Pazar 20 Oca 2008, 17:10
here's my month-overdue and (for some reason) heavily demanded hipster-prerequisite "best of" list for the music world or whatever in 2007 (phew).
favorite favorites have album links.
favorite albums
Akron/Family - Love is Simple
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Beirut - The Flying Cup Club
Castanets - In the Vines
Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Feist - The Reminder
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Low - Drums and Guns
Menomena - Friend & Foe
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
The National - Boxer
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
biggest disappointments
Air - Pocket Symphony
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
Caribou - Andorra
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Rogue Wave - Asleep at Heaven's Gate
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
happy discoveries from years past
Arizona - Welcome Back Dear Children (2006)
Hayden - Skyscraper National Park (2003)
Midlake - Bamnan and Slivercork (2005)
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (2006)
Mountains - Sewn (2006)
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon (2006)
Vetiver - To Find Me Gone (2006)
…still processing/haven't given enough attention to (yet)…
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
anything else that I may get shit for not including
some thoughts…
- The Mountains album Sewn was and is my favorite musical discovery of the past year. This album changed the way I listen to music, what I take away from it, and what it means to me. Maybe not for everyone, but I've found hints to some secret of the cosmos in the sounds of this album.
- On a similar note, I find myself gravitating more and more towards atmospheric, organic sounding musiks, and having a far greater understanding and appreciation for textures in sound. Not sure why this is… maybe it's because I'm becoming an old man, my ears are more experienced, whatever.
- I'm gonna have some hearing loss by the time I'm old. If I can notice it now, I'll be in trouble in forty years.
- I really enjoy artists who know when and how to use brass effectively. Beirut, Spoon, and Akron/Family, this means you.
- I was lucky enough to see some really awesome live music last year, with the highlights being Band of Horses in March at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, and Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Okkervil River, and Damien Jurado at NorthWest MusicFest in Portland, OR. Lytle gave me a number of weird looks for my 'Sweat of the Alps' hat, which I got for free off the old (now-defunct) Grandaddy website. He put on a good show, though.
- 2007 was a phenomenal year for music. Every year is a phenomenal year for music; something awesome is always happening somewhere. If you're unhappy with the music you've come across, then you're not looking hard enough.