'Tis the time to whisper "niggaz don't give a fuck about the record business" and shout "I ain't down with tha Je-hove-ah!" as your friends welcome you into their house to enjoy grilled ham and other atrocities. Yes, this is my list of the best music of 2007, i.e. albums, songs, gigs, etc, so let's hop to it!
Albums
In no special order, here are my fave eleven albums of the year.
Okkervil River - "The Stage Names"
This is a tour de force, a bringer of light, an ass-shaker and decision-maker, and I love this album. As if I haven't written a lot about it here, so check that out for a review on this album.
It isn't that long since I first discovered Okkervil River, thanks to X. When I first heard them, it was through "Black Sheep Boy". Now, "The Stage Names" is a different story, a really layered cake where dance, dense stories and great melodies show what's generally lacking everywhere else. They're great live.
Band Of Horses - "Cease To Begin"
Another band that's quite recently introduced to me, as I'd basically heard the song "The Funeral" prior to getting deeply into their first album, "Everything All The Time". Since then, a shift of leadership took place in the band, and I feared this would mean the end. All that is required to tell that wasn't the end, is the song "Is There A Ghost", which is available at the band's MySpace-page. Just play that track three times in a row. If you don't love it, then you ain't no friend of mine. The entire album is massive, and I'm really looking forward to seeing these guys live in March.
Voxtrot - "Voxtrot"
Okkervil River's from Austin, Texas. Voxtrot is, too. Something in the water? If so, let me move there. Voxtrot's released a few great EP's before releasing their LP in the beginning of this year. Apart from the track "Steven", the LP is magic. Songs about a hate so strong you want to drown somebody in a pool of blood, of a love so strong that the future is to be believed in, getting rid of idols to find one's own voice and more make this ((With Okkervil River's "The Stage Names".)) one of the two most interesting albums of the year, lyrically speaking.
I've been down with this band ever since I saw them live. Now, Marina's left the band, but let this be a landmark of silliness, of dancing to what gives you kicks; if you're looking for intellectualism and...shit, go elsewhere, but if you're looking for a rollercoaster, check them out. The album's a well-produced affair, one where Diplo has been involved. Top tracks: "Solta O Frango" and "Gasolina". Hopefully, the band will rule on despite the split, but this album will not disappoint.
LCD Soundsystem - "Sound Of Silver"
I really fell for a couple of the tracks on the band's first LP, but this one killed me. From the very opening track, "Get Innocuous", I fell for the sheer craft, the purity of the songs and the unique delivery; no other band sports a James Murphy who's got the balls to put stuff like this out there. A 40-ish old man doing the best stuff in dance music today, next to Daft Punk, singing about getting old and what matters most to him. Brilliant. Will keep me dancing forever.
Here's the video for the charming track "All My Friends".
Ash - "Twilight Of The Innocents"
Charlotte Hatherley left the band last year, to which the rest of the band responded by moving to New York and staying a trio. When I saw them live earlier this year, it was like seeing them starting afresh. I didn't like their last album, "Meltdown", much, but this new one is strewn with wonderful, well-written power-pop tracks, e.g. "Ritual", "I Started A Fire" and "Polaris". They're constantly touring with speeded-up versions of their songs, and make sure you see them live. Check out a whole lot of them tracks from the new album on their kempt MySpace-page.
Babyshambles - "Shotter's Nation"
Pete Doherty and company came out shooting with their brilliant second album, where they team up with Stephen Street, producer of albums by The Smiths and Radiohead, to create a far more sophisticated sound than Mick Jones ever would. Fair play, I say. In the creative process, I think a lot of Pete's poetic lyrics have gone, but the music is strong. My favourite track is "Delivery", followed by "The Lost Art Of Murder" (featuring Bert Jansch) and "Unstookietitled".
Arctic Monkeys - "Favourite Worst Nightmare"
A MySpace-band who's shed part of its name owed to The Jam, this bunch now most definitely sings using their own voice both inside and outside the studio. In some ways I love this album more than their debut, even though I think the darkness on this album can be a bit too much at times; Turner's lyrics on deceit, betrayal and relationships splitting, love dying is well-written, and deserves a special mention. This is one of the few bands I've seen live this year who are on the decline in that sense; when I saw them warming up for Franz Ferdinand, they were eager beavers, but then again, every dog has its day. I'm very much looking forward to their third release. Here's the video for "Brianstorm", their first single off this album, where the boys show their usual unwillingness to step into the spotlight.
