Absorption/Transmission

Near the end of this summer, http://youtube.com/watch?v=4wfSgSvDBSg, I started to take notice of how many albums I had already declared the best of the year: The National’s Boxer, The White Stripes’ Icky Thump, and Ryan Adams’ Easy Tiger among them. And there were plenty more to round out my top 5. I decided that I would try to make an ordered list of every album from this year that I could, essentially to get to the bottom of how I really felt. I wanted to figure out what it is that makes something what I would call my favorite or the best. It wasn’t until November that I started making these lists of all the albums I had and had not listened to, the latter growing more considerably by the day. Unfortunately, there were a handful of albums I didn’t get to hear, though I mostly attribute this to the likelihood that I was passing over the ones I assumed I would not love. I’m listing the top 20 because after that, I can’t confidently commit to an order. I made it through at least 65 albums.

This exercise proved rewarding. I learned that what I value most is the stuff that holds up best over time. I found that some albums, though I initially considered gospel, would take a dive with repeated listens. And vice versa. This also really showed me how my tastes tend to take time to develop. As such, I can only say that this is but a snapshot of the way I feel today. While it does feel admittedly narcissistic, this is the list of my 20 favorite albums of the year.

20 Great Lake Swimmers – Ongiara

In the album-opening “Your Rocky Spine,” this record contains one of 2007’s best and most beautiful love songs, period.

19 Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

“Dashboard” is a great song but I heard it too many times this year.

18 Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

It sounds like French folk music because it is.

17 Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

I would have liked to listen to the Sharon Jones album to compare but did not get the chance. Timeless production and instrumentation gave producer Mark Ronson the opportunity to release a slew of shit as a solo artist later in the year.

16 Bright Eyes – Cassadaga

Originally released as the title track of an EP earlier in 2007, “Four Winds” is also among the best songs of this year.

15 Akron/Family – Love Is Simple

I was thankfully introduced to the genre of “psych folk” with their 2005 self-titled debut and while this one’s got a spot or two of pure cacophony, most of it is both refreshingly creative AND warmly harmonious.

14 Dr. Dog – We All Belong

These guys play rock and roll with a rustic collective voice that, for lack of a better word, swings. In describing Dr. Dog to a friend, I thought I was pretty sharp when I likened them to The Band and The Beach Boys, only to realize later that every article about them said that before me. Additional reading: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gRMJpD1ayV0

13 The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse

The Besnard Lakes atmospheric sound is the product of meticulous studio production characterized by haunting vocal and instrumental harmonies and a loosely precise rhythm section that drives simple but expansive soundscapes. As expected, this proved difficult to reproduce live, but that doesn’t take away from my appreciation for this album.

12 Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger

This year Ryan Adams got healthy and got focused. Listen. http://youtube.com/watch?v=YRuY49nXgA8

11 The White Stripes – Icky Thump

This was one judgment that I think was effected by a live performance, though it probably shouldn’t have been. Prior to seeing them live this summer, I held this record in slightly higher regard than I do now. It’s stupid, but true.

10 Caribou – Andorra

Andorra is an electronic pop album that experiments with beautifully layered vocal harmonies and rhythmic structures written, performed, and produced almost solely by Daniel V. Snaith, a 29-year old percussionist and mathematician from Ontario. “I’m not the type of person who takes physical things apart and plays around with them, but I like taking mental ideas apart and playing around with them.”

09 Menomena – Friend and Foe

This is a great example of my inconsistent tastes. Last winter, I wrote this album off as garbage without hesitation. It almost didn’t make the list of 2007 albums I forgot it so long ago. So when it popped back into my memory, I decided to give myself a refresher to see what I hated so much, and loved it. Among the progressive aspects of this album is the amazingly successful maintenance of a cohesive rhythmic stability under constantly changing percussive patterns. This album is difficult to describe and is best judged for oneself.

08 (Unnamed band) – The Good, The Bad, and The Queen

This album from Damon Albarn’s most recent collaboration has been a favorite since day one, packed with mellow, guitar-driven songs that you’d think were the Gorrilaz if they weren’t so good. Until very recently, I was very sure this album was released in 2006.

07 The National – Boxer

This album has probably topped the most year-end lists of any that I’ve noticed. Much has already been said about The National this year and it’s all pretty accurate.

06 Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City

This album goes the furthest back since initial listening, leaking back in November of 2006. Bloc Party followed it’s highly successful debut with a familiar M.O.: crunching power chords, angular riffs, and a heavy dance beat under singer Kele Ukereke’s cockney textures.

05 Patrick Watson – Close To Paradise

While I didn’t hear of him until after he won Canada’s Polaris Prize this year, Watson’s refreshingly diverse set touches on everything from haunting pop to dynamic baroque.

04 Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times

This Kings album finally jerked my head out of my ass with its sense of vitally raw sincerity. Among others, timeless tracks include “Arizona,” “Fans,” “Knocked Up,” and “Ragoo.”

03 Iron & Wine – The Shephard’s Dog

Injected with a bit more life than most previous Sam Beam tunes, these songs stay true to what we’ve come to expect from him: breathy vocals, illustrative lyrics, and comforting rhythms. See “Carousel,” Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car,” and “Resurrection Fern.”

02 Radiohead – In Rainbows

My favorite Radiohead statement to overanalyze this year is “15 Steps.” In Rainbows‘ opening track picks up where Hail To The Theif left off in the band’s transition back to more guitar-centric recordings. This battle between a relentless electronic drum riff and Thom Yorke’s ribbony falsetto introduces Johnny Greenwood’s unassuming electric guitar shortly before it unleashes “Bodysnatchers,” “Nude,” and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.”

01 Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

With the release of a new Radiohead album slightly counterbalancing the cliché scale, Arcade Fire’s highly anticipated album should not have been seen as a disappointment to anybody who cared. Though it may not top 2004’s Funeral, Arcade Fire captured another set of powerful, soaring rock songs as presented by a collective of passionate musicians delivering what would prove to be my favorite album of the year.

Five Great Songs From Albums Not Mentioned Above:
“2080″ from Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals
“Archangel” from Burial’s Untrue
“Beauty Of A Broken Heart” from Page McConnell’s Page McConnell
“Knife Going In” from Tegan and Sara’s The Con
“Svart är Himlen (Black is the Sky)” from Dungen’s Tio Bitar

Coming Soon:

The Mars Volta’s The Bedlam in Goliath, January 29, 2008
Man Man’s Rabbit Hats, April 8, 2008

Don’t go to Terminal 5,

Mike Silvestri

01 Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
02 Radiohead – In Rainbows
03 Iron & Wine – The Shephard’s Dog
04 Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times
05 Patrick Watson – Close To Paradise
06 Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City
07 The National – Boxer
08 (Unnamed band) – The Good, The Bad, and The Queen
09 Menomena – Friend and Foe
10 Caribou – Andorra
11 The White Stripes – Icky Thump
12 Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
13 The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
14 Dr. Dog – We All Belong
15 Akron/Family – Love Is Simple
16 Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
17 Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
18 Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
19 Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
20 Great Lake Swimmers – Ongiara