My subjective offering of albums I utterly loved this year. Ooh, and please don’t tell me In Rainbows and Kala should be higher, just post yours in the comments instead. Oh, and Happy Christmas!
30. Roísín Murphy – Overpowered
29. UNKLE – War Stories
28. Talib Kweli & Madlib – The Liberation
27. Super Furry Animals – Hey Venus!
26. Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals
25. Radiohead – In Rainbows
24. MIA – Kala
23. Beastie Boys – The Mixup
22. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
21. Shape of Broad Minds – Craft of the Lost Art
20. The Go! Team – Proof of Youth
19. Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
18. Holy Fuck – Holy Fuck LP
17. Malajube – Trompe-L’oeil
16. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
15. TTC – 3615
14. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
13. Modeselektor – Happy Birthday
12. Super Extra Bonus Party – Super Extra Bonus Party LP
11. Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings
10. Feist – The Reminder
Leslie Feist’s 2004 album Let it Die allowed many who were enamoured by her recorded and live performances with Broken Social Scene to indulge some more time with her distinctive voice. With this year’s The Reminder, Feist stepped out into the limelight on her own with an album as accomplished, adept and edifying as any BSS record. Naysayers saw her as easily marketable, notions suffused by the eminently catchy “1234”, a choreographed video and the songs usage in an iPod ad but such accusations belied the strength and quality of the album and its superior singer.
MP3:
Previous Posts on Feist: #1 – Live , #2, #3, #4
9. Pharoahe Monch – Desire
Personally, Monch gets my vote for hip hop return of the year. His Tripod gig in July replenished my dwindling respect for hip hop artists in the live arena. Desire comes 8 years after his debut; a lifetime in hip hop terms but a less than transitory period between albums due to legal problems meant Monch had to look for other ways to pay the bills – most noticeably writing lyrics for dunce-cap rap mogul P Diddy. Desire largely supplants the sample-based process of Infernal Affairs for a duality of live instruments and soul samples. He dabbles at playing a Black Elvis (“Body Baby”), covers Public Enemy admirably, talks freedom and personal will with eloquence, intelligence and wordplay witticisms Diddy would give his left testicle for.
MP3:
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Pharoahe_Monch_-_Free.mp3]Previous Posts on Pharoahe Monch: #1, #2 – Live
8. Matthew Dear – Asa Breed
A marked difference to Dear’s previous work under his own name, Audion and False – Asa Breed saw Dear extending his oeuvre with more accessible, lyric-driven electronic pop closer in ethos to Hot Chip than Richie Hawtin. The result is an atypical example of an artist who understands dance cadences and what makes good textured pop. Nevermind that the album also includes acoustic-based compositions and the epic melancholic atmosphere of “Deserter” which placed in my songs of the year.
MP3:
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Matthew Dear_-_Deserter.mp3]Previous Posts on Matthew Dear: #1, #2, #3
7. Caribou – Andorra
Bursting straight in with the polychrome psychedelia of “Melody Day”, Ontario native Dan Snaith’s fourth album proper outshines the previous three with its memorable robotic drums alone. This is “an album” in the traditional sense, 9 songs of beautifully crafted melodious vaporous pop. Strings, flutes, electronics also dominate and in the process, Snaith dispenses with filler and noodly bits.
MP3:
Previous Posts on Caribou: #1, #2 – Live, #3
6. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
There is no way this should have been as good as it turned out to be. Zach Condon’s Balkan project turned to Parisian streets for inspiration, transforming his solo project into Beirut the ensemble band while he was at it and still sounded more musically gifted than those many years his senior. The album is effortlessly brimming with superb arrangements adorned with piano, ukelele, accordion, brass, percussion while Condon’s sweet croon (inspired by Jaques Brel) makes it sound so easy. The bastard.
