Top Album Picks 2007

I haven't listened to a lot of new music, but I really dig the Arcade Fire that came out, the Winehouse really grows on you, and of course, the Springsteen was very good but not great.

In no particular order!

Radiohead "In Rainbows"
Okkervil River "Stage Names"
Brother Reade "Rap Music"
Once soundtrack
Arcade Fire "Neon Bible"
Stars of the Lid "And Their Refinement of the Decline"
UGK "Underground Kingz"
Brother Ali "The Undisputed Truth"
El-P "I'll Sleep When You're Dead"
Aesop Rock "None Shall Pass"

Yup, I'm a hip hop fan.

I'm not posting a top 10 or anything until I'm finished re-listening to everything (yet another blog plug), but you're selling the year short if you don't go to the record store, head toward the Ns and Os and just randomly pick artists who released albums this year.

Hint - if you walk out without buying the National's Boxer, Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna..., New Pornographers' Challengers, and Okkervil River's The Stage Names, you've made an error - go back and get them.

fuck, I forgot about the new pornographers and the national. I'd like to add them as 10a and 10b.

For me this year was all about Okkervil River's The Stage Names.

Then,

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta
M.I.A. - Kala
Blitzen Trapper- Wild Mountain Nation
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Grinderman - Grinderman

And special mention to Art of Field Recording Volume I from Dust to Digital: http://www.dust-digital.com/

[alphabetical]
1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
3. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
4. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
5. The National - Boxer
6. New Pornographers - Challengers
7. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
8. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
9. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Da Honorables:
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City (not as good as people would have you think, but still good)
Common - Finding Forever
Dawn Upshaw & the Kronos Quartet - Golijov: Oceana, Tenebrae & 3 Songs
Glen Hansard & Market Irglova - Once (Music from the Motion Picture)
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood (Original Motion Picture Score)
LCD Soundsystem - Silver
Mark Ronson - Version (the BEST pop album this year)
Talib Kweli - Eardrum
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (might take Writer's Block's place)

I'd like to mention these, because they came out at the tail end of 2006:
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
The Fratellis - Costello Music
Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block

Edit: Fixed '06 list, thanks LD

I have trouble doing this, because there are always a million albums I want to listen to so that I don't make obvious mistakes. For instance, I see a lot of blogs talking about Burial on their year end lists, but I never listened to them. Then there are discs like The Octopus Project to which I didn't really give a fair shake, and I feel weird deciding that it doesn't belong just because I didn't listen. I don't know if that even makes sense, really.

Anyways, some albums I really enjoyed that I have on my work computer (I'm not able to really think of all the stuff I purchased at home, which is the vast majority of what I listened to this year.)

Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
The National - Boxer (this was one of the biggest "growers" I found in a long time)
The National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

Some other good discs that I wish I knew better:
Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Feist - The Reminder

And...I quit. This is all too frustrating. There's too much out there.

EDIT: Re: Andrew Eaton - I was going to mention Peter, Bjorn, and John too, but wikipedia has them in 2006. If they were 2007, that's definitely a notable album.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is

All of a sudden I miss eveyone - Explosions in The Sky

Shit dude, you're right. It got a re-release in February stateside, but for some reason I assumed it was still 2007. I almost did the same thing with Fratellis (very fun and easy to recommend to Kinks-fans) and Cold War Kids (all hype aside, they're pretty good). Thanks for the notice though!

My list needs revising anyway. I don't try to be all inclusive, because I heard a lot of albums this year that I had me asking, "That's it?" I also didn't mention the new Ryan Adams album which I need to re-listen to, but 50 Cent, Explosions in the Sky, Kanye West, Jay-Z, The Kooks, Queens of the Stone Age... I couldn't get behind their new albums. They weren't bad, just not worth mentioning.

I just started a music blog and I've been watching other ones very closely to see everything I've missed this year. I'm actually putting together a podcast tonight of some of the best songs this year, or ones I just like. So if you guys got suggestions leave me a line and I'll throw it in a mix. I picked up about 30 albums this year plus random songs pulled off blogs/Limewire/friend's iPods so there's plenty to work with, but there's plenty I missed.

You should come into this thread and throw up the link to that podcast. I'd like to give it a listen.

I've got my last final (redundant?) tomorrow morning, but I'll try and have that puppy up Friday. No clips of me talking, just music.

Modest Mouse's record needs to be on more people's lists.

I listened to some of the tracks on Okkervil River's myspace page; they were pretty fantastic and definitely up my alley in terms of the stuff I like. Going to buy that one tomorrow.

I don't know how I forgot the Once soundtrack, but it's awesome.

Also, another good question would be what people's picks are for Best Song/s of the Year? I'll put my already questionable taste out there and say I don't think there's been a huge "pop hit" since "Hey Ya" that I've enjoyed more than "Umbrella."

I'd have a bitch of a time trying to rank mine, so I won't even try right now. I made a comment back in June that it was looking like a less than stellar year for new music. Boy, was I in for some pleasant surprises in these final months of 2007. Being proven wrong isn't always such a bad thing after all.


