2007: The Music Issue

So better late than never right? So what if 2008 has already risen from the depths of our imagination. Winter break is quickly coming to its conclusion, so quit with the throat clearing will you and onto the music.

Two Thousand and Seven was an interesting year for me musically and otherwise. It was the first year that I began to feel the vacuum between my musical interests and the interests of the taste makers. Who are these taste makers that I speak of? Why they are the very taste makers on the web that dictate which music should be given the right amount of focus and which music should be what Paul Westerberg from the Replacements once said "Judge once and then tossed aside." (from the 1988 album Don't Tell a Soul for those who are keeping track.)

So I give to you not a top ten list of trendy music selections, ones that haven't already been shoved down the throats of thousands of readers (I'm looking your way pitchfork!) but have brought me a tremendous amount of pleasure during a most pleasurable year.


In no particular order:



1. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Ok, so this guy makes a point of not going the trendy way and what does he start out with? An album that almost everyone could agree on for having a place in anyone's top ten list.

But there is method in my madness, for this is Radiohead's most enjoyable record, that's right, pleasurable, since OK Computer. That doesn't mean that it had the same weight as said record. Listen to the melodies, on all but a few tracks (I still can't get through the entirety of the opening track 15 step, for example) and you will agree. From start to finish my favorite record of 2007, and the way it arrived, via a sudden announcement on their website. 'The Record is Done and it's coming out in ten days' Made this listener happier than when he heard OK Computer for the first time. And to feel that excitement at 35 about a record, both at the announcement and the sheer joy that is listening to it, was wonderful.

2. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond

Having been a fan of J. Mascis for over fifteen years by no means diluted my own appreciation of this record. I was skeptical when the band announced they were reforming, complete with Murph and Lou Barlow. And the record itself, probably their best since Green Mind, maybe even better, full of soaring angst set to Dinosaur's roaring howl, and it sounds more palatable than their earlier records.




3. The National - Boxer

Readers of this blog will no doubt remember my lusting over the group's previous effort, Alligator and while Boxer is a different beast all together, full of mid tempo mediations on the excesses of love and the things we run to when the love goes wrong, it was just as compelling at the end of the year as it was last Spring, when it was initially released.







4. The Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Willis

The Pop Record. The one that I could not let go of until I wrenched every ounce of melody and fun out of. this record took me back to Head on the Door-era Cure, the kind of music that makes one want to abandon all of the responsibility and seriousness of being an adult and sit in a dank room all day and listen to records such as this one. The aural equivalent of hot fudge sundaes everyday.






5. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

The Hometown Slugger. As impressed as I was with Ben Bridwell and Co.'s previous record, Everything all the Time, I was not prepared for this one to crawl up inside my brain and take residence the way it did. Mr. Bridwell has made a more mature album than his debut, one that shows a return home, from Seattle back to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. The slower songs on this record are the strongest songs he's recorded to date. And listening to their lazy South Carolina evenings sound, like all you have to do is close your eyes and listen to the cicadas lull you to sleep. A record that could have only come from the South, but one that didn't hit you over the head with its sense of place. The most comfortable record of 2007.



6. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

The Swarthy Gangster. Hopes were high for Spoon's sixth record, after 2005's Gimme Fiction
expectations had grown to a fever pitch. Not surprisingly, Spoon returned to the experimentation of Kill the Moonlight, for one of the highlights of the year. Strange, infectious pop that bends over itself like the musical equivalent of a mobius strip. Layers of instruments rise up and grab the listener, then return to the soup, a record that uses negative space as much as positive space yet still retains its pop sensibility. A record where studio talk back, thick soupy bass lines, and crisp sharp vocals as starchy as the collars that don lead singer's Britt Daniel's fitted shirts all act as instruments that throw the listener to the other side of the room.



7. Okkervill River - The Stage Names

The Summer Fling. Things that I will forever now associate with Summer: Padgett Powell's novel Edisto, Tacoma, WA. Add The Stage Names to that list. All of them were there with me, as I explored the bike-able and not so bike-able regions of Tacoma. Stopping for Beers in the afternoon after class, reading out in the sun, Okkervill river was with me throughout. There's a world weary feeling that accompanies the look back in wonder at what a mess the narrator has made of his life, with lovely turns of phrases and novelistic embellishments.



8. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

The Prodigal Son. Musicians have multiple lives, especially American ones, who over said that their were no second acts in American lives? Mr. Adams bucks that trend. I was a huge Whiskeytown fan, but after his first excellent solo album, Ryan had a tendency to lose credibility by putting out everything he ever recorded. Releasing three albums in 2005 was a bit much, especially after the particularly excellent two disc Cold Roses. So it was easy to write this one off as another exercise in self-indulgence. But he came back in a big way for me in 2007 with a record that never really left me since its release this past summer.

Alt-Country finger picking, Grateful Dead inspired vocals, a duet with Sheryl Crow, it could have gone wrong in so many places, but in many ways this was his finest record in a number of years and the fans rejoiced. Now if he can only keep off the heroin.....


9. Rogue Wave - Asleep at Heaven's Gate

The Scrappy Welterweight. I don't think I've seen this one any other year end top ten list. When I clicked on the most played songs on my i-tunes, almost every track from Asleep at Heaven's Gate appears. And while I heard more substantive records this year, it was Rogue Wave that took the prize for most addictive. (although the Shout Out Louds did give them a run for their money)

The band evidently went through hell getting this one produced, with numerous deaths in the family, a kidney transplant for one of the band members, and the scars of collective ennui is evident on every meticulously produced track. So many suprises in between the frets and percussive blips on this record. One whose face seems to change with each listen, according to mood. It come across as triumphant, depressive, meditative, a schizophrenic record, to be sure, but one of the most rewarding records of the year.






10. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

The Sleeping Giant.A lot of people were disappointed with this record, but for the life of me I can't see it. Granted, the tempo was slowed down a bit, so many dubbed this one Easy Listening, which is ridiculous, given the presence of new guitarist Nels Cline. A sublime bucolic record written after a period of serious strife in the life of singer Jeff Tweedy. A triumphant deceleration of love and freedom, and one that accompanies the arrival of Spring in a heartbreakingly elegant way.



Beloved Singles:





Willie Nelson - Songbird

Without a doubt, my favorite song of 2007. Even though it was released in late 2006, I didnt get around to listening to it until this year. All the ingredients of a fine Nelson ballad is here. Cry in your beer earnestness, tasteful arrangements (in this case provided by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals), and a blistering guitar solo at the end. What more could you want or need? Oh and did I mention its a cover of probably the greatest Fleetwood Mac song?

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Bruce Springsteen - Girls in their Summer Clothes

Buffalo Tom - Bottom of the Rail

The Acorn - Hold Your Breath

Ryan Adams - Two Hearts

Dinosaur Jr. - Crumble

Super Furry Animals - Show Your Hand