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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Best of 2007 |
| Date | Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:26:06 -0500 |
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BEST OF 2007
1. THE MOVIE -- Clare and the Reasons
Gorgeous, cinematic chamber pop featuring Clare Muldaur's angelic,
helium-pitched vocals and lush orchestral arrangements. The midnight
music album of the year.
2. NIGHT FALLS OVER KORTEDALA -- Jens Lekman
Lekman's third album is his best so far, featuring his sharpest,
daffiest lyrics and loveliest melodies.
3. REUNION TOUR -- The Weakerthans
As much as I love RECONSTRUCTION SITE, I have come to the conclusion
that this is a better album overall: punchy, catchy guitar rock songs
with literate lyrics that pack more emotional depth and novelistic
than just about anybody else out there. Quite possibly the most
depressing album of the year ("Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure"
nails me every single time), but with just enough wit and glimmers of
optimism to make it okay.
4. GOD SAVE THE CLIENTELE -- The Clientele
This band had done nothing much for me in the past, but this
shmmering, jangly, melancholy album hooked me from the very first
listen, due at least in part to Mark Nevers' terrific production job.
5. THE REMINDER -- Feist
I never expected her to become the breakout mainstream pop star she
has, but songs like the hit "1234" and the even better "I Feel It All"
are so undeniably great that it couldn't have happened to anyone more
deserving.
6. ANDORRA -- Caribou
I've liked Dan Snaith ever since his days as Manitoba, but this album
is a complete change of pace, far more song-oriented than ever before
and mixing straight pop influences (flutes, strings, falsetto vocals,
sleighbells) with his usual electronics. The results, like the
friggin' gorgeous first single "Melody Day," are just to my tastes:
they don't sound at all like the Bee Gees or the Beach Boys, but you
can tell where the connections to bands like that are.
7. COMPLICATED VIEW -- Deleted Waveform Gatherings
The dude from Norwegian psych-popsters the Dipsomaniacs starts a new
band, much less overtly backwards-looking and with a mellower overall
vibe, not to mention a new singing style that strongly favors Marc
Bolan.
8. CHALLENGERS -- The New Pornographers
The main thing I keep noticing about this one is how much better
integrated Dan Bejar's songs seem this time out.
9. SOMEWHERE/ANYWHERE -- New Buffalo
Sally Seltmann is probably raking in the dough right at the moment
(she, not Leslie Feist, wrote the hit "1234"), but if that allows her
to make more records as minimalist as this lovely album of piano and
voice ballads decorated with occasional washes of electronic shimmer,
I'm all for that.
10. TRANSLATIONS -- Sylvie Lewis
Largely ditching the cabaret feel of her debut TANGOS AND TANTRUMS,
Sylvie Lewis' second album is a bit less jazzy and a bit more
orchestrated, with a sound pitched somewhere between, say, Laura
Nyro's solo records and the Fifth Dimension's wildly over-arranged
covers of Nyro's songs.
11. CAN CLADDERS -- The High Llamas
I can't quite put my finger on why, but this is by some measure the
most satisfying High Llamas album since 1998's COLD AND BOUNCY.
12. THE RUMOR MILL -- Angie Heaton
A straight-ahead pure country album that somehow also manages to work
in an entirely appropriate cover of Trembling Blue Stars' "Sometimes I
Still Feel the Bruise."
13. UMA TARDE NA FRUTEIRA -- Jupiter Apple
Every song on here is a conscious evocation of production and
songwriting styles from roughly 1966 to 1972, particularly touching
down on the Sunset Strip, the beach at Ipanema, and Carnaby Street.
The arrangements are so filled with homages and outright swipes of so
many different artists in so many different genres that playing Spot
the Influence requires a master's degree in pop-geekery with a
sub-specialty in Tropicalia. Only the fact that most of the songs are
in Portuguese keeps it from being an instant Audities fave.
14. SPIRIT IF -- Kevin Drew
Technically a Broken Social Scene album in all but name, having one
singer and songwriter in control focuses things considerably more than
usual, but it also reins in that freewheeling aspect that I like so
much about the parent band's efforts.
15. SWEET EARTH FLOWER -- His Name Is Alive
Surprise of the year, in the sense of "Okay, I didn't see THAT
coming." Although this album was released under the His Name Is Alive
brand name, it sounds absolutely nothing like anything Warren DeFever
has done in the over 15 years he's had that project name. (A good
thing too, because I lost interest in HNIA years ago, personally.)
