stuck in the sun

Hello everyone. Back from another extended break, and a two-year hiatus from year-end best-of lists. Let's get this thing rolling then.

This year was pretty damn good. Despite the sad news that Indie Workshop has closed its doors since my last post (the site is still up though), I managed to discover a bunch of new artists and found that many of my old faves still are putting out the goods. The quality goods.

Keep in mind that these will probably change over the next while. Consider #15 exchangeable with #13-#17, for example. I'm just that crazy. Well, let's get to it. Counting down from 20:



20. Spoon
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Can't leave them off. They've pretty much perfected their craft, and have thrown in a little more Motown to boot. Has a bit of everything we like from their past records. And Britt Daniel's voice is as great as ever.





19. Stars of the Lid
And Their Refinement of the Decline

I think I've only listened to this maybe 3 times. It's a long album, 2 CDs worth. But the impression it's left on me so far is large enough to make me put it in the top 20. I see all sorts of comments questioning if this can be called "music", yada yada...of course it can, and it is. Some people just think that if a piece unfolds so slowly that it requires stepping back to see the structure and its impact, then it's not necessarily "music". This minimal instrumental music is also very affecting. I'm sure a few more listens will only increase its standing on this list over time.



18. Voice of the Seven Woods
Voice of the Seven Woods

This is a fabulous mix of American, middle eastern and Indian folk, and some Zep-like guitar workouts when they are called for. But make no mistake, this is no piecemeal mash-up. The result is completely seamless, and we get a haunting, groovy, heavy record that rewards repeated listens. Thanks to Dusted for turning me on to this, and I'll be looking out for more on the future. Nice album cover too.



17. Deerhoof
Friend Opportunity

Hooky, crunchy and manic and jittery guitar, cute, odd. It just comes naturally to Deerhoof. One of my favourite bands of the 2000's has come back with another winner. They're pretty much unstoppable. Listen to "+81" or "Matchbook Seeks Maniac" and it'll be hard to argue that they bring out the awesome every damn time. Also go see them live.




16. Nina Nastasia and Jim White
You Follow Me

This is a very intimate album with a very intimate sound. Nina Nastasia's voice sounds as if she is in the room with you. The melodies are also memorable. Jim White's drums present a little twist in the proceedings, acting as a sort of subconscious counterpart. The perfectly restrained mania they evoke gives the songs an feeling of nervousness and anxiety to which we can all relate. Listening to the record you might at first wonder how these two parts work together, but they do. I love albums that sounds like they may fall apart at any moment, but don't. This qualifies as one of those. And does so fairly quietly and unassumingly.



15. Kanye West
Graduation

I wanted to find flaws with this. I really did. And there are flaws. "Drunk and Hot Girls" may be one of the worst experiments he's had. But at least he's experimenting. As for most of the album, I found I couldn't resist. "Flashing Lights", with its Euro-disco influence, is a good example where the mish-mashing he likes to do pays off extremely well. I'm not sure who else would have come up with that. "Champion" is undeniable. The list goes on. Can't...deny...it... The best parts of a Kanye album are worth all the "Drunk and Hot Girls" and "Barry Bonds" it may also contain. Annoying hubrus or not, Kanye is no doubt a talent.



14. Justice
†

If this album just contained "D.A.N.C.E." it would be worth it. But it also contains "Waters of Nazareth", "Phantom", and well, just about the whole thing is good. "D.A.N.C.E." is sort of a moment of light in the middle of dark sludge and distorted basslines, but you'll dig it all, I promise. These guys can throw down a B.E.A.T.






13. LCD Soundsystem
Sound of Silver

In my opinion, James Murphy is a modern-day Brian Eno, in his poppier mode. With serious krautrock-style groove. The combination of rock and dance that is unnleashed here (not to mention the clever, sly, lyrics) is more or less unequaled. If they continue this upward trend in quality, I'll keep listening more and more. "Someone Great" and, yes, "All My Friends" are two of the best tracks of the year, the hype is true. Also in the "dying to see live" category.





12. Radiohead
In Rainbows

New Radiohead album! New Radiohead album! And they're releasing it in just 10 days! Holy crap, no one knew about it! And holy shit, you can pay what you want?!?!?! It's up to me? 3 days to go, 2 days to go, 1 more day....! What? It's 160 kbps? Ripoff! Actually, probably doesn't matter. I can get the CD when it comes out. Yeah. Cant wait to listen! They really screwed the record companies! What a novel way to distribute! Yes! Radiohead!

