Yer Mam!

Yer Mam!'s top albums and tunes of 2007: In full.

Here's those lists in full. Click through on the name of a tune or album to get to my post about them...

Yer Mam!'s Top 50 Albums Of 2007

Yer Mam!'s Top 100 Tunes Of 2007

Labels: top 100 tunes of 2007, top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 5-1

5. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)

On the surface, Hissing Fauna... is a, at times screamingly camp, fun electro pop record - a style that of Montreal have been edging towards for a while but which they fully embrace and dry-hump here - but that was just a front for one of the darkest, most emotionally naked albums of the year. It's no less than what should be expected from a record whose opening line is "We just want to emote 'til we're dead", really, but of Montreal's latest practically fizzes along, jerking and shunting from one piece of sunshine pop to another. It's tears of a clown syndrome however, as the lyrics, which paint a kind of bildungsroman of Kevin Barnes' fractious divorce and subsequent breakdown, are frazzled and fevered, running the gamut of emotions from denial to anger to, ultimately, acceptance.

Its structure mirrors Barnes' fragile mental state during the writing. There are no pauses between tracks, but no attempt is made to help the album flow either. The transitions from mood to mood, song to song are often quite jarring; for instance, the sudden lurch from the cool, handclapping punk-funk of 'Gronlandic Edit' into the citrus fizz synths of the joyous, hilarious tale of hanging around Norway with black metal fans, 'A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger' is startling. If this is all making it sound like a bit of a mess, then I guess it is, but it's a glorious, often harrowing journey that I urge anyone with a working set of ears to take at least once.

of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider (mp3)

of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the brilliant video for single, 'Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse'.

4. Studio - Yearbook 1 (Information)

No doubt there'll be some grousing at my inclusion of this in the main albums list as six of its eight tracks turned up on 2006's West Coast in some form or other, but here's the thing; I completely forgot to include that record in last year's list, so consider this some sort of penance. Not that it doesn't deserve its place as, 'proper' album or not, it's one of the finest, most consistently rewarding releases of 2007. Yearbook 1 is the sound of a fine new talent emerging and greeting their public, after a handful of 12"s and 7"s (plus the aforementioned West Coast, which, until its re-release this year, was only available on vinyl). Studio's refined sound falls somewhere between fellow Scandinavians' Lindstrom & Prins Thomas and the krautrock of Ash-Ra Tempel (the cyclical guitar swells of 'No Comply' owes more than a little to the pioneering work of Manuel Gottsching), with a little King Tubby thrown in for good measure.

Studio work within the long-form Balearic disco template, but it's what they do in that framework that makes them so special. Rasmus Hagg and Dan Lissvik can't resist but bring almost every sonic frill and technique that's tickled their fancy over the years to bear, be it the post-orgasmic chill-rock of Screamadelica's lighter moments, Augustus Pablo's melodica driven dub, early-90s Italo-house, Klaus Schulze's synth experimentation or even light-fingered euro-pop. That it never feels forced is a testament to the talent of these stars-in-waiting.

Studio - Indo (Extended Version) (mp3)

Studio - No Comply (mp3)

Bonus: Love Is All - Turn The Radio Off (Remake By Studio) (mp3)

3. King Khan & The Shrines - What Is?! (Hazelwood)

Proof that sometimes all you need to make a great album is a grounding in garage rock'n'soul and red-eyed conviction. King Khan and his Sensational Shrines may not be pushing music forward in any way - they're actually bloody-mindedly backward-looking when all's said and done - but when there's nothing new or original to say or do, then you have to look to the past to get your kicks. Seemingly raised on every Nuggets, Pebbles or Back From The Grave compilation he could get his hands on, plus Atlantic, Motown and Stax' back catalogues, Khan filters them all through his own personality, which is also cobbled together from Otis Redding, Gerry Roslie and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

So far, so derivative, but who really cares when the songs are this fucking great. The fortifying fuzz blast of opener, '(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harm's Way', the solid soul of 'Welfare Bread', the piano-rockin' 'No Regrets', 'In Your Grave''s supercharged psych-soul, the acid-damaged voodoo blues of 'Cosmic Serenade', all instant classics. KK & The Shrines also hit the odd stunning grace note, like the effortlessly funky 'Le Fils Du Jacques Dutronc' and the hilarious, solemn Dylan-aping closer 'The Ballad Of Lady Godiva', as if to prove that it's not all caveman rock around these parts. What you're left with at the end of What Is?! is the best darn garage rock album since, well, since all those British Invasion parodists got drafted to 'Nam. Fuckin' A!

King Khan & The Shrines - I Wanna Be A Girl (mp3)

King Khan & The Shrines - In Your Grave (mp3)

Bonus: King Khan + Mark Sultan = greatness: The King Khan & BBQ Show - Get Down (mp3)

2. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)

After making my list last year at number eleven with his self-titled debut, he just misses out on the top spot this time around with an album which, at the end of the day, is more of the same, only better, richer, more highly textured, more emotionally resonant and just way more addictive. Employing the same (bedroom) studio techniques he did on his debut - skippy, corroded two-step beats, strange percussive tics (a lighter being lit, shell casings hitting concrete etc.), massively compressed, twisted vocals, liberal amounts of vinyl crackle - it also paints a more romantic vision of urban decay than the all-out despair of his first album.

