Best Albums of 2007

First, this morning Pitchfork published a pretty rad Guest List: Best of 2007 feature, in which some artists of import (namely, Mascis, but also Deerhunter, Beach House, the Grizz, Darnielle, Bowerbirds, and more) tell us their favorite records.

Second, let me say that I had to create a new category for one album. The most ridiculous, but arguably genius, album of the year award goes to R Kelly’s Double Up. I think, with this record, R Kelly marks the last time that any of the gangsta/playa gimmicks can be taken seriously. He pushes these concepts to their breaking point on this album. He theorizes the limits of that whole structure, and after making several laps around it, then penetrating it (i.e. doubling up on it), the structure ends up falling to pieces. R Kelly has destroyed it. You must find new things to be ridiculous about. Also, I have to put him in this separate category because I’m afraid he’ll pee on everybody in the big list. Kelz is a loose canon, for serious.

Third, there was an overwhelming amount of good records this year. There were so many that I thoroughly enjoyed, I felt compelled to include 25 in my list. I couldn’t bring myself to leave out albums that I enjoyed so much. Sam and I have been debating our lists for the past few weeks, and we almost broke up over it a few times. At least twice a day we’ve had conversations that end like this: “There’s no way to objectively determine the value of these albums, but you’re still wrong, and I hate your guts.” Then, after a few comments about sandwiches and the temporal relationship between Red Dawn and Steel Dawn, we start arguing again. Below, I’ve provided some (oftentimes meaningless) arguments to support my top 10. Some will still be upset (namely, Sam). But at the end of the day, it’s all about enjoying the music and judging it by the standards of your choosing. (However, I think this list renders all others superfluous.) Plenty of opportunities for sonic pleasure were provided to me by all the bands on this list. I hope that next year is as pleasurable as this one, if not more so.

Fourth, now that that’s out of the way, let’s double up:

25) King Khan & The Shrines -- What Is!?
24) Caribou -- Andorra
23) Shapes & Sizes -- Split Lips, Winning Hips, a Shiner
22) Grinderman -- Grinderman
21) Animal Collective -- Strawberry Jam
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20) Dinosaur Jr -- Beyond
19) Okkervil River -- The Stage Names
18) Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities -- Lucas
17) Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
16) Arthur & Yu -- In Camera
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15) dd/mm/yyyy -- Are They Masks?
14) Papercuts -- Can’t Go Back
13) The Besnard Lakes -- …Are the Dark Horse
12) Miracle Fortress -- Five Roses
11) Parts & Labor -- Mapmaker
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10) Bowerbirds -- Hymns for a Dark Horse
The minimalism of this album is, I think, a good counterpoint to Battles. One could think of this record as being the answer to the question Battles might be asking (see below). This record says go back to the beginning, back to the minimal. However, underneath the simplicity and beauty of this album are a frightening darkness and a grave doubt. The portrait painted here is calm, but it’s not permanent. I think there may be a monster among us, for serious. They allude to this here: “Lord, have mercy on us both. Are you so high above us, or the violence that walks among us?” Now I’ve got a Misfits song stuck in my dome.

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9) Land of Talk -- Applause, Cheer, Boo, Hiss EP
More bands should put out EPs. I had to push so many records with only a few great songs on them to the back of the list this year because, as a whole, they were weak. Land of Talk put out seven solid tracks on this EP. All the fat is shaved off. This record is a rock machine. Elizabeth Powell is a shred machine. She’s shredder in TMNT. Hopefully, they will not put out a double disc in 2008 and make me look like a stupid machine, green to red, machine head.

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8) Angels of Light -- We Are Him
Gira is my Christ. Gira is my lucifuge. This record is full on apocalypse but with little sun fragments of hope shining through and making the nothingness glisten (if that’s even possible) like glass-masks. When Gira talks about letting the criminals and the animals out so that they can take their revenge, he almost convinces me. Despite the fear that Gira instills, there are some beautiful moments here. There’s at least something to celebrate at the end of this record, I think, even if it’s just the end.

