My Favorite Albums of 2007

20. Celebration - The Modern Tribe


19. The Deadly Syndrome - The Ortolan


18. White Rabbits - Fort Nightly


17. You Say Party! We Say Die! - Lose All Time


16. Le Loup - The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly


15. Throw Me The Statue - Moonbeams


14. Thrushes - Sun Come Undone


13. Cloud Cult - The Meaning Of 8


12. Tegan And Sara - The Con


11. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank


10. Stateless - Stateless


09. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters


08. The Mary Onettes - The Mary Onettes


07. Mobius Band - Heaven


06. Blonde Redhead - 23


05. The Eames Era - Heroes + Sheroes


04. Pash - The Best Gun


03. The National - Boxer


02. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position


01. The Rosebuds - Night Of The Furies

The Jealous Girlfriends' Favorites of 2007

Alex:
1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard lakes Are The Dark Horse
3. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
4. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
5. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
6. Celebration - The Modern Tribe

Holly:
1. Celebration - The Modern Tribe
2. Land Of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss EP
3. Joan As Police Woman - Real Life
4. Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know? EP
5. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knvies Don't Have Your Back
6. Beach House - Beach House

Mike:
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
3. Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know? EP
4. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
5. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen

Josh:
1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
3. Blonde Redhead - 23
4. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
5. Radiohead - In Rainbows

The Jealous Girlfriends on MySpace
The Jealous Girlfriends on The Hype Machine

Club 8's Favorites of 2007

Karolina and John share their top ten albums for '07.

01. Television Personalities - Are We Nearly There Yet?
02. The Mary Onettes - The Mary Onettes
03. Taken By Trees - Open Field
04. The National - Boxer
05. Sambassadeur - Migration
06. Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge
07. Mikkel Metal - Brone And Wait
08. Burial - Untrue
09. Nick Lowe - At My Age
10. Kent - Tillbaka Till Samtiden

Club 8 on MySpace
Club 8 on The Hype Machine

The Artificial Sea: Kevin's Top 5

1. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
2. Burial - Untrue
3. The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
4. The Slop - The Slop
5. The White Noise - An Electric Storm (re-issue)

The Artificial Sea on MySpace
The Artificial Sea on The Hype Machine

Ladybirds: Teeter reflects

(a few words from Teeter)

I've been trying to think long and hard about the band/bands that affected me most this year and the outstanding choice for me would, hands down, have to be Okkervil River.

At the beginning of 2006, I went through this phase where I thought it was high time to break up with music, not sure why, mostly because I'm dramatic (Regional Community Theater, sup!) and reactionary and music and all the trappings surrounding it had been wearing me down.

A year later, Okkervil was the band that inadvertantly lead me back to music and made me fall in love with it even harder than I had the first time around.

All of their records have been on my personal loop for most of 2007, with an exacted focus on Black Sheep Boy and their newest masterpiece, The Stage Names.

The songs that have hit me the hardest from The Stage Names: "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe," "Plus Ones," "A Girl In Port," and "Unless It's Kicks."

I can't get these songs to stop spinning around the internal record player of my head and I can't get this band out of the Most Important Band Of The Last 10 Years slot in my brain and heart.

During CMJ this year I had the opportunity to meet Okkervil lead singer, Will Sheff - and I could not, for the life of me, formulate any words outside of, "Hi, I'm Teeter" because I was so shy in the face of such a gifted boy. Normally, I never shut up!

I don't really know what else to say beyond this, except that I love them to death and I can't thank them enough for renewing my faith in contemporary tune-making.

Thanks so so so much for being so kind to our band this year. We love you!

Xoxoxo
Teeter

Ladybrids on MySpace
Ladybrids on The Hype Machine

My Teenage Stride: Favorites in 2007

Not at all necessarily released this year...

Jed:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Funkadelic - Funkadelic / Free Your Mind / Maggot Brain
Frank Zappa - Absolutely Free
Neu! - Neu 75
Guided By Voices - Suitcase 2
Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
John Cale - Fear
Tubeway Army
Dion - Runaround Sue (album)
Fear - More Beer
overlord - The World Takes
Brian Eno - Before & After Science
Primus - Frizzle Fry

Mat:
1.The King Khan & BBQ Show
2. Numbers - Now You Are This
3. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
4. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
5. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Dak:
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Letting Go
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Ethiopiques Vol. 1, 4 and 7
Tinawiren - Aman Iman: Water Is Life

Brett:
Roger Waters - Amused To Death
Rush - Signals
Christie Front Drive - Stereo
Genesis - Three Sides Live

