Monday, December 31, 2007

2007: Music

Sixteen years of musical fanaticism and (shamefully, I suppose), since making the modest shift from angst to melancholy, from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Dinosaur Jr. and Luna in 1994 or so, I can't really say that my tastes have evolved all that much. When I flip through my year's purchases and play lists, it's still very much indie rock. And I get deeper in to Dylan. Ah, well. Here's 2007 for you, recommended, in all its glory:

Albums Released in 2007:
Fort Nightly, White Rabbits
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman
Person Pitch, Panda Bear
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Of Montreal
Challengers, New Pornographers
Friend Opportunity, Deerhoof
Boxer, The National
23, Blonde Redhead
Asa Breed, Matthew Dear
The Shaky Hands, The Shaky Hands
Live At Massey Hall, 1971, Neil Young
Let's Stay Friends, Les Savy Fav
Mirrored, Battles
Weirdo Rippers, No Age
Woke on a Whaleheart, Bill Callahan

Albums Discovered/Re-Discovered in 2007:
The Greatest, Cat Power
New Morning, Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan
Dongs of Sevotion, Smog
Ce, Caetano Veloso
Writer's Block, Peter, Bjorn & John
Absolutely the Best, Ike & Tina Turner
The Remains, The Remains
The dBs, Stands for deciBels
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Arctic Monkeys

Notable Songs:
If I were with it, a music critic, this list would be littered with hip-hop and country songs, M.I.A. and Gypsy-influenced emo. Sadly, I'm not. I still buy CDs, don't listen to the radio, and don't hear many singles. So you'll get mostly more indie rock. Sorry:

"Senor," Willie Nelson & Calexico
"Goin' to Acapulco," Jim James & Calexico
"I've Been Out Walking," Nina Nastasia & Jim White
"Myriad Harbor" and "Failsafe," The New Pornographers
"The Underdog" and "Rhythm & Soul," Spoon
"Pots & Pans" and "Brace Yourself," Les Savy Fav
"A Postcard to Nina," Jens Lekman
"No Cars Go," Arcade Fire
"Weird Fishes / Arpeggi," Radiohead
"Sycamore," Bill Callahan
"Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider," Of Montreal
"Up Against The Wall," Peter Bjorn & John
"Bros," Panda Bear
"Tourist Trap," White Rabbits

Lessons learned? I'm a sucker for kick drums and horns...

If you want to know what the cool kids like (some of which I like, some of which I'm not as smitten by), here are the year end comps from Pitchfork, Stylus, Slate, and AllMusic.com.

5 comments:

rone said...

Released in 2007:
Kristin Hersh, Learn to Sing Like a Star
Kristin Hersh, In Shock (single)
The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
The McCarricks, [untitled] (EP)
The Polyphonic Spree, The Fragile Army
EveryLasThing, Burning Garden (EP)
Battles, Mirrored
Annie Lennox, Songs of Mass Destruction

Re/Discovered in 2007:
Battles, EP C/B EP
Burden Brothers, Mercy
Gustavo Cerati, Ahí Vamos
The Polyphonic Spree, Wait
Wolfmother, [untitled]
Los Toreros Muertos, 30 Años de Éxitos
Cirque du Soleil, O
Rodrigo y Gabriela, [untitled]
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Re-Foc
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Live Manchester and Dublin
The Arcade Fire, Arcade Fire
Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

rone said...

Also, that Boredoms video was fuckin' cool.

Professor Atish said...

Thanks for the recommendations, Ron. Happy New Year!

eno said...

Nice list, dude, agree with a lot of it, searching now for the rest of it.

Where are those Calexico collabos? Can't find them online, and WANT them.

Glad to see Battles made your list. That concert was one of my favorite of the year. Too bad you didn't make it, we need to hang out soon, maybe after I get hitched, cause life is HECTIC right now.

Professor Atish said...

The Calexico songs are from the I'm Not There soundtrack (they are both Dylan covers). Thanks for checking in Eno, I can only imagine how hectic things are. Apologies again that I can't make it down to Mexico for the ceremony, but I'm sure it will be incredible.