5 albums that I really enjoyed in 2007
Jan. 2nd, 2008 01:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mimesereIn no particular order:
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
http://www.mediafire.com/?fptzbypmemx
Hip hop meets apocalyptic nerdcore. No, I'm not even kidding a little bit. Most of the reviews say that this is a cerebral album and...well, it's definitely not a *pop* album. It is an album that rewards repeated listening. Lots of atmosphere, a concept prequeled in Food and Liquor's "The Cool," alter-egos, anthropomorphic personifications of hip hop concepts, a really angry rant about the dumbing down of hip hop, political storytelling about child soldiers, sampling Inspector Gadget, referencing Street Fighter. Yeah. Oh, Lupe.
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
http://www.mediafire.com/?7mtcn4xzwsy
On the flip side of the musical fence, we've got Spoon's alternative rock smacking right into motown and coming out the better for it. It's actually been an interesting year for the rock/r&b/hip hop fusion, not in the rap-rock way, but in taking elements from both types of music and making something that sounds a little like both and wholly like itself. Which is totally rambling and not on the subject of this album which is pretty awesome. I...don't have a lot to say about it. It is an album that made me really happy.
Kanye West - Graduation
http://www.mediafire.com/?0zglelyb25t
A lot of people beef with Kanye about his ego which, to be fair, is pretty big and he talks about how great he is a lot. I cannot fault him on this as he has the chops to back it up. I *love* Graduation. It is compulsively listenable, the songs are catchy as fuck, and frankly, if Kanye Wants to make awesomely fantastically terrible puns about how he is a big fucking deal, I say more power to him. He's ironic and egotistical and knows his way around an earworm like nobody else. And even if the album weren't good -- which, okay, it's a fantastic album, seriously -- I would love it for making me *laugh out loud* a bunch of times. Especially during his love song to Jay-Z. AHAHAHA. OH KANYE.
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
http://www.mediafire.com/?fb1wbietcss
Do I think this album will stand the test of time? No. I don't. What I *do* think is that it is an excellent snapshot of a particular time and place in music and I think it will help other bands play with the musical format it made popular in a way that *will* stand the test of time. Which is to say, oh Pete, baby, your lyrics are good but easily dated and kind of incomprehensible in a way that should not work at *all* and yet somehow you guys managed to do it. It's not brilliant musicianship -- like, I'm not going to be sitting here in ten years going, "Man, that bass line on Thnks Fr Th Mmrs is the shit!" -- but it's interesting. Which sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise and I'm really really not. After Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (yes, I know BHR is from 2006. I don't even care), it is the album I've listened to the most this year. For me, much like with Graduation, it is an album that I listen to like I'm a crack addict with my next hit. It's catchy as fuck, some of the lyrics stick with you like crazy, and Patrick's range increased pretty dramatically. One of the things that I love best about this album and why I honest to god think it is one of the better albums that came out this year is that it's *interesting*. For all that it is pop-punk, and it is, and for all that it is more pop than punk, it doesn't *sound* like anything else on an alternative rock station. It doesn't sound like a lot of stuff on pop stations, it doesn't sound much like a lot of things. It's jazzy and showtune-y and pop rock and you know what? Fuck it, a lot of that is because of Patrick. It is. His voice is not a rock voice. His voice is one that should be on Broadway or singing blue-eyed soul or doing something that takes advantage of that boy's insane range. It *sounds* different. Man, I sound like I'm crazy. But here's the deal: I listen to a lot -- A LOT -- of pop-punk and alternative rock. I mean, like, a metric fuckton of it. Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and Take This To Your Grave are pretty standard entries into the pop-punk genre. From Under the Cork Tree started edging toward the not-sounding-much-like-anything-else place, but they hit their kind of eclectic pop rock stride with Infinity on High. And it *is* pop. Of all the albums I listened to and loved this year, IOH is definitely the poppiest. I don't even know. I love this album like crazy. I've *thought* about this album like crazy. I can see where it's flaws are but they don't matter even a little bit when I'm actually listening to it and it is an album where I listen to the whole thing, no skipping around, because it's joy to listen to. It's fun. It is musically interesting. The transition between "Hum Hallelujah" and "Thnks fr th Mmrs" is one of the smoothest transitions I can think of even though they are, tonally, on totally different sides of the musical spectrum. I suppose what I am trying to say is that this is an impeccably *crafted* album. Also I love it. Um. MOVING ON.
