As part of my (admittedly early) New Year's Resolution to contribute to this blog more, I will begin by serenading you with my top ten albums of 2007.
#1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Instead of giving you an in-depth analysis of why I love this album so much and how many times I have listened to "Watch the Tapes" this year on my way to/from work, let me just give you these snippets from various reviews of this album:
"Sequenced as well as any LP this decade" - Pitchfork
"Over and over, these songs reveal how a wisecracking record geek can still achieve rapture." - Spin
"I’d be surprised if the genre can produce anything much better than this." - No Ripcord
This is not merely an album, more a soundtrack for an entire generation confronted with the realities of the "real world," forced to cast off their idealism and instead merely laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Moreover, as an admitted "Goddamned track skipper," there is not a single song on this album that I dislike nor skip after listening to it pretty much endlessly all year. Probably my favorite album since Z.
Favorite Track - "All My Friends"
#2 - MIA - Kala
Coming in just the tiniest of margins behind (with a cheap AK in hand), comes not only one of the best albums but one of the most forceful political statements of the year. Kala finds MIA really flexing her muscles, copping well-known samples (not just the chorus on "20 Dollar," but the bass line from "Blue Monday" is in the same song) and hooking up with big-name producers (Switch), but making them distinctly her own. Stylistically, this is an album all across the board - everything from Bollywood standards ("Jimmy") to wildlife samples ("Bird Flu") to frantic, glitchy rave beats ("XR2") is put into the blender and reinterpreted in a totally unique and ultimately catchy way.
In most politics, both sides scream at another but the truth lies somewhere in the middle. MIA gives a voice to a side so startling that even the middle ground is a bit unsettling. Also bonus points for being of the few artists still advancing the "music as political statement" cause.
Favorite Track - "Paper Planes" or "Jimmy"This is not merely an album, more a soundtrack for an entire generation confronted with the realities of the "real world," forced to cast off their idealism and instead merely laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Moreover, as an admitted "Goddamned track skipper," there is not a single song on this album that I dislike nor skip after listening to it pretty much endlessly all year. Probably my favorite album since Z.
Favorite Track - "All My Friends"
#2 - MIA - Kala
Coming in just the tiniest of margins behind (with a cheap AK in hand), comes not only one of the best albums but one of the most forceful political statements of the year. Kala finds MIA really flexing her muscles, copping well-known samples (not just the chorus on "20 Dollar," but the bass line from "Blue Monday" is in the same song) and hooking up with big-name producers (Switch), but making them distinctly her own. Stylistically, this is an album all across the board - everything from Bollywood standards ("Jimmy") to wildlife samples ("Bird Flu") to frantic, glitchy rave beats ("XR2") is put into the blender and reinterpreted in a totally unique and ultimately catchy way.
In most politics, both sides scream at another but the truth lies somewhere in the middle. MIA gives a voice to a side so startling that even the middle ground is a bit unsettling. Also bonus points for being of the few artists still advancing the "music as political statement" cause.
#3 - Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
I used to have a very difficult time with Animal Collective, feeling that they were at times a bit too avant-garde and focused on the strange sound and composition and the "art" instead of making something pleasing to listen to.
This album changed that. And how.
By scaling back some of the occasionally overwhelming sound, it allowed me to better appreciate the instrument that is Avey Tare's voice as it jumps all around on this album. Lyrically, this album has some of the more fascinating phrases put to music this whole year.
Favorite Track - "Fireworks"
#4 - Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?
Where to begin with this band? The glammiest of glam, the poppiest of pop, this is a band that arrived two decades too late for the mainstream. If this came out in 1984, it would be all over MTV.
Also, thanks for naming our blog!
Favorite Track - "Gronlandic Edit"
#5 - Daft Punk - Alive 2007
To dismiss this as a "live album" or a "remix album" is a disservice to the intricacy of the mix of these songs. All of your favorite Daft Punk songs are slowed down, sped up, cut up, lined up and mixed into one coherent set, reinterpreting and reimagining even the songs you have heard hundreds of times.
In particular, track 5 is an epic, starting with Steam Machine, slowly dissolving into that oh-so-familiar Around the World bass line, then lined up with Harder Better Faster Stronger - and after an improvised scat-vocal break, the song is officially shifted to "Ludicrous Speed" as two men in robot suits drop into the mix "work it/work it/work it/work it/faster/faster/faster/faster." Seventy thousand people hopping in a field can't be wrong.
Favorite Track - "Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger"
#6 - Justice - Cross
This could very easily be #5a, as French House was EVERYWHERE in 2007. Yet another duo with fantastic pop sensibilities crafting unique videos and catchy hits. Even the infamously hard-to-please Kanye gave them props. Kid choir vocals, distorted catchy guitar loops - this is the future of pop music.
Favorite Track - "Waters of Nazareth"
#7 - Burial - Untrue
There is a lot about this album that reminds me of a sped-up Portishead with vocal samples instead of Beth Gibbons. A fantastic album for cold winter days. I could go on about how it's "mournful" and "soulful" and all sorts of other -fuls but it's beyond that - in addition to the raw emotion it's clean and catchy. It's almost better that s/he remain anonymous - I fear that the modern interrogation that has become the interview would prevent the artist from going to their "creative place."
Favorite Track - "Archangel"
#8 - Radiohead - In Rainbows
If this were a top ten list of most important albums released this year, this would unequivocally be number 1. Radiohead once again thought big, and landed the latest haymaker against the RIAA oligarchy.
But it's not. And the music, while typically good and typically Radiohead, is merely very good in a year full of spectacular efforts. I was still hoping for a new Bends.
Favorite Song - "Videotape"
#9 - Kanye West - Graduation
Let me make one thing abundantly clear - I hate the overwhelming vast majority of mainstream top 40 music. Can't stand it, really.
But. Kanye West, for all his brash arrogance and egotism, is the one person in mainstream pop music who is continuing to push the envelope. He understands that the future of music is not in showy, call-and-response "ringtone rap," nor is it the slick, overproduced singer-starlets that seem to be fabricated on television right before our eyes. He's the continuation of the MIchael Jackson school of pop - perfect, ubiquitous hooks that are easy to sing along to and follow you everywhere you go.
In GQ's December Men of the Year issue, Kanye said that Graduation is "nowhere near as good as I'm capable of." I just hope his egotism doesn't lead him to get a pet chimp.
Favorite Track - "Good Life" (sorry, I'm a sucker for that synth line)
#10 - The Tuss - Rushup Edge
Thanks Mitch!
2007 was the year I really got into some of the crazier drum and bass artists, and nothing quite defines crazy drum and bass like Richard D. James. Intricate and meticulous, yet accessible and head-nod-worthy, this album helped open my eyes to a whole new world of electronic music.
Favorite Track - "Shiz Ko E"
Honorable Mention:
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
White Stripes - Icky Thump (Finally, the old Stripes sound again!)
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (probably #11)
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Apparently, from reading other people's lists, I should also have listened to Panda Bear?
Show of the Year:
Hot Chip, the Granada
I don't attend shows like I once did, but I have seen probably my fair share. And in all of the shows that I have seen at the Granada (including the Nightmare on Mass Street), I have NEVER seen people get down like I did that hot, humid summer afternoon. Some of the more subdued tracks took on a new life, most memorably "(Just Like We) Breakdown."
That's all for now. I may add more later. In the meantime, we'll continue consuming media so you don't have to...