The hype about the release method pretty much outweighed the music contained therein. Actually, though, the album is in fact really good. It's a warmer, more human Radiohead. It was also a grower (although the grower-ness plateaued for me after a number of listens). Not my favourite Radiohead release, maybe not as edgy as I prefer (not obviously edgy, anyway), and not the blatantly innovative-sounding Radiohead that we used to come to expect. But it is different from the other albums, and that's what's important. The songs are all good, but a couple do stand out: "All I Need" is up-front noticeable, but my fave here is "Reckoner". Great vocals and build-up-without-explosion. I couldn't afford the 80-dollar discbox, but hopefully there will still be LPs available when I get around to visiting the record store in the new year. Yes! Radiohead!



11. Animal Collective
Strawberry Jam

Yes, I love Animal Collective. But c'mon, if they keep coming out with great stuff like this, can you blame me? "Fireworks" is easily one of the best things put to tape this year. So is "Cuckoo Cuckoo". So is "Peacebone" (especially the awesome middle part). Every record sounds a bit different but the soul is always intact. I always feel that hearkening back to childhood when I listen, and not just out of simple nostalgia, but more in the sense of my thought process as a child. No doubt Animal Collective are talented musicians, but that way of thinking is to me what always keeps their music fresh and unpredictable, retaining that sense of surprise with every release they put out. Please, please, keep it up, guys.


10. Meg Baird
Dear Companion

Meg Baird is a member of Espers, and has a great voice. You can't help but think about Sandy Denny when hearing it. But her voice is her own, not to be mistaken for any ghost. These songs are part old songs, part originals, but you can't really tell the difference. And perhaps that's the point: folk music, regardless of who originally wrote the specific songs, is meant to be re-sung and re-interpreted over the years. And she does a great job. The production is spare, with no fancy tricks, studio tomfoolery, or blatant efforts to sound particularly current or trendy, like many of the her fellow "freak-folkers" out there. It makes for an album that is a real breath of fresh air, an unpretentious song cycle that I found myself coming back to over and over again. It hits the spot.


9. M.I.A.
Kala

Not sure if, like a lot of people have said, this is better than Arular. But it is definitely more assured, more varied, more willing to take chances. And boy, do they pay off. The chicken squawks in "Bird Flu"; the children rapping in "Mango Pickle Down River"; and perhaps most of all, the gunshots and cash registers in "Paper Planes", her tale of being denied entry into the USA. Sounds effects are not used gratuitously, either. It would be hard for me to find a more successful mish-mash of styles and sounds. She hasn't calmed down, and especially not in the politics department. We all benefit. Can't wait for more.



8. The Field
From Here We Go Sublime

This techno-based record is another in the category of "the more you listen, the more you get out of it". In this case, not so much discovering a new bleep here or a quickie sample you missed last listen. Here, it's more that you feel like you get to stretch out and feel the space a little more each time. You get a better handle on the textures. They are, however, not entirely alien. Plenty of nostalgia and familiarity pervades the entire record. Each song is its own little realm, more than a part of a larger theme. But it still works wonders as a album to listen to in one sitting. Lovely.



7. Richard Thompson
Sweet Warrior

It's been a while since I spent a bunch of time with a new Richard Thompson album. I am not sure why, but I kept just going back to the 70's stuff. I heard Sweet Warrior came out and I gave it a try. I'm so glad I did. Here we have the trademark biting cynicism ("I'll Never Give It Up"), insight into relationships ("Take Care the Road You Choose"), sarcasm ("Mr. Stupid"), sadness and lonliness ("She Sang to Angels", "Poppy-Red"), and even the epic ("Guns Are the Tongues"). There is also some political commentary ("I'll Never Give It Up", "Dad's Gonna Kill Me"). And most of all, his warm, personal voice, expressing the emotions, the anger, the resolution, and the tenderness, as great as he always could. Beats the pants off the last few RT albums in my opinion. It's great to have him back. Now if only Neil Young could follow suit...



6. Battles
Mirrored

Boy, this is a mammoth. Awesome warrior-like rhythms, fanstasical-sounding, twisted vocals, and other-wordly compositions, not to mention tight playing, that are more engaging than the cold-sounding "today's prog-rock" tag that people give this music, making it sound like a math-exercise snoozefest. But make no mistake, this is more than a cerebral work (although it's that, too). The coming together of the primal and the intellectual like not much else this year, or in the recent past. Prepare to be engulfed.



5. Caribou
Andorra

I liked The Milk of Human Kindness, but admittedly not nearly as much as Dan Snaith's previous record, Up In Flames. The joyous outbursts and feelings of nostalgia that he is so good at conjuring were not as abundant in Milk as they were in Flames. That's just a preference (like the rest of this highly subjective list). With Andorra, Snaith has in my opinion outdone himself, in multiple ways. The embodiment of the elements of 60's psychedelic pop is now all but complete, while at the same time, he manages to keep this record remarkably current. It's almost a pretty straightforward pop record, with the last part of the album leaning slightly more on the side of the mesmerising motorik 70's krautrock droning that permeated his last album. And don't worry, he has not lost his drumbeat one bit. Perhaps most remarkable is the very noticeable progression of his vocals, and especially the melody, in songs like "Melody Day", or my personal favourite, "Eli", perhaps the most wonderful on the album. I just can't wait to see what he will do next time around.



