2007 Music Journals

[starhawk]

Favorites (unranked)...
The National - Boxer (A-)
Feist - The Reminder (A-)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (A-)
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (A-)
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (A-)
Battles - Mirrored (A- )
Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance (A-)
Castanets - In The Vines (B+)
The White Stripes - Icky Thump (B+ )
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (B+ )
 
Liked...
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (B )
Joy Electric - The Otherly Opus (B )
The Brothers Martin - s/t (B )
Project 86 - Rival Factions  (B )

Almost/Not Quite...
Fono - Too Broken To Break (B- )
Caedmon's Call - Overdressed (B- )
Silverchair - Young Modern (B- )
Eisley - Combination (B- )
Amy Whinehouse - Back to Black (B- )

Disliked...
Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War (C+ )
His Name Is Alive - XMMER (C )

EP's and other...
Joy Electric - Workmanship EP (B )

Digesting...

Interested in hearing...
BlaqkAudio - CexCells
The Swirling Eddies - The Midget, The Speck, and the Molecule


Picked up from last year...
Cat Power - The Greatest (B )
AFI - December Underground (B- )
David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts (D)

[Brenden]

David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts (D)

Really? It wasn't a great EP, but I can't imagine going lower than a C.

[starhawk]

Really? It wasn't a great EP, but I can't imagine going lower than a C.

It's the lyrics....I actually enjoy the melodies mostly...but I don't even feel like listening to this EP anymore...I haven't written anything about it yet so it is not in stone, but based on how much I enjoy the album, I feel like I have to rate it low...

[murlough23]

It's the lyrics....I actually enjoy the melodies mostly...but I don't even feel like listening to this EP anymore...I haven't written anything about it yet so it is not in stone, but based on how much I enjoy the album, I feel like I have to rate it low...

Enjoyment? ENJOYMENT??!?!?! Who says you're allowed to rate an album based on that?

[bloop]

Enjoyment? ENJOYMENT??!?!?! Who says you're allowed to rate an album based on that?

Let's not start here.  I like the elegance of being able to look through people's lists without browsing 8 pages.   

[TheWanderer]

Enjoyment? ENJOYMENT??!?!?! Who says you're allowed to rate an album based on that?

Reality.

[bloop]

Oversimplification is fun.

Anyway, please make a new topic if you really want to discuss this again.  This thread is best left shorter.

[Brenden]

It's the lyrics....I actually enjoy the melodies mostly...but I don't even feel like listening to this EP anymore...I haven't written anything about it yet so it is not in stone, but based on how much I enjoy the album, I feel like I have to rate it low...

I agree that there are some weak lyrics (Selling Advertising is cringe-worthy, and Fewer Broken Pieces isn't anything special), but How I Remember and Cold Beer And Cigarettes are great lyrics. The Pedro song seemed tacked on, but it was ok.

But I know Bazan's lyrical style is pretty love hate in general, so, ok.

[murlough23]

Didn't mean to derail the thread with harmless teasing. Carry on.

[PopePouri]

I think I've listened to enough albums to throw in my opinions.

1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 9
2. The White Stripes - Icky Thump 8.5
3. Silverchair - Young Modern 8.5
4. The Aliens - Astronomy for Dogs 8.5
5. Martin Sexton -  Seeds 8
6. Caedmon's Call - Overdressed 8
7. Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell 7.5
8. Eisley - Combinations 7.5
9. Anberlin -  Cities 7
10. Kelly Clarkson - My December 6.5


Tree63 - Sunday! 6.5
Birthday Massacre - Walking with Strangers 5

[murlough23]

My year-end review is up, featuring my Top 20 albums, Bottom 10 albums, Top 10 live performances, and Top 100 songs of 2007, as well as some leftovers from 2006 that I only discovered this year, and what I'm looking forward to next year. It's long, so feel free to skim. (Most of this, you can already surmise from what I've said on these boards anyway.)

http://www.epinions.com/content_5150384260

[plvarona]

I finally finished my "2007 in Music" column, so if you guys want to check it out, here's the link:

http://www.epinions.com/content_5155037316

Basically, it's my top 10 albums (+ honorable mentions), bottom 5 albums, a brief section on new artists, top 25 singles and non-singles, and top 5 concerts.  So if you guys have some spare time, or if you just want to skim it, be my guest.   

