my top albums of 2007 #50-41

Just what the cyber-world needs, another "best of" list... but it's become a bit of an addiction for me, so there you go. Or, rather, here you go...

A handful of albums that just missed my top 50:

Angels Of Light - We Are Him
The Besnard Lakes - Are The Dark Horse
Blonde Redhead - 23
Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings
Narrator - All That To The Wall
Papercuts - Can't Go Back
The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
The Teeth - You're My Lover Now
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters


My biggest disappointments of the year:

Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky


50

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
This was a nice little surprise, I didn't know that Stars were releasing a new album until it leaked. Very solid.
TLOBF review

49

Page France - ...And The Family Telephone
I love pop music.

48

The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
There are a few tracks that never quite grew on me, but this one makes my top 50 based on the awesomeness of the handful of really awesome tracks.
TLOBF review

47

Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
My review

46

Peter Von Poehl - Going To Where The Tea Trees Are
My review

45

BOAT - Let's Drag Our Feet
The album art may be god-awful, but the tunes are poppy and goofy and great fun.

44

Voxtrot - Voxtrot
This was a really strong debut full-length for these Austinites. Firecracker = one of the best songs of the year, for sure.

43

Palomar - All Things, Forests
Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

42

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Earlier this year I was sure Neon Bible would land at least in my top 20. What a great year for music...

41

The Broken Family Band - Hello Love
One of the best finds of my year. Hello Love is not quite as strong as some of their previous work, but it's still pretty damn good.
TLOBF review

Stay tuned for more tomorrow...

the balloon liberation front

I'm not a big video person, but I love The Shins, so I had to check out the new Australia video posted by Pitchfork today. Yes, I love The Shins...

Watch it

it's a great week for talk shows, if you're around

Tonight: Andrew Bird on Letterman
Wednesday: LCD Soundsystem on Letterman
Thursday: Of Montreal on Conan
Friday: The Shins on Leno

Watch 'em, fuckers. :)

the best of 2007... part 1

I can't believe we're 3 months into the "new" year already. And even more, I can't believe the abundance of amazing stuff that the music gods have bestowed upon us in those 3 months. I thought I'd put together a little tracklist of some of the best new music that 2007 has given us so far... well, OK, maybe not so "little". It's about 90 minutes of pure awesomeness that goes something like this:

01 - The Apples In Stereo - Can You Feel It?
02 - Deerhoof - +81
03 - LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
04 - The Broken West - Down In The Valley
05 - Apostle Of Hustle - Chances Are
06 - Of Montreal - A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
07 - Menomena - Air Aid
08 - CYHSY - Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles In The Air...
09 - Illinois - Nosebleed
10 - Modest Mouse - Spitting Venom
11 - The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
12 - The Besnard Lakes - Devastation
13 - Panda Bear - Take Pills
14 - Beirut - Scenic World (Version)
15 - Andrew Bird - Dark Matter
16 - Jamie T - Calm Down Dearest
17 - Dr. Dog - Worst Trip
18 - The Shins - Girl Sailor
19 - Papercuts - Take The 227th Exit
20 - A Sunny Day In Glasgow - 5:15 Train
21 - Do Make Say Think - A Tender History In Rust

download it! (download will only be good for a couple of weeks... if you have trouble let me know).

And because I like lists (who doesn't?!?) here are the top 10 albums of my year so far... based almost solely on the amount of times I've listened to them (no ranking order here, rather alphabetical by album title):

The Besnard Lakes - Are The Dark Horse:
Canadian indie rock, I love you. Seeing these guys (and gal) live recently cemented this one in the first quarter's Top Ten.

Favorite tracks: Disaster; Devastation; Cedric's War











Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha:
Andrew has achieved the impossible and topped The Mysterious Production Of Eggs. Beautiful album.

Favorite tracks: Fiery Crash; Plasticities; Dark Matter












Menomena - Friend And Foe:
Very original, very fresh sound from these crazy guys. Buy the CD, the artwork is insane.

Favorite tracks: Muscle'n Flo; Air Aid; Boyscoutin'












Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?:
If, or rather, when you buy this one, I highly recommend getting the vinyl version, as it includes 4 incredible bonus songs. Insound has it. You need it.

Favorite tracks: Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse; A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger; The Past Is A Grotesque Animal; Du Og Meg (lp bonus track)








The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible:
Anthemic sophomore effort from yet another amazing Canadian band. I love love love this album.

