Thursday, January 24, 2008
Zot is the Quiztune havvermashed
So, I'm still deeply immersed in James Joyce's batshit insane "Finnegan's Wake" monstrosity, and I just got to Chapter 5 of Book 1 of the tome. It begins with "Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities" and her manifesto or, as it is referred to in the novel, "mamafesta". But it doesn't start with the actual content of the "mamafesta", but with 3 and a half pages of possible titles of said "mamafesta". Reading this, it came to me that some of these would make AWESOME song titles. Like, seriously. All these names are quite evocative and/or pretentious-sounding-enough to almost definitely be real prog-rock/post-hardcore/douchebag college indie songs. Check out some of this craziness:
Here's to the Relicts of Old Decencies
The Crazier Letters
A New Cure For an Old Clap
I Ask You to Believe I was his Mistress, He Can Explain
Where Portentos they'd Grow Gonder how I'd Wish I Woose a Geese
In My Lord's Bed by One Whore Went Through It
My Skin Appeals to Three Senses and My Curly Lips Demand Columbkisses
I'm the Stitch in His Backside You'd be Nought Without Mom
A Boob was Weeping This Mower was Reaping
A Pretty Brick Story for Childsize Heroes
Pimpimp Pimpimp
If my Spreadeagles Wasn't so Tight I'd Loosen my Cursits on that Bunch of Maggiestraps
Fine's Fault was no Felon
The Flash That Flies From Vuggy's Eyes has Set Me Hair on Fire
His is the House That Malt Made
As Tree is Quick and Stone is White So is My Washing Done by Night
My Golden One and My Selver Wedding
Which of your Hesterdays Mean Ye to Morra?
Thee Steps Forward, Two Stops Back
I hve not Stopped Water Where It Should Flow and I Know the Twentynine Names of Attrente
Seriously though, you can't tell me that at least SOME of those don't sound like tracks by Of Montreal. This is the wierdest book in the world, I swear to god.
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So, I'm still deeply immersed in James Joyce's batshit insane "Finnegan's Wake" monstrosity, and I just got to Chapter 5 of Book 1 of the tome. It begins with "Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities" and her manifesto or, as it is referred to in the novel, "mamafesta". But it doesn't start with the actual content of the "mamafesta", but with 3 and a half pages of possible titles of said "mamafesta". Reading this, it came to me that some of these would make AWESOME song titles. Like, seriously. All these names are quite evocative and/or pretentious-sounding-enough to almost definitely be real prog-rock/post-hardcore/douchebag college indie songs. Check out some of this craziness:
Here's to the Relicts of Old Decencies
The Crazier Letters
A New Cure For an Old Clap
I Ask You to Believe I was his Mistress, He Can Explain
Where Portentos they'd Grow Gonder how I'd Wish I Woose a Geese
In My Lord's Bed by One Whore Went Through It
My Skin Appeals to Three Senses and My Curly Lips Demand Columbkisses
I'm the Stitch in His Backside You'd be Nought Without Mom
A Boob was Weeping This Mower was Reaping
A Pretty Brick Story for Childsize Heroes
Pimpimp Pimpimp
If my Spreadeagles Wasn't so Tight I'd Loosen my Cursits on that Bunch of Maggiestraps
Fine's Fault was no Felon
The Flash That Flies From Vuggy's Eyes has Set Me Hair on Fire
His is the House That Malt Made
As Tree is Quick and Stone is White So is My Washing Done by Night
My Golden One and My Selver Wedding
Which of your Hesterdays Mean Ye to Morra?
Thee Steps Forward, Two Stops Back
I hve not Stopped Water Where It Should Flow and I Know the Twentynine Names of Attrente
Seriously though, you can't tell me that at least SOME of those don't sound like tracks by Of Montreal. This is the wierdest book in the world, I swear to god.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Saturday Random 10 (but really 20) XXVIII: Back, Bitches!
It is the return of the incredibly self-serving and unpopular Saturday Random! Indeed, after a month-long hiatus where I only finished 2 of the 5 or 6 year-end lists I actually started (and NOT A GODDAMN PERSON commented on my albums of the year....seriously, that took me forever to type out, fuckers!) I begin this tradition of commenting on my personal goings-on for the week, and give you all a glimpse into the incredibly diverse playlist of Evil Brian. I'm also gonna start cross-posting almost everything between the O.G. blogspot and the second-hand store myspace, just because.
Anyways, just came back from a matinee showing of Cloverfield with my dear, dear friend Art and WOW. I haven't really been paying attention to the whole viral marketing dealie that's been going around; I've just really been looking forward to this flick since seeing the infamous trailer before Transformers last year. As someone who's been unexposed to that extraneous crap (I also started reading some of the poor reviews for it, and wondered if they saw the same movie I saw, or whether they actually accidentally saw The Chipmunks movie instead) I have to say that the flick chopped your ass off and delivered it to you on a platter. Seriously, I can see where the shaky-cam thing would turn a lot of people off (didn't really bother me too much though) but the effects were fantastic, the acting was...meh....but really, I just went into this expecting to see an unimaginably huge mystery creature tear New York City a new asshole, and I got all that and more. I've read a bunch of reviews saying the ending was ambiguous....but really, there wasn't any other way for the movie to end that would make any sense whatsoever. So it's not the standard happily-ever-after that Hollywood churns out time and time again; take your fucking blinders off and try something different from the same-old same-old. Seriously though, if you like creature features or just apocalyptic doom in general, I can't recommend this film enough.
Anyways, enough film-fellation, on to the Random!
1. Radiohead - Go To Sleep
2. The Moldy Peaches - Lazy Confessions
3. Danger Doom - No Names (Black Debbie)
4. All That Remains - Whispers (I Hear You)
5. Hole - I Think That I Would Die
6. Pressure 4-5 - Into Yesterday
7. Dinosaur Jr. - On the Brink
8. Method Man featuring Prodigy - Release Yo' Delf (Remix)
9. Faith No More - The Grade (Live at Brixton Academy)
10. Joy Grutman - Schnappi das Kleine Krokodil
11. Professional Murder Music - Dissolve
12. The Smashing Pumpkins - We Only Come Out At Night
13. Deftones - Minus Blindfold
14. Faith No More - Paths of Glory
15. Iggy Pop - Success
16. Van Hunt - Down Here in Hell (With You)
17. Iron Maiden - Journeyman
18. John Legend - Stereo
19. Oasis - Shakermaker
20. System of a Down - Boom!
Got a little bit of everything for the comeback Random, huh?
