music is my wife » 2007

the best albums of 2007; part II

Posted on December 31st, 2007 in music by dja

PART II (#50-#26)

	050	Band of Horses Cease to Begin [Sub Pop/Oct 9]
	Seattle band’s sophomore album is submerged in a gloomy Americana abyss of reverb and My Morning Jacket-styled wailing that do nothing to alleviate the dismal desolation depicted on its cover. High point: Is There A Ghost Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	049	Panda Bear Person Pitch [Paw Tracks/Mar 20]
	Animal Collective member’s third solo record is an avant garde cavalcade of strange kaleidoscopic collages composed with patience but bleeding with passion — evoking a sense of experimentation that shimmers and sparkles with a strange, translucent beauty. High point: Bros Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	048	The New Pornographers Challengers [Matador/Aug 21]
	Much-adorned Canadians’ latest is more tame and less daring than previous releases, relying instead on subtle textures and unobtrusive hooks that don’t quite live up to potential but still outperform most bands’ best. High point: All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	047	The Field From Here We Go Sublime [Kompakt/Mar 26]
	Axel Willner’s debut is an intense minimalist opus of pounding beats and simplistic, repeating melodies which ironically add to the record’s complexity and ultimately rewrite it into something else entirely (a rave? death? drugs? hypnosis?). High point: Over the Ice Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	046	Jatun Jatun [Other Electricities/Mar 6]
	Jatun’s self-titled debut takes the synth-soaked melodies of M83 and mixes them with restive, Röyksoppian beats; blissfully scattering atmospheric trip-hop and waves of mesmerizing shoegaze in every direction. High point: Ghost and Grey Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	045	Maria Taylor Lynn Teeter Flower [Saddle Creek/Mar 6]
	Former Azure Ray frontwoman’s sophomore effort is delicate and mellifluous, championed by beautiful vocal harmonies and a gentle, soothing rainstorm of instrumentation. High point: Clean Getaway Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	044	The Go! Team Proof of Youth [Sub Pop/Sep 11]
	Lauded six-piece’s sophomore LP sounds a bit too similar to its predecessor yet still exhibits enough funky hooks and schoolyard chants to warrant a roller-skate-derby dance-off. High point: Keys to the City Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	043	Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight [Warner Bros/Aug 21]
	Cult band’s fourth release delves into synth-pop territory while still clinging tightly to its alt-country roots, resulting in a neo-Fleetwood Mac vibe that’s at once both retro and progressive. High point: Dreamworld Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	042	The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen [Parolphone/Jan 22]
	Damon Albarn’s latest project is a logical evolution of Gorillaz’ lethargic melodies mixed with a skillful understanding of indie rock’s recent history. It’s poppy but loaded with a complex subtext that lends it further credibility and rewards patience. High point: Kingdom of Doom Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	041	Liars Liars [Mute/Aug 28]
	A valorous return to form, these NYC avant-gardists’ fourth full-length is brash, defiant and mutinous while still maintaining a skillfully crafted sense of experimentalism and self-deconstruction. High point: What Would They Know Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	040	Ken Andrews Secrets of the Lost Satellite [Dinosaur Fight/Mar 13]
	Former Failure frontman’s first official solo album is filled with themes of loss and alienation atop spacey, heroin-induced melodies, grunged-up guitars and near-perfect production. High point: Allergic Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	039	Glös Harmonium [Lovitt/Mar 27]
	Former members of Denali and Engine Down collaborate to create this hauntingly brilliant record thick with dissonance and drenched in unnerving melody —- incessantly threatening to explode. High point: Entre Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	038	Piano Magic Part-Monster [Important/May 29]
