When I listen to the albums from Farewell, Free Will's Top 30 Albums of 2006, a part of myself gets transported back to last December when I experienced a rush of new music all at once and heard many of them for the first time. I really had only begun listening to a lot of new music in September, so I found out about all of the earlier albums later in the year when critical publications posted their year-end lists. I decided that for this year, I would try to avoid this and being influenced by other critics by listening to every album I could in 2007. After listening to about 60 albums by the end of February, I had to go with a bit of a different approach. Most of the albums I listened to this year were by recommendation, but I listened to enough of them to be able to organize an ordered list of fifty great albums. I haven't done this long enough to know for myself, but from what I have heard from others, and in comparison to last year's crop, 2007 was a good year for music. Whether the top end of this year's list is substantially better is debatable, but the depth is certainly stronger.

As usual, my list is based on my own critical evaluation, which roughly reflects which albums I would prefer to listen to at any given time, combined with a measure of musical achievement, creativity, originality, and what my ears determine to be good music. Each album is here for a different reason, and each has charted its own course into my musical heart. You'll find music of many genres, perhaps even some you have never heard before, but I hope that that is not an obstacle to your enjoyment. To help you to determine which albums, if any, you might want to check out, I have included along with each entry a written description of the album, what I liked about it, and what it sounds like. Or you could always read a real review of the album by someone who has a similar appreciation for it, as he or she would surely do a much better job than I ever could. But I am blessing those who choose to read with my very own opinions of these albums. You're welcome.

In what I will remember as my first full year of dedicated musical exploration, I spent thousands of hours listening to over 200 new albums. I now present what I believe to be the best fifty albums released in the last twelve months. Enjoy.

50. Scribble Mural Comic Journal - A Sunny Day in Glasgow

49. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

48. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse

47. Challengers - The New Pornographers

46. Chromophobia - Gui Boratto

45. God Save the Clientele - The Clientele

44. Friend and Foe - Menomena

43. Walls - Apparat

42. Alright, Still - Lily Allen

41. Dandelion Gum - Black Moth Super Rainbow

40. Widow City - The Fiery Furnaces

39. Honigpumpe - Thomas Fehlmann

38. Icky Thump - The White Stripes

37. Night Drive - Chromatics

36. Proof of Youth - The Go! Team

35. Five Roses - Miracle Fortress

34. A New Chance - The Tough Alliance

33. The Cloud of Unknowing - James Blackshaw

32. Yearbook 1 - Studio

31. The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse - The Besnard Lakes

30

Copia
Eluvium

It feels strange to start a list like this with an album like Copia, which truly says something for the depth of good music in 2007. One of the most purely beautiful things released this year, Copia is an ambient album that uses a lot of traditional instrument sounds, like horns, strings, and piano, to create sprawling compositions that are complex harmonically, but simple developmentally. Longer ambient tracks dominate the album's beginning and end, but more straightforward piano-led tracks are interspersed throughout the mid-section and between some of the epic pieces. These tracks are in some ways the opposite of the others—they are harmonically much more basic, but develop dynamically and emotionally in a much faster and more overt way, compromising some of their relative effectiveness. They generally serve as excellent interludes, but some go a bit too long to serve that express purpose. In any case, they add a more innocent element to an album whose main event is the cryptic beauty of its ambience. Tracks such as "Indoor Swimming at the Space Station" and "Ostinato" made the decision to put this album at the beginning of this list a very tough one to make. There is some simply captivating music in here, and yet there were twenty-nine better albums released in 2007. Please read on.

29

Spiderman of the Rings
Dan Deacon

Humour in music is often a subtle thing. You might be able to hear playfulness in an improvised solo, juxtaposition of an odd sample, or exaggeration of a musical cliché, but it's not usually something that is most effective when you're being hit over the head with it. I suppose a lot of people might feel this way when they hear Spiderman of the Rings for the first (and maybe last!) time. There is no question that Dan Deacon can be over the top more often than not, but that's his shtick, and he's good at it. He layers on the samples and synthesized waveforms so thickly that you think you're going to develop a headache, and maybe you do, but something will grab your ear. It might be the twinkle of some keys, or a melodic passage, or a 5000-ton arpeggio, if you're anything like me. The music seems like something that should be hard to handle, but you know it's supposed to be funny because if you've ever seen Dan Deacon, you know he doesn't take himself too seriously, and it is. But for all the no holds barred approach to digital music composition in such songs as the excellent "The Crystal Cat" and the journey that is "Wham City," Dan shows a sensitive musicality in "Big Milk" and "Pink Batman" that balance the album's sound and allow it to be more than merely a novelty act. Even if at first you are very put off the first time you hear "Wooody Wooodpecker," you may find a listen to Spiderman of the Rings to be a very rewarding experience.

28

Neon Bible
Arcade Fire

For reasons I should not need to explain, Neon Bible was one of the most anticipated releases of 2007. No, it doesn't really at any moment approach the greatness of Funeral, but this is still a solid album. Its first half contains the best songs, including "Keep the Car Running" and "Intervention," which almost look good alongside those from their debut album. One of the biggest differences between Funeral and Neon Bible is that the latter's lyrics focus on darker subject matter, concentrating on negative aspects of society. Unfortunately, many of the lyrics are silly and the production keeps the band far away on some tracks. There is a rock reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen found in several songs, and Win Butler's vocals often bear resemblance to the vibrato of Neil Young. As a straightforward rock and roll album, Neon Bible is quite competent, but I can't find many redeeming qualities in some of its weaker moments, like "Ocean of Noise," and the entire second half is only good, not great. Arcade Fire had ridiculous expectations to live up to, so it feels unfair to label this album as a disappointment. It is still a very good rock album that has been very well-received by critics and even debuted at #2 on Billboard's top albums chart in March. If they can build on their budding fame and popularity without sacrificing the elements of their songwriting that earned their critical acclaim, they may be remembered as the most important Canadian band of the decade.