My Teenage Stride on MySpace
My Teenage Stride on The Hype Machine

shuffle: 2007

Battles - Atlas

Animal Collective - Fireworks

Deerhunter - Heatherwood

Spoon - You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe

Jukebox The Ghost's Favorites of 2007

Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Battles - Mirrored
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Travis Morrison - All Y'All
They Might Be Giants - The Else

Jukebox The Ghost on MySpace
Jukebox The Ghost on The Hype Machine

The Muggabears' Favorite Songs of 2007

Liars - Leather Prowler
Talibam! - Ordination Of The Globetrotting Conscripts
Slasher Risk - Side A
Grizzly Bear - Alligator
Deerhunter - Like New
The Fiery Furnaces - Restorative Beer

The Muggabears on MySpace
The Muggabears on The Hype Machine

Sean Wilde's Top 7 for 2007

1. Siouxsie - Mantaray
2. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
3. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
5. Blonde Redhead - 23
6. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration (re-issue)
7. David Bowie - Young Americans (re-issue)

Sean Wilde on MySpace
Sean Wilde on The Hype Machine

The Cloud Room's Favorites

Albums:
Foreign Born - On The Wing Now
Milton Nascimento - Cluba de Esquina (1972)
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Low - Drums And Guns
Nicole Atkins - Neptune City
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Of Montreal - Hissing Faun, Are You The Destroyer?
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

Songs:
Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do
Gwen Stafani - The Sweet Escape
Mark Ronson - Stop Me
Soft - You Make Me Wanna Die
The Shins - Phantom Limb
Dappled Cities - Fire Fire Fire
The National - Fake Empire
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica
Arthur & Yu - Absurd Heroes Manifesto
Menomena - Rotten Hell

The Cloud Room on MySpace
The Cloud Room on The Hype Machine

The Western States Motel's Favorites

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Dr. Dog – We All Belong
Field Music – Tones Of Town
A Band Of Bees – Octopus
The Deadly Syndrome – The Ortolan
Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
Earlimart – Mentor Tormentor
The Broken West – I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On
Caribou – Andorra

DVD:
The Johnny Cash TV Show - The Best of Johnny Cash

The Western States Motel on MySpace
The Western States Motel on The Hype Machine

shuffle: 2007

The Field - The Little Heart Beats So Fast

Maps - Back And Forth

Amy Winehouse - He Can Only Hold Her

Electrelane - Cut And Run

Tegan And Sara - Floorplan

Georgie James's Favorites of 2007

John:
1. Las Palabras - Demos
Rafael from Supersystem's new thing -- sung in Spanish, just him and his amazing guitar playing. Not sure when this will come out, but it's great!

2. Antelope - Reflector
One of the best albums to come out of DC in a long time.

3. Chuck Brown - "Chuck Baby"
As far as Go-Go goes, I'm actually not a big fan of Chuck Brown. I know he's the Godfather and all, but I'm more of an RE/Junkyard guy. That said, this song is a great and it's pretty impressive that someone who's been around as long as Chuck Brown is still able to sound this fresh.

4. Axe Riverboy - "Roundabout"
Off Tutu To Tango, the new solo record from Tahiti 80's Xavier Boyer. Not too dissimilar from Tahiti 80 but fairly well stripped of the electronic touches that have started to dominate their albums. This song is the best of the lot.

5. Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "The Unwanted Things"
This song is even better live, but the recorded version of this indie-rocksteady tune remains solid. Ted has a rich understanding and respect for rocksteady and Jamaican music, so this comes off as appreciation, not appropriation.

Laura:
1. The Republic Tigers - Demos
A friend of mine has a band that opened for The Republic Tigers somewhere out in the big US of A this past year and passed along their demos to me. They hardly sound like demos. They're pretty brilliant -- great melodies, inventive production. Last I heard they were still unsigned. This blows my mind. I think we'll be hearing a lot more of them in 2008.

Actually, I have great news for you, Laura. They've just recently signed to the new label Chop Shop - founded by Alex Patsavas, music supervisor for shows like Grey's Anatomy and The OC (RIP). We will most definitely be hearing more from these guys in '08.

2. Dr. Dog - We All Belong
By far one of my favourite new bands, and an amazing album from start to finish to boot. I love their Brian Wilson-ish arrangments and harmonies. A nod to the past, but still fresh.

3. Keren Ann - Keren Ann
Her last album was lovely, but this one is richer in a Velvet Undergound meets Phillip Glass kind of way. I like to see that she's stretching and trying new things, working her velvety voice around new, rawer instrumentation.

4. Richard Swift - Dressed Up For The Letdown
My heart breaks every time I listen to this album but in the best way possible. I'm blown away by the subtle things he does to upend the whole world. A single line, a little melody, a minor chord change, all these things quiet breaths that knock the whole house of cards flat.

5. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
For some reason this was my definitive summer album, even though it works in quiet waves, more like the lush soundtrack for late fall or the bleak of the winter months. Not really a riot or a new perspective but still entirely gorgeous.

Georgie James on MySpsace
Georgie James on The Hype Machine

Frightened Rabbit's Favorites of 2007

Records:
1. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters
2. Rock Plaza Central - Are We Not Horses?
3. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
4. The National - Boxer
5. Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris

Songs:
1. The Twilight Sad - Walking For Two Hours
2. Rihanna - Umbrella
3. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
4. The National - Fake Empire
5. We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices

Frightened Rabbit on MySpace
Frightened Rabbit on The Hype Machine

A Sunny Day In Glasgow's Favorites

Lauren:
Tegan And Sara - The Con
Interpol - Our Love to Admire
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
Suzanne Vega - Beauty And Crime

Ben:
1. Tickley Feather (she didn't put out a record this year, but this was my favorite music)
2. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
3. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
4. Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP

A Sunny Day In Glasgow on MySpace
A Sunny Day In Glasgow on The Hype Machine

Parenthetical Girls' Favorites

In alphabetical order...

Au - Au
BARR - Summary
Celebration - The Modern Tribe
Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Tujiko Noriko - Solo
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Keith Rowe - The Room
Sachiko M - Salon de Sachiko

Parenthetical Girls on MySpace
Parenthetical Girls on The Hype Machine

Immaculate Machine: Brooke's Favorites

Hylozoists - La Nouvelle Gauche
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Fort Wilson Riot - Idigaragua
The Choir Practice - The Choir Practice
Spoon - Ga G Ga Ga Ga

fun song of the year:
I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona

Immaculate Machine on MySpace

Immaculate Machine on The Hype Machine

Love Of Diagrams: Luke's Favorites

In no particular order...

Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
Eddy Current Suppression - Eddy Current Suppression
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Pylon - Gyrate + (re-issue)

Love Of Diagrams on MySpace
Love Of Diagrams on The Hype Machine

Small Sins: Thom's Favorites of 2007

Thom from Small Sins tells me that he only really enjoyed three albums this year. This means either he's a snob or he's just getting old. Hey, I think it's probably pretty tough to keep up with all the music that's out there these days when you're a rock star yourself. Anyway, according to Thom the three great records of the year were...

Band Of Bees - Octopus
Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Small Sins on MySpace
Small Sins on The Hype Machine

Arizona's Favorites of 2007

The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City

Deerhoof - Friend Oppurtunity

Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea (to be released in 2008)

Caribou - Andorra

Radiohead - In Rainbows

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin

Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

Arizona on MySpace
Arizona on The Hype Machine

Shade: Brad's Favorites

No specific order...

Yourself And The Air - Cold Outside Brings Heavy Thoughts To Think
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Up The Empire - Light Rides The Super Major
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
Maps - We Can Create
Peter Bjorn And John - Writers Block
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas

Shade on MySpace
Shade on The Hype Machine

Blair's Favorites Songs of 2007

M.I.A. - Bamboo Banga
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Kanye West - Good Morning
Radiohead - Nude
LCD Soundsystem - New York I Love You

Blair on MySpace
Blair on The Hype Machine

shuffle: 2007

Mark Ronson - Valerie

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Rollerdisco

Shout Out Louds - Impossible

Interpol - Who Do You Think?

Celebration - Fly The Fly

LoveLikeFire's Favorites of 2007

Like with Ra Ra Riot, I'm still patiently awaiting a full-length from LoveLikeFire. I'm thinking they'll give it up in '08. Here's a list of their top five albums for the year.

1. Blonde Redhead - 23
2. Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills
3. M.I.A. - Kala
4. Interpol - Our Love To Admire
5. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin

LoveLikeFire on MySpace

LoveLikeFire on The Hype Machine

White Rabbits: Stephen's Favorites of 2007

No doubt about it - the debut disc from White Rabbits was one of the freshest revelations for me personally. And their live show even more so solidified my love affair. Now, here are the records that made Stephen's heart melt...

01. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

02. Radiohead - In Rainbows

03. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

04. Richard Swift - Dressed Up For The Letdown

05. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen

06. Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge

07. The Childballads - Cheekbone Hollows (Pop 1/2 Life)

08. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

09. The Veils - Nux Vomica
10. PJ Harvey - White Chalk

White Rabbits on MySpace
White Rabbits on The Hype Machine

The Deadly Syndrome: Jesse's Favorite Songs

1. Handsome Furs - Sing! Captain!
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Sunset Rubdown - The Taming Of The Hands That Came Back To Life
4. Andrew Bird - Scythian Empires
5. Band Of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You

The Deadly Syndrome on MySpace
The Deadly Syndrome on The Hype Machine

Hey Willpower: Will's Favorites

Discs:
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
M.I.A. - Kala
Juvelen - EP
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
Caribou - Andorra
Justice - Cross

Tracks:
Keyshia Cole / Missy Elliott / Lil Kim - Let It Go
Rihanna / Jay-Z - Umbrella

Live Shows:
Juvelen
Junior Boys at Sonar Festival

Hey Willpower on MySpace
Hey Willpower on The Hype Machine

Au Revoir Simone's Favorites

Heather:
1. Sinoia Caves - The Enchanter Persuaded
2. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
3. M83 - Digital Shades Vol. 1
4. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Annie:
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
Oh No! Oh My! - Oh No! Oh My!
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

Au Revoir Simone on MySpace
Au Revoir Simone on The Hype Machine

shuffle: 2007

Bjork - Innocence

Radiohead - 15 Steps

Iron And Wine - Boy With A Coin

Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse

Phosphorescent - Wolves

new Beach House

"Gila"

...from Devotion, out on Carpark 02/26/08

Beach House on MySpace

Beach House on The Hype Machine

Pash's Favorites

Chris Brown - "Kiss Kiss" single
Blonde Redhead - 23
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The Bad Plus - Prog
Anuna - Celtic Origins
Mark Ronson - Version
Jukebox the Ghost - EP
Pash - The Best Gun
Pash - "Kill the Rich Boys II" Frequency Remix

Pash on MySpace
Pash on The Hype Machine

Ravens And Chimes' Favorites

1. Meho Plaza - Meho Plaza (to be released in 2008)
"Our label signed these guys right after us and their record won’t come out until next year but we’ve been listening to them non-stop since we got it. It’s funny because they’re from L.A. but if they lived in Brooklyn I think they would probably be considered the hippest people on the planet. We did a short tour with them over the summer and hopefully we will be hitting the road together again soon."

2. Basia Bulat - Oh My Darling
"Basia recorded this album with Howard (who did our record) up at the Hotel 2 Tango in Montreal. I think her voice is incredible and the arrangements are so delicate and summery. It reminds me of wind blowing through grass."

3. Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
"Nora said she took this record with her on a trip and it made everyone happy to drink and party while this was on the stereo. I also love this band."

4. Mice Parade - Mice Parade / Panda Bear - Person Pitch / Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
"These are records Mike and Abe really love. I think they showcase musicians who don’t think like everyone else and play things that are very shocking and different given their initial elements."

5. Noh Cars Go - Demos
"This guy Brendan Reed is incredible. He used to drum in the amazing Montreal band Les Angles Morts. His music isn’t always the most coherent but it has so many raw brilliant ideas and textures that it never fails to inspire me.I was reminded of how awesome Brendan’s music was after hearing from Sean at Said The Gramophone that Brendan and Alden from The Unicorns were working together on a new band called Clues. You can download all of these demos for free at Brendan’s site nocarsgo.org"

6. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
"Abe and Brittany both sweat this record really hard so naturally it was on in the tour van all the time and now we all love it. It’s cool that there’s a house band that produced and played on it like an old Motown record."

7. Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter
"This is another record Howard did at the Hotel 2 Tango. The air between the instruments on this is so creaky and ancient sounding that it feels almost Victorian. His voice is broken and ghostly. I love it."

8. Blonde Redhead - 23
"This is a band that Avery adores. We all saw them play for free at the Apple store in Soho. It was cool because the venue was super small and free."

-Asher of Ravens And Chimes

Ravens And Chimes on MySpace
Ravens And Chimes on The Hype Machine

Project Jenny, Project Jan: Junior's Favorites

In no particular order...

Pela - Anytown Graffitti
The Bees - Octopus
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music
Battles - Mirrored
Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
M.I.A. - Kala
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Project Jenny, Project Jan - Xoxoxoxoxo

Honorable Mention:
Great Lake Swimmers - Oniagra
Feist - The Reminder
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum

Project Jenny, Project Jan on MySpace
Project Jenny, Project Jan on The Hype Machine

Cut Off Your Hands: Nick's Favorites

01. The National - Boxer
02. Foals - Antedote (not officially out til March)
03. Radiohead - In Rainbows
04. Blonde Redhead - 23
05. Vampire Weekend - Mansard Roof (song)
06. The Icarus Line - Slayer (song)
07. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
08. Deerhunter - Fluorescent Grey EP
09. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
10. A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers

Cut Off Your Hands on MySpace
Cut Off Your Hands on The Hype Machine