In January I made a post listing what were, in my opinion, the best 30 albums of 2006. To ease some of the strain of forming another such list, this year I am going to try to form a top-ten list for each individual month. That’s not to say that the day-to-day burden will be any lighter: this will mean I am going to have to listen to a lot more albums than last year.

Important to note for this year is my new rating approach: I cannot read critics’ ratings or lists of rank until I have formed my own list in stone. I was influenced a bit by lists last year because I hadn’t followed the new releases closely enough, so I found out about a lot of new music in December that had come out early in the year. There will be no such follies this time around.

There were some disappointments (The Shins) and some pleasant surprises (Deerhunter) in January. Overall it was a good month, with some guaranteed 2007 top-20 albums coming out. No definite album-of-the-year candidates yet, though.

The Top Ten Albums of January 2007:

10. Enemy Chorus
The Earlies

9. The Good, the Bad, and the Queen
The Good, the Bad, and the Queen

8. Learn to Sing Like a Star
Kristin Hersh

7. Wincing the Night Away
The Shins

6. Alright, Still
Lily Allen

5. Transparent Things
Fujiya & Miyagi

4. Friend and Foe
Menomena

3. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Of Montreal

2. Cryptograms
Deerhunter

1

Friend Opportunity
Deerhoof

Like most people who have heard them, I’ve struggled with Deerhoof for a little while. I love their creativity and their pushing the boundaries of music with their ever-progressive sound, but have had a hard time figuring out what all the hype was about. But their latest release is probably their most accessible, and probably my favourite. On about my third listen to Friend Opportunity, I knew that I was listening to something special. I really don’t know why it took me that long, because there are a lot of elements of progressive rock, and other stuff I've always liked, throughout the ten songs. The melodies are great and the sounds are bright and addictive. I’ve never heard any band come as close to the glory of Final Fantasy VI’s music as Deerhoof does on “Whither the Invisible Birds?” Honestly, I can’t really explain this music, it’s just something that has to be experienced and appreciated. I love it for the same basic reason that I love any music: it has great melodies and tonal structures. It’s also an unpredictable journey that pushes the boundaries of modern music.

Labels: Music

Posted by Farewell, Free Will on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 5:23 p.m. | Permalink