Best of 2007
Better late than never, my favorite music of 2007. Albums first, in no particular order:

Radiohead - In Rainbows
Put it up there with The Bends, the new Radiohead album is amazing, an intimate and downright warm record. The climax of "All I Need" makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up; "Nude" is just an incredibly beautiful song; the syncopated percussion of "Reckoner" is genius. They made headlines when they released the album without a major label, potentially changing the entire future of the popular music industry, and the music itself is worthy of that iconoclastic position.

Mark Ronson - Version
Probably the album I’ve played the most consistently throughout the year, a fun covers record with a whole lot of soul.

Jay-Z - American Gangster
Ah, there we go. Rap record of the year, and so good you can forgive Hova for Kingdom Come. I always knew you had it in you, Jigga!

Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold
I still can’t decide if I’m more afraid of or more attracted to Natasha Khan, but who else can rock a harpsichord so well? The Donnie Darko meets X-Games video for "What’s A Girl To Do?" is amazing – but I still haven’t figured out what a "bat lightning heart" is. The groove in "Sarah" is gleefully evil, and goddam I miss women with posh English accents.

The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Jack White stopped being oppressively pretentious, and Meg White stopped being complete crap on the drums – a win for progress. The smiles almost ooze out of your speakers, you can tell how much fun they had making this record. "You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told)" takes the title as my favorite White Stripes song – ok, ok, that long song title is pretty durn pretentious.

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Everyone’s favorite massively tattooed, drug-addled Jewess from East London makes the soul record of the decade. My people, represent!! Lost in the tabloid insanity of her Wino troubles are her amazing songwriting abilities – if she’s smoked and snorted that talent away it will be a tragic loss for all of us, no joke. The lead track "Rehab" got all the attention, but give a listen to "You Know I’m No Good", "Me & Mr. Jones" (what kind of fuckery is this?!), "Love Is A Losing Game", and especially "Tears Dry On Their Own" – phenomenal lyrics, all.

Sigur Rós - Hvarf-Heim
The most creative and inspiring band in my universe returned with this double album (Hvarf consists of previously unreleased tracks, while Heim has live recordings of old favorites), and a fantastic tour documentary film, Heima. Some folks have to take a pill to feel happy – I just put some Sigur Rós on my stereo.

CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy
I tried to turn you on to these Brazilian misfits long before Apple censored them in that ipod touch ad, but you wouldn’t listen. Lovefoxxx’s lyric in "Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above" is the sexiest foreign pronunciation of "love" since Nina Persson in The Cardigans’ "Lovefool". Yes, I keep track of these things.

Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
The sound of Jeff Tweedy almost content with adulthood and pseudo-celebrity. And maybe a bit of an apology and love letter to his family for his troubles of the last few years. The music is happy and relaxed, and he’s still by far the greatest songwriter of this generation. The Dude would love this record.

Feist – The Reminder
Another Commonwealth chanteuse representing my people, another artist I tried to turn you on to before Apple sunk their ievil claws into her. Leslie Feist is that goofy, nerdy girl you always ignored – and she didn’t care because she was happy and entertained in her own strange, little world. Now she’s letting you hang out on her home turf for a little while. And the video for "1234" looks so much better on a normal-sized TV screen, not the stupid little fat nano, for fuck’s sake.

Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight
I wrestled with including this one because of all the Rilo Kiley-Fleetwood Mac comparisons – that’s how much I hate Fleetwood Mac. But I do understand why people make that connection with this most Los Angeles of a record. It’s sunny and sleazy at the same time, but where the Mac were about coked-out key party orgies in Laurel Canyon, Jenny Lewis is belting out songs set in the strip clubs and porn studios of the San Fernando Valley. Dashed hopes and dreams, but ultimately redemption, in Hell A.

Still with me? Onward to my favorite songs of Twenty O’Seven, still in no particular order because that’s too MBA for this Ph.D.:

M.I.A. – "Paper Planes"
Her album Kala is everyone else’s consensus record of the year, but I haven’t listened to the whole record very much – just this one completely amazing track.

LCD Soundsystem – "North American Scum"
Blasting this single off of Sound Of Silver while careening through Charlotte at 95 miles per hour on Interstate 85 made Charlotte not only bearable for five minutes, but kind of fun.

Paramore – "Misery Business"
The kids from Tennessee bring the guitar riff of the year – and Hayley Williams, damn what a wail! Still haven’t managed to bring myself to listen to the rest of their record, Riot, though.

