That Wonderful Year in Music... 2007

I look back at 2007 as a year of questions. It was a year where people asked queries like, "is 'John from Cincinnati' supposed to make any sense?" "who will be our next president, Rudy Giuliani or Hillary Clinton?" and "hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?"

In all seriousness, however my '07 was defined by hanging out in the basement of Fell Hall at Illinois State University.  It was my senior year, an as a member of the Z106 rock music staff I listened to and rated new releases for air.  I was also a DJ for three semesters, so I enjoyed this task both ways.  I did an internship in the station that summer, so during my down time I had unprecedented access to free CDs, resulting in an equally unparalled time of new musical knowledge. I graduated that December thinking, "damn, these last 12 months were a lot of fun." Suffice to say, listening to the following albums and songs made for a great trip down Memory Lane.

I wrote out a year-end list in 2007, and even though I still agree with most of my picks I did overlook a few albums that I hadn't heard in full at that point (*cough* In Rainbows *cough* Sound of Silver) and nearly overrated others (in hindsight, Mark Ronson's covers disc Version seems more "fun" than bold or substantial).  It was only my second stab at blogging about music, and these types of things do benefit from hindsight. I will concur with myself insofar that '07 was a bountiful year for indie-rock and electronica.  Five years is my self-imposed minimum of determining whether a particular song or album holds up, so what remains essential a half-decade on?

(parentheses note previous ranking)


BEST ALBUMS
1. In Rainbows, Radiohead. By default, this is the band's most romantic album. That is not to say that Thom Yorke and the boys have cheered up; buzzwords like "comatose," "nightmare," and "trapped" are sprinkled all over the disc. On their first self-released effort after bolting Capitol/EMI, Radiohead is more focused upon their introversion than ever, but instead of fearing society and technology the angst aims eerily inward.  For all the electronic abstraction, they just want to be loved.
2. Neon Bible, Arcade Fire (1). Trading sepia tones and monochrome for brighter colors --hence the title-- we find the Montreal septet beyond mourning their youth and having a stiff drink after a long day's work. Immediately dismissed by some as Funeral Part 2, the Fire's sophomore effort holds up as a distinctively wrecked and defiant effort of its own valor.
3. Sky Blue Sky, Wilco (2). As much as I adored Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it wasn't until Sky that I truly "got" Wilco. Returning to their alt-country roots while still keeping one foot in experimental pop, their sixth album evokes Neil Young circa Harvest, the end result sometimes sounding like '70s soft rock. Newcomers Pat Sansone and Nels Cline make the disc, their organ and guitar work respectively meshing well with Jeff Tweedy's yearning harmonies.
4. Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
5. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Of Montreal
6. Wincing the Night Away, The Shins (3)
7. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon (5)
8. Icky Thump, The White Stripes
9. Boxer, The National (11)
10. Back to Black, Amy Winehouse (10). Yes, go ahead and judge. Winehouse spent the last four-plus years of her life in the tabloids, a shambolic train wreck of a woman doomed to an early grave by her impulses and narcissism. What she left behind, however was a very promising singing career, demonstrated to full effect on Black. It was her second full-length, her commercial breakthrough, and ultimately her last completed statement as an artist. "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good" are great songs, with or without the baggage of historical irony.

11. Because of the Night, Kings of Leon
12. Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective
13. The Reminder, Feist (4)
14. Graduation, Kanye West (8)
15. Favourite Worst Nightmare, Arctic Monkeys. What sophomore jinx? It's not my favorite Monkeys album --see my 2006 list-- but it contains two of their best songs ("Brianstorm" and "Fluorescent Adolescent"). If the big complaint about their debut was that they owed too much to the artists that influenced them, than Nightmare is the sound of a young band finding its voice.
16. Kala, M.I.A.
17. Challengers, The New Pornographers
18. The Cool, Lupe Fiasco
19. Attack Decay Sustain Release, Simian Mobile Disco
20. Widow City, The Fiery Furnaces (6). In some ways, the Friedberger siblings are like indie-rock's answer to Dim Sum: it's delicious if you love weird things, but only occasionally is it accessible to newbies. Their 2003 debut Gallowsbird's Bark is a decent starting point, but Widow City is an expert-level feast. The disc alternates from baroque pop to free jazz to proto-Metal, sometimes in the same song. If you get it, you'll love it.

