(t5!) My Year In Lists 2007: Albums!

This entry may be a tad late but, because of my family visiting me during the holidays, I didn't start writing these blurbs until mid-January. Most of you have probably lost interest by now but this still seems like a necessary personal activity before I can even move on to what 2008 has to offer music-wise.

So, bear with me. Anyway, this is the 2007 version of the albums I loved.

#30: St. Vincent – Marry Me

As a guitarist for The Polyphonic Spree, Annie Clark (St. Vincent, professionally) had trouble standing out. So with Marry Me, her debut album, she shakes off her multi-colored robe to showcase her talents as a vocalist, a songwriter, and a multi-instrumentalist (she’s responsible for the album’s guitars, bass, piano, percussions, xylophone, and the list goes on). With the solo spotlight, she also flaunts her eclecticism, with her tracks sometimes gathering elements of piano-folk, sea shanties, and loungy jazz. It seems like Clark feels exhilarated now that she’s free from the Spree’s jolly formula. With a successful coming-out party like this, it makes you wonder what other talent do they have hidden in that overcrowded pop syndicate.

Standout tracks: "Marry Me", "All My Stars Aligned", "Human Racing"

#29: Frog Eyes – Tears Of The Valedictorian

Carey Mercer has to calm the fuck down. It’s hard enough to distinguish what his hang-ups are with him shrieking all the time (just on a side note: it’s awfully tough to out-ugly Spencer Krug’s voice, the keyboardist here and the lead vocalist of Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown/Swan Lake, but Mercer succeeds); it’s even harder to understand him while he’s being obliterated by a maelstrom of instruments. So, the inclusion of Tears Of The Valedictorian in this best-of list isn’t out of pity. Under the cacophony are tasteful melodies and dynamic pop structures, and it’s damn right admirable to stay this compelling while your frontman comes unglued on record and the backing band beats the shit out of their instruments for nine tracks.

Standout tracks: "Idle Songs", "'Stockades'", "...Eagle Energy"

#28: Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War

We all would like to pretend that we hate romance but we are all guilty of having a movie like Love Actually on our DVD collection. Stars’ patented whispers of sweet nothings, their hushed narratives for suburbanites who have loved and have lost, can make you gag when approached with the bitterness that seemingly comes with maturity. But when Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan do their duets and their melodies soar above the sparkle of their instruments, it’s a little lovely; the way a candlelit dinner on Valentine’s Day is a little lovely or a sunset-drenched walk on a beach is a little lovely. It’ll make you see that your old, jaded self isn’t so jaded after all.

Standout tracks: "Take Me To The Riot", "Midnight Coward", "Window Bird"

#27: Miracle Fortress – Five Roses

If you have your money invested on the big business of antidepressants, it’s best to pull your money out now. Melancholics are soon going to discover that listening to the uplifting debut of Miracle Fortress, Five Roses, is a befitting substitute for Zolofts and Prozacs. The ethereal melodies and psychedelic atmosphere will produce the desired blissful effect without the usual byproducts of the prescription drug. Montreal’s Graham Van Pelt, who clearly had listened to a Beach Boys record once or twice in his lifetime, effortlessly created a thing of rare winsomeness here using fuzzy guitars and keyboards loaded with effects and he inflated it with a sunny falsetto that would’ve felt right at home in a Californian multi-part harmony.

Standout tracks: "Maybe Lately", "Beach Baby", "This Thing About You"

#26: Justice - †

Earlier this decade, some time post-Discovery, mainstream dance music was in a total funk. Most of the usual suspects that created records earlier that were acclaimed both commercially and critically were more hung up on following their smashing albums with something imaginative and important, forgetting the tremendously barefaced logic that dance music is designed to make people dance. Leave it to Justice, a pair of ex-graphic designers playing homage to their musical ancestors like Daft Punk and Michael Jackson, to start a dance revolution. They recognize what thrived before and they’re unafraid to consolidate it with their own ideas to pick their genre up from its temporary trough.

Standout tracks: "Genesis", "D.A.N.C.E.", "DVNO"

#25: Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Sequels are always tricky to make. It’s hard to surpass its predecessor when it is a work of geniuses and it’s doubly hard when your devotees are anticipating you to do so. However, Arcade Fire tried their mightiest to reach faultlessness the second time around, blowing up their immensely adorned identity into sheer indie rock enormousness. Even though they fell short from their goal, don’t jump off the bandwagon just yet. What they accomplished here, still, are mammoth, Springsteenian anthems of modern-day turmoil, escorted into aphitheater levels by vigorous string arrangements and Win Butler’s familiar howl. Neon Bible isn’t on the same plane as Funeral, not many albums are, but it is awesome nonetheless.

