Top 10

OK, sorry i missed last night, but here is my entire top 10, without pictures (I'm pressed for time here). Also, note: *Radiohead – In Rainbows
I'm not including Radiohead in my Top 10 list, because 1. I don't know where I'd put it (somewhere between 4-10?) and 2. I don't have anything remotely interesting to say about it/them, other than I've got tickets for the Berlin show in July!!

OK....
10. Grinderman – Grinderman
As aging hero of independent music, I think that Nick Cave is totally underrated. While other old rock badasses Tom Waits and Thurston Moore get superstar treatment with us rock kids (they should), Nick Cave often goes relatively overlooked. Why is that? I have no theories. What I do know, though, is that the Birthday boy himself is at least as reliable as those other two to turn out albums that show up on my year-end list. Abbatoir Blues from a couple years ago was fantastic, taking Mr. Cave down paths he had never been down before, namely nice-sounding music. With Grinderman, he's back to mean Mr. Devil, and I love him all the more for it. And the restraint on this album helps Nick to sound as nasty and powerful as he has since Let Love In. That's saying something.
9. VA – Kompakt Total 8
I'm not sure why this album from the always-reliable Kompakt label flew under the radar in a year that saw techno's coming-out party for the indie rock crowd. Maybe because the mix isn't as “pure” techno as the previous Totals? Certainly, Kompakt did branch out more into pop and house this year, for better (“Beautiful Life”) or worse (the Supermayer album). This album covers that gamut too, ranging from standards Superpitcher and Jorg Burger to Berlin hometown heavy-house fave Rex the Dog. The genius of this album, though, is that Kompakt makes all of these elements work together, making a mix that is both cool and fun, embodying the best of the Berlin party scene that is so omnipresent in my life right now. In 20 years, when I want to look back and remember what my time in Berlin was like, I will probably put this mix on, and be transported to so many parties.
8. Lil Wayne – Carter 3
One of the perks of the slow demise of the album as a concept is the rise of the mixtape. Who cares where music first appears anymore? No more primacy placed on the “original,” as if that every existed in the first place (the original song, not the primacy). So here we have Weezy, releasing a (good) studio album (Da Drought 3) consisting of mostly covers and remixes, and a fantastic mixtape sampling everything in sight. And man this mix is joyous! Wayne spits rhyme after rhyme at me so fast, he sounds out of breath, and soon so do I too. Weezy is the coyote of the rap world right now; he can sound as angry, sad, dangerous, or sexual as anyone out there, sometimes on the same album. Of course, he also has the maturity and patience of a child, which explains the stupid jokes, as well as his inability to finish one song before starting the next one. Of course, these “flaws” just add to Weezy's charm, and also help me feel childlike and giddy while listening to this mix.
7. Daft Punk – Alive 2007
The most important music group of our generation (I said it) further secures its legacy by combining the best aspects of rock and roll (the live show) and electronic music (the remix). They deftly address both their own music and their live environment and audience in groundbreaking ways. They totally redeem the disappointing Human After All. They rock out to “Music Sounds Better With You.” What more could you ask from everyone's favorite sexy-robot music duo? Answer: another album, another tour.
6. Studio – Yearbook 1
It's hard for me to explain just why I like this album as much as I do. I mean, it's Swedish, and beautifully produced, and a mix between electronic music and pop, and has subtly funky beats. And it varies between the tiny pop of “No Comply” to the grandiose dub of “Out There.” And I can listen to it on repeat for hours on end without getting bored or sick of it. Yeah, that's why I love this album.
5. Jay Z – American Gangster
I always wondered how long it would be before some ambitious rapper would take the 1970s brassy soul that has littered some of the most critically successful rap songs of the past few years and decide to use it as an entire sonic palette. Never in my wildest dreams did I hope that the one and only Hova would be the one to step up to the plate. In my mind it is this big-band/soul sound itself that is the “concept” in this pseudo-autobigraphical concept album.
4. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
As much as I loves James Murphy's early singles, I wasn't blown away by the first LCD album; it seemed too thrown together, lacking cohesion or other album-qualities. Boy, he fixed that problem for his sophomore release. Sound of Silver flows from beginning to end, maintaining a consistent sound that never gets old. Of course this album also contains some of the most socially relevant songs for our zeitgeist, from everyone's favorite “All My Friends” (mine too) to the subtle “Get Innocuous.” And “North American Scum” can lead me to do embarrassing things on a European dancefloor.
3. Burial – Untrue
I recently read Derrida's Spectres of Marx, and I'm not sure how much “sonic hauntology” actually applies to this album. I understand that Untrue shows lots of “traces;” I'm just not sure how much different it is from, say, a Lil Wayne album with billions of samples, or the Go! Team. I fear that people just get excited because no one knows who Burial is and the album sounds spooky. Still, though, this is an album worthy of serious attempts at interpretation; it achieves feelings of loneliness and creepiness that I want to think more about, and the mood is one that makes me think of important questions of identity. I never could get into Burial's first album very much, but Untrue has blown me away; I've listened to this album more than any other in the past two months.
2. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
These days there are three different artists that a group can sound like to earn my love, no matter how poorly executed: the Jesus and Mary Chain, Al Green, and Brian Wilson. I think you can all guess which one applies to Panda Bear. Seriously, I see this album as the anti-SMiLE; while SMiLE was a “kid's” album that had the ache of an old man, Person Pitch is a man's album with the wonder of a little kid. Plus Mr. Bear sounds an awful lot like Brian. This album and my number 1 have actually been bouncing back and forth from the top spot for the latter half of the year, so it's really a toss-up in terms of winner. and everyone has already talked about Panda Bear's samples, etc. so thankfully I don't have to.
1. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala
Do you remember when it took a few listens to warm up to Jens Lekman albums? I would tell a friend about I Want to Be Your Dog: “It sounds like boring mopey lo-fi music, but he actually writes profoundly affecting songs; just give it a try.” With Night Falls Over Kortedala, all you need is one listen and you're hooked. The arrangements are grandiose, the samples are over-the-top fun, and it has killer beats—seriously. And yeah, the lyrics are really simple and straightforward, but that Lekman's schtick; he has an album persona straight from a Capra film, one which is to me the most moving of modern rock persona's, only matched by the overwhelming personalities of Weezy or Ghost. And even though he's being really genuine and all that, Lekman tells great stories, and can make me as emotionally involved in his dilemmas as he apparently is. I think that Lekman's development as a producer and arranger (he could always write songs) has been one of the best pop/rock stories of the past few years, and Lekman has become quite possibly my favorite singer/songwriter of this generation.