27

The Stage Names
Okkervil River

The opening song of Okkervil River's rock and roll album The Stage Names is one of the best songs of the year. "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" combines the explosiveness of rock music with unusually good melodies and really powerful vocals. Just like the rest of the album, it isn't innovative or shocking, but it's very well-crafted music. The tracks vary between rock and roll and balladry, reaching from the past thirty years of music for influences, but it is all tastefully performed with a modern aesthetic. Opening track aside, the best songs here are probably the slow ones, like "Savannah Smiles," for example. The moderately-paced "Plus Ones" shows Will Sheff to be one the cleverest lyricists in rock music today, as he indirectly references many numerically-titled love songs with great imagination, making a statement about these types of songs in the process. Speaking of tributes to old songs, The Stage Names ends the final track, "John Allyn Smith Sails," with a cover (sort of) of "Sloop John B," originally made famous by the Beach Boys in 1966. Though the album is quite consistent without many peaks throughout, there is one more standout track to mention. "Title Track" is, for the most part, one of the softest songs on the album, but is cut up into sections by a guitar-and-drums outburst that also starts things off. The melodies are quite beautiful, as are strings that emerge in the final verse. Here, frontman Sheff is at his most reserved but is just as expressive as in his louder moments. While the songwriting and musicianship throughout The Stage Names both display great taste, it is Sheff's performance that shines above the rest.

26

I'll Sleep When You're Dead
El-P

I think there's a rule that says that you can't talk about El-P's music without it turning into a discussion about his lyrics. It suffices to say that his observations about the state of American society are reflected by the tone of his production, which is unrelentingly foreboding, dense, dark, and intense. But social issues aside, his talent as both rapper and producer are almost as impressive as his music is engrossing. The layers are many, but they don't all demand attention; rather, they work together to weave textures that can be overwhelmingly tense. It would be a better album altogether if some tracks had been scrapped altogether (the Trent Reznor-featuring "Flyentology," for example), but there are some standouts, particularly in the first half. Opening track "Tasmanian Pain Coaster" is very well-performed; "Smithereens (Stop Cryin')" is suspenseful and expertly produced; the loose pounding of the drums on "Up All Night" is one of my favourite totally unconventional hip-hop beats of the year; the beat of the busily simplistic "Drive" is more familiar, and is performed equally well vocally; and the completely twisted story of "Habeas Corpses (Draconian Love)" is perhaps the most effective manifestation of El-P's apocalyptic imaginations. Fortunately, the album doesn't end weakly by any means; I'll Sleep When You're Dead ends on a strong note, punctuated by the very ominous "Poisenville Kids No Wins / Reprise (This Must Be Our Time)." Oh, and apparently El-P doesn't like U.S. President George Bush very much, or something.

25

Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline
Stars of the Lid

I really came to enjoy ambient music a lot more in the past year, from Brian Eno to Aphex Twin to Tim Hecker to Stars of the Lid, but I really do get why some people can't get into it. Not only is Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline the slowest-moving album with the slowest-developing tracks on this list, but it is also the longest by a wide margin. This double-disc album, the first in six years by Texas-based duo Stars of the Lid, is ambient music stripped to a bare minimum. Atmosphere is moulded by notes rather than sounds and effects, there is often only one note or drone being played at a time (however harmonically rich it may be) and the use of silence is a powerful weapon in their arsenal. As such, this record is fine for background music, for reading or sleeping to, but is even more rewarding when you put something into it yourself. Listening to tracks like "Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxième)" with attention it is like staring into nothingness and seeing colours more beautiful than you can describe. The tones in these tracks sound like they are being carried on wings or guided by the soft hands of angels. The tendency of the music just to follow the listener wherever he or she would like to go rather than to lead is best described by Pitchfork's Mark Richardson. As he writes, "The music could be crushingly sad, lightly melancholic, or even uplifting, depending on the state of mind of the hearer. It becomes a sound divorced from intention and its ambiguity is its strength." If it is possible for a track to stand out in an album such as this, for me it is always the cryptic sadness of "Humectez la Mouture," played primarily on four piano chords with a drone background. However, there are many moments in the album's two hours that always cause me to stop whatever I'm doing for a few minutes and take notice. It is amazing what kind of emotions can be evoked by such unforced pure sound. Since my first listen, I knew that Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline would at least crack this list, but I wasn't sure it would be able to hold a spot even into December—it took more than a few listens for me to realize just how special this record is. Once I became more fully aware of its depth and reflective beauty, I realized that it may be one that I will listen to for years to come whenever I need what it has to offer.

24

The Reminder
Feist

Leslie Feist's last album won her two Juno awards and a platinum record in Canada, but it seems that she only needed her own iPod commercial for people to really take notice. I was pleasantly surprised to see the song appear on TV the first time I saw it, and am still trying to get used to hearing "1234" on just about every radio station and in stores and learning that people actually know the words. Anyway, I've always felt that that was a standout song on the album. Generally, the higher-tempo songs are more effective, including "I Feel It All," "1234," and "Past in Present," but the slower "I'm Sorry," "The Park," and "How My Heart Behaves" are all quietly beautiful songs with very emotive vocals and arrangements. The sequencing of the tracks is somewhat suspect, and The Reminder isn't the most cohesive album—it explores many facets of folk and pop music, sort of jumping all over the place—but it works very well as a potpourri of pop music, and should impress fans of the hit single who decided to check out the album. The tracks are pretty hit-or-miss, but Feist's passionate singing goes a long way even in the less strong tracks. But when her stuff works, which is more often than not, there is little left to be desired. It seems strange to call this great "pop music," but it is great pop and it is great music, so why not? And the more popular music like this becomes, the better. I hope that the sudden widespread success of this reasonably well-established independent Canadian artist will encourage the powers that be to take more risks on independent musicians, particularly among those with as much talent as Feist.

