak folk
period, Islaja gravitate more towards the freak end, content to remain
inaccessible in favor of following through on their sound, which
recalls the empty landscapes of their homeland and a haunting nostalgia
for a ghostly past that may not have ever existed.
20
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Polly Jean puts her guitar down in favor of a more stipped down
approach. With just a piano and some simple, mostly acoustic, backing,
she bears her soul in a far more intimate way than she has before.
Nearly as haunting as Ulual Yyy,
I give this one the slight edge for
its more personal touches and the emotional complexity it achieves
through its minimalist approach. To be honest, these are the types of
albums that usually have a few songs I really like and even more that
leave me cold, so the fact that this one is consistently awesome is a
pleasant surprise that earns it my respect and admiration. Harvey’s
proven she can rock out with the best of them and now she’s beaten Tori
Amos, Ani DiFranco and [insert your thoroughly mediocre, overrated
female vocalist with this approach here] at their own game her first
time out. And quite badly, I might add.
19
Fog - Ditherer
Fog’s Ditherer seemed to be overlooked
or scoffed at by most outlets
aside from Cokemachineglow’s dismantling of Pitchfork for so quickly
dismissing it – a paragraph that stands as one of the most amusing
rants of any year-end write-up. But now onto the actual music. First
off, this album is far more complex that it initially sounds. At first,
it’s flares of classic and southern rock guitars riffs give it a
somewhat derivative feel, but it’s off-kilter and ever-so-slightly
off-key sounds unearth the originality and ferocity of the tight
compositions. Songs progress with authority achieving a rhythm of their
own, yet often taken abrupt, disconcerting turns that build to powerful
crescendos like “Hallelujah Daddy” and “You Did What You Thought” or
the soft, emotional plateaus of “Ditherer”. As you may have noticed by
this point in the list, there are not many traditional R.O.C.K. rock
albums on this list, mostly because there aren’t many rock bands out
there willing to do much with the form without going into the
experimental. No thank you, Great White Stripes Hype. Fog and Prinzhorn
Dance School are among the few bands holding strong to the traditional
rock template while able to deconstruct its clichés and reform
it into
a sound all their own.
18
Phosphorescent - Pride
Pride’s glacial
pacing will likely lose the impatient listener before
the first track even ends, but those who stick with it are in for one
of the most emotionally gratifying and purest albums of the year. With
choral harmonizing, acoustic guitar strums stretched to an eternity and
the gentle rattle of tambourines and drums in the distant background,
Phosphorescent achieve a sense of peacefulness and calm in their music
that is downright spiritual. Relying not on a slow burn towards a
predictable catharsis at the end, the band allows their songs always to
exist and linger in the NOW instead of saving all the good stuff for
the end – an approach which demands the near-perfection of every note,
which the album primarily achieves. The electric guitars on “Wolves”
and flurry of ancient piano’s on the second half of “Cocaine Lights”
are as cathartic as anything I’ve heard all year, yet they are firmly
implanted in the song’s structures, not an exit which we’ve been
waiting to take for minutes prior. Phosphorescent’s organic sound
contains the power not only to move you, but to make life and
everything around you seem a little bit more beautiful, if only for the
42 minutes the album’s playing.
Recommended Tracks: Wolves, Cocaine Lights, A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise
17
Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
Certainly among the finest pop albums of recent years, Exit achieves
similar results as the Phosphorescent album, but by extremely different
means. Tokumaru’s upbeat acoustic guitar is enhanced by xylophones,
synths, flutes and a variety of other seemingly cutesy instruments that
fold themselves into his happy and offbeat vision of the world rather
than standing out as senseless quirkiness. Exit is music at its
brightest and most enjoyable – the kind of music that might cause some
people to raise an eyebrow at first, to which I’d respond with a
“Lighten the fuck up!”
Recommended Tracks: Button,
Parachute, Clocca
Not quite in my top 3, but the video and song are still great: Green
Rain
16
Blonde Redhead - 23
I make no apologies for my general fondness towards anything with even
a hint of shoegaze, so I was not surprised to love its incorporation
into Blonde Redhead's new album. Oddly enough, many critics saw this as
a regression for the art rockers, but I can think of no direction I'd
rather them head than towards a more lush sound that melds perfectly to
Kazu Makino's sexy voice. While Misery is a Butterfly is their most
original album, 23 is the
album that best plays to the trio's strengths
of breathy duets and efficient guitar work. It's dream pop feel is
curbed by catchy guitar riffs and simple, yet hard-edged drum beats
that give it a distinctive rock sound. The album's production is
magnificent as well, layering multiple guitars and vocal tracks
creating rich melodies that flow seamlessly from one song to the next.