MP3:
Beirut – The Penalty (with Owen Pallet)
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Beirut_-_The_Penalty.mp3]Previous Posts on Beirut: #1, #2, #3
5. Cadence Weapon – Breaking Kayfabe
This side of the Atlantic certainly arrived late to this Canadian’s hip hop party (the album was only released in October, a full 18 months after our North American cousins) but not too late that we didn’t find Rollie Pemberton’s brand of electro hip hop as something very compelling indeed. The songs are simple but spacious, the synths are pummeling and Rollie’s flow is commanding. We may have been tardy to the party but we’ll be first in line when his new album After Party Babies is released in March.
MP3:
Cadence Weapon – Oliver Square
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Cadence_Weapon_-_Oliver_Square.mp3]Previous Posts on Cadence Weapon: #1 – Live, #2, #3
4. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
As much as James Murphy deprecates himself as an ageing, chubby producer with a great record collection, there’s no denying that Sound of Silver is the anything-but-fortuitous pinnacle of the same man’s musical career. Steeped in a history of dance and rock culture and rich in propulsive instrumentation, Murphy streamlines the self-titled debut’s jagged edges. Despite also claiming to have made up lyrics on the day of recording, he manages to conjure up his own humanity in two of the most evocative songs of the year (“Someone Great” and “All my Friends”) as the album’s centerpiece.
MP3:
LCD Soundsystem – Get Innocuous
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/LCD_Soundsystem_-_Get_Innocuous.mp3]Previous Posts on LCD Soundsystem: #1
3. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
A solo record by Noah Lennox of indie-darlings Animal Collective who are notorious for their all-out experimental yet thrilling indie babble, Person Pitch just keeps giving and giving. It appeared early in the year and promised us that summer was only around the corner with its blissful sunshine-drenched melodies and playful Brian Wilson-esque sounds. Unfortunately, summer in Ireland was a disastrous rain-soaked climate-changing motherfucker but thank Noah I had this album to listen to while fighting my way through sheets of precipitation and howling wind.
MP3:
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Panda_Bear_-_Comfy_In_Nautica.mp3]Previous Posts on Panda Bear: #1, #2
2. El-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
No-one is more masterful at painting dystopian city life than El-Producto. His New York home informs this record completely with gritty accounts of grim city life, fear of flying, traffic jams, cocaine society (moral Ireland take note!), sex and more fear. Often compared to the musical equivalent of a Philip K Dick novel, El-P’s lyrics are informed by science-fiction metropolises: brutal and dark, absurd and vivid, backed with a maelstrom of macabre and razor-sharp original arrangements.
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/El-P_-_Run_The_Numbers.mp3]Previous Posts on El-P: #1 -Live, #2, #3
1. Battles – Mirrored
No other band has commanded more posts on this blog since it’s inception in 2005 than Battles so it’s fitting that Mirrored is my album of the year. A galloping, dizzying and highly innovative instrumental album, Mirrored turns man into machines as well as far exceeding the expectations I personally had of the band. Listening to the interplay of four equal musicians on this album, each virtuoso player breaking down conventions of their own instruments and creates something commensurate together. Not to forget it’s also A LOT of fun.
“Atlas” is my song of the decade, nevermind year. John Stanier’s drums kick with such sinew on “Leyendecker” you can hear the drums ringing in your ears. In-between and after, Battles rock with such exhilarating kineticism that by the frenzied climax of “Race:out” you’ll understand the intelligence of their sobriquet.
MP3:
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Battles_-_Race_Out.mp3]Previous Posts on Battles: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Hmmmmmm dont think i can do 30 but for now i’ll say…..
10.Our Love to Admire (Interpol)
9.Spiderman of the Rings (Dan Deacon)
8.Happy Birthday (Modeselektor)
7.I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (El-P)
6.From Here We Go Sublime (The Field)
5.Dead Cruiser (Kavinsky)…I know its not entirely 2007
4.Volta (Bjork)
3.Oi Oi Oi (Boys Noize)
2.† (Justice)
1.Alive 2007 (Daft Punk)…… think its got an edge on the already sooooper Coachella bootleg!
and in no particular order…..
Idealism (digitalism)
Attack Decay Sustain Release (simian mobile disco)
Overpowered (Roisin Murphy)
Craft of the Lost Art (Shape of Broad Minds)
Urban Plastic (Madox)
and ahem cough splutter Spirit (LEONA LEWIS)
I’m still struggling to decide on a top 10, but my self-imposed deadline is today so some bullet-biting will be done. I like your list, and I like the fact there’s stuff on here I haven’t heard yet- plenty of material to get me through January.