23

†
Justice

Before I heard Justice for the first time, I knew very little about them. I knew they made dance music, and I had gathered that this was their debut album, but I hadn't heard any of their remixes, and I missed out on the hype leading up to this release. I don't know whether this had any effect on my initial reaction to †, but opener "Genesis" totally blew me away. I'd never heard anything like this before. The introductory bass line is pieced together by at least three different sounds: a slap bass sample, a dirty buzzing noise, and some synthesized staccato minor chords. If this was my only reason for liking this album, the novelty would have worn off (it certainly did to an extent), and I would be totally sick of it by now. But this kind of unique crafting of melody and bass lines is used throughout the album, in various interesting ways. Most of the music is a dark and dirty interpretation of dance music that I have not heard in quite this way before; I wouldn't have thought to use a diminished chord in a dance song, for example, but Justice fits one in on "Let There Be Light." Not all of † is this dark and heavy, however; in fact, the end of "Let There Be Light" ushers in a brightness that helps introduce "D.A.N.C.E.," a song fittingly dedicated to Michael Jackson, as evidenced by several phrases within. The variety of music and strong second half help out †'s longevity greatly. "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy," "DVNO," and "Stress" form a very strong string of songs through the heart of the second half. Not to be outdone by Feist's "1234," the excellent "Phantom Pt. II" is even featured on a Telus commercial right now. † is a refreshingly bold release, and demonstrates a duo that knows their strengths and are working within them to make music that is in equal parts excellent and unique.

22

Writer's Block
Peter Bjorn and John

You may not have heard of Peter Bjorn and John, but you have probably heard their hit single "Young Folks" by now. It's been all over trendy television shows as background music, on commercials, and I even heard it at the mall one time. Not only did Writer's Block spawn a single that was remarkably successful for something recorded by an independent band, but it is packed full of accessible, highly infectious pop music. The melodies are all great, the drumming is understated, and the fabulous guitar work fills in all of the cracks, filling an atmospheric void when needed or simply playing a supporting role to a song that depends primarily on vocals and drums. The name Writer's Block is quite ironic, as the songwriting really is not lacking anywhere on this album, and each song sounds fresh, a variety of pop derived from a different European influence than that of the track before it. "Objects of My Affection," "Young Folks," Amsterdam," and "Paris 2004" are all equally good pop songs, while tracks such as "Start to Melt" and "Roll the Credits" are perfect example of "filler" in a very positive sense of the word. These types of songs either exist for the purpose of building up momentum in the album or to bridge gaps between the more immediate standout tracks, and they do their jobs very well. "Up Against the Wall," while seven minutes in length, adheres to a pop aesthetic but is a very gradually building process. In my opinion, this song represents a culmination of all of Peter Bjorn and John's strengths in songwriting and musicianship, and is the best song on the album. "Poor Cow" is an excellent sparsely performed closing song, with a simple vocal melody and congruent guitar strums carrying the music. Not only is it a great way to end this particular album, but it changes the context in which the rest of the album needs to be viewed, and makes the result greater than the sum of its parts. And this isn't the only outstanding pop record to make the trip over from Sweden in the past year...

21

American Gangster
Jay-Z

Despite Jay-Z's reputation and standard-setting past work, I didn't expect a whole lot out of American Gangster, not coincidentally released shortly after the movie of the same name, when I first heard about it. For one thing, his first album out of retirement, Kingdom Come, wasn't quite up to par. For another, it just all seemed too gimmicky to be actually good. These kinds of things never seemed to work out. But by the time the third track, "American Dreamin'" was over, I was ready to admit that I was wrong. Jay-Z's performance may not be as convincingly powerful as it has been, but his flow here is still excellent, especially on this track. The first five are very dark and sparse musically, but everything changes with "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)," a song built on a horn hook following the song "No Hook," in which Jay-Z proclaims that he doesn't need one. His rhythms in "No Hook" heavily emphasize the straightforward beat, and he's free to shape his lines without constriction over the song's spacious production, so some of his best work can be found within. I would rather skip the movie-quoting "Intro" every time, and "I Know" is a bit of a throwaway, but there isn't a weak track among the remaining eleven (thirteen if you count the two bonus tracks, which oddly include lead single "Blue Magic" and a title track). Overall, American Gangster isn't much of a concept album, isn't groundbreaking or particularly spectacular, and certainly isn't Jay-Z's best album, but it may well be the comeback album of the year and one of the best rap albums as well.

20

The Shepherd's Dog
Iron and Wine

I had heard people call Sam Beam, a.k.a. Iron and Wine, one of the most important artists of our time before I had ever heard his music. From what I hear, The Shepherd's Dog is a bit of a stylistic departure for him, as the eclectic full-band sound is added to Beam's voice and solitary acoustic guitar. I assume that this is a good thing, as my favourite tracks on this album are the ones where the full band is featured. However, great songwriting ability is evident on any track you might choose to examine. While the obvious Americana roots rock influences are there, the more adventurous Beam gets when drawing from a wide range of sounds from across the globe, the more expansive the sound becomes, and it truly feels like something of an exploration into somewhere you have heard of but have never been. "Lovesong of the Buzzard" is beautiful and expansive as Beam's voice and guitar are complemented by background slide guitars, light percussion, upright bass, and an organ that all create a bright outdoorsy sound. The silky folk of this and "Innocent Bones" is complemented later on by the more rhythmic compositions of "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" and the fantastic "Boy with a Coin." Despite the variety of songs, The Shepherd's Dog is remarkably consistent, particularly through its first three quarters. I don't quite understand the album's sequencing when I come to the end, but that doesn't spoil the album as a whole. I'm not sure why, but there is something about this album's sound that surprises me every time that I revisit it; it always sounds much better than I remember it being.