Recommended Tracks: 23, Publisher
(ignore the video), Top
Ranking (video w/Miranda July!)
15
Studio - Yearbook 1
This was a late find for
me, but the blend of danceable new wave
grooves and upbeat post-punk bass and drums had me hooked from the
first note. Had I caught this earlier on, I have a feeling it'd be at
least another 5 spots higher. Anyways, while Studio doesn’t win many
points for originality, they more than make up for it with the passion
behind the music and the unique way they seamlessly blend multiple
recognizable sounds into something new. The album starts off with “No
Comply”, an updated version of the new wave ballad with a beautifully
filtered sounds, followed by krautrock jam session in “Radio Edit”
before changing directions drastically again with a seeming tribute to
David Byrne with the 16-minute epic, “Out There”. From Talking Heads to
New Order to The Cure, it may sound like Studio is merely ripping off
bands that already had a successful and definitive sound, but the band
is far greater than just the sum of their influences. Like a
post-modern blend of everything good about 80s music, and really there
wasn’t all that much, Yearbook 1
manages to look into the past for the
inspiration to move towards the future.
14
Deer Tick - War Elephant
Let's get one thing out of the way - I hate country music. I mean, it's
not just a "not my thing" feeling I have towards it, but a "block CMT
from my cable channels, so I don't accidentally catch a second of it
and have to clean the blood that drips from my ears" one. Now, Deer
Tick isn't exactly your typical country music, but he's not really like
your Wilco's and Neko Case's that are also apart of alt-country either.
There's enough of a rock sound to his music to avoid the twanginess
that literally destroys an entire musical genre for me, but the roots
of his sound holds an undoubtable debt to country. And this is part of
the reason why I love this album so much. It manages to take cues from
a genre I long considered devoid of all value and crafts it into
something beautiful and intensely emotional. John McCauley's Dylanesque
voice is the perfect vessel for the bittersweet lyrics that grace his
songs of love and loss - lyrics which take themes so popular in
country, yet are developed in such interesting and complex ways that
they become an interesting element on their own. That I normally
consider the voice another instrument, it speaks to the strength of
this album when I say that I've perked my ears up to catch the lyrics
of each and every song. Trust me, this album will take a few listens to
get on the same wavelength, but it's definitely worth the effort. Even
moreso, if you're a hater of country like myself. Oh yeah, dude's only
21, so respeck.
13
Deerhunter - Cryptograms (& the Fluorescent Grey EP)
There are few moments on
any album this year more invigorating that the pulsating base that
starts off "Cryptograms" following by the wicked guitar riff that
builds for a good 2 minutes until everything melds together and the
echoed repetition of "There wwwaaasss no sound" is buried deep in the
background. It's not even my favorite song on the album, but it's
what kicks into full gear and since the rest plays more like a
continuation of its sound rather than a succession of separate songs, it's
like a great credit sequence that starts a film you love. Like
the best psychedelic rock, Cryptograms
is more about pacing and rhythm
than great "traditional" songwriting. It's quite possibly the
most patient rock album of the year, allowing ample space for their
slower, more ambient based tracks to languorous take us from one badass
jam to the next. The album's ambient textures are more than just
window dressing, however. They set the otherworldly mood upon
which the spacey guitars, base and drums dance and jam together.
While musical craftsmanship might not be their forte, they sure know
how to create and sustain a distinct atmosphere with their instruments.
Recommded Tracks: Octet, Cryptograms,
Lake
Somerset
Battles - Mirrored
Breathing life into math
rock and instrumental post-rock - genres which had seemingly run
their course, Battles' album starts out at in full gear and never
lets up. Mirrored is
simultaneously epic and efficient, layering distorted vocals upon
multiple tracks of badass guitar riffs and rapid-fire drums that keep a
fast pace without sacrificing intricacy in their arrangements.
