Best Albums of 2007

If you're looking for a list that includes The National, Arcade Fire, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, MIA, Spoon, Feist, Okkervil River, Beirut, Of Montreal, Band of Horses, Andrew Bird, Rilo Kiley, Menomena, Jens Lekman, Radiohead, New Pornographers, or Rogue Wave then look elsewhere because I haven't heard those albums. I'm sure they're good though as they seem to be on most top ten lists. I suppose I am your prototypical music snob, although I do feel a deep emotional connection to music, and I really don't think I'm selecting obscure bands for the sake of being obscure. That being said, I do avoid certain bands that just seem to be everywhere, as mentioned above. Last year I was accused of making people feel 'uncool' and I replied, "That's the idea". But I think it would be a disservice to simply list bands that I think should be on a top 10 list. My level of cynicism is a result of years of mainstream music being served up by corporate elites, yet the internet has made things more democratic. I could probably even be more obtuse, and go for ultimate scene points, but I won't. I hope I withstand the scrutiny of my peers like I hope I get a gift certificate for a Nalgene. Anyways, I really need to stop rationalizing and start listing. So here we go...

15. James Blackshaw- The Cloud Of Unknowing. Fingerpicking god.
15. Kevin House- World of Beauty. Traveling vagabond and snake oil salesman Kevin House returns. Made the NPR top ten.
15. Jaws- Bummer. "I'll fucking kill you".

14. !!!- Myth Takes. Perhaps the disbandment of Outhud has seethed a little more psych into !!!, but more likely because psych is pretty hot right now.
14. MV and EE with the Golden Road- Gettin' Gone. You know those old photos of your parents camping with the yellow hue and rounded edges and cans of Rainier? Then your uncle with the moustache shows up in his T-bird with an acoustic guitar?

13. Chromatics- Night Drive. I think I just chose them because they are the Chromatics and they are awesome. I didn't really listen to the album. I don't know. Same with Glass Candy.
13. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime. I used to listen to my brother's hard house cds and press the skip button backwards pretending I was a DJ.
13. Fursaxa- Alone in the Dark Wood. Probably at number 13 for a reason, a narcotic nightmare of shape-shifting wood nymphs and blood tinged shadows. Alone in a dark wood indeed.

12. Sunburned Hand of The Man- Fire Escape. Since Basketball don't have an album out, I'll have to do with this. Oh and since the new Clipd Beaks wasn't very good, this was also my fix for warped saxophone jams. And Saxon war jams.
12. Growing- Lateral. Headphone music. Glorious, minimal headphone music that your partner won't understand.

11. Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities- Lucas. A little messier than their previous, but with songs like What They Said and Sickness, they prove that they own their own sound.
11. Citay- Little Kingdom. I'm a sucker for jams. The record Stephen McBean didn't make this year. Partly chosen by distinct lack of hype.
11. Health- L.A. noise jams. Smoggy, sexy. Could also include Fuck Buttons at number 11, but I haven't really had time to listen to it.

10. Battles- Mirrored. Shimmering mechanical/organic processed/expressed creation/destruction. Exclaim has it at number one, but it's a little too samey to be number one.
10. Yeasayer- All Hour Cymbals. At times a bit heavy on the 80s Paul Simon charm, but when they get it right it rules.
10. The Boggs- Forts. Similar to Yeasayer but somehow missing the hype, Boggs are a rambling mess of indie tunes not unlike Broken Social Scene.

9. Jay Reatard- It was either this or White Williams. There are a couple of really bad Andrew W.K. rip offs but he's at his best when doing his Wipers impression.
9. Various- Italians Do It Better. Glass Candy, Farah, Sally Shapiro, Mirage... need I say more? ITALO!!!!!

8. Efterklang-Parades. Like lichen, a hybrid of two species working in symbiosis, organic and electric, rich and warm but also cold and sparse.
8. The Dodos- Technically 2006, but who cares, they put it out themselves. It took a little longer to get out there. San Fran duo doing Devendra style folk with heavy toms and intricate fingerpicking. The Ball is in contention for best song of the year.
8. Dan Deacon- Spiderman of the rings. Noodling casio fragments pulsate along a ridge that borders the sublime and the sensitive. Penis party!

7. Les Savy Fav- Let's Stay Friends. I don't know if I like this because I like Les Savy Fav, or because it's a good album.
7. Benoit Pioulard- Precis. Heart wrenching soundscapes with precise guitar work and understated vocals. Part shoegaze psych, part lost and found folk.
7. Non Loc- Between Hemispheres. My wildcard pick. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Reilly, Glass, Reich.