19

Let's Stay Friends
Les Savy Fav

Finally, a rock album on this list that's just for fun. The real challenge in ranking this album lay in the dilemma of how to weigh peaks vs. consistency. However you want to measure it, there's no issue to be had with the near-flawless first half. "Pots & Pans" is everything you'd want in an introductory track like it. Each instrument builds gradually to mid-song climax, but right when you think that everything is going explode, it levels off and then dies. Not to worry, though; the energy and pace don't let up for quite some time. Les Savy Fav are at their best when they let the music carry the song rather than merely trying to force them with energy. Fortunately, this doesn't become a problem until later on. In the first half, inventive guitar hooks don't define the songs, but they usually provide moments of greatness at least once per song. On "The Year Before the Year 2000," it's in the chorus, which is so excellent that it takes the song from mediocrity to greatness. The playful rhythmic rock of "Patty Lee" is Les Savy Fav at their best; the drum rhythm is somehow actually catchy, and the vocals and guitars have diverse and well-defined roles to play. Each part seems independent of the others, but the way they all come together is very impressive. "What Would Wolves Do?" deviates from the tight riff-based rock and moves toward a more expansive sound, still tied together by a solid rhythmic foundation and a no-notes-wasted guitar line above it all. The second half on the whole is good, but not as memorable as the first. It's difficult to say when the quality begins to dip, but it picks up again to close out the album with "The Lowest Bitter." Something very evident about this album is that, while each instrumentalist holds back enough so as not to dominate, each and every riff, melody, and beat taken by itself is interesting and worth paying attention to. While Let's Stay Friends falls short of being a masterpiece of the genre, its contains several songs that I still will be listening to for many years to come.

18

Liars
Liars

Liars are the only band with an album on this year's and last year's lists, so it is pretty ironic that their new self-titled album would be such a major stylistic departure from the style of Drum's Not Dead, which earned the 10^th spot on my top albums list of 2006. From the first seconds of opening track "Plaster Casts of Everything," it is obvious that this is a much more bold, rocking, and loud Liars than the one we heard last year. In fact, their new self-titled record is something of a return to roots for Liars, as they show more similarities to their earlier songs than their most recent work, including simpler rhythms and riff-based composition. The punk influence is in full effect on the opener, but "Houseclouds," a standout track, is akin to familiar dance-punk, possibly as far from Drum's Not Dead as you can get. But then, all of a sudden, they go right back with "Leather Prowler," an extremely dark, drum-driven track that sounds like it was recorded in a very large cavern; unfortunately, the production holds this song back a bit for me. Things stay on the darker side with the brilliant "Sailing to Byzantium," and pick up again on "Cycle Time," which starts as something like a modern experimental classic rock, and the whole second half is like a summit rather than building to a climax; it's one of the most effective tracks on the album. The dominance of the guitar continues with "Freak Out," another dance-punkish song drenched with reverb and Liars' trademark dissonant double tracked vocals. "Clear Island" is another standout similar to the other up-tempo guitar songs on the album. By this point it is clear that, although songs like "What Would They Know," "Leather Prowler," and "The Dumb in the Rain" are good mood-invoking pieces of Liars music, the album may have been better off with more of the straightforward punk-influenced songs. To end it all off, however, is "Protection," an electronic beat-driven, sustained chords-carried song that surpasses everything that came before it. Like they did on Drum's Not Dead last year, Liars have saved the best for last and given us another stunning ending (though not with quite the same sheer impact and emotional weight of "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack") to close out another excellent album.

17

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Of Montreal

I need to start off by saying that it is a shame this album isn't in my top ten because it easily could have been. And if you believe the hype around indie music circles this year, it really should have been. Hissing Fauna contains some of the best indie-pop in ages, and some of the very best songs of the year. Behind the active guitar work and glossy electronic production there are some lovely melodies in the vein of the psychedelic pop of the Beatles' later work. If it's creative and catchy indie electro-pop you're looking for, "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" and "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" fit the bill. "Come on, mood, shift, shift back to good again," he pleads in the former, a desperate cry in stark contrast to the bright melodious music that follows. The entire first half is a very solid set of upbeat music, culminating with the album's twelve-minute centerpiece (and masterpiece) "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal." It is very interesting to see into the mind of frontman Kevin Barnes in many of the album's lyrics, and this song provides the best opportunity to see his psychological process. Whatever overt expression of emotion he had veiled in the bright pop of artificial light-heartedness comes into plain view for these twelve staggering minutes. The song is musically very repetitive, but the intensity never seems to wane as it is continuously being fuelled by Barnes's emotional energy. Now if the next four songs were removed completely, this album would be a lot closer to my top ten, and quite possibly within it somewhere. Coming into the second half, "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" more or less continues where we left off; it's actually a decent song, but the album does show signs of slowing down a bit here. The next three songs are full of completely erratic and unexplainable song direction changes. Each of these songs has great moments, but they aren't sustained long enough to salvage the songs completely. Hissing Fauna does end on a strong note, however, with "We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling." Here, the song follows a more logical progression and is a very appropriate end to the album. It isn't difficult to see where all the love for this album is coming from, but I can't help but feel that it did not approach its full potential. Besides the second-half songwriting issue, Barnes's persistence to use two vocal lines almost throughout the album, especially with his vocal style, annoys me at times. The only way I can sum up the set of production issues to which this belongs is that it is the audio equivalent of a naturally beautiful girl wearing way too much makeup. Regardless, Hissing Fauna is an outstanding accomplishment in indie pop, and is one of the year's most important releases, as it has given us several of 2007's most creative and best songs.