This isn't to say Mirrored
always maintains such an intense pace, but even the slower tracks are
so tightly packed with various musical ideas that build upon and play
off one another that they move along with an authority and conviction
that much music of these genres lack. Full of twists and turns
and unexpected progressions, Battles remain true to the mathematical
patterns of math rock, yet break free from its restrictions with their
playful experimentation and wide array of instruments and distortions.
Recommended Tracks: Atlas,
Tij, Rainbow
11
Slaraffenland - Private Cinema
Along with the Battles
album, Slaraffenland's Private Cinema
(my pick for the most tragically overlooked album of the year) restores
my faith in post-rock and the new avenues it still has available for
bands to explore. This Danish quintet manages to blend various
influences, from Do Make Say Think to Liars, together into a unique
sound that can lull you to sleep with gentle dreamscapes or send you
spinning around your bedroom with its harsher guitars and heavily
filtered drums. The band strikes the perfect balance between a
strange gentleness, heavy distortion and off-kilter, off-beat
experimentation and remain incontent to stick with one sound.
Every instrument, from the horn section and drums to the guitars and
vocals, plays a different role in each song. The sax and clarinet
that have a smooth, jazz-like feel in one song may be screeching
alongside the guitars in the next. Even individual songs are like
chameleons with long stretches of drone or ambience (which even vary
from haunting to calming) giving way to heavy rock songs or slow, dark
ballads transforming into upbeat charmers. Slaraffenland are not
afraid to throw everything into the pot and while it might not always
taste perfect, so much of Private
Cinema is invigorating and unexpected, that it offers something
different every time I return to it.
Recommended Tracks: You Win, Show
Me the Way, Watch
Out, Polaroids
10
Pantha du Prince - This
Bliss
For starters, any musical
artist who lists Arvo Part, This Heat, Slowdive and Ride as major
influences is one who I'm immediately down with. Then throw in
Michael Haneke, Claire Denis (WTF?) and a remix of Animal Collective's
"Peacebone" and, well, you just don't get much cooler than that in my
book. Pantha du Prince's This
Bliss was just one of the many minimal techno albums in 2007 and
while it's not quite my favorite, it is surely the most sophisticated
one and has aged over time like a fine wine, releasing new flavors and
vibes I never heard the first few times I heard it. Creating a
dense fog of atmosphere, Pantha patiently guides us through each song
with flurries of xylophone-esque beats, triangles and chimes and yes,
even the occasional dance beat. The use of sounds not usually
found in electronic music, particularly the strings of "Saturn Strobe"
(one of my five favorite tracks of the year), are a crucial component
of the album's eclectic feel. Its patient allows each note to
strike with meaning before moving on to the next, to the point that it
seems like Pantha isn't even interested in making music to be danced
to, but rather to project us inward. It's dance music (for the
bedroom) in the spirit of psychedelia (in black-and-white), yet it
really can't accurately be described as either. With my
relatively limited knowledge of the genre, I'll simply have to settle
for the boring, old "original" label and hope that's enough to get
people even a little excited.
Recommended Tracks: Saturn Strobe, Steiner
im Flug, Asha, Urlichten
9
Liars - Liars
If there’s
one thing you can count on from Liars, it’s that
they’re gonna make whatever kind of record they feel like and they
could care
less if it’s what you’d expect or want. After
their triumphant debut, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a
Monument on Top,
which essentially trumped all other dance punk albums out there, they
ditched
the genre altogether leading to critics all but burning them in effigy
before
quickly stomping out the flames to reanoint them as kings after last
year’s
masterpiece Drum’s Not Dead. Certainly
the new album isn’t as groundbreaking or
cohesive, but it’s
not really meant to be. You’ve gotta
love their sense of humor and willingness to distance fans and critics
in favor
of making the music they want to make. And
really, saving the self-titled moniker for the
album that sounds least
like a Liars record is also pretty funny. But
enough with their shenanigans - this
shape-shifting album, which
Angus Andrew refers to as their “pop album”, is a virtual fun house of
popular
and retro genres, reflecting an absurdly wide array of influences which
are
nonetheless twisted and reshaped into something distinctly their own. Not as awe-inducing as their previous album, Liars
shows the band at their most efficient and
eliminates any
questions about their song-writing abilities. Along
with their typical, what some might call,
harmonizing vocals
(falsetto and deep) and heavy guitars in hand, Liars riff on everything
from
Beck to post-punk and once again manage to transform their sound
without losing
their identity.