Starting off with one of the better songs off Hail to the Thief (probably my least favorite Radiohead album...and yet still better than most normal mainstream rock releases), transitions quickly into the lo-fi/folk weirdness of the suddenly-thrust-into-the-mainstream Moldy Peaches (still haven't seen Juno yet, but I DID pick up the soundtrack...pretty damn good, I'd say) then into the always-bizarre MF Doom rapping about Sealab 2021 (and NYC...and the Sandman for some reason...). After that the awesome metal power of All That Remains cleanses the palate before Courtney Love pisses all over it with her terrible, terrible band; who are then followed by early 2000's nu-metal also-also-ALSO rans Pressure 4-5 (one of the many who went on Ozzfest, released one album on a major label, then promptly broke up and were never heard from again). Dinosaur Jr. then appears out of nowhere to save us from the brink of total suckage with the jangly, mumbly On the Brink; which then has the tempo completely switched with a techno remix of Method Man's Release Yo' Delf off the Resident Evil soundtrack which, surprisingly, doesn't suck nearly as bad as you'd think (though this IS the best song off that album); definitely worth tracking down, if only for this song. You got some live acoustic country-fried FNM kicking all kinds off ass segueing right into an 8-year-old German girl singing about her pet crocodile (which, though I don't understand German, is ADORABLE), then another also-also-also ran nu-metal (though they're closer to straight industrial) Professional Murder Music which, despite their stupid name, is actually quite listenable...I'm sure you can find their album in the 99 cent bin of your local record store...they do a cover of The Cure's A Night Like This that is surprisingly decent. After that comes a track off my favorite band's best album ever...nothing else need be said, really. a track off Deftones' first album (which I don't really care for...then again, you could fit all their good songs onto one CD basically, White Pony notwithstanding) then, you guessed it, MORE FAITH NO MORE (though it's off their worst Patton-era album...I still love 'em); the vocals are the best part of this song which is, unfortunately, pretty damn boring for Faith No More. Then Iggy muthafuckin' Pop sings about Success for awhile before Van Hunt takes everything down a notch with the soulful, laid-back funk of Down Here in Hell (this dude doesn't get nearly enough props...he's seriously talented, and definitely worth looking up); the slowed-down tempo continues with a ballad from Iron Maiden which, while no horrible, isn't very good and is off probably my least-favorite album by them (it's even worse than Virtual XI...that's a goddamn FEAT, to say nothing of the X Factor), the soul-metal sandwich is completed by John Legend who I've been listening to more and more lately (he's another R&B/soul traditionalist...though he uses a lot of newer-sounding beats, where Van Hunt uses the old-school flute loops and acoustic guitars) this song in particular is quite good....definitely one of the better ones off his newest album (Target-only live album be damned!). After that, you got yourself some older Oasis, and is then capped off by the band Oasis called the worst band they'd ever heard (which some would say makes them one goddamn great band to listen to), System of a Down with one of their more prominent singles, Boom! You know what, crappy nu-metal and Hole aside, this is a pretty damn great Random. I'm gonna be generous, give this one a solid A. You done good, iTunes. You done good.
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It is the return of the incredibly self-serving and unpopular Saturday Random! Indeed, after a month-long hiatus where I only finished 2 of the 5 or 6 year-end lists I actually started (and NOT A GODDAMN PERSON commented on my albums of the year....seriously, that took me forever to type out, fuckers!) I begin this tradition of commenting on my personal goings-on for the week, and give you all a glimpse into the incredibly diverse playlist of Evil Brian. I'm also gonna start cross-posting almost everything between the O.G. blogspot and the second-hand store myspace, just because.
Anyways, just came back from a matinee showing of Cloverfield with my dear, dear friend Art and WOW. I haven't really been paying attention to the whole viral marketing dealie that's been going around; I've just really been looking forward to this flick since seeing the infamous trailer before Transformers last year. As someone who's been unexposed to that extraneous crap (I also started reading some of the poor reviews for it, and wondered if they saw the same movie I saw, or whether they actually accidentally saw The Chipmunks movie instead) I have to say that the flick chopped your ass off and delivered it to you on a platter. Seriously, I can see where the shaky-cam thing would turn a lot of people off (didn't really bother me too much though) but the effects were fantastic, the acting was...meh....but really, I just went into this expecting to see an unimaginably huge mystery creature tear New York City a new asshole, and I got all that and more. I've read a bunch of reviews saying the ending was ambiguous....but really, there wasn't any other way for the movie to end that would make any sense whatsoever. So it's not the standard happily-ever-after that Hollywood churns out time and time again; take your fucking blinders off and try something different from the same-old same-old. Seriously though, if you like creature features or just apocalyptic doom in general, I can't recommend this film enough.
Anyways, enough film-fellation, on to the Random!
1. Radiohead - Go To Sleep
2. The Moldy Peaches - Lazy Confessions
3. Danger Doom - No Names (Black Debbie)
4. All That Remains - Whispers (I Hear You)
5. Hole - I Think That I Would Die
6. Pressure 4-5 - Into Yesterday
7. Dinosaur Jr. - On the Brink
8. Method Man featuring Prodigy - Release Yo' Delf (Remix)
9. Faith No More - The Grade (Live at Brixton Academy)
10. Joy Grutman - Schnappi das Kleine Krokodil
11. Professional Murder Music - Dissolve
12. The Smashing Pumpkins - We Only Come Out At Night
13. Deftones - Minus Blindfold
14. Faith No More - Paths of Glory
15. Iggy Pop - Success
16. Van Hunt - Down Here in Hell (With You)
17. Iron Maiden - Journeyman
18. John Legend - Stereo
19. Oasis - Shakermaker
20. System of a Down - Boom!
Got a little bit of everything for the comeback Random, huh?
