Music | staires

I’m late. I’m so very late, but there is reason for it: 2007 was an amazing, incredible, utterly stupendous year for music. I don’t think I have been so impressed by a year since, well, I’m not sure. I thought it was 2004, but maybe it was 2005. I don’t know! If you’re curious, here’s links to my “Best of” from previous years: Best of 2004, Best of 2005, Best of 2006.

For those who have been following me for a while, you know that my “Best of” lists aren’t really ever a limited list. This year will probably be no different. (Don’t you just love how I don’t even know what I am going to write before I write it?) Let me say a few things first however:

This last year, like I said above, has been simply incredible. Not only did I get releases from almost every band that I love and adore, but I discovered a bunch of new bands that are equally incredible. My taste in music has been shaped and changed and I’ve got to say a lot of this was due to OiNK, oh dearly departed OiNK, I will never forget you for probably being responsible for giving me the best year in music I will ever experience. The loss of OiNK will be felt by me for years to come, and I will probably never listen to music the same way ever again. Thank you, OiNK, for exposing me to so much new music in such a short amount of time. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Without further ado, in order of greatest first…

The National - Boxer
The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

I can’t pick a number one out of these three. I just can’t. It’s not possible this year, and I’m a little surprised I don’t throw the Arcade Fire up into this list. I will say that it makes sense however, because all three of these have something in common: they are albums by artists I already love deeply (even if The National I only love for their previous release) that show the artists re-inventing themselves in some way or breaking out of their pre-existing conventions.

The National do something somewhat miraculous: they take their sad, comfortable songs about dying relationships and stagnant life, soften them, place them on a pillow, slide them under a piano, and place the whole thing under a comforter on a rainy winter day. Even though I tried right there, there is no easy way to describe the feeling of this album. Their prior release, Alligator, was comfortable with random bursts of frantic noise, and those moments are almost entirely lacking from Boxer, and thank goodness. As an album, there is none more consistently lovely to emerge from 2007.

After the admittedly over-produced and somewhat excessive Together We’re Heavy, Tim DeLaughter and The Polyphonic Spree came back with something they hadn’t really done before: real songs, with actual subject matter outside of shiny happiness. I am a die-hard Polyphonic Spree fan. I’ve seen them five times, and two of them were this year, and each time I brought three other people with me. During the second show I went to, Tim DeLaughter came out into the audience and hugged me and when I think of that moment I still grin like a idiot. My somewhat manic fandom of the Spree is probably why this album isn’t a clear #1: while I think it is a step in the right direction, I still prefer Together We’re Heavy. That shiny happy excess is what I fell in love with, and while The Fragile Army is a leaner, tighter, less excessive showing from them, they’re not quite the same band I fell in love with. However, if you’re looking to listen to an album by them for the first time, there is none better than this. It is relevant, politically, and the songs are catchy.

Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, nearly lost me as a fan with With Teeth. His songwriting was no longer relevant to me and even if it was, it was lost under a somewhat minimalistic and entirely electronic wave of music. Year Zero, however, had me hooked even before it came out. It might seem gimmicky and incomplete in retrospect, but the Year Zero ARG was a stroke of genius on behalf of Reznor. Perhaps he knew that no one would take his new direction seriously unless he explained it to people before hand, but I know from my own experience with exposing people to this album: Year Zero is genius. Not only does he combine his musical trademarks of the past with the new direction present on With Teeth, but he is no longer writing songs about addiction, depression, and suicide. This album is political to the hilt, casting an eye to a dystopic future under the Bush Administration where freedom of speech has been entirely obliterated and the masses of the world are rendered passive by a chemical in the drinking water. Admittedly, you wouldn’t understand any of this if it wasn’t for the ARG, but it is a testament to Reznor’s songwriting that the songs are still emotive and almost none of them fall flat without the support of the backstory. To me, Year Zero is a relief. It means that an artist I grew up listening to is not a has-been, and leaves me looking forward to what is to come.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

I discovered Funeral long after I wrote my Best of 2004. It is one of my biggest regrets, because I no longer listen to a lot of the albums I wrote about that year but Funeral still gets listened to today. I hate to jump on the Arcade Fire bandwagon, because they are a severely popular artist and I am a pretentious fuck who doesn’t like to admit to being a fan of something popular, but make no mistake: Arcade Fire make amazing music that everyone, seriously, everyone, should listen to.