Recommended Tracks: Pure Unevil, Cycle Time,
Clear
Island, What Would
They Know
8
The Field - From
Here We Go Sublime
Ah yes, the minimal techno album for those of us who don't
like progression or growth in our music...hardy-har-har.
Considering one of critical elements of minimalist music is friggin'
repetition, I'm not sure why someone would demand traditional
progression and criticize The Field for not providing it. What I
find so brilliant and moving about From
Here We Go Sublime is the growth within the loops and the subtle
changes and intricacies introducing themselves throughout the
songs. It is transcendent through its repetition, but never
limited by it. Instead, The Field explores variations of the same
theme throughout each track, adding depth and meaning through
additional sounds which rhythmically swarm around the initial melody
like an array of birds swerving and dancing around a train which never
leaves its tracks. In the sense that the album is grounded in the
idea of repetition, yes, I suppose it is limited, but through its
restraints, it achieves emotional heights that most other electronic
albums of the year could only hope for and it does it on every single
track. As much as I love Pantha du Prince's album, The Field's is
quite simply more consistent in following through on the promise of
every song. Among the most the beautiful and captivating releases
of 2007, From Here We Go Sublime
shows that dance music doesn't have to be limited to the clubs.
It can be, well, sublime and to me, as relaxing as the best ambient
music out there.
Recommended Tracks: Everyday, Silent,
Sun and Ice, Mobilia
7
Kemialliset
Ystävät - Kemialliset
Ystävät
Psychedelic is a word of tagged to music that
simply has a bit of distortion in its guitars or vocals, stretching
traditionally structured songs into something a little different, yet
still ultimately recognizable. It's a word I myself use far too
often to describe music and Kemialliset Ystavat's self-titled release
led me to question its use. The word psychedelic is defined as "of
or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of
intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe
perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of
either euphoria or despair." Okay, so back in the 60s, people
were popping LSD like tic-tacs and everyone was seeing pink elephants
and blue giraffes dancing in harmony along candy-coated rainbows and
all, but with the accompaniment of acid, I'm pretty sure you could see
some funky shit while listening to Air Supply or The BeeGees too.
Kemialliset Ystavat are the real thing - the effects of the drugs built
right into the music, so that your visual perception is distorted and,
depending on your mood, euphoria and despair tag along as well.
I'm still not sure if this is music designed for human beings, or even
music at all, but it is one thing and that's really fucking
strange. Layers of found sounds, hidden melodies, mulitple
instruments constructing their own various and different songs and
group chants are just a few of the various elements of the band and
really, beyond that, it's nearly impossible to describe. It's
often almost too much to take at once, intense not because of speed or
volume, but the density of the music, within which there's not much to
grasp and hold onto before it disappears amongst the madness. The
album is less an album than an experience and like LSD, there's only
two ways it can go - a good trip or a really friggin' bad one.
Recommended Tracks: Superhimmelli,
Näkymättömän
Hipaisuja, Himmeli
Kutsuu Minua
6
Radiohead - In
Rainbows
If, the
still too often dismissed, Hail to
the Thief was a band in transition and not quite sure where they
were heading, In Rainbows is
the boys of Radiohead at their most assured, laid back and
comfortable. For nearly every other band, I would use this
description for a lazy output, but with Radiohead, who hit their peak
over a decade ago and have essentially maintained it ever since,
fitting like a glove is most definitely a compliment. Not to gush
like too rabid a fanboy, but if you're already floating amongst the
stars, you no longer need to shoot for them and while In Rainbows doesn't mark the
drastic shift in modern rock music that OK Computer or Kid A did, it is a more efficient
and refined sound. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this
album is superior, but rather than trying to create another blueprint
from scratch, they've honed their skills as musicians, tightened up the
notches and simply created music that is part of their DNA. The
intricate guitarwork on "Nude" and "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" for instance
are initially almost underwhelming, yet their underlying beauty and
complexity are unearthed over multiple listens. And much of the
album is like this, containing golden nuggets buried in the dirt
If parts of In Rainbows sound
almost a little too familiar, it's because they somewhat are, but like
all great artists who survive long enough, Radiohead realizes the value
in sometimes exploring similar themes and motifs as you have in the
past. Over time, they've changed as both people and musicians, so
it's no surprise that they can sound so familiar yet so different at
the same time. No, this might not be revolutionary, but it sure
as hell is growth and maturity.
