Best Music of 2007

Client E. (aka Eddie Alzamora) wrote some good music reviews for a small publication in Shanghai a few years ago. At the time, we both thought that we had ears for good music. He has since moved to Portand where he gets to use those good ears to hear a lot of great music. On the other hand, I’m in Bucharest — turn on the radio and you’ll hear either Robbie Williams or Pet Shop Boys. Which is worse? Luckily for me, I live in the age of internet radio, and Radio Paradise has served as my lifeline to great music new and old.

I’m sure I’ve missed out on some great bands in the last few years (please recommend in the comments), but I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on some great stuff.

Before getting to 2007, I don’t want to neglect some gems of 2006:

Los Lobos – The Town and the City
Beck – The Information
Rodrigo & Gabriela – Rodrigo & Gabriela
Gomez – How we Operate
Gotye – Like Drawing Blood
The Wailin’ Jennys – Firecracker
Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
Beatles – Love

Ok – 2007:

Well, I guess I am going to have to fall in line and agree that Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is good. I can’t agree, however, with the critics about Kings of Leon or Spoon. Kings are nothing more than an anonymous 80’s band with pitch-correction on the vocals. There’s nothing wrong with it, but what’s to get excited about? Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is better, but I think I’m missing something, ‘cause hard as I try, more than one track at a time puts me to sleep. I really want to include Wilco’s Sky Blue, but mostly because I know I am supposed to like it. Unfortunately, it will probably only get played when I have guests over: it’s mellow enough not to annoy the girls, and cool enough to get a thumbs up for good taste from the alt guys.

Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight was a particular disappointment because, not only is it a sad, sad follow-up to their first two albums, but the title reminds me of Midnight Oil when I was in high school; a time when hearing a new album was a life changing experience. Linkin Park’s newest release is just life-shortening.

So forget what’s good and what’s bad from 2007! What’s great?

Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
No one sounds like these guys! This is a great album, but it won’t become a classic of my personal library simply because Lulabies to Paralyze is even better.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81
Another amazing band with a unique sound. Like Queens, the only thing keeping this from all-time favorite status is BRMC’s earlier albums, especially their first.

Gotye – Mixed Blood
Not sure it is fair to double-dip since this is just a remix album of songs from Like Drawing Blood (which already made my 2006 list), but I’m going to have to include it anyway, because it doesn’t play that much like a remix album. The only downside is that there are too many mixes of “Hearts a Mess”, which gets me thinking I’m listening to a 12” single.

Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
I still haven’t quite figured this album out yet, but I know I like it. Trent has done something a little different, yet it is still him. Like Muse’s Black Holes, the whole album can be taken as a screaming condemnation of George Bush. While I can appreciate the criticism, a few more love/hate songs would mix things up nicely.

Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet
Is it just me or do these guys make everyone else sound like amateurs? If you can get past the “progressive” label, you’ll find really, really good songs. I can’t get enough of them. The arrangements are complex and most of the songs are more than 7 minutes long. Nil Recording/Futile was also semi-released this year, and if you like “Blank”, you will like this EP too.

VAST – April
An early version of this was released on the web back in 2006, but the final release has a few different songs and is more polished. Jon Crosby never quite lived up to my high expectations after his first album, but now that I’ve accepted that he now makes music for mortals, I am happy with what I hear.

Recoil – subHuman
I’ve not read what the critics wrote about this album, but I can’t see how anyone won’t be swept away into a swampy underworld of blues guitars and atmospheric electronica. Just do me a favor and don’t mention Moby. What Alan Wilder has done here is light-years beyond Moby’s simple blues samples repeated over a drum loop. (Not to mention that Moby probably got that idea from a certain Recoil track when he made a guest appearance on Recoil’s album Bloodline in ’92 a full seven years before Moby’s Play.) In any case, do yourself a favor and get subHuman (earlier Unsound Methods and Liquid may be even better) and dedicate an hour with a good pair of headphones in a dark room.

What have you been listening to? What will 2008 give us?

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