Stitch on 12/12/2007 at 16:56
That time of the year again, folks :cool: By now you know the drill: pick your top albums of this year and arrange them in some semblance of ranking. Additional commentary isn't required but it does help generate discussion, so verbosely expound if that's the kind of thing you do.
One last thing before I get to listin': on account of 2007 being such a jaw-dropper of a year for new music, I'm expanding this list to TOP TEN oh yeah here we go:
Top Ten:
* Radiohead, In Rainbows - Radiohead stealthily return with their warmest and most organic album to date, the sound of five seasoned pros knocking one out of the park without even breaking a sweat. A stunning triumph.
* The White Stripes, Icky Thump - A welcome return to rock after the underrated breather Get Behind Me Satan. Bonus points for generating quite possibly the weirdest top 40 hit ever.
* Beirut, The Flying Club Cup - Zach Condon moves his inspiration from Balkan folk to French cabaret and the gorgeous results sound like falling in love in Paris.
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Baby 81 - Not exactly the most ambitious album, but its place on this list is secured by the fact that there is no other disc that got more play in my life this year. The perfect soundtrack to shooting pool in a smokey bar.
* PJ Harvey, White Chalk - Despairing puritan schoolmarm piano pieces that thrive off loneliness and despair. As darkly addictive as it is unpleasant.
* Battles, Mirrored - Mathematical quasi-instrumentals that twist and turn within each other to precise brilliance.
* Arcade Fire, Neon Bible - Phenomenal second album marred by the fact that you can only fall in love with a new discovery once.
* Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Carnival sea shanties sporting some of frontman Brock's best one-liners yet.
* Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero - Operating completely without a safety net yields a surprising return to relevance.
* Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Ten indie pop gems made all the more impressive by Spoon's trademark resistance to standard choruses.
Honorable Mentions:
* Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare - Too good to not make the top ten, but it's a crowded year man.
* Bat for Lashes, Fur and Gold - A dusk-set spellbinder lacking slightly in consistency. Vaguely reminiscent of Bjork and Tori Amos back when they were making music worth listening to.
Would Have Made a Great EP:
* Interpol, Our Love to Admire
* The Hives, The Black and White Album
Did Make a Great EP:
* Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Is Is
What the Hell Is This Shit:
* Bjork, Volta
Single of the Year:
* Kanye West, "Stronger"
In summary: 2007 utterly floored me, especially during the spring when a new classic was rolling out every week or two. Old bands came out of nowhere to release their best music in years (Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails), and bands I barely cared about released surprisingly indispensible discs (Arctic Monkeys, BRMC). 2007 was so packed, in fact, that I'm left with an unusually long back catalogue of potential greats to catch up on during the new year (Burial, The National, MIA).
Roll on 2008.
Mingan on 12/12/2007 at 17:26
In no particular order :
Timbaland, Shock Value
The White Stripes, Icky Thump
Feist, The Reminder
The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
ercles on 12/12/2007 at 17:58
Yeah without order
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris:A fucking brilliant, edgy cd that steered away from the goth rock that bogged down Lullabies to Paralyze
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Show your Bones:Beat down their first attempt in style
Bjork-Volta: Purely because one of the most origional artists of the last 20 years made industrial dance songs with Timbaland.
White Stripes-Icky Thump: They tried something different on this album and really pulled it off well in my opinion, a breath of fresh air
Radiohead-In Rainbows: Simply brilliant
Battles-Mirrored: This album took me a long time to wrap my head around but once I worked out what the hell they were going for, it suddenly clicked. An amazingly deep and layered effort
Modest Mouse-We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank:Great band+Pirate Shanties+"Spitting Venom"=win
The Shins-Wincing the Night Away: This was a bit of a shock at first, much more drugged out than the usual fare, but it was still a great album
NIN-Year Zero: This deserves it simply because of the alternate reality game used to promote it, but the album was great as well.
Bright Eyes-Cassadaga: This album represented a real change in maturity for Bright Eyes, probably stemming from Connor Oberst getting clean and discovering spirituality. Luckily he hasn't lost the freakish ability to just churn out brilliant songs with some of the best lyrics I have ever found. Cleanse Song is simply amazing.
EDIT: I would rate Timbaland's solo effort (Shock Value) as the biggest disappointment's of the year. After pitching in on so many great songs for others, I honestly thought that he completely failed to produce anything noteworthy in this album, even though just about every song was a collaboration.
Turtle on 12/12/2007 at 18:02
Quote:
Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero
Quote:
PJ Harvey, White Chalk
Quote:
Feist, The
ReminderSeconded.
