Favourite 10 Albums of 2007 (5-1)

5:

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
For any band, the second album is always going to be difficult. For the Arcade Fire, following the amazing Funeral would seem to be an impossible task. However, they did what they do best; converting an abandoned church into rehearsal space and recording studio, experimenting with new techniques and new instruments and slightly refining their sound into something much more mystical and ethereal.
From storming opener "Black Mirror" its clear to see this will never be the "difficult second album" that their British indie contemporaries almost always fall victim to.
Release Date: 05/03/2007
Favourite Track: "My Body Is A Cage"

4:


!!! - Myth Takes
Fresh from supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers on their UK Tour, this almost unpronouncable dance-punk collective released arguably their best album to date. More complete than both their eponymous debut and their sophomore effort, Louden Up Now, the band, despite the tragic death of original drummer Mikel Gius, and the subsequent line-up changes, have matured and perfected their cacophony of sound. Unlike many of their peers, they are also able to back up great recordings with a great live show.
Release Date: 05/03/2007
Favourite Track: Bend Over Beethoven

3:


LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem, the group revolving around DFA Records boss and producer, James Murphy, released something quite special with their dance-punk self-titled debut, and manage what few others do in creating a follow-up: making it even better. Where the debut had gratuitiously overlong tracks, and therefore an album that was difficult to listen to in one sitting, Sound Of Silver has relative nuggets of crossover genius. Lead single "North American Scum", their self-effacing anthem on their home country is easily as good, if not better than the best parts of LCD Soundsystem. And its all better from there on in.
Release Date: 12/03/2007
Favourite Track: All My Friends

2:


Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen & Simon Tong - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Had it not been the inclusion of a certain Radiohead album (see below), then I could not have justified not having this as my number one. The supergroup's album, touted as "the natural successor to Parklife", is much easier to compare with the darker moments of Gorillaz' Demon Days rather than heyday of Britpop. However, the common themes that are apparent do, of course, share Albarn's intelligent and witty observations, and run through the album like a stick of rock. This, and more such projects planned would seem to sadly, reduce any chance of a Blur reunion, but if Damon Albarn can keep making music as good as this, I don't think many would mind.
Release Date: 22/01/2007
Favourite Track: Three Changes

1:


Radiohead - In Rainbows
Although rumours of Radiohead's ungracious departure from former label EMI (it has been recently claimed that they simply wouldn't meet their pay demands) have recently shed some more light on the motives of this album's unique pay-what-you-like release, when it comes down to whats important, Thom Yorke haven't quite shot up their own collective arse just yet. Being Radiohead, of course, it is not instantly comparable to any of their other albums, but instead achieves the great feat of being an almost retrospective appraisal of their previous work, as well as being something brand new and still relevant today. While "Nude" is an older song dating back from the days of OK Computer, and "Jigsaw Falling into Place" is a song newer than my last haircut, they both fit well in an album almost as complete as my personal favourite, Kid A. While I am still not sure where exactly I'd place this amongst the discography, it is nevertheless, regardless of the massive hype surrounding its release, an extraordinary album.
Release Date: 10/10/2007 (Download) 31/12/2007 (CD)
Favourite Track: 15 Step

Nick's Favourite 10 Albums of 2007 (10-6)

10:

UNKLE - War Stories
UNKLE (AKA James Lavelle and friends)'s, third album, with collaborations with The Cult's Ian Astbury, Clayhill's Gavin Clark, Massive Attack's 3D (who also designed the cover art) and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, As well as with bands The Duke Spirit and Autolux, is an absolute stormer. While others are still lamenting the absence of DJ Shadow two albums down from Psyence Fiction, this album is clearly a step towards a live band setting as opposed to the massive amount of sampling used in their previous work. That isn't to say, that Lavelle doesn't use his own extensive studio skills on this album, however. Bringing in the best of both Psyence Fiction and Never, Never Land in an album that's arguably the best of the three.
Release Date: 09/07/2007
Favourite Track: "Keys to the Kingdom"

9:


Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Despite this being their seventh album in ten years, Deerhoof were very new to me personally. Nevertheless this album has lead to a veritable deluge of their music onto my computer. But thats for another time. Although I admit first impressions were not great, and my initial thoughts when listening to opener "The Perfect Me", were some sort of terrible Horrors-esque "gawfic rock", by the end of the song, the insane juxtaposition of the hammer-horror organ and cute-bordering-on-creepy-vocals of Satomi Matsuzaki had me intrigued, to say the least.
This album, featuring artwork by David "Worried Noodles" Shrigley served as a fantastic introduction to a band whose cult status has long been assured thanks to their mixture of pop sensibility alongside pure experimental silliness. Just listen to them now.
Release Date: 23/01/2007
Favourite Track: "Kidz are so small"

8:


Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night
Their sixth, and my favourite since 1997's amazing Dig Your Own Hole, this album features the usual plethora of talent, and, erm, a Salmon. And while the aforementioned "Salmon Dance" is its one bum note, its less awful, more misplaced on an album that more heavily relies on more traditional house rather than hip-hop. The rest of the album ranges from the stomping dancefloor beat of "Do It Again" (feat. Ali Love) that appears a better remnant of the dissapointing Push the Button, to Klaxons-featuring, "All Rights Reversed", to the simple retro stylings of "Battle Scars" featuring Willy Mason.
Release Date: 02/07/2007
Favourite Track: "The Pills Wont Help You Now"

7:

Digitalism - Idealism
In my mind, this is easily the best of the big three Indie-Dance albums released this year. Not as repetitive as Justice, less boring than Simian Mobile Disco, and both dancier and rockier than the two combined. I mean, they've even got a Cure remix on their album ("Digitalism in Cairo" is a re-edit of The Cure's "Fire In Cairo"). With a better live show, and 15 track album compared to Justice's 12 and SMD's 10, they're even better value-for-money. But despite these relative differences, the fundamental still rings true - Idealism is a great album. Even some songs have their own intro songs. What's not to like?
Release Date: 21/05/2007
Favourite Track: "Anything New"

6:


Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Once again, a band who I should have been listening for a while, and almost as soon as first track "Peacebone" begins, its clear that Animal Collective have been a massive, massive oversight on my part, having given up the chance to see them at a festival a few years ago to see no one in particular. And I was keen to give them a try. I was not dissapointed. Their disjointed folktronica featured on this apparently more accesible album (their first for "super-indie" label Domino) is exactly what I had been looking for and I personally cannot wait until they release their new EP in April.
Release Date: 10/09/2007
Favourite Track: "Fireworks"

This Season, I have mostly been listening to...

British Sea Power - Krankenhaus? EP

Featuring the previous free download "Atom" as the lead track, this new EP serves as both a sneak-preview and a "look at what you could have won" for their new album, out early next year. Although arguably "Atom" is the weakest track, the 5-track EP also features a 9-minute epic in the same vein as "Lately" from The Decline Of... called "The Pelican", which will hopefully feature live in some form or another.
My favourite track on this is "Down on the Ground", which, alongside "Atom", will feature on Do You Like Rock Music? released on the 14th January. The EP is currently availiable from itunes and from BSP's homepage.

http://www.myspace.com/britishseapower

Holy Fuck - LP


Even though this is technically their third self-titled release (The album cover just says "HOLY FUCK"), this band are still very new to me. Their improvised proto-electronica instrumental noise is a cacophony of sounds from a huge range of instruments from the usual (guitars, synths, drums) to simply bashing whatever is at hand. While this album is more just a captured moment of what Holy Fuck may really be capable of doing live, tracks such as the amazing "Safari" and equally superb "Frenchy's".

http://www.myspace.com/holyfuck

Avant Garde Drummer Wanted For A Pop Band - Life Is Long And Memory Fragile

Essentially this a collection of bedroom demos by couple of guys who are friends of a friend of a friend. And I really like it. While it is rough and unpolished, the songs, frequently reaching far over the six minute mark, there is a definite talent shining through.
Clashing somewhere between Explosions In The Sky's epic post-rock and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's rougher side, with a plethora of North American Indie influences in between, its almost shocking that these guys are from the Isle Of Wight.
My personal favourite from the this album is "Failed Negatives (The photographs in my mind)", which journeys through most of the above influences without quite falling to pretention.
While their identity still remains a mystery thanks to my poor research skills, they are apparently expanding, with possible ambitions of being a British Broken Social Scene, with the tunes to match. One to watch, definitely.