16

Graduation
Kanye West

Like a few other very significant releases in 2007, Graduation has the unfortunate fate of living in the shadow of the same artist's almost unmatchable previous album. 2005's Late Registration was a large album full of some of the most forward-thinking and stunning hip-hop music in the genre's short history. West continues to push the envelope by taking numerous risks on his new album, and while they don't always work, he has again put together some of the most accessible rap music of the year, and indeed some of the most listenable music of the year. I think that with Graduation, Kanye West has set a standard for widely appreciable rap music, combining it with more radio-friendly hooks and pop influence than his contemporaries. Ironically, or perhaps not, I feel that the Daft Punk-sampling "Stronger" and Chris Martin-featuring "Homecoming" are two of the weaker songs in this collection (and this would be true even if Chris Martin didn't sing), but just about everything in between is gold. Kanye is at his best on "Good Life" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing," two of the best hip-hop tracks of the year. While there isn't a lights-out stunner like "We Major," West draws from more influences than ever throughout Graduation's thirteen tracks, and while most of the unconventional ones produce less effective tracks, I like what he is trying to do. One of the great things about the wider set of influences is that it will combine with the album's wider appeal, and everyone will have his or her own personal favourite songs that are different from the next person's. As usual, there is nothing utterly impressive technically about Kanye West's lyrical delivery, but he is confident and effective enough so that it is never a real weakness. As usual, it is his work on the production side that stands out. He is in full control of the creative process and has the confidence to take risks in order to try to stretch the genre however he likes. Cutting this album's length in comparison to his past works was a necessary step to help make it the wholly accessible and uncluttered record it turned out to be. Is it the rap record for everybody? Not quite. But in likely reaching more music fans than other major rap releases, this might be closer than anyone has come at this point.

15

Untrue
Burial

Tonight I had my first real city night drive of the year. I had to drive across the city and back, in one of the foggiest nights I have seen in a long time. The darks all blended together, the lights were dull and fuzzy, and where I was going wasn't as important as whether I got there eventually. For reasons obvious to those who have heard it, I was very glad that the CD I brought with me for the ride was Untrue, the new record from otherwise-anonymous English dubstep artist Burial. I won't pretend to know anything about the underground dubstep scene or even to have heard about the genre before a month ago, but my lack of textbook knowledge on the subject doesn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying this album all the way through for my own reasons. First, the obvious: the atmosphere is amazing. Layers of sound materialize and evaporate tastefully within the spacey textures with regularity, so songs don't generally develop much dynamically. If you ever listen to this album through a subwoofer, you will easily hear the sections where the bass drum is subtly accentuated. The little echoing sounds in the background add interest and a greater sense of expansiveness. The repetitive vocal samples float in and out hauntingly like spectres. The beats seem almost a formality; but while at the surface they do little more than exist, they also provide a context for everything else that is going on, and certainly help achieve atmosphere in that way. They do all of this successfully without dominating or stealing too much attention because they really are just repeated (with subtle occasional tonal emphases) throughout. Synthesized bass, where it can be found, swells and grows little pieces at a time in gorgeous ways. Excellent examples of this technique are readily available in the thrilling "Ghost Hardware" and "Etched Headplate," which perhaps by no coincidence are two of the tracks in Untrue that I find most enthralling. "Dog Shelter" and "Raver" stand out in an excellent second half. The former is Burial's greatest achievement in ambience on this record, while the latter might be the most beautiful song I have ever heard that can be categorized as "dance." Whether or not Burial wants this style of music commercialized or even heard by those who might not fully understand the underground culture behind it, Untrue is causing a lot of people to begin to take notice. I find it hilarious that he has friends who know who he is and listen to Burial's music but don't know that they're the same person. Maybe it is I...

14

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
The Twilight Sad

The Twilight Sad stretch a sound so vast that it can feel utterly overwhelming, similar to the way life can feel to a fourteen-year-old boy. Appropriately, the subject matter is very personal and serious, dealing mostly with problems at home with a very narrow focus. The sound contrasts this narrowness in every way, but mirrors the climactic emotional intensity that a young boy such as the album's subject might experience. They accomplish this primarily through a dense cloud of distorted slide guitar, often heavy with delay and reverb, creating an atmosphere that is both enormous and enclosed. But it is not simply this blanket of loudness that makes the sound so effective; it is the dynamic progression of each song, building to these bombastic climaxes or navigating a rollercoaster track of sonic intensity. The defining feature of this album is the atmosphere of sound that the band creates, but good music is still required to played in this way, and The Twilight Sad deliver that as well. The opening "Cold Days from the Birdhouse" begins with a very pretty, mellow verse played by an electric guitar with a slide, picked acoustic guitar, and a single steady piano note on top of a delayed stuttering guitar backdrop. This moves along nicely until everything suddenly explodes between verses. From then on, the song continues on similarly, but with much more prominent waves of guitar, with everything else floating along almost dream-like. Vocalist James Graham's thick Scottish accent carries each of the first eight songs with unreserved intensity. Generally, the sound doesn't vary too much between tracks, though the intro to "Talking with Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed," one of the album's greatest moments, has a bit of a different feel due in part to the pounding drums and wailing guitar on top of an inferno of guitar noise. We have to wait until the very end for the instrumental title track, which finally offsets the unrelenting rollercoaster sound with a dreamlike send-off, helped along by steady piano chords and a droning slide guitar. The Twilight Sad's Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters may not appeal to all fans of arena-sized rock, but if you have any taste for atmospheric guitars, you should be able to find something to like here. This album has helped change the way I think about guitar music.

13

Kala
M.I.A.

M.I.A.'s unique melting-pot approach to pop and hip-hop delivers again in an album even more bold than her first. This confidence is one of her greatest assets, and it is part of what makes opener "Bamboo Banger" into such an addictive piece of music out of something that could have easily been unlistenable. In fact, a lot of the album can be explained in this way. M.I.A. takes annoying little sounds and phrases and repeats them to the point where, when combined with her innovative beats and production, they become very catchy. The typical repertoire of patterns consists of manipulated sounds (often but not always electronic), usually creating melody by pitch-bending (used to great effect in "Paper Planes"); vocal manipulation is used more infrequently. Some of the album's finer moments occur when sound effect samples are used, sometimes even as instruments; "Paper Planes" again is a prime example of this, as is "20 Dollar," which uses a gunshot in place of a snare drum. "Bird Flu" may be the best thing that M.I.A.'s style can produce, and that is no small compliment. The intro alone nearly knocks me out every time I hear it, and the beat is one of the best I've ever heard. While the album sags slightly at various times, it is never for lack of energy. The first four tracks represent Kala's best consistent stretch of material. Later on, "The Turn" is a change of pace that adds a feeling of completeness to the album; it features all of the trademark sounds of the rest of the songs, just slowed down and with a reduced intensity that isn't a bad thing in this case. The aforementioned "Paper Planes" holds its own against "Bird Flu" as the album's best track, and would have been the perfect ending to this album, even if it is a bit of a stylistic deviation. Unfortunately, M.I.A.'s collaboration with Timbaland, "Come Around," is stapled onto the end. Taken by itself as a track, it is quite enjoyable, but in the context of the album it really only subtracts. It may be that this collaboration and its inclusion are an attempt to win more attention from the North American mainstream consumers, and that wouldn't really be a bad thing. I'm not sure what M.I.A.'s popular potential is on this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific, since she originally hails from Sri Lanka), but so far in her young career she has done nothing but earn critical acclaim, and deservedly so.