Starting off with one of the better songs off Hail to the Thief (probably my least favorite Radiohead album...and yet still better than most normal mainstream rock releases), transitions quickly into the lo-fi/folk weirdness of the suddenly-thrust-into-the-mainstream Moldy Peaches (still haven't seen Juno yet, but I DID pick up the soundtrack...pretty damn good, I'd say) then into the always-bizarre MF Doom rapping about Sealab 2021 (and NYC...and the Sandman for some reason...). After that the awesome metal power of All That Remains cleanses the palate before Courtney Love pisses all over it with her terrible, terrible band; who are then followed by early 2000's nu-metal also-also-ALSO rans Pressure 4-5 (one of the many who went on Ozzfest, released one album on a major label, then promptly broke up and were never heard from again). Dinosaur Jr. then appears out of nowhere to save us from the brink of total suckage with the jangly, mumbly On the Brink; which then has the tempo completely switched with a techno remix of Method Man's Release Yo' Delf off the Resident Evil soundtrack which, surprisingly, doesn't suck nearly as bad as you'd think (though this IS the best song off that album); definitely worth tracking down, if only for this song. You got some live acoustic country-fried FNM kicking all kinds off ass segueing right into an 8-year-old German girl singing about her pet crocodile (which, though I don't understand German, is ADORABLE), then another also-also-also ran nu-metal (though they're closer to straight industrial) Professional Murder Music which, despite their stupid name, is actually quite listenable...I'm sure you can find their album in the 99 cent bin of your local record store...they do a cover of The Cure's A Night Like This that is surprisingly decent. After that comes a track off my favorite band's best album ever...nothing else need be said, really. a track off Deftones' first album (which I don't really care for...then again, you could fit all their good songs onto one CD basically, White Pony notwithstanding) then, you guessed it, MORE FAITH NO MORE (though it's off their worst Patton-era album...I still love 'em); the vocals are the best part of this song which is, unfortunately, pretty damn boring for Faith No More. Then Iggy muthafuckin' Pop sings about Success for awhile before Van Hunt takes everything down a notch with the soulful, laid-back funk of Down Here in Hell (this dude doesn't get nearly enough props...he's seriously talented, and definitely worth looking up); the slowed-down tempo continues with a ballad from Iron Maiden which, while no horrible, isn't very good and is off probably my least-favorite album by them (it's even worse than Virtual XI...that's a goddamn FEAT, to say nothing of the X Factor), the soul-metal sandwich is completed by John Legend who I've been listening to more and more lately (he's another R&B/soul traditionalist...though he uses a lot of newer-sounding beats, where Van Hunt uses the old-school flute loops and acoustic guitars) this song in particular is quite good....definitely one of the better ones off his newest album (Target-only live album be damned!). After that, you got yourself some older Oasis, and is then capped off by the band Oasis called the worst band they'd ever heard (which some would say makes them one goddamn great band to listen to), System of a Down with one of their more prominent singles, Boom! You know what, crappy nu-metal and Hole aside, this is a pretty damn great Random. I'm gonna be generous, give this one a solid A. You done good, iTunes. You done good.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Introducing Two Bands I Love
So, I met someone whom I like quite a bit that is...let's say removed...from music. She's cool, intelligent and slightly nerdy (like me...only cute...and female). So, I have decided to introduce her to the wonders of They Might Be Giants and The White Stripes. The following is the track listing for the mix CDs I created to introduce her to these two paragons of awesome. Critique as you will.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS:
Don't Let's Start (this is how every TMBG mix should start: the perfect song)
Birdhouse In Your Soul
Ana Ng
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
We Want A Rock
They'll Need A Crane
Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
Four Of Two
When It Rains It Snows
I Am Not Your Broom
The World's Address
Mr. Me
Which Describes How You're Feeling
Pencil Rain
Twisting
She's An Angel
Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
Particle Man
I've Got a Match
Subliminal
Shoehorn With Teeth
Experimental Film
Snowball In Hell
I Am A Grocery Bag
32 Footsteps
Kiss Me, Son of God
Women & Men
It's Not My Birthday
Nightgown of the Sullen Moon
I Should Be Allowed To Think
Meet James Ensor
Mammal
Dinner Bell
The Mesopotamians
I Palindrome I
I realize that the TMBG mix is very VERY heavy on the early stuff, but I just find that to be a lot easier to get into than the Apollo 18/John Henry and everything forwards stuff (at least, that's what introduced ME to them and hooked me). Plus, say what you want, I Am a Grocery Bag is hilarious (first time I threw it on, I almost drove off the road...I hadn't looked at the tracklisting, and it was so completely unexpected).
THE WHITE STRIPES:
One More Cup Of Coffee
Hotel Yorba
Apple Blossom
I Want To Be the Boy
You're Pretty Good Looking For a Girl
My Doorbell
Seven Nation Army
There's No Home For You Here
Fell In Love With a Girl
Hypnotise
The Hardest Button to Button
I'm Slowly Turning Into You
Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?
A Martyr For My Love For You
Hello Operator
Black Math
Icky Thump
I'm Finding It Harder To Be a Gentleman
Take Take Take
Effect & Cause
Dead Leaves & the Dirty Ground
The denial twist
Conquest
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
In the Cold Cold Night
I didn't want to just give her a copy of Icky Thump, so I handpicked some highlights from all the albums and mixed them all up. I wish I could've fit Rag & Bone on here too, but I REALLY wanted Take Take Take on the mix).
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So, I met someone whom I like quite a bit that is...let's say removed...from music. She's cool, intelligent and slightly nerdy (like me...only cute...and female). So, I have decided to introduce her to the wonders of They Might Be Giants and The White Stripes. The following is the track listing for the mix CDs I created to introduce her to these two paragons of awesome. Critique as you will.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS:
Don't Let's Start (this is how every TMBG mix should start: the perfect song)
Birdhouse In Your Soul
Ana Ng
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
We Want A Rock
They'll Need A Crane
Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
Four Of Two
When It Rains It Snows
I Am Not Your Broom
The World's Address
Mr. Me
Which Describes How You're Feeling
Pencil Rain
Twisting
She's An Angel
Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
Particle Man
I've Got a Match
Subliminal
Shoehorn With Teeth
Experimental Film
Snowball In Hell
I Am A Grocery Bag
32 Footsteps
Kiss Me, Son of God
Women & Men
It's Not My Birthday
Nightgown of the Sullen Moon
I Should Be Allowed To Think
Meet James Ensor
Mammal
Dinner Bell
The Mesopotamians
I Palindrome I
I realize that the TMBG mix is very VERY heavy on the early stuff, but I just find that to be a lot easier to get into than the Apollo 18/John Henry and everything forwards stuff (at least, that's what introduced ME to them and hooked me). Plus, say what you want, I Am a Grocery Bag is hilarious (first time I threw it on, I almost drove off the road...I hadn't looked at the tracklisting, and it was so completely unexpected).
THE WHITE STRIPES:
One More Cup Of Coffee
Hotel Yorba
Apple Blossom
I Want To Be the Boy
You're Pretty Good Looking For a Girl
My Doorbell
Seven Nation Army
There's No Home For You Here
Fell In Love With a Girl
Hypnotise
The Hardest Button to Button
I'm Slowly Turning Into You
Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?
A Martyr For My Love For You
Hello Operator
Black Math
Icky Thump
I'm Finding It Harder To Be a Gentleman
Take Take Take
Effect & Cause
Dead Leaves & the Dirty Ground
The denial twist
Conquest
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
In the Cold Cold Night
I didn't want to just give her a copy of Icky Thump, so I handpicked some highlights from all the albums and mixed them all up. I wish I could've fit Rag & Bone on here too, but I REALLY wanted Take Take Take on the mix).
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Top 20 (+1.5) Albums of 2007
Ah, it's that time of the year again. Breathe it in, that there's the air of a fresh new year beginning (with the slight stench of the dead, decaying corpse of the old year in the background) and, as always, I return with a totally pointless list that only serves to bolster my own self-importance. Comments at the bottom, bitches; Here we go!
(+0.5) Flight of the Conchords - The Distant Future: HBO's hottest import released an EP (a full length is supposedly on the way for 2008) and absolutely blew me away. See, I don't have HBO, and for some reason torrents take forever for me to download (curse you, Comcast!), so I knew nothing about them except most of the Internet was raving about them. So, I picked up this CD for 5 bucks, and was absolutely slain. These guys are fantastic at playing everything straight, even when singing the most ludicrous lyrics possible (or busting out a sweet binary solo). Highly recommended.
Recommended Tracks: There's only 6 tracks on the EP, but Robots is the standout hit (Business Time is a close second).
