Hello friends. Yes, the time has come once again for everybody’s favorite e-mail of the year… the extra long and super dorky email where I expound on my favorite things of the year passed. 2007 was a pretty good year, all things considered, lots of good music and movies. For me, I can’t say all that much exciting happened. Things are pretty much the same. Lb is lb, work is work, etc. Um, my favorite grade is graduating this year and that kinda stinks, but what can ya do? Friends continue to move in together, get married, grow up, etc. Congrats to Jason and Greta on their marriage, aesthetically the best wedding I’ve been to. And congrats to pat kane on getting engaged, and Brian and Jessica too. And to any of the other friends I forgot to mention, congrats on whatever it is you did! Anyway, I hope 2008 treats everyone well. Hope to see you all at one point or another. As always, I realize how incredibly geeky writing and distributing such a list is, and I encourage you to e-mail me to tell me so! So without further adieu, some of my favorite things of the 2007.
Part One- Favorite Music of the Year
Notable Releases of 2007- all pretty awesome but don’t quite make the top 20
Arctic momnkeys- your favorite worst mightmare
Bloc Party- a weekend in the city
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- some loud thunder
Feist- the reminder
Albert Hammond Jr- yours to keep- pop brilliance from the strokes guitar player!
Jesu- conquerer
Menomena- friend and foe
M83- digital shades volume 1
New pornographers- challengers
Rogue wave- asleep at heaven’s gate
Times new Viking- present the Paisley Reich- these guys are like the bastard step-child of propeller-era guided by voices and westing-era pavement. It sounds like it was recorded on a broken boombox in a laundrymat. But beneath the noise and hiss are some true pop gems… this is lo-fi indie rock circa 1993! Sponder says the new album is even better!
Wilco- sky blue sky
Disappointments of 2007- sorta expected more from the following:
Interpol- uh, I actually gave up on these guys after their first record
Both wolf parade guys and their respective side projects disappointed me… here’s to hoping the new wolf parade record is better than handsome furs and sunset rubdown.
Ryan Adams- yeah, gave up on him a ways back too
Pelican- city of echos
The New York Mets- really the biggest disappointment of all in 2007.
Stuff I got too late (like for Christmas) to be in the running, but still worth noting
A place to bury stangers- I was pretty hesitant on this one due to the pitchfork-led hype and an mp3 I downloaded, but I got it for christmas and it is great. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love noisy pop and this is pretty much as noisy as you can get. They are called new york’s loudest band with good reason. This is great, super noisy rock with plenty of hooks buried underneath the noise.
Stars of the Lid- and their refinement of the decline- amazing ambient music… fills brian eno’s ambient requirement that it must be as ignorable as it is interesting. Good stuff to listen to while reading or drifting off to sleep.
Favorite 20 Albums of 2007 with some nonsensical commentary
20. Dinosaur Jr- beyond- j, lou, and murph reunited and put out a great guitar record. It’s got all the makings of a great dinosaur record: loud guitars, j’s solos, and lots of fuzz. This one brought back a lot of memories and reminds me of why I got into all of this stuff in the first place.
19. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew Spirit If- the first in a series of broken social scene “solo” albums sounds pretty much like bss. It’s great, if somewhat straightforward indie rock. Guest appearances by j mascis and spiral stairs (pavement) spice things up a bit.
18. peter, bjorn and john- writer’s block- great pop songs, everyone tune on here should be a #1 single!
17. M.I.A.- kala- the daughter of a sri lankan revolutionary, MIA sings of the plight of the lesser developed nations of the world, but makes it all sound fun and interesting. You may not be into her politics but it’s hard not to get into the music. Great production and a truly unique mix of so many types of music. Great stuff.
16. ted leo and the pharmacists- living with the living- tl turns down the punk rock a bit and lets his pop sensibility take over. The result is a great record chock full of great songs. Of course, it wouldn’t be a tl record without the politics, but since I always seem to agree with him, that’s cool.