The swoony vocal refrain of 'Archangel' ("Tell me I belong") acts as a hook, allowing the listener to make that journey into the heart of darkness of Burial's music. Burial realises that dubstep is a limiting subgenre and so incorporates elements of r'n'b, UKG, trip-hop, even minimal techno in his stew. This results in a record with complexity, personality and soul to spare and one which should surely grab the shadowy producer this year's Mercury Prize. Then again, it might just be too good for that. File alongside Goldie's Timeless, Massive Attack's Protection and Leftfield's Leftism under Great British Modern Soul Classics.

Burial - Etched Headplate (mp3)

Burial - Raver (mp3)

Bonus: Bloc Party - Where Is Home? (Burial Remix) (mp3)

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (DFA/EMI)

No prizes for seeing this one coming. Ever since that early leak at the arse-end of 2006, I've sung Sound Of Silver's praises loudly and as often as possible on this 'ere blog, but is it really all that? Or do I just have a fanboy crush on James Murphy. Well, to the untrained ear, Sound Of Silver may well come across as A.N. Other dance/rock crossover attempt, but with a bit of knowledge of DFA Records and LCD Soundsystem in particular, the massive leap forward that Sound Of Silver represents becomes clear. James Murphy has always been a canny producer, crafting effortlessly pleasing music out of his many, many influences, but this, LCD Soundsystem's sophomore release, sees the studio whizz also take on the mantle of superb songwriter too.

Whereas the last album lacked a little in the way of heart, this one makes up for it in spades. If you're not immediately moved by 'Someone Great' on first listen, if 'All My Friends' doesn't make you want to punch the air in adulation and hug the nearest acquaintance, if 'New York, I Love You' doesn't make you want to keep hold of that pal and sway and croon along, then you might as well be dead. What's most impressive about Sound Of Silver however, is that it's the gift that keeps giving. The songs that most thought at first to be makeweights, like the disco-tech of the title track or the punk-funk (with the emphasis on the funk) of 'Time To Get Away', or the rocket-powered new wave of 'Watch The Tapes' reveal themselves to be more than capable of standing up to the rest of the album on repeat run-throughs. Whatever. I could go on for days, but I won't. Ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for the album of 2007 and one of the best of the decade thus far. Kids! Never! Lie!

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (mp3)

LCD Soundsystem - Time To Get Away (mp3)

Bonus: "And I was there!" Check out videos from LCD's gig at Manchester Academy from March 2007.

Phew! Not quite done with 2007 just yet, there's still a few little miscellaneous lists to come over the next couple of days and then we're going to be looking forward to what's to come in 2008. Should be fun.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 10-6

10. Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X (Italians Do It Better)

Glass Candy are the bright yang to Chromatics' yin, ostensibly, with their flashy, almost crass pop sensibilities offering stark contrast to Chromatics' shadowy romanticism, but both bands overlap in more ways than just sharing a member (the multi-talented Johnny Jewel). Check the wan arpeggios in 'Etheric Device' or 'Last Nite I Met A Costume''s sustained, instrumental dramatics for instances. However, Glass Candy prefer to face the listener down where Chromatics lurk in the shadows.

Ida No is a massively charismatic presence in the traditional look-but-don't-touch mould; a just out of reach objet de desir for the listener to put on a pedestal, while she dances by herself. The music is much more personable however, at points betraying a startling immediacy, like on the rainbow-coloured synth-trumpet blasts of 'Candy Castle', or the fuzz-synth, pervy workout of 'Beatific'. It won't catch on in the mainstream, but for glossy pop thrills, you could do far worse than check out B/E/A/T/B/O/X's nine gems.

Glass Candy - Beatific (mp3)

Glass Candy - Life After Sundown (mp3)

Bonus: Live footage of Glass Candy performing 'Etheric Device'.

9. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Anti-)

You can almost imagine Britt Daniel pieceing his band's songs together with the intensity of a watchmaker. There are all these tiny little bits and pieces that, on their own, would resemble mere sonic detritus, but when brought together and slotted into their rightful places, everything just clicks together. Take opener, 'Don't Make Me A Target' as a for instance, there's a handclap here, a bracing blast of fuzz guitar there, a bell is struck once or twice and some seriously spare-sounding piano crops up from time to time. It sound like a rock song, but with the clasp open, baring the mechanics for all to see.

The brilliant thing about Spoon is that even though Daniel does have such a keen ear for what's going on underneath, they never sound dry. Their songs are built with as much love for music's history as precision and even when they completely dismantle it all, like on 'token weird one', 'The Ghost Of You Lingers', there are still enough hooks to draw you in. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga contains some of Spoon's most forthright POP songs, like the Clash-y 'The Underdog' and the white-soul swing of 'You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb', but even on those, you can hear everything clicking and whirring away inside. Rarely has deconstruction and reconstruction sounded so thrilling and alive.

