The Observer, December 7, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 13
Top 10: Albums of 2007
All things considered, 2007 was not a bad year in music at all. Radiohead stunned the world when it released their first album in four years online at a buyer-determined price, Kanye West and 50 Cent duked it out on the charts and the world was given its own Neon Bible. In addition, The Police, Dinosaur Jr. and, well, half of the Smashing Pumpkins reunited for tours. Most importantly, though, this year provided listeners with a plethora of great new albums, and although I haven't heard a fraction of what the year had to offer as a whole, here are my top picks for the year.
10. Icky Thump – The White Stripes
Kicking off with one of the year's most infectious and noteworthy tracks, Icky Thump and its title track set the stage for one of the White Stripes' best and most consistent albums. The freeform keyboard and staccato thuds that drive the title track show that Jack and Meg are holding little back in their attempts to rock hard, but the stylistic deviations of songs like "Conquest" and "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" keep the album from falling into repetition. Plus, when there are songs as great as the multi-faceted "Catch Hell Blues" and the psychedelic twists of "I'm Slowly Turning Into You," all adorned with Jack White's high-pitched guitar squeals, it's hard for such an album to not rank among the best of the year.
9. The Flying Club Cup – Beirut
After finding success and gaining a widespread audience due to the audacity and beauty of Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestrar, 21-year old Zach Condon (the one-man mastermind behind Beirut) decided to turn to French classical pop for inspiration in the recording of his second album, The Flying Club Cup. The results are astounding, with Condon focusing more on quality songwriting and abandoning some of the needless electronic dabblings from the first album. Songs like the hyper-romantic croon, "A Sunday Smile," and "Cliquot," which was co-written and sung by Owen "Final Fantasy" Pallett, evoke a special feeling that takes the listener away to a different place and a different time.
8. Spiderman of the Rings – Dan Deacon
Despite his failure to show up at The Spot a few months ago, absurdist electronica musician Dan Deacon has still made a list-worthy album. Opening up with a loop of Woody Woodpecker's laugh over an ever-building musical soundscape, Spiderman of the Rings provides the listener with a fascinating listening experience. This was a record designed to perplex, intrigue, annoy, captivate and most importantly, to motivate. The album's centerpiece, "Wham City," is an epic masterpiece, and the closing track, "Jimmy Joe Roche" should make your earbuds explode. Most importantly though, if the album's leading single, "The Crystal Cat" does not fill you with the urge to dance wildly, you'd better check your pulse, my friend.
7. Beyond – Dinosaur Jr.
Easily the best reunion album of the year, Dinosaur Jr's Beyond feels less like a reunion album than just a logical progression from where the band would've gone had bassist Lou Barlow not left in 1988 and formed Sebadoh. Guitarist and singer J Mascis's voice has aged since then, but his slacker-drawl still suits the heavy alt-rock that the band produces at the same intensity as they did in their heyday. The production is undoubtedly cleaner than, say, 1987's "You're Living All Over Me," but this helps flesh out the song's melodies in a more immediate fashion, which works to the band's benefit since these tunes are so good. Heavy rockers like "Almost Ready" and "Pick Me Up" rest well against sublime ballads like "We're Not Alone" and the entire album is boosted along by Mascis's excellent guitar soloing skills.
6. Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy, the man behind the LCD Soundsystem moniker has crafted a dance/electronica album for people who hate dance/electronica. Sound of Silver is a collection of nine songs, which range from speedy dance-punk anthems to slow, piano-driven ballads, and all of which feature intensely catchy melodies. "Get Innocuous!" which opens the album, starts off with a two-minute repetition of the same electronic phrase, luring the listener into a trance. From then on, once the listener is transfixed, Murphy keeps the energy levels at their peak points, plowing through songs like "North American Scum," "All My Friends," and "Us v Them."
5. Somewhere in the Between – Streetlight Manifesto
A rather negative review of this album was recently published in the Cleveland Free Times, which criticized the album for its predictability and unoriginality in the face of ska. It's hard to simply write off an album as powerful as this as being just "predictable," especially when songs like those on the album are loaded with frequent tempo, time-signature and dynamic changes. Somewhere in the Between improves everything the band started on 2003's Everything Goes Numb, with the darker songs sounding darker, the lighter sounds more prone for fist-pumping, and frontman Tomas Kalnoky's lyrics more refined and thought-out. This is a ska album for the ages from a ska band (and perhaps THE third-wave ska band) for the ages.
