Starting to make my top album lists, going backwards. Here's 2007.
25. HEALTH by HEALTH
Much like an album later on this list, I heard the new one before.... I do appreciate their electronic efforts more.
However, this is a good, little album.
24. Untrue by Burial
This album is very good. *whispers* I think it's overrated though.
Obviously
Archangel is the highlight.
23. Spirit If... by Kevin Drew
Okay. First, let's just acknowledge my love for the artwork. Okay... done.
I am in agreement with the majority's opinion that say this is just weaker
Broken Social Scene. It very well could be a
Broken Social Scene album, but I assure you that they only presented Mr. Drew.
The album is great, nonetheless, and could hold a spot on the list for
Backed Out On The... alone. Wow.
22. The Reminder by Feist
Oh, how cute! They're right next to each other!
I can't say I know for sure what she's trying to remind us about, but I recognise that she did very well. Very well.
The singles are what do it for me.
My Moon My Man, for example, is utterly listenable. Of course, of course, of course...
1234. There's a reason that song is so popular.
21. Weirdo Rippers by No Age
Heard it after I heard
Nouns, so with an album like that there's definitely room for some disappointment, but not much.
Loves it.
20. Wild Mountain Nation by Blitzen Trapper
It seems like an album like this has every reason to provoke the word "Blah", but it doesn't. A very, very nice little surprise.
Short, simple, very listenable songs.
19. Boxer by The National
I'm not feeling this album as much as I did on the first few listens and certainly not as much as I did when I saw them outperform
Modest Mouse when they opened for them with
The Breeders.
Regardless, this album is truly great and definitely holds its spot on this list well.
18. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
First listen did, more or less, nothing for me. However, on the second listen, I warmed up to it. By the third, I realised how great it was and how fucking INCREDIBLE
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb is. Wowsville!
17. Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire
Okay... I don't know how to truly feel about this album. My opinion will always be changing. My first listen was (biased) that I fucking HATED it. Then my second and few subsequent listens were that I loved it.
Now, I'm somewhere in between... I think I'd have to separate the songs.
Anyway, I believe that
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations and
The Well and the Lighthouse should be mentioned, since they never are and I believe them to be truly great songs.
Also,
Neon Bible, the title track obviously, should be mentioned. A 0/10 song. I'm serious. Ugh. How can I love an album with a title track this bad?
Well, I'll tell you how. The final two tracks. HOLY FUCK. A significantly better remake of one of their bests,
No Cars Go, and the absolute tearjerker
My Body Is a Cage. Two perfect songs that, more or less, make up for the things I don't like about this record.
16. Cryptograms by Deerhunter
Okay. The artwork needs to be applauded here as well. As well as the album. An amazing ambient album. Enough said.
15. Cross by Justice
I'm a little uncomfortable putting it this high. I have some issues with
Justice: primarily the song
Valentine and the fact that they're swishing around the House music sperm of
Daft Punk.
Putting those issues aside, this album is pretty fucking awesome. Even though some of the songs are almost exactly the same too... at least they're really good songs. I even liked the inclusion of
Uffie in
Tthhee Ppaarrttyy.
Of course, what truly makes
Cross such a good album:
DVNO and
D.A.N.C.E.. Perfect tracks. Yep, yep.
14. From Here We Go Sublime by The Field
An excellent and subtle album.
A lot has been said about it. I'm not passionate enough about the album to try and one-up anyone else.
Cool title though. Lame artwork.
A Paw in My Face is soooooooo good.
13. New Moon by Elliott Smith
I don't really wish to go to in depth with this one. I hesitated including it at all.
However, in my opinion,
Either/Or and
Elliott Smith were his two best. I have yet to come across a Smith song that I didn't like. This is an astonishing collection of songs and I am thankful they were released at all.
12. The Flying Club Cup by Beirut
I originally believed
Gulag Orkestar was the better of the two... but upon repeated listens, I recognise this is the better of the two.
It's just wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Nantes remains the stand-out, but that does not mean the remainder of the album disappoints. Nope.
11. The Stage Names by Okkervil River
From the opener
Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe to the closer
John Allin Smith Sails, this album is solid. Just barely misses the top 10.
Bravo.
10. Ys Street Band Ep by Joanna Newsom
After
The Milk-Eyed Mender, easily one of the best debut albums seen this decade, expectations were impossibly high. Then Joanna releases
Ys, the album of the decade. Expectations, clearly, need to be lowered for this latest one. They almost don't really need to be.