(+1) Patton Oswalt - Werewolves and Lollipops: I am honest to Satan shocked that Patton Oswalt isn't a huge household name yet (despite starring in Pixar's most adult-oriented movie to date). Like a nerdy amalgam of David Cross and Dave Attell, Patton waxes philosophical about Star Trek, Star Wars, Obscenities on TV, the birthing process and Death Bed, the Bed That Eats People, among a couple dozen other subjects. I haven't laughed so hard at a comedy CD since listening to Adam Sandler's first album when I was in 6th grade (hey, that shit was a revelation in 1993, back off!). Every single syllable out of his pudgy mouth is absolutely hysterical, even his horrible Bruce Springsteen impression early on in the album. He just has a way of phrasing sentences that demands attention and comes out as being laugh-out-loud funny. This guy is one album and one fantastic movie away from being an American icon. Here's hopin'.
Recommended Tracks: America Has Spoken, The Miracle of Childbirth, Physics For Poets, Wackity Schmackity Doo!
20. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare: Arctic Monkeys start off their much-anticipated sophomore album with a song called Brianstorm. They really know how to market exclusively to ME! (even though the song is about a dude named Brian being an asshole, I gotta love it. There's not nearly enough 'Brian' songs). A little better production, a more glossy finish on everything, the music is still both rockin' and catchy as hell. These guys are paving the way for the new evolution of Britpop, and I am SO already along for the ride.
Recommended Tracks: Brianstorm, D is for Dangerous, Fluorescent Adolescent
19. Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's The Cool: This would be WAY higher if it was released earlier than December 18 and had time to grow on me. Even without the buffer, this is one of the finest hip hop albums I've ever listened to. The whole album reads like a love letter for what Hip Hop used to be, and how Lupe is trying to bring it back to that kind of purity of the art form, even though it's a concept album (which, quite frankly, SHOULD NOT WORK) about the life and death of the main character and his attempt at being a professional rap star. Seriously, this guy is one of the best lyricists working on a major label, though he does have a slightly annoying penchant for repeating the lines of the hook over and over again (moreso than Static-X and Coal Chamber combined). But still, any rap artist that can come up with lines like "And I would never feel pain/And never be without pleasure, ever, again/And if the rain stops, and everything's dry/She would cry, just so I could drink the tears from her eyes" is a winner in my book.
Recommended Tracks: Go Go Gadget Flow, The Coolest, Hip Hop Saved My Life, Little Weapon, Dumb It Down
18. Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth: Speaking of outstanding hip hop albums, Brother Ali shows some serious chops, and is the first real independent artist on the list. Check this out, a Muslim albino that, despite his appearance, has such enormous street cred that he has fostered an army of faithful fans where (and this is where you should be paying attention) HIS MUSIC AND TALENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE IMAGE. This is a glimpse into the mind and conflicting emotions churning about in his big bald head, an extremely autobiographical record with very strong political overtones that hit hard and fast. He has a slower, more laid back flow than most of the other rappers on this list, it's almost an old school hip hop-type vibe going on, but the subject matter is distinctly relevant and topical. Very personal, very awesome, get this now.
Recommended Tracks: Truth Is, Letter From The Government, Uncle Sam Goddamn, Listen Up, Take Me Home
17. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero: Screw all the haters out there, this album has a bunch of fantastic tracks that hold up with anything off Downward Spiral or The Fragile. There's no need top defend this album, it stands up by itself. The first part of a two part concept album about a dystopian future of a theocratic America (far-fetched science fiction, right? Right?? Mike Huckabee anyone???), this is seriously one of my favorite NIN albums. Then again, I love crazy, glitchy, Aphex Twin-ish techno IDM music. Trent Reznor is drifting farther and farther away from straight up industrial into full blown IDM territory, and I LOVE it.
Recommended Tracks: Capital G, Meet Your Master, the fearsome foursome of the last 4 tracks put together (The Great Destroyer, Another Version of the Truth, In This Twilight, Zero Sum)
16. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Volumes I & II: The former emocore outfit is seriously distancing themselves from their old, slightly artsy-fartsy derivativeness into truly grand artistic visions of substance and texture, more in line with Poison The Well than The Used. The latest evidence of their maturing process is this, the first 2 parts of a four part series of EPs about the essence of 4 elements of the Earth (or, if you will, four of the five parts of Captain Planet). This first part, consisting of the discs Fire and Water, are beautiful and ferocious at the same time. The Fire disc is appropriately loud and fast, with notes and riffs jumping all over like the flames of a burning pyre, while the Water disc has a more laid back, slow, quietly electronic-based flow to it, like a placid lake (perhaps Lake Placid??!) It comes off as being genuinely interesting without being pretentious or overblown. Pretty cool, it actually reminds me a little bit of Deftones' White Pony album (which, as we all know, is the only truly great album they ever released or ever will).
Recommended Tracks: Firebreather, Burn The Fleet, Digital Sea, Lost Continent, Night Driving (an awesome instrumental)
15. Battles - Mirrored: a techno album that was created entirely with live instruments...sure, it's been done before, but I doubt it's been done quite this well. Now, this selection IS kinda pretentious (and thus has been embraced by annoying indie snobs the world 'round), but it just sounds SO GOOD. Very few actual lyrics, the vocals are used more like an extra instrument; as such, this release leans closer to Fantomas than Chemical Brothers, where the songs are more about the concept or environment of the subjects rather than any certain subject, really. Very evocative and yet very head-noddingly cool.
Recommended Tracks: Ddiamondd, Tonto, Snare Hangar, Atlas
14. Gallows - Orchestra of Wolves: Holy shit! Finally, a punk band that really, really sounds goddamn dangerous to be around. They do sing a couple songs about love and heartbreak, but the approach to every song is absolutely ruthless. I doubt anybody leaves one of their shows without getting bloodied (or at least without getting someone else's blood on them). Plus, the title track is one of the most gloriously obscene songs I've ever listened to, and yet it's so thrashingly violently awesome that when it eventually devolves into the throat-shredding screams of "the hardest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return", it comes across as both hilarious parody and heart-rending truth. Punk hasn't sounded so genuine, at least not in a great while.
Recommended Tracks: Orchestra of Wolves, Abandon Ship, The Belly of a Shark, Rolling With the Punches
13. Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion: The hardest rockin' band in America, hands down. Blues metal at it's finest, with one of the most distinctive (and goddamn LOUD) vocalists in the world. Somehow, the bellows and wails sound completely soulful when paired with the heavy-as-lead riffs going on in the background. Some of the lyrics border on the absurd, but let's face it; most of Clutch's albums were made to just sit back and get high with your friends with. These guys are picking up where Black Sabbath left off and are dragging the classic sound through Maryland mud, and are doing one hell of a job running with it.
Recommended Tracks: You Can't Stop Progress, Electric Worry, White's Ferry, Black Umbrella, Mr. Shiny Cadillackness
12. Kanye West - Graduation: Can we call this guy a legend yet? Because I think it's entirely appropriate at this point. Dude's only released three albums, and all three are absolute classics. I mean, even Jay-Z has released some stinkers (Kingdom Come, anyone? Blueprint 2, perhaps?) Kanye has completely revolutionized hip hop, writing tracks less concerned about violence and drug dealing and more concerned with just being fucking COOL. As a person, he's an egotistical asshole; but as an artist, I can totally respect the man. He somehow flies even farther away from sounding mainstream, while becoming exponentially more popular. Funny how that works...almost as if people want to hear something different...hmmmmm....