BEST SINGLES
"Chelsea Dagger," The Fratellis
"Ruby," Kaiser Chiefs
"Silver Lining," Rilo Kiley
"Back to the 101," Albert Hammond Jr.
"Don't Make Me Wait," Locksley
"3's and 7's," Queens of the Stone Age
"Thrash Unreal," Against Me!
"Lake Michigan," Rogue Wave
"Hard Sun," Eddie Vedder
"Falling Slowly," Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

BEST VIDEOS
When I said 4 1/2 years ago that mash-up were in vogue and YouTube hasn't caught on to music videos yet... I guess I wasn't looking hard enough. I missed out on some awesome clips. Once again, the benefit of hindsight.

1. "1234," Feist. This well-choreographed, multi-hued clip actually did air on TV... in a 30-second iPod commercial. That was enough to turn "1234" into a left-field hit.
2. "What's a Girl To Do," Bat For Lashes. If you don't mind the "Donnie Darko" allusions, this video is a perfect match-up of visual and audio atmosphere.
3. "Can't Tell Me Nothin'" (Version 2), Kanye West. A pre-"Hangover" Zach Galifianakis and troubadour Will Oldman chill out at Zach's North Carolina farm in this dance floor hit expressing Yeezy's ambivalance to the hip-hop lifestyle.
4. "Atlas," Battles. Their 2007 release was titled Mirrored. Therefore...
5. "The Underdog," Spoon. Inspired by "Russian Ark," this daring single-shot video depicts a typical, "humdrum" recording session with Britt Daniels and company.
6. "100 Days, 100 Nights," Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.
7. "Conquest," The White Stripes.
8. "Young Folks," Peter, Bjorn, & John.
9. "Peacebone," Animal Collective.
10. "Electric Feel," MGMT.

Honorable Mentions "Smile," Lily Allen; "Long Road to Ruin," Foo Fighters; "Phantom Limb," The Shins.

Your thoughts?

That Wonderful Year in Music... 2002

If 2001 as a year in music felt schizophrenic and unfocused, than 2002 was just as splintered and eclectic. The synthetic "boy band" sound that dominated most of my teens was finally dying out; it felt cool to play an instrument again. In an irony-free post-9/11 soceity, the goofy punk-pop stylings of Green Day, Blink-182, and The Offspring --nothing against any of them, of course-- was giving way to raw, typically serious acts like The White Stripes, The Vines, and The Hives. (Having a "The" in your band name was also in vogue.) After a prolonged battle between Courtney Love and the surviving members of Nirvana, their final single hit the airwaves eight years after it was recorded (see below). 2002 was a transitional year for other heroes of '90s grunge, an awkward 12-month span that included: the death of Layne Staley; former members of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine joining forces as Audioslave; the failure of Krist Novoselic's new project, Eyes Adrift; Dave Grohl's return to the drum set, courtesy of Queens of the Stone Age; Billy Corgan forming Zwan; and Pearl Jam quietly releasing a new studio album --on top of a gazillion "official bootleg" live discs-- as they fought to stay relevant.

My discovering The Strokes and The White Stripes in late '01 kindled my heretofore delayed interest in alternative rock; I was still a classic rock DJ at heart, but the indie/garage/DIY renaissance was enough to stop me from completely writing off "new" music. A tiny, now-defunct UHF channel in Chicago would similcast MTV2 --back when they still aired videos, of course-- half the day, so I would tape two-hour blocks of programming when I was at school. Quaint, eh? On a more personal level 2002 was a very eventful year, one that culminated with my braces being removed in early January, than my first (and so far only) cruise, my first alcoholic beverage (a banana daiquiri, don't judge), first kiss, the deaths of four relatives in a three-month span, the craziest baseball game I've ever seen*, being nominated for Homecoming court, and the long-delayed, long-awaited installation of internet in the Allard household. In short, 2002 was just as crazy and exciting for me as it was for music.

*Sorry to keep you hanging, but I'll give you all the details about that game on or about the 10-year anniversary in September.