Simian Mobile Disco - "Attack Decay Sustain Release"
The only real contender for the title electronic dance-album of the year ((Where LCD Soundsystem reigns supreme and Justice's "“ " is too flawed to make it to my top ten.)) is this, the debut album from two feisty Englanders who have funkiness engraved in their souls. Tracks of clinical precision ("Sleep Deprevation") share place with new acid house-masterpieces ("Tits & Acid") and one of the best tracks of the entire year ("Hustler") make them a suitable replacement for Les Rhythmes Digitales, even though this album contains a few dud tracks. Oh yeah, letting Ninja from The Go! Team sing on a track deserves a hey. Hey!
Gruff Rhys - "Candylion"
Here's the strongest avant-garde album of the year! Gruff is a gentleman, but more importantly, he knows how to make good music. This is an album stronger than this year's album he did as part of Super Furry Animals, "Hey Venus!", and it's actually poppier, too. I've written a tad about the production details here, and I saw him as part of the Accelerator festival which I detailed here. This is a bit like the old SFA: Beach Boys crossed with High Llamas, but without the typical quirky production. Mmm-good.
I don't know who came up with the moronic moniker new rave, but it must have been somebody working at NME an idiot. Fuck that! All I know is that Shitdisco's got dance, hysteria and that I want all my house-parties to be spear-headed by them. I'm trying to get them to come to Stockholm, but we'll just have to see about that, won't we? Even though their MySpace-page contains a few tracks, the best one is undoubtedly "Lover Of Others". Even though I've posted a note about that track before, you'll have it here for a good week:
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2007-12-20-loverofothers.mp3]
Notable good albums
“¢ Andrew Bird - "Armchair Apocrypha" “¢ Justice - "“ " “¢ Grinderman - "Grinderman" “¢ Manic Street Preachers - "Send Away the Tigers" “¢ Radiohead - "In Rainbows" “¢ Nine Inch Nails - "Year Zero" “¢ M.I.A. - "Kala" “¢ The Noisettes - "What's The Time Mr Wolf" “¢ Einstürzende Neubauten - "Alles Wieder Offen" ((Released and discovered very late by yours truly; it might have qualified for a top 10-spot, but I'm not yet sure about that. I'd rather be late than sorry.)) “¢ Daft Punk - "Alive 2007" ((Live album.)) “¢ M83 - "Digital Shades Vol.1" “¢ MRK1 - "Copyright Laws" “¢ Distance - "My Demons" “¢ Dan Deacon - "Spiderman Of The Rings" “¢ The Tough Alliance - "A New Chance" “¢ Super Furry Animals - "Hey Venus!"
Songs of the year
“¢ Shitdisco - "Lover Of Others" (see above for this track) “¢ Okkervil River - "Unless It's Kicks" “¢ Simian Mobile Disco - "Hustler" “¢ Justice - "D.A.N.C.E." “¢ The Go! Team - "Doing It Right" “¢ Justice vs Simian - "We Are Your Friends" “¢ LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" “¢ Those Dancing Days - "Hitten" “¢ Band Of Horses - "Is There A Ghost" “¢ Grinderman - "Get It On" “¢ Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - "Umbrella" “¢ Gruff Rhys - "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru" “¢ Blonde Redhead - "23" “¢ Scout Niblett & Will Oldham - "Kiss" “¢ David Guetta - “Love Is Gone“
Disappointments of the year
“¢ The White Stripes - "Icky Thump" “¢ The Good, The Bad & The Queen - "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" “¢ Alec Empire - "The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven" “¢ Immortal Technique - "The Middle Passage" “¢ Guns 'n' Roses - "Chinese Democracy" “¢ The Go! Team - "Proof Of Youth" “¢ Wu-Tang Clan - "8 Diagrams"
Gotcha! Immortal Tech will probably never ever release his album. What happened, Tech?! Release the album already! As far as Guns 'n' Roses are concerned, that's just bad humor; the demos that were leaked previously during this year were half-assed and nothing else. I'm concerned with Alec Empire. I've no idea what he's doing; I loved "The Futurist", but this is boring, which I never thought he'd come to. Even though I love The Go! Team live and mostly on record, they're not getting any kudos for making their second album so similar in sound and feel as their debut, and the result is sadly a bit boring here as well, and as their debut consists of better songs, well, I just hope they're momentarily hapless. Besides, they should have chucked out "Doing It Right" as their first single. It's brilliant (see above for sample). Speaking of past glories, what's happened with The Wu? Why's everybody loving their new album when the best of it's the last track, just another ODB-rehash? Oh...I know I sound like an arse, but please, bring back the magic from "36 Chambers" or "Forever".