Standout tracks: "Keep The Car Running", "The Well And The Lighthouse", "My Body Is A Cage"

#24: !!! – Myth Takes

Call them what you want—Chk Chk Chk, Bfft Bfft Bfft, Zoink Zoink Zoink, Woof Woof Woof—but whatever onomatopoeia repeated three times you have decided to pronounce their name as, one thing we can all agree on is that resisting the danceable grooves of !!!’s lose-yourself-to funk-rock is an impossible assignment. Although Lead barker, Nic Offer isn’t targeting George W. or ex-Mayor Giuliani with his lyrics like he did in their last album, Louden Up Now, he still sounds like he’s having the time of his life. This rapturous spirit he flaunts, along with the other members of this Brooklyn-based septet, is a magnet pulling you in for a rowdy and reckless aural episode.

Standout tracks: "All My Heroes Are Weirdos", "Must Be The Moon", "Heart Of Hearts"

#23: Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position

“I'm singing in the, the major key!” is more than a spectacle of exultation in the pinnacle of the title track of Patrick Wolf’s The Magic Position, it’s actually the entire album’s underlying theme. Pure bliss and gleaming optimism replace the rayless mood of his previous efforts, especially the remarkably somber Wind of the Wires. Aside from the eloquent exhibit of indie balladry in the middle of the album, these are zestful pop songs that offer instant gratification. The major chords and a beaming rainbow of tones unmistakably emblazon the flamboyant redhead’s third long-player, irradiating it with a flash of positive aura which leaves you smiling and singing along over what you just heard.

Standout tracks: "Overture", "The Magic Position", "Magpie"

#22: Battles – Mirrored

I must be a masochist for loving this album because Mirrored is a hearing hazard. It grinds and whirs and explodes, like a million tiny soldiers started an instrumental war with my brain and my eardrums are what’s keeping them from completing their objective so they have to break through it by any means necessary. Ex-Helmet drummer, John Stanier is leads the invasion with the crash cymbal positioned four feet above his head, playing his drums like it’s both the lead and a rhythmic component. He holds the amalgam of ferocious guitars, surging electronics, and alienized vocals together tightly and he commands the assault to wherever he wants to go. Unfortunately for my well-being, nothing can stop them from getting there.

Standout tracks: "Race-In", "Atlas", "Snare Hanger"

#21: Okkervil River – The Stage Names

I can go on about how you should appreciate The Stage Names for Will Shepp’s songwriting intricacy, thematic substantiality, and sharp wit. But that takes a ton of effort! You’d have to either visit your preferred lyrics provider on the internet and read along for 42 minutes or pay close attention to the words while driving and risk a fender bender. Luckily, Okkervil River’s fifth LP has its alt-country fervor going for it. Its newfound rambunctiousness is unexpected—especially to anyone who have heard the very bitter predecessor Black Sheep Boy before—but it is also undoubtedly refreshing. So, if you have time, immerse yourself in the lyric sheets for these are great words penned by Shepp. But, really, why read when you can rock out?

Standout tracks: "Savannah Smiles", "Plus Ones", "A Girl In Port"

#20: Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam

While two of its members went backwards for their solo projects (Panda Bear with his genre choice and Avey Tare with his vocals), Animal Collective continue to propel forward. Not letting the conventional inhibitions influence their approach to writing songs, they remain relentlessly inventive and, because of this, has continually improved their craft. Their last two albums have been grouped in the “freak-folk” division of music, but Strawberry Jam is a little more straightforward rock. Even though it still sounds like music made by freaks with dashes of eccentricities and frenzied vocals in its mix, it’s the most melodic and most approachable tracks the Baltimore band has ever composed.

Standout tracks: "Peacebone", "For Reverend Green", "Fireworks"

#19: Dan Deacon – Spiderman Of The Rings

Picture a man with a Masters degree in electro-acoustic compositions and you envision a snooty, professor-type determined to drop some knowledge on the textbook way to create electronic music. Well, trash your preconceptions, folks, because ain’t nobody calling Dan Deacon no textbook! He’s a balding, stocky, Baltimore-native, wearing taped-up, plastic eyeglasses with neon-colored rims and colorful, oversized shirts. He takes the electronic soundscapes he learned from school and infests it with high-pitched squeals, nonsensical chant-a-longs, whizzing synths, and cartoon noises; a skillful defilement in the name of giving the people something entertaining.

