2007 Year-End Review: Top 100 Albums 100-76

DEERHOOF

It’s that time of the year to look back and think about the sounds, the images and the sources of entertainment that we have enjoy during the last twelve months.

2007 has been more interesting for the flood of changes afecting the music industry, than for the music itself: Internet has consolidated a new way to discover, consume and enjoy it; reigniting the torch of the indie spirit as it was experienced during the 80’s in Great Britain and pushing a new generation of emerging bands towards the mainstream. Meanwhile, it was all doom and gloom for the remaining four majors, who began to watch their biggest stars abandoning its sinking ship to fall in the arms of live promoters, café franchisers or anybody else prepared to pay the exorbitant sums they are accustomed to. Some others, with Radiohead headlining, took the DIY route, sowing the seed of a small media revolution, with extraordinary results.

Few records could be hailed as future classics. Albeit a considerable number of releases coming from all genres with above average quality made of 2007 an excellent year.

After the jump, our countdown of the Best 100 albums of 2007 begins. Every one of them linked to as much audivisual material as we could find in the net for it:

=100- MY TEENAGE STRIDE-Ears Like Golden Bats (Becalmed)

Keeping the lo-fi mentality alive while drinking from the fountain of 80’s British indie, the third and best work by multi-instrumentist from Brooklyn Jedediah Smiths added a personal touch to those ubiquitous retro influences, creating a solid colection of three minute pop gems, indebted to New Order, Jesus & Mary Chain and poppier, more colorful bands like The Chills.
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100-INTERPOL-Our Love To Admire (Capitol)

Interpol were finally signed by a major with considerable success in both sides of the Atlantic, but losing part of their blogosphere support, where raging shouts of “Sell-outs” and endless rants about their dangerous veering into “masters of rock” territory took place. Such criticism was rather unfair, as the Joy Division-esque post-rock trademark of the band hasn’t given any signs of evolution yet and a deja-vu sensation was the biggest burden for an otherwise more than decent selection of songs.
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99-BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS…KEVIN DREW-Spirit If (Arts & Crafts)

With mothership band Broken Social Scene on hiatus, many of its members turned to their parallel projects with different degrees of success. Kevin Drew stayed so close to the barroque and psychedelic pop of the collective, that decided to keep its name in the title, benefitting from the branded power of the Canadian indie supergroup. A record that experiments and expands in multiple directions without taking a particular one. Chaotic and dismembered at its lowest, but with several exceptional moments.
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98-APPLES IN STEREO-New Magnetic Wonder (Yep Roc)

With Power pop being revitalised and made hip again thanks to a new wave of bands -from New Pornographers to Raconteurs-, the genre’s most veteran performers saw their falling reputations vindicated. “New Magnetic Wonder” was greeted as Robert Schneider’s return to top writing form. A prolific comeback, dispatching 24 pills of sugary and energetic pure pop, including some of the catchiest tunes of the year.
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97-ENON-Grass Geysers…Carbon Clouds (Touch ‘N’ Go)

Refugees from the nineties, part of bands like Brainiac and Skeleton Key, the New York quartet saw their sound moving progresively towards more conventional grounds, keeping their usual eclecticism jumping from their initial flirtings with noise to their current electronic post-punk and able to follow classics like The Pixies (Mr. Ratatatat) as well as catching up with the Skyscrapers’ city latest dance-punk craze (Mirror On You).
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96-BRITNEY SPEARS-Blackout (Zomba)

The eternal all-american teen starlette released her most complete record to date, the only one not filled with wishy-washy ballads and commercial winks to the Top 40 in between two or three brilliant singles. A surprisingly sharp production team (Pharrell, Avand and Timbaland’s right hand Danja) designed a brilliantly contemporary electro-pop sound aimed at the dancefloor any other pop diva would have sell a kidney for -Kylie?-. It all was sadly eclipsed by the star’s troubled personal life, monopolizing next to Amy Winehouse’s all the tabloid headlines and satisfiying their ever growing thirst for trash.
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95-LAVENDER DIAMOND-Imagine Our Love (Matador)

