Whitty's Albums o' the' Year Extravaganza!

[Whitty]

Dr. Dog - We All Belong

 

Classical music has the Three B's of Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms. Philly's Dr. Dog don't go that far back for their retro sound, but a more recent trio of B's undoubtedly influences We All Belong: Beatles, Beach Boys, and The Band. There's a psyhedelic buzz grinning over much of the disc's tracks, and paired with the vintage recording style I'm reminded a bit of Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk at Cubist Castle, production-wise. It's a homey, inviting sound. Toby Leaman's round-toned bass demands attention. His linear melodic accents evoke McCartney and the funky, root-on-the-one bounce is all Danko. Piano is a common bond on We All Belong, with major to parallel minor chord changes and clear rhythmic accents again summoning those analog tape ghosts of the late 60's/early 70's. Scott McMicken's vocals are readily recognizable, with the soul and rasp to pull off these kinds of songs without sounding like a pale imitation of the classic rock canon. The harmonies accompanying him help tracks like the gorgeous "Keep a Friend" shine sweetly through complex Brian Wilson-inspired song structures. "Retro" and "stale" aren't synonymous. Dr. Dog strike it big on this highly likable effort that captures the freewheeling spirit of Abbey Road's second side.

 

 

M.I.A. - Kala

 

Listen to that beat in "Bird Flu". Listen to it, for God's sake! Hip-hop is assumed to be the music of the streets, the genre that most directly transmits the oft-confrontational experience of ordinary life amongst overflowing humanity. India's got overflowing humanity to say the least, and it doesn't sound like it gets any more oriented to mutually shared experience than it does in this instance, with a chorus of drummers and chants whipping up a riot of rhythm every bit as potent as the song's title malady. There was an exotic sexiness to Arular, but on her sophomore album M.I.A. trades sly come-ons for brazen challenges. "How many no money boys are crazy / How many boyz are raw? / How many no money boyz are rowdy / How many start a war?" she stabs between the confident bass drops in "Boyz". "People judge me so hard / 'cause I don't floss my titty set / I was born out of dirt like I'm porn in a skirt / I was a little girl who made good with all that I blurt" from "20 Dollar" clearly takes digs at the sentiment that female artists in the hip-hop world should look good first and work on the rhymes later. "Paper Planes" is more than defiant- it's dangerous. Samples of The Clash, gunshots, and cash registers compound the menace promised by the memorable chorus. This is music of the streets alright, but more like the streets seen in films like City of God and Blood Diamond. No gimmicks here, says M.I.A., just listen and deal with the juxtaposed reality of the lives of most of the world's billions set against the thoroughly modern sounds challenging her more well-off intended audiences.

 

 

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen

 

It ain't easy being bleak. But Damon Albarn is up to the task of trying with his latest crackshot band. A declining England, and a declining West in general populate the themes here- war, dread-inducing nights, political impotence, soul-smothering industrial landscapes, ravens flying across moons, that sort of thing. Paul Simonon steals the show musically with his trademark dubby bass swaying and thudding prominently through the dark proceedings. Simon Tong and Tony Allen are a bit subdued in comparison. This is an album that practically begs for a follow-up. Hopefully, camraderie is allowed to nurture and fluorish during another gathering of these formidable talents somewhere in the near future. Danger Mouse certainly has a hand in the spooky moodiness, too- the synths and keys on "Herculean" and "Bunting Song" recall Animals-era Pink Floyd (as does the cover art for that matter). Albarn's formula is still thriving as he conducts his orchestra through forays into hip-hop, reggae, British rock, and gloomy New Wave- crisply produced the whole way through. Feeling down hasn't had grooves this that felt this good in quite some time.

 

 

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

 

You'd better bring the goods if you're going to give an album a title like that. Not an issue. Spoon has been America's most reliable rock band of the 00's. All the elements that have bonded to create this consistency are on display in the opening track "Don't Make Me a Target"- ominous riffing, a room-filling kick drum beat, and the whiskey-warm voice of Britt Daniels. The soul keeps you coming back. Tastes and trends have veered toward arty, affected, vulnerable sounding male vocals recently, but Daniels' rasp (with potent falsetto punctuations) is steeped in in the confidence of Motown and 80's underground rock. Motown's great singers knew they had chops while the Reagan-era rockers like Paul Westerberg and Black Francis belted defiantly, even if their natural talents weren't exactly making anyone forget about Marvin Gaye. Britt balances both influences and contributes easy-sounding vocal melodies over his keen-witted, uncluttered lyrics. Ga x5 goes down like a top-shelf cocktail and struts over to the dance floor with tunes like "Eddie's Ragga" and "Don't You Evah" inevitably inspiring head-bobs and toe taps.

