Wednesday, January 02, 2008

2007 - What Got My Brain Buzzin'

What a GREAT year for new music! One of the strongest in recent memory, to these ears. I'm excited, too, by the fact so many of my favorite genres to trawl are consistently being replenished by new bands bringing their own unique take on the sounds. 2007 saw a return to form for some I've enjoyed in the past such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club & the Warlocks; also a change in direction for others like Oyvind Holm forming Deleted Waveform Gatherings; members of defunct bands came back with newfound directions, i.e., Cotton Mather expatriates in Future Clouds & Radar and Stockton;some just had so much time on their hands, aside from normal band duties, to make their own album, like Dungen's Mattias Gustavsson & his Life On Earth project;gods bless 'em all!
So, here's my rundown:



The Top 30, Nos. 11-30
(in alphabetical order)

30. the Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
29. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
28. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
27. Dr. Dog - We All Belong
26. Dreadful Yawns - Rest
25. Dungen - Tio Bitar
24. the Fast Camels - The Magic Optician
23. Grails - Burning Off Impurities
22. Grand Atlantic - This Is
21. Great Lakes - Diamond Times
20. Ideal Free Distribution - ST
19. Life On Earth - Look! There's Life On Earth
18. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
17. Pepe Deluxe - Spare Time Machine
16. Stockton - Euphonics
15. Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus
14. The Thanes - A Night In Great King Street
13. Three 4 Tens - Down The Way
12. the Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
11. When - Trippy Happy Jester

...and now,The Top Ten of 2007 as heard by valis

(again alphabetically)

The Bishops - ST
What an absolute ROMP! Bring more!
The Bishops - The Bishops

The December Sound ST (a/k/a "The Silver Album")
Just listen to "Drone Refusenik" and tell me you can't hear the howling wind across the steppes! A bright future ahead as they've digested their influences and spit out originality. In spades.
The December Sound - Silver Album

The Go - Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride
The mighty sr-71 said the following and I can't think of a better way to put it:
" I am listening to the delicious sounds of The Go (either that or Gene Clark cut an album with '67 era Kinks and decided it would be a canny marketing move to shelve it for 40 years before releasing it) - sure works for me, anyway......
The Go - Howl on the Haunted Beat You Ride

the Pillbugs - Buzz For Aldrin
Mark Mikel & Co. come up with *another* double-disc delight for all of us clamoring for the true wafer. They deserve LOVE!
The Pillbugs - Buzz for Aldrin

The Redwalls - ST
They just kick ass. Like Noel & Liam-type ass. I'm all for the kickin' of Oasis' ass.
The Redwalls - The Redwalls

Rockfour - Memories Of The Never Happened
Easily their most fully-realized full length album. A band at their peak."Goes Around" will be an earworm for years.
Rockfour - Memories of the Never Happened


The Sun Blindness - Like Pearly Clouds
A ride to the outer belts...
The Sun Blindness - Like Pearly Clouds


David Vandervelde - The Moon Station House Band
Channeling Ziggy-era Bowie and Marc Bolan, too. The title couldn't be more apt.
David Vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band

Voxtrot - ST
This one seems to be dropping off-radar for quite a few Year-end Best Of's I'm seeing and I've no idea why, other than as I'd pointed out from the start-it was a VERY GOOD YEAR.This should be among them. After strong EP releases they make a tremendous album full of what got everyone's attention in the first place.
Voxtrot - Voxtrot


Yeasayers - All Hour Cymbals
Caught up with this late and that might've given 'em the push into the Top Ten. Stylistically all over the place and a lotta' headphone FUN! (!!!)"Wait For The Summer", "Forgiveness", and "2080" leap...
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

That's my take on the year that was. -valis

5 comments:

lo-fi jr. said...

I gave up keeping track after finding that I wasn't discovering the best releases until the following year (or beyond). Still, lists like this make me think 2007 was a pretty good year for new music. Just wanna say I thought that Om, Robert Wyatt, Kemialliset Ystavat, Sgt. Sunshine, Wooden Shjips, Shellac, The Ponys and Nick Cave (as Grinderman) were all better than bad as well. Disappointment of the year would be Iggy and the Stooges except for the fact that they put on a kick ass live set.

Anonymous said...

Well, I have by my reckoning about 33% of the albums the made the grade for you Valis and will get my brain a buzzin' checkin' out the rest. Wishing you a 'Tripadelic' '08 mon ami.

Anonymous said...

yikes - i is embarassed to say i'm only familiar w/ 3 of yr top 10, and 2 of those are thx to you (the Go & the Bishops). heard a couple of tracks offa the voxtrot and based on that i'd have to agree with yr take. and i'd be willing to wager that the always reliable pillbugs managed to come up w/ music to match the insanely funny genius of that album title & art. my only complaint is that you've left off me favorite crumb begging bagheads, babyshambles, but i'll see what i can do to rectumfy that in the near future....

Anonymous said...

valis!
thank the pyramid's eye for blogs like this!
the kind words and support mean a lot.
glad yr digging the record and we hope 2008 brings positivity throughout.
best
-z
the december sound

Anonymous said...

wait a minute, just stumbled upon the vandervelde cd - can't imagine how this delicacy slipped by my ears first time around. certainly hear the bolan/bowie vocals, but there is also a unique magic to the vandervelde that makes his moonstation more gbv than ziggy. wow! also, gotta give props to yr solstice mix - along w/ the Green Album it has been on perpetual rotation for the last 24 hours.