http://www.myspace.com/avantgardedrummerwantedforapopband

Bionic Sheep - Sexcrime EP

Described as a "junglist' experiment" this EP, based on the public information broadcast on the dangers of pornography. On that alone, it already sounds promising, but this sub-20 minute laptop-generated assault of breaks and beats definitely lives up to it.
Of course, there is no physical release, but the EP can be downloaded from here:
http://tinyurl.com/27knst

Coming soon: Best of 2007...

CSS @ Carling Academy, Brixton, 03/12/2007

It seems odd to me, with over 3 years (yes, I know, three whole years) of going to gigs in London, I have never been to the Brixton Academy. I've been almost everywhere else, from The Dublin Castle in Camden, to Wembley Stadium, in.. erm... Wembley. But never here. I thought it would be bigger.

And better.

While a slanted floor has its advantages (seeing everything from the back, for example), it does mean you have to put in safety barriers every so often so the crowd doesn't just slip down the slope and congeal into a warm, sticky mess. But herein lies the problem. People who forget or get there late push to the front and get stuck there. And don't know where to go. But I digress.

This isn't a problem, of course, for opening band Metronomy, who face a criminally empty room, and are currently working on their second album, provide the suitable robotic warm-up for the almost-headlining set from Justice. Dressed all in black, the live trio of Joseph Mount, Gabriel Stebbing and Oscar Cash, each with their own personal light display on their chest that looks like it was stolen from a Travelodge. For most of the set, these are combined with some interestingly lazy dance routines that involve a lot of pointing, and the result is that they look like some sort of Smart Price Daft Punk.

However, they save the best until last, with a group of similarly-light-clad dancers joining them onstage, bringing much need life to the set for the last two songs that were easily their best: "Heartbreaker" and current single "Radio Ladio".

www.myspace.com/metronomy

From Smart Price Daft Punk, to the heir-apparent to their French House throne, Justice. With a stage-set that includes a massive shining white cross, things look promising. Kicking off with the overlong and overblown intro song "Genesis", perhaps Justice have been told they will charged for every different beat they use, so they make sure their opening one lasts at least 15 minutes, drowning out everything else, with the occasional quiet bit in between.

Already, as much as it pains me to say, I was dissapointed, but looking forward, at least, to "D.A.N.C.E.", which unfortunately is horribly butchered from the opening with some sort of piano ballad, and doesn't really recover. Even "The Party" fails to make much of an impression.

The set does pick up however, with the always amazing "Waters of Nazareth" as well as fair few remixes slipped in, such as their version of "Atlantis to Interzone" and the ever-present "We Are Your Friends", but the damage has already been done, and I personally am dissapointed.

Your best bet is probably to just stick on the album and get a few mates over.

http://www.myspace.com/etjusticepourtous

After almost an hour of Justice, CSS quickly take to a stage covered in Christmas trees, while the crowd get covered in snow, and start out with album track "Fuckoff is not the only thing you have to show" before quickly heading into fairly new track "The Beautiful Song".

Although Lovefoxx tries to be her usual self, the band seem visibly nervous at playing such a large stage and this perhaps rubs off - the band aren't quite on top form tonight, and the playfulness that made them a festival favourite this summer is at a minimum.

The new songs also don't sit well alongside crowd-pleasers "Alala" and "Off the Hook", but all-too-soon the band saunter off backstage before returning for L7 cover "Pretend We're Dead". But the biggest cheer is always going to be for just one song. The band finish off the shortened set with the awesome "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above", making sure they finish with a bang that the rest of the set lacks.

With Lovefoxx promising before she leaves that the next time they play in England, the new album will be finished, but to be honest, based on tonight's performance, it doesn't seem like it will be anything special.

www.myspace.com/canseidesersexy