Best video of the year?
I can't remember too many of these, but here's a live rendition of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." off Jimmy Kimmel's show that'll show everybody, once and for all, that Rick James isn't dead and that Jimmy uses his own show to feel his girlfriend up at any given time.
Biggest continuing jokes throughout the year
“¢ My Chemical Romance “¢ Mark Ronson covering The Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"
This year's I-didn't-care-too-much-about-these (or missed)
“¢ Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible". I've said mine here. “¢ Dinosaur Jr - "Beyond". Compared with "You're Living All Over Me", this fades away. “¢ Feist - "The Reminder". I've noted that I liked it, but I cannot remember a single bit of this album. Must re-listen. “¢ Panda Bear/Animal Collective. I don't care much for these bands. I don't dislike them, but I prefer the label Häpna. “¢ The Besnard Lakes - "The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse". Psychedelia. Not my cup of tea. “¢ Rufus Wainwright - "Release The Stars". Why more of the same old? Boring. I preferred The Maccabees over him at Accelerator. “¢ Burial - "Untrue". I'll probably slap my own wrist later for this one, but I kept going with Distance and MRK1. “¢ Tinariwen - "Aman Iman: Water Is Life". There's no excuse for this one; I've missed out! Wah! Will check it out later, I promise. “¢ Deerhoof - "Friend Opportunity". I've just missed the release of this one. By the way, they're supporting the Furries in London for what's set to be the best new year's gig I've heard of. “¢ Black Lips - "Good Bad Not Evil". I've yet to listen to this album.
Biggest hype for the coming year
“¢ Dirty Pretty Things' album. I'm really, really, really looking forward to this. “¢ Tokyo Police Club's debut album; they've just finished tracking it, and all that's left is the mixing and then it's set for release. “¢ Lightning Bolt's releasing "Funny Farm", and if they even reach the same peak that is "Hypermagic Mountain" I'll die happier.
What more? A new album by Daft Punk? Destroyer? Neko Case? Okkervil River?
Best festival I visited
Way Out West, hands down.
Best gigs of 2007
“¢ Okkervil River @ Debaser Medis “¢ Voxtrot @ Pusterviksteatern (Way Out West) “¢ Bonde Do Role @ Debaser Slussen “¢ The Go! Team @ Way Out West “¢ Regina Spektor @ Way Out West “¢ Tokyo Police Club @ Accelerator “¢ Gruff Rhys @ Accelerator
Other best-music-of-2007 lists
“¢ X's best-of-07-list “¢ Harp's top 100 albums. They put Okkervil River on top. Besides that, they've got a great deal of sweet artists on their list. “¢ Pitchfork's top 50 albums. Okkervil River's on #22, Dan Deacon, The Tough Alliance are in there as well. “¢ Pitchfork's 100 tracks of 2007! Impressive as hell, with all the little images, samples and whatnot. “¢ Rolling Stone Mag: their best 100 tracks of 2007. Boring. American. Also, their top 50 albums-list. Kudos to them for putting M.I.A. on the top spot, but as she's followed by Bruce Springsteen, I'm not not amused any more. “¢ Swedish Musikbyråns' list of their 52 top albums. Three reasons why I hate them: Jamie T at #3, including Laakso, including Britney Spears and mentioning why they did this (on national television), excluding Okkervil River “¢ Metacritic's list of 2007. This is a site that compiles grades set by a slew of sources, most of which are Northern American. “¢ The Observer's top 10 albums. With nice comments from the artists/band-members. “¢ Mojo's top 50 albums. Yes, even old people get to have their say. “¢ Q Magazine's top 50 albums. “¢ Uncut's top 50. “¢ Filter's top 10 albums. Really, who's Elvin Perkins?