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7) Thurston Moore -- Trees Outside the Academy
On his solo release, Thurston, for the majority of the tracks, puts down the electric, but still destroys dragon-face on the acoustic. This record grew on me throughout the year, and finally hit me when I heard it performed almost in its entirety at Pleasant St. Now that Thurston and I live near each other I feel a special bond with him; I think we’ll probably be BFF by the end of next summer.
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6) The Cave Singers -- Invitation Songs
This album makes me want to join a church where they speak in tongues. I like albums that make me want to do things that I probably shouldn’t do. (This might also be why I like Double Up.) I like things that make me believe in things that don’t exist. This album also makes me want to join a Fleetwood Mac fan club. I also like albums that make we want to do things that I’ve always wanted to do but have never done because people will mock me. I feel a deep, intuitive connection to this record which I think is beyond the need of validation.

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5) M.I.A. – Kala
Even if this record was just “Paper Planes” it would still deserve high honors, but that’s not the case, as each track is a total club-banger danger-party attack. M.I.A. makes me want to riot riot. This record will stand as a reference point for humanoids to look back on when they finally realize that you can be in the club and think critically simultaneously. I think this record will eventually support M.I.A. as being one of the great music theorists of our period. Think: the soundtrack to Children of Men II.
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4) Panda Bear -- Person Pitch
This is easily the second best Beach Boys record ever, but with enough of Panda’s idiosyncrasies to make it stand apart from his first record, Pet Sounds. He deservingly stands on the backs of giants but without the downcast eyes that so many other undeserving piggybackers have (I have no idea how I managed to work a Martin Jay reference in here, but whatevs). There is a loud generator behind the office where I work. It drones a steady E note, so when I’m back there, I can sing along with most of the tracks on this album. It’s fun. I always try to remember just to have a good time, even when I’m at work.

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3) Deerhunter – Cryptograms
I love the way Bradford uses his effects-drenched voice like a Benatarian sex-weapon. I even wrote and recorded a song this year called “Mimisograms” as a tribute to them. This record is really dark and nightmarish on the surface, but the pop sensibilities eventually creep up out of the nothing to sonically blast your magic-face off. All the hype surrounding this album turned me off at first, but I eventually gave it a chance. While a lot of the record seems like strange psychedelic trance mutations, there is one thing that it does for sure that a lot of buzzed about indie records don’t do: straight up skull crush.

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2) Battles – Mirrored
Like Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, this is a hard record to listen to. The obvious difference is the spontaneity of the former and the fierce element of control essential to the latter. Battles have made me think about music more than any other band in a long time. It took me about ten listens and a live show to finally get “it.” But it wasn’t “it” that I arrived at, just some point closer to “it.” I don’t even think “it” exists. I don’t even know what I’m talking about. This album forces the listener to reach beyond the comfort level of their ears, which I think is a necessary stage of moving forward. In this sense, it is similar to Coleman’s album. I’m just not sure if Mirrored is asking a question: What’s next? Or is it giving an answer to this question? Or is it both asking and providing an answer? Either way, it’s killing its way to an answer.

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1) Dirty Projectors -- Rise Above
This record gives me hope that, even if there was truly no more artistic authenticity left in the world, there are still ways of interpretation and re-imagining that can breathe some sort of approximation of authenticity into historical documents to make them come alive in ways that appear impossible. The most important part of Black Flag’s original document is the energy and the urgency, and Dirty Projectors have captured this essence, showing that the energy and urgency of the Black Flag original are still as relevant today, if not more so. That last bit of the last sentence sounds a bit cliché, but for real, I want to spray paint the walls much more now than I did when I first heard Damaged. If you overlooked this record because it’s a “cover” record, you’re a goddamn fool, and you’re missing out on some seriously crushing musical hermeneutics.


What were your favorite albums?
Which of mine do you hate?
Onward to 2008.