BEST ALBUMS

1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco. Seeking a change of pace following the power-pop of 1999's Summerteeth, Wilco's fourth album now stands as an example of brilliance under duress. Lambasted by their former label as "not commercial enough" and devoid of a single, Foxtrot takes the sonic experimentation of Summerteeth several steps further, like a Midwestern answer to Radiohead's Kid A. The brains of the outfit, Jeff Tweedy writes lyrics both cruel and compelling, homespun yet articulate. One of the first albums to be extensively bootlegged online, the Foxtrot legend was already in place when it was finally released in April 2002.

2. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Flaming Lips. Both a concept album and a collection of songs with recurring themes, the often intergalactic Yoshimi does the undesirable task of following up The Soft Bulletin while holding its own and setting its own rules. Balancing spacey with somber, Fortune magazine (of all people) dubbed Yoshimi "a lush and haunting electric symphony." I can't argue with that.

3. A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay. At what point Chris Martin go from charismatic, workman-like rock pianist to electrical tape-wearing, Gwyneth Paltrow-impregnating rock god? Probably around the time Chris and the boys cut Rush of Blood, their staggering sophomore effort. Soft-rock at its least cloying, tracks like "In My Place," "Clocks," and "The Scientist" are straight-up earcandy.

4. Turn On the Bright Lights, Interpol

5. [ ] (a/k/a Parentheses), Sigur Ros

6. Songs for the Deaf, Queens of the Stone Age

7. Power in Numbers, Jurassic 5

8. O, Damien Rice

9. Up the Bracket, The Libertines

10. Sea Change, Beck. One of the very few alternative acts I paid attention to before my "awakening," I was one of many that initially couldn't make heads or tails out of Mr. Hansen's eighth album. Trading in his wacky, recondite sound for something more organic and melancholy Sea Change was, depending upon your first listen, either another wild, left-field turn by an artist you couldn't quite pin down or one dramatic reinvention too many. A decade later the former party has the edge; the lush songcraft overwhelmingly trumps any fan's expectations.

Honorable Mentions: Geogaddi, Boards of Canada; The Coral, The Coral; When I Was Cruel, Elvis Costello; Whip It On (EP), The Raveonettes; The Execution of All Things, Rilo Kiley; Kill the Moonlight, Spoon; Original Pirate Material, The Streets; Highly Evolved, The Vines.

BEST SINGLES

"Losing My Edge," LCD Soundsystem

"One By One," Foo Fighters

"Don't Know Why," Norah Jones

"California," Phantom Planet

"You Were Right," Badly Drawn Boy

"Cochise," Audioslave

"Diamonds and Guns," The Transplants

"Hands on the Bible," Local H

"City of Angels," The Distillers

"Son of Three," The Breeders

Best 1994 Single of 2002: "You Know You're Right," Nirvana. The first song recorded for what would've been their fourth studio album ended up being their last song as a band. After years of legal entanglements "Right" was finally released as a single that September, giving Nirvana fans some type of closure, yet leaving them wonder what might've been.

BEST VIDEOS

1. "Fell in Love with a Girl," The White Stripes. Director Michel Gondry's lengthy association with Jack White began with this all-time great clip, a stop-motion tour de force involving thousands upon thousands of Legos.

2. "Star Guitar," The Chemical Brothers. Another Gondry gem, "Star" is a continuous shot filmed from the window of a train, where somehow all the buildings and objects passing by are exactly in the time with The Brothers' 126 BPM dance track. Nothing short of a marvel.

3. "This Train Doesn't Stop There Anymore," Elton John. Justin Timberlake's first great performance --actor, singer, or otherwise-- was in this video, another continuous shot. One of Sir Elton's better late-period songs, JT plays his hero circa 1973, struggling to survive the rigors of fame. Also, look out for Paul Reubens as the Rocket Man's former manager, John Reid.

4. "The Middle," Jimmy Eat World.

5. "No One Knows," Queens of the Stone Age.

6. "We Are All Made of Stars," Moby.

7. "Rush Hour Soul," Supergrass.

8. "Someday," The Strokes.

9. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," Good Charlotte.

10. "Do You Realize?" The Flaming Lips.

Honorable Mentions: "The 15th," Fischerspooner; "Aerials," System of a Down; "Still Waiting," Sum 41.

Your thoughts?