fredag 21 Dec 2007, 18:06

I really did buy a lot of music this year and – for the first time ever – most of it was actually new (at least when ignoring the twenty or so CDs I picked up at the sale of a giant CD store whose owner had died).
Here are some of the 2007 new albums I really liked. The list is nowhere near complete since I did not pick up every new album I could possibly like.

American Doll Posse
There's really not a lot to be said that my review doesn't cover. Even though the album didn't manage to stay in my top listens for the second part of the year, I still love to listen to it occasionally.

Arbitrary Act
I think my previous review says it all: Evelinn Trouble is the new genius.

Are You Listening?
That voice, I just love the voice of Dolores O'Riordan (I know I have a lot ahead of me since I have all records of The Cranberries ahead of me).

Canon
Though not an album of new material, it was the first of Ani DiFranco's that I bought and it simply made me fall in her love with her music.

D'elles
Like Jennifer Lopez, Céline Dion has released an english and a non-english album this year. But unlike J.Lo, at least one of Céline's albums were actually good. It's definitely not my favourite of all her french records but it's a nice enough mix of melodies, stories and up-tempo beats.

Find Me
I have not waited for this as long as some people have but even I have found myself starving for new material from this hugely gifted artist whose music I've been enjoying for three years now.

Ghosts
I'm saddened to see how much this truly amazing album has been overlooked. I've liked Revolution In Me but this is so unlike anything you usually hear from girlbandmates gone solo.

Have Yourself A Very KT Christmas EP
KT Tunstall's main album this year – Drastic Fantastic – left me quite unfulfilled while her Xmas EP is full of welcome surprises and interesting melodies to be discovered. A perfect album for background listening.

Joanna Newsom And The Ys Street Band EP
I got to see Joanna Newsom perform live and it's been one of this year's top concerts, it was just great. The reason this album is so great is called Colleen and it's a sensitive, sweet and incredibly sticky track.

Little Eve
How can one listen to tracks like Words and not fall in love? It's like Natasha Bedingfield minus her annoying voice and plus some more interesting musical tidbits.

Made Of Bricks
I love the rawness of this album, the utter disregard of respect of the listener's sense of music, the light-heartedness and bluntness of it. But all this pales in comparison to the most important reason why I love this album so much: Kate Nash's London accent. It's just plain beautiful to listen to.

Obligatory Villagers
I got this quite late, no-one told me this had come out. It's not as comprehensive as what I'm used to from Nellie McKay, the tracks are shorter and there are much less of them. So I found it by accident when I decided to check out her site again after some two years. The tracks are much more light-hearted in style than the ones from her two previous records and the lyrics range from funny to downright silly.

One Cell In The Sea
I have not really had time to listen to this album but what I heard so far sounds quite beautiful. It's not too distinct from other efforts of young women with beautiful voices and nice, shy songs but it's definitely worth checking out.

Overpowered
I got hooked on Róisín Murphy much faster than any artist ever before. This music just spins with me, everything matches, right down to the smallest of beats. Nothing for the introverted, though.

The Reminder
This is one of the few albums I ever bought without knowing the artist beforehand or having read a review or recommendation; the record just jumped at me in the music store and it stuck with me ever since. Having listened to more of Feist's music, I've grown to like Let It Die even a bit more.

Ribbed Music For The Numb Generation
Almost exactly a year after seeing them perform live in Glasgow, I held in my hands the first full-length album of the enchanting Sohodolls. This music is smooth and snuggles itself against it's listener in a way that feels almost warm (some pop songs do this too but they mostly feel cold).

River — The Joni Letters
Speaking of cold: Jazz most of the time leaves me cold. But hearing so many great Joni Mitchell songs played with so much passion on a piano by Herbie Hancock just makes me feel good. Plus you get to hear all those great voices sing them.

Shine
This record takes some getting used to, which takes time. Time I've not really had so far. But for the bits and pieces I've had time I can honestly say I've heard some wonderful tunes.

Soundso
Die Helden entwickeln sich langsam aber sicher zu Superhelden, jedes ihrer Alben ist ein Stück besser als sein Vorgänger. Wer einigermassen vernünftige Erwartungen hat, wird nicht enttäuscht.

Theology
I already reviewed this. My conclusion still stands: it's a good album. Considering that I never again expected Sinéad O'Connor's music to really enchant me it's even a great album.

This Fool Can Die Now
Again something I've not had the chance to really listen through but so far like what I'm listening to.

This Time
After Melanie C made most of her money from selling songs to german TV stations, I expected most of her future work to be as melancholic as First Day Of My Life. Fortunately, this album has proven me wrong. Though it's no “Reason”, This Time contains some great tracks like Carolyna, Understand and I Want Candy.

Trip The Light Fantastic
Sophie Ellis-Bextor keeps making similar records and they, in turn, keep making me happy. Every album has sounded a bit more electronic than the previous one. Let's hope she knows when to stop.

Twelve
Patti Smith has been making some incredible music in her life. Now she's taken the music of others and turned it into her own in a style that is sometimes very conservative and sometimes very much her own. But always quite amicably.

Volta
Björk's Homogenic has always been my favourite album of hers and one of all-time favourite albums of any artist but Volta manages to challenge this position. I never had such a flair for rawness.

White Chalk
PJ Harvey is an artist that I have first heard of a long time ago but that I'd held off listening to up until early this year. I still struggle to categorize all that I'm hearing of her but one thing is very clear: unlike the songs on other of her albums, the tracks on White Chalk have immediately found their way into my heart.

36Grad
Listening to 2Raumwohnung is like drifting away on a cloud. 36Grad only adds colour to this image: the cloud is now located over the sea with view onto sunny beaches and mellow yellow. It's also the first of their records where there is not a single song I dislike.