Spoon - The Ghost Of You Lingers (mp3)

Spoon - Rhthm & Soul (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'The Underdog'.

8. Roisin Murphy - Overpowered (EMI)

Shorn of the difficult edges that rounded out her solo debut, the Matthew Herbert-produced Ruby Blue, Overpowered is Murphy's first full-on pop record. Okay, so it's a pop record with all-important - to hipsters at least - credentials. The collaborators list makes for impressive reading, with the likes of Mark De-Clive Lowe, Timbaland cohort, Jimmy Douglass, Groove Armada man, Andy Cato (the tallest man in music), Bugz In The Attic's Seiji, Larry Gold (on string arrangements, naturally) and Sheffield stalwarts, Ross Orton and Dean Honer all weighing in here and there.

With such a diverse list of co-conspirators, Overpowered is as you'd expect it to be; a bit of a stylistic mess. That's what makes it such a wonderful album though, as Murphy, ever the chameleon, steps into each guise with measurable aplomb, be it disco diva ('Let Me Know'), pop princess ('You Know Me Better'), lover's rock chanteuse ('Scarlet Ribbons'), hi-nrg dominatrix (the none-more Bobby O, 'Cry Baby'), boogie ice-queen ('Footprints') and more. With Overpowered, Roisin Murphy proved herself possibly the most flexible woman in music. World domination can surely be just around the corner.

Roisin Murphy - Cry Baby (mp3)

Roisin Murphy - Primitive (mp3)

Bonus: Roisin makes the ubiquitous 'Standing In The Way Of Control' sound utterly fresh.

7. M.I.A. - Kala (XL)

When I put together my first draft of my albums of the year list, Kala was nowhere to be seen. I'd heard it, sure, but it initially didn't hit me as hard as Arular so it went to the back of the queue. Classic case of following up one of the most innovative albums of recent years with more of the same, I thought. Then I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and allow it a few more spins. It made the shortlist and then started climbing and climbing, its brilliance being slowly revealed with each listen. Now it stands as my seventh favourite album of the year, but it still gets better with every go-round.

Floor-to-ceiling, one of the most consistently thrilling records of the past twelve months, Kala is like a microcosm of global urban music, from Baltimore club (the pumped 'xr2') to baile funk ('World Town') and desi beats (the Bollywood cover, 'Jimmy') via some Congotronics-influenced club tracks ('Bird Flu' and 'Hussel'). Kala also allows time to cover aboriginal Australian hip-hop ('Mango Pickle Down River' with schoolboy rappers, The Wilcannia Crew) and twisted, ultra-distorted hyphy/dubstep melange ('20 Dollar'). If Arular was sleek and easy to get a handle on, Kala is its sprawling, discomfiting, multi-coloured, even more exotic sequel. Choosing between the two is a bit like choosing between the first two Godfather films; they compliment each other brilliantly and, although the first is undoubtedly great, if you really want to get lost, plump for the second one.

M.I.A. - 20 Dollar (mp3)

M.I.A. - Bamboo Banga (mp3)

Bonus: M.I.A. performing 'Hussel' at Lowlands festival.

6. Kathy Diamond - Miss Diamond To You (Permanent Vacation)

When I first heard Miss Diamond To You, I fell in love hard. Couldn't get enough of its disco-soul-pop-house stew. Couldn't get enough of Miss Diamond herself either. Then I went to see her live and the love affair was in a pretty precarious position. Was I going to let one disappointing night get in the way of something pretty special. Thankfully, I got over myself, dug Miss Diamond... out again and fell in love for the second time. I still stand by the above-linked gig review, but that memory, tarnished though it is, can not and will not get in the way of my deep affection for this brilliant, beautiful record.

A collaboration between Miss Diamond and the mercurial producer, Maurice Fulton (probably one of the best around, in my honest opinion), this is just as much his album as it is hers (although she can slay without Fulton as the upcoming hook-up with Belgians, Aeroplane - the disco-pop epic 'Whispers - attests). Its Diamond's sweet everywoman tones that lure you in, but it's Fulton's thick, heady production that keeps you there. Fulton makes these songs, which could be light and airy in lesser hands, seem as deep as the Marianas trench and intoxicating as the best skunk money can buy. Maurice, Kathy, apologies for the bad review, I hope we can put this all behind us and still be friends.

Kathy Diamond - On & On (mp3)

Kathy Diamond - Until The Sun Goes Down (mp3)

Bonus: Classic Fulton - Maurice Fulton - My Gigolo (mp3)

Okay, just the top ten tunes and top five albums to come now. Can you guess what they are? Put your ideas in the comment box and whoever gets closest wins a Curly-Wurly.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 15-11

15. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Self-released/XL)

No doubt that the way In Rainbows was released was definitely a surprise, but the most shocking aspect of the album for most people was that, on listening to it, it was Radiohead's least risky album since The Bends in many ways. No-one expected the unchallenging, prosaic, yet thoroughly modern rock record that lay inside that zip file. Gone, in the main, were the Autechre-like glitchy flourishes that have adorned their last three studio albums, save for a few touches here and there, In Rainbows is Radiohead's most obviously palatable record in over a decade.