Recommended
Tracks: Nude, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Videotape, All I Need (No links
because either you have these on your hard drive, you've already
deleted them or you started reading the list, wondered who the hell
these Arcade Fire felllows are and left)
5
Animal
Collective - Strawberry
Jam
And here’s another of my favorite bands delivering their pop
album in
2007, though this one has a sugary sweetness to it that Liars will
probably not
venture towards. While it still retains
their psychedelic spirit of their previous work, Animal Collective’s Strawberry
Jam reflects the bands growth and maturation as both musicians and
individuals. Lyrically, it’s more
cohesive and they seem to be sharing the workload, allowing each member
to play
an integral role in every song. For all
its good vibes and celebratory feel, the Collective are still relying
heavily
on Avey’s spastic singing. In Strawberry
Jam, however, there is less dissonance and discord than before,
with the
instruments adopting a more rubbery sound that stretches and conforms
to
various extremes the vocals take them. As
a result, and to the dismay of some of their
fans, the album contains
more traditional sounding songs than any previous album.
Despite this, Strawberry Jam is not
much of a move towards the mainstream, as they’ve kept far too many of
their
eccentricities in tact for that charge to stick. They
may be a little bit more focused and calm, but at heart,
they’re still the same Animal Collective I know and love.
Recommended Tracks: For Reverend Green,
Fireworks,
Unsolved
Mysteries, Peacebone
4
Of Montreal - Hissing
Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
To be honest, with as early as this came out in 2007,
I expected to lose esteem for this album every single time I heard it
and every single time I heard it, it was as good, if not better, than I
remembered. One of the biggest compliments I can give to it is
that about 7 or 8 times the album preceeding it in my ITunes ended and
once Hissing Fauna started, I
didn't stop it once before it finished. Few albums have provided
me so much joy, humor, quirkiness and just plain gooey pop
goodness. Kevin Barnes disco diva antics and the band's
consistently interesting, energetic backing make this is one of the
distinct few albums that is wall-to-wall brilliant. From the baby
sounds and soft string plucks of "Suffer for Fashion" to the chanting
grooves which drive "We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling" to
its conclusion, there are almost no missteps. And for a pop album
this ambitious and unique, that's absolutely astounding.
Considering my general indifference towards the other two albums I've
heard from them, The Gay Parade
and Satanic Panic in the Attic,
I don't hesitate to call this the biggest step forward by any band all
year. Barnes transforms the pain and anguish of his divorce into
an absolutely glowing and hysterical celebration of life and all the
shit that weighs us down, sometimes to the point of suffocation.
It is the soundtrack of happy days and one of the few albums that can
honestly brighten up the bad ones. And really, that's what pop
music is all about, although I can't think of few bands that have ever
so thoroughly followed through with its promise.
Recommended Tracks: Cato
As A Pun, We
Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling, She's A Rejector,
A
Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger (the dangers of listening to Hissing Fauna in public...)
3
Panda Bear
- Person Pitch
Brianwilsonbeachboys.
Ok, now that I'm past the apparently contractual obligation to mention
them every time anyone writes about Person
Pitch, we can get to the actual music. After his quaint
but eloquant ode to his father on Young
Prayer, I don't think anyone expected Lennox to come back with
something so rich and full of layer
upon layer of found sounds, swirling acoustic guitars, ambience and
alternate melodies that all
conform in perfect rhythm throughout the songs. The length
of the album's anchor "Bros", the
song of the year as far as I'm considered,
allows it to patiently progress from a simple jam to absolutely epic
proportions, building intensity and attaining an emotional catharsis
more powerful than anything else I've heard recently. The rest of
the album maintains the same beautifully textured sound through its
intricate production and wondrous harmonizing of Lennox's voice and
every other element of the music. It has the surreal qualities of
a beautifully haunting dream, yet remains focused on creating dense,
atmospheric melodies that it never gets lost in the clouds. To be
honest, despite the endless comparisons to The Beach Boys, I find the
less frequent comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, albeit more in
approach than the actual sound, to be more accurate.
