Top 10 Albums of 2007

It’s a little odd for me to write up and list a bigass top ten like this. I mean, I could list the records just as easy or point people to my listology or whatever. I know the 7 or so people who read this thing on a regular basis and the vast majority of them have either already heard or are already not interested in all these records. Yet, here I am. Perhaps it is because this was a fantastic year for music in my book. I love all 10 of these albums dearly, but the top 5 or 6 are especially stellar. Great bands making great music at the top of their game. Enjoy the tedium!

Myspace links provided where available for easy music previewing if by chance there’s something you’re interested in hearing more of.

10) Akimbo - Navigating The Bronze (Alternative Tentacles)

I’ve been a big fan of these guys ever since I saw them open up for Jello Biafra and The Melvins a couple years ago. Just a good sludgy pounding mess. I’d love to see them play again sometime, they’re a fantastic live band.

Akimbo @ Myspace / Akimbo Homepage

9) Eluvium - Copia (Temporary Residence)

Eluvium is a one-man band project by a guy named Matthew Cooper in Portland. I had never heard of his work before and decided to check it out when I heard he was opening for Explosions In The Sky who I was going to see. The record seemed nice enough, very sort of ambient and calm synth-based music. It was when I saw him play live that this all started to come together for me. He just sat onstage with a guitar and a keyboard and started playing a simple line on his guitar and got it looping. From there, he added another and another, building on the original melody and making it grow. After five minutes what was a nice melody became a dense forest of sound, and after ten it was just a cacophany, almost but not quite formless, then quickly brought back to earth. I loved it, it was a fantastic show and immediately afterwards I bought up half his catalog.

This whole experience doesn’t necessarily come through on Copia, which is the only reason it didn’t place higher, but infused with the experience of seeing the live show the album grew on me a lot more. Even better, his method of producing music gave me some inspiration for things I could do myself (maybe). Eluvium was one of my most pleasurable finds of the year, I wish I had gotten off my ass and gone to see him play with Jesu.

Thankfully Bryan Connolly at iamserio.us obsessively followed Explosions In The Sky and Eluvium all through the Pacific Northwest, taping every show as he went - both video and audio! Thanks to his efforts I can supply you with a sample of the Eluvium live experience in the slick little flash player below. It is 12 minutes long, but listen how it builds and builds. That is one guy with one guitar up there. Pure magic.

“Taken” live at Neumo’s, 05-06-2007

Eluvium @ Myspace / Eluvium homepage

8) Do Make Say Think - You, You’re A History In Rust (Constellation)

Having heard bits and pieces of this Montreal supergroup over the years, this is the first time I’d pulled in a full album of theirs. The popular line says that this is their most accessible effort, which is apparently fine with me because I dig the hell out of it. Largely instrumental, with the exception of the stellar “You A Living.” Jazzy and slightly prog in parts as well. Supposedly a fantastic live act, I missed both their local shows in ‘07. Also wins my vote for album name of the year.

Do Make Say Think @ Myspace / Do Make Say Think homepage

7) Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Temporary Residence)

I read some reviews when this came out that were along the lines of “ho hum, another Explosions In The Sky album, nothing new here.” While this is somewhat (but not completely) true, I love the hell out of their apocalyptic instrumental madness. Their show with Eluvium was the best show I saw all year. For their final song “The Moon Is Down” (my favorite EITS song), their guitarist Munaf Rayani duct taped an ebow to his guitar on the floor so he could play with one hand and bang a tamborine on the stage with the other. It was the best thing ever. As a matter of fact, don’t trust me, you can just watch the whole show on google video thanks again to the efforts of Bryan Connolly, who has also torrented a fully mastered DVD of the show. “The Moon Is Down” starts around 1:03:00.

Explosions In The Sky homepage / Explosions In The Sky @ Myspace / My EITS photos from their show at Neumo’s

6) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)

It’s a pretty great year when Wilco ends up down at number 6. Sky Blue Sky is not their best effort in the world (I far prefer the sparsely produced weirdness of A Ghost Is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) but it’s still a great entry for Wilco. Aside from anything else, Tweedy has assembled a fascinating set of immensely talented musicians to surround him and his songs. In particular, guitarist Nels Cline is mind-bogglingly expressive. At their local show this year, he added his own touch to all their older material, as well as kicking out the new stuff with a fervor. I hope to god their keep him around for a good long while. The same goes for drummer Glen Kotche, who is great in that way where he knows exactly when not to play. Every good drummer has to learn that at some point. Want a sample? Here’s a video of “Side With The Seeds”, originally included in Sky Blue Sky’s bonus DVD. Man, I love that solo. Wilco’s website also has a couple of streaming live shows to enjoy.

Wilco @ Myspace / Wilco homepage / My Wilco photos from their Marymoor Park show

5) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)

Like Wilco, Spoon did not make the best album of their career. They simply released yet another in a series of excellent efforts. I think I had the first half of this CD on auto-repeat for three or four weeks after I bought it. I was particularly taken by “The Ghost Of You Lingers”, a total departure from their usual soul-infused bounciness. The video is pretty mesmerizing. I was less impressed with Spoon live. They put on a great tight show, but it was not like they added a lot over the experience of listening to their albums. The hundreds of wide-eyed high school girls in the audience ate it up though. Afterwards I remarked to a co-worker that maybe its time they rename themselves Swoon.

