2007: Let's Do This Thing

Okay, since we're already about several dozen hours into 2008, let's get right down to business:

Top 20 Albums:
20. Fields - Everything Last Winter
19. Against Me! - New Wave
18. Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
17. Elliott Smith - New Moon
16. The National - Boxer
15. Eisley - Combinations
14. Field Music - Tones of Town
13. The Coral - Roots and Echoes
12. Radiohead - In Rainbows
11. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
10. Ash - Twilight of the Innocents
9. Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls
8. Albert Hammond, Jr. - Yours to Keep
7. Blonde Redhead - 23
6. Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block

5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

I always thought Wilco was one of those good bands simply because everybody said they were good, albeit a bit boring. However, their 2007 effort just blew me away. It's so good I decided to follow them on tour this year... via live bootlegs on Dimeadozen.
















4. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
Once I had the time to actually sit down and decipher what he was singing, I've realized that Ted Leo is a brilliant lyricist. He's also gone way more punk on this album than his previous albums. That's just good stuff all around.















3. Pink Martini - Hey Eugene!
Great and loungy, this is like the soundtrack to a long-lost Ingrid Bergman film. I don't understand half the lyrics, but what I do get is pretty damn good.
















2. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
There was this one song on their debut album called "Trani" that I really liked because it was like an epic Velvet Underground song. They expanded on that sound with this album, and kinda got rid of the hick thing they had going previously.
















1. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
Although slow to grow on me, every successive listen has revealed more and more about the album's nuanced sound. These guys have really gone above and beyond the Joy Division comparisons and now are on a track to selling out stadium greatness.

Top 20 Tracks:
20. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
19. Mika - Grace Kelly
18. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Who Do You Love?
17. Pink Martini - Taya Tan
16. Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow
15. Bjork - Declare Independence
14. Charlotte Hatherley - I Want You to Know
13. The Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running
12. Kings of Leon - Knocked Up
11. Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am


10. Feist - 1234


9. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks


8. Wilco - You Are My Face


7. Travis - Selfish Jean


6. Ash - You Can't Have It All


5. Interpol - Mammoth


4. Kings of Leon - McFearless


3. Pink Martini - Dosvedanya Mio Bombino


2. Interpol - Who Do You Think (not an official video. I think it's actually David Lynch's "Blue Velvet")


1. Ash - I Started a Fire

Enoch's Hall of Fame (Year 2):
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Doves - Last Broadcast
Ash - Evil Eye
Pretty Girls Make Graves - This is Our Emergency
Chemical Brothers - Starguitar

Happy 2008, everyone!

Confessions

I haven't listened to 10 new albums that I liked enough to compile into a best-of list this year. In fact, there are only 5 that I can truly endorse from 2007. So with no other fanfare, I present to you my "Top 5 Albums of 2007" list:

Runner-up: Graduation - Kanye West
I really liked this. But couldn't put it in my list because I only listened to it maybe twice. I don't know any of the track titles. I can't even tell you what that song with the Daft Punk beat is called.

#5 OK - Zhang Zheng Yue
This Taiwanese singer/songwriter has eschewed the badboy rock and put out a new album featuring a mix of R&B-infused tracks hearkening back to his days of writing exclusively love ballads.

#4 Ronald Jenkees - Ronald Jenkees
The young gentleman in coke bottle glasses displayed his skill with a keyboard on Youtube. Now you can check out his FL chops on his first album, available on his website and in iTunes.


#3 Ultimate Victory - Chamillionaire
I haven't been listening to much hip-hop in general lately, and it's a testament to this fact that Chamillionaire was the only one all year to sustain my attention long enough for me to listen to an album all the way through. I'm glad, too, because this album was hot.


#2 Seimeiryoku - Chatmonchy
When I had $70 left in my checking account, I spent $38 to special order this album at Kinokuniya. I'm an idiot, but Chatmonchy is J-Pop perfection.


#1 Yours to Keep - Albert Hammond Jr.
You might think that this one isn't from 2007 as it's absent from pretty much every internet-music-blog-year-end-best-of-list... but it is! Lucky for me, because this is one of my favorite albums in recent memory.


And so there you have it. Kind of a small round-up though, innit? So I've prepared a second list. I put the year each album was released in parenthesis, so you know how hard you need to mock me for each individual item... Yup, "Top 10 Albums I Listened to for the First Time in 2007":


#10 Jarvis - Jarvis Cocker (2006)


#9 Classics - Ratatat (2006)


#8 Inhuman Rampage - DragonForce (2006)


#7 American Idiot - Green Day (2004)


#6 Sam's Town - The Killers (2006)


#5 Elements Pt. 1 - Stratovarius (2003)


#4 Fantasia - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (2004)


#3 Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (2005)


#2 Black Holes & Revelations - Muse (2006)


#1 Miminari - Chatmonchy (2006)