6. Marissa Nadler- Songs III: Bird on the Water. She beats out St. Vincent, Lavender Diamond, Orion Rigel Dommisse, and Jana Hunter as this year's indie princess. Or maybe they’re all tied. That way I'm not sexist.
6. Stars Of The Lid- And Their Refinement Of The Decline. Glorious minimal prairie freeze, small-town swimming-hole murder in the weeds. Hummectez La Mouture is the only song that made me cry this year. Also best song title of the year: December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface.
6. Lightning Dust- s/t Perhaps the only reason it's at number 6 is because I sort of forgot about it. Still a beautiful album recorded by two beautiful Vancouverites.

5. Papercuts- Can't Go Back. Need to go back to the beginning of the year on this one. Basically just nice music, like Vetiver and Velvet Underground.
5. Liars- Liars. Definitely not their most haunting, but they put a little rock back into the weird. I shat my pants when I first heard Plaster Casts of Everything.

4. Caribou- Andorra. A melodic Krautrock adventure into the Iberian Alps in the spring, with edelweiss tea, nettles, magic mushrooms, and some books on Arabia.
4. Akron Family- Love is Simple. A chanting chorus disintegrates into a crescendo of sonic confusion, only to fall back again, like the crest of a wave, onto the soft sand of Folk Beach. We will camp here tonight under the stars, a fire of driftwood, angels made of smoke.

3. Cave Singers- Invitation Songs. True to their name, this is a secret sect of revivalists shaking and ranting in a cave somewhere in the wilds of the northwest; a seance bringing Fleetwood Mac back from the dead.
3. Mum- Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy. New lineup and a new outlook. No longer moody European ambient glitch, they started doing lots of E and went camping all summer in the forest.
3. Panda Bear- Person Pitch. Comfy in Nautica propels this lost Ariel Pink record to number 3. Fragments of a Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles in the 20s, Paul Simon on acid, and of course Brian Wilson trying to remember the good times.

2. Deerhunter- Cryptograms. The return of the full record. A story of growing up in the 90s with grunge and techno, of manic depression in the post 9/11 landscape, of bike rides to the lake in the seemingly simple 80s; the poetry of history, or the history of poetry.
2. Klaxons- Myths of the Near Future. Although branded Nu-Rave, this album is a complex post-electro clash, apocalyptic reinvention of dance rock. Winner of the Mercury Prize, I could hardly leave it out just because they have found success.
2. No Age- Weirdo Rippers. Also probably the best live show of the year, these two noise makers are the hottest shit not from Brooklyn. Layers of feedback and drone intermingle with grunge bangers. See Deerhunter, Indian Jewelry, This Heat.

1. Bison- Earthbound

Best Songs in order of a playlist (up on Chalked Up soon).

1. Yeasayer-2080
2. Tough Alliance- Taken too Young
3. Panda Bear- Comfy in Nautica
4. Dragons of Zynth- Anna Mae
5. Soft Circle- Shimmer
6. Animal Collective- Peacebone
7. !!!- Myth Takes
8. Bruce Springsteen- Radio Nowhere
9. Akron/Family- Ed is a Portal
10. Cave Singers- Dancing on Our Graves
11. The Boggs- Bookends
12. Dirty Projectors- No More
13. Skeletons and The Kings of All Cities- What They Said
14. Bodies of Water- These are the Eyes
15. The Dodos- The Ball
16. Papercuts- Summerlong
17. Citay- First Fantasy.
18. Angels of Light- Black River Song.
19. Whalebones- Bloodbank
20. Liars- Plaster Casts of Everything.
21. Klaxons- Isle of Her
22. Battles- Atlas
23. Dan Deacon- The Crystal Cat
24. Mum- Guilty Rocks
25. Celebration- In This Land
26. Chromatics- Running Up that Hill
26. Crystal Castles- Untrust Us
27. Sean Kingston- Beautiful Girls
28. The HoodInternet- I'm a Flirt (Shoreline)
29. Dizee Rascal- Hardback (Industry)
30. Man Like Me- Oh My Gosh
31. Shy Child- Drop the Phone
32. Cut Off Your Hands!- You and I
33. Les Savy Fav- What Would wolves do?
34. Non Loc- My Song Before the Gates
35. No Age- Every Artist Needs a Tragedy

Honourable mentions: Digitalism, Amy Winehouse, St. Vincent, Glass Candy Tinariwen, Marnie Stern, Burial, Black Kids, Turzi, and Sally Shapiro.