15. white stripes- icky thump- meg and jack still rule
14. Thurston moore- trees outside the academy- Thurston takes a break from sonic youth and turns down the noise a bit. This is a great record full of mature songwriting and interesting tunes. Some great guest guitar from j mascis again!
13. pj harvey- white chalk- polly jean harvey continues to challenge herself and her fans and this record is no different. On white chalk the usual roar of pj’s guitar is absent, in it’s place lots of piano. The result is a haunting, melancholy record that is at times uplifting and at times disturbing. This is the starkest and most minimal record she has released to date. It also may be her darkest and that’s saying a lot.
12. explosions in the sky- all of the sudden I miss everyone- more emotive instrumental rock from this Austin, texas band. While it lacks the emotional punch of the last record, they are still one of the more interesting bands of this particular type of music. They’re playing at the crazy donkey in a few months. Weird! I still love this type of stuff.
11. iron and wine- the shepherd dog- sam beam continues the artistic progression of iron and wine on this record. Long gone are the days of the lone acoustic troubadour, replaced now with a flull band and an eclectic mix of influences. It’s an interesting turn for the man with the mighty beard, but I still seem to prefer the more old iron and wine-sounding songs like flightless bird, american mouth.
10. bruce springsteen- magic- horrible title, but a pretty amazing record. You know, I never give this guy his due, always found him a little cheesy I guess… but this record is a great comment on where we are today. Not as jingoistic as the last one either. Bruce has definitely been influenced by those whom he has influenced before as one can hear some very modern sounding rock on this record. Bruce is cool, but bob is still the best.
09. arcade fire- neon bible- no sophomore slump here
08. ola podrida- cinematic and lyrically literate acoustic stuff from this dude from Brooklyn. uh, if you like old iron and wine, this might be for you.
07. spoon- gagagagaga- okay, okay, I admit, I used to hate spoon, but their last two albums have been amazing. This record is every thing that is good about spoon. And let’s be honest, britt daniel’s got some cool, stylishly unkempt hair too.
06. shins- wincing the night away- james mercer and crew return with their most full sounding and best record to date. It’s a sad one too. I don’t think mercer really gets enough credit for his lyrics.
05. band of horses- cease to begin- BoH return from last year’s magnificent debut record (and #1 on last year’s list I might add) with another winner. The album expands on BoH’s formula of anthemic, melancholy indie rock. It’s pretty amazing.
04. okkervil river- the stage names- this one is really great. Some highly literate lyrics, mixed in with some of the best indie/folk music you’ll hear all year.
03. modest mouse- we were dead before the ship even sank- this album was seriously overlooked by critics this year. Isaac brock and company return with new member, Johnny Marr (the smiths, duh!) and deliver an accessible pop record that retains the important sensibilities of the mouse. Modest Mouse continues to be one of my favorite bands of the last 12 years or so and it’s been fun watching them go from playing tiny shit hole indie rock clubs as a three piece to playing radio city music hall and the like. Oh and this album debuted at #1 on billboard charts! Here’s to hoping they continue making great music and get even bigger.
02. radiohead- in rainbows- I think what may have gotten lost in all the hype surrounding how radiohead released this record is the fact that it is an amazing record, combining all the things everyone loves about radiohead. You have the soaring rock of the bends and ok computer but you also have the laptop experiments of kid a and amnesiac. In rainbows is the sound of a band realizing its strengths and capitalizing on them. As far as rock bands go, there aren’t any more important than radiohead at this point.
01. the national- boxer- this is the record that I played and related to more than any other this year. someone said this album is the soundtrack to the moment you resign yourself to accepting life’s woes and then dealing with it. I think that’s pretty accurate. Lyrically it deals with a lot of the things we can all sort of relate to nowadays… trying to be an adult and figuring out what that actually means anyway while trying to be yourself and stay interesting. Musically, it’s almost perfect… solid rhythm section with some of my favorite drumming of the last couple of years, mixed with some truly interesting guitar interplay and nice string arrangements. Add to that matt beringer’s alchohol soaked baritone and some truly interesting lyrics you get what I think is hands down the finest record released in 2007. It’s not a happy sounding record by any means, but it is an amazing one. People will be talking about this record for a long time.
