Posts from top 10 records 2007

I hear that the hypemachine is working on something cool with year end top 10 lists. But it has to be a single post. So here is a single post of my top 10 (actually closer to 20) records of 2007 with an mp3 selection for each. This post shows off the awesomeness of the new Yahoo! player which I installed yesterday. If you click play next to any of these tracks you’ll launch a player that lets you listen to the entire list and you can fast forward through any you don’t like (but that’s not gonna happen!)

Number 1 – Because Of The Times – Kings Of Leon. Selected Track: Fans

Number 2 –  Hissing Fauna – Of Montreal. Selected Track: A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger

Number 3 – Night Falls Over Kortedala – Jens Lekman. Selected Track: Postcard To Nina

Number 4 – Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys. Selected Track: Fluorescent Adolescent

Number 5 –  Panic Prevention – Jamie T. Selected Track: Operation

Number 6 –  Neon Bible – Arcade Fire. Selected Track: Antichrist Television Blues

Number 7 – The Magic Position – Patrick Wolf. Selected Track: The Magic Position

Number 8 –  Our Ill Wills – Shout Out Louds. Selected Track: Hard Rain

Number 9 – Challengers – New Pornographers. Selected Track: Myriad Harbour

Number 10 – Nux Vomica – The Veils. Selected Track: Night Thoughts Of A Tired Surgeon

Honorable Mention – The Broken String – Bishop Allen. Selected Track: Rain

Actually, there are a bunch more honorable mentions, but I got tired of cut and pasting. If you want to see the rest of my honorable mentions and the entire set of top 10 records posts, here’s the entire list.

I wrote a long post extolling the virtues of my top pick, Because Of The Times, by Kings Of Leon, on the flight from Melbourne to Cairns, but its stuck on my laptop as there’s no Internet service here in Dunk Island.

But there’s good cell coverage so I am posting this from my blackberry.

Because Of The Times is the tird stellar record in a row from the best young american rock band. And I mean rock band. These Followhill kids (yes KOL is a family act) deliver the kind of roots based rock and roll that launched the art form back in the late 50s/early 60s. Their sound is a bit more modern, but they’ve got the basics down

Top tracks include On Call, Ragoo, Fans, and Arizona.

I wish I could post some music for you all to sample but you’ll just have to head over the the hype machine (hypem.com) and search for kings of leon and hit play and turn it up loud

Rock on.

I wrote a long post extolling the virtues of my top pick, Because Of The Times, by Kings Of Leon, on the flight from Melbourne to Cairns, but its stuck on my laptop as there’s no Internet service here in Dunk Island.

But there’s good cell coverage so I am posting this from my blackberry.

Because Of The Times is the third stellar record in a row from the best young american rock band. And I mean rock band. These Followhill kids (yes KOL is a family act) deliver the kind of roots based rock and roll that launched the art form back in the late 50s/early 60s. Their sound is a bit more modern, but they’ve got the basics down

Top tracks include On Call, Ragoo, Fans, and Arizona.

I wish I could post some music for you all to sample but you’ll just have to head over the the hype machine (hypem.com) and search for kings of leon and hit play and turn it up loud

Rock on.

When I first put pen to paper and listed my top 10 records of 2007, this record was in the bottom half of the list. But over the past couple weeks, as I have been listening almost exclusively to my top 10 list, I’ve moved this up, and up, and up. The reason is simple. Hissing Fauna is the most complete record on the list. It is a record that works best listened start to finish. Sure there are standout tracks, like Suffer For Fashion, She’s A Rejector, Faberge, Heimdalsgate, and several more. But when I listen to any of the tracks solo, I expect and want to hear the next track at the end of the song. That’s a record.

For those who don’t know, Of Montreal is based in Athens Georgia and is the handiwork of a talented musician named Kevin Barnes. He’s the front man for the band and he did all of the songwriting on this record. Maybe that’s why it flows so well from start to finish.

The music is neo-psychedelic pop. Think Beach Boys meet Sgt Pepper with a bit of George Clinton and techo thrown in for good measure.

Here’s one of my favorite tracks, called A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger

A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger – Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer

Every year it seems we find at least one new musical force that stays with us for years. One year it’s Josh Rouse, another year its Ben Kweller. This year it was Jens Lekman. I put a Jens track, The Opposite Of Hallelujah, on the post that kicked off this top 10 series and someone commented that it "just might be the gayest song I’ve ever heard in my life :)" Well that’s the thing with Jens, it’s an acquired taste. Like scotch, hip hop, uni, and other great things in life that I hated at first.

Jens Lekman is a crooner, but one who adds all kinds of cool samples, and the best quirky lyrics since Jonathan Richman. In fact, I think you might need to go through a Jonathan phase to truly appreciate Jens.

My friend Steve Greenberg turned me onto all sorts of great music when I met him in grad school. Steve went on to be one of the best new talent guys in the music business with his label, S-Curve Records. Steve’s got great taste in music. So when I was sitting in the subway one day with my headphones on laughing out loud to Jens’ Postcard To Nina, I just had to send it to Steve. He told me at our christmas party that it was his favorite single of the year. I knew Steve would love Jens as much as I do.

Jens is most compared to Jonathan Richman, Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, and Morrisey. Great company if you ask me. And this record, called Night Falls Over Kortedala, is the best thing he’s done so far. Although his prior record, Oh You’re So Silent Jens, is pretty great as well.