Plus, he gets points just for having the craziest, trippiest album cover I've ever seen on a mainstream rap album. That's just awesome.
Recommended Tracks: Good Morning, Stronger, Good Life (just the fact that he made a song with the annoying black Peter Frampton catchy and listenable speaks more for the man than anything I write ever could), Barry Bonds, Everything I Am, Can't Tell Me Nothin'
11. Machine Head - The Blackening: This is Machine Head's masterpiece, hands down. After releasing one horrible album (Burning Red) and one entirely unlistenable album (Supercharger), Machine Head had redeemed themselves with Through the Ashes... But this, THIS album is one of the finest collections of thrash since Metallica's Master of Puppets. Producing their most political album to date, along with ruminations on the reasons behind violent tendencies and needless warfare makes this an absolute must-listen to anybody, metalhead and non-metalhead alike. A short track listing hides the fact that half the songs on the album are over 9 minutes long, each one an enveloping, sprawling epic combining both classic thrash and the new wave of American heavy metal sound inherent in bands like Chimaira and Shadows Fall (have I dropped enough names yet?). Nearly perfect.
Recommended Tracks: Clenching the Fists of Dissent, Now I Lay Thee Down, A Farewell to Arms, Slanderous
10. Dethklok - Metalocalypse: The Dethalbum: Here's what I don't get; Shadows Fall, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Chimaira and Behemoth all released new albums this year (all of which I purchased and have listened to), and yet this fake cartoon band blows every single one of them out of the water. What the fuck gives?? More than likely, it's because the musicians behind Dethklok don't take themselves too seriously, and just do what they do for the love of all things metal. I mean, when you get right down to it, Dimmu Borgir is absolutely fucking ridiculous. But if you take Dimmu Borgir and have them sing a song about mermaids, that there is gold, Jerry, gold. The fact is, the reverence for the genre presented by Brandon Small and his Dethklok teammates, combined with a warped sense of humor makes for one of the most listenable, most accessable and, indeed, most head-banging metal albums to come out in years. Also, let's face it, Mermaider is one of the heaviest songs ever put to CD. EVER.
Recommended Tracks: Mermaider, Go Into the Water, Bloodrocuted, Briefcase Full of Guts, Birthday Dethday, Hatredcopter, Detharmonic
09. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist: Okay, I'm a fucking fanboy. There, I said it, I got it out of the way, so there's no need to bring it up in the comments. That being said, I do genuinely love this album, more than I think I should. No, it's not a return to the Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie glory days, but if you thought it would be, then you're a goddamn fool. It may be Zwanshing Pumpkins, but I don't care, it's still a completely solid rock album, and Billy Corgan can still shred like a fucking madman. This album would probably be positioned somewhere in the middle of their discography as far as quality goes; above Adore (and WAAAAYYYY above Machina), but below Gish. Not too bad, I'd say. At the end of the day, any Smashing Pumpkins is better than no Smashing Pumpkins, and this dark, moody album is just the thing to hit the spot.
Recommended Tracks: Doomsday Clock, 7 Shades of Black, Tarantula, United States, Bleeding the Orchid
08. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black: Crazy, drug-addicted tabloid fodder? Perhaps. But eventually you gotta face facts: the bitch can sing. Contemporary emotional autobiographical (and somewhat vulgar) lyrics juxtaposed with a 60's and 70's soulful R&B sound just fucking WORKS. The fact that it comes out of a short, skinny Jewish heroin addict is besides the point; the music speaks for itself. You just have to separate her public persona from the music. And hey, when she dies in the next year from an overdose (or choking on her own vomit after an overdose), she'll be a punk rock-type legend; won't that be cool?
Recommended Tracks: Rehab, You Know I'm No Good, Back to Black, Tears Dry On Their Own, Some Unholy War
07. Between the Buried and Me - Colors: These guys are what Pink Floyd would sound like if they were a death metal band. Seriously, who thought that Death Prog would even be a genre? Well, here it is, and Between the Buried and Me prove themselves with their most ambitious and eclectic album to date. Sounding like a bizarre cross between old Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr. Bungle and Dream Theater, these guys have released an album that is essentially one 64-minute song cut into 8 parts. Jumping between genres, time signatures and narratives, this band released the best and most creative metal album of the year. Absolutely amazing.
Recommended Tracks: Sun Of Nothing, Ants Of The Sky, Informal Gluttony
06. Radiohead - In Rainbows: A lot has been said about the marketing of this album (which was brilliant) but not until the end-of-the-year lists started coming did anyone tackle the important question: How good is In Rainbows? I was one of the assholes that downloaded it for free. After listening to it for a week straight, I ended up ordering the $82 discbox version. This is what Hail to the Thief should have been. A masterpiece in every sense of the word. Magnificent.
Recommended Tracks: Videotape, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Bodysnatchers, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Nude
05. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: Modest Mouse managed to top themselves with this years' We Were Dead... starts out with a dirge-y concertina and proceeding to sound like a mix between a drunk sing-along in a dirty bar down by the pier and a garage band playing a gig at a friend's backyard, all with Isaac Brock's signature quirky twists and turns and unmistakable vocals. It's catchy, it's artful, it's poetic, and it's good and noisy.
Recommended Tracks: We've Got Everything, March Into The Sea, Dashboard, Parting the Sensory, People As Places As People
04. Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!: This band is a fucking party. It may not be my number one, but this is the most fun you could have listening to an album, period. Between the broken English, singing verses in Russian and totally over-the-top....well...EVERYTHING, this band managed to release an album that not only demands that you listen, but demands that you chant along, dance, and just have a goddamn good time with it. The world's best (and only) Gypsy punk band. Leon Hutz is Mick Jagger in his prime (only, you know, Ukrainian).
Recommended Tracks: Ultimate, Supertheory of Supereverything, Harem In Tuscany, Wanderlust King, American Wedding
03. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas: Yes, this was released in July of 2006(There seems to be one of these type albums on my list every year, just go with it), but only on their tiny indie label in California. It got picked up for nationwide distribution late 2006 and, even then, I couldn't find it until January or February 2007; so I'm totally fucking counting it. With that out of the way, these guys are goddamn amazing. A perfect concoction with equal parts Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and Goo-era Sonic Youth, with just a pinch of Pavement (maybe a half teaspoon of Pixies?). Do I like them so much because of a freaky 90's nostalgia kick? Perhaps, but nevertheless these guys can bring the rock, no question. From the jangly Checkered Floor to the intense Future Foe Scenarios, all the way down to the fuzzed-out Common Reactor, this is one of the most listenable albums to come out this year (official release dates be damned!)
