Top 10 for 2007
Katie Weld (CTD)
in no particular order of awesomeness
BEST ALBUMS!!
OXBOW- "Narcotic Story" (Hydra Head)
WHITE SHOES & the Couples Company- "S/T" (Minty Fresh)
PINBACK- "Autumn of the Seraphs" (Touch & Go)
LIARS- "Liars" (Mute)
CARIBOU- "Andorra" (Merge)
BAD BRAINS- "Build A Nation" (Megaforce)
DUNGEN "Tio Bitar" - Kemado)
DJ VADIM - "Soundcatcher" - (BBE)
PATTON OSWALT- "Werewolves & Lollipops" - (Sub Pop)
BEST SONGS!!
AMON TOBIN "Bloodstone" from FOLEY ROOM- (Ninja Tune)
AIR "Left Bank" from POCKET SYMPHONY- (Astralwerks)
PAPERCUTS "Dear Employee" from CAN'T GO BACK- (Gnomonsong)
JOAKIM "Lonely Hearts" from MONSTERS & SILLY SONGS- (K7)
SHINS "Australia" from WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY- (Sub Pop)
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY "Strange Form of Life" from STRANGE FORM OF
LIFE- (Drag City)
Caitlin Lavin (CTD)
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure)
Caribou - Andorra (Merge)
Enon - Grass Geysers..Carbon Clouds (Touch and Go)
The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (self-released)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
Detroit Cobras - Tied and True (Bloodshot)
Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch (Astralwerks)
Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
Shannon Wright - Let in the Light (Quarterstick)
Honorable mentions-
Bjork - Volta (Atlantic)
Deadly Syndrome - The Ortolan (Dim Mak)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (DFA/EMI)
Best Reissue -
True West - Hollywood Holiday (Atavistic)
Fred Thomas (Ypsilanti Records)
Please click here for his carefully crafted
full text
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
lex Delivery - Star Destroyer
Phosphorescent - Pride
A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
High Places - new 7"
Various Artists - "Your Band Could Be My Life
Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind
Jens Lekman - The Night Falling On The Hill Of The Dusk Central Public Transit
Glarbrel
The Karen Dalton - Live reissue
Tony Dale (Camera Obscura)
Agitated Radio Pilot "World Winding Down" (Deadslackstring)
Martyn Bates and Max Eastley "Songs of Transformation" (Musica
Maxima Magnetica)
Boris w/Kurihara "Rainbow" (Drag City)
Furxasa "Alone in the Dark Wood" (ATP Recordings)
Ghost "In Stormy Nights" (Drag City)
Rickie Lee Jones - "The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard" (New West)
Christian Kiefer "Dogs and Donkeys" (Undertow)
Marianne Nowottny "What Is She Doing"? (Abaton)
Thinguma'Jigsaw (Deserted Village)
Trees Community "The Christ Tree" 4CD Box Set (Hand/Eye)
tiMOTHy (Dark Holler • Hand/Eye)
1. The Trees Community "The Christ Tree" Hand/Eye h/e015 & h/e030
Yes, I know we released this, but it really is my favorite album.
2. Lee Perry & The Upsetters "Ape-Ology" Trojan
"Super Ape" competes with "Heart of the Congos" for my
favorite Black Ark revelations...making it eternally at the top of my playlist,
but this completist version came out in 2007, allowing me to place it here.
3. John Jacob Niles "The Ballads" Tradition
Niles doing what he did best - interpretations of trad. ballads done in such
a unique way that they become almost experimental art-song. We tried desperately
to get the reissue rights for this about 6 years ago, but couldn't cough up
enough money to interest the folks who held the rights.
4. Culture "Two Sevens Clash" 30th Anniversary edition, Shanachie
Essential album gets a remaster and bonus tracks.
5. Om "Pilgrimage" LP Southern Lord
Drums and bass, but not drum n' bass (not that there's anything wrong with
that).
6. Michael Rose "Warrior Dub" MRecords
Twilight Circus dubs on the fantastic "Warrior" album.
7. Sole and the Skyrider Band s/t, anticon
I am behind the curve on the whole anticon thing. Happy to start here though.
8. Kode 9 + The Spaceape "Memories of the Future" Hyperdub
Ok, I guess this was released in 2006, but it didn't hit my ears until 2007.
Dubstep, meet dub poetry.
9. Tim Buckley "My Fleeting House" DVD, MVD
That "Song to the Siren" clip from the Monkees TV show and many
more video treasures find their way at last to release.
10. Junior Murvin "Inna de Yard", Inna-de-Yard/Makasound
The falsetto behind "Police and Thieves" gets the organic treatment
in this ongoing series from Chinna Smith's back yard.