That doesn't mean that it's not an exceedingly good record. In fact, it only helped the songs that they were largely frill-free. This is the sound of one of Britain's greatest musical assets just cutting loose and enjoying themselves, not at the expense of the listener either. The snarling fuzz-rock of 'Bodysnatchers' is the first marker that this is somewhat of a departure for the band and they then proceed to build on that, proving it no red herring. The album then switches between heartfelt melancholia like 'Nude', 'All I Need' and 'Videotape' and borderline-linear rock tracks that positively swing, like 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' and 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'. The name-your-own-price publicity stunt was just that, but happily it wasn't a smokescreen to cover for a weak record. The music within lives and breathes on its own terms, away from marketing strategies and stands up bravely against any snarky critical sideswipes. 'Down Is The New Up' should have made the cut though.

Radiohead - All I Need (mp3)

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers (mp3)

Bonus: Scotch Mist version of '15 Step'.

14. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)

When I first heard the 'I'm Not/Comfy In Nautica' AA-side last year, I knew that Panda Bear was on the way to releasing something Very Special Indeed (capitals necessary), but I never foresaw it catching on in the way it has. In fact, outside of Sound Of Silver, I think it's fair to say that Person Pitch is the most blogged-about album of 2007 (I'd check Technorati but I'm a very lazy man), which is staggering when you take a step back and realise that it's also quite possibly the strangest record released in the last twelve months.

Pleasingly strange, mind, as Person Pitch, at its best, tickles the senses in ways that no other album did this year. Noah Lennox took pretty much every style of music that has informed his work in the past with Animal Collective, plus some other bits and bobs and fed them through his cracked kaleidoscope, ensuring that something new and innovative came out the other end. My only minor gripe with the album is that it could have stood to be a little longer, but when that's your only quibble, you know you've got a winner.

Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica (mp3)

Panda Bear - Search For Delicious (mp3)

Bonus: Full Panda Bear concert in two parts on YouTube! Part One/Part Two

13. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed (Ghostly International)

When artists, especially those in the dance sphere, choose to go under their given name rather than a pseudonym, alarm bells start ringing. This can only mean one thing: po-faced seriousness, often under the patronising blanket of 'home-listening' (as if you can't listen to ket-drenched, 15-minute techno workouts at home). Matthew Dear, on the other hand, chooses to go the other way. So far, his work under his own name (as oppposed to his output as Audion, False and Jabberjaw) has been relatively poppy, culminating in 2007's fleet-footed Asa Breed.

Some purists complained about the indie-rock aspects of the album, especially towards the end with the TV On The Radio-esque 'Midnight Lovers' and the skewed alt-blues of closer 'Vine To Vine', but even if these don't float your boat, there's a lot more to get your teeth into. Dear jumps from Afro-pop ('Elementary Lover', a collaboration with The Mobius Band) to slinky electro ('Shy') and itchy disco-funk ('Don And Sherri') to crystalline new-wave dance pop ('Pom Pom') with consummate ease, but its all undercut with a clear love for his references and influences. Sure, it's not techno, it's pop filtered through a techno mindset and its one of the most gloriously unique, incredibly overlooked records of 2007.

Matthew Dear - Pom Pom (mp3)

Matthew Dear - Fleece On Brain (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the video for 'Don And Sherri'.

12. Sorcerer - White Magic (Tirk)

'Understated' doesn't even begin to cover Sorcerer's debut album. In fact, it's so damn unassuming that most people don't even know it exists. They should as White Magic is one of the most slow-burningly beauteous long-players of the year. Daniel Saxon-Judd takes the Nordic Balearica of Lindstrom & Prins Thomas and Bjorn Torske and gives it a West Coast American spin. Instead of evoking ice floes and verdant fjords, White Magic conjures images of alabaster sands, lapping waves and campfire-lit beach gatherings.

Echoes of Cluster, Brian Eno and, of course, 70s soft-pop abound, but its Judd's ear for musicality that makes this more than just a whistle-stop tour through his music collection. Judd has a knack for a pop hook that pulls the listener through more than an hour's worth of instrumentals (save for the vocodered vox in 'Hawaiian Island'). Before concentration dips and this becomes mere background fodder, Judd amps up the interest with some innate propulsion (check the driving 'Airbrush Dragon' and the choppy white-funk of 'Surf Wax'). For the most part though, Sorcerer paints vivid pictures with his music, making White Magic a highly-evocative, addictive treat that you can just lose yourself in.

