December 22nd, 2007
Brad:
1 lcd soundsystem
2 Feist
3 The National
4 Spoon
5 Panda Bear
6 Of Montreal
7 Battles
8 Kevin Drew
9 kanye west
10 animal collective
11 radiohead
12 Okkervil River
13 M.I.A.
14 jens lekman
15 James Blackshaw
16 blitzen trapper
17 chromatics
18 yeasayer
19 bon iver
20 Andrew Bird
Victor Hell:
Soulsavers- It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s How You Land (Lanagan!)
Tegan & Sarah- The Con (You don’t have to be a lesbian to appreciate music this good)
Scout Niblett- This Fool Can Die Now (Heartbreakingly good)
The National- Boxer (Suck it, Interpol!)
The Ponys- Turn The Lights Out (Sadly, they weren’t that great live…)
Big Business- Here Come The Water Works (Best hard rock record this year)
Jason Isbell- Sirens Of The Ditch (Great first solo effort by ex- Drive By Trucker)
Black Moth Super Rainbow- Dandelion Gum (Thanks Nat)
Afghan Whigs- Unbreakable (Last years ONLY GH album worth buying!)
Dissapointments:
Band Of Horses- Cease To Begin (I wish they had, this record sucks! Sorry Jennie!)
Ryan Adams- Easy Tiger (Some people really DO need to do drugs to be compelling. Ryan Adams is definitely one of them…)
Grinderman- Grinderman (As much as I truly LOVE Nick Cave, this album had none of the fury of his earlier works with The Birthday Party, and none of the soul of his work with the Bad Seeds. Try again, mate!)
Arcade Fire- Neon Bible (JESUS WEPT, was this a let down. There are TWO good songs on the whole disc, everything else is filler. Neon Toilet is more like it!)
So, there you have it. Get busy, music heads. Just know you’ve been PWNED royally by being beaten to the punch on this time honored, completely unecessary tradition…
Andy (no real order):
Citay – Little Kingdom
Greg Ashley – Painted Garden
Low – Drums & Guns
Michael Yonkers – Grimwood
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky (The first time I haven’t immediately threw a Wilco disc across the room)
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
Akron/Family – Love is Simple
Angels of Light – We Are Him
Intramural- This Is A Landslide (Dulli appears on the title track, say no more…)
Jim:
#10 Radiohead | In Rainbows
Honestly, this is sort of here out of obligation. I’ve only listened
to the album a couple of times, and I can vouch for it being good, and
containing “15 Step,” one of my favorite Radiohead tracks of all time.
But I’m not a Radiohead fiend. Still, their unconventional digitial
“pay us what you’d like” distribution scheme is extremely
forward-looking, and I would look foolish if I didn’t tip my hat in
their direction.#9 Fujiya and Miyagi | Transparent Things
Moody electronic pop with enigmatic lyrics, lovely execution, perfect
background music for thinking, or writing, or just chilling out. Not
the year’s most brilliant album, but one of the most agreeable.#8 Okkervil River | The Stage Names
Among other things, this album has a track — “A Girl in Port” — that
is Otis Redding beautiful. These guys aren’t afraid to rock out in a
stripped-down Strokes-like fashion, but there’s a lot more willingness
to play around. I appreciate that.#7 The Sea and Cake | Everybody
Few songs transport a listener like the ethereal “Middlenight”; it
feels like it’s just going to float off into nothingness, but then it
starts to dig in and find traction. It’s just… hypnotically gentle
and calm. This is the sort of track that will actively lower your
blood pressure, in the best possible way. The whole disc is light and
thoughtful without being insubstantial or wanky. A lovely effort.#6 Fountains of Wayne | Traffic and Weather
I idolize these guys, and they’ve done it again — funny, lyrically
tight rock jams that you can blast out the window of your car during
the summer months. More than almost any other working band, they write
songs that tell stories — funny, interesting, convincing, fresh
stories. I can’t get enough of that.#5 The Shins | Wincing the Night Away
Between this disc, Everybody and Transparent Things, there are a lot
of chilled out discs in my top ten, but there you have it. Marvelous
hooks, and smart-guy lyrics that win over my inner geek:out of a gunnysack fall red rabbits / into the crucible / to be
rendered an emulsion#4 Modest Mouse | We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
My goodness, these guys are dark. So, so dark. Jangly, angry
rock-n-roll that rages and pauses, then rages some more. These aren’t
just songs about death, they’re songs about what death is. The apex is
the raging chant that forms the backbone of “The Parting of the
Sensory”:“Some day you will die and somehow something’s going to steal your carbon”
Thus far, I have lived a life as easy, happy, and free of tragedy as
anyone who has ever walked the Earth; therefore, I think, death is
something I think about a lot. Somehow, this album really feels like
it wrestles with death on a serious level, and that means a lot to me.
This isn’t about the romance of death, the topic of probably 40
percent of all rock songs ever written; it’s about the absolute
negation of death. A lot less fun, and a lot more interesting.#3 Brother Ali | The Undisputed Truth
As it turns out, one of my favorite rappers hails from Minneapolis –
Brother Ali of the Rhymesayers group has come out with an album as
tight, energetic, engaging and sharply written as anyone could demand.
If you like hip hop — even a little — give this a try, starting with
“Take Me Home.”#2 Jorge Drexler | 12 Segundos de Oscuridad
If Paul Simon sang in Uruguayan-accented Spanish and utilized the best
elements of trip hop, this is the album he’d record. Just a dazzling
effort, and even though my Spanish is barely at the grade-school
level, the elegance and wit of Drexler’s lyrics shine through. Even if
it was sung in Aramaic, however, I’d still dig this disc; the music is
haunting, lovely, and wry.#1 Spoon | Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
I’ve always been a wary appreciator of Spoon, but this album’s made me
into a believer. There isn’t a weak track on the disc, and a few –
“Don’t Make Me a Target,” “Finer Feelings” and the brilliant,
brilliant, brilliant “The Underdog” — are on my all-time favorite
list.What’s so great about the disc? Fast-strumming guitar, blasting horns,
subtle dynamics… songs constructed with an intelligence and
multi-layered sophistication that recalls the Beatles or Simon and
Garfunkel (or, on “The Ghost of You Lingers,” the best of
middle-period Elvis Costello.) These guys are masterful.