1. radiohead – in rainbows
2. animal collective – strawberry jam
3. panda bear – person pitch
4. battles – mirrored
5. cornelius – sensuous
6. deerhoof – friend opportunity
7. jens lekman – night falls over kortedala
8. wu-tang clan – 8 diagrams
9. rivers cuomo – alone: the home recordings of rivers cuomo
10. kanye west – graduation
so much amazing music this year.
honorable mentions: ghostface killah, M.I.A., the national, sigur ros, dillinger escape plan, between the buried and me, boris with michio kurihara, arcade fire, ozma, coconut records, loney dear, dan deacon, the twilight sad, sunset rubdown, vampire weekend, handsome furs, caribou, cocorosie, lcd sounsysytem, menomena, the field.
1) Burial – Untrue
2) Johann Johannson – IBM 1410, A user’s manual
3) Tiniariwen – Aman Iman
4) The National – Boxer
5) The Field – Here we go Sublime
6) Modeselektor – Happy Birthday
7)Arcade Fire – Funeral
8) Adjagas – Adjagas
9) Fujiya & Miyagi – Transparent Things
10) Amiina – Kurr
* Also really liked LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver PJ Harvey’s White Chalk, Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, Beirut’s Flying Club Cup and Robert Wyatt’s Comicopera.
Not even a mention of the Burial album Niall…I’m shocked 🙂
can i add !!! – myth takes… must come up with a full list actually :/
Of Montreal – “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?” would be up in my #1 or #2 of the year.
maybe I’ll do one, although I’m feeling a bit meh about writing about music these days… 😉
bisto_ie: I think you might be right about “Alive 2007” being well up there, too. it’s osm
In no order
MDR – The Herring and the Brine
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Panda Bear – Person Pitch (probably my fave at the mo to be honest but that changes a lot)
Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
Beirut’s lyrics are a bit pooh aren’t they?
Also liked Caribou, Battles, Grizzly Bear, Deerhoof, Dan Deacon and I’m getting round to the Of Montreal now.
Um…did you really enjoy Malajube so much you felt obliged to put the album in both the 18th and 15th spots?
[quote post=”952″]
Um…did you really enjoy Malajube so much you felt obliged to put the album in both the 18th and 15th spots?[/quote]
eh… yes…
typo obviously 🙂
I left out Roisin Murphy @ 30.
Good to see Battles at #1 in your list, a great album by them. The track you posted by Beirut from “The Flying Club Cup” album (and what an album it is, thank you Zach!) and listed as “The Penalty” is actually “Cliquot”, thought you might like to know that. Season’s greetings to you and yours in Ireland from me and mine in Australia, however my birthday is on Christmas day, so i basically, viciously resent the holiday season to the core. The only good thing about Christmas i can think of is when, many years ago, “God” asked me if i would like to be the “Resurrection”, i have to admit i did seriously consider this offer of employment, until i found out i was to be paid zilch, zero, nothing, nada! and (get this) at the age of 33, i had to sacrifice my life for all humanity!! Now, i have nothing against “all humanity”, but i do not know “all humanity”, so why would i want to save them? i mean i could be saving racist, sexist, homophobic, conservative, evangelistic, islamic fundamentalistic sons of bitches, and why the hell would i want to do that? So i graciously declined the “Lords” offer (i told “Him” to bugger off and leave me the fuck alone). You may be wondering if it was the right thing to reject “Gods” offer all those years ago. Let’s put it this way, this Christmas day i will turn 39, that makes me 6 years older than “Jesus” when he died, i think i made the right decision, Cheers there.
Nice list Niall. Great to see El-P get the love that album deserves. I’m glad to see someone else gets how good it really is.
