winters860
12-31-2007, 03:18 PM
Some of the best music I listened to in 2007 wasn't actually made this year, or even this decade. I've been contributing to the daily music threads for a while now, and I thought I'd give my friends at AK a list of my favorites that came out this year (not counting reissues and compilations). It's pretty predictable and doesn't include too many that should be real headscratchers. I'm simply not that hip. Just the same, lots of albums from old favorites won’t see the light on this list – lots more worthy new artists aren’t getting the spotlight either.
10) Son Volt - The Search
Jay Farrar continues to plug along fighting the good fight. If you've been following his career, you pretty much know what to expect. This time, though, Son Volt there's some snazzy horns thrown in on the single and the lyrics flirt with straightforward narrative.
9) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Supposedly T-Bone Burnett felt that the only way to reconcile the differences in style between these two talents was to throw them both curve balls. This collection of bluesy covers is a wild success, suitable for giving the whole fam-damily at Christmas. It doesn't hurt that they cover two Gene Clark compositions.
8) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Despite a horrific title of Fiona Appple-like proportions, Spoon has turned in one of the best straight-ahead rock and roll albums of the year. Kudos for Merge Records for supplying a free download with the purchase of their vinyl LPs.
7) Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Hey, yo, the Wu is back. Their last full-length, "Iron Flag" might have been welcome after the Wu-lowpoint "The W" but I wasn't expecting much out of "8 Diagrams". The perfunctory ODB memorial cut aside, the Clan has managed to put out their best group record since "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in 1993. Though I've only had a few weeks to enjoy it, I believe it's the year's best rap release and will be a return to relevance for the Wu. We'll forgive the awful (but highly anticipated) Beatles interpolation in "The Heart Gently Weeps" because of the killer rap verses - or at least we'll dole out blame equally between The Wu Tang, Dhani Harrison, and John Frusciante.
6) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Though I've always preferred the work of Jeff Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jay Farrar, I liked Wilco. That is, I did right up to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. As everybody else was getting on, I got off. "Sky Blue Sky" marks a return to linear song structure and the point I got back on the bus. The whole album has that dreamy quality that only exists in Southern California and in the minds of those who have a great non-ironic appreciation of the Asylum Records back catalog.
5) Oakley Hall – I’ll Follow You
2007 was a good year for Oakley Hall. They released “I’ll Follow You” as their first on big indie Merge Records (see Spoon) and toured with Gillian Welch and Bright Eyes. Crunchy Neil Young-style guitar work, male-female vocal interplay, and occasionally too-clever lyrics make for a fascinating gumbo. The band formed in New York, but it’s hard to know whether they’re more “Velvet Underground & Nico” or “Music From Big Pink.” Either way, they’re my new heroes.
4) Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights
Sharon Jones is an unlikely newcomer to the pop scene. She’s a squat, 50-something black lady who unapologetically sings 60’s style soul music. She’s got a young, crack band backing her up and the whole thing comes off with tremendous intensity. Ms. Jones and the Dap-Kings (and really, every act I’ve heard yet from Dap-Tone Records) aren’t simply retro revivalists: they get down on a level that wipes the word “gimmick” from your brain. Sharon Jones is the anti-Amy Winehouse.
3) Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
After Connor Oberst’s brilliant 2005 album “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” I went back and checked out his back catalog more thoroughly to see if I had judged him too harshly up to that point as emo’s boy wonder. Largely, I hadn’t. Oberst has outgrown our labels. Cassadaga is the sound of an artist hitting his stride. It’s an epic with broad strokes of dark humor – the characters that inhabit the songs are at turns tender and paranoid, disgusted and disgusting. If the whole thing were condensed down to just the apocalyptic “Four Winds,” it would still be worth $15.99.
2) Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Andrew Bird’s a fairly unassuming guy whose shy and self-deprecating stage and interview persona suggest somebody who never grew out of his awkward stage. You could be forgiven for not noticing that this multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter released the second five-star album of his career this year. "Armchair Apocrypha" stands shoulder to shoulder with his breakout “The Mysterious Production Of Eggs.” Highly recommended for everyone.
1) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Like the other two artists occupying the medal positions, this year Devendra crafted a dynamite follow-up to his breakthrough album. “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” is very much of a kind with 2005’s breakthrough “Cripple Crow.” That is, it’s a wonderful mess. Defying genre, gender, and the dominant gestalt, Banhart has created an album where even the throwaways ("Shabop Shalom") are more compelling than most anything out there. 2007 was the year that the media let up slightly in shaking the “psych folk” rag they themselves created and focused on Banhart as the “movement’s” breakout star. He tore through interviews this year, happily indulging whatever preconceived notions the reporter had of him. Overexposed, Banhart very quickly became a divisive figure in the indie scene. I’m here to tell you that Devendra Banhart lives up to the hype. He is the nothing less than the new messiah of psychedelic music. Calling him a hippie seems like a quaint slander. The man is a Freak, in the old-timey inclusive and affirming sense of the word. Do not let your children listen to this man’s music. They will grow their hair out, take strange drugs, and yearn to move to California. If you or your children already fit this description, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” is absolutely essential listening.
