We Asked a Bunch of People what music they liked in 2007 and here is what they said
NadaMucho.com Presents: 2007 Year-in-Review
What Other People Thought
Since we are too lazy and incompetent to create a collective “best of” for 2007, we decided to just augment A-Law’s keen feature with a poorly-executed summary of what some friends, acquaintances and people we don’t know thought.
Kwab Copeland, Booker, Jules Mae Saloon
- The Beltholes – For Whom The Beltholes
- Jesse Sykes -–Like, Love, Lust….
- Soulsavers – It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land
- The Cops – Free Electricity
- The Trucks – The Trucks (2006)
Andrew Harms, DJ, KNDD 107.7 “The End”
- The Cave Singers – Invitation Songs
- To The Waves – To The Waves
- Grand Archives – Grand Archives EP
- Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
- The National – Boxer
- Thurston Moore – Tree’s Outside the Academy
- White Stripes – Icky Thump
- Editors – An End Has a Start
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
Dave Gowans, Mint Records
- 10) Blonde Redhead – 21
- 9) Jose Gonzalez – In Our Nature
- 8) Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
- 7) The Sadies – New Seasons
- 6) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – 100 Days 100 Nights
- 5) Thurston Moore – Trees Outside the Academy
- 4) Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline
- 3) Fiery Furnaces – Widow City
- 2) Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis
- 1) The National – Boxer
Andrew Raymond, Mars Bar Sound Guy
- Celebration – The Modern Tribe
- Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
- Blicky – Posthumous
- Justice – (cross)
- Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
- Battles – Mirrored
Alicia Blake, Make Believe Promotions
- Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
- Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- The National – Boxer
- Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
- Jason Webley – Cost of Living
- Marissa Nadler – Songs III: Bird on the Water
- White Chalk
- Menomena – Friend and Foe
- Health – Health
Not asked: Album I’m most looking forward to in 2008 – Fleet Foxes!
Robin Pecknold, Fleet Foxes
10 Favorite Records I heard for the first time in 2007 in no order….
Panda Bear – Person Pitch
This record blew my mind – it has the childlike wonder of the Animal Collective records but is somehow more of a blockbuster. Lennox is a weirdo pop shaman. Folks say this sounds like the Beach Boys but I don’t really hear it that way. I guess he kind of sings like Mike Love, but this record sounds more like old hymnals or African music or Lord Kitchener or something. Insane and rad and a total surprise.
Townes Van Zandt – Our Mother the Mountain
I came late to this guy. I had heard “Waiting Around to Die” and “Be Here to Love Me,” but it wasn’t till my friend J. Tillman lent me the Heartworn Highways documentary about “outlaw country” that I really started digging in. I can’t believe the voice, the sad life story, the lyrics and the songs. This particular record I picked up in Olympia on my way home from the rainforest on the peninsula and it was the perfect way to put that trip to bed.
The Cave Singers – Invitation Songs
The more I listen to this record the more I love it and I’m so stoked these gents are getting as much love as they are. It’s one of the best live shows in the world and while the pure ominous immensity of their live show is impossible to replicate on record (ask any record producer), the songs come across great and Pete’s voice is such a blessing.
Karen Dalton – In My Own Time
It was probably January of this year I picked this record up and there are three songs on there that blow my brains out: “Something On Your Mind,” “Katie Cruel,” and “Are You Leaving For the Country.” Woahhhhhhhhhhh. Honestly if I were you I would just download those three jams off iTunes because the rest of the record is kind of plodding weirdo session dude covers.
Alan Stivell – The Renaissance of the Celtic Harp
The funny thing about 1970’s “world music” or vaguely otherworldly / spacey / beautiful instrumental records is that, no matter how cool they are, it’s really just New Age music without the synth effects and wind chimes and Mystic Book Store connotations. This record falls into that camp; there isn’t that much human voice and it’s really just long strings of harp chords and trills that make you feel like you’re watching Lawrence of Arabia or something. I am a total proponent of escapist music and this is a good place to escape to – just put it on and someone’s feeding you grapes on the top of a pyramid.
Trees – On the Shore / Garden of Jane Delawney
One of those 70s straight-up ENGLISH FOLK bands with an amazing female singer. It’s all medieval balladry-core which gets me all hot and bothered every time. With a lot of these 70s EngFolk (my abbrev. natch) bands like Steeleye Span or Folkal Point or whatevs, they don’t really have any good songs, just a cool vibe, so Trees stood out as having not only the whole Renaissance Faire thing down but also a pretty unimpeachable songwriting thing going on. RIYL Magick.
