Top Twenty Albums for 2007!
It's taken me nearly four full months to compile this list - and that's a testament to the sheer number of amazing albums released in 2007. So finally, in descending order, here are my favourite twenty releases of the year two thousand and seven!
Arcade Fire - Black Mirror
I'll probably take a lot of flak for this, but IMHO this outing is more cohesive in it's dystopian vision, mature in theme and tone, and polished in its sound than Funeral. What secured this album in a top ten position was the fact that I've been rotating through virtually every track as my "favourite on the album" since it was released. I was hesitant at first - Funeral was a hard act to follow up, but Arcade Fire have done a superb job pushing themselves forward!
Whitey - Great Shakes
Whitey's last album was handed to me by a mutual friend. I didn't know what to expect, but once I played the album through a few times, and played a few tracks at Zaphod's - I knew it was something special. Two years and another release later, and Whitey has yet to make any real headway in North America. For the life of me, I can't figure it out - anyone into LCD Soundsystem and the like should be swooning over Whitey!
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
So far Spoon has failed to disappoint. While I'm still playing "I Turn My Camera On" more than any other track, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga has been on my iPod since I bought the album. There's definitely some maturity developing in their sound, and that's always a sign of good things to come.
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
This folksy(?) recording from Zach Condon stirs images of turn-of-the-century French pop, thanks in large part to the album's thematic origins... in sound, it compares favourably to New Orleans' Squirrel Nut Zippers and The Raconteurs - but definitely retains an identity all its own. I look forward to hearing more from Condon.
Apparat - Walls
Not only one of the year's best, but probably the best offering to date from Germany's Sascha Ring. A thoroughly enjoyable offering of ambient melancholy that recalls they heyday of Trip-Hop all the while measuring up to their contemporaries.I've had this rotating through the same playlist as Boards of Canada and O Yuki Conjugate.
!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - Myth Takes
The best of last year's more "experimental" offerings. It also has loads of dance-able material, which makes it great for the Electric Ballroom. I had the hardest time trying to classify this album - electroclash? indie rock? progressive? There's a little something of each I think, but somehow !!! have managed to combine vastly differing flavours together into a delicious LP.
The National - Boxer
Crooning vocals gushing out great lyrics over catchy tunes... Song for song, Boxer has more tunes that get stuck in my head than any other album put out last year. If Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" could have a soundtrack, this would be it. Seeing as how it was steadily gaining popularity, I'm sure this LP was on more than a few "best of" lists.
Battles - Mirrored
There were a lot of experimental albums released this past year that were in consideration for this list; Mirrored being a shining example of the far-left-of-centre mentality that seems to be ushering another golden age of math/geek rock the likes of Kraftwerk et al. For all it's robotic weirdness, I love it; and I'm sure some fictional low-life hacker's listening to Mirrored right now in a Gibson inspired world of "future is now!"
The Hives - The Black & White Album
I can't help it; I've really enjoyed every album The Hives have released! More so, every time they put out another one, I end up liking it loads better than the last one! After hearing the first single from The Black & White Album ("Tick Tick Boom"), I was pretty sure that their run was at an end - not a bad song, but not as strong as past singles. After the full album was released I was gladly proven wrong (a theme this year).
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
A great album by any standards, but one of the reasons I really loved this albums is that it covers so much ground; from melodic hummers like "Pots & Pans" to balls-out rockers like "Rage In The Plague Age". Not only that, but the songs have a lot of depth, and I'm always listening to newly discovered undercurrents upon each listen. That not only makes for great songcrafting; it makes for longevity!
Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
I have to admit, this isn't as strong an outing as Everything All The Time, but then again I said the same thing about Spoon's sophomore album after the first few listens - and look how it placed! Since the album's been growing on me with each listen, I've added it to the list - knowing that before the snow melts it'll surpass the Horses' previous release.
Unkle - War Stories
A perfect example of "never count a fighter down, until he's out of the fight". Ashamedly, I had considered Unkle past its prime after their premiere outing. Without Dj Shadow around, I thought Unkle would crumble. War Stories is different without Shadow... but it's also a damn good album!
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
Another experimental indie rock album, Dandelion Gum straddles the line between indie and ambient, but does so quite naturally... at times noisy and jarring, while melodic and droning at others. There's a bit of an electro-vintage feel that reminds me of Boards of Canada at times.
Blonde Redhead - 23
Sounding like the 21st century's return to the shoegazing bands of the nineties, Blonde Redhead pul together a sound from the last decade and make it sound fresh again. Fans of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, or The Jesus & Mary Chain should be all over this.
Feist - The Reminder
Yes, she's everyone's indie darling... but it's deservedly so - The Reminder is a solid album. The comparison has been made before but there's something of Kate Bush on this recording - that early New Wave quality that made the bands of '78-81 so much better than the rest of the eighties.
Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks
It's a compilation of sorts - all the tracks are taken from two previous SP albums released under an indie label in their native New Zealand. Still though, its 17 tracks of goodness. Take two parts electro-punk revolution and add a heavy dose of early shoegaze (especially My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus & Mary Chain) And you'll have something approximately close to Shocking Pinks. And that's good, no?
Young Galaxy - Young Galaxy
I went to go see these guys at Zaphod's last year not really knowing much about them other than a lot of people I respected had nothing but good things to say. That and the one track I did hear was phenomenal. The show was not a disappointment, and neither is this album.
Like a lot of other albums on my list this year, there's definitely some shoegaze connection; in this case Slowdive / Mojave 3, though I wouldn't necessarily draw a straight comparison. Young Galaxy is a finely crafted album and one that finds its way into my playlist almost nightly!
Fields - Everything Last Winter
Okay, down to the last three; I really had to fight with these picks, moreso with Fields' Everything Last Winter than any other album on the list. That's not to say it's a bad album, or unworthy of the top twenty... but here we have band making its major label debut, and the pressure's on... will they follow the example set by successes such as Snow Patrol before them, or will they simp.... ah fuck it - this is a good album; hype music media, and starlet fans be damned!
The Mary Onettes - The Mary Onettes
Sounding very much like early eighties new-wave-to-pop conversionists, Sweden's The Mary Onettes manage to do one thing perfectly; they make it sound good. I'll be honest, a lot of this album's placement hooks on the strength of the track "Lost", but without becoming too saccharine, this band has managed to avoid becoming anyone's poster-boys while still churning out reliably good music. And I just made up a word... "Conversionists" - spread it around!
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
David Longstreth's latest retains the potluck atmosphere of his previous outings; loads of input and influences mixed together to create something that is whole more than the sum of its parts
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