 

 

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

 

One of my favorite new discoveries of 2007 is this beguiling outfit from Oregon. Who don't they sound like is the appropriate question if you're trying to describe them to someone unfamiliar with their sound. The Grateful Dead, Sonic Youth, Royal Trux, Golden Smog, The Minus 5, Pavement, Elephant 6 pop-psychedelia... plenty of retro, much like fellow '07 standouts Dr. Dog. It's hard not to smile when you hear music this loose, completely free of expectations, and immersed in the DIY ethos. "Futures & Folly" snakes through a whole garden of Beatles-esque chord changes with guitars and synthesizer merrily making the rounds like late 60's Dead. One track later "Miss Spiritual Tramp" channels Pavement channeling The Fall (and even name drops the rather unpleasant Colombian necktie! Look it up if you don't know.) with glorious guitar noise and sneering don't-give-a-fuck vocals leading the way. Bless the freewheeling weirdos who march to their own drumbeat, yet still remain grounded amongst a host of outstanding influences.

 

 

Radiohead - In Rainbows

 

So they're the biggest band on the planet now. Spend a decade putting out Kid A, a willfully anti-rock experimental disc, follow it up with the morose Amnesiac and the bleak bloops and clicks of Hail to the Thief and that's how you achieve that sort of acclaim I suppose. Radiohead sets its own trends, and the ballyhooed independent release of In Rainbows was a fresh approach that largley lived up to the hype thanks to the band's revisiting of their rock influences after a decade of digital avant-garde. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Bodysnatchers" finds Phil Selway out of hiding and letting his drums muscle through some inspired rock band dynamism. Not that Radiohead has forgotten how to be creepy- "All I Need" conjures the same sense of lumbering dread as "Climbing Up The Walls" from OK Computer. "House of Cards" finds Thom Yorke conveying some very un-Yorke sentiments about wanting to be a lover and not a friend. Dare we say that Radiohead sounds like it had fun on a lot of these tracks? They may be the altar at which millions worship, but these Oxford rock gods aren't bound by any stifling dogma here. In Rainbows is Radiohead's most thoroughly rocking and enjoyable album since OK Computer, serving as a fine bookend to the ten years between the albums that marked the band's ascendancy to the apex of the music world.

 

 

Menomena - Friend And Foe

 

There's only room for one Flaming Lips in the world, but Menomena brings a great deal of that band's delightful subversion of the rock idiom into play on Friend and Foe. The booming Steven Drozd-style beats set up the proceedings, with frequent minor interval piano exclamations and droning bass rumbles reminiscent of TV on the Radio tying the sound together. "Boyscout'n" and "The Pelican" are experimental rock at its finest- they tweak the ear and latch into the brain with a sort of sweet recklessness. The whistled melody set over top of the insistent marching rhythm from "Boyscout'n" is one of the most hypnotic pieces of music from 2007. This is music to tickle those synapses. It's playful, weird, brimming in confidence and ideas, and boldly proclaiming that Menomena is a band to watch for years to come.

 

 

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond

 

Now this was an unexpected treat. I'd believe you if you told me J Mascis and Co. recorded this in 1987 only to lose the masters and rediscover them in some dusty closet twenty years later. Not to say that Dinosaur Jr. is re-hashing old glories or anything like that. It's just that their three-piece let's-rock-first-and-ask-questions-later sound is so timeless and simple. J Mascis's fretboard still sparks with spontaneity as he weaves searing lines that avoid the lick-based predictability that infects so many virtuoso talents. "Almost Ready" opens up Beyond and it's immediately apparent that these types of sounds remain fresh even if the band was doing this sort of thing when Mr. T was an A-list celebrity. "Pick Me Up" is likely the guitar solo of the year, ending with a blitz that defiantly reminds us that 80's revivalism isn't all skinny ties, horrific drum tone, and eyeliner-caked synth players.

 

 

Whitty's Album of the Year:

 

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

 

It's all "electronic" music anymore isn't it? While ostensibly making albums, I've spent enough time with my face bathed in computer screen light futzing with digital reverb, and hearing mouse clicks as often as snare hits for the edges to soften between technology and the supposed organic sanctity of the creative process. Is Sound of Silver the most heartfelt electronic music ever, or maybe the future direction of rock? Does it matter? The future is plopped out here in front of us in digital form, and has been for years. Enough pontificating on the larger implications, because the immediate truth is that LCD Soundsystem is rocking like hell here in 2007.

 

The influences are readily apparent. Talking Heads circa 1980 as they seamlessly blended primal, visceral soundscapes from both West Africa and New York's arty underground dance-rock scene. David Bowie tweaking knobs in Berlin with Brian Eno. Pavement's charmingly loose slacker-rock in-jokes. When the influences are this damn good, it's hard to care too much if "Us v Them" and "Crosseyed & Painless" could at times be mistaken for long lost twins.

 

"Depth" isn't the first descriptor leaping to mind when considering most lyrics of dance-oriented music, but Sound of Silver finds James Murphy flexing his wry poet's hand with sharp lines like "I did it once and my parents got pretty upset / freaked out in North America / but then I said the more I do it the better it gets", "New York, you're safer and you're wasting my time / Our records all show you were filthy but fine", & "You're talking 45 turns just as fast as you can / yeah, I know it gets tired, but it's better when we pretend. / It comes apart, the way it does in bad films. / Except in parts, when the moral kicks in." Mix in piles of singalong hooks like "Cloud, block out the sun" from "Us v Them" and the titular chants of both "North American Scum" and "Time to Get Away" and we have an ideal balance of anthem-ready, just plain sexy fun and a level of depth that demands multiple listens.