Favorite tracks: Keep The Car Running; Intervention; (Antichrist Television Blues)











Jamie T - Panic Prevention:
I just can't get enough of this young Londoner's debut album. I'm not really sure why, but every time I listen to it I'm overcome with the feeling that this is the album the Arctic Monkeys should have made... Brilliant.

Favorite tracks: Calm Down Dearest; Back In The Game; Sheila; Dry Off Your Cheeks; Alicia Quays

Yeah, I love it.







Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder:
So far SLT wins the 2007 award for most polarizing album of the year. From what I've read and heard, people either love it or hate it. Fuck those haters, this album is a masterpiece.

Favorite tracks (if I have to pick just a few...): Some Loud Thunder*; Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles In The Air And Burning?; Yankee Go Home; Underwater (You And Me); Five Easy Pieces (and, if you can get your hands on the bonus track The Sword Song, do it - it's beautiful)

*I chose the title track as a favorite because (a) I fucking love the song but perhaps even more because (b) it seems to be the most polarizing track on this already polarizing album. If I had a nickel for every time I heard/read someone ask "is is supposed to sound like that?"... well, I'd probably have enough nickels for a mortgage payment. I firmly believe that Alec Ounsworth doesn't do anything without oodles of forethought, and I most definitely count myself among his biggest fans. I admire CYHSY for making the music they want to make, and for not giving a shit about what people think of them. CYHSY is not for everyone, I know. But they should be. Think about it.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver:
I've never been hugely into the whole electronica-dance-rock thing, but I love this album. A marvelous follow-up to the eponymous debut.

Favorite tracks: North American Scum; Someone Great; All My Friends; Watch The Tapes










Dr. Dog - We All Belong:
Hearing this album for the first time sent me into a Dr. Dog phase where I listened to nothing else for a few days. We All Belong is their best effort yet. Try it, you'll like it. Oh - and another amazing live band by the way.

Favorite tracks: Old News; My Old Ways; Ain't It Strange; Worst Trip










The Shins - Wincing The Night Away:
There are a couple of clunkers on here, but the indie pop brilliance of the rest of the album more than makes up for them. I don't care what anyone says, Wincing is just as good as Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow. Fantastic.

Favorite tracks: Australia; Phantom Limb; Turn On Me; Girl Sailor









Some more albums that are certainly worth a listen:

!!! - Myth Takes
A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
Apostle Of Hustle - National Anthem Of Nowhere
The Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
The Bees - Octopus
Beirut - Lon Gisland EP
The Bird And The Bee - The Bird And The Bee
Bracken - We Know About The Need
Bright Eyes - Four Winds EP
The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On
David Vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust
The Earlies - The Enemy Chorus
The Early Years - The Early Years
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Explosions In Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Field Music - Tones Of Town
Foreign Islands - Restart Now!
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Gruff Rhys - Candylion
Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know?
Jesse Malin - Glitter In The Gutter
Jesu - Conqueror
Lifetime - Lifetime
Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
Low - Drums And Guns
Maria Taylor - Lynn Teeter Flower
Marnie Stern - In Advance Of The Broken Arm
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
The Original Mark Edwards - The Doom Loop
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Papercuts - Can't Go Back
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out
Pop Levi - The Return To Form Black Magick Party
The Postmarks - The Postmarks
The Rakes - Ten New Messages
Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities
Shining - Grindstone
Softlightes - Say No! To Being Cool; Say Yes! To Being Happy
Sophia - Technology Won't Save Us
Ted Leo + Pharmacists - Living With The Living
VietNam - VietNam
Warm In The Wake - Gold Dust Trail EP

Quite a list, eh? And those are only the albums released by 3/31/2007. There are some upcoming albums that I've been enjoying that'll probably make it on part 2's tops list (Blonde Redhead, Bright Eyes, Cloud Cult, The National, Voxtrot, Wilco - I'm looking at you!). Yay 2007!

expectations are for suckers...

Tonight I saw The Shins at The Fillmore. I have decided that I'm really not too fond of The Fillmore. First of all, parking is a fucking headache unless you arrive a while before the show, and I hate arriving before the show. Second, there are few good seats (or, rather, places to stand) in the auditorium, so having any sort of view (especially if you are 5'3" like me) is impossible unless you, again, arrive early. Ugh.