Neon Bible is no different. In many ways it is a better album than Funeral. It is consistent, it is lovely, it is brooding. I am not sure who, but one of the members said that, “Neon Bible is like standing on the beach at night,” and there is no better way to describe it. While listening, you can easily close your eyes and see the waves crashing on the shore, the cold wind cutting through your hair and raising goosebumps on your arms, and by the time you reach No Cars Go, you can feel the arms of your love come in around you and hold you close.

Take that Pitchfork! I can write more pretentiously about the Arcade Fire than any of you fuckers.

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

Beirut caught my attention with the Lon Gisland EP. Unfortunately for Mr. Condon, it did not hold my attention. For containing only 3 real songs, it was surprising to me how annoying they all got after repeated listens. Fortunately for Mr. Condon, The Flying Club Cup does not suffer from this. However, it does suffer from something that I think has caused it to be overlooked by pretty much every music critic there is: it will put you to sleep if you don’t attentively listen to it. In fact, if I were to order this list by what album will most likely end up on your “going to sleep” playlist, this would be number 1. Furthermore, it would also destroy everything else in that playlist.

However, it would be foolish to say that this is not a beautiful album. A few of the songs have made it into my iPod’s rotation and rarely get skipped. In The Mausoleum sounds like Peanuts, jovial and fun. Cliquot’s lyrics are memorable and fun to sing along with, and is quite possibly the best track on the album, which is unfortunate for Condon as it is the one track he doesn’t sing on. Nantes is one of my favorites to bounce around to, albeit slowly. The Flying Club Cup, as an album, is definitely a keeper, even if you only listen to it to fall asleep.

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

This album took me by surprise. I don’t mean to sound close-minded, bigoted, or ignorant when I say: this is some of the gayest music I have ever listened to. I’ll admit, I was more impressed by it when I had no idea that every song is built around samples from classical pieces of music I’d never heard before. Even if you take away the sheer excessive beauty of the music, there is still his songwriting, which is clever, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but all around excellent on every track.

However, if you’re close-minded to excessively swelling strings, lyrics that border on bubblegum pop, and, I hate to say this again, music that just sounds blatantly homosexual, then you probably won’t like Night Falls Over Kortedala. You’d be a fool not to try to listen to his prior works, because songs like Black Cab and Maple Leaves are classics of songwriting and it’s sad to say, Night Falls doesn’t contain any songs that are quite as good as those two.

Menomena - Friend & Foe

I barely remember this album, and that’s unfortunate because it contains songs that have carried me throughout the whole year. The Pelican, Wet and Rusting, Air Raid, and Ghostship have been a part of my iPod’s rotation for nearly a year now and they have never been skipped. I am reasonably certain those four songs will always be a part of my rotation, and I vaguely remember the whole album being nearly as good as them. Friend & Foe’s music nearly defies description, Menomena is simply weird, but underneath the weirdness are memorable songs with lyrics that might be meaningless and nearly impossible to sing along with, but are catchy and memorable.

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

Mysterious Production of Eggs got Andrew Bird noticed within the pretentious indie scene that I begrudgingly call home, and much like what happened to Beirut, his album from this year was pretty much exclusively ignored and damned with faint praise. Why? I don’t know. In many ways Armchair Apocrypha is a better album than Mysterious Production, though I guess I’d be hard pressed to say why. I’ll admit that it is much of the same, and as far as individual songs go, it is lacking, but as an album it is consistent and memorable and, though some might argue with me, the songwriting is actually decipherable on occasion.

Blonde Redhead - 23

This kicks off the section of this “best of” that dives into albums that are on the list only because they contain great songs. As an album, 23 isn’t very memorable. Song-wise, however, there are some splendid tracks. Spring and By Summer Fall is definitely one of my favorite songs from this year. Publisher, and Heroine are fantastic as well.