	The latest from this ambient-pop charged UK collective is fueled by moody post-punk malaise and a subtle canvas of musical radiation that silently electrifies and envelopes its surroundings, altogether relaxing and entrancing and barely convulsing. High point: The King Cannot Be Found Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	037	John Vanderslice Emerald City [Barsuk/Jul 24]
	Folksy singer-songwriter’s sixth full-length ambles and saunters through a slightly-sedated landscape of seemingly-sparse instrumentation and insistent vocal melodies. High point: Time to Go Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	036	Maserati Inventions for the New Season [Temporary Residence Limited/Mar 19]
	Athens experimentalists get serious with a stunning batch of churning, instrumental post-rock that fuses post-punk dynamics with implicit esoterica. High point: The World Outside Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	035	The Shins Wincing the Night Away [Sub Pop/Jan 23]
	Exalted Portland group’s third proper album is awash in nocturnally-clad desperation, tossing and turning in a bed of diligent admissions and emotional sincerity. High point: Split Needles Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	034	A Band of Bees Octopus [Astralwerks/Mar 26]
	English psych-revivalists’ third LP spans a vast array of styles and influences — resulting in a buoyant, hallucinatory listening experience dripping in acid-soaked vitality and sun-drenched happiness. High point: Left Foot Stepdown Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	033	PJ Harvey White Chalk [Island/Oct 2]
	Semidivine heroine returns with an angelic offering of saintly vocals contrasted by stark lyricism and bleak piano overtures that barely manage to keep from drowning in the surrounding cesspool of gloom. High point: White Chalk Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	032	Shout Out Louds Our Ill Wills [Merge/Sep 11]
	Swedish band’s second album is less sad than The Cure and more neue than new wave — resulting in an effortless cross-pollination of the two that’s happily sad. High point: Tonight I Have to Leave it Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	031	Handsome Furs Plague Park [Sub Pop/May 22]
	Wolf Parade frontman Dan Boeckner teams up with his wife to make an estrogenic neo-Wolf Parade record blanketed by a fog of realized delusions and adequate sadness sung peacefully over a backdrop of steady, electronic rhythms and nostalgic melodies. High point: Handsome Furs Hate This City Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	030	Klaxons Myths of the Near Future [Polydor/Jan 29]
	European new ravers’ debut LP is littered with literary and intellectual references and still doesn’t break a sweat while breakdancing circles around its surroundings. High point: Golden Skans Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	029	The Rosebuds Night of the Furies [Merge/Apr 10]
	North Carolinan trio’s third full-length is soaked in beautiful indie pop bliss and lachrymose wordplay backed by gorgeously danceable synths and heaving beats; hypnotizing like a midnight summer thunderstorm. High point: I Better Run Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	028	Tegan and Sara The Con [Sire/Jul 24]
	Androgynous twins’ fifth LP resonates with adamant synth crescendos and sugar-coated vocal harmonies, exhibiting a controlled erotic nuance that’s both restrained and impassioned. High point: Like O, Like H Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	027	Belaire Exploding, Impacting [Indirect/Jul 12]
	Voxtrot members’ debut plays host to a myriad of emotions all while appearing casually blithe on a surface of happy-go-lucky synths and dancey choruses that lead nowhere but the circle of life’s happy-cum-sadness. High point: Madison Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	026	The KBC On the Beat! [High Voltage Sounds/Mar 19]
	English electro-dance trio’s debut is a monstercosm of raver synths and throbbing beats fueled by a voguish attitude and raw, disconnected coolness. High point: Trippin’ Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Part I (#75-51)
Part III (#25-1)