Or okay, maybe not moving on, holy fuck how do I have this much to say about this album? Um. One of the things that I found most interesting about Fall Out Boy and specifically about Infinity on High is how the band and this album both are borrowing a lot from hip hop in terms of both the business model they're following -- because um, dude, Clandestine Industries and Decaydance are TOTALLY derived from things like G-Unit and Bad Boy and Ruff Riders and whatnot. TOTALLY. There could be *papers* done about what's going on with this whole thing and whatever else is true, Pete Wentz is a *genius* for marketing his bands the way he did. Built in audiences! Differing genres of music! on a label that has what? 10 artists total? 2 of them have gone platinum, one more has gone gold, and even the smaller bands have their own little cult followings. whoa, hi, tangent -- and the way in which the subject material of the songs themselves are following the autobiographical hip hop model. Rather than focusing on generalities, the specificity of the songs and their focus on the interactions of the band (...Pete) with the audience and the business of music is something that you mostly see in hip hop rather than (alternative) rock. Plus the focus on the very very crisp, very very clean production is also something I associate way, way more with hip hop and R&B than I do with rock. NOW I am moving on.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
http://www.mediafire.com/?apze4usc0xd
She's crazy. We all know she's crazy. We all know she's a trainwreck waiting to happen. We all know she's going to die of some kind of drug overdose/alcohol poisoning/self-mutilation/batshit escapade that will be tabloid fodder and a warning for the ages. This album will *still* be amazing. Swingy, jazzy, nutball, soaked in ten kinds of liquor, and really really amazingly good.
Black Holes and Revelations (Muse) and The Black Parade (My Chemical Romance) are both from 2006, so they don't make the list. Radiohead's In Rainbows and the Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace were both really good albums that fit so solidly within the framework established by their other albums that they were more like, "Oh hey, awesome Radiohead album! Awesome Foo Fighters album!" rather than "Oh, awesome album!" otherwise they'd've made the list. Also, you can download In Rainbows from their website (I never put it up) and I did put up the Foo Fighters album and the new Jill Scott album, so. I mean, I also put up Graduation and IOH, but those were albums that stood out more to me than the Radiohead or Foo. Hm. Anyway, yeah. There you are.
ANYWAY. Other albums from 2007 that I liked a lot:
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Echoes Silence Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters
Viva La Cobra - Cobra Starship
The Shepherd's Dog - Iron and Wine
Wincing the Night Away - The Shins
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
Magic - Bruce Springsteen
Good Girl Gone Bad - Rihanna
Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
It Won't Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5
An album from 2007 that I thought was okay, but man, you would think the band was handing out sex acts like candy to reviewers based on how many people seemed to think this was an amazing fantastically wonderful album:
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire.
like I said, I liked it fine, but it was. Um. really depressing. and uh. pretentious. I don't know! It was okay.
Albums that I am looking forward to in 2008:
The Bedlam in Goliath - The Mars Volta
Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
http://www.mediafire.com/?fptzbypmemx
Hip hop meets apocalyptic nerdcore. No, I'm not even kidding a little bit. Most of the reviews say that this is a cerebral album and...well, it's definitely not a *pop* album. It is an album that rewards repeated listening. Lots of atmosphere, a concept prequeled in Food and Liquor's "The Cool," alter-egos, anthropomorphic personifications of hip hop concepts, a really angry rant about the dumbing down of hip hop, political storytelling about child soldiers, sampling Inspector Gadget, referencing Street Fighter. Yeah. Oh, Lupe.
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
http://www.mediafire.com/?7mtcn4xzwsy
On the flip side of the musical fence, we've got Spoon's alternative rock smacking right into motown and coming out the better for it. It's actually been an interesting year for the rock/r&b/hip hop fusion, not in the rap-rock way, but in taking elements from both types of music and making something that sounds a little like both and wholly like itself. Which is totally rambling and not on the subject of this album which is pretty awesome. I...don't have a lot to say about it. It is an album that made me really happy.
Kanye West - Graduation
http://www.mediafire.com/?0zglelyb25t
A lot of people beef with Kanye about his ego which, to be fair, is pretty big and he talks about how great he is a lot. I cannot fault him on this as he has the chops to back it up. I *love* Graduation. It is compulsively listenable, the songs are catchy as fuck, and frankly, if Kanye Wants to make awesomely fantastically terrible puns about how he is a big fucking deal, I say more power to him. He's ironic and egotistical and knows his way around an earworm like nobody else. And even if the album weren't good -- which, okay, it's a fantastic album, seriously -- I would love it for making me *laugh out loud* a bunch of times. Especially during his love song to Jay-Z. AHAHAHA. OH KANYE.