Battles - Mirrored
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
*Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same (Remastered)
Meat Puppets - Rise to Your Knees
Patty Griffin - Children Running Through
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky


*The 2007 remaster sounds so much infinitely better than the original that it feels like a totally different album. Yes, it's only a remaster and yes, the recordings are from 1973. But I rarely have the opportunity to mention Led Zeppelin on these lists, so I'm taking the liberty here. Allowing myself just one non-new recording isn't too bad.

I'm all about remasters. The Rhino reissues of The Stooges and Fun House are required listening. If only someone would have the common sense to remaster Wu-Tang's debut.

There are only 3 on my list:

New Wilco
New Ween
New Iron & Wine

I'm not going to post a full list because that would risk embarassment and the ruination of any credibility I built with the mix swap during the summer (by the way, Justin, I should be sending your disc out this week), but I will say the new Jimmy Eat World is near the top of my list. It's easily their best work of this decade, and that's because they finally found the sound for which they've been looking since they began working on Bleed American.

Neon Bible would be my favorite, for sure. I listen to that more than I listen to Funeral.

Also really like
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Hissing Fauna - Of Montreal
I'll Sleep When You're Dead - El-P
Mirrored - The Battles
Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird


I haven't really given the new Radiohead a chance, but it's not sticking with me all that much.

It did sound great, it's definitely worth mentioning Ryan. And Funhouse? HELL YES. I picked up the remaster for Elvis Costello's My Aim is True this past May and I'll be damned if that album didn't sound like it was recorded yesterday.

And last November's LOVE soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show was astounding. Most people don't buy into Beatles compliations since you've heard it all before, but this is how I casually turned my friends into fans. For those who don't know anything about it, it's not a greatest hits or just remastered stuff; it's Beatles-producer George Martin's remixes and re-worked songs that form a big symphonic soundtrack for the Vegas show that's been happening this year and last. It got mixed reviews, like, "Where's 'Let It Be?'" and that general nonsense but geez, take your medicine and be grateful people. It's all original sounds and recordings (except for violins on one song) but I recommend it to people who've been on the fence or who love them anyway.

What we need re-released: Gang of Four's Songs of the Free (get on it Henry Rollins!) and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) like Pop Zeus said.

The entire Husker Du catalog. The CD versions out now sound wafer-thin. The Replacements albums, too, but I hear those are finally coming next year, bonus tracks included.

Ryan's post inspired me to put The Song Remains the Same on my Christmas list. I listened to the vinyl plenty way back when, but never bothered to upgrade to CD.

Are you implying that the masters were never thrown in the river? Because I will fight you, sir! At any rate I hadn't heard this news and it makes me about as happy as any music news in forever.

I'm so out of the loop on music right now, but I went over to the closest B&N at lunch to listen to a few albums that seemed to be making multiple lists. I really liked the Okkervil River album, so of course they had it available on a listening station but not available to buy.

Just my favourites of 2007:

Adjagas - Adjagas
Karsh Kale & Anoushka Shankar - Breathing Under Water
Amon Tobin - Foley Room
The Gazette - Stacked Rubbish
Dir en grey - The Marrow of a Bone
Girugamesh - Reason Of Crying
Sadie - The Bullet Storm
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Bjork - Volta
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead
M.I.A. - Kala
Fat Jon & Styrofoam - The Same Channel
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Blu Mar Ten - Black Water
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Battles - Mirrored

I forgot to mention Foley Room and Cassadaga. Nice to see some love for Tobin.

Have you heard his soundtrack to Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory? Best game soundtrack ever, I listen to it all the time.

I've heard conflicting stories on exactly which masters were thrown in, but I've heard they mistakenly took copies. In any case, those were the Twin-Tone albums, and the CDs of those probably sound better than Tim and Pleased to Meet Me, anyway.

There was talk on a Westerberg message board a while back that Paul, Tommy, Peter Jesperson, and others were listening to the old stuff. Helping the rumors was the fact that the Play.com website keeps listing dates for the releases with specific info (deluxe editions of Stink, Hootenanny, Sorry, Ma, and Let It Be in February, and two-CD deluxe editions of Tim and Pleased to Meet Me in March). But it's the only site with this info, and it's changed a number of times. It would make sense that Tim and Pleased to Meet Me would include a ton of bonus material. There are probably a disc's worth of demos, b-sides, etc. for each that you can readily find on bootlegs.

No order, and no distinctions between new recordings and reissues, here's some stuff I really liked:

Coconut Monkeyrocket - With Birds
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
v/a - Si, Para Usted
MIA - Kala
The Eat - It's Not the Eat, It's the Humidity
The Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil

Album I need to get:

Miles Davis - The Complete On The Corner Sessions

Hypothetical Single of the Year:

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Hold Tight b/w The Coasters - Down in Mexico

Music DVD of the Year:

Spike Jones: The Legend

I don't know Martin...every blog list I've seen so far has had Burial front and center. It's probably the next album I get, along with The New Pornographers (I have no excuse for that omission).

edit: I'm dumb, that was '06

Re: The Pipettes

Well, I think we all considered it last year. I know it showed up in Dave's recap, and it got a pretty respectable amount of love around these parts. I did re-buy the American release, and I like the 2 new tracks, but it's more or less last year's news by this point.