2007 Top 30: 15-11

15. The Tough Alliance – New Chance
Kyle made the most rabid campaign for this album that he's made in a while, at least since Burial/Skream (last year), or maybe since Deadly Snakes (a while ago now). Anyway, anytime Kyle goes this apeshit over a band, it always turns out to be a nice surprise, which is good, since I have little choice but to absorb the album. Anyway, what I'm not used to is recommending albums that are pure pop bliss—that's usually my side of the spectrum. And yeah, I had heard “First Class Riot” before, and liked it, but I shudder at the thought of not having this album this year. It's the perfect combination of Swedish pop (it is Swedish pop) and late-80s/early-90s inspired production, a la Stone Roses or Primal Scream. And on a side note, it really sounds to me like that yelp in “Miami” was sampled from Donkey Kong Country, from when Diddy Kong gets hurt and runs off stage. Does anyone else hold this suspicion?

14. Justice – Cross
OK, there was no way that Justice were going to live up to the hype they had built up for themselves. And yes, the group is totally influenced by/successful because of image and hype. But I love it, and, unlike their hype equals the Klaxons, they made a really impressive try at delivering that mind-boggling album this summer. They could have just shit out some more brutally loud sunth-based bangers and placed them around “Waters of Nazereth,” and I would have listened to the album, enjoyed it, and set it aside for the next SCHOLARTRON. But instead they made a real album, with rises, falls, and (maybe) depth. It's not just bangers. And I know that Justice knew that EVERYONE wanted just bangers, so big ups to them for that self control. And like Dan, I think that this album is comparable to my boi Boys Noize. I actually think that Cross works better as an album, though, while Boys Noize delivers the single jams. So, if you're keeping track, that's Remixes: Justice (close); Singles: Boys Noize; Album: Justice.


13. VA – After Dark
Including this album is totally cheating, since it's a way of praising so many of the singles that I already had gotten from “the blogs” (discobelle, risky bizness, fluokids, palmsout, etc) in the months before this compilation. But you have to admit that Italians Do It Better do a really good job of using their artists to create a really singular sound that really helps define the year's fads in dance music: 80's sounding fake-disco-soul. I made such a mix for Chuck for Mixster (Easter Mix Exchange), consisting only of 2007 songs that could be used in a re-filming of Miami Vice, washed out early-80s kitsch. In April there were already too many such songs to make the mix; I know that at least 2 songs from After Dark were in the running (“Running Down the Hill” and “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”). I love this shit, and this album is like the readymade disco-complement to Miami Vice: Charleston. Only possible improvement: Kavinsky on the list.