Live shows of 2007
Arcade Fire- Judson memorial church, January. Arcade Fire play in a tiny church in the village, need I say anything more. They are still one of the most powerful live acts I have ever witnessed. They opened the show up in the crowd with no mikes. Everyone shut up and everyone had goosebumps. This show was nothing short of amazing. Jim Bonney came out of extreme isolation to attend this show and that’s a good thing, I don’t see enough of the lad! Also of note at this show, as jim and I take our place amidst the crowd and of course, who is standing in front of us, none other than lu. Of all the places we could’ve stood! Hahah. She had a great red jacket and we awkwardly said hello. I still don’t get why that bf of hers won’t even say hello to me!
Explosions in the sky- Warsaw, February. Me, cousin chris, and sponder head to the polish national home for some instrumental post-rock. It was an amazing show, even better cause it was during February break and I was able to enjoy some libations. Also notable is that after the show we went to daddy’s a nice establishment for aging hipsters, where we run into one of my favorite old friends to see, jesse spasato. It was a nice way to end a great night!
Alber Hammond Jr- Webster Hall, June. This was probably one of the most fun shows of the year. We had a great crew for this one: me, brother, sal, ponch, erin, and her friend whose name escapes me at the time of writing. We met erin and friend on the train, they have their requisite foster’s oil cans, we have our requisite Budweiser lights. The drinking commences and doesn’t end for some time. we stop at a few bars along the way, but the highlight for sure is the stop at Bar None around the corner from Webster hall. We meet a few fellow rockers and when wolf parade’s “I’ll believe in anything” comes on the jukebox our theory of it sort of being a “call of the wild” is proven true. Us boys launch into a drunken sing along with the strangers mentioned above which results in a few accidental broken glasses and lots of male bonding. Erin and friend look on nonplussed. We head to the show where I drunkenly bump into a former student, a bright one at that, who wishes to discuss US foreign policy with me… I probably sound like an idiot and I tell erin if she sees said former student come up to me again, get me out of there. At the end of the show said student approaches again and erin quickly gets me out of there with a strong tug of the arm. Well done, erin! The show itself was so much fun… the albert Hammond record is filled with great pop tunes perfect for drinking on an early summer night! Too bad for erin, the next day she had to proctor a test at 8am! I think all I had was a hall duty at like 12! Great times were had by all at this one!
Superchunk- mccarren pool, Brooklyn, june. Superchunk still puts on the greatest live show ever… I couldn’t tell you how much fun it was to jump around in a gigantic empty pool in the blistering summer heat listening to one of my favorite bands of all time play some of my favorite tunes of all time. lots of the superchunk message board crew were in the house including the legendary crazy tony and john the lawyer. We drank Brooklyn beer, danced, sweated, and had an amazing time. also interesting for the fact that I told jeremy’s ex-ladyfriend to chill out a little as she was giving the poor guy a hard time, and it was mostly my fault that he was getting yelled at. He wasn’t happy about that at the time, but dude, she deserved it! live show of the year! long live the chunk! Please put out another album soon! If you want, look for me in this video from the show- I’m the idiot jumping around: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/06/_yesterday_thousands_of_preado.html
Ted leo and the Pharmacists and the Thermals- Mccarren pool, Brooklyn. august. Sponder throw’s a pre-game bbq at his greenpoint home and we enjoy the political punk rock of two of the better bands around today. I still kinda have a crush on the thermals bass player too.
Band of horses- macarren pool, Brooklyn, july. Great show, and another sponder bbq. This show is also interesting as cousin chris got hammered and danced with his shirt wide open. It was a beautiful thing, all that chest hair flowing hither and thither in the summer heat. He also rocked the slip and slide to… of course, he did burn out by about midway through the band of horses set, still, it was well-done!