Also, their b-side "Guess Who Ran Away With the Milkman" should really have made the album.

Protip!: I will buy literally anything with a picture of Gwenno on it.

yeah, you're right.

Eh, technically, you could be right. The line on this stuff is getting increasingly blurry.

I'd post my "list" but so many of these lists just amount to your favorite bands who happen to put out an album that year.

I have to say, I think this is one of those places that principle doesn't hold true.

My list features 4 (or 5, if you count PB&J) bands I'd never listened to before this year. It also excluded Radiohead, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, and The Arcade Fire. I don't think that necessarily means that's the same for everyone, but I think most people would be up for at least justifying why they felt an album was strong.

I mean, I'll grant you, people are going to post albums that relate to the genres they listen to, but that's just human nature.

I try to avoid doing that myself, but at least when people do that, they're being honest about what appeals to them.

Re: cognizant. I have; I own it; it really is.

Re: z-man. The "Corner" sessions set is a godsend. This more than makes up for the fact that I only heard two solid new jazz albums this year. There's 6 hours of goodness.

I just want to say that these music lists are one of my favourite parts of CHUD, I have probably learned about almost as many great bands and albums here as I have about great filmmakers and movies.

Regarding the issue of listing favourite bands, I agree with The LD in that I've discovered quite a few bands this year that blew me away. I'm more into seeking new music than appreciating previous classics, which admittedly isnt smart*, but then on the flipside I get to stumble onto weird and random genres like 'psybient' and marvel at music's evolution and feel like I'm listening to the future.

Dont know if its worth having a 'worst of' thread, but the following albums (especially the last four from bands I'm really into) were big disappointments to me this year:

Kosheen - Damage
Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight
The Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night
UNKLE - War Stories
The Crystal Method - Drive: Nike
Ash - Twilight of the Innocents


* Def Leppard is in the news recently about a reunion gig they played in London, and I have yet to listen to a single album of theirs. For shame me?

For shame you. But wait, reunion? With whom I wonder. The only ex-member that would generate headlines is long dead.

No. My ears are jealous of yours.

In no particular order...

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Great Bloomers - Catching Up EP
The Joel Plaskett Emergency - Ashtray Rock

I already posted my list, but I will say this: Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago might possibly be the best album this year. It needs time to settle since I just got around to spinning it today and I need to measure it's strengths against all the others. Still, it's great. Folks, download it. Immediately.

1) Explosions In The Sky - "All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone"
2) Nine Inch Nails - "Year Zero"
3) Radiohead - "In Rainbows"
4) M.I.A. - "Kala"
5) The National - "Boxer"
6) Saul Williams - "The Inevitable Rise And Fall Of Niggy Tardust"
7) Arctic Monkeys - "Favourite Worst Nightmare"
8) The White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
9) Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible"
10) M83 - "Digital Shades, Vol. 1"
11) Interpol - "Our Love To Admire"
12) Nine Inch Nails - "Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D"

Led Zeppelin, yes! I was passing out yesterday when I posted. Either way I'm in a shack on a mountaintop.

Still havent heard Radiohead's latest, although I read that its in 160k and dont know if thats how I want to hear it for the first time. I thought Explosions In The Sky's latest was decent, but not great enough for me to put it on my top 10.

It's hard to put them in order, but:

Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma
The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand
LCD Soundsytem - Sound of Silver
Baroness - Red Album
Pissed Jeans - Hope For Men
Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb


Honorable Mentions:
RTX - Western Exterminator
Pylon - Gyrate Plus reissue
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth reissue
NIN - Year Zero
Darkthrone - F.O.A.D.

Modest Mouse - And We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Talib Kweli - Eardrum
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (this is probably my favorite but that's just because I'm on a real Arcade Fire kick this past month)

Those are the only ones I can think off the top of my head. There's a bunch of cds/groups in here I just haven't listened too like National's Boxer and Okkervil River but plan on changing that

I still hold out hope I'll get a new Dismemberment Plan cd, even if it's a b-sides or a live compiliation. I'm keeping the hope alive (going on like 5 years now too)!

You've never heard Led Zeppelin before, but you're worried that 160K isn't good enough to hear the new Radiohead?

Kids today have the weirdest musical priorities.

The rhythm section has a new band called Statehood. I've only heard the samples on the website, but, in some ways, they sound more like Dismemberment Plan than Travis Morrison's solo material.

Speaking of Dismemberment Plan, their version of "This Christmas" has been in heavy rotation in my office. It's really fantastic.

I'll take a look into that, thanks Dave. Oh, I'll also add the Shins latest to the albums I've really enjoyed this year.