« Going Bust | Main | The Rise of the Irreligious » Today's Top Ten27 Dec 2007 12:12 pm My ten favorite albums of 2007, again in no particular order:
For next year, I resolve to listen to more actual hip-hop albums instead of just downloading the odd single. Comments (41)
I thought albums were dead already? 
Amazon can't figure this out, but there's of course a clear subset of "indie-rap" ... hip-hop that appeals to indie rock listeners. I recommend Aesop Rock, Common Market, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, etc.
I'd take out Justice, The Eames Era, The National, and Jens Lekman, and add instead... - Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga I am in love with Aesop Rock right now too, Nicolas ... I'll check out Common Market.
In the hip-hop area, the Coup's Pick a Bigger Weapon was recommended by Ezra, and I love it.
My top 10, for what it's worth: - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Kudos for the nod to Justice. The album is phenomenal. St. Vincent needs perhaps a few years to craft something worthy. Brother Ali is deserving and highly recommended.
Why don't any of the bloggers I read like Andrew Bird?
Both the Jay-Z and Aesop Rock albums are good.
My top hip-hop record this year was El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead. My top two are Mando Diao's Ode to Ochrasy and Electrelane's No Shout No Call. Fairly weak year for music to me. Boxer's on my list but I didn't like it nearly as much as Alligator. Icky Thump's somewhere up there. Ga Ga... is there but, again, not nearly as good a record as Spoon's earlier ones.
I guess I'm older than I thought; I've never heard of one of those. The last "new" band I thought anything of was Massive Attack. I guess once you hit about 33 you stop paying attention. If I start listening to Michael Bolton or Kenny G., I authorize you to send out hit squads. Take me out.
The National's "Boxer" transcends all its peers and it's been appallingly overlooked and underappreciated. It's the sort of album that, by listening to any one of its songs, can make anyone feel two to three times as hip as they ordinarily are. Every new listen to "Slow Show" builds on the last.
My list: Spoon - Ga^5
Some good hip-hop suggestions above. I'd also throw in Sean Price's "Jesus Price Superstar" to add a much-needed dash of ignorance to your hip-hop listening.
Yeah don't listen to these people and their lame indie-rap recommendations. You want to be listening to Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Bun B. You would probably like the new Wu-Tang Clan, it is good and I can see indie rock listeners enjoying it.
I thought albums were dead already? And if not, why not? You've got to be awfully sure the songs that didn't get airplay are almost as good as those that did, in order to buy the whole CD. I mean, if I can download the three songs off an album that got airplay for $1 apiece, and the album has 12 songs altogether, what's its fair price? If I assume the other 9 songs are half as good as the Airplay Three, the entire album should cost maybe $8, including 50¢ for the nifty packaging. But you can't buy a new album of recent vintage for $8. If you're paying $13.99 for the album, that means you're paying about $2 each for the Airplay Three, 80¢ each for the other nine, and 79¢ for the packaging. Which means you're being had, unless those 'deep tracks' are damned good.
Burial - Untrue
I haven't heard of any of these 10 albums, and have heard of only two of the performers. Musically, I seem to be aging at an accelerating rate.
Many great albums mentioned in this thread, but I can't believe no one's included of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer" yet. Simply an incredible album, even before you give Barnes credit for putting it all together by himself.
Seriously people. Mike is right, Of Montreal needs to be mentioned on this list. I'll come back with my top 10.
Thank you for including Eames Era -- H+S was one of the pleasant gems that improved my year in music.
Kudos to whoever included Okkervil River -- that album rocks balls. I'm sad that more people don't listen to Cloud Cult -- their latest, The Meaning of 8, was a masterpiece. Also: no love for Band of Horses? Their latest was the album of the year. No, no, wait. It was No. 2. No. 1 was Josh Ritter: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. You won't hear a better album this decade. Also, for indie rap, folks should check out Brother Reade. Good head-bobby stuff.
Good list, Matthew. You may also like: Burial's "Untrue" . . . among others.
Here's my list: Ten Feet High, Andrea Corr Hip-hop? Gag me with a Spoon album.
I didn't mention of Band of Horses and Of Montreal because the first one puts me to sleep and I dislike the second one. But I am aware of them.
Every time music comes up on here, there's always someone who brings up The Corrs! Why not Enigma or Shawn Colvin or Loreena McKennitt or something?!?! At least mix up the lameness a little bit. I kid, I kid.
Well, as it so happens, Enigma is probably my second favorite band! I have all their stuff on my hard drive. My favorite pieces are "Power of the Loser" (naturally!), "Snowing Under My Skin", "I Love You...I'll Kill You", "Gravity of Love", "Close to Heaven", "Prism of Life", "Return to Innocence", "Snow on the Sahara" and "Voices in the Dark 2". And I like Loreena McKennitt, although I can't admit to playing her much. "Mummer's Dance" was at least excellent, and I've some other stuff from her on the hard drive. Kate Bush and Tori Amos and Stevie Nicks are my other main female singers I like. Tara Blaise is a new one, discovered by John Hughes, the Corrs manager. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. I've even got some "Sisters of Mercy", and some "Def Leppard". Whatever sounds good to me is what I listen to. Of course it helps if the band has three gorgeous babes in it...
