Blog → Best of 2007

Best albums:
Blonde Redhead - 23
Sonicly, it sits somewhere between Björk's Vespertine and Radiohead's Kid A, by which geography alone it deserves a spot here.

Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Yes, it's disappointing that their 15 minute basement-produced EP was leagues better than their studio-produced, big(-ish) budget LP, but I got over it. There are good songs here. I think a different track order would help.

The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Definitely the best album of the year. Glorious, wonderful, noisy shoegaze. This is the kind of stuff that makes me glad to have ears. Put the first two songs on this album and repeat them 4 times and you'd still have a great album.

Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
Weeeeee. More catchy and up-beat than their other CD. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

David Vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band
A solid rock album. This guy will be big some day. Or if not, it won't be from lack of talent.

Elliott Smith - New Moon
Obviously there's nothing new on this CD. It's a collection of b-sides and demos and such. I already had almost all of these songs, cause I'm O.G. like that, but it's convinient to have them all in one place.

What Made Milwaukee Famous - Trying Never To Catch Up
Beer made milwaukee famous, I think? I think this CD is a few years old, but it's good enough that I'll ignroe that.

Honorable mention:
Margot and the nuclear so and so's - The Dust of Retreat.
Some good pop songs about girls and booze and pirates and such.

Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
Good, but just a little too sacarine sweet for my taste.

Interpol - Our Love to Admire

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
This is probably better than Gulag Orkester, but after that and Lon Gisland, Beirut is starting to sound gimmicky and same-y.


Worst of:
Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
Srsly? "Do the smoke detector"? No thanks. I'll 'do the CD changer' instead. And why does the last song sound like a mid-90s Mariah Carry song on endless repeat? Dump your producer, quit working on side projects and make a better album.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Aside from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco is a pretty stagnant band. The songs are always decent, but not spectacular, and annoyingly predictable. I was hoping that the addition of Nels Cline would spice things up a bit, but the only real difference is that the songs are all about 3 minutes longer than they need to be.

Best of 2007 mixtape:
1. The Twilight Sad - Cold Days from the Birdhouse. This is a pretty mellow mix, so it starts with a pretty mellow song.
2. Voxtrot - Blood Red Blood. Probably the best song from the Voxtrot album.
3. Bloc Party - I Still Remember. Very catchy.
4. Guillemots - Made Up Love Song #43. This is really from 2006, but I found it this year."I love you through sparks and shining dragons, I do."
5. Voxtrot - Brother In Conflict
6. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Bomb. Repeat. Bomb. Fugazi, anyone?
7. David Vandervelde - Nothin' No.
8. Portugal. The Man - Telling Tellers Tell Me
9. Blonde Redhead - SW
10. Interpol - Pace Is The Trick
11. Mary Onettes- Void. Who started this whole 80's throwback genre anyway?
12. Cinematics - Rise & Fall. More psueod-80's.
13. Arcade Fire - My Body Is A Cage. One of the few good songs off Neon Bible.
14. Cloud Cult - Chemicals Collide. Talk about. Pop music.
15. Wilco - On and On and On.
16. Beirut - Elephant Gun
17. Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Skeleton Key
18. Andrew Bird - Cataracts
19. Björk - Wanderlust
20. Voxtrot - Real Life Version
21. Menomena - Rotten Hell
22. The Twilight Sad - That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy. Just so you don't fall asleep.