2007

keeping with tradition i deliver my best of the year list late... but only b/c i have given a lot of thought to it. really. overall i thought 2007 was a pretty shitty year for music. but what can you expect in a year when bruce springsteen has all of sudden become cool? and everything is too damn nice and cute. when the hell did people stop being angry and taking it out on their instruments? i miss music that has an element of danger. or just sounds like people care. at any rate, there were a few exceptions. the list below is undoubtedly incomplete so i do mention some of the albums you might expect to be on my list - like everyone else's - but that i just didn't care for. besides, what is the point of having a blog if you can't complain about how everyone else got it wrong...

On top

Shocking Pinks - st
what a horrible fucking band name. that and the fact that the album was on dfa led me to expect some horrible shit but thankfully i did get the album a try. and granted it took a few spins before i started to appreciate the album. among all the shoegaze revivalists this album really stands out - probably because it was less obsessed with the wall of sound and more concerned with writing songs. + i'm a sucker for the lo-fi sound on the record.

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
big business was a breath of fresh air in year of wimpy music. loud and over-the-top in the best possible way.

Up there


31 Knots - The Days and Nights of Everything Anywhere
31 knots never really stood a chance in 2007. they didn't have the right sound for 2007, they were somehow uncool and pitchforkmedia hated them. all of which combines to make them very cool in my book. nifty pop songs packed in those difficult-to-open plastic thingies. reminds me equally of man man and the detachment kit.

Venetian Snares - My Downfall (OST)

Funk returns with the genetic follow-up to his album with the hungarian name. my downfall, like its predecessor, succeeds in marrying classic(ally sounding) strings with some drum and bass. of course, there is no reason why this should ever work (except that aphex twins demonstrated it a while back) but it does. And, actually, the album is fairly light on the drums and bass, and as a result it is not miles away from max richter - at least in term of spirit.

Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
i was a bit surprised not to see this on more end of the year lists - perhaps b/c it came out so early in the year? at any rate, up there with the best that deerhoof has done.

Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
the guy from wolf parade is still doing alright...

Liars - Liars

liars have always been more interesting on paper than in reality but i think this album changed that for me. they are still not quite easy listening but i feel like there is more to the songs than before. and the second half of the album is actually somewhat jamc-like.

Other Men - Wake Up Swimming

other men is one of rob crow's outlets. i wasn't terribly impressed by the album on first listen but it grew on me although i can't possibly explain what i like about it. it's nice...

Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm

yes, the album was a slight disappointment after being exposed to 'every single line means something' but, well, there is just not really anything like it.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
how can an album about breaking up be so much fun and yet sound strangely sincere?

Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
no clue why this is on my list - i just like listening to it

Okkervil River - The Stage Names
what can i say that hasn't already been said?

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
ah, guilty pleasures.... except it really is a pretty damn good pop album.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

and come to think of it, spoon isn't miles away from the klaxons really. only they were jackets instead of jumpers. i always liked their early pavementesque albums more but with spoon's last couple of album i've grown to like their more 'adult sound' (meaning sounding dangerously close to billy joel).

Blonde Redhead - 23

this wasn't Blonde Redhead's best album by far but it was a nice change in pace and some of the songs sung by one of the twins (e.g., publisher and spring and by summer fall) were just stunning.

almost there

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
this is what a comeback album should sound like (though dinosaur jr. never really went away) - exactly the same as they used to. sometimes you just want your favorites bands to stay away because a new album can only ruin your memories and your respect for the band. maybe it helps in this case that there were a few dinosaur jr. albums that were subpar. i'm dreading hearing the new my bloody valentine.