The Thieves of Kailua
Jason Holstrom from United States of Electronica pulled a rabbit out of his hat with this one. Pure magic from start to finish, it’s this Hawaiian travelogue about a trip he took years ago with his then-girlfriend-now-wife-now-cutest-couple-that-makes-you-want-to-be-sick. He’s got a hundred fabulous melodies stuffed in the thing, so many its almost greedy and gluttonous. The few shows they played were completely revelatory and I wish they would do more, but Jason is busy working on my favorite record of 2008 and I haven’t even heard it yet – the new Wonderful record.
The New Song that Joanna Newsom Played at Benaroya Hall
Sure, this isn’t an album, but I would be remiss if I didn’t include it. I heard “Milk-Eyed Mender” when it came out and didn’t totally get it. I thought it was a put on. I didn’t buy the singing or the words and I felt like there was a glut of “Psych-folk” (whatever the hell that means) coming out at that time that was really lazy and boring – from bands more into their kwaaaazy record covers then their jams. So I let it pass me by. Once Ys came out I took that record with me on a trip and played the whole thing front to back and ended up feeling like I’d been baptized. She is the real deal with a more evolved brain than most of us plebes and so gifted and noteworthy she deserves a Nobel prize, or at least some kind of Queendom. Seeing her play that whole record at Benaroya was intense, thousands of folks giving a standing ovation to a song with the lyric “The meteorites just what causes the light and the meteors how it’s perceived / and the meteoroids a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet and offering to thee” made my heart grow three sizes. And her new song made me realize that, if called upon, I would do anything for this personv-vrun to the ends of the earth, gather phoenix feathers etc, take a pike through the heart. I’m a Joanna acolyte.
The Bees – Octopus
Major labels suck and don’t know how to sell good music. This record is totally insane, the best recorded sounds of 2007 (hexa mythic drum sounds and reverbs, t’will be sprake of in legends), rad harmonies, awesome soul-funk jams with a touch of Bill Withers / old reggae / island feelings / grateful ded takin-it-easyness / Byrdsy guitars. So rad. That this band totally flopped in the states is a travesty. Everyone says its derivative, but so is everything else. Amy Winehouse is derivative and so is Sharon Jones and people slobber all over that stuff but give the Bees the cold shoulder when they are doing the same thing just as well. Everyone should still be distinctive in their own way even if mining a tapped stylistic shaft, but I think the Bees are, so it’s weird they got snubbed. Oh well, I guess I’ll go listen to LCD Soundsystem.
Tiny Vipers – Hands Across the Void
I love this record and everything Jesy does. Way to go Sub Pop.
Colin Johnson, Booker, Nectar, DJ, Mercir
- 10) Arthur & Yu – In Camera
- 9) Caribou – Andorra
- 8) Klaxons – Myths of The Near Future
- 7) Panda Bear – Person Pitch
- 6) Justice – Cross
- 5) Modeselektor – Happy Birthday
- 4) LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
- 3) Peter Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
- 2) M.I.A. – Kala
- 1) Radiohead – In Rainbows
Almost made the cut: Burial, Tunng, Of Montreal, The Shins, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ed Banger Recs Vol 1&2.
And just for the hell of it…..
Top 5 Albums I purchased this year, released a previous year:
- Iggy Pop – The Idiot (1977)
- The Zombies – Odyssey & Oracle (1969)
- Talking Heads – Remain In Light (1980)
- Jose Gonzalez – Veneer (2006)
- Miles Davis – On The Corner (1972)
Daniel House, Indie Rock Legend
“OK, so I just pulled this off without actually looking at my CD shelves, so there’s a good chance that I’m forgetting records that *should* be on the list…it’s always hard to remember all the records from the previous 12 months…and then there are all the ones that I probably should have heard but for whatever reason didn’t.”
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – In Glorious Times
- Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
- These Arms Are Snakes – Easter
- Sage Francis – Sage Francis
- Iron And Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
- Richard Thompson – Sweet Warrior
- Blonde Redhead – 23
- Thee More Shallows – Book of Bad Breaks
- Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights
Runners-up:
- Liars – Liars
- Sea Wolf – Leaves In The River
- Menomena – Friend And Foe
- Amnesty – Free-Your-Mind: The 700 West Sessions
Nick Brown, Reclusive Scenester
- Menomena – Friend and Foe
- Dyme Def – Space Music
- Ms. Led – Shake Yourself Awake
- Band Of Horses – Cease to Begin
- Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
- Peter, Bjorn, and John – Writers Block
- King Khan and the Shrines – What Is???
- The Cave Singers – Invitation Songs
- Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild Soundtrack
- Les Savy Fav – Lets Stay Friends
Matt Brown, Ruler of All Things Holy
The Cops (Seattle, WA) – Free Electricity
I didn’t buy this CD until November, but I’d been looking forward to it all year. I was not disappointed with the final product.
