The Post-Rockist Picks of 2007: Day 1 (Lists from Dan and Andrew)

Happy Holidays, my babys.

Here’s your gift from us, and it’ll keep on giving for three more days. It’s this year’s Post-Rockist 2007 lists!

Due to the various musical tastes of our various contributors, we daren’t dare give you a commutative list (another reason is that we can’t do the math required). But these lists aren’t about the math, they’re about the music. Sure, some of us fall in line with the Great Arbiters of music taste like Pitchfork and some of us fall in line with the masses and some of us straddle the two and some of us choose the road less traveled, but equally rocked.

Sample tracks will be available for about two weeks. If you’re a record label and want us to take down a song, just let us know. No need to start a fuss.

DAN’S FAVORITE ALBUM’S OF 2007

10. Junior Senior –Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (buy)

Can I Get Get Get
Technically Hey Hey My My Yo Yo was released in Japan and parts of Europe in 2005, but didn’t make it to the U.S. until this year, but the good news is that is was totally worth the wait! Jesper and Jeppe are back having just as much fun as they ever did, but this time out adding another dimension to their sound. Moving away from the raw garage-disco attack of their debut album, D-D-Don’t Stop The Beat, Junior Senior focus more on melody, pop hooks and glossy production, while still maintaining their positive and playful rhymes about boys and girls.

9. Bruce Springsteen –Magic (buy)

Girls in their Summer Clothes
Bruce Springsteen finally allowed himself to return to the classic E Street Band sound on Magic, but instead of simply repeating old tricks, he brings their sound into the 21st century with great relevance. In 2002, Bruce reunited the E Street Band for the underrated gospel album, The Rising, but that album didn’t sound much like what fans were hoping for after decades of waiting for a reunion record. With Magic they’ll have nothing to complain about since it is chock full of classic Bruce material including hook-filled riff rockers, summertime nostalgia, songs of darkness and despair, and hopeful truth-seeking anthems that define the state America is in.

8. Feist –The Reminder (buy)

I Feel It All
It’s a shame that so many indie kids are going to be all over Feist since The Reminder brought her an unexpected mainstream acceptance, but too bad for them. This is an album that is impossible not to like with its sense of adventure as she moves from folk to indie rock to pop to jazz, proving that there’s nothing Leslie Feist isn’t willing to try. With every track achieving a different tone while somehow keeping a consistent mood over the course of the entire album, The Reminder is an incredibly satisfying listening experience and proves that Feist is going to be around for a long time.

7. Radiohead –In Rainbows (buy)

Reckoner
In what turned out to be the biggest music news story of the year, Radiohead shocked the world by announcing they would be releasing their new album online in one week and that people could choose how much they wanted to pay for it. Throughout their whole career Radiohead has been taking risks and shaking up the music industry, but this move came at a time when a perspective this radical was needed to get people thinking about the value of music. The only thing that could get in the way of this bold of a statement was if the music wasn’t as good as their previous work, but with In Rainbows, Radiohead came through and made an album that shows the band pushing ahead and try[aiing new things, while maintaining their gifts for melody, emotion, and rich sonic textures. In Rainbows is a much subtler album than they’ve made in the past and it takes a bit longer to digest, but it makes for one of the most rewarding things they’ve ever done.

6. Jay-Z –American Ganster (buy)

Roc Boys (And the Winner is!)
After disappointing fans and critics with last year’s comeback album, Kingdom Come, Jay-Z marks his return to form with a classic that plays like the third in a trilogy along with Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint. Even though Hov is revisiting material that he’s been covering his whole career, this time around he sounds totally inspired, breathing fresh insight and creativity into the rise and fall story of a gangster. On American Gangster Jigga does what he does best, brilliantly rhyming in his unwritten stream of consciousness style, proving he’s just as on top of his game as he ever was.