Battles - Mirrored
fantastically impressive on some level but, unfortunately it is just not that much fun. yeah, there are fantastic moments (e.g., leyendecker) but sometimes it just gets a bit too prog-rocky for my tastes and being impressed only lasts so long.

not even close
m.i.a. - kala
what the fuck is wrong? how can this be considered one of the better albums of the year? it's s.h.i.t. it's political? who gives a shit? what made m.i.a. an authority on anything? the fact that her father was somehow connected to the Tamil tigers? (who, btw, are sometimes credited with the invention of suicide bombing.) or the fact that she appears unable to formulate a coherent political thought? it just appears like a cheap, but very successful, attempt to buy publicity. and apart from all that the music is just plain annoying.

radiohead - in rainbows
what's the big deal here? this is not a bad album by any means but isn't kinda dull compared to, well, most of radiohead's other albums?

lcd soundsystem - sound of silver
a huge improvement over the last one but i'm still missing the point. well, i did get it when i first listened to the album and i thought it was pretty good but then i just never had the urge to listen to it again. i'll admit that it is pretty good but didn't new order really cover this ground some 20 years ago?

panda bear - person pitch
you pretty much have to like the beach boys to like this and, well, i sure as hell don't.

Marnie Stern

i was listening to marnie stern at gvendarbrunnur.blogspot.com and for some reason it reminded me of helium - one of those criminally neglected bands. so... below there are a couple of helium songs. and yes, ash bowie does some of the guitar so further below there is a polvo song. polvo, as everyone knows, is the second best band the world has seen.

Helium - Superball

HELIUM (starring Mary Timony) - PAT'S TRICK

HELIUM (starring Mary Timony) - HONEYCOMB

Polvo - Vibracobra

when dinosaurs ruled the earth [let's all get faded]

ah, refreshing...

marmoset [missing man]

southeast engine [quit while you're ahead]

hmm!

Venetian Snares - Szamár Madár

bon iver [skinny love]

subtle [deathful]

subtle has a new mini album, yell&ice, out and it is even half as good as last year's for hero: for fool we can all be happy and take a 15 min smoking break. for hero: for fool seems largely to have failed to make the impact that it deserves dispite getting pretty good reviews. it is somewhat understandable b/c subtle really doesn't fit neatly into any category so it sounds a little 'unfamiliar' to most people & it is very easy to discard it as 'not my kind' of music. at any rate, give it a chance & you may very well be happy that you did. if you are not convinced, hey, boeckner (wolf parade), adams (hood), adebimpe (tv on the radio), why? (why?), and acher (notwist) make appearances....

rafter [paper]

rafter is apparently writing a song a week and posting it on asthmatic kitty's website. for how long? well, if every song is going to be this good i hope it goes on forever...

castanets [sway]

castanet's cathedral may be one of this decades' best albums i have decided. it wasn't obvious to me right from the start but it is hard to imagine how it could be improved on. in short, castanet's new album 'in the vines' doesn't improve on cathedral. but it is still a pretty stunning album although i admit to have been thrown off a little by the bonnie 'prince' billy-esque folkiness of some of the tracks. it's not as these elements have been present in castanet's work before but normally they are more deeply hidden in the sonic gloom (whatever the hell that is) that characterizes the previous castanet's albums. but once you have adjusted your expectations it is still a pretty characteristic castanet's album.

above, sway, here, this is the early game

his name is alive [silver makeup ep]

free 4 song ep from his name alive. also out is their new album xmmer.

witch [seer]

j mascis + feathers + one = totally sweet

Patrick Watson [The Great Escape]

pitchforkmedia seems surprised that patrick watson won the canadian polaris prize. i guess i am too... but only because it is probably the album i liked the most out of those eligible. to celebrate, three nice vids from patrick watson.