If you want to hear something new and old at the same time, that’s a bit cheesy and also a bit out there, get both records. You’ll either thing it’s the gayest thing ever or one of the best records of the year. And either one is cool with me.

We were watching the girls wait in line for the ferris wheel today at Luna Park and we heard the oh so familiar voice of Alex Turners sing, "you used to get it in your fishnets …" and Josh and I started singing along to our favourite song of 2007, Fluorescent Adolescent.

The Arctic Monkeys put out my top record of last year and they may well have put out my top record of this year as well. But after thinking about it, I decided that Favourite Worst Nightmare is number four. Why? Because there are three records I like more, of course.

Alex Turner’s going to be a crooner before his career is up and this record gives glimpses of it. The amazing last minute of Flourescent Adolescent, the singing he delivers on Only Ones Who Know, and If You Were There Beware, once the requisite Arctic Monkeys opening is finished.

This record rocks too. The opening number, Brianstorms, sets the pace and the first four songs pick right up from the debut record. But Fluorescent Adolescent marks the departure point and from there the record goes in several directions, all fantastic.

I know that there are many who think the Arctic Monkeys are a flash in the pan, including the band themselves – "in five years time, will it be who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?". But not me. I love this band and Alex Turner in particular. He’s the real deal, with his amazing songwriting, acid lyrics, and fantastic voice. In five years time, they’ll more likely have five top 10 records on this blog.

Do Me A Favour – Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

So much great music is coming from the UK these days, but the best new thing out of the UK this year was this record, Panic Prevention, from a young brit who calls himself Jamie T.

Corey, who I know from the UBO days, gave me this record early this year and it’s been a mainstay all year.

Josh and I dig this record big time. He likes the opening song, Bass Guitar. We’d get in the car, connect the iPod, and Josh would blast that song all summer long.

Like many debut records, there are so many great tracks on this record, including the single Sheila, the thumping bass line of Salvador, the two songs the Gotham Gal can take, Calm Down Dearest and So Lonely The Ballad, and my favorite, If You Got The Money. I also like Ike and Tina and Operation. Hell, all the tracks on this record are great.

The comparisons to Mike Skinner/The Streets is obvious, but Jamie T is something a bit different. The live performances I’ve seen on YouTube make him out to be more of a singer than a rapper.

If you want a record that will make you laugh, dance, and sing along, get this one. It’s a gem.

Operation – Jamie T – Panic Prevention

This record is at the top of most of the top 10 lists I’ve seen on the blogs this year and it is certainly at the top of many of my friends’ lists as well. Neon Bible is a great record and Arcade Fire is a great band.

My greatest musical regret of 2007 was missing the Arcade Fire shows at Judson Church at NYU this winter and their show at Radio City this spring. I also missed them at Randalls Island this fall. So I missed them three times this year. Maybe if I had seen them live, something I’ve been told is a transformative experience, this record would have been number one on my list as well. Seeing a band live often takes me back to a record for another run. Unfortunately, this record’s run lasted until the spring for me and then it petered away. Not true for any of the top five on my list.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that Neon Bible is missing the intensity of Funeral, Arcade Fire’s amazing debut record. There’s nothing on this record that can touch the ferocity of Rebellion, for example. Arcade Fire is headed into U2 territory, not Modest Mouse or Pixies territory. That’s good for them and their pocketbooks. But maybe not for my love of their music.

All that said, Neon Bible is a great record and deserves to be at the top of many best of 2007 lists. Just not mine.

Antichrist Television Blues – Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

I find my music in lot’s of places these days, but one of the best is in the comments to this blog. And that’s how I found out about Patrick Wolf. Josef left this comment to my post celebrating Ben Kweller’s prodigious songwriting talents:

I love Ben – been friends with him since he was 14.
I would also say Patrick Wolf if one of the greatest of his generation as well.

I know Josef has great taste in music, but I didn’t know he’s been friends with Ben since he was 14, and more importantly, I had never heard of Patrick Wolf until I read that comment.

RIght then and there I went to the Hypemachine and typed in Patrick Wolf. I was introduced to a song called The Magic Position that has become one of my favorite songs of the year. So I got the record of the same name and have been listening ever since.

The Magic Position is not a perfect record by any means. It has three or four tracks that I barely like. But for some reason I don’t skip them. I think it’s because the record flows so well. It has a mood which is delivered over the entire record and I enjoy the experience even though some of the songs don’t really grab me.

In addition to The Magic Position, there are several other standout tracks including Get Lost, Accident and Emergency, and The Stars. I think this guy has serious talent, kind of David Bowie-esque. I hope he continues to develop. He could be something really special.

The number five record of 2005 may have been the best record of 2005, that being Howl Howl Gaff Gaff by the Shout Out Louds. If our family has a house band, it’s this super cool band out of Stockholm, Sweden (actually it might be Belle and Sebastian now that I think about it some more). But regardless, we love the Shout Out Louds.

So when Our Ill Wills came out this spring, Jessica took one listen and reported that "it’s not anywhere near as good as Howl Howl". And upon first listen, I would agree. Fortunately, we didn’t listen to this record just once. We ended up listening to it all year.

And then Jess, Emily, and I went to see them at Bowery Ballroom which was a memorable night in and of itself.

Our Ill Wills is a great pop record and I suspect that in 2009, I might be saying that number 8 was too low as well.

Hard Rain – Shout Out Louds – Our Ill Wills