4. The Stage Names – Okkervil River
Following up 2005's Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River has crafted a far more-uplifting but just as thoughtful and gripping record with The Stage Names. Songs like "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe," and "Unless It's Kicks" are driven not only by the tight performances of the band themselves, but also by frontman Will Sheff's brilliant lyrics and powerful, emotional delivery. All of this works best on the album's final track, "John Allyn Smith Sails," which pays homage to both the poet John Berryman and the Beach Boys' classic song "Sloop John B" in such a creative and gorgeous manner that it needs to be heard to believed. Without a doubt, The Stage Names' nine songs feature some of the finest lyrics of the year.
3. In Rainbows – Radiohead
By now, anyone who merely has his or her feet wet in current music news knows the implications behind this album, but here's a recap. Free of a label and having not released an album in four years, Radiohead put their newest album, In Rainbows online and let the fans determine how much they would pay for it. Luckily for everyone, the album kept up to the high standards that the world has set for alternative rock behemoths Radiohead. On this album though, the band sounds subdued and quieted, with most of the tracks starting off small and building up under layers of reverb and orchestration. It is a sort of return to truly song-based material for the band, who spent most of this decade experimenting with electronic sounds, and the whole album works. Fast-paced rockers like "Bodysnatchers" and "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" are all marked with Jonny Greenwood's excellent guitar playing and slower dirges likes "Nude" and "Videotape" are characterized by Thom Yorke's distinctive vocal warble. With In Rainbows, Radiohead have taken a bold step in suggesting that an album's monetary value is not worth nearly as much as its musical value, and in the long run, this is what truly matters.
2. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? – Of Montreal
Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes recorded ninety percent of this album while isolated in Norway and struggling with depression. He wanted to create something as personal as John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band or Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, but unlike these two artists, Barnes embraced the idea of others being able to relate to his troubles, rather than be ashamed by it. This is probably why you've never heared bouncy and catchy songs that deal with such depressing subject matter like "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse," "Suffer for Fashion," or "Gronlandic Edit" before. "Come on mood shift, shift back to good again," Barnes pleads on "Heimdalsgate," juxtaposed right before a cheerful synth sweeps in and takes hold of the song's memorable melody. Hissing Fauna is the apex of Of Montreal's work thus far, and the introspective lyrics Barnes sings on this album were the factor that was missing from the band's previous albums that elevate this not only beyond one of their albums but to make this one of the best albums of the year. It also helps that the entire album revolves around the twelve-minute long epic "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," in which Barnes completely loses it, exposing all of his emotions into one brilliant indie-pop masterpiece.
1. Neon Bible – The Arcade Fire
It can be said that the last band to establish itself as one of rock's greats is Radiohead, and if Neon Bible is any indication of where the Arcade Fire are headed, they will surely follow. Their second album, and follow up to 2004's Funeral, (best album of 2004) Neon Bible holds absolutely nothing back. This is an extravagant album, loaded to the brim with bombastic orchestral arrangements, cathedral-styled reverberation and a beautiful church organ. Vocalist Win Butler sings every syllable as if the world is going to end once the song stops playing, aided by lyrics like "Working for the church while your family dies" and "Now, who here among us still believes in choice?/Not I." Everything about this album is perfect, from the apocalyptic chord progressions in "Black Mirror" to the rhythmic propulsions in "Keep the Car Running" to the funereal finale "My Body is a Cage." Best of all is a reworking of "No Cars Go," which appeared on their 2003 debut EP, and shows up here as one of the most grandiose and moving moments in popular music history. It's hard to imagine where this band can go from here, since it's almost impossible to imagine anything bigger than this, but until then, the world has a Neon Bible to entertain and move its populace until this monumental band releases its next album.
2008 is also shaping up to a fine year for music, and although this year featured material from many of rock's heavy-hitters, we can expect releases from Man Man (prediction: Best album of 2008), Be Your Own Pet, Apollo Sunshine, Destroyer, Of Montreal, The Mars Volta, and many others. As with this year, which held many unpredictable surprises, next year will be filled with great music that nobody could foresee showing up, and so long as there are enough creative minds out there in action, the world will never run out of melodies to dance along with and songs to sing. Keep the car running, indeed.