Patrick Watson [Drifters]

Patrick Watson [Luscious Life]

buck 65 [shutter buggin]

les savy fav [what would wolves do?]

also the equestrian

ukelele session

pitchforkmedia has kept us busy with posts from La Blogothèque & their "take away show". the belgian le soir offers a slightly different take on that same idea, arming bands with a ukelele & sending them out for a stroll. the link above is to malajube but you will also find calexico there. i particularily liked those because joey burns and whatever the malajube singer's name is are essentially sent out walking without any trailing fans - it works especially well with malajube since the singer, well, looks like a bum (like all the young kids today!).

thanks to patrick for sending me the link...

the pandas [solutions]

sandro perri [tiny mirrors]

of polmo polpo & glissandro 70

odd nosdam [fat hooks]

bracken [heathens]

enon [mirror on you]

richard hawley [some candy talking]

not actually from richard hawley's excellent, and soon to be released, lady's bridge but a nice cover of jamc from the former member of pulp.

airiel [thinktank]

maybe not extremely original but it works

japancakes [only shallow]

to cover my bloody valentine seems kinda foolish b/c improving on the original seems almost impossible. but what does that say about a band that covers a whole my bloody valentine album? that just so insane that it is almost cool. apparently japancakes thinks so because they are covering the whole of loveless - albeit instrumentally, replacing the vocals with steel pedal and cello. and no feedbacking guitars, i guess. sounds insane but, actually, only shallow doesn't sound half bad. i'm actually curious to hear the rest of the album, which comes out in november. until then, i'll have to make do with the original.

life without buildings [juno]

reminds me a little of the blue aeroplanes.

frog eyes [bushels]

other men [other people]

other men is essentially heavy vegetable reunited (although elea tenuta is missing). so, yes, another rob crow record - we have already seen a solo album this year and a new pinback is on its way. i actually knew nothing about this band when i first heard it (and not until i googled them today) and while it didn't quite grab me right away it constantly had my checking who it was when i had my playlist on shuffle. and, yes, it is actually quite good. better than crow's solo album, which for some reason i found a little annoying and possibly even better than the forthcoming pinback album. somehow it sounds light and fluffy - sort of sea and the cake like in some ways with some post-rock icing. one of the better albums i have heard this.

minus story [stitch me up]

also: aaron

pinback [from nothing to nowhere]

tapes 'n tapes [cowbell]

okkervil river [our life is not a movie or maybe]

always found okkervil river sort of good & for real was, of course, a brilliant song but somehow i never could bother to listen to their albums repeatedly. the stage names changed that. bloody fine album.

sunset rubdown [up on your leopard, upon the end of your feral days]

alex delivery [komad]

Liars - Plaster Casts Of Everything

brilliant video from the liars' forthcoming album, imaginatively titled, again, liars. the album it self is a welcome change in direction, again, for the liars. not that their last album was bad - it was actually really good but listening to it was sort of like going to the gym for me. getting yourself to go there is a pain in ass but once you are there it's actually pretty good. needlessly to say i never go to the gym. and i hardly listened to the last album - even though it was pretty damn good. at any rate, the new one is more like going out to play soccer.

caribou [melody day]

caribou's new album andorra is due out next month. frankly, the idea of caribou always sounded better than the real thing to me. with andorra caribou finally lives up to its promise. still the album doesn't really represent much of a change, caribou is still treading sort of psychedelic electronic waters (for a lack of better description). at times, it sounds a bit like a modernized version of dungen. it is not a perfect album - it sort of loses its pace half way through - but the first few tracks more than make up for that.

white whale [the admiral]

i think i might have posted something about white whale before but, well, they deserve another post - because ww1 might just be one of those criminally overlooked albums. in terms of what they sound like i guess the decemberists are the obvious reference but for some reason the also make me think of the triffids and the go-betweens. and british sea power. ww1 actually works best as an album and it is one of the few albums that i have had the patience to listen to over the last couple of years. Available over at emusic.com.