Recommended Tracks: Bros, Good Girl/Carrots
(part 1), Take Pills
2
A Sunny Day in
Glasgow - Scribble
Mural Comic Journal
Scribble Mural Comic Journal (say
it five tive fast!), begins with repetitive thumping sounds amidst
swirling ambience and Elizabeth Fraser-esque vocals, which sounds as if
A Sunny Day in Glasgow are hermetically sealing my head shut to assure
their lush, dreamy grooves don't accidently escape my brain and seep
into the outside world. The vocals carry over into the second
track "No. 6 Von Karman Street", which stands as one of only two dance
tracks on the album while managing to set up its mantra of dream pop
fused with, well, things not normally fused with it. The noise
rock of "A Mundane Phonecall to Jack Parsons", the jangly guitars of
"Our Change Into Rain is No Change at All (Talkin' 'bout Us)", the
near-reggae shuffle of "List, Plans", and the abrasive minimalism of
"Panic Attacks Are What Make Me 'Me'" all bring something to completely
unexpected to the table while still retaining the bands', here's that
word again, shoegazey aesthetic. While some bands attempt to
rebuild the same wall of sound that came crashing down somewhere in the
mid-to-late-90s, A Sunny Day in Glasgow are picking the scraps from all
over the place and constructing something familiar yet somehow entirely
unique. Take "5:15 Train" for instance, a song so gorgeous that
it may one day literally cause my heart to explode, which uses
echo-chamber vocals buried beneath fuzzy guitars that we've all heard
before, but within those layers, the band lets in Fennesz-like
glitches, hisses and pops along with a thumping base that is rarely
associated with the gushy pop love song. In the end, however,
it's not the originality of the band, which can surely be debated, that
I love, but the sheer variety of their sound and its consistent ability
to lull me into beautiful dreamscapes.
Recommended Tracks: 5:15
Train, A
Mundane Phonecall to Jack
Parsons, No. 6 Von Karman
Street
1
Sunset Rubdown
- Random
Spirit Lover
I [heart]
Spencer Krug and once a week, I attend the Church of Hipster to worship
the world's greatest Canadian since Wayne Gretzky. Not really,
but in all seriousness, no man has done more for our neighbors to the
north in my lifetime because while Krug will never average over 1
goal-per-game in a season, he has performed the impossible task of
making up for 30 years of shitty Rush albums. And until Gretzky
puts a puck right between Geddy Lee's eyes, I'm afraid he's staying at
#2. But I digress. I really had no idea what to right about
this album and since making fun of Rush is so fulfilling, I figured I'd
use that to get into the write-up. Ok, enough with describing my
writing strategy as I'm writing
and onto Random Spirit Lover
- the YAY, album of the year. First of all, I can understand why
people aren't all over this album like Wolf Parade's Apologies... or the Rubdown's Shut Up I Am Dreaming because
sometimes growth is disconcerting, especially when it happens over such
a short period of time. This album is probably even more
bombastic and sprawling than their last album, but it is far more
cohesive as a complete work. The Sgt. Pepper's move of blending
every track together gives it not simply a continuity, but an epic feel
that explains the massive indulgence ("Colt Stands Up, Grows
Horns"/"Stallion") that for many weigh down the middle of the
album. But for all its warts, there's nothing like "For the
Pier..." or "Up On Your Leopard" on any other album this year.
Seriously, there just aren't too many musicians out there writing rock
songs going "Why don't we start this one off with an auto-harp and
steel drums, k?" or "Let's build to a crescendo two minutes in
and the start the fuck over and go for an even bigger one in the
end!"
It's just such a bold approach to song-writing that I can't help
falling all over myself trying to talk about, forgiving lines like
"Where there's a will there's a way, so way to go!" because they're so
perfectly in line with Krug's overtly over-the-top approach that grabs
you by the balls and dares you to run away. The dueting with
Camilla tempers Krug's occasionally grating delivery, at times giving
the album a much needed calm and others, such as the end of "Up On Your
Leopard", taking it to soaring heights that no Krug-related project had
reached. Despite its messy, indulgent nature, Random Spirit Lover is, for me,
what music is all about - fun, beautiful and packed with emotion
Recommended Tracks: For
The Pier (And Dead Shimmering), Up
On Your
Leopard, Upon The End Of Your Feral Days, The
Taming Of The Hands That
Came Back To Life
|
Cinematic
Reflections