12

Cryptograms
Deerhunter

The most incredible thing about Cryptograms is not merely elements that Deerhunter has combined and made sound like they were meant to be together, but that the dense ambient layering weaved between and through its twelve tracks is the best ambient music released in 2007. The album's first half alternates between wordless ambient pieces and slightly more structured song-like tracks, complete with the same drones and time-affected guitar as the others. This musical bliss culminates in the eleven and a half minutes that is "Octet" and "Red Ink." We need to pause here because this is easily one of the best extended passages of music from any album released in 2007. "Octet" builds gradually, with more and more dense layers of guitars and voices emerging from the depths of space, constantly carried by a pulsing bass line. All eventually breaks down into a stutter before an organ ushers in the start of "Red Ink," the second of two colourfully-titled ambient pieces on the album. The layers of sound, including a floating wordless voice and some filtered digital drones, that accompany the organ all swell beautifully to a conclusion of the album's first half. From this point on, the songs are much more structured thematically, rhythmically, and melodically, but there is a looseness to the recording and performances which kills a bit of the momentum built up through the previous eleven-plus minutes. This isn't as much of a problem during the opening bars of "Spring Hall Convert," but before long I found myself missing the style of Cryptogram's earlier tracks. It actually is two half-albums pasted end-to-end, and that's what it sounds like. My problem with the second half is not that it is weak or has any weak tracks, but that I feel as though it takes away from everything that the first half worked to establish. Had the entire album been filled out with material similar in style and quality to tracks 1 through 7, this album may have sneaked into my top five. As it remains, Cryptograms showcases Deerhunter's incredible talent for moulding pleasantly elaborate soundscapes and is definitely an excellent "ambient-punk" record, even if it is the only one I have ever heard.

11

Friend Opportunity
Deerhoof

It feels like more than eleven months ago that Deerhoof's Friend Opportunity became my most listened-to album of 2007 and my favourite album of January. But it wasn't a long enough time ago for me to forget why I fell in love with it in the first place. One of the defining features of Deerhoof for me is how they manage their sparse instrumental ensemble to create large sounds that seem packed into a very small space. For all its intricate drum work (which is certainly some of the best on this list), rhythmic complexities, and precision guitar lines, Friend Opportunity is one of the tightest albums on this list, providing a very efficient sound throughout each track. In order for this to be the case, you know that the compositions have to be solid. This sound is built on composition and interplay of instruments rather than walls of sound or ambient soundscapes. Though the structures are far from traditional, Deerhoof once again gives us a look at what pop might look like in another dimension or maybe just without the boundaries we have placed on it. Many of these songs are neat packages of bright melodies, but it is the rhythm with which they are carried that separates this style of pop from the rest. Some even sound like compressed or truncated prog-rock epics, such as "Whither the Invisible Birds?". The middle section of Friend Opportunity contains its best material, from the rhythmic crunch and excellent use of short chromatic sequences in the guitar lines of "Believe E.S.P." to the flowing expressiveness of "The Galaxist" to the complex harmonic structure and restless rhythms of "Cast Off Crown." The final three songs are nearly as good. The sparse vocal-and-drum-led "Kidz Are So Small" might turn off some, but its very playful and childlike sound emphasizes that side of Deerhoof that is somewhat neglected on this album compared to their previous work in favour for Friend Opportunity's generally more serious tone. What better example of this than closer "Look Away"—this dark, sparse, metamorphic, nearly twelve-minute epic is a definite departure from the typical Deerhoof song type, but if you follow the development closely, it may be the album's most captivating listen from start to finish. Like any other Deerhoof album, the uniqueness of the sound largely comes from the contrast between the explosive guitar work and expressive rhythms and Satomi Matsuzaki's soft, smooth, high vocals. This combination of sounds is interesting enough, but when the members are this creative and this skilled in crafting wonderful little packages of song, you are bound to hear brilliant record after brilliant record. And that is exactly what you can expect from Deerhoof.

10

Night Falls over Kortedala
Jens Lekman

"I picked up a seashell to illustrate my homelessness
But a crab crawled out of it, making it useless
And all my metaphors fell flat
Down on the rocks where we sat"