Prize Country (Portland, OR) – Lottery of Recognition
One of the highlights of my month-long birthday celebration of 2006 was seeing these guys for the first time. Since then I’ve seen them several times in Portland and Seattle, and this CD helps bridge the gap between the shows. It’s a savage and very smart hard rock album.
Ms. Led (Seattle, WA) – Shake Yourself Awake
I have never felt more personally connected to an album in my life, on several levels. There’s not enough room to go into it here, but if I ever write one of those 33 1/3 books… um, okay, I’d actually want to write about Badmotorfinger, but there’s nobody better qualified to write the story of Shake Yourself Awake outside of Ms. Led themselves. At least I know all the right people to interview.
Mos Generator (Port Orchard, WA) – Songs For Future Gods
This album contains new recordings of previously released material… and it will knock your dick in the dirt. Can we stop calling this stuff “stoner rock” yet? These songs have energy beyond all the tired old labels – they’re the logical extension of where hard rock was going before poodle-haired power ballad posers threw it off course and into the hands of fratboy rappers and Cookie Monster soundalikes.
H Is For Hellgate (Seattle, WA) – H Is For Hellgate
“Soundtrack To The Summer”. “The Next 50 Winters”. “Scars Like Stars”. I could explain my love for this album track by track, but why don’t you just find a copy?
Crowded House (Te Awamutu, NZ) – Time On Earth
One of my top two favorite bands of all time got back together and toured this year. I saw them twice in 2007, and in between the songs that are scratched into my heart with a record needle dipped in nostalgia’s unhealed wounds, they played stuff from this CD. Three or four great Neil Finn songs are worth a boxed set of a lesser songwriter’s work.
…music video? (Tucson, AZ) – Now That My TV Has Wings, I’ll Never Be Lonely
The Paul Jenkins solo period is documented here, along with leftovers from the classic (and now re-formed) duo with Wes McCanse. Sneezy from Hopscotch Boys and I stood outside the Blue Moon one night and discussed our mutual admiration for “The Day I Exploded” at great length. It’s a brilliant fucking song, and this is the brilliant fucking album you’ll find it on.
The Shins (Portland, OR) –Wincing The Night Away
Yeah. The Shins just bumped These Arms Are Snakes off of my list at the last minute. I simply cannot stop listening to these guys, after years of resisting several friends’ efforts to assimilate me into the cult of James Mercer. I blame that surprisingly mind-blowing set they played at Bumbershoot more than anything else… the same can be said for Menomena, but I haven’t bought their record yet.
Maktub (Seattle, WA) – Start It Over
I ponied up half a C-note to join the MARC-7 club, mostly so I could bitch if my investment failed. Speaking as co-executive producer (along with 199 other fans of the band), it’s got as many good songs as the Crowded House disc and is far more palatable to me than the last Maktub album.
This is the number one chill-out-on-the-bus-home-after-work album for me this year, along with Al Green’s Greatest Hits and Lewis Taylor’s Lost Album. I’m missing some other great New Year’s shows to see Maktub at the Showbox, but they ALWAYS kick my ass live, and that’s the point.
The Endeavors (Seattle, WA) – The Endeavors EP
See that woman in the lower right corner of my top MySpace friends? That’s where she stays as long as I have one of these pages, and every year that she puts out a CD – as long as it doesn’t totally make me projectile vomit – it’s gonna make my top 10 list.
Christian Bland, The Black Angels
- 5) Vietnam – Vietnam
- 4) The Warlocks – Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
- 3) A Place to Bury Strangers
- 2) Eye Mind (the psychedelic history of the 13th Floor Elevators written by Paul Drummond)
- 1) The Wooden Shjips
Runner up – Greg Ashley – Painted Gardens
Nabil Ayers, Co-Owner, Sonic Boom Record Stores
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Is Is
- Studio – West Coast
- Figurines – When The Deer Wore Blue
- Menomena – Friend & Foe
- Schoolyard Heroes – Abominations
Josh Lovseth, Sound on the Sound
- 25) Thunderbird Motel
- 24) Presidents of the United States of America
- 23) The Cops
- 22) Pleasureboaters
- 21) Whalebones
- 20) The Resets
- 19) Spanish for 100
- 18) H is for Hellgate
- 17) Kultur Shock
- 16) Bloodhag
- 15) The Lonely H
- 14) Young Sportsmen
- 13) The Hopscotch Boys
- 12) Feral Children
- 11) Grand Archives
- 10) Schoolyard Heroes
- 9) Das Llamas
- 8) The Hands
- 7) Ms Led
- 6) Siberian
- 5) The Lashes
- 4) Ice Age Cobra
- 3) The Blakes
- 2) Thee Emergency
- 1) The Whore Moans
Here’s what some other folks said:
Metacritic does the best job consolidating the major media’s best of lists. The folks at Three Imaginary Girls do the best job with a local music list.