Standout tracks: "Crystal Cat", "Wham City", "Pink Batman"

#18: Gui Boratto – Chromophobia

With an album entitled Chromophobia, you’d think that this would sound as gray and as drab as a Monday morning overcast in London. But one spin of Gui Boratto’s debut disc and you’ll realize right away that this is a flash of cyan, yellow, and magenta radiating from your speakers. It’s a kaleidoscope of spiraling melodies, high-powered synths, and understated drum loops, expertly woven to create rich song textures that can either be trance-inducing or life-affirming. Either Boratto is being intentionally droll with the title or he’s, in reality, overwhelming you with these colors so that you’ll actually develop a healthy fear of them. If the latter is his intentions, then he has failed; Chromophobia is vastly lovable.

Standout tracks: "Acrostico", "Xilo", "Beautiful Life"

#17: Kanye West – Graduation

Despite their names, Kanye West’s albums doesn’t technically deal with the progress of his collegiate endeavor. His discography, however, does illustrate his growth as an artist. While Dropout was a pageant for the chipmunk soul he had used for Jay-Z and Talib Kweli, and Registration saw him, alongside Jon Brion, turning his trademark style into something grandiose with orchestral strings, blaring horns, and other glossy furnishings; Graduation’s productions are synth-happy stunners, turning less obvious samples into effervescent, post-millennial pop rap. Granted, the lyrics still show a conflicted Kanye (insecure in some parts, egomaniacal in most) but, as a producer, he has evolved into a hit-making phenom.

Standout tracks: "Good Life", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", "The Glory"

#16: The Tough Alliance – A New Chance

There was a time when Sweden was once a place where you discover the esoteric. But now, their presence in a year-end list is as common as the presence of Ikea furniture in a living room. In addition, it seems like everyone who are blowing up from the Kingdom of Sweden (The Knife, The Field, Peter Bjorn & John, Jens Lekman, Robyn, Sally Shapiro, etc.) came upon an agreement one day to make the globe shake its hips. The Tough Alliance, the newest member of the congregation, is following the footsteps of their predecessors and they’re doing it not only with ineluctable dance nuggets but with stylistic heterogeneity. While listening to the duo’s hodgepodge of twee, synth-pop, house and reggae, a desire to stay motionless is unreasonable.

Standout tracks: "Something Special", "First Class Riot", "A New Chance"

#15: Panda Bear – Person Pitch

We might as well talk about the elephant in the room right off the bat: Person Pitch is Panda Bear’s very distinct reincarnation of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds for the seventh year of the new millennium. By filling the eccentric atmosphere with heavily-reverbed vocal melodies, saccharine harmonies, distant guitars and sounds of the beach, he’s not exactly keeping his Brian Wilson fixation a secret for us to miraculously discover. But even if The Beach Boys influences are way too indisputable in this third album, why should that stop us from enjoying it? If you loved The Beach Boys’ discography (and many do), you should conclusively fall head over heels for Person Pitch.

Standout tracks: "Take Pills", "Bros", "Good Girl/Carrots"

#14: Burial – Untrue

You’re alone downtown of a big city somewhere, stumbling home late after a night of heavy drinking at a club. Your head’s so heavy, you can barely keep it upright. Everything’s clouded and barely lit up by bleary streetlights. Remnants of the of the tunes you heard on the dance floor is warped and mixed with the misheard noises of your shadowy surrounding. It’s unnerving and you feel deserted but, at the same time, you appreciate the privacy you acquired with the thoughts in your head. This is what listening to Burial’s Untrue is like. It’s a spine-chilling, fogged-up mosaic of clattering dubstep beats, faded R&B vocal hooks, and muzzled bass you can barely remember yet, it’s an experience hard to forget.

Standout tracks: "Archangel", "Ghost Hardware", "Homeless"

#13: The Field – From Here We Go Sublime

This is a terrible “dance” record. Sure, the 4/4 beat tick perpetually to entice movement but the treble is at the forefront, the bassline is idle, and the climaxes aren’t immediate. From Here We Go Sublime, however, is a stunning “ambient” record. Or, to put it in other ways, it is a great “eyes closed” record, a great “walking around at night with headphones on” record, a great “staring outside your window while traveling” record. Sweden’s Axel Willner understands the limit to the amount of blissful, stuttering loops and melodic samples that he can fill a track with and he arrives at that ethereal peak smoothly and without haste. With the right approach, this album is close to perfection.