This is, believe it or not, a straight-up modern jazz record, inspired
by and partially recorded at a tribute concert to the free jazz
saxophonist Marion Brown, who recorded several albums for ESP and
Impulse as a leader in the '60s and '70s and worked with Harold Budd
and others in the '80s. This is exactly the type of jazz I most love,
melodically and rhythmically exploratory, but with a minimum of the
ol' honk-blat-phwee.
16. IODINE -- Half Cousin
Quirky Scottish art-folk that keeps threatening to veer off into
weirdness for weirdness' sake, but never quite does.
17. SIEMPRE HAY SALIDA -- Pistolera
Feisty Brooklyn-based band playing politically-themed conjunto with a
punky backbone. I admit that part of why I like this band so much is
that they remind me of home, but there's more than enough of its own
merits.
18. FABLES -- Immaculate Machine
A bit of a step down from their debut, perhaps, but still one of the
most fun and danceable records of the year.
19. FUTURE CLOUDS AND RADAR -- Future Clouds and Radar
I had expected this to place higher, but what can I say? It was a
really good year.
20. IMAGINE OUR LOVE -- Lavender Diamond
Screw y'all. I like 'em.
THEY ALSO SERVED (around 30 solid albums that just didn't make the
cut, in alphabetical order):
POCKET SYMPHONY -- Air
NEON BIBLE -- The Arcade Fire
NEPTUNE CITY -- Nicole Atkins
THE BIRD OF MUSIC -- Au Revoir Simone
BARENAKED LADIES ARE MEN -- Barenaked Ladies
THE FLYING CLUB CUP -- Beirut
NO ONE WILL KNOW -- Bella
POLYTHEISTIC FRAGMENTS / WHILE MY GUITAR VIOLENTLY BLEEDS -- Sir
Richard Bishop
VOLTA -- Bjork
23 -- Blonde Redhead
CENTRAL SERVICES -- Central Services
A MOVE TO SILENT UNREST -- Chicago Afrobeat Project
BABY COMES HOME -- Patrick Cleandenim
THE ADVENTURES OF GHOSTHORSE AND STILLBORN -- CocoRosie
FINDING FOREVER -- Common
FRIEND OPPORTUNITY -- Deerhoof
ALL OF A SUDDEN I MISS EVERYONE -- Explosions in the Sky
TRAFFIC AND WEATHER -- Fountains of Wayne
LA VIE D'ARTISTE -- Tim Gane and Sean O'Hagan
STEVE GOLDBERG AND THE ARCH ENEMIES -- Steve Goldberg and the Arch
Enemies
100 DAYS, 100 NIGHTS -- Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
GOODBYE EAST, GOODBYE WEST -- Madagascar
MEMORY ALMOST FULL -- Paul McCartney
OBLIGATORY VILLAGERS -- Nellie McKay
PERSON PITCH -- Panda Bear
MARRY ME -- St. Vincent
DOWN ON THE FARM -- The Smallgoods
MOOD SWINGS -- Small Sins
IN OUR BEDROOM AFTER THE WAR -- Stars
YOUR SECRET SAFE / LUZERNE -- The Trolleyvox
GRADUATION -- Kanye West
LOSE ALL TIME -- You Say Party! We Say Die!
BEST SINGLES OF 2007:
1. Bad Time To Be Poor -- The Weakerthans
2. Flathead -- The Fratellis
3. Can't Tell Me Nothing -- Kanye West
4. 1234 -- Feist
5. How Can It Be -- Forever Thursday
6. I Wish I Could Have Loved You More -- Candie Payne
7. Flying the Flag -- Scooch
8. Umbrella -- Rhianna
9. Man, I Hate Your Band -- Little Man Tate
10. Coming Home (The Eclipse) -- Amy Cook
BEST EPS OF 2007:
1. AND THE HUN HANGAR ENSEMBLE -- A Hawk and a Hacksaw
2. WHAT IS FREE TO A GOOD HOME? -- Emily Haines
3. STICKING FINGERS INTO SOCKETS -- Los Campesinos!
4. PEARL STREET RAGA -- Babel
5. THE DISTANT FUTURE -- Flight of the Conchords
6. KNEES UP! -- Cannonball Jane
7. CUT OFF -- Rebuilding the Rights of Statues
8. CAVALRY OF LIGHT -- Lavender Diamond
9. IN THE ATTIC OF THE UNIVERSE -- The Antlers
DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2007 (in alphabetical order):
NEW MAGNETIC WONDERS -- The Apples In Stereo
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN -- The Good, the Bad and the Queen
THE FRAGILE ARMY -- The Polyphonic Spree
WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY -- The Shins
OUT OF THE WOODS -- Tracey Thorn
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