Tyler Ashton (CTD)
Also in no particular order of awesomeness
DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage (Roadrunner Records)
Get this one, if you like music that cooks. With Gas, and
lots of it!
Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs (Touch & Go)
Good stuff, I recommend the concerts.
Japanather - Skuffed up my Huffy (Menlo Park)
I used to have a huffy, I skuffed the shit out of it a few
times.
Coconut Coolouts - Party Time Machine (Haunted Horse)
In Extremo - Verehrt Und Angespien (Metal Blade)
It's true, I like German metal, with harps, so?
Statehood - Lies & Rhetoric (Statehood)
Jesu - Silver (Hydra Head)
Have Almonte to thank for this one. Thanks John! XO
Nude Pube Banglers - New Wave of Norwegian Hard Rock (Chorus of One)
Rumour has it this is John Almonte's favorite album, based
on the name
alone.
Letzte Instanz - Wir sind Gold (Thend)
Welcome to Cambridge - Sex and Exes (no label)
apparently all broken up and not releasing anything
in the near future..
fowny face :(
Dan (End of An Ear)
Favorite record of the year: Robert Wyatt "Comicopera"
Favorite reissues of the year: Betty Davis CDs on Light in the Attic
Fastest selling road show we sold tickets for: Gogol Bordello
Top selling title we sold this year: Explosions in the Sky "All of a
Sudden I Miss Everyone" (Temporary Residence)
Favorite Reggae reissue: Keith Hudson "Brand: Reggae Instrumental Dub
(The Joint)" (Pressure Sounds UK)
Favorite Customer Comment: "Is this Dan Fogelberg album really only 99
cents?!"
Favorite Endcap Display: Iron & Wine "The Shepherd's Dog" vinyl
next to Angels of Light "We Are Him" LPs and each week we got to
hear little kids scream "Puppies!"
Favorite DVD reissue and top DVD seller: Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky DVD
Boxset
Top Vinyl Seller (this year, last year and prob next year): Neutral Milk Hotel
"In The Airplane Over the Sea" (Merge)
Fastest Selling Used Vinyl: Anything by Brian Eno
Allison Wasilewski (CTD)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (Self-Released)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna (Polyvinyl)
LCD Soundsystem - Sounds of Silver (DFA)
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin (Sub Pop)
Beirut - Flying Cup Club (Ba Da Bing!)
Shins - Wincing Away the Night (Sub Pop)
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
Betty Davis Reissues (Light In The Attic)
Honorable Mentions
The National - The Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Sigur Ros - Heima DVD (XL)
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (Kill Rock Stars)
Menomena - Friend & Foe (Barsuk)
O'Death - Head Home (Ernest Jenning)
Arp - In Light (Smalltown Supersound)
Tom (Magnolia Thunderpussy)
grinderman - s/t
les savy fav - let's stay friends
little claw - spit and squalor swallow the snow
silver daggers - new high & ord
thurston moore - trees outside the academy
wooden shjips - s/t
a place to bury strangers - s/t
italians do it better records - after dark
celebration - modern tribe
enon - grass geysers...carbon clouds
Chien Yuan (Actually Records)
1. Fennesz Sakamoto – Cendre
2. Steve Jansen – Slope
3. Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad
4. The Joy Division Reissues
5. David Sylvian – When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima
6. Roisin Murphy – Overpowered
7. Tracey Thorn – Out of the Woods
8. Aril Brikha – Ex Machina
9. Eisley – Comvinations
10. Black Milk – Popular Demand
Judah (VonVeederVeld guitar/vocals)
1. Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
2. Wooden Shjips - S/T
3. Besnard Lakes - Are The Dark Horse
4. The Good, The Bad, & The Queen - S/T
5. Radiohead - In Rainbows
6. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
7. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
8. Bill Callahan - Woke On A Whaleheart
9. Handsome Furs - Plague Park
10. Holly Golightly - You Can't Buy A Gun When You'r Crying
Leah Urbom (CTD)
The New Pornographers- Challengers
Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?/Icons, Abstract, Thee EP
Ryan Adams- Easy Tiger
Johnathan Rice- Further North
Peter Bjorn and John- Writer's Block
The Shins- Wincing the Night Away
Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
Rocky Votolato- The Brag & Cuss
Iron & Wine- The Sheperd's Dog
The Bird and the Bee- S/T
Chris Berry (Soft Abuse)
BLUES CONTROL Puff (Woodsist)
BILL CALLAHAN Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City)
THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS The Cherry Blossoms (Black Velvet Fuckere)
FROG EYES Tears of the Valedictorian (Absolutely Kosher)
GROUPER Cover the Windows and the Walls (Root Strata)
MANISHEVITZ East to East (Catbird)
