I'm surprised at how hard I had to think about this, mostly because I think it's been a pretty strong year for music so far. There's been about a dozen albums I would call really great, and a handful more I would say are good.
1) Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
Normally I like albums either because they're huge dramatic records that tug at my soul but are too draining for repeat listens OR because they're fun, compulsively listenable albums that don't try to change the world.
Neon Bible manages to hit that sweet spot between poignancy and having fantastic songs you keep wanting to listen to. I don't like to throw around terms like 'important' lightly, but I will say that with this album Arcade Fire have truly ascended to the big leagues right up there with some of my favorite bands.
2) Field Music- Tones of Town
I literally cannot stop listening to this album. It's the kind of music that if I even start to think about it or talk about it to other people, I want to go throw it on. Much like the Shins in general and Belle and Sebastian's last two albums,
Tones of Town accomplishes the feat of making an addictive pop record that borrows just enough to be familiar but carves out its own unique identity.
3) Panda Bear- Person Pitch
It seems as though this is one of those "love it or hate it" albums which come out at least once a year just to create rifts on message boards everywhere. Obviously I fall on the "love it" side of the debate. Rarely has an album built on repetitive, ostensibly digital elements sounded so natural and in a state of constant evolution. If you're having a hard time getting into it, I recommend getting drunk or stoned on a Saturday afternoon and listening to it on headphones. It's
that kind of music.
4) Wilco- Sky Blue Sky
I understand fully the criticisms people have leveled at this album, but in my opinion it's not a bad thing to release a classicist rock album after a three album streak of varying threads of the experimental patchwork (yes, I consider
Summerteeth experimental). Frankly I find myself loving every Jeff Tweedy has done since roughly 1994, so there's that, but I think this album is worth coming back to time and again because the songs are every bit as good as before. I can't believe that this album got worse reviews than Modest Mouse's new one, but it just goes to prove my theory that everybody else in the world is insane.
5) Deerhoof- Friend Opportunity
I'd wager that this will be one of those albums that are largely forgotten later in the year, on one hand because it came out in January, on the other hand because it's Deerhoof. It's hard for me to rank Deerhoof albums, but this and
The Runners Four are like opposite sides of the same delicious gold-foil wrapped chocolate coin.
Friend Opportunity is shorter and less focused, but it's also all over the map and surrendering to its flow is bliss.
6) Do Make Say Think- You, You're A History In Rust
When I first heard this album, I thought to myself "oh boy, another post-rock band." How could I have any more room left in my heart with the likes of Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and Tortoise tugging at my chest?? Yet here I stand, ranking this album 6th on my top 10 list thus far, and leaving Explosions off entirely. Well, the fact is that this is just a hell of a record. I actually went out and bought the damn thing on vinyl I like it so much. I said it in another thread, but if the dude from !!! is the kind of guy who puts a piano in a river as a kind of performance piece or just because he's a dick, then DMST are the kind of guys who fish pianos out of rivers and take pictures of the rusted remains. There is power and delicacy in these songs, snaking under the surface like undertow or exploding over the surface like a wave. In short, everything that's good about post-rock done right.
7) Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
I wouldn't consider myself the biggest fan of Of Montreal in the world, mostly because I have a weird chip on my shoulder against bands who have extensive back catalogs and only start releasing good albums 4 or 5 years into their career. But the fact remains that
Hissing Fauna is really fucking good. It's hard to elucidate just why it's so good, because all I keep coming up with is "more of what you love or don't love about Of Montreal, with a few new tricks." It's certainly the deepest and most emotional Of Montreal album, and any band that can pull off an 11 minute track dead in the middle of their album and not let it ruin the momentum or flow of the music is just dandy in my book.
The Shins- Wincing The Night Away
The more time goes by and the more I listen to this, I don't like it nearly as much as I did when it first came out. Still, it's the Shins trying
some new things. Unless you've somehow avoided them up til now, that's all the explanation you need.
9) LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
Assuming I wanted to and actually could dance worth a shit, this would be the 2007 album I would most enjoy getting down to (as the kids say). I don't like it quite to the extent that everybody else in the world seems to, but I've never been so much a fan of dance-punk so much as the possibilities of it.
10) Battles- Mirrored
The highest recommendation I can give this album is that I am not a fan of math rock in the least because I often find it's just a bunch of post-hardcore tossers who don't want to be labeled prog rock but make music that switches time signatures more often than a beginning drum student....anyway, I don't like math rock, but I love this album to death and back. A+++ WOULD LISTEN TO AGAIN
Honorable Mentions:
Besnard Lakes- it's good, but not great
!!!- LCD Soundsystem did this better, though I think !!! is more experimental, whatever that means
Eluvium- I really like this album, I just can't give an ambient album a top ten slot in good conscience because I don't think of them in the same way that I do these others
Menomena- this album is one of those that sounds really amazing and cool, but I have a hard time remembering a single song off of it other than 'Air Aid'
The Twilight Sad- I once had the perfect way of describing this album, but it's completely gone now. Basically, it's Scottish indie rock, so it kind of sounds like Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, and My Bloody Valentine all smashed together. Except MBV weren't Scottish, but whatever
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Topic: July 1st, 2007: A Discussion(Mid Year Top 10) (Read 27701 times)