onsdag 19 Dec 2007, 16:11

Looking back
Unless another major band pull a Radiohead-style upset and release an album via their website in the next two weeks, I can say I've decided on my 10 favourite records of the year.

1. M.I.A. - Kala
When I originally drafted this list, Kanye West’s record was at #1 and this took #2. But after a few more weeks, I decided to switch them. While Graduation sounds really awesome, it begins to strain under repeat listens, unlike The College Dropout and Late Registration. It’s lyrically weak and doesn’t reach as much as a Kanye record ought to, musically speaking. And it doesn’t sound unprecedented. Nothing in my Top 10, save this, does. Kala has been called Post for the new millennium, but that’s a bit off the mark. But no one with sense can deny that Kala is indeed, like Bjork’s album, a quantum leap forward for pop. In the splendid album opener Bamboo Banga, Maya Arulpragasam declares that she is coming back with power. And she does. Kala, if you haven’t yet gathered, is a stunner. Indie-rock, electronica and world music are the starting points for this, but the record transcends mere genre to create the most invigorating album in recent memory. Over its 47-minute running time, M.I.A. ransacks the music of her native Sri Lanka, pulls out some sleek Euro-disco moves, collaborates with a group of prepubescent Aborigine rappers, re-explores the Brazilian baile funk of Arular and generally creates the most jagged, noisy dance music you’ve ever heard. By the time the dreamy, Clash-sampling Paper Planes comes through, M.I.A. looks like the only thing left in pop. And that’s quite a lot.

2. Kanye West - Graduation
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
6. A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers
7. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
8. Feist - The Reminder
9. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
10. Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion

Honourable mention: Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead

Now for my 10 favorite non-2007 albums of 2007. These albums are all classics that I first had the pleasure of hearing this year:

1. My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything
I bought this record this summer, after a year of hearing the songs on the internet, at parties and in the case of Feed Me With Your Kiss, on college radio. But nothing prepared me for the experience of hearing this record from start to finish. Six months on, I still don’t think I’m capable of writing cohesively about it. It’s the proto-Loveless, the mother of shoegaze, the entrance of Steve Reich into alternative rock, the template for Pavement and Enya, and not to mention my new font of musical inspiration. Whenever my guitar playing gets into a rut, Isn’t Anything is able to pull me out of it. I’ve written three songs just by trying to emulate the molten guitars on All I Need. Some LP’s can be called truly revolutionary. This is one of them.

2. Blur - Parklife
3. Sonic Youth - Dirty
4. Cornershop - Woman’s Gotta Have It
5. Deftones - White Pony
6. Sonic Youth - Sister
7. Team Sleep - Team Sleep
8. Metallica - Metallica
9. Fugazi - Repeater
10. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Honourable mention: Suede - Suede

Looking forward

Here are bands/artists that I'm looking forward to releasing stuff in the next year. I'll get more in-depth in later entries:

My Bloody Valentine: Please, please, PLEASE, let this happen! And a tour too!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: I think I read something about this happening. I'm really curious to see what direction they'll take next.

Madonna: Her last album was incredible, so I doubt this one will be disappointing. However, I sincerely hope that it will not be called Licorice.

And here are some existing albums that I plan to buy next year:

Boris - Pink
Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
Nelly Furtado - Whoa, Nelly
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
Portishead - Dummy
Pixies - Doolittle
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Ravi Shankar - The Sounds of India
Pavement - Wowee Zowee