10) Son Volt - The Search
Jay Farrar continues to plug along fighting the good fight. If you've been following his career, you pretty much know what to expect. This time, though, Son Volt there's some snazzy horns thrown in on the single and the lyrics flirt with straightforward narrative.
9) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Supposedly T-Bone Burnett felt that the only way to reconcile the differences in style between these two talents was to throw them both curve balls. This collection of bluesy covers is a wild success, suitable for giving the whole fam-damily at Christmas. It doesn't hurt that they cover two Gene Clark compositions.
8) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Despite a horrific title of Fiona Appple-like proportions, Spoon has turned in one of the best straight-ahead rock and roll albums of the year. Kudos for Merge Records for supplying a free download with the purchase of their vinyl LPs.
7) Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Hey, yo, the Wu is back. Their last full-length, "Iron Flag" might have been welcome after the Wu-lowpoint "The W" but I wasn't expecting much out of "8 Diagrams". The perfunctory ODB memorial cut aside, the Clan has managed to put out their best group record since "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in 1993. Though I've only had a few weeks to enjoy it, I believe it's the year's best rap release and will be a return to relevance for the Wu. We'll forgive the awful (but highly anticipated) Beatles interpolation in "The Heart Gently Weeps" because of the killer rap verses - or at least we'll dole out blame equally between The Wu Tang, Dhani Harrison, and John Frusciante.
6) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Though I've always preferred the work of Jeff Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jay Farrar, I liked Wilco. That is, I did right up to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. As everybody else was getting on, I got off. "Sky Blue Sky" marks a return to linear song structure and the point I got back on the bus. The whole album has that dreamy quality that only exists in Southern California and in the minds of those who have a great non-ironic appreciation of the Asylum Records back catalog.
5) Oakley Hall – I’ll Follow You
2007 was a good year for Oakley Hall. They released “I’ll Follow You” as their first on big indie Merge Records (see Spoon) and toured with Gillian Welch and Bright Eyes. Crunchy Neil Young-style guitar work, male-female vocal interplay, and occasionally too-clever lyrics make for a fascinating gumbo. The band formed in New York, but it’s hard to know whether they’re more “Velvet Underground & Nico” or “Music From Big Pink.” Either way, they’re my new heroes.
4) Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights
Sharon Jones is an unlikely newcomer to the pop scene. She’s a squat, 50-something black lady who unapologetically sings 60’s style soul music. She’s got a young, crack band backing her up and the whole thing comes off with tremendous intensity. Ms. Jones and the Dap-Kings (and really, every act I’ve heard yet from Dap-Tone Records) aren’t simply retro revivalists: they get down on a level that wipes the word “gimmick” from your brain. Sharon Jones is the anti-Amy Winehouse.
3) Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
After Connor Oberst’s brilliant 2005 album “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” I went back and checked out his back catalog more thoroughly to see if I had judged him too harshly up to that point as emo’s boy wonder. Largely, I hadn’t. Oberst has outgrown our labels. Cassadaga is the sound of an artist hitting his stride. It’s an epic with broad strokes of dark humor – the characters that inhabit the songs are at turns tender and paranoid, disgusted and disgusting. If the whole thing were condensed down to just the apocalyptic “Four Winds,” it would still be worth $15.99.
2) Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Andrew Bird’s a fairly unassuming guy whose shy and self-deprecating stage and interview persona suggest somebody who never grew out of his awkward stage. You could be forgiven for not noticing that this multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter released the second five-star album of his career this year. "Armchair Apocrypha" stands shoulder to shoulder with his breakout “The Mysterious Production Of Eggs.” Highly recommended for everyone.
1) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Like the other two artists occupying the medal positions, this year Devendra crafted a dynamite follow-up to his breakthrough album. “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” is very much of a kind with 2005’s breakthrough “Cripple Crow.” That is, it’s a wonderful mess. Defying genre, gender, and the dominant gestalt, Banhart has created an album where even the throwaways ("Shabop Shalom") are more compelling than most anything out there. 2007 was the year that the media let up slightly in shaking the “psych folk” rag they themselves created and focused on Banhart as the “movement’s” breakout star. He tore through interviews this year, happily indulging whatever preconceived notions the reporter had of him. Overexposed, Banhart very quickly became a divisive figure in the indie scene. I’m here to tell you that Devendra Banhart lives up to the hype. He is the nothing less than the new messiah of psychedelic music. Calling him a hippie seems like a quaint slander. The man is a Freak, in the old-timey inclusive and affirming sense of the word. Do not let your children listen to this man’s music. They will grow their hair out, take strange drugs, and yearn to move to California. If you or your children already fit this description, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” is absolutely essential listening.