Koki on 12/12/2007 at 18:27
Once I thought I heard a Bjork concert nearby, but it just turned out to be some stray cats going at it
Rug Burn Junky on 12/12/2007 at 18:27
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81: Stitch and I already had a discussion about this one a couple of months ago. It's the only album on my phone at the moment, so when I'm not carrying my iPod it's my default listen on the subway. Like he says, not the most ambitious album, but perfect for what it is.
White Stripes - Icky Thump: As though this one won't be too-well-covered in this thread already?
Shaggy - Intoxication: Color me surprised. I love Dancehall, and Shaggy has always been a guilty pleasure. As much as I love any of his songs, the best ones all tend to get overplayed and expose their flaws. After things like Angel, and the disappointing last two albums, I pretty much gave up on him. At least three hands down winners (Bonafide Girl, Mad Mad World and Church Heathen) and nothing that I need to skip over on a full album listen.
Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life: His voice is an acquired taste. I've always thought it worked better on the lazier laconic ska-ish Rancid tracks, which means it just shines here. All laid-back ska with his drowsy vocals.
Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams: OK, It just came out yesterday, but I've had a week or two to listen to it myself. Not sure how I feel about it entirely, but it's definitely going into regular play for me. It's easily the best full group effort since Enter the 36 Chambers. Haven't had enough time to digest it fully yet, but I already know it's a winner, and I'm throwing it on here so that I don't have to include it next year.
In the 2006-but-I-didn't give-it-a-listen-until-too-late category:
Lot of contenders. Peeping Tom (Mike Patton's best work since Angel Dust, that I just somehow missed), Beck - The Information (Which I hadn't really started listening to since it came out in late October 2006), but there's a hands down winner.
Beenie Man - Undisputed: This one grows on me more and more every time I listen to it, but there were a few songs that hooked me from the get go. There's the obvious Akon collaboration ("Girls") In fact, after 7 years, the title track ("I'm a dangerous man, with a dangerous mind, dem call me the most dangerous of all time") has replaced Aisha as my offical "(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30256#post30256) theme music" Even after a year of listening to it, it was still the obvious choice to pump when I was driving around South Beach in a Benz last weekend, and I couldn't think of a better soundtrack for a night of serious partying.
D'Juhn Keep on 12/12/2007 at 19:12
1) PJ Harvey - White Chalk
2) PJ Harvey - White Chalk
3) PJ Harvey - White Chalk
4) White Stripes - Icky Thump
5) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
I simply can't get over how fantastic White Chalk is. A drastic change from her (awesome) last 2 albums reveals undreamt depths of vulnerability and bleakness that make, for me, the album of the year by a mile. Everyone should listen to this album unless they mind being sad.
Ickky Thump was excellent tunes, Neon Bible too.
In Rainbows was disappointing. And as many may know I'm the most diehard Radiohead fanboy around so this is saying something. It had some alright songs and even 1 great one but it didn't grab hold of my soul like The Bends, OKC and KidA (and White Chalk) have done.
Stitch on 12/12/2007 at 19:26
Quote Posted by ercles
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris:A fucking brilliant, edgy cd that steered away from the goth rock that bogged down Lullabies to Paralyze
Oh yeah, forgot about this one, definite "honorable mention" CD for me. I love the guitar playing and production of the disc but the songwriting isn't quite
there for me.
Feist is also on my to-buy list.
Iggs: how much of a chance did you give
In Rainbows? It's such a different model of Radiohead that it took half a dozen listens before it really worked for me as a whole.
Also, well said regarding
White Chalk.
Ulukai on 12/12/2007 at 20:08
Ten?! Managed to buy a paltry five albums this year, a couple of which I've barely listened to. So I can provide but brief comment.
Stereophonics - Pull The Pin - My favourite album of the year, probably because it tends to go round and round in the car.
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Bought this on the strength of
The Pretender, but haven't really listened to the rest enough to comment. The levels on the Pretender are all over the place, though. Have it on in the car and risk your ears bleeding once it kicks in.
Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night. Typical mixed bag of stuff from these guys, including Fat Lip and his (
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kJEacTZmd7I) fun facts about salmon. The highlight for me is
Das Spiegel.
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times - Listened to it but once through. So far - so ho hum.
Last but not least, our very own OnionBob's
Function Creep has grown on me every time I listen to it. Oh, and it's (
http://www.munchhouse.com/conelrad/functioncreep.html) free.
