December 2007 Archives
the beginning of 2007 was very good. of montreal came out of obscurity with hissing fauna, are you the destroyer? and there was a new album by clap your hands say yeah, some loud thunder. there was also something a bit weird but very, very good by deerhunter, cryptograms and the excellent the besnard lakes are the dark horse, by the besnard lakes. it seemed like things couldn’t get any better and it had been a very good year already.
and then arcade fire released neon bible. there’s not much that can be said about neon bible that hasn’t been said already, so i’ll just repeat what i wrote at the time: the arcade fire are the greatest rock’n’roll band ever (yes, yes; i remember the velvet underground and the jesus & mary chain).
after neon bible i was a bit flustered, as i was sure we wouldn’t see anything better for the rest of the year, which was just beginning. and, as far as i’m concerned, there was nothing that came even close to it, but there were still some very good albums to come. released in the same week (in the uk) we got air’s latest, pocket symphony, which got me listening to their previous albums (i was never a great air fan), but unfortunately got buried under neon bible. it is a truly good album that deserves its own time. as is portugal. the man’s it’s complicated being a wizard, my most satisfying discovery this year. if you need an excuse to shut off the outside world and relax for a couple of hours, you could do a lot worse than these two recordings.
pushing us from the sofa to the dance floor, lcd soundsystem came out with sound of silver, a dance masterpiece. i hadn’t had so much fun since everything, everything. sound of silver is probably the saddest dance album ever written, too. even the rakes’ ten new messages, which came out at about the same time (it was one of those years, eh?), however cynic, doesn’t come close. still, i felt like ten new messages is much more mature than and a big improvement over capture/release and can’t wait for their next one.
on a completely different note, cocorosie released their 3rd album, the adventures of ghosthorse and stillborn. it’s yet another departure from their previous work and a joyous exploration of new sounds that they pull off brilliantly, as they did before. and while on women, we got au revoir simone’s the bird of music and electrelane’s no shouts, no calls, two superb recordings and both a first for me.
truth be told, i only rediscovered them in the last month or so when listening to the year’s purchases, because björk blessed us with volta and blew my socks off, so i didn’t pay much attention to other women the whole year. oh, there was also joanna newsom and the ys street band by, herm, joanna newsom, a short live ep (perhaps too short, but after the monster that was ys the year before…) which is a pleasure to listen to.
the intimacy department was also well stocked in 2007. from bill callahan’s woke on a whaleheart to lewis & clarke’s blasts of holy birth, finishing with the most excellent boxer by the national (which would be my album of the year weren’t it for neon bible), there was enough for everyone to sulk to. and let’s not forget the stage names by okkervil river while we’re sulking. oh, and trembling blue stars’ the last holy writer.
on to more standard offerings… there were the stars with do you trust your friends?, page france’s … and the family telephone, the clientele’s god save the clientele, elk city’s new believers, marry me by st. vincent, over the rhine’s the trumpet child and five roses by miracle fortress; all of which take songwriting to 11 and make me wish i had more time to listen to music.
and suddenly we were taken back to the years’ first months: of montreal released icons, abstract thee and deerhunter fluorescent grey, two surprise ep’s which managed to stand up to their earlier full-length releases. and the cribs came out with men’s needs, women’s needs, whatever, a powerful, in-your face rock album, which was another good discovery. as was fantastic hawk by bottom of the hudson. and by then i finally got my hands on something i’d been craving since february, malcom middleton’s a brighter beat, an imensely depressing and superbly written album.
and the year came to an end with another batch of good albums: thurston moore’s trees outside the academy, somewhat sidestepping sonic youth but unmistakable, white chalk, probably the darkest pj harvey album yet (and certainly the most desperate one i listened to this year), the awesome lp by holy fuck, and the strange and magnificent untrue by burial, which is a very good match for uusitalo’s karhunainen.
finally, stuff that i’ve listened to but can’t quite express my feelings about other than fuck, this is some very good shit:
- sunn o))), oracle
- jesu, sun down / sun rise
- sir richard bishop, while my guitar violently bleeds
- gudrun gut, i put a record on
- animal collective, strawberry jam
and stuff pitchfork made me buy and i actually enjoyed:
considering i fully expected the world to end after neon bible (by the way, don’t die before seeing arcade fire live. really.), it was a pretty good year for music lovers. here’s hoping 2008 comes close (and that i get a revolver).