The Pirate Ship Quintet - Self-titled EP

I don’t like post-rock. I don’t think I ever will. I think most of it are just musicians getting together and jerking-off into each other’s hair with their instruments. Maybe it’s just that I can’t understand music that doesn’t contain vocals and lyrics, of any kind. There is something about The Pirate Ship Quintet’s EP that speaks to me. There is something dramatic and epic about it, while also being subdued. There is little else I can say in support of it.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

Two great songs, Get Lost and the title track, The Magic Position, are the only reasons this is on the list. Again, like with Jens Lekman, this is some of the gayest music I have ever listened to, but if you’re willing, like I am, to give yourself over to the sheer excessive happiness of it, there is a lot to like. When you couple it with the fact that Patrick Wolf himself is actually playing all the instruments you hear in every song, it becomes impressive and, to me, that makes it more listenable.

The Broken West - I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On

This is where my list starts to really dwindle. The Broken West’s debut impressed me and there are a few songs that have made it into my rotation. They’re one of those bands that crafts pure guitar based pop songs and this is significant because I generally don’t like bands like this. However there is something that feels honest about The Broken West, as if they couldn’t be any band but the one they are, and I appreciate that and that is enough to make them somewhat significant in my eyes.

Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse

Sarah exposed me to this band through the song In Our Talons, which continues to be one of my favorite songs from 2007. Bur Oak is the second song off this album that is memorable. If you’re a fan of tranquil folky acoustic guitar indie music, this album might be for you. Much like Beirut’s album from this year, it suffers somewhat from being able to put you to sleep.

Alaska in Winter - Dance Party in the Balkans

I’m sure most people who have any idea what this is only know of it because Zack Condon of Beirut guests on it. When and where is somewhat beyond me, but this is an interesting album because it is titled exactly what it sounds like. This is indeed good dance party music, but only if you think your kind of dance party would be held up in the hills in some remote part of some remote eastern European country. There are fat beats, and even fatter accordion parts.

Christine Fellows - Nevertheless

As someone new and under-qualified in his fandom of Christine Fellows, there is little I can say about this album. One thing I can say for certain, however, is that it was a very poor decision on her part to make this a semi-concept album about an old lady and then choose to sing it in a very small and feeble voice. A lot of Fellow’s goodness from her prior albums comes from the fact that her voice is unique and rich in subtle ways. Unfortunately, her vocals on this album are meek and, to quote Sarah who introduced me to Fellows this year, she sounds something like a cartoon character. It’s sad, because a few of these songs, notably the title track and The Spinster’s Almanac, are actually fantastic but her vocals cast a somewhat annoying light over them.

The Jealous Girlfriends - Self-titled

This is album number two from this year that is distinctive in that it is not actually a good album but a somewhat decent collection of tracks. In this case, it’s the second half of the album that truly shines. Organs on the Kitchen Floor, How Now, and Something in the Water are some of the best tracks from this year, and it’s unfortunate that the rest of the album is almost entirely forgettable.

Jesca Hoop - Kismet

And hanging onto the very bottom of the list is Jesca Hoop, who only gets here because I saw her open live for The Polyphonic Spree and she was incredibly sexy. Yes, her album gets noted by me merely because her live performance was somewhat mesmerizing. She’s not even particularly attractive, she’s a little too thin for my tastes, as she looks somewhat like a heroin addict. While she’s singing however, and my God does she have a fantastic voice that her album doesn’t even do justice to, she sways side to side, gyrates, and practically fucks you from all the way up on stage. Tom Waits said some confusing shit about her music being “like swimming in a lake at night,” which, unlike in the case of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, is utter bullshit. Her music is actually fairly typical and jumps across the board from folky displays of vocal beauty to hip-hop inspired crap about parties, but her showmanship is really second to none and I can’t fully explain why.

Things That Should Be Mentioned

Song: Ed is a Portal, by Akron/Family

Off their album from this year, Love is Simple, Ed is a Portal is, hands down, the best song of 2007, if not of all time. I know, I know, you’re saying: Really, Brad? The best song of all time! I’ve got to say, yes, yes it is. Admittedly the lyrics are total gibberish, apparently torn out of some weird email the band was sent by a friend, but that doesn’t change the fact that this song defines everything I love about music. As such, it is almost indescribable. It is simply a fun song to listen to, and while I don’t enjoy the band very much, as a song it has almost no equal. If you listen to one piece of music to come out of 2007, it should be Ed is a Portal.