January started with “Open Your Heart”‘s ethereal notes and many of us anxiously waiting for Becky Starks and his band’s debut. Her timeless voice, her countryside chamber pop; delicate melodies filled with pure bliss, everything seemed to indicate we were in the presence of one of the best records of the year. But an excesive repetition of the same ideas and some lyrics that would made Celine Dion sound like Lydia Lunch prevented the effort from fulfilling all its potential. Having said that, enjoyed in small doses “Imagine Our love” is still a more than hopeful beginning.
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94-WHITE RABBITS-Fort Nightly (Say Hey)

More hipsters from New York: White Rabbits self-defined themselves as “Honky tonk calypso”, although their contemporary production makes them sometimes hard to distinguish from other bands part of the dance-punk wave that has been invading their city for quite some time. The sextet plays with reggae, ska and punk influences, infusing a contagious vitality in their music and count with two drummers and a piano player in their line-up. Crackers like “The Plot” have placed them very close to mainstream success, withouth losing their credentials.
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93-A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS-A Place To Bury Strangers (Killer Pimp)

Jesus & Mary Chain not only got together in 2007, but also once again became next to My Bloody Valentine the biggest influence for an important number of new artists, branded by the media with ridiculous labels like nu-shoegazing. A Place To Bury Strangers, a trio from New York formerly known as Skywave, sound in their debut as the best industrial tribute to the Reid’s mature period. Their reputation as a great live band went from strenght to strenght.
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92-DIRTY PROJECTORS-Rise Above (Rough Trade)

The most original experiment of the year, perpetrated by Dave Longstreth’s combo, was the reinterpretation of Black Flag’s classic debut “Damaged” nearly in its enterity and out of memory with no previous listening. Henry Rollins’ rage translated well into a world of vocal harmonies, string arrangements and rich instrumentations, keeping its ability to unnerve in most tracks, and to surprise in all of them.
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91-STARS-In Our Bedroom After The War-Stars (Arts & Crafts)

Another band coming from the rich artistic rock scene growing all over Canada. Based in Montreal, via NY, but formed in Toronto; With yet another Broken Social Scene collaborator -Amy Millan-. Their fourth album didn’t reach the level of past glories, but at least half of its songs justly deserve to be in the podium reserved for the finest pop. Sophisticated and encyclopedic in their palette of influences, they demonstrated they can still write excellent songs like “Take Me To The Riot” or “The Night Starts Here”.
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90-ART BRUT-It’s A Bit Complicated (Mute)

As ignored in their British homeland as adored in the US, the sophomore album from the arty south London quartet remain faithful to their winning formula of tongue in cheek vignetes of ordinary life, wrapped in traditional punk-rock. Sounding more mature and compact hasn’t diminished any of their ability to pull a catchy chorus.
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89-MARNIE STERN-In Advance Of the Broken Arm (Kill Rock Stars)

Experimental rock’s debut of the year, courtesy of this young guitar player who takes Sleater-Kinney’s teachings in noise pop a few steps further. As impressive for its technical virtue as for its nearly unlistenable characteristic solos, sometimes close to power metal, some others closer to any Sonic Youth disciple.
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88-ALELA DIANE-The Pirate’s Gospel (Rough Trade)

Joanna Newsom unexpected success has open the doors for a legion of new folk voices, one of the most outstanding among them is Joanna’s high school friend from Nevada City. The warmth and personal voice of Alela Diane has little resemblance to the high-pitched tones of her colleague, but shares with her a common ability to shape it into a powerful instrument, creating impeccable melodies and forming worlds of their own, away from the grey and the mundane.
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87-THE CLIENTELE-God Saves The Clientele (Merge)

Outstanding disciples of the Luke Haines school, The Clientele mantain in their fifth effort an impeccable taste for the kind of elaborated pop arrangements who once made the leader of The Auteurs famous, among them Louis Philippe on strings. Their lyrics, inspired in surreal literature, are another of the trademarks in a band unfairly relegated to the second division.
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86-THE SHINS-Wincing The Night Away (Sub Pop)