12 The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
It took me a lot longer to get into this album than everyone else. This sounds like my dad, but at first the album sounded a little too similar to a record skipping for my tastes. Eventually, though, I totally fell for the album; “Paw in My Face” and a reliance on headphones this fall helped. Still, though, in a year when I listened to quite a bit more electronic music than rock, the Field remains an outsider. Nothing else that I listen to sounds like it. I know that lots of people say this is a good background album; i disagree. This isn't Michael Mayer or Villalobos, nor is it drone-y in the least. From Here We Go Sublime requires attention to be appreciated. When it comes on, it now has my undivided attention.



11.Caribou – Andorra
Caribou/Manitoba's weirdest album yet? You bet; no longer spectacular electronic pop experiments, this album goes all out at trying to find that lost 60's sound by combining electronic music with psych electric guitars. Snaith's best record? I think so. Andorra shows a real sense of nostalgia and historicity, shows a feeling of longing for something that none of us really know except in old movies and Nuggets: 1960s garage psychedelia. In their live show this month, the group projected fluorescent images of flowers blooming, etc, onto the stage while everyone went apeshit on the drums. This is Andorra in a nutshell to me: 60s kitsch projected onto proggy electronic music. The emotions that I feel about the album, I think, stem from the contrast of the two. The album at once sounds so powerful and so delicate.

2007 Top 30: 20-16

20. Ratatat – Mixtape 2
Back in 2004, the first Ratatat mixtape was one of my most listened-to albums of the year, but I didn't include it on my year-end list because I didn't think of it as a legitimate release, a simple album of remixes. In this year of mixes, mixtapes, and compilations, I no longer believe that a mixtape is excluded from “real” releases. In my eyes Ratatat's remixes far outweigh their original tracks; they have a way of restructuring the rhythms of mainstream rap songs to make them sound new if they're old, fresh if they're dull. And if the song in question is Biggie, well, anything can happen. As I see it, the boys in Ratatat can give Siegel, Bun B, etc the guitar-powered fuel they need, and, perhaps more importantly, rap gives Ratatat the edge they need to keep from sounding like video game music.


19. Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
Seriously, this is a very good Ryan Adams album. I know I have no credibility when it comes to Mr. Adams, and by this time I should be past my Ry-ry phase, but he keeps bringing me back. “Two” is a great pop single, and “Yeah, Whatever, etc” is really well thought-out, unlike its title. And I don't see how critics can keep pissing themselves over the self-knowing irony in Jay-Z's “Ignorant Shit” and not at least smile during “Halloween Head.”



18. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
It took me quite a while to get into this AC album. Like Dan Deacon (not on this list), the Collective's new sonic palette started out too thumpingly abrasive for me to listen to for more than a few songs at a time. Which was a shame, since, like all AC albums, this one is best heard as such, with all the melofies rising and falling over the record's course. It took a live show for me to really warm up to the album, and now I can say I am emotionally and aesthetically ready for the rewarding experience of Strawberry Jam. Still, I can't help but wish that Animal Collective would have stayed a little more mellow and make it easier for me to enjoy the record more often.



17. & 16. Handsome Furs – Plague Park
Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
I thought it would be cute to put these albums together, but I actually do think that the two Wolf Parade solo records complement each other well. On the one hand, Spencer Krug's album (that's Sunset Rubdown) is so willfully obscure and full of bizarre imagery, but still manages to sound totally tragic (probably because of Krug's voice). On the other hand, Dan Boeckner's album is straightforward, nostalgic, and absolutely heartbreaking. Boeckner's lyrics verge on melodrama, Krug's on willfull obscurity. But they are both hugely affecting for me, and they go well together, kind of like this band I used to listen to... Musically, I find the simple synth/drums of Handsome Furs more easily digestible if less ambitious than the clanging symphonies of Random Spirit Lover. If I had to pick a favorite of the two, I might just pick Handsome Furs, maybe to be ornery, maybe because I saw a fantastic show by Boeckner et al here in Berlin, with all of maybe 20 people in attendance. But nevertheless both albums stand well on their own and together, and make me drool at the thought of a new Wolf Parade album (next year!).

2007 Top 30: 30-21

30. Earth – Hibernaculum

Full disclosure: I only got this album last week. Something about December always draws me to groaning melancholy minimal rock, with few or no vocals. This almost always happens to be some form of post-rock, or, recently, drone metal. This year, though, I hadn't found anything, and so had to resort to last year's Altar and old Godspeed records to go to sleep at night or during the day (it's always dark here anyway). Then I got Hibernaculum from Jordan, and fell in love: brooding and haunting melodies, but with rock-sounding guitars. These few songs really are small little symphonies of drone, and they have totally scratched that December itch. I will be listening to this in winters to come. #30 because it's so brand new to me.