A couple more:
temporary maam
fidget and fudge

Von Südenfed [rhinohead]

the album didn't really get great reviews but, hell, this track is great. i know i'll get a lot of crap from a lot of people but mark e. smith hasn't sounded this enjoyable in a long time....

goddamn electric bill [lost in the zoo]

Contemporary Noise Quintet [Goodbye Monster]

i'm not sure why i picked this album up - neither the name of the band nor the name of the album sounds to promising. plus its jazz. and, in my mind, most jazz is either about showing off your technical ability or about providing comfy background music. cnq seems not too concerned with either (not that i doubt their technical skills - i just don't care). this is jazz with attitude. as i don't know anything about jazz that's about the best i can do to describe it. but listening to the album names like max richter, amon tobin, goran bregovic, tom waits (wouldn't a goran-tom album be a great idea?) and even some post-rock bands - the start of goodbye monster is not miles away from do make say think, for example.

gui boratto [xilo]

it took me a little while to get into this album but i'm glad i stuck with it. it really is quite nice - I like to listen to it while I'm working. or while I'm avoiding work playing solitaire. it appears that the song 'beautiful life' has been getting the most attention b/c it is the track on the album with the highest potential to annoy you. and wouldn't it have been a much better song if it had been called 'miserable life'? anyhow, xilo is probably the track that was responsible for me giving the album a chance. something tells me that gui was listening to the joy division and the cure...

polyphonic spree [Get Up and Go]

i had sort of given up on the polyphonic spree but so far i quite like their new one, the fragile army, perhaps because they sound more like mercury rev than ever before. or what?

portugal. the man are from alaska. i think they are fun too. [church mouth] [telling tellers tell me] maybe too polished?

other things spinning: new pornographers, shellac, white stripes, mus, liars, bracken, dizzee rascal, stars of the lid, dungen, gui boratto

benoit pioulard [enge]

i stumbled upon this 2005 release, enge, by benoit pioulard on emusic. & it's nice. if you haven't checked out one of the best albums of 2006, precis, you should do so now. perfect music for hazy summer days. or chilly winter days.

The New Pornographers [My Rights vs. Yours]

The New Pornographers - My Rights vs. Yours
Modest Mouse - King Rat
Shannon Wright - Everybody's got their own party to play
Cocorosie - Rainbowarriors
The For Carnations - Emp. Man's Blues
Pinback - Fortress
Sounds like Violence - The Greatest
Bonde de Role - Quero Te Amar

interpol [heinrich maneuver]

heinrich?!

Thee More Shallows [Fly Paper]

ra ra riot [each year]

the little ones vs. crystal castles ...

pitchforkmedia posted this splendid remix of an already good song a little while ago (& has also been in heavy rotation on ghostdogjr's webjay): lovers who uncover

the original one: lovers who uncover
& one of crystal castles own: air war

& some other stuff:

white rabbit - the plot

illinois - one on one

el-p - smithereens (stop crying)

cursive - dorothy at forty

bang gang - find what you get

amon tobin - chronic tonic

tub ring - when the crash happened

the comas - red microphones

calla - swagger

single frame - exact copy of this in the basement

detachment kit [18 yrs.]

just thought i'd throw up a couple of detachment kit songs b/c their last album is so damn hard to find. great album. & you can by it here: www.detachmentkit.com. mr. dash dash

laura veirs [don't lose yourself]

a change in direction for laura veirs. if i wanted to be mean i would say it was sort of a poor man's version of the postal service. but i'm not mean so i won't say that. all i'll say is that i find it quite enjoyable.

cex's sketchi is a nice departure from his recent output and makes me miss his earlier lo-fi ambient stuff which was kinda brilliant. rattler bin

dntel's dumb luck is a bit of a let down. dumb luck

paul duncan's (pictured) above the trees is a bit too folky/country for my taste but when the results can be quite stunning when mixed with the right amount of chamber pop (think lambchop). the fire

31 knots' the days and the nights of everything anywhere is, ummm, interesting. the vocals get a bit on my nerves but the songs are damn good. manbecomeme & for what it is like when it is all instrumental, the kickass immitation flesh

arboretum's rites of uncovering is another a-bit-too-folky-for-me one but if you turn up the amps a bit i'll be happy. pale rider blues

low's drums and guns i just don't seem to get into. breaker

radicalfashion's odori is sort of max richter + some electronics. shousetsu

i have been surprised by a few releases this year. lcd soundsystem's , which previous album i absolutely loathed, new one is actually a lot of fun. and, yes, i hate to admit it. i also didn't think modest mouse and marr would mix so nicely. actually, i didn't think it would mix at all but it is certainly better than their last one. and somehow, although i really liked their last album, i wasn't really expecting much from blonde redhead. but 23 takes a step backwards and in some ways reminds me more of their first two albums (which also happen to be their best).