[Ian]

I'm a bit late to the party, but oh well.

I assigned every album a number score, but I should note that you can't really attach a number to music.  I did my best, but the numbers are probably best read as "somewhere around x".  I could probably switch the positions of a lot of albums and still be fine with it, so this is all just an approximation.  :/

Anyways, my top 10, with a particularly good song in italics:


1. The National - Boxer - 9.6
So chill, so composed, so smooth, yet rippling with texture, weakness and anxiety. Brilliance. Slow Show

2. Burial - Untrue - 9.2
Absolutely trippy. Repetative at times, but so cool that you won't mind in the least. Archangel

3. The Aliens - Astronomy for Dogs - 9.2
I turned on this album for the first time, and it took me completely by surprise. Catchy, progressive, varied, and (here's the real kicker) cheerful? I didn't even know good cheerful music even existed anymore. Easily the best of its kind in a while. Robot Man

4. Radiohead - In Rainbows - 9.1
Good Radiohead songs are stellar songs for any other band, and this album has 10 of them. 15 Step

5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch - 9.0
Sugary, instrumental, vocal, layers upon layers of dreamy fun. Take Pills

6. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog - 9.0
Best of its kind since Califone's most recent release. Maybe even better than that, which is saying a LOT. Flightless Bird, American Mouth

7. Tomahawk - Anonymous - 8.8
One of the only albums this year to truly surprise me. Indian metal? It may not sound appealing, but trust me, you don't know what's coming. Ghost Dance

8. Eluvium - Copia - 8.8
Gorgeous ambience the whole way through. The piano in the middle is wonderful, and the fireworks at the end made me fall in love. I'm not sure who with, but they made me fall in love. Prelude for Time Feelers

9. Animal Collective - Srawberry Jam - 8.8
Contains two of the years best tracks in Reverend Green and Fireworks, and the rest of this bombastic, confusing, glitchy, catchy, swaying release is a fine thing as well. For Reverend Green

10. Ulver - Shadows of the Sun - 8.7
I don't like metal, but for some reason I enjoy it when it slows down to a near halt. That's what this is -- a band that sounds like they should be rocking out, but are instead stealthily creeping along. And it's great. Eos


Other stuff I got that didn't make the top 10:

Sir Richard Bishop - While My Guitar Violently Bleeds - 8.7
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - 8.6
Battles - Mirrored - 8.6
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover - 8.6
Of Montreal - Hissing Fanna, Are You the Destroyer - 8.6
Priestbird - In Your Time - 8.5
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver - 8.5
Primordial - To the Nameless Dead - 8.5
Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War - 8.4
Gotan Project - La Revancha Del Tengo - 8.4
Owen - At Home With Owen - 8.4
M.I.A. - Kala - 8.4
Calle 13 - Residente o Visitante - 8.3
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin - 8.3
World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland - 8.2
Venetain Snares - My Downfall - 8.2
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo - 8.2
Menomena - Friend and Foe - 8.2
Drake - Comeback Season - 8.2
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline - 8.1
Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde - 8.1
The Eclectic Collective - The Flux - 8.1
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood OST - 8.1
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime - 8.0
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala - 8.0
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet - 8.0
Anberlin - Cities - 8.0
Liars - Liars - 8.0
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust - 8.0
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha - 7.9
Kanye West - Graduation - 7.8
Air - Pocket Symphony - 7.8
Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold - 7.8
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - 7.6
Luna Halo - Luna Halo - 7.6
Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future - 7.5
PJ Harvey - White Chalk - 7.5
Blonde Redhead - 23 - 7.4
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends - 7.4
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga - 7.4
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position - 7.3
sthingy - GaGaGaGaGa - 7.3
65daysofstatic - The Destruction of Small Ideas - 7.3
Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Hiem - 7.2
The Working Title - About Face
Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion - 7.2
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta! - 7.2
Silverchair - 7.1
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is - 7.1
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters - 7.1
!!! - Myth Takes - 7.0
Fiest - A Reminder - 7.0
Caribou - Andorra - 7.0
Bjork - Volta - 6.9
Deerhunter - Cryptograms - 6.9
CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy - 6.7
The Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil - 6.6
mum - Go Smear the Poison Ivy - 6.4
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - 6.2
Relient K - Five Score and Seven years Ago - 6.0
Neon Horse - Neon Horse - 5.9
The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City - 5.8
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - 4.8
Voxtrot - Voxtrot - 4.0
Comets on Fire - Comets on Fire - 3.8