Compilation: Palms & Runes, Tarot & Tea: A Michael Penn Collection

Michael Penn is easily one of my favorite artists. Some people can’t stand him. I’ve come across people using him to define everything that is wrong with adult contemporary pop music, but I adore him. He writes music that, on occasion, almost entirely apes The Beatles, or The Byrds, or, well, really, anyone. Michael Penn’s music could be written by anyone, probably, but he makes it his own and if you remember No Myth from the late 80’s and what to see what he’s been up to since, or enjoy Jon Brion (who I consider Penn’s other half), then there is no better place to start than Palms & Runes, Tarot & Tea. There are few, if any, signature tracks missing from this collection.

Song: Don’t Make Me A Target, by Spoon

I’m pretty much alone in this, but Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga disappointed me entirely. I only really liked Gimme Fiction, that album has a great mood that is consistent throughout and some really unorthodox songwriting. The rest of Spoon’s work has never appealed to me, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is much the same. However, the opening track, Don’t Make Me A Target, is almost catchy to the point of nausea. The rest of the album, including The Underdog, can go suck a big shitty pop music hook-based songwriting dick, but Don’t Make Me A Target will be listened to, by me, for a long time to come.

Album: Tomahawk - Anonymous

Mike Patton is a genius. There is no arguing it. The scope of his work is staggering, and there is no place this is more apparent than on this album. Tomahawk, who on their prior album crafted some really heavy face-pounding rock, decide that instead of doing much of the same, craft an album “inspired by” Native American music. It sounds like it, and that’s all I can really say about it. Is it listenable? Yes. Is it memorable? Somewhat. Does it succeed at what it sets out to do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it actually good? Well, I don’t know, but it deserves mentioning.

Albums That Disappointed Me Enough To Tear Apart Here

St. Vincent - Marry Me

There was a time that I thought St. Vincent’s debut album would be somewhere in the top 5 of albums from 2007. That time passed, and long ago. Initially I was deeply in love with this album, St. Vincent impressed me with her good looks, smooth voice, and quirky song stylings. Then I saw some pictures of her where she looked meek and somewhat awkward, which wasn’t a big deal. I mean, I like a lot of artists who are genuinely ugly people. Then I heard some recordings of her live and discovered that she can’t actually sing despite what a lot of people say. On top of that, when she’s by herself she’s only got a guitar and songs that sound amazing, layered, and richly textured end up sounding flat and weird. Admittedly I haven’t seen her live, in person, so maybe I am being unfair but this last point is what kills her for me: her songs are meaningless bullshit. Underneath all the nifty sounds and instruments and vocal effects, her actual songwriting is just nonsensical crap. There isn’t a song on the album, with the exception of the title track, that actually means anything. If you can tell me what the lyrics to Jesus Saves, I Spend mean then I will give you eight thousand dollars. Marry Me is full of a lot of really pretty sounding songs, but when you really get down to it, they are as empty as the reasoning for her moniker.

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris

Lullabies to Paralyze was a surprising album. I didn’t expect Homme to be able to make a decent album without his Oliveri counter-part, but he did, and it was good. Unfortunately it was only a matter of time before shittiness caught up with Josh Homme and Era Vulgaris is that album. I only listened to it once, which was enough to decide that I didn’t like it, but not enough to be able to tell you why. In short, I was disappointed, and didn’t want to tarnish my opinion of Queens’ prior works by repeated listens of this album.

Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight

I’m reasonably certain that Blake Sennett was killed by Jenny Lewis and replaced with a soulless robot programmed to do her bidding. This album is fucking awful, and is a clear example of what happens when you’re a good band that is crushed under the weight of some crazy self-centered bitch high on the success of her shitty solo album. I don’t know any of this as fact, but if you listen to Under the Blacklight, it seems clear to me that something went horribly wrong inside of Rilo Kiley once Jenny Lewis became popular as a solo artist.

Type O Negative - Dead Again

I’ve already covered this, so just click here to read a very lengthy rant about why this album is the definition of failure.

Stay tuned for the sequel to this post: The Best Songs of 2007! Yay!

Lyrics to Easy Mark, by Mass Solo Revolt

My Ten Favorite Songs

Music: 2007 In Review

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