Third Annual SF "Music of the Year" Jamboree

[Manny Calavera]

It's time. We only have a few weeks left in December and whatever is on the horizon is already available for your consumption in some form. This thread usually dies a swift death, however I've noticed an influx of music-loving members so I think this may have staying power this year. I guess we'll see. So, for today at least, here are my ten favorite things of the year 2007:

Black Mouth Super Rainbow: Like a mutant Flaming Lips, BMSR does sunny, electro-tinged pop from deep within a rotten forest. A really great group of guys doing indescribable, messy, airy music. Their "Dandelion Gum" album is one of the best albums of the year, but I listed the band as member Tobacco's music videos (which can be seen on YouTube or purchased on DVD via their website) are really amazing in their own right and need to be seen.

Deerhunter "Cryptograms": This album had a lot of marks against it (for me). It was so incredibly hyped, the last album was shit and the band is full of posturing cunts (see: the dissolution of the band a few months ago). However, this ended up being my early candidate for long-player of the year. For the uninitiated, an obnoxiously simple breakdown: MBV + Sonic Youth.

The Field "From Here We Go Sublime": This is the first electronic record since SAW 85-92 that has struck me as emotive and grandiose while remaining firmly planted in the realm of traditional dance and electronic music. As close as trance gets to shoegaze.

Fuck Buttons "Bright Tomorrow" 7": This was the release of the year for me and I'm dreading the eventual LP as I know it can't manage to be as "perfect" as this single. Bloody, blissed-out yet somehow coming off as triumphant, the A-side "Bright Tomorrow" is pitch-perfect build with the B-side, "Little Bloody Shoulder", being a thudding, tribal wind-down from the high of the feature. You can scour for the limited edition picture disc or download it from either eMusic or iTunes.

Panda Bear "Person Pitch": My favorite member (Panda Bear) of my favorite playing band (Animal Collective) emulating my favorite musician (Brian Wilson). I couldn't have expected an album this good. Definitely my pop album of the year and, despite being a compilation of older work rather than a full-fledged new album, it's worth a look by everyone.

A Place to Bury Strangers "A Place to Bury Strangers": The loudest band in New York! That's what they say at least (a friend gave me APtBS-branded earplugs they handed out for free at a show she attended). If Joy Division and Interpol formed a giant Voltron-esque robot that stomped around Tokyo and sprayed contaminated blood in the open wounds of orphans it would sound...nothing like this. I'm not sure where that was going. Anyway, a depressing drone washed away by angry and violent distortion. The self-titled debut is amazing and the first-ever album to make me purchase a piece of musical equipment (a pedal from band leader Oliver Ackermann's Death by Audio).

A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Scribble Mural Comic Journal": This album has been a grower in that I loved it at the beginning of the year and now it's found itself among my very favorite albums of the year. Incredibly cute (without being Asobi Seksu sacchariney) electro-tweegaze, nothing else like this really arrived this year with even the poppiest of the noisy albums (see: Black Moth Super Rainbow) being downright frightening. This is the album I've gifted to people the most this year.

Supersilent "8": Rune Grammofon's best release of the year and, finally, a true follow-up to "6". Describing Supersilent borders on pointless (improvisational electronic new jazz?) so if you're not familiar with the band check out "6", the band's most accessible work.

The Twilight Sad "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters": This album could have easily been overly melodramatic and nauseating. However, Max Richter's wonderful production and the blistering guitar really turn it into something special. James Graham's working town Scottish accent is really beautiful trying to shout over the waves of guitar-noise. Probably the most accessible album on this list, even if it does have its feet planted firmly in shoegaze.

Wolves in the Throne Room "Two Hunters": The most organic metal you'll ever listen to. Despite the fact they deny the moniker, I think that, with the move to Southern Lord, Wolves finally went the nu-gaze direction that they've been hinting at for awhile now. It's all very ethereal and you don't have to be a genre-fiend to enjoy this album.