Standout tracks: "Over The Ice", "A Paw In My Face", "Everyday"

#12: Apparat – Walls

Apparat’s intention with Walls isn’t to keep you out. In fact, because of its attractive pop moments, one of the album’s redeeming qualities is its accessibility. Walls refers to the circular fence he architected to lock everything in, using the contagious beats, appregiated xylophones, and dense basslines as building materials. It confines the cloud-like melodies made by strings, gentle synths, and Raz Ohara’s woodwind vocals, preventing it from thinning itself out by dissipation. Walls are put up to imprison you in with this electronic experience, placing you right in the middle of this structure so that the swirls of sound surround you like a warm blanket. It’ll be so comfortable, you’ll never want to escape.

Standout tracks: "Useless Information", "Fractales, Pt. 1", "Arcadia"

#11: LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver

James Murphy was there at the genesis of dance-rock. He was there to remind hipsters about the relevance of yelping post-punk bands like Gang of Four and The Fall. When the world of dance of music needed saving, he was there! But James Murphy has been there for too long. I mean, even Kanye West has Daft Punk playing at his house. What exactly do you do when you have lost your edge? You grow up, that’s what. And Sound of Silver is exactly that: it shows James Murphy’s maturity as a producer and a lyricist. The record not only has the power to send your body into a euphoric convulsion, it can also make you analyze your own fucked-up, graying, wrinkled life. That’s somewhere everyone thought a James Murphy album would never be.

Standout tracks: "Time To Get Away", "Someone Great", "All My Friends"

#10: Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is the most fun one can have while confronting somebody’s own demons. In this eighth album, Kevin Barnes grants his listeners permission to read the most tear-soaked pages of his personal diary. When other songwriters sulk like this on record, they bring the mood of their music down with them. But that’s never Of Montreal’s cup of tea. Barnes knows that if there’s anything in this universe that can rescue the most alienating and severely poignant lyrics, it’s a supremely catchy melody. Some of these words are dressed in so much sorrow, you almost feel guilty for merrily bobbing your head to Of Montreal’s disco-tinged indie and Technicolor psychedelia.

Standout tracks: "Grolandic Edit" "A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger", "She's A Rejector"

#09: Feist – The Reminder

Because of The Reminder, an unpretentious fifty minutes of adorable folk and pop melodies, 2007 is the year of the Feist. This is the year when she became an ubiquitous sensation. This is the year that transformed Feist from that sexy, dancing silhouette in the Broken Social Scene videos to a frontwoman for a choir of who’s who of indie music on Letterman. This is the year when a nation of a million cd buyers was mesmerized by her aural seductiveness.. The rest of the world finally experiences the mesmerism of her come-hither voice—a lustful, inspiriting, whispered spoonful of honey emoting universal truths about exhilarating breakups, lunar lovers, and cocktail metaphors. There’s no other female act who deserves the credit more.

Standout tracks: "I Feel It All", "My Moon My Heart", "How My Heart Behaves"

#08: Lil’ Wayne – Da Drought 3

When Lil’ Wayne claimed that he is “The Best Rapper Alive” a few years back, it seemed preposterous at the time. But when he calls himself that now, you realize that there is no one else that even comes close to the title. Weezy’s more confident than ever, as heard in Da Drought 3, a double-disc pearl about being young and rich and high and absurdly talented. He’s so confident, in fact, that he’s willing to release this mixtape free of charge just to appease the nonbelievers. He even dares his adversaries to step their game up with this. If this stunning pile of assonance, punchlines, wordplay, and similes is what he’s giving away without profit, imagine what he has cooked up for his proper releases.

Standout tracks: "Upgrade U", "Ride For My Niggas", "Dipset"

#07: Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

It’s impossible for an indie band to pacify their fans. Experiment with their product too much and they alienate their adherents. Do the same thing all over again and they’re accused of being repetitive. Spoon, for the sixth album now, have never been afraid of consistency. While others abandon a proven framework for success for the sake of being radical, Spoon embrace theirs: find either a swaggering or a limber groove, add some piano stomps and some wanton effects, have Britt Daniel sing semi-abruse lyrics about masculine hurt while squeezing an “uh-huh” or a “yeah” wherever possible, keep it minimal. The album’s proof that there is good in staleness. Five Ga’s out of five.