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the best albums of 2007; part I

Posted on December 30th, 2007 in music by dja

PART I (#75-#51)

On the fringe: Dropkick Murphys – The Meanest of Times; Emma Pollock – Watch the Fireworks; We All Have Hooks For Hands – The Pretender; Besnard Lakes – Are the Dark Horse; Dungen – Tio Bitar; Track A Tiger – We Moved Like Ghosts; Tomahawk – Anonymous; Battles – Mirrored; No Age – Weirdo Rippers; Oh My God – Fools Want Noise; The Acorn – Glory Hope Mountain; Shinichi Osawa – The One; The Warlocks – Heavy Skull Lover

	075	Sunset Rubdown Random Spirit Lover [Jagjaguwar/Oct 9]
	Third LP from Wolf Parade member is weirder than its predecessors — its rhythmic, staccato vocals contrast the surrounding circus-y instrumentation to form a strangely appealing aural carnival. High point: The Courtesan Has Sung Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	074	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Some Loud Thunder [Self-released/Jan 30]
	The eclectic mixture of artsy post-punk and playfulness on these post-David Byrnians’ sophomore record is more reflective, less poppy and more challenging than its antecedent. High point: The Sword Song Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	073	Chromeo Fancy Footwork [V2/May 8]
	Canadian dance pop duo’s second release is a metro-stained helping of funky grooves and insouciant hooks that are both guilty pleasures and skillfully crafted dance anthems. High point: Fancy Footwork Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	072	Other Men Wake Up Swimming [Robocore/Mar 20]
	Pinback and Heavy Vegetable alumni team up for a set of spastic melodies and cracked-out vocals that collide perfectly with eachother to create a kind of tensely panicked charm. High point: Other People Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	071	Holy Fuck LP [Young Turks/Oct 23]
	Toronto analog improvisationalists deliver second full-length of bleeding free-form electronica that twists and chugs and pulsates its way through a strange land of anti-dramatic melodica. High point: The Pulse Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	070	Die! Die! Die! Promises Promises [Tardus/Oct 8] Note: scheduled for 2008 US release
	New Zealand neo no-wavers’ latest is more exploratory, more melodic and more dynamic while still noisy and abrasive, revealing more depth and more sagacity with each successive listen. High point: Sideways Here We Come Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	069	Simian Mobile Disco Attack Decay Sustain Release [Wichita/Jun 18]
	British electronic duo’s debut is jam-packed with ridiculously catchy dance beats, energetic rhythms and an explosively repressed attack on the senses. High point: It’s the Beat Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	068	Papercuts Can’t Go Back [Gnomonsong/Feb 13]
	Californian neo-hippie Jason Quever’s second record is a transient, nomadic rubberband ball of bubbly melodies that are fully aware (and quite accepting) of their looming deaths. High point: John Brown Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	067	Justice † [Ed Banger/Jun 11]
	French house duo’s first full-length is a brilliant update of Daft Punk’s blazing dancefloor anthems, its instantly memorable hooks transforming everything in its path to neon-checkered lights and ecstasy-fueled floor-stompings. High point: D.A.N.C.E. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	066	Sole & the Skyrider Band Sole & the Skyrider Band [Anticon/Oct 23]
	Avant-garde hip-hop artist’s latest combines intellectual, stream-of-consciousness vocal delivery with spacey, atmospheric overtures and abstract idealism. High point: Shipwreckers Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	065	Apostle of Hustle National Anthem of Nowhere [Arts & Crafts/Feb 6]
	Broken Social Scene frontman offers up a guileful odyssey of worldly influences and hypnotic soundscapes that traverse through everything from downtempo to reggae. High point: Haul Away Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	064	Thrice The Alchemy Index, Vol. 1 & 2 [Vagrant/Oct 16]
	First two parts of post-hardcore band’s four-part conceptual anthology offers quite literal aural interpretations of Earth’s elements; dreary, atmospherical homages soaked to the core with evolutionary subtext. High point: Night Diving Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	063	Immaculate Machine Immaculate Machine’s Fables [Mint/Jun 12]
	Canadian band returns with an excellent third effort that brims with sunny melodies and boy/girl harmonies that reminisce and introspect with a modest coyness. High point: Jarhand Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	062	Jesu Conqueror [Hydra Head/Feb 20]