5. LCD Soundsystem –Sound of Silver (buy)

All My Friends
James Murphy has a reputation of crafting irresistible beats that are impossible not to dance to, but with Sound of Silver, he reaches surprisingly emotional depths while retaining his trademark charm and playfulness. Songs like the reflective “Someone Great” and the anthemic “All My Friends” prove that James Murphy has a lot more heart to him than anybody would have guessed. On Sound of Silver he reinvents himself as the indie rock generation’s version of a David Byrne or David Bowie figure that can have the best time possible while crafting some of the most moving music around, music that will come to define his era.

4. M.I.A. –Kala (buy)

Paper Planes
M.I.A. could have followed up her breakthrough debut album Arular by going for a more mainstream approach, but luckily she went in the opposite direction and expanded her sound by combining disparate influences from all over the world. On Kala she somehow manages to sample The Clash and Bollywood soundtracks, reference Jonathan Richman and Black Francis, tell childlike stories and predict the apocalypse all while remaining consistent in her vision. All of these combined elements make Kala one of the most interesting albums of the year, which is a testament to M.I.A.’s boldness and her ability to say exactly what’s on her mind no matter how complicated it might be.

3. The National –Boxer (buy)

Fake Empire
No other album this year cast a spell and created its own world quite as well as The National’s Boxer. With a consistent, yet diverse melancholy-filled post-punk sound, accentuated by Matt Berninger’s baritone croon, The National managed to create a uniquely subtle album that reveals more upon each listen. Fans of both Leonard Cohen and U2 can find something to love about Boxer and the way it will put you in a darkly romantic mood that somehow feels exactly right.

2. Kanye West –Graduation (buy)

Everything I Am
Graduation may not be as epic or classic sounding as Kanye’s other two records, but it’s a step in the right direction. By cutting the skits, limiting the guest spots, tightening up each track and focusing heavily on his rhyming and production work, Kanye has honed his craft in a way that puts him in a whole other league than everyone else. There is no one in music today working as hard to be the Michael Jackson of his generation, someone who can be both artistically and commercially viable, while mixing genres and creating a whole new type of music that all kinds of people can’t help but love.

1. Arcade Fire –Neon Bible (buy)

(Antichrist Television Blues)
In 2007 Arcade Fire proved that their critically acclaimed and universally loved debut album, Funeral, was no fluke. This is a gigantic band, both is size and in sound, that has a singular vision and is unafraid of making bold statements with their music in a time when people aren’t supposed to feel things this intensely. With Neon Bible, Arcade Fire made a classic record that is both heartbreaking and inspiring that stays focused on the theme of setting your spirit free in a world that seems to be falling apart.

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ANDREW’S “A LIST OF SOME NEW RECORDS THAT REALLY IMPRESSED ME THIS YEAR”

Baby Teeth, The Simp (buy)

The Simp
Before I heard this album, I read or heard something about how it’s going to be more “serious” than their first album, and I got worried. Baby Teeth’s 2005 debut was sort of throwbackish as it channeled Elton John, chock full of ’70s pop sensibilities and undeniable fun. The retro feel was supplemented with jokey lyrics about big trucks and velvet sweet melons, and imagining the same sound with introspective lyrics really didn’t work in my mind. But then this came out, and I realized how much I’d underestimated this band’s true talents. I’d considered frontman and primary songwriter Abraham Levitan (f.k.a. “Pearly Sweets”) an entertaining curiosity who could write some catchy melodies, but this album proves that he is actually a powerful songwriter and lyricist, and the rest of Baby Teeth provide a solid backbone throughout. The songs have more variety this time around, from the awkward stomp of the title track to the pretty blips of “God Girlfriend” and the soaring soulpower of closer “Wolves,” and the more personal lyrics sound like a genuine talent shedding his sarcastic skin and coming clean with the audience for the first time.