Sorcerer - Bamboo Brainwave (mp3)

Sorcerer - Surfing At Midnight (mp3)

Bonus: Sorcerer - Surfing At Midnight (Prins Thomas Miks) (mp3)

11. Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky)

For all the articles and blog inches devoted to Deerhunter frontman, Brandon Cox' 'condition' (he suffers from Marfan syndrome), what still piques most people's interest at the end of the day is the band's thrilling sound. 2007's Cryptograms and its companion piece, the Fluorescent Grey EP showcase a band really coming into their own and display a rich, textural grasp of sonics and dynamics and a beautifully obfuscated way with lyrics that continues to bewitch and beguile almost twelve months since its release.

Cryptograms is all about the balance between the ugly and the alluring, the violent and the pure, so blissful ambient instrumentals rub up against barely-restrained furious 'songs', whilst Cox waxes cryptic on the mic. They sound almost post-punk and unrefined at times, but at others it sounds like there's 40-odd years of musical history coursing through them, but what keeps me coming back to the record is its wonderful pacing and sequencing. Taken as a whole, it's a sublime work of push-pull energy and vibrancy, lurching between the dark, driven likes of the title track and 'Lake Somerset' and gorgeous interstitials like 'Providence' and 'Red Ink'. Cox and his band are future greats and, might I add, they're pretty fucking brilliant right now.

Deerhunter - Heatherwood (mp3)

Deerhunter - Spring Hall Convert (mp3)

Bonus: Footage of the band performing 'Spring Hall Convert' and 'Hazel St'.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 20-16

Let's get this thing back on the rails, shall we? Right, here goes...

20. Busdriver - RoadKillOvercoat (Epitaph)

As I said in my blurb for Busdriver's song, 'Sun Showers' yesterday, Bus is almost intolerably 'indie' at times (guess that comes from being named Regan Farquhar), but RoadKillOvercoat is, at turns, both his most immediate and out-there full-length to date. It's a psychedelic grab-bag of colours and shapes, all fed through Busdriver's undeniably snarky filter.

Bus shifts gear from hyperdrive to molasses-slow (for him at least) in a moment's notice; a tactic that lends the album a restless, fidgety feel, but no matter how many times he shifts from shape to shape, he feels preternaturally comfortable in each one. The hooky acid-hop of 'Secret Skin' could have been the template for a full album, so fully-realised is its style, but the glitchy, in-your-face agitation of 'Less Yes's More Nos' is just as well fleshed-out, as is the folk-balladeering touches of 'Mr. Mistake (Bested By The Whisper Chasm)' and the dizzying party rap of 'Kill Your Employer'. Busdriver will make better albums in the future, but this is a massive step out of the indie ghetto for someone who deserves better than having chins scratched in his direction.

Busdriver - Secret Skin (mp3)

Busdriver - Casting Agents And Cowgirls (mp3)

Bonus: Killer live footage of 'Kill Your Employer'.

19. Grinderman - Grinderman (Mute)

From the fire and brimstone testifying of the opener, 'Get It On', it was clear that this was something a little different from your average Bad Seeds album (hence the change of name) even though the personnel was pretty much the same. Primal rock 'n' roll is the order of the day here, with Cave and co. stripped of the ornate trimmings that bestow their day-job's output. In fact, Grinderman is so unreconstructed at times that Cave may as well just grunt rather than offer forth some of his most revealing lyrics in years.

This is the Cave of 'Hiding All Away' or 'Babe, I'm On Fire' or 'Deanna', only more ferocious, angrier and redder in tooth and claw. It's not an onslaught though, as this album also has its more refined moments, like the low-down blues of 'I Don't Need You (To Set Me Free)' or the brief ballad 'Man In The Moon', but for the most part, Cave is leering, carousing and proselytising like the fire in his belly is running wilder than even he can handle. It's not his best of recent years (that honour must go to Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus), but it's certainly the most alive and enraged he's sounded since the mid-80s.

Grinderman - Depth Charge Ethel (mp3)

Grinderman - Love Bomb (mp3)

Bonus: 'Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)' live on Later...

18. Chromatics - Night Drive (Italians Do It Better)

Critics of Chromatics and sister band, Glass Candy will say that both groups are self-consciously cool to the point of being an emotional void. Critics of Chromatics (and GC) are wrong. Sure, Chromatics' brand of dark, dramatic italo-disco-noir-pop (I'm coining that, so don't steal it or else!) is overtly studied, mechanical even, but underneath all the faked vinyl crackle and behind the fog of cigarette smoke and ennui lies a melancholic, beautiful heart.

A cursory dip into Chromatics' back catalogue reveals their past life as a scratchy no-wave punk band, which adds more fuel to the fire for people who say that Johnny Jewel, Adam Miller and Ruth Radalet are nothing but pseuds latching on to the brand new/retro sound, but there's a finesse and emotional resonance on Night Drive that's hard to ignore. Spooked-out arpeggios ('Tomorrow Is So Far Away') rub up against semi-urgent disco-pop ('Mask') and a reverent, polished cover (Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill') and it all coalesces into one of the most sincere, fully-rounded musical statements of 2007.