 

The bass and drums pulse with the warmth of live instrumentation. Murphy's vocals break out of the genre's expectations with giddy, impassioned quirk and verve. It's an album for the party. It's an album for the comedown. It's electronica grown up, reflective, and humanized.

 

 

 

 

Some short takes:

 

Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta: The album's a little long, but there's little else that sounds like this motley Pogues-like gypsy outfit helmed by the freewheeling Eugene Hutz and his thick Ukrainian accent delivering my favorite couplet of the year: "Have you ever been to American wedding? / Where's the vodka, where is marinated herring?"

 

Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment: Beats and grooves aplenty, culled and re-mixed from popular music of the Mediterranean. It's cumin-scented trip-hop. The disc flies by in short bursts of exotic statements like a whirlwind travelogue for the milk-crate-full-of-records demographic.

 

The Sea and Cake - Everybody: An album that's like a breezy summer night drive. It's suave and swings with the band's jazzy post-rock stylings while Sam Prekop's breathy voice hovers like wispy clouds in front of a full moon.

 

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin: They continue to stake out their easily-recognizable style by blending harmony-rich song structures with bursts of Built to Spill and Neil Young guitar/drums stomp filling out the minimal arrangements. It's a warm, earthy sound- the musical equivalent of campfire smell.

 

Gruff Rhys - Candylion: Wales's foremost rock frontman gives us a sugary dose of psychedelic indie-pop with this solo outing. The title track is as much sunny fun as any song this year while the incantatory "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru" gets bonus points for being both phenomenally catchy and totally incomprehensible.

 

 

Initial Disappointment That I Like More Now, But Not Quite As Much As These Other Albums: Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

 

"Where's the Rock?" Award: The New Pornographers - Challengers

 

Too Slow Overall For My Taste, But I Really Like "Fake Empire": The National - Boxer

 

I'd Like You More if You Were Hyped Less (And Also If Your Verse Melodies Weren't So Interchangeable And Your Choruses So Overwrought): The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

[echo]

"Paul Simonon steals the show musically with his trademark dubby bass swaying and thudding prominently through the dark proceedings."

 

Amen.

[Vacant Horizon]

I'd Like You More if You Were Hyped Less (And Also If Your Verse Melodies Weren't So Interchangeable And Your Choruses So Overwrought): The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

 

 

dude, aren't all the ones you listed totally overhyped? when did whiny music with vibes etc. become what we actually think is good? no offense to your list at all. i like wilco, but i just do not like anything other folks seem to listen to on this board.

hell, my album of the year is Magnolia electric co. sojourners. just some warm mid tempo tunes with rhodes and guitar.

craig

 

ps. dig your band's darkside tribute.

[delmarkurt]

hell, my album of the year is Magnolia electric co. sojourners. just some warm mid tempo tunes with rhodes and guitar.

 

 

Great band/album.....

 

On that note.....My favorite album of 2007 is Ryan Bingham 'Mescalito'. Check him out:

 

Link to Bingham's Myspace

 

 

and here is a write up on Bingham from allmusic.com:

 

Americana singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham was raised in rural Texas, where years of hardscrabble ranch work and competitions on the rodeo circuit would eventually surface in the dusty riffs of his country-styled debut, Mescalito. Living alone since his mid-teens, Bingham shuttled back and forth between Southwestern border towns and relatives' homes, often sleeping in his truck after nightly rodeo gigs. It was during those treks that he began entertaining friends with the guitar, an instrument he'd learned at the age of 17 from a mariachi neighbor. Drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan, Marshall Tucker, and Bob Wills

[Guest David Puddy]

Link to Bingham's Myspace

 

just checked it out and really like it. i'll be checking out more of his stuff for sure.

[myboyblue]

just checked it out and really like it. i'll be checking out more of his stuff for sure.

 

He really is quite talented. I was able to see him open for Drive-by Truckers this year and immediately bought his album. Not sure about Album of the year but it's definitely in my top 40.

[quarter23cd]

I've been meaning to check out that Blitzen Trapper record. I wasn't too into new music this past year, but it is hard to go wrong with a description like that.

 

Or, I guess I could just listen to The Grateful Dead, Sonic Youth, Royal Trux, Golden Smog, The Minus 5, Pavement, Elephant 6 pop-psychedelia--which is pretty much what I've been doing for the past year anyway.

[cryptique]

Good to see some more love for that Dinosaur Jr. album.

[Vacant Horizon]

yeah, nicely written review!

[PigSooie]

You forgot Lucinda Williams.

[Whitty]

You forgot Lucinda Williams.

 

I shan't claim this list as comprehensive, but I shall claim it is subject to my own tastes. There's a good reason Lucinda Williams didn't make my list- I haven't heard it. Same with Magnolia Electric Co. (do they put out an album every 10 weeks or something?)

[PigSooie]

I shan't claim this list as comprehensive, but I shall claim it is subject to my own tastes. There's a good reason Lucinda Williams didn't make my list- I haven't heard it. Same with Magnolia Electric Co. (do they put out an album every 10 weeks or something?)

 

 

I was jsut being silly. I haven't heard it either.