If someone tries to tell you that no longer is there good music, tell them they’re wrong. Tell them about 2007. Also, let them know it’s time to stop looking back because that’s not where music is headed, as evinced by most of the year’s best albums. I was told this year that, despite an industry in a state of flux without end, there is no better time to be a listener. With the divide between band and fan becoming nonexistent through the internet and the ease at which bands can now transcend both mainstream and underground, good music prevails and so do we. It was hard to pare 2007’s great run of releases down to ten and there are notable exclusions like the Arcade Fire and Feist but you get the gist with what’s here.
1. Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: Spoon are a band in the truest sense. You may think that’s painfully obvious (they make records and play instruments,) but with Britt Daniel and friends it’s a truth that needs to be revealed through listening to and experiencing their music. Daniel (vocals/guitar) is an obsessive and with every Spoon release, he seeks to create not just sound but a feeling. In this sense, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is the band’s greatest success. The ominous, sparse song structures and deeply emotive lyrics push the album through highs and lows like the ones you get in life. Each instrument fits like a puzzle-piece to another, eventually revealing the still life portrait that is the song. The musicianship here is tight and easily broken down where even the empty spaces between notes resonate just as much as a chaotic guitar solo or a piano chord. Personally, I found this album so good it was worth breaking up with a girl over. Judging by the personal nature of most of Britt Daniel’s words, I’m sure he would understand and that’s something to love about Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga-the music Spoon plays and the lyrics they sing feel important to both us and them. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is an exhibition of masterful experimental pop music and a perfect picture of the state music is in today.
2. M.I.A.-Kala: Since emerging in 2005 with the flawless Arular, M.I.A. has been the most revolutionary voice in music. She does more with a sequencer a bunch of harsh bedroom beats than we could ever hope from an American rapper/producer. This comes in part from her globetrotting sensibility. For Kala, she returned briefly to her native Sri Lanka before recording tracks in India, Africa and London. The result is an incendiary follow-up, a sort of CNN for international ghettos. To paraphrase Joe Strummer, this is a public service announcement with beats, straight out of the third world. Through her music, she creates for us a place barely holding onto infrastructure, sticky hot and where rebellion is a reality happening in the jungle outside the city walls. “$20” is the album’s centerpiece, boasting a big beat, slithering keyboard line and lyrics indicting everything from African dictatorships, Muslim extremism and Western materialism to the internet. “Paper Planes,” easily the best song of the year, is a gorgeous finale within which she idealizes a third world democracy where money has no place. This is what music should be: fiery, revolutionary, simple, fresh and beautiful.
3. LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver: The idea of a serious dance record is kind of strange, but James Murphy manages perfectly well on Sound of Silver. Over the course of nine songs, we are subjected to paranoia, darkness, loss and also great fun. That’s where Murphy’s talent lies, in making heady topics accessible through groove-friendly sounds and a fan’s knowledge of music and positive influence. It’s an album that’s easy to get lost in, evoking the feeling of a good day in the city. It’s also feels like the sound of Murphy looking back on everything he’s accomplished as a record label-head, producer, artist etc. There’s something here for everybody. Sound of Silver rewards with every listen; with every lyric a new revelation and every beat entrancing in some new way.
4. Kanye West-Graduation: “Feel good hit of the year!” Or so the poster would read were Graduation a movie instead of the most consistently awesome record of Kanye West’s career. It does play like the ups and downs of someone’s life: moments that evoke pride, ones that evoke anger, a little bit of reminiscence thrown in for good measure. He’s an artist that strives to push himself further through his production and otherwise. His “I don’t care but I do kind of care” attitude is appealing in the face of cockier, more self-assured popular hip-hop. Graduation is a legitimate artistic statement, one that suits West and the moment equally.
5. Eddie Vedder-Into the Wild OST: Love him or hate him, Eddie Vedder is around and people listen to him. If you’ve ever wondered what Pearl Jam would sound like if they hailed from Portland, Oregon and not Seattle, I guess you have your answer. Vedder strikes out on his own with this set of songs and succeeds. Not only is Into the Wild a good record, complete with rootsy-rockers and their more subdued counterparts (and a fair amount of social disillusionment throughout,) it’s the ideal accompaniment to the movie of same name. The album stands good on it’s own but becomes all the more complete upon seeing in the film…you won’t be able to stop listening in an effort to decode the actions of protagonist Chris McCandless. Vedder certainly gives his two cents; cultural pairing of the year, no doubt.
6. Los Campesinos!-Sticking Fingers Into Sockets: There’s something very appealing about a young bunch of Scots so willing to reveal their deepest feelings to an audience through song. That’s exactly what you get with Los Campesinos!’s very fun debut - youthful exuberance and a look at the overseas lives of people quite similar to you or I. They play it fast and simple; blissful pop-songs with dashes of violins and boy/girl harmonies. Their music is truly exciting, certainly inciting more than a few to get up and clean their room.
7. Radiohead-In Rainbows: Since 2004, we’ve been anxiously awaiting Radiohead’s return. Throughout the year, they teased, letting us know when the album was done and all the steps they had to take to get there, but there was no news of a release date or title. Suddenly, it was there, on there internet for whatever you thought it was worth. Fan or not, you had to give it to them because their little scheme got them a lot of publicity and a fair amount of web traffic. It feels like they’ve been working toward In Rainbows for the last ten years. It plays great through repeat listens, feeling familiar for Radiohead but adventurous when pitted against anyone else.
8. The White Stripes-Icky Thump: Sounding like a blast from the deep south of planet Mars, Jack and Meg White continue to get weirder over the course of 13 songs and at least twice as many noises elicited from the male White’s guitar. It’s a fun romp through innocence, Mexican backcountry and probably a few crossroads where some deals were made and a few stories swapped. It leaves you wondering, where do they get it? Two people can make quite a big noise.
9. Beirut-The Flying Cub Cup: Zach Condon, the primary force behind Beirut, probably could be called a more worldly Bob Dylan, but that’s a cop-out. Condon certainly is worldly, his music always brings you along on the same European backpacking trip he made in high school, but he’s so much more than a singer-songwriter. He’s more like a composer-filmmaker, writing intricately structured songs for an array of instruments (we hear trumpet, accordion, percussion, strings etc.) that take you places you only read about in Fitzgerald or Hemingway.
10. The Hives-The Black and White Album: See preceding page for review. (I wrote a review for the Hives record for this issue too, but I'm not going to put it here. Essentially: Rock n' Roll.)
-Joe Gallagher ‘08
