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Catch up on the first two installments of our countdown here and here.
The Top 20 Albums of 2007
Part Three: Every Step Is Moving Me Up
“This Is How We Walk On the Moon” – Arthur Russell (mp3)
by Danish Aziz & Alex Carnevale & Will Hubbard
10. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, 100 Days 100 Nights
The most fun you can have without laughing, Sharon was born the same year as my parents, but has a much better voice than either of them. Still, 100 Days 100 Nights sounds like a record from before even Sharon was born.
Read more about Sharon here.
Jones’ backing band was hired to play with one of the top Billboard artists of the year:
“[Industry executives] always told me I didn’t have the look, you know?” Jones sighed. “They told me I was too dark-skinned, too short, you know, too fat. And then once I got past 25, they told me I was too old. So when I was left out of [Amy Winehouse's album], I thought, ‘That’s OK.’ But it was good — wasn’t weird, it was great. The Dap-Kings were doing some stuff; it’s great that there’s demand for them. But I was still thinking, ‘Get your own band!’ ”
What sets this particular album apart?
“Something’s Changed” – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (mp3)
Has blues horns, blues guitar, blues voice, why does it feel so good?
“I’m Not Gonna Cry” – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (mp3)
One funky guitar line later, you don’t even remember what crying is.
“100 Days, 100 Nights” – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (mp3)
The call-response section vaults this one up to classic status. It’s really rare that you could dance to a song and have some kind of relations during it as well. This is the bridge SJ and the Dap-Kings have crossed.
- A.C.
“Let Them Knock” – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (mp3)
“Nobody’s Baby” – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (mp3)
9. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha
When I was just a litle boy I threw away all of my action toys while I became obsessed with apparitions…
You’ve been playing with innovative musician Martin Dosh lately – how has he pushed your musical boundaries?
Andrew: We’ve only just started touring together and we’re really starting to challenge each other to mix it up every night and try new things. Right now it’s at a very cool stage of collaboration. He does similar things to what I do like looping where he makes his own drums and kind of mixes himself onstage and does a sort of collage.
“Self-Torture” – Andrew Bird (mp3)
“Heretics” – Andrew Bird (mp3)
A lot of [my] songs have a big leap, like there’s two strains going on. In this case, it’s my current state of mind, and then the mind completely wanders to a whole different universe, and I see how one might have something to say about the other. I was imagining this real-estate agent out on the Russian steppes. “Offering views of exiting empires, such breathtaking views of Scythian empires.” I’ve always been fascinated by these obscure corners of history. I sit there and look at maps of the ancient world, where there’s so many of these fantastical names, tribes that you know nothing about. The Visigoths, the Gauls. And of course, the Huns. And they’re always at the edges of the empires—they’re shown as an arrow piercing into this empire. When I was in eighth grade, I got particularly fascinated by the Scythian empire, because they were a little bit lesser-known. And that became my thing. My identity in eighth grade was connected to the Scythians. So I resurrected them through this song.
Music prodigy Andrew Bird keeps hope alive for popular prodigies like Molly Lambert, Margot Tenenbaum, and Deep Blue. Unlike most anal studio musicians, Bird excels in the live setting. He has a flair for the dramatic, whether it be the elaborate Badalamenti-style intro to “Self-Torture” or the jarring, wild opening to “Dark Matter.” Even found sound is heard in the aural wilderness of Bird’s brave new world. On “Yawny at the Apocalypse”, the langorous, lush instrumental close to Armchair Apocrypha, Bird has settled down into an orgasm that belies any notion of age of genre, relying completely on beauty to make meaning. It’s an astonishing balancing act for one of the most exciting young musicians of this period.
- A.C.
8. Menomena, Friend and Foe
Menomena are yet another band hailing from the PDX on our list, and they make me feel bad for dissing the Rose City’s economy. If Portland is the all-white Brooklyn of the left coast, then Menomena are our TV on the Radio. Weird but still pop, they take the stranger territory charted out by more avant garde bands and turn it into an impressive, intricate, and “accessible” sophomore effort. The album and band’s signature sound is best exemplified by “Wet and Rusting.” Sudden drops and builds combine with driving rhythms, sullen pianos, synth surges, bells, and acoustic guitar to produce a song drenched in the rainy energy of their hometown.
- D.A.
“Air Aid” – Menomena (mp3)
“Muscle’n Flo” – Menomena (mp3)
“Rotten Hell” – Menomena (mp3)
Buy Friend and Foe here.
27 albums you shouldn’t miss this year.
7. Magik Markers, Boss
Interviewed this year by the Village Voice, Magik Markers singer Elisa Ambrogio asked, “When you look at most of the vapid, soulless douches currently writing songs and making records, do you not think with even the slightest effort you could do better?” Our sentiments exactly.
my darling elisa
“Taste” – Magik Markers (mp3)
“Bad Dream/Hartford’s Beat Suite” – Magik Markers (mp3)
I saw the Markers twice in 2007, and neither time were they very intriguing—they were characteristically loud, neurotic, and sloppy, yes, but somehow managed to look a trifle bored by their noisy, shoot-em-up, flopping-on-the-ground antics of yore. Their newest LP, Boss, another lyrical triumph for Ambrogio, finds the band in more overtly melodic territory than usual; in fact, the delicate piano ballad “Empty Bottles” may be the album’s best track. Does it make me a vapid douche that I never thought I’d listen to a Markers song before going to bed?
- W. H.
Magik Markers wiki
Their label, Ecstatic Piece, official site
Bradley’s Almanac best of 2007.
6. Timbaland, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value
The album I listened to most this year, Shock Value is full of fun hooks that could be singles, from the biggest singles maker of his generation. The collaboration with Elton John on the piano and the remix of Nina Simone’s Sinnerman (“Oh Timbaland”) alone justify purchasing this one.
At the center of these songs is partying woman who thrills Timbaland but causes him a lot of grief, a meme I am sure most of you can understand.
i got a feeling she keeps me in the dark
This is what Frank Sinatra’s Duets could have been, this is Beethoven doing Duets. I hope Timbaland sticks to his own material for a little while, as his career as a solo artist has provided me with the most entertaining moments of the year. The I’m dating-a-whore story of his collaboration with She Wants Revenge, “Time,” the interplay with Sir Elton John on “Two Man Show,” the exhilaration of Timbaland’s songwriting for the freaking Hives…I mean, this guy could start a dance party in a bookstore.
- A.C.
Timbaland myspace
“Oh Timbaland” – Timbaland (mp3)
“Come Around” – Timbaland feat. MIA (mp3)
“Release” – Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake (mp3)
Danish Aziz is the senior contributor to This Recording. Will Hubbard is the senior contributor to This Recording. Alex Carnevale is the editor of This Recording.
Untitled Records’ best of the year.
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING
Books you need to read but probably won’t.
Molly is all over dubious boy band practices. She is the Upton Sinclair of this subject matter.
I can’t quit you either Molly.
Get ready for the final edition of our countdown:
can anyone read can anyone feel that i’m losing my patience I just came here to vent?
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