And for those who missed my response to the thread about the crappy National Guard recruitment song, the alternative to that is Andrea's "Shame on You", which is explicitly anti-war and mocks the military recruiters. See the video on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RGU_Vv1wgc I even sent notices when the album came out to a number of anti-war/anti-recruitment organizations suggesting this song could be a "theme song" for them.
Bayani, by the Blue Scholars, may be the best hip-hop album of the year, and it's one that indie rock kids should be able to get into (Last.fm). They're on tour with Common Market right now. Here's a video, which, curiously, is thematically similar to the video linked in the previous comment by the gentleman who prefers gagging to hip-hop. The CunninLynguists new album (Dirty Acres) is good too, although their last one, A Piece of Strange (Last.fm), was even better. They're less indie, less political, and more southern than the Blue Scholars. And I'll second (or third) some of the other artists, like Kweli, Kanye, The Coup, and Brother Ali.
Jim wrote: I guess I'm older than I thought; I've never heard of one of those. The last "new" band I thought anything of was Massive Attack. I guess once you hit about 33 you stop paying attention. Indeed. At 36 I find "new" bands, but they're often "new to me" instead of actually new. And I spend more ear time exploring back catalogs. Some recent iTunes purchases: John McLaughlin, Electric Guitarist; Television, Marquee Moon/Adventure/Live at the Old Waldorf (replacing lost CDs I used to own); Chris Squire, Fish Out of Water. All recorded before 1980. Hip hop just never did a thing for me....
Wow, that's often very different from how I see it. Lots of times the "hit single" sticks out like the proverbial dog's bollocks from the rest of the album. It'll be all slick studio-wise and not fit with what makes the album tracks great. Maybe this is just a sign of my age, though---I listen to "older" stuff. Also, things that get airplay are often overexposed by the time I get around to listening to the album and I don't want to hear them anymore. To pick a blatantly obvious example, there's good material on Led Zeppelin IV, but I'd probably skip Stairway to Heaven.
for some hip hop, try immortal technique on for size. he has a new album coming out sometime in 2008, but his previous two, revolutionary 1 & 2, as well as the bin laden remixes, are insane.
Matt, do yourself a favor and pick up the three albums by Organized Konfusion, and then pick up Pharaoh Monche's two solo releases, Internal Affairs and Desire. You will instantly gain all manners of hip-hop cred.
1. Panda Bear
Great list!!
At 36 I find "new" bands, but they're often "new to me" instead of actually new. At 37, I'd agree. I first heard of Blonde Redhead this year when I heard "23" (which I agree with someone above is a very, very good album), and found that, hey, their "Misery Is A Butterfly" from a few years ago is a pretty good album too.
Time for a little perspective: Led Zeppelin broke up 27 years ago, and their reunion concert in London was the hottest ticket anywhere this year. Who among Matt's top-ten list will even be remembered in 27 years? Probably none of them. It's not entirely the fault of these performers. It's mostly because new means of distribution and market segmentation driven by the Internet have atomized the world of music consumers. The fan base that a middling-popular group might have had in the 1970's or '80's is now divided among ten or more groups.
upstream on the thread this got written: "I mean, if I can download the three songs off an album that got airplay for $1 apiece, and the album has 12 songs altogether, what's its fair price?" the idea that the songs you know thru airplay are somehow better than the ones you don't is silly. classic albums are classic because of the total effect of the songs working together, not the least of which is the actual running order of the buying stuff piecemeal isn't gonna get you anywhere beyond owning stuff someone else told you was good.
"classic albums are classic because of the total effect of the songs working together, not the least of which is the actual running order of the That might apply to Blue Oyster Cult or The Who, who actually made albums that told stories. But for most artists, they simply don't do that. They may THINK they do that, but for most of the fans, there is no perception of that. The fans may perceive that an album "hangs together" in terms of the musical theme or something, but that's about it. They still usually won't like everything on the album, unless they are true die-hard fans. The average purchaser of the album who is not a true fan probably won't see it that way. My rule is that if I hear two songs in a row by a band on the radio that sound good, I'll look into the album. That has worked fairly well for me. I go into the Corrs after "Runaway" and "The Right Time" (and they were never that big in the US anyway, despite selling over thirty million albums world wide eventually), and DIDN'T get into the Spice Girls because I couldn't stand their first radio hit. Even now, I've downloaded entire albums of the Corrs - and never listened to them. I listen to specific songs in MP3 or preferably view performance videos. I tend to prefer live performances by artists because they aren't "over-processed" or "over-produced". And it's a fuller experience of the artist than just hearing their voices - which, due to the processing, half the time don't even sound like their "real" voices. As for "stuff somebody else told you was good", I believe a recent study indicated that popular consensus of what is "good" constituted a strong influence on music preferences of most people. Big surprise. Few people think for themselves.
I wrote:"classic albums are classic because of the total effect of the songs working together, not the least of which is the actual running order of the Richard wrote: That might apply to Blue Oyster Cult or The Who, who actually made albums that told stories. But for most artists, they simply don't do that. my reply: "sgt. pepper," "pet sounds," "revolver" all the classic artists did that....
Five great albums I enjoyed that haven't been mentioned here yet: The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
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Heads in the Sand
No St. Vincent?
Posted by rachel | December 27, 2007 12:19 PM