Recommended Tracks: Future Foe Scenarios, Lazy Eye, Well Thought-Out Twinkles, Little Lover's So Polite
02. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass: I've never before heard somebody who can bend the very English language to his will like Aesop Rock. With None Shall Pass, Aes took all his previous releases, indeed, his entire career's evolution, and polished and refined it into this trippy, angular, head-nodding hard-hitting monster of an album. The beats, the production, everything on this album is stepped up to the maximum, and is absolutely Aesop Rock's best release to date. While trying to follow every narrative in every song is certainly a challenge, every song has a dozen or so lines that will swim around your head for days afterwards. Almost nothing is presented straightforward, and you do have to decode the metaphors, references and...well, poetry (there's really no other word for it), but you are more than rewarded for your efforts;. If there was any justice in this world, Aesop Rock would be as big as Outkast or Ludacris or, at the very least, Soulja Boy.
(note: wait 2 years, reread this review and see if you can remember who the hell Soulja Boy is/was. Hi Future Readers! I'm dating myself!!)
Recommended Tracks: None Shall Pass, Citronella, Coffee, The Harbor Is Yours, Catacomb Kids, Pigs (Hidden Track)
That only leaves us with the Number One spot. The single best album of 2007. Bums, Bastards and Other Bums, I am proud to present to you:
01. The White Stripes - Icky Thump: Jack White is the goddamn devil. He is the GODDAMN DEVIL. Seriously. I have no idea how someone can go from forming a band in obscurity to total worldwide superstardom in less than 10 years and STILL top their previous efforts with every subsequent release; yet somehow, someway, The White Stripes do just that. With Icky Thump, The White Stripes manage to release both their most heartfelt and loudest rockin' album to date. They have made an album that is both very mainstream and yet completely avant garde, sounding both brand new and timeless. They've never come so close to heavy metal as with Little Cream Soda, never come so close to straight up folk music as with Effect & Cause and never come so close to being a mariachi band as with Conquest. Every guitar wail and moan, every isolated note from the keyboard, every cymbal crash reverberates cool and hangs in the air; this music is so awesome it is PALPABLE. Make no mistake, this is their loudest record; this is their bluesiest record, this is their best record and, without any doubt in my mind at all, this is THE best album of 2007. Rejoice!
Recommended Tracks: Little Cream Soda, Icky Thump, Conquest, Catch Hell Blues...fuck it, every single track is brilliant. Why don't you have this album yet??
THERE'S NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO TELL YOU...NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO TELL YOU....NOTHING LEFT...ohwellohwellohwell...ohwellohwell.
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Ah, it's that time of the year again. Breathe it in, that there's the air of a fresh new year beginning (with the slight stench of the dead, decaying corpse of the old year in the background) and, as always, I return with a totally pointless list that only serves to bolster my own self-importance. Comments at the bottom, bitches; Here we go!
(+0.5) Flight of the Conchords - The Distant Future: HBO's hottest import released an EP (a full length is supposedly on the way for 2008) and absolutely blew me away. See, I don't have HBO, and for some reason torrents take forever for me to download (curse you, Comcast!), so I knew nothing about them except most of the Internet was raving about them. So, I picked up this CD for 5 bucks, and was absolutely slain. These guys are fantastic at playing everything straight, even when singing the most ludicrous lyrics possible (or busting out a sweet binary solo). Highly recommended.
Recommended Tracks: There's only 6 tracks on the EP, but Robots is the standout hit (Business Time is a close second).
(+1) Patton Oswalt - Werewolves and Lollipops: I am honest to Satan shocked that Patton Oswalt isn't a huge household name yet (despite starring in Pixar's most adult-oriented movie to date). Like a nerdy amalgam of David Cross and Dave Attell, Patton waxes philosophical about Star Trek, Star Wars, Obscenities on TV, the birthing process and Death Bed, the Bed That Eats People, among a couple dozen other subjects. I haven't laughed so hard at a comedy CD since listening to Adam Sandler's first album when I was in 6th grade (hey, that shit was a revelation in 1993, back off!). Every single syllable out of his pudgy mouth is absolutely hysterical, even his horrible Bruce Springsteen impression early on in the album. He just has a way of phrasing sentences that demands attention and comes out as being laugh-out-loud funny. This guy is one album and one fantastic movie away from being an American icon. Here's hopin'.
Recommended Tracks: America Has Spoken, The Miracle of Childbirth, Physics For Poets, Wackity Schmackity Doo!
20. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare: Arctic Monkeys start off their much-anticipated sophomore album with a song called Brianstorm. They really know how to market exclusively to ME! (even though the song is about a dude named Brian being an asshole, I gotta love it. There's not nearly enough 'Brian' songs). A little better production, a more glossy finish on everything, the music is still both rockin' and catchy as hell. These guys are paving the way for the new evolution of Britpop, and I am SO already along for the ride.
Recommended Tracks: Brianstorm, D is for Dangerous, Fluorescent Adolescent
19. Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's The Cool: This would be WAY higher if it was released earlier than December 18 and had time to grow on me. Even without the buffer, this is one of the finest hip hop albums I've ever listened to. The whole album reads like a love letter for what Hip Hop used to be, and how Lupe is trying to bring it back to that kind of purity of the art form, even though it's a concept album (which, quite frankly, SHOULD NOT WORK) about the life and death of the main character and his attempt at being a professional rap star. Seriously, this guy is one of the best lyricists working on a major label, though he does have a slightly annoying penchant for repeating the lines of the hook over and over again (moreso than Static-X and Coal Chamber combined). But still, any rap artist that can come up with lines like "And I would never feel pain/And never be without pleasure, ever, again/And if the rain stops, and everything's dry/She would cry, just so I could drink the tears from her eyes" is a winner in my book.
Recommended Tracks: Go Go Gadget Flow, The Coolest, Hip Hop Saved My Life, Little Weapon, Dumb It Down
18. Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth: Speaking of outstanding hip hop albums, Brother Ali shows some serious chops, and is the first real independent artist on the list. Check this out, a Muslim albino that, despite his appearance, has such enormous street cred that he has fostered an army of faithful fans where (and this is where you should be paying attention) HIS MUSIC AND TALENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE IMAGE. This is a glimpse into the mind and conflicting emotions churning about in his big bald head, an extremely autobiographical record with very strong political overtones that hit hard and fast. He has a slower, more laid back flow than most of the other rappers on this list, it's almost an old school hip hop-type vibe going on, but the subject matter is distinctly relevant and topical. Very personal, very awesome, get this now.
Recommended Tracks: Truth Is, Letter From The Government, Uncle Sam Goddamn, Listen Up, Take Me Home
17. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero: Screw all the haters out there, this album has a bunch of fantastic tracks that hold up with anything off Downward Spiral or The Fragile. There's no need top defend this album, it stands up by itself. The first part of a two part concept album about a dystopian future of a theocratic America (far-fetched science fiction, right? Right?? Mike Huckabee anyone???), this is seriously one of my favorite NIN albums. Then again, I love crazy, glitchy, Aphex Twin-ish techno IDM music. Trent Reznor is drifting farther and farther away from straight up industrial into full blown IDM territory, and I LOVE it.
