I'm going to break my Top 5's into two parts. For those music lovers out there (who care about my opinion on the matter), this week is all music focused. Next week I'll get to the more important stuff.
Sorting my music by Date Added revealed that this has been a good year for music. One theme I noticed early in the year was that a lot of bands that I got into while I was in Australia had follow-ups this year. To kick things off, let's look at:
Top 5 New Albums by Old Favorites
1. Radiohead--In Rainbows. Very close to my overall Top 5, but just missed the cut. Still growing on me.
2. Okkervil River--The Stage Names. Good effort that did grow on me.
3. Wilco--Sky Blue Sky. Solid album, but not exceptional.
4. White Stripes--Icky Thump. Couple tracks I didn't like, but overall great as always.
5. Arcade Fire--Neon Bible. For those that like their rock passionate.
There were also several artists new to me this year that I'll probably start following regularly.
Top 5 New Bands
1. The Avett Brothers. Local guys that have a great mix of bluegrass and rock.
2. The Books. Caught up on their back catalog this year. Creative, cutting edge collages of found sound and electronics.
3. LCD Soundsystem. Tongue-in-cheek dance rock.
4. Bishop Allen. Good pop band.
5. The Broken West. Ditto.
I don't really buy singles, but here were a few of my favorite individual songs of the year.
Top 5 Songs
1. Fidelity--Regina Spektor. Happiest sad song of the year.
2. Stronger--Kanye West. Great use of samples.
3. What Light--Wilco. Loved this song in concert.
4. A Postcard to Nina--Jens Lekman. Funniest song of the year.
5. I Feel it All--Feist. The iPod add wasn't my favorite song on the album.
Mostly as an excuse to include some good albums that didn't quite make my top five, here are my favorite albums by bands that have a distinct "feel." All of the stuff by these bands is good, even if most of the albums by the band have similar overall sound.
Top 5 Vibe Albums
1. Iron and Wine--The Shepherd's Dog. My favorite vibe band of all. The perfect fit for a run on a cool fall day through falling leaves, banked by dying kudzu.
2. Band of Horses--Cease to Begin. Great voice. For fans of My Morning Jacket.
3. The National--Boxer. For those late nights when your mind's too active to sleep.
4. The New Pornographers--Challenger. These guys are starting to branch out, but still do the best power pop.
5. Bloc Party--A Weekend in the City. A lot like their last one, but that's not a bad thing here.
Finally (start the drum roll here), here are the
Top 5 Albums of 2007
5. The Dears--Gang of Losers. Big, earnest rock. I was a little surprised that it made it this high, but it was a fun album from start to finish. Try "Ticket to Immortality."
4. The Shins--Wincing the Night Away. I'm a huge fan of this band and this album had to grow on me. But seeing it performed live finally confirmed it as a great album for me.
3. Josh Ritter--The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. I still think he's the best lyricist out there right now. This album is more rock than his previous ones. I'd highly recommend seeing him live if you get the chance. His smile is pure joy.
2. Jens Lekman--Night Falls Over Kortedala. Brilliantly orchestrated pop music with heartwarming and funny lyrics. I might be skewed by the fact that he's moving to Australia just for the heck of it, but the quality of the album supports my pick.
1. Spoon--Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. See my review from earlier this year. Never topped.
3 comments:
In no particular order
JEN LEKMAN--postcard to Nina, sometimes you want something that feels like a show tune, but is much cooler.
PILLAR BOX RED, donya go looking for that in the album file, it is a FAB wine from down under and a total steal at 10$. You decant that baby and you've got like a 30$ bottle right there. If you don't know how to decant, invite me over.
CASTER BEAN PLANT. I'm not so into the oil, but I got a little tiny plant as a gift. So, and get this, I planted it. It grew to 12 feet in one season, despite the drought. It's leaves are bigger than my arms in a circle. Because it is african I think it will have a horrible death with the winter, but lovely while it lasted.
DVR/TIVO--> Sorry but entertainment ranks, I am that lame. Plus I think it could bring world peace. What terrorist has time to terrorize when their favorite show is on?
ON LINE GROCERY, yeah I couldn't be anymore lame. I don't like to shop for anything so this allows me to do it online (somehow totally different) and have it brought to my car. Thanks Jeeves.
Mon
B$ left his top 5 in my email.
So here's my top 5....
1.Dan The Automator (2K7)
2. Aesop Rock (None Shall Pass)
3. MF Doom (Metal Fingers Presents)
4. The Coup (Party Music)
5. Z-Tripp and Lateef (can't remember the title...it's 6:20am)
Here are my top 5:
http://milkmanreturns.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-5-albums-of-2007.html
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