Chromatics - Mask (mp3)

Chromatics - Night Drive (mp3)

Bonus: A pre-Radalet Chromatics hammer out 'Healer' live.

17. Liars - Liars (Mute)

'Interesting' is oftentimes such a vague descriptor. Things that have no artistic merit in the slightest can be 'interesting'. However, when people say that Liars are the most interesting band out there right now, I, for one, can't help but agree. Stubbornly refusing to stay in the same skin from one album to the next, lest they become trapped in some self-perpetuating rut, Liars make a different album each time. Four albums in, they haven't made a bad one and you can almost chart their progression. That doesn't mean that you can second guess them, you can't. It's this constant shifting that led to Liars being, simultaneously, a pleasant curveball and a natural step sideways.

Liars is the NY band's take on a prosaic indie-rock album. This, of course, means that Liars is anything but linear. Jumping from heads-down punkers (opener, 'Plaster Casts Of Everything') to light-footed pop ('Houseclouds'), through uncompromising noise ('Leather Prowler') and startlingly beautiful poeticism ('Sailing To Byzantium') all in the first four songs was a statement of intent that the rest of the album backed to the hilt. Liars then take on heavy-lidded, JAMC-esque fuzz-rock ('Freak Out'), early-90s Sonic Youth-like alt-rock ('Clear Island') and acid-scorched blues-rock ('Cycle Time') seemingly at the flick of a switch. The most interesting band on the planet just went and made their most interesting album to date and it isn't even original in the slightest. Bravo!

Liars - Pure Unevil (mp3)

Liars - Sailing To Byzantium (mp3)

Bonus: Vicious live footage of 'Drum And The Uncomfortable Can' (from Drum's Not Dead) and 'Freak Out'.

16. Kanye West - Graduation (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)

My initial reaction on hearing Graduation was that it wasn't The College Dropout. It wasn't Late Registration either. Another thing it wasn't was the electro-pop album everyone was expecting from his hook-up with Daft Punk. What Graduation undoubtedly is, is the sound of someone moving further away from his hip-hop roots, while still appropriating that genre's style. Graduation isn't your average hip-hop album, as average hip-hop albums don't sample Can ('Drunk And Hot Girls') or Steely Dan ('Champion').

True, West is as arrogant and self-aggrandising as usual (a strong point, as far as I'm concerned, as the best hip-hop doesn't come from humility), but there's something a little off about Graduation. That's not to say it's a bad album (it wouldn't be in the list if it was), it's just that it feels somewhat like a step in a different, poppier, yet stranger direction for him. It's a leaner, weirder beast than its predecessors, even if it does contain some of his more directly commercial moments to date ('Good Life', 'Stronger', 'The Glory'), but it goes to show that you can't always get a handle on the most open of books. Here's to the next one.

Kanye West - Drunk And Hot Girls (mp3)

Kanye West - I Wonder (mp3)

Bonus: THAT alternative video for 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' with Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 25-21

25. The National - Boxer (Beggar's Banquet)

Boxer marked The National out as one of the most perfectly-formed, idiosyncratic bands of their generation and, more clearly, proved Matt Berninger to be a man amongst lyricists. Where before he has stumbled with his punchy prose, here he hit the mark more often than not. There was something a little amiss though. Alligator is still a better record, even though the class and flow of Boxer is evident and true.

What Boxer is missing is a 'Lit Up', 'Abel' or 'Mr. November'. Most of this album is soul-bared and bruised beauty but, taken as a whole, the pace can flag a little. It's a minor quibble though as Boxer has plenty else to offer forth. 'Racing Like A Pro' and 'Start A War' positively ooze regret and melancholia, while rockier numbers like 'Squalor Victoria' and the single, 'Mistaken For Strangers' seethe and menace like we know The National can. In all, Boxer isn't so much of a step-forward for the band, more of a lunge sideways and still packed with enough grace and power to go the distance.

The National - Brainy (mp3)

The National - Racing Like A Pro (mp3)

Bonus: 'Squalor Victoria'! Live!! In Portsmouth!!!

24. Black Lips - Good Bad, Not Evil (Vice)

Long regarded one of the best live bands around (I've seen them twice and they are), Black Lips have struggled in the past to recreate the danger and frisson of their gigs. So in 2007, they just released a live album (Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo, more about that soon), got that out of their system and made their most obviously polished, commercial-sounding album to date. Some purists may say that the clean - although far from clean-cut - sound of Good Bad, Not Evil lacks the edge of their earlier albums, but that's nonesense. Granted, there's less fuzz on their latest, but that just allows their best set of songs so far to breathe a little easier and the clarity of sound suits them.

This album also shows them to be the diverse, perverse little fuckers we all knew they could be, as they try their hand at brain-screwed country ('How Do You Tell'), low-slung blues ('Lock And Key'), Nuggets-pop ('Cold Hands'), hick-hop ('Veni Vidi Vici'), sweet-natured college rock ('Transcendental Light') and 50s rock 'n' roll ('Bad Kids'), amongst other things. The most fun band you can see in the flesh just became one of the most fun bands you can listen to through headphones too.