CASS MCCOMBS Dropping the Writ (Domino)
PAPERCUTS Can't Go Home (Gnomonsong)
PINK REASON Cleaning the Mirror (Siltbreeze)
PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT Magic Flowers Droned (Siltbreeze)
Danny (Luna music)
richard hawley- lady's bridge
machinefabriek- weleer
budos band- II
little wings- soft powr
clientele- god save the clientele
bj nilsen- the short night
kim hiorthoy- my last day
apples in stereo-new magnetic wonder
junior senior- hey hey my my yo yo
the national- boxer
Jason Taylor (Redeye)
Boris w/Michio Kurihara ‘Rainbow’
Deerhunter ‘Cryptograms’
Angels of Light ‘We Are Him’
Akron/Family ‘Love Is Simple’
Battles ‘Mirrored’
Liars ‘Liars’
Low ‘Drums and Guns’
Sharon Jones ‘100 Days, 100 nights’
Earth ‘Hibernaculum’
Grinderman ‘Grinderman’
Gade Hutaff (CTD)
No Particular order(except the Grinderman)
Grinderman - S/T
Boris w/ Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
A Place To Bury Strangers - S/T
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Jesu - Conqueror
We Are Wolves - Total Magique
Others that I enjoyed:
Liars - S/T
Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
Holly Golightly - You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying
Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
Menomena - Friend & Foe
Budos Band - Budos Band II
Sharon Jones - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Bill Callahan - Woke On a Whaleheart
Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
Joel Beeman (CTD)
1. White Rainbow "Prism of Eternal Now"
2. Alcest "Souvenirs d'un autre monde"
3. Stars of the Lid "And Their Refinement of the Decline"
4. Byla & Jarboe "Viscera"
5. Oxbow "The Narcotic Story"
6. Epic 45 "May Your Heart Be The Map"
7. Gianluca Becuzzi & Fabio Orsi "The Stones Know Everything"
8. Last Days "These Places Are Now Ruins"
9. Marsen Jules "Golden"
10. Tim Hecker "Atlas"
Craig Houston (friend of CTD, formerly of Gem City)
1. menomena - friend & foe
2. patrick wolf - the magic position
3. ryan adams - easy tiger
4. okkervil river - the stage names
5. suzanne vega - beauty & crime
6. grinderman - grinderman
7. iron & wine - the shepheards dog
8. laura viers - salt breaker
9. rilo kiley - under the black lights
10. john vandreslice - emerald city
bubbling under.....
the national - boxer
the white stripes - icky thump
rickie lee jones - sermon from exposition blvd
tegan & sara - the con
band of horses - cease to begin
jens lekman - under something or other...
Andy Wagner (CTD)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
National - The Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (Sub Plop)
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (Saddle Creek)
Caribou - Andorra (Merge)
Alberta Cross - Thief & The Heartbreaker (Geffen)
Thurston Moore- Trees Outside (Ecstatic Peace)
Kanye West - Graduation (Roc-A-Fella)
Richard Swift - Dressed Up For the Let Down (Secretly Canadian)
Bill Callahan - Woke on a Whale Heart (Drag City)
Julia Adams (CTD)
Spoon "GA GA GA GA GA"
New Pornographers " Challengers'
Iron and Wine "Shepard's Dog"
O'Death "Head Home"
Vic Chestnut 'North Star Deserter'
Wilco 'Sky Blue Sky'
Dean and Britta 'Back Numbers"
Arcade Fire 'Neon Bible'
Steve EArle 'Washington Square Serenade'
Mekons 'Natural'
Patrick Monaghan (CTD)
Alberta Cross - The Thief and the Heartbreaker (Geffen)
Bad Brains - Build a Nation (Megaforce)
Rickie Lee Jones - The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard (New West)
Let's Go Sailing - The Chaos in Order (GR2 Classics)
Mekons - Natural (Quarterstick)
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - S/T (Bloodshot)
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch & Go)
Shins - Wincing that Night Away (Sub Pop)
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
Young Gods - Super Ready/Fragmenté (Ipecac)
Reissues
V/A - African Dub Vols. 1-4 (17 North Parade)
Megan Reilly (artist)
my top two!
1 The Mekons "Natural" (Quarterstick)
2 PJ Harvey "White Chalk" (Island)
Kris (Desolation Row) Top 10 Albums of 2007
1. Blonde Redhead – 23
2. The National – Boxer
3. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
4. Mary Weiss – Dangerous Game
5. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. The New Pornographers – Challengers
7. Neil Young – Live at Massey Hall 1971
8. Great Ants – For Simply
9. The Detroit Cobras – Tied & True
10. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Top 10 Albums from this year that I wish I had never heard (let alone repeatedly)
1. Fountains Of Wayne - Traffic And Weather I can't even think of a joke that
could do an album that lyrically references the Gap, Coldplay and King of
Queens justice.