So, it was cold out tonight, I was dreading parking, I was dreading the Shins crowd, and by the time I got inside and ducked my way through the floor crowd to about 2/3 of the way to the stage, I was pretty crabby. Not only did parking suck, not only did I have no chance at actually seeing the stage, but I had thought the doors were at 8 and the show was at 9. Nope... doors at 7 and show at 8. Viva Voce opened and I really wanted to see them. As it was I caught their last song (We Do Not Fuck Around) which was fantastic. The good news is they are coming back to Denver next month. W00t! I'll have to catch that one for sure. Anita from Viva Voce also played with The Shins for their entire set.

Add all this to the facts that (a) I've heard The Shins don't put on the best live show (tonight was my first); and (b) I was decidedly underwhelmed by their SNL performance last month. Safe to say I was planning a negative review before the show even began. Therefore you can imagine my surprise when The Shins came out and played an energetic, animated, and extraordinarily fun 90+ minute set. I decided to take setlist notes between my fleeting and sporadic glances at the band on stage:

Sleeping Lessons
Australia
Phantom Limb
Kissing The Lipless
Mine's Not A High Horse
Girl Inform Me
Girl On The Wing
New Slang
Saint Simon (we la la'd the shit out of that motherfucker!)
%Girl Sailor
Turn A Square
Gone For Good
A Comet Appears
Turn On Me
Know Your Onion!
One By One All Day
Caring Is Creepy
---encore---
Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers cover)
Pressed In A Book
So Says I

% = This is the precise moment that a smile appeared on my face that, at last check, is still there. Girl Sailor, Turn A Square, & Gone For Good are most certainly 3 of my favorite Shins songs. Oddly enough, it was also the precise moment that a part appeared in the crowd and I at least had a fabulous view of James for (most of) the remainder of the show. Heavenly.

The only instance where the sound wasn't amazing was for Mine's Not A High Horse. The bass was really really heavy and I thought James was out of tune, but it was hard just to hear him, so it may have been the bassiness messing with my hearing... :) New Slang was also a tad bass heavy, and they played it at what seems to me a verrrrrry slow pace. It was the same way they played it on SNL, and I have to say I'm not a fan. Not that it's a rocking song to begin with, but I swear they're playing it more slowly these days. They extended One By One All Day with a lengthy jam that probably would have been more fun if I had a better view of the stage.

There is definitely something to be said about attending shows alone. First of all, you don't have to worry if someone you talked into seeing one of your "weird" bands is having a decent time. Second, you can feel free to stand wherever you want, and move whenever you want. Finally, you can eavesdrop on people's conversations. "People listening" at concerts can be great fun, and I got a gem tonight. Shortly before The Shins took the stage, the guy next to me says to his friend, "So, the singer looks like he's about 60". Huh?!? I mean, obviously James Mercer's no kid anymore, but damn, he doesn't look THAT old!! I googled James Mercer to find a picture.... here's James:

However, this guy also showed up in the google search, so maybe my concert-going friend had his James Mercer's confused:

But back to the review. The show was not nearly as Wincing-heavy as I thought it would be, though they played everything that I really wanted to hear from the new album. I've read a lot of less-than-favorable reviews about Wincing The Night Away, but I've spent an awful lot of time with it since it leaked back in, oh... October? And I have to say that it's at least as good as Oh, Inverted World or Chutes Too Narrow. Sure, there are a couple of clunkers on there (though Sea Legs, arguably the most disappointing song on the album, has really grown on me). And I'll say it now: Australia, Phantom Limb, Turn On Me & Girl Sailor will be among the most satisfying indie pop songs of 2007.

One last, pretty insignificant thing I have to say about The Shins and their new album is this: did you know that song #9 is actually called Spilt Needles, and not Split Needles? It took me quite some time to realize this. It was always "Split" on my iPod... both my, um, downloaded copy of the album, and the version on the Phantom Limb single (which I bought from Sub Pop!!!!!) I saw the song title on the web and blogs everywhere, always registering as "Split". I don't know if my brain was playing tricks on me, or if everytime I saw the song title it truly was spelled "Split", but the first time I was consciously aware of the "Spilt" spelling was when I read the record review on Pitchfork. I honestly thought that Pitchfork was guilty of a typo, which amused me greatly. However, soon afterward I received my copy of Wincing on vinyl from Sub Pop. As I unwrapped it and cradled it in my arms I noticed song #9... It really is Spilt Needles. Huh.

Now playing:

Now eating (rocket pops are the bomb):

Now drinking:

+

shins-a-palooza!