Have, but haven't listened to yet or am not ready to give score:

A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers
Alex Delivery - Star Destroyer
Arab Strap - The Last Romance
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Britney Spears - Blackout
Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light
Camille - Le Fil
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Circa Survive - On Letting Go
Codeine - The White Birch
Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Emery - I'm Only A Man
God is an Astronaut - Far From Refuge
Hot Chip - Coming On Strong
Interpol - Our Love To Admire
Justice - Cross
Kidcrash - Jokes
Kirk Whalum - Roundtrip
Luminous Orange - Drop You Vivid Colors
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Maps and Atlases - Tree, Swallows, Houses
Mark Ronson - Version
Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia
No Age - Wierdo Rippers
Olafur Arnalds - Eulogy for Evolution
Pavement - Riot!
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Raul Midon - A World Within A World
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raisin Sand
Suishou no Fune - I Throw A Stone into the Endless Depths
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II
The White Stripes - Icky Thump



I'm pretty sure I remembered everything.

[ajyouthguy]

see if i do any better this year...

given your last edit was jan 1, 07 on this, i think i'd say no...haha..

[RedcoatJones]

So, I was killing time last night, and I was wondering what a consensus "best-of" list would like for the Phorum. So I went through, and did a college football-style poll with anyone who had ranked at least 25 albums (Josh Powell is the only one who rated at least 25 I didn't add only because I didn't know his order for rankings). I went through and for each person, I assigned 25 points to your #1 album, 24 to #2 and on down the list to #25. This makes for a very unique list because we have a pretty even split between CCM-heavy and non-CCM heavy lists. The top albums are the ones that consistenly ranked high across the board, though it should be said that no album made every list, not even the top 2. In all, 147 different albums made at least one Top 25 list. Our panel consisted of Josh, murlough23, NinjaRob17, plvarona, bloop, brenden, worldofcm, cowdude, ajyouthguy, dgp11776 and TheoryC.

The most points possible was 275. Without further ado, here is the phorum Top 25 of 2007 (points total in parenthesis):

1. Anberlin - Cities (158)
2. Over the Rhine - The Trumpet Child (148)
3. Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago (120)
4. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (118)
5. Steven Delopoulos - Straightjacket (115)
6. Deas Vail - All the Houses Look the Same (110)
7. Radiohead - In Rainbows (97)
8. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (86)
9. Future of Forestry - Twilight (81)
10. The White Stripes - Icky Thump (68)
11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (67)
12. Joe Henry - Civilizations (65)
12. The National - Boxer (65)
14. John Reuben - Word of Mouth (60)
15. Josh Ritter - Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (58)
16. sthingy - Ga Ga Ga Ga GA (50)
17. Caedmon's Call - Overdressed (49)
17. Neon Horse - Neon Horse (49)
19. David Crowder Band - The Remedy (45)
19. Mike Farris - Salvation in Lights (45)
19. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (45)
22. Burial - Untrue (43)
22. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (43)
24. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (42)
25. Low - Drums and Guns (41)

Edited to correct really funny typo! (preserved for posterity in murlough's response)

[murlough23]

1. Anberlin - Cities (158)
2. Over the Rhine - The Trumpet Child (148)
3. Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago (120)
4. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (118)
5. Steven Delopoulos - Straightjacket (115)
6. Deas Vail - All the Houses Look the Same (110)
7. Radiohead - In Rainbows (97)
8. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (86)
9. Future of Forestry - Twilight (81)
10. The White Stripes - Icky Thump (68)

I suppose it's easy to affect the statistics when there are so few of us. I'm a pretty big fan of most of those, and Icky Thump is the only one I haven't heard.

19. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Evan Sank (45)

Wait a minute, I saw that movie, and Evan didn't sink the ship; he sailed it all the way to Washington, D.C.!

[RedcoatJones]

I suppose it's easy to affect the statistics when there are so few of us. I'm a pretty big fan of most of those, and Icky Thump is the only one I haven't heard.

Yeah it is. And I know a better (but WAY more time consuming) method would be to get an average score, a la metacritic. But even I don't have that much time. Regardless, it shows which albums consistently were well received by everyone.

[murlough23]

Yeah it is. And I know a better (but WAY more time consuming) method would be to get an average score, a la metacritic. But even I don't have that much time. Regardless, it shows which albums consistently were well received by everyone.

I can't complain, of course. I'm just surprised to see my tastes line up so well with others'.

[bloop]

metacritic actually gives different weight to different critics.  Now that would cause much dissension.

[Ian]

Only one of my top 10 albums got in to the overall top 10. :/

[murlough23]

metacritic actually gives different weight to different critics.  Now that would cause much dissension.

I suppose you have to do that when there's one standard that you're assuming you should base things on. Personally, I'll give different weight to different critics based on whether I know that they and I are listening for the same things. If you're a fan of sparse, acoustic folk music, you're probably not going to pay much attention to a rock critic's take on an acoustic-based album that "doesn't rock enough" or whatever. That's a simplistic example, but you get what I'm saying.

[bloop]

I think metacritic doesn't do it based on style but some kind of perceived respectability or prominence of the critic, maybe similar to what might happen if one counts the "cream of the crop" rating disproportionately higher at Rotten Tomatoes.  They don't give away specifically who gets what weight, but it's clear that they aren't taking a straight average without reading that they admit that they don't.

I think exactly half of my top ten made the top ten overall.

[TheWanderer]

Only one of my top 10 albums got in to the overall top 10. :/

because you primarily listen to indie stuff.  Not that it's a bad thing and I like your list, but it wasnt as diverse as the lists of others.

[murlough23]

I think metacritic doesn't do it based on style but some kind of perceived respectability or prominence of the critic

Right; I was just trying to illustrate the difference between how they might give different critics different weight, and how I might do it. The end goal for them is probably judging whether it's good art, and which critics are the best at focusing on that, and while that's also a goal for me personally, the most important thing is "Am I going to enjoy what I'm spending my time/money on?", so it's helpful to hear criticism of an album from someone who knows the genre, and also sometimes the newbie perspective is helpful, too (i.e. "I don't normally like this knd of music, but this guy colored outside the lines and made something interesting.")

[Ian]

because you primarily listen to indie stuff.  Not that it's a bad thing and I like your list, but it wasnt as diverse as the lists of others.

Musically speaking, it was very diverse.  Just not that diverse as far as marketing.

[TheWanderer]

Musically speaking, it was very diverse.  Just not that diverse as far as marketing.

Honestly, it wasn't that diverse.  It was alot of indie and post-rock stuff.  Very diverse would be if you had hip-hop, metal, indie, alternative, soul, etc. 

[Ian]

There wasn't any post rock.  At all.  Here's what I had, in order:

Indie rock
Dubstep
Prog rock
Radiohead, whatever genre that is
Electronic/glitch/pop
Folk rock
Experimental/Indian metal
Ambient
Experimental/glitch/pop/rock
Chamber/ambient/experimental/new age

Only ones that are that similar are Panda Bear and Animal Collective, which really aren't that similar when you listen to them.  I mean, if my top ten were all from the same genre, I would care less.  I just don't see how you can say those aren't diverse.  I'm seriously questioning whether you've actually heard most of these CDs, or if you're just going by where you've seen them advertised.

