The Best of 2007: #11-20

I've decided to jump the gun a little bit and post the first part of my top 20 album list.

20. Handsome Furs - Plague Park

Dan Boeckner is easily one of the biggest badasses in a pansy-filled genre. As one of the two songwriters in Wolf Parade, he's so often overlooked by the elitists who think that just because Spencer was involved in Frog Eyes, he's the one you should care about. Boeckner has created a bizarre, desolate album; the sets are only dressed by his swaggering guitar lines and a lonely sounding keyboard, played by Boeckner's wife. Unfortunately, like so many albums this year, the album is very short in length and leaves you wanting so much more. As seen above, "What We Had" has one of the coolest sounding guitar parts ever.

19. Bonde Do Role - With Lasers

18. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal

This album was a huge surprise for me this year. I listened to it a few times through and liked it well enough, but I never thought it would make it through the year. As time went on, I fell in love with the bizarre echoed vocals (no, this isn't a studio trick; the lead singers are twins) and the vastly varied instrumentation. There are fuzzy moments of shoegaze-y goodness contrasted with moments of plain darkwave, post-goth dungeon gloom. The 4AD references here are almost too obvious. Anything played decently with tons of reverb can sound good, but this album really blows "good" out of the water.

17. POLYSICS - Karate House

Japan's premiere power-pop act never seemed to take off in the states; Mike Park put out two of their records, while they play to 100000 people at summer festivals in Japan and put out records on Sony. The first few records were very Devo, while still retaining the "Japanese" part of the POLYSICS identity. Karate House is a completely different affair. POLYSICS has abandoned the noisy post-punk affectations for a more straightforward, hook-laden sound. "Electric Surfin' Go-Go" is probably my favorite song of the year; not only does it sound like power pop forgot to take its Ritalin before class, but there's a damn surf bass solo. Who does that? It seriously sounds like Peter Hook if he were born into the Wilson family. If you don't believe me, see this post.

16. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

James Murphy has done something wonderful with the latest LCD Soundsystem album. The disco-punk thing has really blown up in the last year; not only has it hit alternative radio, but it's on television, just like everything else I seem to like. "North American Scum" is the hit off the album, but it seemed too out of context when LCD played it on Letterman. This album is a communal experience. The stage looked so empty with Murphy freaking out in the center precisely because the songs were meant for the dancefloor. "All My Friends" may have been Pitchfork's #1 song of the year, but the real winner off the album (for me) was "Time To Get Away," the biggest, best Prince ripoff I've heard in quite some time.

15. Feist - The Reminder

I tried to resist putting this album on my list. I just couldn't. This album was damn near everywhere this year. I'd imagine it was licensed almost as many times as the Wilco album was and that wasn't even the surprising part. The really surprising part is how long it took everyone else to catch on. Watch this and tell me that you didn't see it coming. Does something seem familiar about this video and this song? IT'S A DAMN GAP AD. DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE KHAKIS YOU HAVE IN YOUR CLOSET? CAN YOU REMEMBER FINDING THEM A FEW YEARS AGO, THINKING, "WHY DID I EVER BUY THESE? I GUESS IT WAS THE 90s." HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK THEY'RE SELLING IPODS?

14. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

13. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

John K. Samson and his brigade of Mounties have once again trapped me in a snowy, nostalgic hell that I can't get away from. Jonah Ray said it best:
"One of my favorite bands. They've made the same album three times now and i dont mind it. Each song has such a sweetness to it, and it doesnt hurt that the singer sounds a lot like Big Bird. Maybe thats why i like it? because it brings in these thoughts of a large, friendly bird bringing me in for a hug...then singing sweet political poetry into my earhole."
The Weakerthans' music is much more subdued than it was when they first started, but they're getting old. What hasn't changed, however, is John K's penchant for writing some of the most relevant, beautiful poetry in music today. It's one thing to make music good enough to listen to over and over. John K's lyrics take this to a whole different level and make me want to write. The way he can turn a phrase is just unreal.

12. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted

British girl-group revivalists are probably always going to get me off musically. Last year, the Pipettes album was somewhere in my top 5, and this year, it's Lucky Soul. These Brits have found a way to make an intrinsically American album, moreso than their countrywomen in the Pipettes. Where the Pipettes banked everything they had on "spunk" and familiar hooks, Lucky Soul made it all about the music, abandoning the appearance of modernity for a very organic sound that isn't afraid of slowing down."Add Your Light To Mine, Baby" not only has one of the most memorable hooks this year, but has a great three-part harmony that's irresistable.

11. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Living With the Living (or in my case, Just Living)

I won't lie; I was a little disappointed the first time I heard this album. There are so many powerful moments on this album and they were almost all negated by the really weird, out of place moments. Ted really won me back with the "deluxe" edition of the album, though. Generally, I'm interested in the second disc of all "deluxe" versions, but more often than not, they're plain disappointing. A few b-sides that shouldn't have come out from the other side of the vinyl and outcast demo versions, supplemented by suprisingly poor quality live cuts does not merit me spending an extra $5 on an album that I've already bought, but Ted's second disc, the Mo' Living EP, was genius. Each one of the songs on the EP had a place on the album, replacing the parts I saw to be unnecessary. I've created my own version of the album, cutting the fat and turning it into one of the best pop albums this year, calling it Just Living. I haven't upped this album just yet, but I'll let you know when I do.