2007 Best of Lists
New Releases:
1. Pumice – Pebbles
2. Home Blitz – s/t
3. Pissed Jeans – Hope for Men
4. New Estate – Is This Real?
5. Silver Daggers – New High and Ord
6. Holly Golightly & The Broke-Offs – You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying
7. Bat For Lashes – Fur & Gold
8. The Go! Team – Proof of Youth
9. Blues Control – s/t
10. Yelle – Pop Up
11. Deerhunter – Cryptograms
12. No Age – Weirdo Rippers
13. Old Time Relijun – Catharsis in Crisis
14. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
15. Greg Ashley – Painted Garden
16. Marnie Stern – In Advance of the Broken Arm
17. Githead – Art Pop
18. Clorox Girls – J’Aime Les Filles
19. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala
20. Miss Alex White & The Red Orchestra – Space and Time
21. Michael Dracula – In the Red
22. Justice - †
23. Foot Village – F*ck the Future
24. MV & EE with the Bummer Road – Green Blues
25. Dean & Britta – Back Numbers
26. Peter Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
27. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum
28. Brother JT – Third Ear Candy
29. Sally Shapiro – Disco Romance
30. Astrud – Tú No Existes
31. Kinski – Down Below It’s Chaos
32. Charlotte Gainsbourg – 5.55
33. John Thill – Heart of Grime
34. Grinderman – s/t
35. Wir Sind Helden – Soundso
36. Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat
37. Bonde Do Rolê – With Lasers
38. Electrelane – No Shouts No Calls
39. Soft Circle – Full Bloom
40. Japanther – Skuffed Up My Huffy
41. The Ponys – Turn the Lights Out
42. 1990s – Cookies
Reissues (with extra points for things I hadn’t heard before):
1. Bobb Trimble – Iron Curtain Innocence / Harvest of Dreams
2. Lone Ranger – On the Other Side of Dub
3. Polyrock – s/t
4. Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth
5. Pylon – Gyrate
6. Arkansaw Man – s/t EP
7. The Pop Group - Y
8. Magazine – Real Life / The Correct Use of Soap / Secondhand Daylight
9. Fire Engines – Hungry Beat (collection rather than strict reissue)
Songs:
1. Róisín Murphy – Overpowered
2. Trash Trash Trash – Hash Stash
3. I.E. – Bitch, Click (
http://www.myspace.com/inlaempyre )
4. I.E. – Party in the 909 (live)
5. Brother JT – I Am the Blob
6. Mims – This Is Why I’m Hot
7. The Romance – Brannigan Brawl
8. Tokyo Police Club – Citizens of Tomorrow (2006 but whatevs)
9. About – Nogato (2006, but whatevs. rad unofficial video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0TnSeVtpc )
10. Uffie – Pop the Glock
Honorable Mentions:
Part 1: 2006 new releases I missed last year:
1. James Blackshaw – O True Believers (fantastic, 2006)
2. Jay Reatard – Blood Visions (fantastic, 2006)
3. Coughs – Secret Passage (great, 2006)
4. Psychic Ills – Dins (good, 2006)
5. Vampire Can’t – Key Cutter (2006)
6. Mamani Keïta – Yelema (2006)
7. The Blow – Paper Television (2006)
8. Metallic Falcons – Desert Doughnuts (2006)
9. Seht – The Green Morning (2006) / Christian Jesus, I Will Determine a Suicide (2006)
10. Aloha – Some Echoes (2006)
11. Califone – Roots & Crowns (2006)
Part 2: 2006 reissues I didn’t catch until 2007:
1. Anne Briggs – A Collection (fantastic 2006 best of)
2. Ike Yard – 1980–82 Collected (2006 reissue collection)
3. Black Devil Disco Club – 28 After (2006 reissue collection?)
4. Yma Sumac – Recital (ESP reissue)
Other Honorable Mentions:
1. Panda Bear – Person Pitch (didn’t stick with me as much as I thought it might)
2. Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings (didn’t hear enough)
3. M.I.A. – Kala (didn’t hear enough)
4. Maher Shalal Hash Baz – L’Autre Cap (didn’t hear enough)
5. Crystal Castles (tracks are already floating around, but album will be 2008)
6. A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Scribble Mural Comic Journal
7. Lavender Diamond – Imagine Our Love / The Cavalry of Light (didn’t quite live up to their live show)
8. Ten Thousand Bees – Polar Days
9. The Capstan Shafts – Environ Maiden (didn’t hear enough)
10. Shannon Wright – Let in the Light
Live Performances:
1. Alfred Brendel (at Disney Hall)
2. Foot Village (at the Smell and Pehrspace)
3. David Kilgour (at the Echo)
4. Kosugi Takehisa (at the Getty)
5. Nervous Gender (at the Echo)
6. Holly Golightly (at the Echo)
7. Old Time Relijun (at the Smell)
8. I.E. (during the filming for Sean Carnage’s newest dvd project)
9. Yip-Yip (at the Smell)
10. Jay Reatard (during the Fuck Yeah Fest)
11. Bon Voyage (at Pehrspace)
12. Mika Miko (at the Smell)
13. Suishou No Fune (at the Smell)
14. Kevin Shields (at the Smell)
15. New Collapse (at the Echo)
16. Laco$te (at The Scene)
17. Theo Angell (at the Echo Curio during the Bottling Smoke festival, with the best backup drummer, a four year old girl with a guitar case and a contact mike)
18. Triclops! (during the Fuck Yeah Fest)
19. The Littlest Viking (at the Smell)
20. Argumentix (at the Smell)
21. Abe Vigoda (at the Fuck Yeah Fest)
22. Mono (at the Troubadour)
23. John Thill (at Pehrspace)
24. Aa (at the Smell)
25. Pocahaunted (at the Smell)
26. Green Milk from the Planet Orange (at the Smell)
27. Melt Banana (w/ Mike Watt; at the Troubadour)
28. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (w/ Cheer Accident; at the Troubadour)
29. Best Fwends (during the Fuck Yeah Fest)
30. Sissy Spacek 13-tet (at the Smell)
31. Chromatics (at the Echo)
Albums I Had on Endless Rotation this Year:
1. V/A – The Nun Box (Flying Nun) (even though I don’t own it – a huge portion streams on last.fm and I have a lot of mp3s of the rest)
2. This Kind of Punishment – In the Same Room + 5 by Four
3. Thee Headcoats – Beached Earls
4. The Bevis Frond – North Circular (technically just the first cd. It’s so good that I still haven’t listened to the second one yet.)
Great Music That is News to Me (but Not the World):
1. Anthony Moore (aka A. More) – Flying Doesn’t Help
2. Jimmy Giuffre – Free Fall
3. Les Rita Mitsouko
4. Blurt
5. Diane Cluck
6. Destruction Unit
7. The Futurians
8. Colleen
9. Pipas
10. Waldemar Bastos
11. Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier (trio is also known as Carnet de Routes)
12. John Amutabi Nzenze
13. Clear Light
14. Aventuras de Kirlian
15. Daniel Higgs
16. Enrique Guzman
17. Daphné
18. Louis Phillippe
19. BBQ
20. Davey Graham
21. Duncan Dhu
22. Michel Polnareff
23. Ghost Club
24. Cultural Amnesia
25. White Magic
26. Kaija Saariaho – Private Gardens
27. Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Living Music (just this one album, which is surprisingly great, considering how little I’ve cared for anything else of his that I’ve heard)
28. Ganger
29. The Screws
30. Myèlene Farmer
31. Make Believe
32. Strawberry Switchblade
33. Afrirampo
34. Benoît Pioulard
35. Headache City
36. Mr. Airplane Man
37. Dredd Foole
38. Triosk meets Jan Jelinek
39. Milkshakes
40. World Domination Enterprises
41. Booker Little
42. Ludus
43. Hagar the Womb
44. Demon’s Claws
45. LSD March
46. Glaxo Babies
47. Slapp Happy
48. Arthur Alexander
49. 14 Iced Bears
50. Look Blue Go Purple
51. Ludella Black
52. Agalloch
53. The Ark
54. Lord Sitar
55. Lobi Traoré
56. Fat Worm of Error
57. Birchville Cat Motel
58. Raccoo-oo-oon
59. Camille
60. Samara Lubelski
61. Shop Assistants
62. Nino Ferrer
63. Boogdish
64. Mighty Mighty
65. Das Bierbeben
66. The Mills Brothers
67. Antsy Pants
68. Rosy Parlane
69. Lava Lava
70. Les Breastfeeders
71. Norma Waterson (also The Watersons & Waterson:Carthy)
72. The Manhattan Love Suicides
73. Sun Dial
74. Wizardzz
75. Strategy
76. Avarus
77. The Sea Urchins
78. Nick Didkovsky
79. Rema-Rema
80. Beatnik Filmstars
81. Annbjørg Lien
82. Goblin Mix
83. Tricycle Bicycle Cycle
84. The Children’s Hour
85. Silly Sisters
86. Giant Skyflower Band
87. The Prids
88. Trapist
89. Lau Nau
90. BMX Bandits
91. The Wolfhounds
92. The Monochrome Set
93. Bill Landford & the Landfordaires
94. Peter Wright
95. P.G. Six
96. Fiction Factory
97. Veer Right Young Pastor
98. The Names – Swimming
99. Agitated Radio Pilot
100. Part Chimp (but I didn’t hear their record from 2007, hence no other charting)
101. Frenzy
102. Bobby Birdman
103. Paavoharju
104. Thanksgiving (and Adrian Orange)
105. The Legendary Raw Deal
106. Shudder to Think
107. Lesbo Pig
108. Pánico
109. White Rock
110. Client
111. The Ruts
112. Ballaké Sissoko & Toumani Diabate
113. Pothole Skinny
114. Ed Askew
115. Wendy & Bonnie
116. Willie Hightower
117. Garnet Mimms
118. Mirella Freni
119. Emma Kirkby
120. My Dying Bride
121. Glenn Jones
122. Kilgore Trout
123. Y Pants
124. The Uncalled Four
125. The Idle Race
126. The Pretty Things
127. The Incredible String Band
128. Josephine Foster & the Supposed
129. Justin Timberlake
130. Dead Meadow
131. White Rainbow
132. Clogs
133. The Conet Project
134. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
135. France Gall
136. Sandy Denny
137. Garmarna
138. Sham 69
139. Crawling Chaos
140. Avant Gardener
141. Suicide Commandos
142. Mukesh
143. Hedika
144. Feathers
145. Les Rallizes Denudes
Rest in Peace:
- Max Roach
- Lee Hazlewood
- Alice Coltrane
- Oscar Peterson
- Karlheinz Stockhausen
- Mstislav Rostropovich
- Ike Turner
- Porter Wagoner
- Bill Pissari (of Flying Luttenbachers)
- Fred Chichin (of Les Rita Mitsouko)
- Charles Gocher (of Sun City Girls)
- Anthony Wilson (founder of Factory Records)
- Bobby “Boris” Pickett
- Former WPRB DJ and intern Ben Powell
- Daniel Collinelli aka brthrn aka MRvDC (a friend who made noise cdrs)
- WPRB Trustee Ken Mills
Non-Musical:
- R. B. Kitaj
- The Weekly World News
- Don Herbert, aka Mr. Wizard
- Jean Beaudrillard
- Molly Ivins
- Evel Knievel
- Don Ho
- Marcel Marceau
- Madeline L’Engle
- David Halberstam
- Boris Yeltsin
- Pakistani politics