	Justin Broadrick returns with another sedated collection of stoned ambience and layers upon layers of droning, apocalyptic doomgaze that could quite possibly destroy the world’s sunlight in slow motion if played loud enough. High point: Old Year Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	061	Caribou Andorra [Merge/Aug 21]
	Daniel Snaith’s latest wintery wonderland ebbs and flows in a snowy-December haze of subtle melodies and intricate arrangements which beg for repeated listens and provide joyous memories that never really existed. High point: Irene Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	060	Chuck Ragan Feast or Famine [SideOneDummy/Aug 7]
	Former Hot Water Music frontman’s solo debut is a whiskey-soaked, introspective compendium contemplating life’s left hooks and unjustness — cloaked in a folksy flurry of harmonicas, violins and banjos. High point: The Boat Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	059	Stars In Our Bedroom After the War [Arts & Crafts/Sep 25]
	Canadian indie pop band’s fourth LP is a sublimely rich symphonic orchestration of vocalized sorrow, complete with pianized ballads and heartbroken themes of lost love. High point: The Night Starts Here Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	058	Wilco Sky Blue Sky [Nonesuch/May 15]
	Alt-country superheroes’ latest continues to experiment with avant-jazz and atmospheric folk-pop to form an engaging (if relaxing) record filled with subtle instrumental complexities that only add to the depth of Jeff Tweedy’s increasingly engrossing vocals. High point: Impossible Germany Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	057	Rocky Votolato The Bragg & Cuss [Barsuk/Jun 19]
	Alt-country singer-songwriter’s fifth album is another familiarly folk-tinged gem of pseudo-southern backwater rock that sounds as breezy as it is heavy. High point: Red Dragon Wishes Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	056	Pinback Autumn of the Seraphs [Touch and Go/Sep 11]
	Energetic indie mainstays return with new LP of distinctively catchy brand of liquified melodies backed by unstable rhythmic confidence and high-octane, vivacious guitar interplay. High point: Torch Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	055	The Sea and Cake Everybody [Thrill Jockey/May 8]
	Jazzy indie band’s seventh album further evidences an intrinsic grasp of subtle hooks, dazed vocals, and layered pseudo-electronic melodies; meandering slowly in and out of consciousness in a sundrenched daze. High point: Lightning Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	054	Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Baby 81 [RCA/May 1]
	Anton Newcombe protégés’ fourth record takes a step back to the fuzzed-up-drugged-up garage rock of earlier releases and marries it perfectly with a pervading flair for mature, sensitive songwriting. High point: Weapon of Choice Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	053	Polynya Polynya [Childhoot Pet/Aug 14]
	North Carolinan quartet offer up debut filled with Stereolab-ish time shifts and cherubic vocal harmonies swimming contently in an ocean of kaleidoscopic, drifting immediacy. High point: Essy Persson Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	052	Animal Collective Strawberry Jam [Domino/Sep 10]
	NYC experimentalists are back with another insanity-tinged collection of Pixies-on-LSD-styled pop songs interlaced with meandering segues that form a surprisingly cohesive whole. High point: Fireworks Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	051	Mice Parade Mice Parade [Fat Cat/May 8]
	Multi-instrumentalist New Yorkian’s latest is a typically genre-defying blend of electronica, post-rock, layered melodies and simplistically intense beauty; like a frozen butterfly emerging from a burning cocoon. High point: Double Dolphins on a Dime Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Part II (#50-26)
Part III (#25-1)

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Coming soon, best of 2007

Posted on December 15th, 2007 in music by dja

i am currently working on my best-of-2007 list. there were so many good albums this year that the list will at least be the top 50 (and possibly top 75) of the year. check back :)

until then, here is a song i like by the most underrated band of all time (dear Pidgeon: can you plz release a new album already, omfg?!?!@?@? i have been waiting over 3 years :( )

Pidgeon – Down

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the raveonettes – aly walk with me

Posted on December 2nd, 2007 in Uncategorized by dja

drive on the back of my motorcycle in the middle of the night while we terrorize the countryside even though no one knows

the raveonettes – aly walk with me

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