Anyways, like I said, it doesn't really matter to me what label my music falls under, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.

[murlough23]

Well, it's more diverse than my list, which is largely fairly accessible pop/rock stuff with some folk.

[TheWanderer]

There wasn't any post rock.  At all.  Here's what I had, in order:

Indie rock
Dubstep
Prog rock
Radiohead, whatever genre that is
Electronic/glitch/pop
Folk rock
Experimental/Indian metal
Ambient
Experimental/glitch/pop/rock
Chamber/ambient/experimental/new age

Only ones that are that similar are Panda Bear and Animal Collective, which really aren't that similar when you listen to them.  I mean, if my top ten were all from the same genre, I would care less.  I just don't see how you can say those aren't diverse.  I'm seriously questioning whether you've actually heard most of these CDs, or if you're just going by where you've seen them advertised.

Anyways, like I said, it doesn't really matter to me what label my music falls under, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.

Compared to what I listen to, it's not diverse.  That's basically what I was getting it but didn't clarify.  Alot of that falls under the larger umbrella of rock, pop, and experimental.  In my eyes, that's not really diverse considering how vast the realm of music is today.

[murlough23]

Compared to what I listen to, it's not diverse.  That's basically what I was getting it but didn't clarify.  Alot of that falls under the larger umbrella of rock, pop, and experimental.  In my eyes, that's not really diverse considering how vast the realm of music is today.

There was that recording of Sumatran field worker chants that I had been meaning to get around to, but you know, there's never enough time to do everything.

[danny316]

There was that recording of Sumatran field worker chants that I had been meaning to get around to, but you know, there's never enough time to do everything.

That's what NPR is for.

...and the field worker chants weren't all that good, if you ask me.

NP: Artie Shaw - The Skeleton in the Closet

[murlough23]

That's what NPR is for.

...and the field worker chants weren't all that good, if you ask me.

Yeah, but I have too many good CDs in my collection. I need to diversify.

[danny316]

Yeah, but I have too many good CDs in my collection. I need to diversify.

Heh, I only diversify with good stuff.

...to be honest, I've been really surprised with how much free stuff is on the Internet Archive. I'm working my way through a treasure trove of 1930s recordings of Artie Shaw right now. For big band jazz, it's very surprising and innovative, even to modern ears. I've gotten some good ragtime and bluegrass there too, some classic Gershwin, and of course, there's that Live Music Archive for the recent bands too.

In retrospect though, I'm glad we got over most of the racist stuff. Collins and Harlan's "Coon song" recordings are just in bad taste, if you ask me.

Oh, and all the great old classical stuff is public domain now too. Quite a few universities are recording the classics and just giving them away as mp3s these days.

...of course, my physical CD collection isn't made any more diverse by this, but once I know what artists to look for I can spot stuff used...

[murlough23]

In retrospect though, I'm glad we got over most of the racist stuff. Collins and Harlan's "Coon song" recordings are just in bad taste, if you ask me.

Yeah, now we just listen to recordings of Black people calling themselves the n-word. Progress!

Oh, and all the great old classical stuff is public domain now too. Quite a few universities are recording the classics and just giving them away as mp3s these days.

What's the rule on when something becomes public domain - 75 years or so?

[danny316]

What's the rule on when something becomes public domain - 75 years or so?

Some stuff is released into the public domain by the estates of the people who originally owned it, but the general rule is stuff from before 1928 is in the public domain. It will be that way as long as Disney can afford lobbyists, since they just step in every so many years and make sure that Mickey Mouse won't even enter the public domain (that just sounds like the joke answer - but that's really how it works).

...of course, there are always a few jokers out there who will try to sue people for using public domain materials in a completely legal way, so you have to be able to afford lawyers if you re-use anything to make/sell something else, but generally you're safe if it's from before 1928.