Colleen, the only new song on this fantastic EP, is just brilliant. Musically and lyrically. (Maybe not even so much lyrically, the chorus is a single yelp that just makes the song.) Just brilliant and easiy one of the top tracks from 2007.
We're then faced with two new arrangements.
The Milk-Eyed Mender's
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie and
Ys's
Cosmia, which here times in at over 13 minutes and truly shows the talent of Joanna's Ys Street Band.
We're reminded of how fucking groundbreaking her previous work is with those two. With
Colleen, we see just how amazing her future work will undoubtedly be. A direction that will certainly be welcomed by me.
9. Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem
Yes, this album deserves to be this high. Enough has been said about it that I can't really add any insightful opinions or statements.
Through and through, it's awesome.
Someone Great, the title already says it and
All My Friends is a fucking masterpiece.
8. Mirrored by Battles
This album will be the example of what all future math rock will look up and aspire to.
Race: In through
Race: Out,
Mirrored is fucking bitchin'.
Atlas. Pretty much like an 11/10 song. Eventually, it gets to a point where it is way too fucking good. (At about 4:56) Yes, too fucking good, but I certainly can deal.
7. In Rainbows by Radiohead
Of course.
6. Kala by M.I.A.
She's really getting the best of both worlds, as
Hannah Montana might say. Major respect from the indie community and
Paper Planes now being raped pervasively on the radio. (Admittedly, one of the best tracks of 2007)
Totally surpassed
Arular, if you ask me.
Kala opens incredibly with
Bamboo Banga (likely my favourite from the album), Arulpragasam chants,
"M.I.A. coming back with power (power!)" She certainly has.
The only song, and I think many will agree, that doesn't do for me on this record is
The Turn. Other than that, holy fuck.
5. Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman
Jens, if I wasn't already married to someone else on this list... well, you can guess what I'd ask you.
This record NEVER falls flat. Jens has done something truly special with this one. Plenty to go around here. Sound like it could have came out of several different decades... I can't even properly express my love for this.
His lyrics, his voice, his everything... just wait for the imitators.
4. Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective
Where do I begin on this one? I suppose I could start from the beginning:
Peacebone is a fucking party.
A marvelous nine-song record where one of my favourite bands have now proven they can now produce meaningful lyrics.
Fireworks is one of the greatest songs from this decade. Crier... just flawless.
Avey Tare rules this album, singing most of the songs. However, Noah Lennox does grace the album wonderfully. Three
Panda Bear-sung songs: the chaotic
Chores, a pop gem, "experimental"
#1, and
Person Pitch-esque closer
Derek.
This album... this album...
3. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by of Montreal
Kevin Barnes is pure sex.
The album that raped my top tracks list and with good reason.
Full-on opener
Suffer for Fashion, to what may be the catchiest song of the year
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse, closely followed by
Gronlandic Edit, the 12-minute masterful centrepiece
The Past is a Grotesque Animal, to the underrated and undermentioned (possibly my favourite too)
Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider, the sing-a-long
She's a Rejector, and then the excellent closer
We Were Born the Mutants Again With Leafling.
Even the songs in between. This album is so fucking good. So fucking good.
Endlessly listenable. The first weekend owning it, I probably listened to it 16 times.
So fucking good.
2. The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf
Well, what did you expect? Most visit me here on last.fm to congratulate Patrick and my marriage.
I would argue that this is the most cohesive album on the list. From the track order, to the transitions... it's perfectly executed. With its
Overture, an athem to himself that perfectly opens the album, we move into the title track. From there we have boarded a magical carousel of wonderment and musical bliss, then centre-piecing with darker moments, from
The Bluebell to
Augustine. However,
Secret Garden then transitions into
Get Lost, a perfect indie pop song that rivals the title track.
The album has two more songs:
Enchanted, an adorable 2-minute piano ballad, and
The Stars. Then the album finishes with a
Finale.
Fuck, this year was amazing.
1. Person Pitch by Panda Bear
Jesus fuck. It's number one for a reason. As much as I would have loved to give my husband the number one album spot for the third time, he will sit at #2 and marvel at the masterpiece that is
Person Pitch.
As uncomfortable as I may be doing this, Noah Lennox also boasts my #1 track of the year with
Bro's: a GORGEOUS, stunning 12+ minute mind-blowing orgasm for the ears. However, the album includes six more that are just perfect. From the iconic opener
Comfy in Nautica, that sets up for brilliance, to the closer
Ponytail, a more subtle part of the album that allows us to reflect on how fucking amazing the album was.
Although searching for delicious on this album is certainly not difficult at all, searching for flaws is down right impossible.
Daft Punk
2. The National - Alligator (74) 