Standout tracks: "The Ghost Of You Lingers", "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", "Finer Feelings"

#06: The National – Boxer

Pitchfork was right when they called Boxer a “grower”. Personally, I usually have no patience for music that “grow”. I’m thinking if it doesn’t hit me on the first listen, there’s no reason to believe that the album would somehow magically reveal its merit on repeat plays. I don’t know what it is about The National’s fourth album that finally got to me. Maybe it’s Matt Berninger tardy baritone eventually oozing into the part of my brain that decides what to like; maybe I needed time to get the frequently quoted one-liners he disposes; maybe it’s the absence of immediate triumphs that made the last album, Alligator, a keepsake. Whatever it is, I’m exceedingly thankful that I stuck around for the Boxer to grow into an enormous wonder.

Standout tracks: "Fake Empire", "Green Gloves", "Racing Like A Pro"

#05: Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala

Assuming Jens Lekman writes only from experience, Kortedala must be a spellbinding place. This peaceful suburb in Sweden not only birthed comical anecdotes Woody Allen would be envious of, like how Lekman was smitten with his hairdresser or how he fell in love with the lesbian he’s pretending to have a relationship with to fool her father; it also inspired adorable love excerpts, quotable enough to post on a lover’s Facebook wall. Putting aside the actuality that its his orchestration combining strings, horns, and adventurous samples that usually makes most of his tracks, the immense detail and unimaginable quirkiness in Jens’ lyrics are what separate him from his singing/songwriting peers.

Standout tracks: "A Postcard To Nina", "Into Eternity", "I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You"

#04: M.I.A. – Kala

Forget learning about the global issues and personal politics that reportedly fueled this record. You don’t need to know anything about Liberia, the Tamil Tigers, nor bhangra. Wikipedia it later if you really must but the only thing worth talking about this record is how exceptional it sounds. Skeptics who professed that her 2005 debut album, Arular, was a fluke would recant their statement upon hearing this. Myriads of hyperborial percussions, foreign instrumentation, rumbling chants, and chicken clucks digitally arranged to form a chunky stew of sound. Kala sounds more atypical, yet still as infectious and danceable than its predecessor, blasting an audacious pastiche of unprecedented pop music.

Standout tracks: "Birdflu", "XR2", "Paper Planes"

#03: Caribou – Andorra

Very few exhibit the variety Dan Snaith has shown in his discography while still leaving a palpable personality in each of his work. His last record, The Milk of Human Kindness, indicated Snaith’s attachment to Brian Wilson and his blissful brand of psychedelia, but it’s more prominent in Andorra, his fourth album. Snaith’s luminous falsettos are heard more here as well, and it goes remarkably well with the sunshine reverie he’s trying to create. Although an evolution in Snaith’s sound is apparent, his compositional ingenuity, this incredible ability to arrange prolific percussive elements together with unorthodox basslines and blissful tones into something magical, is still magnificently on display.

Standout tracks: "Melody Day", "She's The One", "Niobe"

#02: Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

Armchair Apocrypha is a treasure unearthed from a genre where the mediocre and the bland is frequently lauded. Andrew Bird rescues the “singer/songwriter” tag from its recent unexciting direction to coffee house muzak with his progressive musicianship, wry lyricism and, of course, his classical instruments (his romantic violin being the most recognizable). His resourcefulness with the violin is praiseworthy, ranging his playing technique from sharp pizzicato to full-on bowing. Yet, despite his obvious mastery with the instrument, he never peppers the album with it. Instead, it’s used as an accentuating cadence, enhancing the blend of guitars, versatile drumming, and whistling that can blow either Peter, Bjorn, or John away.

Standout tracks: "Plasticities", "Heretics", "Spare-Ohs"

#01: Radiohead – In Rainbows

My first experience with Radiohead’s newest collection of songs, I wasn’t drastically overjoyed, confirming my low expectations. I knew beforehand that this would fail to deliver the same musical curveball their other masterpieces masterly threw. But, its appeal reveals itself after a couple more excursions into the colorful world of In Rainbows. It succeeds not by creating an unexpected or unorthodox record (although its release process is anything but traditional). This is a band—and for the first time in years, they can be legitimately called a band again—that seems weary of reinvention. Instead, they embraced their often sequestered accessibility by polishing their sound and giving their audience something they’ve already loved.

Standout tracks: "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", "All I Need", "Reckoner"