Behold… The Arctopus – Skullgrid (buy)

Canada
Skullgrid is the first real full-length by this spastic instrumental prog-metal trio after a few impressive EPs and their mission has become quite clear – play as many notes as possible and arrange them into sometimes identifiable “riffs,” take a break for some spacey guitar lines, then go back and repeat step one again. Sometimes, instead of repeating that part, have Mike Lerner do the spacey guitar stuff while Colin Marston pounds away on his weird tapped bass/guitar hybrid and Charlie Zeleny hits as many drums as possible in uncomfortable and odd patterns. Then the drums can take a break while the two other guys play parts that sound like R2D2 having a nervous breakdown, then the drums will come back in and they’ll play another metal riff, then of course there will be a syncopated pattern in a time signature that no one without advanced musical training can actually pin down. All this stuff is pumped into a fairly concise album, and the result is a dizzying robot war of a record that you need to hear to believe.

Big Business – Here Come The Waterworks (buy)

Hands Up
Noise-rock duo Big Business have always sort of sounded like the Melvins’ little brothers, with bottom-heavy grooves and gruff vocals based in solid melodies. The long-running Melvins are more experimental and weirder than Big Business, and even when their experiments worked, their best records were uneven and difficult. The Melvins’ 2006 album (A) Senile Animal toned down the weirdness and focused on melodies and rockitude and was one of my favorite albums of last year. Why the change? Well, for the writing and recording of that album, they invited both members of Big Business to join their band. And now Big Business is making their own new record, and the heavy majesty they injected into that Melvins record is distilled to its essence here. The songs are undeniably heavy, but I think if they were played more cleanly and sung more traditionally, they’d be really pretty. Yeah. They’d lose their oomph, though, and the oomph is awesome. You forget about the prettiness when bassist and vocalist Jared Warren yells, “Stampede!” as the song “Hands Up” comes barreling out of the gate, but it’s the balance between those two elements that makes this record memorable.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – In Glorious Times (buy)

Helpless Corpses Enactment
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum has been trying to make a record as amazing as their live show since they formed. They are, without a doubt, one of the finest live acts I’ve ever seen, with the home-made instruments and make-up and humor and loudness and meticulous performances of complicated instrumental parts and horrifying haircuts. And even though their songs are faithfully recreated on their studio albums, the collections of songs can seem unfocused and don’t burst at the seams with the energy and theatricality of the live performances. Even though I don’t think In Glorious Times has quite reached the righteousness of the live show, and though it’s not as thematically focused as their last album Of Natural History, the songs work better this time around and the band seems to be going in the right direction. I’m not sure if this is actually one of my favorite albums of the year, but if someone is intrigued by this brief write-up and goes to see them when they come through town, then my inclusion of their album will have served its purpose. Seriously.

Canned Hamm – Sincerely Christmas (buy)

Mistletoe Forever

Please review the following facts about this album:

* Canned Hamm is a Canadian duo named Big Hamm and Lil’ Hamm, who play Casio-pop novelty music, and this is their new album of original Christmas songs.
* They can’t sing very well and their jokes sometimes don’t make much sense.
* They have songs about making snow angels, overeating, office Christmas parties, getting drunk on eggnog, and cleaning up wrapping paper.
* One song features a freestyle rap by Little Baby Jesus, coming “straight outta Bethlehem.”

The whole thing is totally absurd and silly, but just like their previous two albums (the bubblegum pop and unfunky funk of Karazma! and the disco of Erotic Thriller) the songs are often uproariously funny and also, um, good. If anything in this brief paragraph has sounded remotely funny or appealing to you, then you will probably love this album.

The following albums are wonderful, too, but I decided to highlight some that won’t be on many other lists:
The Fiery Furnaces, Widow City
PJ Harvey, White Chalk
Malignancy, Inhuman Grotesqueries
Maximo Park, Our Earthly Pleasures
Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Tomahawk, Anonymous
Ween, La Cucaracha

STAY TUNED TOMORROW FOR MORE LISTS OF MUSIC AND WRITING ABOUT THOSE LISTS….