2. Jesse Malin - Glitter In The Gutter How I hate thee, let me count the ways...
He has to be one of the least talented guys with a record deal out there.
A piano ballad cover of "Bastards Of Young"? Come on!
3. Marshall Crenshaw - Definitive Pop Disc 1 Way overproduced dentist's office
music sung off key. Makes me wish for a root canal.
4. Clientele - God Save The Clientele I have literally fallen asleep every
time I've had to listen to this unbelievably dull release. You can do much
better.
5. Clinic - Visitations They somehow made a career out of doing lo-fi out
of key covers of the same three Talking Heads songs - good for them, bad for
us!
6. Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes Unoriginal repetitive uninspired children's
music - I would pay cash money to see the Spice Girls beat their heads in
with platform shoes
7. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger Oh, easy there, Tiger! I was wondering why intelligent
people like this guy and, after hearing "Halloweenhead", I'm still
wondering.
8. Imperial Teen - The House, The Baby, The TV & The Band I can't believe
this is on Merge. I can't believe someone could be so awesome in Faith No
More and stink so bad. This is a shitty indie rock off-Broadway musical.
9. Patti Scialfa (aka Bruce Springsteen's Wife) - Play It As It Lays How someone
could get a job as a singer when they sing like Cartman is beyond me... maybe
she didn't sound like Cartman before she was doing Bruce Springsteen?
10. Paul Weller - As Is Now I refuse to believe this was the same guy from
the Jam now sounding like.. Blues Traveler! Living proof of the Breakfast
Club quote "when you grow old your heart dies".
Lys Guillorn (artist)
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer (Island)
Tom Brosseau - Cavalier (Fat Cat)
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Righteous Babe)
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian)
CocoRosie - "Rainbowarriors" from The Adventures of Ghosthorse and
Stillborn (Touch & Go)
Blonde Redhead - 23 (4AD)
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Republic)
James Brandley (Sound Fix)
1. Field Music: Tones of Town (Memphis Industries)
2. The Clientele: God Save the Clientele (Merge)
3. Hot Chip: DJ Kicks (!K7)
4. Peter Bjorn and John: Writers's Block (Almost Gold)
5. Lily Allen: Alright, Still (Capitol)
6. Datarock: Datarock Datarock (Yap)
7. Battles: Mirrored (Warp)
8. Loney, Dear: Loney Noir (Sub Pop)
9. Tom Brosseau: Grand Forks, Michigan (Fat Cat)
10. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Merge)
Marc Vera (Nook)
immaculate machine - fables
genaro - s/t
emery - i'm only a man
boy in static - violet
the twilight sad - fourteen autumns and fifteen winters
helios - ayres
amiina - kurr
apparat - walls
fonoda - eventually
young galaxy - s/t
Brook Stokes's Yeeaah! of 2007 (CTD)
Animal Collective-Strawberry Jam (Many of things I've come to expect from
this band with one exception-it's actually enjoyable to listen to)
Deerhoof-Friend Opportunity(Little asian singer, big guitar sound)
Pinback-Autumn of the Seraphs
Gruff Rhys-Candylion
Richard Swift-Dressed Up for the Let Down (Harry Nilsson and Rufus Wainright
wrapped in a poncho)
Vic Chesnutt-North Star Deserter
Band of Horses-Cease to Begin ( Oh that voice, that wondeful voice)
Menomena-Friend or Foe
The National-Boxer
Of Montreal-Hissing Fauna, You are the Destroyer (Making the inner struggle
of a divorce something you can dance to)
The one album to rule them all...
Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga(for Ga Ga Ga Ga God's sake go buy this album
Randall Nieman (Mind Expansion)
1. dean and britta "back numbers" zoe records
2. stax "50th anniversary celebration" stax
3. füxa commits suicide mind expansion
4. martin rev "cheyenne" re-issue mind expansion
5. patton oswalt "werewolves and lollipops" sub pop
6. venture lift "futuretoreal" mind expansion
7. alan vega "station" mute
8. dream frequencies compilation antenna records
9. echoes of the whales "s/t" disasters by choice
10. obsil "points" disasters by choice
Tony Adams (CTD)
Air - Pocket Symphony (Astralwerks)
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Republic)
Tinariwen - Aman Iman (World Village USA)
Palliard - At the Roger Brown House
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
Bran Van 3000 - Rose (Remstar Canada)
Federico Aubele - PanAmerica (ESL)
The Sea and Cake - Everybody (Thrill Jockey)
Bitter::Sweet - The Remix Game (Quango)
LCD Soundsytem - The Sound of Silver (Capital)