Black Lips - Bad Kids (mp3)

Black Lips - Veni Vidi Vici (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the band playing 'Bad Kids' live. Unfortunately, nowhere near as good as seeing them with your own eyes.

23. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (All Tomorrow's Parties)

In which Deerhoof continue their quest to make pop music and continue to wildly, brilliantly miss the mark. Friend Opportunity gets closer to the elusive ideal than its predecessor, The Runners Four, but they still can't resist pulling the rug when things look like they're heading in too linear a direction. Check the funk bounce of 'Believe E.S.P.' for instance. Things bob along in an loose, groovy manner, before going all free-jazz skronk on us.

It's in these frequent curveballs where Deerhoof really sound comfortable though, as if harmony and melody are too far outside the band's comfort zones, so a really straitlaced pop song might sound a little contrived (the closest they get being the terrifically sweet, 'Matchbook Seeks Maniac'). This is the sound of a band playing with convention the only way they know how; making the complex sound childlike and vice versa. These are smart cookies and talented musicians who often sound like a group of 'special' kids let loose in the instrument closet, yet they never give the impression that they aren't totally in control of their craft. All of this makes for Deerhoof's most accomplished full-length to date and one of the year's best to boot.

Deerhoof - Kidz Are So Small (mp3)

Deerhoof - The Galaxist (mp3)

Bonus: Brilliant footage of Deerhoof performing '+81' live in Berlin.

22. !!! - Myth Takes (Warp)

!!! then; the funkiest damn white dudes on the planet, strike back with their most mind and ass-freeing album to date. Where Louden Up Now got bogged down in meandering experimentation and (gulp!) jamming, Myth Takes goes for the jugular and gets to the heart of the matter much more immediately, commanding the listener to shake their frame in the most uninhibited of ways.

It's more diverse than that sounds though, as !!! have woken up to the fact that scratchy punk-funk is way past its revive-by date now. So, we have the Glitter Band stomp of 'Yadnus', the comedown chill of closer, 'Infinifold' and the deep disco of 'Break In Case Of Anything', alongside the more direct party jams like 'Heart Of Hearts', 'Must Be The Moon' and 'Bend Over Beethoven'. Extra plaudits are reserved however for the soul-flecked pop of 'Sweet Life' and 'A New Name''s refreshing take on Prince-funk (seriously, Jam & Lewis could have come up with this in 1983 or something. What could have been just a fun diversion ended up being one of 2007's most playthroughable platters.

!!! - A New Name (mp3)

!!! - Sweet Life (mp3)

Bonus: !!! do ESG's 'Moody' with a little help from one of the Scroggins sisters.

21. Elektrons - Red Light, Don't Stop (PIAS/Genuine)

When it comes to genre-spanning urban pop music, no-one does it better than us Brits, as Elektrons' (Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford, aka The Unabombers) superb debut attests. This is the type of album that Basement Jaxx should have made last time out, as it's a style-mashing approximation of Britain's long-standing soundsystem tradition. It effortlessly blends together soul, hip-hop, reggae, disco, gospel, house and funk in an addictive way and the fact that it wasn't the breakout hit of the summer is, quite frankly, a fucking travesty.

Blame whatever you like (shit weather, poor promotion), but really you had absolutely no excuse not to take this record to your bosom like a long-lost relative. Containing some of the most righteous party-starters of the year ('Get Up', 'Dirty Basement', 'Maximal', 'Classic Cliche', 'Joy') and uncovering one of British music's best-kept secrets in Sheffield soul-boy, Pete Simpson, it's an album with an invigorating spirit and, most importantly of all, honest-to-goodness great tunes.

Elektrons - Don't Give Up (mp3)

Elektrons - Maximal (mp3)

Bonus: Luke Unabomber 'remixes' 'Hey Jude' in his own, inimitable style. Funny as fuck. You need to see this.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 30-26

30. Mark Sultan - The Sultanic Verses (In The Red)

2007 was a really good year for back-to-basics garage-punk and no-one was as basic as Mark Sultan. After plying his trade under various monikers (BBQ being the most prominent, due to his hook-ups with King Khan) and with a multitude of bands (The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos...), Sultan chose this album to record under his real name for the first time. It's understandable why, as The Sultanic Verses features his rawest, most unreconstructed music to date.

Indebted to rockabilly, 60s soul, 50s girl groups, mid-60s garage pop nuggets and pure sock-hopping 50s rock'n'roll, The Sultanic Verses is a bracing ride, but one that will leave its feather-headed hooks bludgeoned into your skull for some time after. There are breezy janglers like the opener 'Beautiful Girl' (replete with toy piano), brain-damaged psych ('Cursed World'), Stooges-esque punkers ('Warpath') and spooked out girl-pop (the closing 'Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey'), but it's all filtered through Sultan's skewed puritanism to the point where all that matters are the infectious tunes and isn't that how music's supposed to be?