Planningtorock - When are you gonna start

james murphy mentioned this video being genius in a pitchfork interview. not sure i agree but judge for yourself

big business vs. battles

music has become wimpy. have people forgotten rock is supposed to rock? so it is big sigh of relief when a band like big business comes around a makes a big racket. even if you sometimes suspect it may be little tongue in check. but big riffs, big vocals - what more could you ask for. if your kid is looking a little wimpy this is the perfect prescription. grounds for a divorce. and conveniently, another song of theirs over at pitchforkmedia: just as the day was dawning.

& battles... these guys are definitely wimps. mathrock, of course, was rock for geeks and wimps. but battles are damn good at it. ok, sometimes it borders on stupid wankery but there are moments of brilliance here that cannot be denied. much of it is thanks to addition of manipulated vocals. at first it makes the music sort of cartoonish but once you get over the cartoonishness it is actually quite enjoyable - at least most of it. i didn't care too much for first single, atlas. but i think leydendecker kills.

Morrisey vs. Eurovision

Thankfully, it looks like Morrisey has finally decided that he is not going to represent the UK in the Eurovision song contest so now we will not even be slightly tempted to watch. [This is no joke, the BBC was trying to get Morrisey]. Somewhat interestingly, supposedly the concept of Morrisey's video for "You have killed me" was the (1970) Eurovision song contest.

new(ish) songs

explosions in the sky [welcome, ghost]
jesu [conqueror]
trans am [north east rising sun]
richard swift [kisses for the misses]
bright eyes [tourist trap]
dinosaur jr. [been there all the time]
heartless bastards [all this time]
andrew bird [heretics]
marnie stern [grapefruit]
dungen [gor det nu]

ted leo & the pharmacists [some beginner's mind]

can we forgive ted for putting a reggae song on his new album? i guess we have to... b/c the song isn't that bad and the rest is just what the doctor ordered... [hey if you don't expect bad jokes don't call your band something like that!]

blonde redhead [23]

somehow i wasn't quite prepared for a new blonde redhead album. it sounds strange to me. and, judging from the songs i've heard so far, it is perhaps their first that really sounds like they should be on 4AD (actually, circa 1990). somehow i thought cocteau twins vs. abba. so, i'll withhold any judgement until i've had a chance to listen a little better. above, the title track.

marnie stern [every single line]

i don't think i've heard anything like this - although if i could listen to say just the guitar or just the vocals it wouldn't sound that strange. let's just say that marnie has a sweet voice and zach hill provides the drumming. and, yes, your instinct may tell you that you don't like this after the first few notes but your instincts are wrong. just give it a couple of minutes. here's another one: precious metal

& just because they share a label: deerhoof - 81. they are also lovely.

the m's - trucker speed

not exactly new but a great video

calla [televise]

just to prove my point

calla [bronson]

calla is releasing a new album, strength in numbers, on feb. 20th. their last album was a little bit of a disappointment. although it wasn't bad, it just was missing something. or maybe it had too much of something. and from what i have heard of strength in numbers i worry that it is still the case. televise and scavengers were beautiful albums - they sounded great and they had a very nice dark quality to them. the same elements are still present to a certain degree here, although they can't resist the temptation to rock out a bit more (which is ok), but sometimes the lyrics are too direct. frankly, i would just prefer some gibberish. calla have begun reminding me of starflyer 59. they have a great sound, they write good songs but, damn, it could be so much better.