Manchester Orchestra – "Wolves At Night"
The Atlanta scene is starting to blow up, I’ve been telling you for years now this is coming, people! That organ is just sinister.

Justice – "D.A.N.C.E."
Apparently they’re not trying to be ironic, but if there’s any place to enjoy cheese, it would be France. Great music video as well. "Do the D-A-N-C-E. Stick to the B-E-A-T!!"

Bright Eyes – "Four Winds"
Americana has never been so political, and it’s been a while since I enjoyed a song with a fiddle in it. Conor Oberst should be the face of country music, not Brad Fucking Paisley or Toby Fucking Keith.

UNKLE Featuring The Duke Spirit – "May Day"
The soundtrack to hot, sweaty, raunchy bedroom action. The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss has a powerful, phenomenal voice.

Queens Of The Stone Age – "Make It Wit Chu"
Staying with the sexy thing for a moment, Josh Homme and his crew unleash a slow-burning, steamy little track off of the overall disappointing Era Vulgaris. Put this on the stereo, and clothes will be flying off. Did anyone else see their kind of surreal appearance on the No Reservations Holiday Special, or has my Scotch been spiked with bad acid?

The Go! Team – "Keys To The City"
The kooky, genre-defying English collective return with this standout track off of Proof Of Youth. Like if perky cheerleaders did parkour instead of, well, cheerleading.

Elvis Perkins – "While You Were Sleeping"
The lead track off of the haunting and beautiful Ash Wednesday, a lovely elegy for his mother.

Sigur Rós – "Hljómalind"
One of the previously unreleased tracks on Hvarf, it explodes out of your speakers and soars away. And the high-hat sounds so good.

Kelly Willis – "The More That I’m Around You"
It continues to frustrate me that most people have never heard of Kelly Willis. Just a happy little rocking country song about falling in love, with a great melody and a cool end riff.

Band Of Horses – "Is There A Ghost?"
The lead track off of the lovely Cease To Begin starts off slow, but builds to a killer pounding climax. And despite its seemingly random song title (maybe they’re Pacers fans?), "Detlef Schrempf" is a sweet, mellow track worth a listen as well.

Arcade Fire – "Intervention"
Pretty much the only track off of Neon Bible that I really liked (well, I kind of dig "The Well And The Lighthouse" too, Régine Chassagne’s cooing backup vocals just get me), the one song where their worship of all things Springsteen does the man right. A pipe organ dominating a rock song, too cool.

Ryan Adams – "Two Hearts"
He’s completely friggin’ mental, but he can write some fine rock tunes. As always from the prolific songwriter, there are many to choose from this year, this one’s my favorite off of Easy Tiger. And don't miss the blasphemous but very entertaining cover of Alice In Chains' "Down In A Hole" on his Follow The Lights EP.

Noisettes – "Scratch Your Name"
Lead singer Shingai Shoniwa’s voice is an absolute force of nature, that’s all there is to say.

Spoon - "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"
This Austin band is beyond overrated, but I can’t get this song out of my head. And it makes me think of the very 90s Boston band Morphine.

Ulrich Schnauss – "Never Be The Same"
Waves and waves of sonic sunshine from the downbeat DJ. This track is a great one to wake up to.

Cat Power – "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again"
The most fabulous Dylan cover on a record chock full of fabulous Dylan covers, the I’m Not There soundtrack. Could there be a track more fitting for her Memphis Rhythm Band? I’m very much looking forward to Jukebox in a few weeks.

VHS Or Beta – "Can’t Believe A Single Word"
Mediocre rock band, fantastic rock song. The 80s nostalgia cheese thing is dragging you down, fellas!

Kings Of Leon – "On Call"
My ring tone for the very rare times my cell phone isn’t on vibrate. Otherwise, Because Of The Times was a disappointing, forgettable record.

Wilco – "The Thanks I Get"
A B-side off of Sky Blue Sky - also found on the deluxe edition extra disk which I like to call Blue Sky Blue - you may have heard it in the Volkswagen commercial where the tow truck guy moves the Golf out of the tow-away zone. Selling out never sounded like so much fun. Sing with me now, people, "We can make it better!"

How’s that sentiment to end 2007 and roll on in to 2008? So much good music this last year to get me out of school (finally! And only a little over a decade total!), and off into the real world. I’m looking forward to everything this next year will bring, I hope you are too.
- posted by Liebs @ 11:10 PM 0 comments