The Top Fifty Favorite Albums Of 2007 - Pt.2

II.


40. The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, (Fat Cat) 74.72
Sometimes sheer ambience/atmosphere/vibe makes up for a lack of songwriting. Ah, discerning music listener, you are insightful to determine that this statement applies to Scots' The Twilight Sad. This record is one big bombast burn of noisy fuzz guitar, thundering bass lines, and pounding drums accentuated by heavy-handed dynamics. Lead singer James Graham has a voice, a thick Scottish accent that perfectly encapsulates the musical vibe delivering these tales of the disappointment awareness brings to youth awakening.

39. The Fiery Furnaces – Widow City, (Thrill Jockey) 76.63
I always rate Fiery Furnaces records too low – and I’m sure this year will be no different. Their records are absolutely ... difficult. For every pop gem (i.e. "Ex-Guru") there are four avant-freakshows (i.e. "Clear Signal From Cairo"). Widow City exhibits the aspects that make The Fieries so unique: from Eleanor Friedberger’s lyrics that contain too many words for the melody (i.e. "My Egyptian Grammar") to brother Matthew's songs that encompass and overarch various sub-sub-genres (i.e. tropacalia, electronica, hip-hop, classic rock, etc. forever). It may be a frustrated ride, but it's wild and bizarre and cataclismic.

38. The Clientele – God Save The Clientele, (Merge Records) 75.50
One thing that I love about new releases from bands like The Clientele is how you know what you are getting, but you are always surprised. This record is arguably their most consistent. Alasdair MacLean will always bring sickly gorgeous melodies and sticky hooks. They pay homage to the classics ("I Hope You Know") and they quietly suck you in (check the whispy vocals on the near-instrumental "The Dance Of The Hours"). The record just grabs you gently with a culmination of release on the 60s groove of the spectacular "Bookshop Cassanova". God Save The Clientele indeed!

37. Shout Out Louds – Our Ill Wills, (Merge Records) 77.08
This is the follow-up to the semi-acclaimed, often overlooked debut, Howl Howl Howl --- a record of exuberant and sometimes reflective Scandi Pop. Our Ill Wills builds on the debut but with more emphasis on the reflective. Opening track "Tonight I Have To Leave It" is the high watermark with its playful appropriation of The Cure's "In Between Days". The record ebbs and flows through its twelve tracks with pop tinged with regret and resignation on the various levels of love. If you can stick with it, all this culminates on a perfect closing track, "Hard Rain".

36. The Broken West – I Can’t Go On, I’ll Get On, (Merge Records) 73.70
This is a record that I nearly wrote off ... The opening track "On The Bubble" is so ordinary that I couldn't listen to the rest ---> except I knew the killer power-popper "Down In The Valley" was laying in wait at track three. Ignoring track one and going straight to two made this record much more compelling. The Broken West are not doing anything but keeping the tradition of power pop purveyors from the 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond … with a dose of crunch. Yeah, Big Star, Shoes, The Vaselines, late-era Replacements/Westerberg, Teenage Fanclub, Sloan, you get the picture.

35. Emma Pollock – Watch The Fireworks, (4AD Records) 77.32
Here we have former Delgados singer Emma Pollock with her debut solo album. It is inevitable and impossible not to make comparisons to her previous work. So here it is: this record sounds a lot like The Delgados. Doesn't matter, I am talking about songs on this record. Watch The Fireworks is a complete record with hits ("Acid Test", "Here Comes The Heartbreak", "Adrenaline") that confirm the expertise Pollock poses: the turn of a phrase, the deftness of the hooks, the command of the energy, and the ease of the melody.

34. !!! – Myth Takes, (Warp Records) 75.80
In the newness of 2007, Myth Takes was a fontrunner for ROTY. What happened? First, this is a complete record that is heavy with a weird paranoid America apocalyptic bend (nowhere more apparent than on the title track). While this is the major thing that makes the record so unique, it also is its biggest detriment. I guess it lands here because I didn't wanna get freaked out. That's personal preference and slightly unfair to !!!. Whatever, when I do listen, I am on the floor (check "All My Heroes Are Weirdoes", "Must Be The Moon", "Heart of Hearts").

33. The Mary Onettes – The Mary Onettes, (Labrador Records) 77.70
Oh Sweden and your beauty called Labrador Records! My heart pines over and under and does flips and flops for you sweet pop bands making music that tugs at my heart and implants its seed of heavenly-pop-hits in my bosom. The Mary Onettes are another turn in that killer Labrador catalog. Here we have songs indebted to 80s brit-post-punk-pop: Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, The Church (I know, they are Aussies!) and then some late-era The Cure and New Order and straight-up synth-tinged Scandi Pop, but its waay catchier and poppier and energetic with shimmering guitars and deliberate punchy drums.

32. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity, (Kill Rock Stars) 75.81
As I’ve admitted several times on this blog, I adamantly refused to Deerhoof simply because of their moniker. That is pretty, pretty, pretty lame. Thankfully, I have an open mind and gave Friend Opportunity a chance, because it is a surprisingly strong record. While the last track is just too much for my pop-addled mind, the previous nine all bring something to the proverbial plate. The record starts with a veritable one-tw0-three punch: “The Perfect Me” is unbridled with clippity clop clack beats, sixties garage organ blasts, and jarring changes; “+81” follows with cute trumpets riffing, more bluesy guitar, and idiosyncratic synth lines; and “Believe in E.S.P.” has a darker, seedier, underbelly of mystery implied in the title. The killer tracks are “Kidz Are So Small” (a delightful beat-heavy pop experiment) and “Matchbook Seeks Maniac” (a beautiful, if not utterly ordinary, organ line slides along with Matsuzaki’s terribly preciously wonderfully gloriously soaring vocal makes this the best song on the album). All of this stuff coalesces into a gratifying experimental-pop record. {see review}

31. Water School – Animals & Their Hiding Places, (self-released) 76.94
This Batimore act is essentially Christopher Meyers and Mike Gittings, who share songwriting duties ala Sloan, Teenage Fanclub, and - duh! - The Beatles. Happily, their songs inhabit the same space as these bands. You wanna rock? Try Gitting's "Festival" or "Zombies" --- think Sloan being The New Pornographers. You prefer mid-tempo gentle power pop? Try Meyer's "Cartow" or "The Monster" --- think BMX Bandits doing Pavement. With two excellent songwriters offering excellence after excellence, Animals & Their Hiding Places is a must have.

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