29. King Khan and the Shrines- What Is?!

One of the taste questions of the year: King Khan or Black Lips? I'm actually the only person I know who prefers King Khan. Sure, the Shrines aren't nearly as cool as the Lips, and King Khan sometimes crosses the border into kitsch. But isn't that part of the fun of a garage rock band? I mean, no one takes this seriously; it's only rock and roll (but I like it). I saw King Khan my first week here in Berlin; He came through the audience with a robe, cane, and steer skull over his head. Needless to say, they rocked the house, soul-style. The show kind of felt like Jack Black's band's concert at the end of High Fidelity: silly but convincing fun. That's how this album feels for me as well.

28.Muscles – Guns Babes Lemonade

So I love dance music, and I love pop music; if you know me that should be pretty clear. One thing those genres don't really have much of, though, is lyrics. So when someone does make an album of catchy dance music, and actually says something too, it means more to me. And Muscles, like personal favs Hot Chip before them, have their wits about them in the lyrics category. With emphasis on the “wit”: Muscles manages not only to rock the party, but also describe what hipster party culture is like in the 21^st century. From talk about sweaty club-hugs and entry lines (now a problem in Berlin) to lines like “We're dancing to ringtones in the street / Nobody's going home for dinner tonight,” Muscles can really capture the feeling of being young and drunk and dancey. These self-knowing lyrics might get old after a while, but right now it's the perfect combination of fun and clever for my tastes.

27. Ghostface Killa – Big Doe Rehab
Ghostface is the best musical storyteller of our generation. I said it; the dude is outspoken and charismatic, and whether he is talking about getting spanked by his Mama or running from the narcs, I want to hear more. Big Doe Rehab is no exception, and while it's too recent for me to place among the ranks of Ghostface records, it definitely hangs with the rest of them for me. In a year that brought a hugely disappointing Wu Tang record (am I the only one?), Starks just kept on doing his thang.

26. Place to Bury Strangers – Place to Bury Strangers

It's funny, how a silly review by p4k changes my attitude about writing this blurb. Normally, an album like this would get a mediocre review, I would single it out because of key words “distortion” and “Jesus and Mary Chain,” discover that the album is TOTALLY derivative of early JMC/My Bloody Valentine, and fall in love with it, telling everyone I know to listen to it. Instead, someone wrote a glowing review of the album, there are tour updates and news blurbs all the time, etc. That's great, but I don't know if this album is life-altering or masterfully crafted or anything: it just has really great distortion and hummable, quiet vocals. In other words, everything I love in a rock song no matter what.
25. Chromeo – Fancy Footwork

This album=instant dance party. Actually, there are so many albums like that in this breakout year for crossover synth-dance. I mean, this has been my thing for a few years now in year-end album lists (Hot Chip, Junior Senior, Muscles, etc); the goofier/wittier the better. So what does Chromeo have that's new? Those synths, maybe: damn. And unlike most of these other bands, there is (almost) new hint of self-conscious irony—Chromeo just make synth pop like they always wanted to make synth pop, not like they're an indie band being cute (I love the Chip, but...)
24. Battles – Mirrored
When I first heard this album, I thought it was going to be solid top-10 year-end material: it blew away the impressive Eps, I thought, it was interesting, different, catchy, technically brilliant. Now 8 months later, though, I discover that Mirrored hasn't aged as well as I thought. I don't listen to it as often anymore. But when I do, I still love those drums, those DRUMS, and all the funny electronic noises they make too. Maybe like the prog rock it emulates, Battles will soon sound dated, but my guess is they will sound dated and fun.
23. Spoon – Gagagagaga
Right before I left for Berlin in August, I bought the new records of two of my favorite rock bands—Spoon and Okkervil River—to listen to on the plane ride over. Both were well-loved by both critics and friends; needless to say I was excited. At first I was heartbreakingly disappointed with both albums. I began to listen to Spoon more and more, though, and before I knew it I had really fallen for the record (I remain heartbreakingly disappointed with Okkervil River). “Black Like Me” is one of the best songs of the year, and “The Underdog” sounds timeless to me now. Again Spoon's strength is in their production. Unlike other Spoon records, this one was a grower for me, and even at this coveted spot on my year end list it only makes it to the halfway point of Spoon albums on a good day. But that's Spoon for you.

22. Yelle – Pop Up
Of course I have no clue what she is saying, and I don't care. This album is pure retro-euro-synth-dance-fun. And French. And cool. When I hear this album I just want to wear a neon sweatsuit and breakdance.

21. M.I.A. - Kala

Everyone loves M.I.A. I love M.I.A. This is a great album. M.I.A. has great samples. etc.