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
http://www.mediafire.com/?fb1wbietcss
Do I think this album will stand the test of time? No. I don't. What I *do* think is that it is an excellent snapshot of a particular time and place in music and I think it will help other bands play with the musical format it made popular in a way that *will* stand the test of time. Which is to say, oh Pete, baby, your lyrics are good but easily dated and kind of incomprehensible in a way that should not work at *all* and yet somehow you guys managed to do it. It's not brilliant musicianship -- like, I'm not going to be sitting here in ten years going, "Man, that bass line on Thnks Fr Th Mmrs is the shit!" -- but it's interesting. Which sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise and I'm really really not. After Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (yes, I know BHR is from 2006. I don't even care), it is the album I've listened to the most this year. For me, much like with Graduation, it is an album that I listen to like I'm a crack addict with my next hit. It's catchy as fuck, some of the lyrics stick with you like crazy, and Patrick's range increased pretty dramatically. One of the things that I love best about this album and why I honest to god think it is one of the better albums that came out this year is that it's *interesting*. For all that it is pop-punk, and it is, and for all that it is more pop than punk, it doesn't *sound* like anything else on an alternative rock station. It doesn't sound like a lot of stuff on pop stations, it doesn't sound much like a lot of things. It's jazzy and showtune-y and pop rock and you know what? Fuck it, a lot of that is because of Patrick. It is. His voice is not a rock voice. His voice is one that should be on Broadway or singing blue-eyed soul or doing something that takes advantage of that boy's insane range. It *sounds* different. Man, I sound like I'm crazy. But here's the deal: I listen to a lot -- A LOT -- of pop-punk and alternative rock. I mean, like, a metric fuckton of it. Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and Take This To Your Grave are pretty standard entries into the pop-punk genre. From Under the Cork Tree started edging toward the not-sounding-much-like-anything-else place, but they hit their kind of eclectic pop rock stride with Infinity on High. And it *is* pop. Of all the albums I listened to and loved this year, IOH is definitely the poppiest. I don't even know. I love this album like crazy. I've *thought* about this album like crazy. I can see where it's flaws are but they don't matter even a little bit when I'm actually listening to it and it is an album where I listen to the whole thing, no skipping around, because it's joy to listen to. It's fun. It is musically interesting. The transition between "Hum Hallelujah" and "Thnks fr th Mmrs" is one of the smoothest transitions I can think of even though they are, tonally, on totally different sides of the musical spectrum. I suppose what I am trying to say is that this is an impeccably *crafted* album. Also I love it. Um. MOVING ON.
Or okay, maybe not moving on, holy fuck how do I have this much to say about this album? Um. One of the things that I found most interesting about Fall Out Boy and specifically about Infinity on High is how the band and this album both are borrowing a lot from hip hop in terms of both the business model they're following -- because um, dude, Clandestine Industries and Decaydance are TOTALLY derived from things like G-Unit and Bad Boy and Ruff Riders and whatnot. TOTALLY. There could be *papers* done about what's going on with this whole thing and whatever else is true, Pete Wentz is a *genius* for marketing his bands the way he did. Built in audiences! Differing genres of music! on a label that has what? 10 artists total? 2 of them have gone platinum, one more has gone gold, and even the smaller bands have their own little cult followings. whoa, hi, tangent -- and the way in which the subject material of the songs themselves are following the autobiographical hip hop model. Rather than focusing on generalities, the specificity of the songs and their focus on the interactions of the band (...Pete) with the audience and the business of music is something that you mostly see in hip hop rather than (alternative) rock. Plus the focus on the very very crisp, very very clean production is also something I associate way, way more with hip hop and R&B than I do with rock. NOW I am moving on.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
http://www.mediafire.com/?apze4usc0xd
She's crazy. We all know she's crazy. We all know she's a trainwreck waiting to happen. We all know she's going to die of some kind of drug overdose/alcohol poisoning/self-mutilation/batshit escapade that will be tabloid fodder and a warning for the ages. This album will *still* be amazing. Swingy, jazzy, nutball, soaked in ten kinds of liquor, and really really amazingly good.
Black Holes and Revelations (Muse) and The Black Parade (My Chemical Romance) are both from 2006, so they don't make the list. Radiohead's In Rainbows and the Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace were both really good albums that fit so solidly within the framework established by their other albums that they were more like, "Oh hey, awesome Radiohead album! Awesome Foo Fighters album!" rather than "Oh, awesome album!" otherwise they'd've made the list. Also, you can download In Rainbows from their website (I never put it up) and I did put up the Foo Fighters album and the new Jill Scott album, so. I mean, I also put up Graduation and IOH, but those were albums that stood out more to me than the Radiohead or Foo. Hm. Anyway, yeah. There you are.
ANYWAY. Other albums from 2007 that I liked a lot:
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Echoes Silence Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters
Viva La Cobra - Cobra Starship
The Shepherd's Dog - Iron and Wine
Wincing the Night Away - The Shins
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
Magic - Bruce Springsteen
Good Girl Gone Bad - Rihanna
Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
It Won't Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5
An album from 2007 that I thought was okay, but man, you would think the band was handing out sex acts like candy to reviewers based on how many people seemed to think this was an amazing fantastically wonderful album:
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire.
like I said, I liked it fine, but it was. Um. really depressing. and uh. pretentious. I don't know! It was okay.
Albums that I am looking forward to in 2008:
The Bedlam in Goliath - The Mars Volta
Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-02 01:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-02 02:02 pm (UTC)Especially during his love song to Jay-Z.
Heh, when you say it like that, I like the song a lot more. I also like your icon.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:26 am (UTC)And yeah, "Big Brother" is totally Kanye's plea for Jay-Z to love him, which makes it totally totally hilaaaaaaarious.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-02 04:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-02 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:17 am (UTC)I'm so *proud* of Patrick. Almost every review of The Cool that's mentioned "Little Weapon" has been positive and I'm like, "WOOOOOO."
And oh, Pete. Pete and your genius marketing.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-02 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:13 am (UTC)The Spoon album, though, is an awesome introduction. It's really friendly.
And yeah, I don't want Amy Winehouse to die young and yet I would be WAY more surprised if she lasts another five years before something takes her out. Which is tragic, because she's awesomely talented.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 03:45 am (UTC)It is the only explanation that I have.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 05:15 am (UTC)*makes face at them*