Spoon @ Myspace / Spoon homepage / My Spoon photos from their show at Showbox

4) Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)

I have no explanation, an album that I should by all rights just hate. Bouncy over-produced pop music, I have absolutely no idea why I love this album so much. It may just be the audacity of the band that I admire. Certainly they are being nobody other than exactly who they like. No idea, but my love for Hissing Fauna is undeniable. Feel free to shun me.

Of Montreal @ Myspace / Of Montreal homepage

3) LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (DFA)

There is a forum posting I read a while back wherein Mike D’Angelo is taken to task for seeming to take perverse pleasure in tearing movies down. Mike jumps into the fray and says the following (amongst other things, please read the complete thing for more context):

“Outright raves I find immensely challenging—the more I love a movie, it seems, the less analytical and coherent I become, to the point where with something like Irma Vep basically all I can manage is to point at the screen and drool a little.”

I suspect I will have the same problem with these last three records, none of which would surprise me if they landed on my top ten of the decade, much less the year.

No record filled me with joy as consistently as did this one. Prior to this year I had never heard any of the works of James Murphy, and I obtained Sound Of Silver when it leaked on a lark. As with Of Montreal, I was completely taken aback by my love for this record. In retrospect it shouldn’t have been so surprising. Many of my very favorite artists (Gang Of Four, Fugazi) have melded dance beats and funk rhythms with punk rock to create a potent blend of ass-shaking and fist-waving. LCD Soundsystem does the same thing, but instead of punk he takes modern dance moves and combines them with an almost singer-songwriterly dose of indie-rock introspection.

This is why a hundred thousand blogs have declared “All Of My Friends” as single of the year based on its manic energy and mournful lyrics about getting old and getting by. It is hard to argue with their judgment. The song is a masterpieces that ramps up and never stops. However for some reason “Us v Them” was the song on Sound Of Silver that really blew my mind. Man that thing just sticks in my craw for days whenever I hear it. Then again there is “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down,” a song which perfectly describes the my feelings at the moment I left Chicago.

So much of the music I love is dreadfully serious and filled with angst and grief. For me to find an album like Sounds Of Silver that just fills me with feeling great is a rarity, and it’s something I should seek out more often. Too bad the Go! Team dropped the ball this year or it could have been a total disco party.

Argh I just listened to “All My Friends” and it makes me think I under-rated this. These top three may as well be tied for all intents and purposes.

2) Radiohead - In Rainbows (no label)

Radiohead in the top 3 was pretty much a gimme. I’m a huge fan of every record they’ve put out, and there was no reason to think this would be any different. So much has been written about their grand distribution experiment that I see no reason to comment. I paid $10, but haven’t bought the physical CD (although I probably will.)

In Rainbows is really another step out from where Hail To The Thief left off in a lot of ways. More sparse, less produced. More fluid, less practiced. You can feel that this is now a band very comfortable in their skin, and the album feels really organic and fresh. It is quite possible that this is my favorite of all of Radiohead’s records, while I feel I have the least to say about it, which is weird but there you go. That’s why I pasted the quote. That’s also why I am not a pro critic, I mean, just read these descriptions. They’re horrible.

Radiohead played a live webcast of In Rainbows on New Year’s Day, which is currently available via webstream. It’s a great taste of the album for anyone who has yet to hear it. It just made me ache to see them live even more.

“Bodysnatchers” from the Scotch Mist broadcast

Radiohead @ Myspace / Radiohead homepage

1) Low - Drums And Guns (Sub Pop)

Finally we are here. It will surprise zero of the people who know me to find Low at the top. They are one of my most long-lived favorites, I fell in love with them from the first time I saw them play back in 1994. I was originally somewhat unimpressed with Drums And Guns. I was perhaps overly focused on the electronic backgrounds of songs like “Hatchet” and “Breaker” which left me cold. As happens so many times, it was a live set that really brought the whole package home for me. In this case it was via NPR’s All Songs Considered program, which featured Low in one of their webcasts. The show is a jaw-dropper. Most of Drums And Guns is represented, but it is stripped of almost everything, slowed down even farther, and performed with jagged intensity. Given this backdrop I returned to the album and all of its mysteries opened up to me. Seeing them do it all live was even better. They opened with their 20 minute epic “Do You Know How To Waltz?” and just went through song after song, Alan Parker clenched like a raw nerve the whole time.

I will never get people who call Low a “pretty” band. Their music is totally desolate. Even their nicer sounding songs are filled with angst and yearning and fear. Man, they are great. Certainly one of my very favorite bands of the last 10-15 years. Never disappointing.

“Take Your Time” live at 9:30 Club, 11-16-2007

Low @ Myspace / Low homepage

That’s all folks! Hope it wasn’t too annoying, and maybe you’ll even find something you like! 2008 looks like it has some good stuff already. Loving the new Destroyer! <3

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.