4. Of Montreal
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

I've been on the Of Montreal Train for three albums now, and I think this has got to be most best, most fully realized of those last three. It's got the sweet melodious goodness of Satanic Panic in the Attic, the bounce and beat of The Sunlandic Twins, and the funny, clever, wry lyrics and storytelling of both. The band is right on, and Kevin Barnes' delivery is better then ever. The songs stay with you and leave you craving replays. Probably the best leftover we currently have of the Elephant 6 legend. This is simply delicious.



3. Jens Lekman
Night Falls Over Kortedala

As great as his last collection, Oh You're So Silent Jens, was, it did feel like a piecemeal assemblage of singles. This latest record really feels like a single work, and it's wonderful. There is no doubt that Lekman is a real songwriting talent. His songs are catchy as all hell, and his words and stories are cynical, sarcastic, and most of all, amusing, as any artist I've heard in the recent past. "Postcards From Nina" is a major highlight for me, about a lesbian friend who he is visiting in Berlin and who tricks him into pretending he is her boyfriend who she is moving away with, at an evening with her parents. It's at the same time very tongue-in-cheek and very heartwarming. His ability to do this with his songs is heard throughout the record. His is also a very adept sampler, choosing those that highlight (and create) the moods of the songs, rather than stand out on their own. He's a real talent, like I said, and I'll get his next record without blinking.



2. Burial
Untrue

Listen: I am no dubstep afficionado. I probably couldn't tell you the difference between dubstep and two-step. I'm not some underground guru. I like what I like. And I don't need to know about "the scene" to tell you all that this is a great work of subtle textures, emotional baggage, and self-examination. And rhythm. The mysterious Burial has created a record full of longing, and has done it in a most incredibly effective way, reaching into the soul to give us a piece of what makes him tick. Best of all, from listening to this album (for the 15th time now at least), it's clear that there is a lot more to share. "Archangel" and "Etched Headplate" are masterworks in this vein. The lyrics are spare and repetitive, but that's what's so good; they sink into your head, and the music takes care of the rest of the explaining. And we understand. It's not all grim and reflective, though: "Raver" is an amazing display of hopefulness and knowledge of the goodness that could at any moment come his (and our) way. Really, a brilliant record in many ways. Please grab it.



1. Panda Bear
Person Pitch

OK, so I probably knew this would top this list after the first couple of listens. Animal Collective have come out with some great and varied records, with many great songs. But this may be the best AC-related work yet. I haven't heard a record in recent memory that so fully and naturally incorporates all its influences and sounds into such a seamless whole. Besides that, it's a work that stands out on its own, more than an exercise in nostalgia and music past. It's so warm, so engulfing. It's like a huge embrace. It may be a solo record, but really, it's a collaboration with the past, moving it into and making it relevant for the present. The individual songs are like honey, and it's really tough to pick a favourite, because they all contribute so effectively toward the whole. His deconstruction of 60's pop, dub, avant garde, and whatever else goes in the mix is truly a sound to behold, and never feels forced. It's like he's not even doing it. Plus, I love the album cover: chilling out in the pool with the panda, the tiger, the apes. And so what if a lot of people will also name this album in their big lists? There's a reason for it: it's utterly fantastic. My favourite record of 2007.


There are almost as many other albums I can name that made me very happy this year, so I thought I should just name them. Check them out, they are all worth it.

Honourable mentions (alphabetical order):

• Beirut, The Flying Club Cup
  
• The Besnard Lakes, Are the Dark Horse
• James Blackshaw, The Cloud of Unknowing
  
• Gui Boratto, Chromophobia
• The Clientele, God Save the Clientele
• Deerhunter, Cryptograms
• Dirty Projectors, Rise Above
• Les Savy Fav, Let's Stay Friends
• The National, Boxer
• Adrian Orange, Adrian Orange and Her Band
• Pantha du Prince, This Bliss
• Pharaohe Monch, Desire
• Phosphorescent, Pride
• A Place to Bury Strangers, A Place to Bury Strangers
• Omar Souleyman, Highway to Hassake
• St. Vincent, Marry Me
• Various Artists, After Dark
• The White Stripes, Icky Thump

Happy holidays, everyone, and feel free to comment or whatever here. Happy new year!