Courted by Hollywood, The Shins jumped to the top of the chars with their less inspired work. Even so, Portland’s finests highly developed ear for a fine tune still placed them far ahead the competition. A little career mistep, though not lacking of a few poptastic good singles like “Australia” or “Phantom Limb”.
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85-PANTHA DU PRINCE-This Bliss (Dual)

The dormant world of Electronica experienced a small revolution thanks to a group of minor geniuses specialized in minimal adventures. Among them, Hendrick Weber, the German techno producer who operates under several monikers, released the second album by his most celebrated alias, linking with both minimal house and the shoegazing revival. “This Bliss” raised his profile to the point of being asked to remix some of Today’s more challenging artist like Animal Collective.
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84-APOSTLE OF HUSTLE-National Anthem Of Nowhere (Arts & Crafts)

Andrew Whiteman is the third Broken Social Scene member appearing in our count down, and won’t be the last! A melting pot of post-rock, cuban roots and even Lorca’s poetry, to whom he sings in acceptable Spanish in “Ráfaga”, builds up an album as diverse as spiked with ups and downs. Albeit its notorious mix of multiple styles shines with intermitent power through the record.
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83-BAND OF HORSES-Cease To Begin (Sub Pop)

In the minor deceptions category we can include Band Of Horses’ sophomore album, despite its robust conception and being plagued with notable songs it didn’t capture the magic of their illustrious debut, who went to win many Rober awards last year. The balance between epic indie rock and mellower Americana this time favored the former, ending in a record as amazing on a first listening, as it is tiring on successive ones.
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82-THE TWILIGHT SAD-Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters (Fat Cat)

From Glasgow to the world, this four-piece’s debut enamoured the blogosphere: many wanted to see in them some descendents of Arab Strap. Many others highlighted their blend of Scottish folk elements with more ambitious ones found in classic post-rock. Their fine narratives also helped winning some followers.
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81-PARTS & LABOR-Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar)

This Brookyn trio reached the so-called maturity and released their best album to date, in which their noise heritage and keenness for abrasive guitar sounds translated into excellent tracks, without compromising their experimental side. The ghosts of Hüsker Dü and Fugazi were still flying freely around them.
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80-GRUFF RHYS-Candylion (Rough Trade)

The Super Furry Animal got rid of the impressive sonic collage of his band and launched a folk-pop album filled with light, simple and charming songs, without losing any of the imaginative edge of the Furries but far superior to any of their recent efforts. The rough-voiced Welsh vocalist found himself at home among the breezy, naive touches.
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79-MAGIK MARKERS-Boss (Ecstatic Peace)

Smoothing the edges that took them to the peak of noise experiments, holding Sonic Youth parental hand, and pursuing a more traditional approach to rock; “Boss” is produced by Lee Ranando, sounds as a step back to the ninetiees’ most electric moments, from Jon Spencer to PJ Harvey, with songs like “Taste” confirming them as a band to watch.
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78-BUSDRIVER-Roadkill Overcoat (Epitaph)

In a piss-poor year for hip-hop, the Los Angeles MC, favourite of indie audiences and renowned for his nasal voice, lo-fi productions and eclectic taste in samples, stood outside the perennial gangsta contingent. Nobody and Boom Bip provided the beats in this caustic attack against everyone and everything.
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77-SOULSAVERS-It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land (V2)

Mark Lanegan stole the show in the British electronica duo’s latest project. His collaboration overshadowed the role of his hosts in this joint venture trying to blend the warmth and spirituality of Americana and gospel with their world of bips and bleeps. The strong voiced ex-Screaming Tree added enough credibility and human touch for the project to succeed. Highlights like “Revival” were unfairly overlooked.
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76-DUNGEN-Tio Bitar (Kemado)

Carrying on the cult raised by their former album “Ta Det Lugt”, the Swedish psychedelic-pop quartet lose the element of surprise, but striked again with another excellent record. Imaginative and radical in their quest for a return to the more organic productions and jam-sessions from the seventies. They delivered a new hallucinatory trip for their growing fanbase. HYPEMACHINE MYSPACE YOUTUBE