Pitchfork Music Festival- Chicago, July. Me, Gorman, olsen, and sponder flew to the windy city for this year’s pitchfork festival. I’m not a huge fan of festivals but we had a great time… lots of drinks, lots of rock, lots of people. Chicago is an amazingly cool city. The only bands I really got close enough to see were iron and wine and califone, they were cool. I had about 10 of these brilliant IPAs on Saturday too. Probably the best time was had at Wrigley field as we watched the cubs play some serious national league baseball. Great city, great sports, great music, a beautiful hotel in downtown Chicago. Good times, good times!
Morrissey- 3 shows at the hammerstein in October. Well, I wasn’t planning on going to any of these shows, they were ridiculously overpriced and I can’t help but feel moz has sort of become a caricature of himself, ya know… but when ticket sales were slow and prices were reduced to 20 bucks, me and brother brian quickly snagged tickets for Tuesday and Sunday. It was pretty amazing… the more interesting story is Saturday’s show… we went to this thing in the city called brewtopia with a bunch of people from work and my brother and cousin… a great time was had by all… many of you know what happened after brewtopia… we stopped this party bus driver and convinced him to drive us downtown… he said for 5 bucks a head, he’d do it… keep in mind he was working a sweet 16, there were bag lunches on the seat and what not- if I’m that guy I’m not picking up 12 drunks for a couple of extra bucks… he quickly paid the price as bb began spewing out vomit like a faucet… one of the grossest and yet funniest things I have ever witnessed. We were soon kicked off the bus, and people went about getting bb some new clothes while other people washed his vomit-stained clothes at a Laundromat. Somehow after all this, we go to a bar… eventually my brother mentions that we should go try to buy cheap Morrissey tickets… we decide this is a great idea and me, brother, and cousin chris, soon take off in search of cheap Morrissey tickets. Lamely enough, I pull an irish exit and do not bid farewell to my work friends, not cool and I think Katie still holds that one against me, but oh well, what can ya do. We get there and haggle with scalpers eventually securing Morrissey tickets for 30 bucks each… the show is great, we have tons of fun. Not a bad day!
The national- terminal 5- October it poured out this day, and it was tough to even make it to the show… I couldn’t drive due to flooded roads, and the train was delayed for hours due to lightning striking the third rail. When all was said and done, me and brother brian made it to one of the best shows I’ve seen all year.
Favorite Songs of the Year
Superchunk- misfits and mistakes- although superchunk hasn’t released a proper album since 2001, these legendary indie rockers did put out one song, it’s amazing. Classic chunk! Time to end that indefinite hiatus.
MIA- paper planes- the clash sample makes this song!
Peter bjorn and john- young folks- pop single of the year and great video too!
Favorite Videos of the Year
Arcade fire play neon bible in an elevator! Amazing! You have to watch this!
Click Here
The National play fake empire on letterman
The National play apartment story on Ferguson
radiohead play new order’s ceremony
radiohead play the smiths’ headmeaster ritual
Still not done yet!!! Almost!
Movies I enjoyed this year in no particular order:
Darjeeling Limited
Bourne Ultimatum
This is England
Hot Fuzz
Once
No Country for Old Men
Away From Her
I’m Not There
Control
Margot at the Wedding
Lars and the Real Girl
Superbad
Knocked Up
I was incredibly disappointed by spiderman 3… they totally f-ed up venom and the story line. It was just terrible…so disappointing and to think I wnt at midnight, though I did see a few of my favorite kids at the movie theatre and they gave me some popcorn. That was pretty funny.
Favorite Rock Star and Celebrity Crushes of the Moment
Meg White
Laetitia Casta
MIA
Bassist in the thermals
Neko Case
Things to be excited for next year!
New records by Stephen malkmus, the breeders, cat power, uh, I can’t think of any others right now and this has gone on long enough.
Well, if you made it all the way to the end, congratulations. I hope you have a great 2008!!! Happy New Year!