Mark Sultan - Beautiful Girl (mp3)

Mark Sultan - Cursed World (mp3)

Bonus: Mark Sultan live in Paris.

29. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)

And the award for most blogged-about band of 2007 goes to... Well, actually, it's probably Radiohead, but Animal Collective came in a close second. Not since Kid A has an album inspired so much fevered, enraptured clamouring from the internet tastemakers as Strawberry Jam. In fact, I reckon that the band were that confident their new album would garner so much fanboyish frothing that they felt compelled to throw the people itching to naysay a bone in the shape of one of the worst album covers of the year.

What lay inside though was a thing of warped beauty as AC took one step closer to some kind of freak-pop ideal through strange loops, fucked-up harmonics and, in 'Fireworks' and 'Peacebone', two of the year's most unlikely ANTHEM! moments. It most definitely isn't pop but it's as close as twisted art-folk will probably ever get. I still prefer their early stuff though.

Animal Collective - Fireworks (mp3)

Animal Collective - For Reverend Green (mp3)

Bonus: Animal Collective weirding up Conan O'Brien with a suitably deranged take on '#1'.

28. Freeway - Free At Last (Roc-A-Fella)

The best beard in hip-hop could have reason to feel aggrieved that his sophomore effort was the first in ages on Roc-A-Fella not to feature production from either Just Blaze or Kanye West, but Freeway just got on with it, making his rhymes tighter and calling in the best beats possible from some second-tier producers. The result is Free At Last, West aside, the best album to come from the Roc stable since The Blueprint.

Freeway is a charismatic MC - well, I say MC, but what he actually does is somewhere between crying and growling, his style emotive and guttural. He gives as good as his boss man on Jay-Z-guesting 'Roc-A-Fella Billionaires' (with, naturally, 'Hey Big Spender' sample) and elsewhere he enlists 50 Cent to do probably his most likeable guest turn in a while on irrepressible pop-rap belter, 'Take It To The Top', while the venerable Scarface graces 'Baby Don't Do It' with his inimitable presence. Even Cool & Dre (with Rick Ross in tow) turn in a nice and moody production on 'Lights Get Low'. Free At Last really impresses though when Free has full reign to do his thing, like on 'Still Got Love', 'Reppin' The Streets' and the title track. Thick, heavy soul with one of hip-hop's forgotten men making an admirable push for star status.

Freeway - Still Got Love (mp3)

Freeway - Baby Don't Do It (feat. Scarface) (mp3)

Bonus: Video for 'Still Got Love'.

27. Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! (Rough Trade)

Another contender for worst album art of 2007, Hey Venus! was, cover aside, a marked improvement on 2005's over-produced, under-nourished Love Kraft. The polish was still there (that comes from working with Mario Caldato Jr., I guess), but this was a more pared-down, more song-focused set than its predecessor and it's when SFA are concentrating on making gorgeous psych-infused pop songs that they're at their best.

'Run-Away' was their best single since 'Juxtapozed With U', 'Suckers' showed they still had a wicked sense of humour, 'Neo-Consumer' and 'Into The Night' proved them to still be the peerless glam rockers they once were and the The Band-like country soul of 'Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon' was just pure heartbreak. As nothing is ever easy with this band, we also got the execrable 'Battersea Odyssey', but hey, you can't have it all ways. For nine of its ten songs however, Hey Venus! was Britain's most-neglected bands firing on all cylinders once more and that's cause for celebration in itself.

Super Furry Animals - Show Your Hand (mp3)

Super Furry Animals - Suckers (mp3)

Bonus: Watch the hilarious video for 'Run-Away', starring the man formerly known as Dixon Bainbridge, Matt Berry.

26. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (Kompakt)

Had I done this list in, say, May, From Here We Go Sublime would have easily made the top five, but repeated plays doesn't become it. Maybe it's because Axel Willner revels so much in repetition that leads to the cracks showing after a lot of spins. Don't get me wrong, it remains an immensely enjoyable listen, but it just doesn't reveal much more on the 30th run-through as what you're already met with the first time around.

Which is probably why this album has crossed over outside the techno ghetto. Like Isolee's Wearemonster, The Field's debut takes some of that genre's more populist touches and a love of melody and amps them up for maximum euphoria. Unlike that album, however, it's not a jaw-dropping masterwork, just a really good album by a producer you suspect will get better as he continues to grow. He's mastered this technique and it's when Willner starts to play outside his comfort zone that things will really get interesting. For now, however, From Here We Go To Sublime still stands as one of the most thrilling electronic albums of the year.

The Field - Good Things End (mp3)

The Field - The Deal (mp3)

Bonus: Weird little American Grafitti fan video that makes great use of this album's title track.

Labels: top albums of 2007

Yer Mam!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Yer Mam!'s top albums and tunes of 2007: In full.

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 5-1

Friday, January 11, 2008

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 10-6

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 15-11

Friday, January 04, 2008

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 20-16

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 25-21

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Top 50 Albums Of 2007: 30-26

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