Recommended Tracks: Capital G, Meet Your Master, the fearsome foursome of the last 4 tracks put together (The Great Destroyer, Another Version of the Truth, In This Twilight, Zero Sum)
16. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Volumes I & II: The former emocore outfit is seriously distancing themselves from their old, slightly artsy-fartsy derivativeness into truly grand artistic visions of substance and texture, more in line with Poison The Well than The Used. The latest evidence of their maturing process is this, the first 2 parts of a four part series of EPs about the essence of 4 elements of the Earth (or, if you will, four of the five parts of Captain Planet). This first part, consisting of the discs Fire and Water, are beautiful and ferocious at the same time. The Fire disc is appropriately loud and fast, with notes and riffs jumping all over like the flames of a burning pyre, while the Water disc has a more laid back, slow, quietly electronic-based flow to it, like a placid lake (perhaps Lake Placid??!) It comes off as being genuinely interesting without being pretentious or overblown. Pretty cool, it actually reminds me a little bit of Deftones' White Pony album (which, as we all know, is the only truly great album they ever released or ever will).
Recommended Tracks: Firebreather, Burn The Fleet, Digital Sea, Lost Continent, Night Driving (an awesome instrumental)
15. Battles - Mirrored: a techno album that was created entirely with live instruments...sure, it's been done before, but I doubt it's been done quite this well. Now, this selection IS kinda pretentious (and thus has been embraced by annoying indie snobs the world 'round), but it just sounds SO GOOD. Very few actual lyrics, the vocals are used more like an extra instrument; as such, this release leans closer to Fantomas than Chemical Brothers, where the songs are more about the concept or environment of the subjects rather than any certain subject, really. Very evocative and yet very head-noddingly cool.
Recommended Tracks: Ddiamondd, Tonto, Snare Hangar, Atlas
14. Gallows - Orchestra of Wolves: Holy shit! Finally, a punk band that really, really sounds goddamn dangerous to be around. They do sing a couple songs about love and heartbreak, but the approach to every song is absolutely ruthless. I doubt anybody leaves one of their shows without getting bloodied (or at least without getting someone else's blood on them). Plus, the title track is one of the most gloriously obscene songs I've ever listened to, and yet it's so thrashingly violently awesome that when it eventually devolves into the throat-shredding screams of "the hardest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return", it comes across as both hilarious parody and heart-rending truth. Punk hasn't sounded so genuine, at least not in a great while.
Recommended Tracks: Orchestra of Wolves, Abandon Ship, The Belly of a Shark, Rolling With the Punches
13. Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion: The hardest rockin' band in America, hands down. Blues metal at it's finest, with one of the most distinctive (and goddamn LOUD) vocalists in the world. Somehow, the bellows and wails sound completely soulful when paired with the heavy-as-lead riffs going on in the background. Some of the lyrics border on the absurd, but let's face it; most of Clutch's albums were made to just sit back and get high with your friends with. These guys are picking up where Black Sabbath left off and are dragging the classic sound through Maryland mud, and are doing one hell of a job running with it.
Recommended Tracks: You Can't Stop Progress, Electric Worry, White's Ferry, Black Umbrella, Mr. Shiny Cadillackness
12. Kanye West - Graduation: Can we call this guy a legend yet? Because I think it's entirely appropriate at this point. Dude's only released three albums, and all three are absolute classics. I mean, even Jay-Z has released some stinkers (Kingdom Come, anyone? Blueprint 2, perhaps?) Kanye has completely revolutionized hip hop, writing tracks less concerned about violence and drug dealing and more concerned with just being fucking COOL. As a person, he's an egotistical asshole; but as an artist, I can totally respect the man. He somehow flies even farther away from sounding mainstream, while becoming exponentially more popular. Funny how that works...almost as if people want to hear something different...hmmmmm....
Plus, he gets points just for having the craziest, trippiest album cover I've ever seen on a mainstream rap album. That's just awesome.
Recommended Tracks: Good Morning, Stronger, Good Life (just the fact that he made a song with the annoying black Peter Frampton catchy and listenable speaks more for the man than anything I write ever could), Barry Bonds, Everything I Am, Can't Tell Me Nothin'
11. Machine Head - The Blackening: This is Machine Head's masterpiece, hands down. After releasing one horrible album (Burning Red) and one entirely unlistenable album (Supercharger), Machine Head had redeemed themselves with Through the Ashes... But this, THIS album is one of the finest collections of thrash since Metallica's Master of Puppets. Producing their most political album to date, along with ruminations on the reasons behind violent tendencies and needless warfare makes this an absolute must-listen to anybody, metalhead and non-metalhead alike. A short track listing hides the fact that half the songs on the album are over 9 minutes long, each one an enveloping, sprawling epic combining both classic thrash and the new wave of American heavy metal sound inherent in bands like Chimaira and Shadows Fall (have I dropped enough names yet?). Nearly perfect.
Recommended Tracks: Clenching the Fists of Dissent, Now I Lay Thee Down, A Farewell to Arms, Slanderous
10. Dethklok - Metalocalypse: The Dethalbum: Here's what I don't get; Shadows Fall, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Chimaira and Behemoth all released new albums this year (all of which I purchased and have listened to), and yet this fake cartoon band blows every single one of them out of the water. What the fuck gives?? More than likely, it's because the musicians behind Dethklok don't take themselves too seriously, and just do what they do for the love of all things metal. I mean, when you get right down to it, Dimmu Borgir is absolutely fucking ridiculous. But if you take Dimmu Borgir and have them sing a song about mermaids, that there is gold, Jerry, gold. The fact is, the reverence for the genre presented by Brandon Small and his Dethklok teammates, combined with a warped sense of humor makes for one of the most listenable, most accessable and, indeed, most head-banging metal albums to come out in years. Also, let's face it, Mermaider is one of the heaviest songs ever put to CD. EVER.
Recommended Tracks: Mermaider, Go Into the Water, Bloodrocuted, Briefcase Full of Guts, Birthday Dethday, Hatredcopter, Detharmonic
09. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist: Okay, I'm a fucking fanboy. There, I said it, I got it out of the way, so there's no need to bring it up in the comments. That being said, I do genuinely love this album, more than I think I should. No, it's not a return to the Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie glory days, but if you thought it would be, then you're a goddamn fool. It may be Zwanshing Pumpkins, but I don't care, it's still a completely solid rock album, and Billy Corgan can still shred like a fucking madman. This album would probably be positioned somewhere in the middle of their discography as far as quality goes; above Adore (and WAAAAYYYY above Machina), but below Gish. Not too bad, I'd say. At the end of the day, any Smashing Pumpkins is better than no Smashing Pumpkins, and this dark, moody album is just the thing to hit the spot.
Recommended Tracks: Doomsday Clock, 7 Shades of Black, Tarantula, United States, Bleeding the Orchid
08. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black: Crazy, drug-addicted tabloid fodder? Perhaps. But eventually you gotta face facts: the bitch can sing. Contemporary emotional autobiographical (and somewhat vulgar) lyrics juxtaposed with a 60's and 70's soulful R&B sound just fucking WORKS. The fact that it comes out of a short, skinny Jewish heroin addict is besides the point; the music speaks for itself. You just have to separate her public persona from the music. And hey, when she dies in the next year from an overdose (or choking on her own vomit after an overdose), she'll be a punk rock-type legend; won't that be cool?