Jens Lekman's latest is the best straightforward pop record in a long time. Perhaps it is no mere coincidence that it sounds nothing like most pop records being made today. Its most unique feature is the contrast between the songs' syrupy instrumentations and Lekman's awkward honesty and down-to-earth, non-traditional approach to the traditional overwrought love song. Night Falls over Kortedala is fairly evenly divided between these love songs and songs that showcase Lekman's strong lyrical storytelling ability. But no matter what the subject of the lyrics is, Lekman's overdramatic, at times naive look at life reveals some humourous situations. The awkward story told in "A Postcard to Nina" sounds like it could have come straight out of a script for an unoriginal romantic comedy, but Lekman's telling of the story allows his own personality to shine through, making it feel fresh. This collection of songs is frontloaded, with three of the best pieces of pop music of the year starting things off. "And I Remember Every Kiss" is a wonderfully dramatic prelude to "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar," a song about an inability to leave the past behind. Both songs are beautifully orchestrated, and the melodies are convincing if only because of Lekman's passionate singing. "The Opposite of Hallelujah" mixes the storytelling elements with a bright pop music aesthetic to great effect, as it may be the album's most enjoyable song. Lekman sings about things no one else does, especially in pop songs; while one might expect the lyrics to a song entitled "Your Arms Around Me" to be fairly predictable, in this case this act results in an accident with a kitchen knife, a lot of blood, and a dream in a hospital waiting room after passing out from losing a lot of blood. The music of "Shirin" sounds like it should be the most straightforward love song on the album, but explicitly it is just about an immigrant hairdresser. After listening to some of Jens's work, you get to gain an understanding of his personality and some of the quirky things he does make a lot more sense. It is for this reason that all of these odd subjects and seemingly random lyrics integrate so well with his approach to pop music. Granted, not every song works so immediately or flawlessly. It is clear which songs were carved out of creative leftovers, but all things considered, even these are surprisingly well-crafted. But while these few tracks do hold this album back from much bigger things, Night Falls over Kortedala contains some of the best musical moments from 2007, and as a whole is the best pop album of the year.

9

Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem

"The worst is all the lovely weather
I'm stunned, it's not raining
The coffee isn't even bitter
Because what's the difference?"

On LCD Soundsystem's myspace page, their new album is described as sounding like "records that you used to hate but are kind of cool now that you heard them again years later at your friend's house." In many ways, it has a retro sound that makes this description somewhat fitting, but maybe that's part of what makes it so hip as well. Of course, that isn't to say that there's nothing cutting edge about it, especially the way that different genres are integrated so seamlessly. Sound of Silver works brilliantly as a dance, indie rock, and electronic record simultaneously, without really sacrificing greatness in any of those categories to make it all work. A striking quality about this record is the attention to detail in every second of tonal development and in the perfection of the tones themselves. In the opener, "Get Innocuous!" for example, subtle background pulses growing denser and more prominent, eventually carrying the rhythm of the song. Several tracks forsake the electronic elements altogether, such as early single "North American Scum," which represents dance rock at its playful best. These pieces all still showcase the same dedication to tone and compositional subtleties that demonstrate an excellent marriage of songwriting and production skill. However, the album doesn't really hit its stride until its two middle tracks. "Someone Great" quite simply might be the best song of the year. It was good when featured as an instrumental on 45:33, but now I never want to listen to it any other way. The vocal melody is mostly borrowed from an instrumental line anyway, but the lyrics are the album's most clever and most personal. The same could be argued for "All My Friends," which recalls old-time open-sounding, driving rock and roll in the vein of U2 and Bruce Springsteen. When I reach this point of the album, I consistently feel like I could be listening to the album of the year. It isn't that the album ends weakly, but the high points of the its midsection cannot be sustained throughout the remainder. The second half of the title track through to the end of "New York, I Love You, but You're Bringing Me Down" is a very suitable and satisfying conclusion, even featuring a very strong climax that is rare for a slowly-developing-and-never-quite-exploding album such as this. While it isn't a substantial improvement over the group's previous work, their best moments can be found somewhere in here, and with any luck we will hear more of LCD Soundsystem's consistently excellent output in the future.

8

Mirrored
Battles

"People won't be people when they hear the sound
That's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no, the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town?"

Mirrored has one of the better cover arts of any album I've heard this year, and that's not just because there's an Eden WT800 hybrid bass guitar amplifier to be found. The photographs on the front and inside covers truly are indicative of this record's sound: a bunch of traditional rock instruments along with loud amplifiers and speakers are thrown together into a room full of mirrors. The band is incredibly tight and explosive, due in no small part to drummer John Stanier, but still leads development of songs in a very controlled manner. In some ways, opener "Race : In" tells you almost everything you need to know about Battles, but in some ways it is a bit misleading. It shows a bit more of their straightforward math rock edge, but introduces us only casually to the vocals, which tangibly separate the sound of this full-length debut from the band's prior EPs. Apart from "Race : Out," Mirrored's other bookend, the rest of the album features a more experimental sound, particularly in the heavily-manipulated vocals. One of the most obvious examples is in "Leyendecker," which is also one of the interesting cases where Battles incorporates a pop aesthetic into their experimental rocking out, along with "Ddiamondd." The epic "Atlas" probably sums up everything good about Battles technically, but the true depth of their music isn't seen until later with "Rainbows" and especially "Bad Trails." In the latter, they adapt their sound to a relatively laidback type of track, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of something out of the Animal Collective catalogue; the result is probably my favourite song on the record. The tape-eating-monster intro to "Tij" is just one of many cases where Battles uses tape manipulation to create interesting sounds or textures. Not enough bands are making music that challenges our concepts of rock music aesthetics, and no band in recent years has done a better job of making such a progressive, bold, and experimental creative record that is this much fun to listen to.

7

Boxer
The National

"We expected something, something better than before
We expected something more
You were always weird, but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now
Walk away now, and you're gonna start a war"

Great songwriting can go a long way, perhaps farther than good musicianship. If I could only choose one of the two for the rest of my life, I'm not sure which I'd choose. A good song structure and cool notes are nice, but sometimes it's better just to hear a band full of really competent musicians working together like a team. Such a band can provide the subtle things like texture and rhythmic interplay that are better felt than heard. Thankfully, with The National, we have both great songwriting and an excellent band. As such, I think that Boxer is the kind of album that's going to grab most people in some way. It might not be the first time you hear it, but one or another of these songs is going to grab you, and it's going to be different for everybody. Even if the music doesn't capture you, some of the lyrics probably will. For me, I think it was the simple piano line from "Squalor Victoria." For someone else it might be the dense fog of strings that emerges during the choruses in "Mistaken for Strangers." For another, it could be the part where the drums come in on "Fake Empire," or Sufjan Stevens's guest piano work in the second half of "Ada." Maybe it's any one of singer Matt Berninger's witty, half-sarcastic quips about young life. Boxer is full of these kinds of moments that bring magic and feeling back to traditional songcraft. The drumming at times is understated and blends in, and at others is a focal point, carrying one piece of a complex rhythmic texture; such rhythms are integral to The National's sound. The vocal lines are never complex, and some seem longer than they should be. This style combines with Berninger's deep voice and almost lazy delivery to great effect to match the usual wryness of the lyrics. The guitar, strings, piano, and ever-subtle bass all play their own roles, and rarely come to the forefront, but each add immeasurably to the total sound of each and every song. The inconspicuousness of any given instrument at any given time is truly a marvel considering how great the music sounds, but it is not surprising considering how well each instrument's part fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. While they have been writing great songs for a while now, The National has now moved on from being a very good indie band to being one of the very best bands making music today.