[James Bond]

Here's my top 10:

Jay-Z--American Gangster
Common--Finding Forever
Talib Kweli--Eardrum
Rush--Snakes & Arrows
Queens Of The Stone Age--Era Vulgaris
Dream Theater--Systematic Chaos
The White Stripes--Icky Thump
Radiohead--In Rainbows
Ozomatli--Don't Mess With The Dragon
Liquid Trio Experiment--Spontaneous Combustion

[edmorel]

what does it mean if I do not know any of those bands in the first post

[romafan]

Originally Posted by edmorel

what does it mean if I do not know any of those bands in the first post

It means you're just like me (except you like hip-hop)!

[aportnoy]

Originally Posted by edmorel

what does it mean if I do not know any of those bands in the first post

It emans we are in the same club.

Springsteen's "Magic" for me, by a long shot.

[iammatt]

Originally Posted by edmorel

what does it mean if I do not know any of those bands in the first post

neither do I. In fact, Joy Division is the only combination of two words in the entire post which I understand.

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by aportnoy

It emans we are in the same club.

Can I join?

[shoreman1782]

If you guys had any idea what jon was talking about, that would mean he failed

[gdl203]

"Once" was the musical event of the year for me. Awesome film and great music.

[jpeirpont]

Finally I'm not the only ignorant one, I have no idea who these people are.

[edmorel]

I mean, WTF is "shoegaze"?

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by gdl203

"Once" was the musical event of the year for me. Awesome film and great music.

LOVED that film -- been meaning to pick up the soundtrack. Quirkette and I happened to be watching the 'The Commitments' a couple of weeks later and I kept thinking that the skinny, scraggly redhead in the band looked vaguely familiar; it wasn't until the credits that I realized it was the lead from 'Once'.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by edmorel

I mean, WTF is "shoegaze"?

Go listen to My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless and Slowdive's Souvlaki. Muted vocals and drums, sort of droney guitars, humming bass, all swirling in an indistinct mix. It's probably the opposite of hip hop, really.

I managed to know about everything in jonglover's post except the actual bands from this year. Hooray, I'm not completely irrelevant!

[Kent Wang]

Artist - Title [Album - Label]

1. Samadhi - Alien Verse [Doctors Of Chemistry - Temple Twisters]
2. Penta - Perfect Sunday [Horn Please - Auraquake]
3. Artifakt - 5 Years [Retrospective Vol. 2 - Timecode]
4. Samadhi - Ohm Phorce [Lunik - Amaris]
5. Ocelot - Whirligig [Alien FM²: Illegal Aliens - Dropout]
6. Kashyyyk - Intoview [Doctors Of Chemistry - Temple Twisters]
7. Artifakt - Nosferatu (Multistate Remix) [Retrospective Volume_1 - Timecode]
8. Ghreg On Earth - Metafictional Quagmire [Vapour - Element Of Time]
9. Syntrax - Travel In The Castle [Samsara - Samsara]
10. Glooex - Black And White [Dream Theatre - Cosmic Theatre]

[romafan]

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

Artist - Title [Album - Label]

1. Samadhi - Alien Verse [Doctors Of Chemistry - Temple Twisters]
2. Penta - Perfect Sunday [Horn Please - Auraquake]
3. Artifakt - 5 Years [Retrospective Vol. 2 - Timecode]
4. Samadhi - Ohm Phorce [Lunik - Amaris]
5. Ocelot - Whirligig [Alien FM²: Illegal Aliens - Dropout]
6. Kashyyyk - Intoview [Doctors Of Chemistry - Temple Twisters]
7. Artifakt - Nosferatu (Multistate Remix) [Retrospective Volume_1 - Timecode]
8. Ghreg On Earth - Metafictional Quagmire [Vapour - Element Of Time]
9. Syntrax - Travel In The Castle [Samsara - Samsara]
10. Glooex - Black And White [Dream Theatre - Cosmic Theatre]

OK Kent, I'm revoking your Dap-Kings fanclub privileges....