The albums that just missed making my top 10.
http://thrillpier.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-ten-albums-of-year-also-rans.html
And the ones that did.
http://thrillpier.blogspot.com/2007/12/just-to-be-difficult-top-j-albums-of.html
15 – Bibi Tanga et le Professeur Inlassable – Yellow Gauze
14 – The Wombats – A Guide To Love Loss and Desperation
13 – Justice – Cross
12 – Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
11 – The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
10 – Benjamin Biolay – Trash Yéyé
9 – Radiohead – In Rainbows
8 – The Chemical Brothers – We Are the Night
7 – The National – Boxer
6 – Kanye West – Graduation
5 – Panda Bear – Person Pitch
4 – !!! – Myth Takes
3 – M.I.A – Kala
2 – Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release
1 – LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
I also liked lot of records that couldn’t buy (yet), like midnight juggernauts, calvin harris, okkervil river, chromatics, glass candy, YACHT,…
Great list Niall, good to see plenty of hip-hop up there. I was listening to that El-P record the other day for the first time in ages- great stuff. Dense, dark, slightly incomprehensible- he’s the Scott Walker of hip-hop… I don’t really get the fuss about Dan Deacon, ‘The Crystal Cat’ aside, that record grated on my nerves. Anyway, for what it’s worth…
1. The National- Boxer
2. Radiohead- In Rainbows
3. Burial- Untrue
4. LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
5. Feist- The Reminder
6. Apparat- Walls
7. Battles- Mirrored
8. Caribou- Andorra
9. Andrew Bird- Armchair Apocrypha
10.Justice- +
Most underrated- I thought the Chemical Brothers and Underworld put out great records despit the lack of acclaim, this truly is no country for old men…
The boxer by The National.
My Favourite Record of the year.
Lcd Soundsystem.
Kev Drew.
No Mention of The once Soundtrack Byrno ; )
Haha
Happy Christmas bud
C
Thanks for the kind words.
Battles are unbelievable live and I would even go as far to say that the album doesn’t give them justice. I don’t know if I’d have the Mix-up anywhere in my top 50 though. Just wasn’t that impressed.
Props for putting Mr.Producto at no.2 – great album.
Burial ‘Untrue’
Matthew Dear ‘Asa Breed’
VA ‘Sub Stance’ (Aeclectrick)
LCD Soundsystem ‘Sound Of Silver’
VA – ‘Soundboy Punishments’ (Skull Disco)
Studio ‘Yearbook 1’
Amon Tobin ‘Foley Room’
Modeselektor ‘Happy Birthday!’
DeepChord Presents Echospace ‘The Coldest Season’
Deadbeat ‘Journeyman’s Annual’
Distance ‘My Demons’
Geiom ‘Island Noise’
Ekaros ‘Exhumating Ikaros LP’
Black Devil Disco Club ‘In Dub’
Pinch ‘Underwater Dancewall’
VA – ‘Box Of Dub Vol. 1 (Dubstep and Future Dub)’
Cyrus ‘From The Shadows’
Gustavo Santaolalla ‘Babel Original Soundtrack’
!!! ‘Myth Takes’
The Field ‘From Here We Go Sublime’
Frivolous ‘Midnight Black Indulgence’
Apparat ‘Walls’
It was a great year, let’s wait for the follow up.
El-P “ISWYD”
MIA “Kala”
Kanye West “Graduation”
Beastie Boys “The Mix Up”
The beauty of these lists is that they always throw something in that you’ve never heard and lead to more tangents.
For posterity, my list is for 2007:
1. Radiohead – In Rainbows
2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
3. The National – Boxer
4. Tinariwen – Aman Iman
5. Laura Veirs – Saltbreakers
Thanks for the Tinariwen reminder all, it’s excellent 😉
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
in no real order
Radiohead – In Rainbows
LCD Soundsystem- Sound Of Silver
The National – Boxer
Interpol – Our Love To Admire
The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
Battles – Mirrored
Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
Kevin Drew – Spirit If..
Editors – An End Has A Start
Feist – The Reminder
Good Shoes – Think Before You Speak
Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times
The Maccabees – Colour It In
Malajube – Trompe-l’oeil
Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat
Menomena – Friend And Foe
Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops
UNKLE – War Stories
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Isis Ep
ye i think thats it