From The Shins' MySpace:

• January 9: This is the day that you can pre-order Wincing the Night Away on iTunes.
• January 13: The Shins are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live! SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE! It's my dick, in a box!
• January 18: Starting on this day, and running through Jan. 21st, you can stream Wincing the Night Away, in its entirety, on Myspace!
• January 22: The Shins will be performing live at midnight at the Virgin Records in New York's Union Square. Buy a copy of the record at Virgin and you get in to see them play!
• January 23: Not only does Wincing the Night Away come out on this day, but also the band will be playing on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman! DAVID LETTERMAN!
• January 26: In the morning, The Shins will be playing on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. And, in the evening, at 8:00pm, they'll be playing a free in-store at the Amoeba Records in Hollywood.

Damn. There seems to be quite a lot of hype surrounding the release of Wincing The Night Away. Well-deserved hype (the album is great) but lots of hype nonetheless.

I wish the same could be said about the upcoming Clap Your Hands Say Yeah release. Sure, there are a few tracks floating around, there's lots of speculation and lots of fans hoping for a leak (which doesn't seem too bloody likely before the MP3's are available this coming Tuesday). Unfortunately, speculation is vastly different from hype. CYHSY, Where are you guys? No interviews, no TV appearances, barely any tour dates announced. C'mon!!

wincing your night away

Sub Pop darlings The Shins have announced some tour dates! Sweeeeet.

02-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
02-09 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
02-10 Chicago, IL - Congress Theater
02-11 St. Louis, MO - The Pagent
02-12 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
02-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
02-15 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
02-16 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
02-20 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater
02-21 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
02-25 London, England - The Astoria

Also, they will be performing on Saturday Night Live on January 13. Too bad SNL sucks. Can someone TIVO this for me, please?

The new album, Wincing The Night Away, is to be released on January 23. Pre-order it from Sub Pop. Or Insound. The album is fan-fucking-tastic!

Are you wondering what I'm listening to right now? Well, I'm listening to this:

Yeah, that's right, bitch.

Safety In Speed (feat. Craig Finn - fuck yeah!!)

I've only walked out on one single movie
It was an action adventure
It was a blood-sucking summer

And the posters in the lobby of the theater called it Predator
I called it weak and unwatchable
Carl Weathers and two future governers
You know, that's really unacceptable

We gotta stop falling for these double speakers from the double features
We gotta keep 'em in the theaters

So put your head up to the speakers
This is what it's like to stop talking and finally hear me

It's not concern you're itchin' to burn
I know you're dying to know
Homie I'm dying to listen and learn

So put your head up to the headphones
This is what it's like to drown out the psychos

I'm concerned you're itchin' to burn
I know you're dying to do it
But homie you gotta see how it's done

So put your gun in the shoebox
Put the box in the back of your closet and close the door

Between the kegs and the Maiden CD
I think this party's got about as much heavy metal as it's gonna need

So put your head up to the speakers
This is what it's like to stop talking and finally hear me

See we ain't got time to bleed
We hit the highways and skating on thin ice Mercedes in the street

You ever feel like you're being tricked, tricked-out, dipped, dicked around with
Or flat-out lied to?
Welcome to Hollywood, D.C., where Reagan youth grew up cowboys off Ronnie's westerns
That shoot 'em up, and steal the bucks
Tell em what's love and giddy-up, yeah off into the sunset

Years later we watched The Running Man and 2 of em ran and 1
Too star-struck to stick with the plan, huh?
I shoulda switched to Marlboros
Them cowboy killers
'Cause cowboy's are killing Camel Lights

Some mustached punk that evil Jafar
But for a middle eastern guy
I think Aladdin looked kinda white

We open wide and catch a bite of villain image
We swallow it, and feed it to the kids if the song's alright
It’s just the way it be, eyes wide shut up
And sit down, put your hands up for your turn to speak

Put your head up to the speakers
This is what it's like to stop talking and finally hear me

It's not concern you're itchin' to burn
I know you're dying to know
Homie I'm dying to listen and learn

So put your head up to the headphones
This is what it's like when you drown out all the psychos

I'm concerned you're itchin' to burn
I know you're dying to do it
But homie you gotta see how it's done

So put the gun in the shoebox
Put the box in the back of your closet and close the door

Between the kegs and the Maiden CD
I think this party's got about as much heavy metal as it's gonna need

Put your head right up to the speakers
You know, this is what it feels like when you stop talking and hear me

We ain't got time to bleed
We hit the highways and skating on thin ice Mercedes in the street

I got my Nikon
Let’s get our knife on
And get a couple snapshots of a bad move

Can you turn the light on
'Cause I forgot the flash
Want these proofs to prove what not to do