The best music of 2007 ““ so far
By David Greenwald
May 29, 2007 9:03 p.m.
It’s that time again.
Time to sell back your textbooks and head down to the record store (or the iTunes store, if that’s more your style) to pick up a nice stack of albums to last you through the summer. With new music pretty much on vacation until July 11, when Interpol, Justice and Spoon drop LPs like bombs in Afghanistan, it’s also the perfect time to look back on the best albums of the year thus far.
It bears mentioning that I’ve been listening to mostly sad folk music lately, but that’s probably because Clipse put out a five-star rap album in November and everything since just pales in comparison. However, I have high hopes for Kanye West’s “Graduation,” being that I too, am graduating. Eventually.
10. Bright Eyes, “Cassadaga”
After the genre goofing of the last two albums, “Cassadaga” eschews experimentation for Americana, with songwriting chops and a freewheelin’ approach to performance that ““ after years of critics crying wolf ““ actually recalls Bob Dylan.
9. The Broken West, “I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On”
A better set of gritty, Big Star-aping Los Angeles power pop will not be heard this year.
8. The Clientele, “God Save the Clientele”
Recording with Lambchop’s Mark Nevers seems to have done the band good, giving their skeletal electric guitar songs some real soul. There’s nothing here as stunning as “Since K Got Over Me,” the best song of 2005 and the highlight of their last album, “Strange Geometry,” but the parade of great songs more than makes up for it.
7. Of Montreal, “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
Frontman Kevin Barnes can’t keep his feelings (or his private parts) to himself, and at least in the case of this album, that’s a good thing. How can you lose with an electro-pop concept album about depression?
6. The Sea and Cake, “Everybody”
Seeing them in concert only cemented what I already knew: “Everybody” is the jazz-influenced band’s best attempt yet at fusing bossa nova style with rock substance.
5. Andrew Bird, “Armchair Apocrypha”
After the complexities of his breakthrough album, “The Mysterious Production of Eggs,” it’s refreshing to hear Bird embrace the raw power of (relatively) stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll. He’s always been witty, but now he’s witty and has an unstoppable drummer.
4. Loney, Dear, “Loney, Noir”
Loney, Dear is Sub Pop Records’ Swedish answer to America’s Sufjan Stevens. The folk songwriter and home recordist plays almost as many instruments as his American counterpart and is half as gimmicky. Be ready for some pretty whiny vocals, though. Me, I eat that stuff up.
3. Wilco, “Sky Blue Sky”
Unlike its predecessors, “Sky Blue Sky” is not an album that will impress on the first listen. After one spin, in fact, I hated it. But then I stopped looking for the squalls of feedback and static that have characterized the band’s last two records and started listening to Jeff Tweedy’s soft sincerity and the band’s accomplished performances. Sure, it’s a ’70s homage and your parents will love it. That doesn’t mean you won’t, too.
2. The National, “Boxer”
I reviewed this last week, but I’ll reiterate: The New York band has mastered the darkness and resignation of postcollegiate life and filtered it through subtly ambitious arrangements and Springsteen-like anthems. And while you’re at it, pick up 2005’s “The Alligator” ““ it’s even better.
1. Elliott Smith, “New Moon”
Is it surprising that 2007’s best album is a collection of Smith outtakes that the Kill Rock Stars record label has been sitting on for over a decade? Not if you’re a fan of the haunted but staggeringly brilliant singer-songwriter. He’s been called the best of his generation, and whoever said that was, as Smith’s song goes, half right ““ he’s still the best. While many of these songs have been available on bootlegs for years, the inclusion of the never-before-heard “All Cleaned Out” and a heartbreaking early version of “Miss Misery” make this an absolutely essential purchase.
Greenwald’s already penciled in a spot for Spoon in his top five. E-mail him your picks at [email protected].