Recommended Tracks: Rehab, You Know I'm No Good, Back to Black, Tears Dry On Their Own, Some Unholy War
07. Between the Buried and Me - Colors: These guys are what Pink Floyd would sound like if they were a death metal band. Seriously, who thought that Death Prog would even be a genre? Well, here it is, and Between the Buried and Me prove themselves with their most ambitious and eclectic album to date. Sounding like a bizarre cross between old Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr. Bungle and Dream Theater, these guys have released an album that is essentially one 64-minute song cut into 8 parts. Jumping between genres, time signatures and narratives, this band released the best and most creative metal album of the year. Absolutely amazing.
Recommended Tracks: Sun Of Nothing, Ants Of The Sky, Informal Gluttony
06. Radiohead - In Rainbows: A lot has been said about the marketing of this album (which was brilliant) but not until the end-of-the-year lists started coming did anyone tackle the important question: How good is In Rainbows? I was one of the assholes that downloaded it for free. After listening to it for a week straight, I ended up ordering the $82 discbox version. This is what Hail to the Thief should have been. A masterpiece in every sense of the word. Magnificent.
Recommended Tracks: Videotape, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Bodysnatchers, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Nude
05. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: Modest Mouse managed to top themselves with this years' We Were Dead... starts out with a dirge-y concertina and proceeding to sound like a mix between a drunk sing-along in a dirty bar down by the pier and a garage band playing a gig at a friend's backyard, all with Isaac Brock's signature quirky twists and turns and unmistakable vocals. It's catchy, it's artful, it's poetic, and it's good and noisy.
Recommended Tracks: We've Got Everything, March Into The Sea, Dashboard, Parting the Sensory, People As Places As People
04. Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!: This band is a fucking party. It may not be my number one, but this is the most fun you could have listening to an album, period. Between the broken English, singing verses in Russian and totally over-the-top....well...EVERYTHING, this band managed to release an album that not only demands that you listen, but demands that you chant along, dance, and just have a goddamn good time with it. The world's best (and only) Gypsy punk band. Leon Hutz is Mick Jagger in his prime (only, you know, Ukrainian).
Recommended Tracks: Ultimate, Supertheory of Supereverything, Harem In Tuscany, Wanderlust King, American Wedding
03. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas: Yes, this was released in July of 2006(There seems to be one of these type albums on my list every year, just go with it), but only on their tiny indie label in California. It got picked up for nationwide distribution late 2006 and, even then, I couldn't find it until January or February 2007; so I'm totally fucking counting it. With that out of the way, these guys are goddamn amazing. A perfect concoction with equal parts Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and Goo-era Sonic Youth, with just a pinch of Pavement (maybe a half teaspoon of Pixies?). Do I like them so much because of a freaky 90's nostalgia kick? Perhaps, but nevertheless these guys can bring the rock, no question. From the jangly Checkered Floor to the intense Future Foe Scenarios, all the way down to the fuzzed-out Common Reactor, this is one of the most listenable albums to come out this year (official release dates be damned!)
Recommended Tracks: Future Foe Scenarios, Lazy Eye, Well Thought-Out Twinkles, Little Lover's So Polite
02. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass: I've never before heard somebody who can bend the very English language to his will like Aesop Rock. With None Shall Pass, Aes took all his previous releases, indeed, his entire career's evolution, and polished and refined it into this trippy, angular, head-nodding hard-hitting monster of an album. The beats, the production, everything on this album is stepped up to the maximum, and is absolutely Aesop Rock's best release to date. While trying to follow every narrative in every song is certainly a challenge, every song has a dozen or so lines that will swim around your head for days afterwards. Almost nothing is presented straightforward, and you do have to decode the metaphors, references and...well, poetry (there's really no other word for it), but you are more than rewarded for your efforts;. If there was any justice in this world, Aesop Rock would be as big as Outkast or Ludacris or, at the very least, Soulja Boy.
(note: wait 2 years, reread this review and see if you can remember who the hell Soulja Boy is/was. Hi Future Readers! I'm dating myself!!)
Recommended Tracks: None Shall Pass, Citronella, Coffee, The Harbor Is Yours, Catacomb Kids, Pigs (Hidden Track)
That only leaves us with the Number One spot. The single best album of 2007. Bums, Bastards and Other Bums, I am proud to present to you:
01. The White Stripes - Icky Thump: Jack White is the goddamn devil. He is the GODDAMN DEVIL. Seriously. I have no idea how someone can go from forming a band in obscurity to total worldwide superstardom in less than 10 years and STILL top their previous efforts with every subsequent release; yet somehow, someway, The White Stripes do just that. With Icky Thump, The White Stripes manage to release both their most heartfelt and loudest rockin' album to date. They have made an album that is both very mainstream and yet completely avant garde, sounding both brand new and timeless. They've never come so close to heavy metal as with Little Cream Soda, never come so close to straight up folk music as with Effect & Cause and never come so close to being a mariachi band as with Conquest. Every guitar wail and moan, every isolated note from the keyboard, every cymbal crash reverberates cool and hangs in the air; this music is so awesome it is PALPABLE. Make no mistake, this is their loudest record; this is their bluesiest record, this is their best record and, without any doubt in my mind at all, this is THE best album of 2007. Rejoice!
Recommended Tracks: Little Cream Soda, Icky Thump, Conquest, Catch Hell Blues...fuck it, every single track is brilliant. Why don't you have this album yet??
THERE'S NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO TELL YOU...NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO TELL YOU....NOTHING LEFT...ohwellohwellohwell...ohwellohwell.
Honorable Mentionables
Putting the last sparklies and special odds and ends onto the album list for 2007...just figured I'd post up the albums that ALMOST made it. These are albums that I enjoyed very much, but somehow couldn't squeeze onto the final list for whatever reason. Also, this is in absolutely zero order, so don't you try associating any types of monkeyshines like "oh, he eliminated They Might Be Giants first, he must've thought that was a shitty record!"; I will kick you in the taint.
Mourn ye their loss!
They Might Be Giants - The Else
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Against Me! - New Wave
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (that's right! Come and get me, every music publication everywhere!)
The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night
Talib Kweli - Eardrum
In This Moment - Beautiful Tragedy
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Otep - The_Ascension
Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre
Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance
Eisley - Combinations
Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
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Putting the last sparklies and special odds and ends onto the album list for 2007...just figured I'd post up the albums that ALMOST made it. These are albums that I enjoyed very much, but somehow couldn't squeeze onto the final list for whatever reason. Also, this is in absolutely zero order, so don't you try associating any types of monkeyshines like "oh, he eliminated They Might Be Giants first, he must've thought that was a shitty record!"; I will kick you in the taint.
Mourn ye their loss!
They Might Be Giants - The Else
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Against Me! - New Wave
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (that's right! Come and get me, every music publication everywhere!)
The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night
Talib Kweli - Eardrum
In This Moment - Beautiful Tragedy
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Otep - The_Ascension
Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre
Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance
Eisley - Combinations
Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