6

Andorra
Caribou

"When she opens her eyes, she says she feels better
Now she's falling apart, and it's all in her mind
Her face falls as soon as she opens your letter
And when she tries, who knows what she will find?"

Andorra is probably my favourite summer album of 2007. That isn't to say that it was necessarily my favourite album that was released during the summer months, but it just sounds like summer to me—summer '60s without the rock, but still—and the "love song" theme of the album fits the bill as well. I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) this fall in Saskatoon. Unfortunately, I only briefly saw his head through the window at the restaurant/bar at which he was performing, because the show was sold out by the time I got there. I had been anticipating that show for some time (my reasons for getting to the venue so late are complicated), as Andorra was one of the first real contenders for album of the year for me. In fact, the path it followed through my top albums list was very similar to that of last year's So This Is Goodbye. (By the way, speaking of So This Is Goodbye, Andorra features Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan on the lovely pop song "She's the One.") Anyway, Andorra strikes early on "Melody Day," introducing the heavy psychedelic pop influence of Caribou's sound, which is decidedly more "pop" than it used to be. The unique sound is overflowing with a myriad of instruments and Snaith's own over-the-top percussion fills what little space there is left. Each song features excellent drums/percussion, a sort of old-style melody, and some electronic help to fill in the cracks of the pretty full instrumentation. One of Andorra's great strengths is that Caribou takes all of these common elements and makes completely different-sounding songs out of them each time. "Sundialing," one of the standout tracks, is one of the least transparent and most modern-sounding songs on the album. Its vocals are the most impressive, whether they are floating through the verses in melancholy as a supporting instrument or singing a digitally-drenched lament. "Niobe," Andorra's epic closer, is the one that is not like the others, but is also possibly the best track on here. This one is overwhelmingly digital, with short flashes of percussion only rarely bursting through the anxious wall of dark synth pulses. It takes a while to develop, but hits several climaxes along the way, usually with once-more digitally-enhanced unintelligible vocals whose glory cannot be described, but only heard. The ultimate climax is tensive, but not intense, mysterious but hopeful, incredible but over too soon.

5

Random Spirit Lover
Sunset Rubdown

"The pattern of flight is chaotic and blind
But it's right, 'cause chaos is yours and chaos is mine
And chaos is love and they say love is blind"

Sunset Rubdown is the only band represented on this list whose performance I have had the pleasure of witnessing live. And believe me, that show did not hurt their placement on this list. As expected, their sound is much better suited to a live experience if only because they worry so little about production on their recordings. Imagine this album with a clearer, more present drum sound and better instrument tone, turn it way up through a really good sound system and you'll get a good idea of what Sunset Rubdown is supposed to sound like. At any rate, this piece of plastic is what we have, and this is the same piece of plastic that made it into my top five even before I saw the band in concert. Random Spirit Lover is the most cinematic album on this list. It's also one of the most challenging, at least for the first little while. This album fought against me hard when I first listened to it; I saw that there was great magic happening, so I kept listening. Originally, I thought that the dense instrumentation and adventurous vocal melodies were just sort of thrown together on a whim—I do still think that the album suffers a bit from this—but now that the sounds have sunken in, most of them sound complex but purposeful. Spencer Krug and band have a unique structural style to their writing. Much of the material is built on snippets that use very unique vocals or guitar lines. These short passages are usually developed in layers, with each instrument playing a reasonably free line of melody. Sometimes they are put together in something like a cut-and-paste fashion, where the ideas are given too little time to develop and really grab the listener before doing a complete turn and going in a different direction. I think that this is why the album's sound is so challenging before you get used to it. If more care was taken to develop these brilliant musical ideas, this album could have been the best of the year. But the breathtaking moments are still breathtaking nonetheless. I never thought that the most enthralling listening experience of my life could occur during a sound check, but such may have been the case when the band jumped right into the early climax from "Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days." Yeah, it's pretty much a wall of sound, but it is one of the most intense things I have ever heard, and I almost could have gone home happy right at that moment. That happens to be my favourite song from Random Spirit Lover. The sequencing of the tracks, the building to unique climaxes within songs, and the epic quality of some of the mid-late songs are what make this album such a cinematic experience. Soft and developing sections are performed excellently, only outdone by the climactic intensity that is attained in some of the freshest ways I have ever heard. This album may be strikingly unrefined in its presentation, but as a result, the fact that it is such an enthralling listen speaks even more to the excellent raw music found within.

4

From Here We Go Sublime
The Field

Synesthesia is a rare condition in which the stimulation of one sense also evokes another. Many artists try to simulate this effect by appealing to unconscious cross-sensory connections each of us have developed in our minds—at least they should. I'm not sure what particular sensations Axel Willner had in mind for his debut album as The Field, but I never thought that I would experience an album quite like I have experienced From Here We Go Sublime. If an expertly painted piece of canvas can make you smell a flower or feel wind blowing in your hair, then this music can let you lift right out of you chair, soar high above the clouds, and, as one reviewer from now-defunct Stylus Magazine put it, know some of God's thoughts. At first, it was a little hard to get used to the same few bars repeating over and over again in each song, but now I am so very glad they do. I can't explain it, but every time the chord changes in any one of these songs, it is a special moment, and it never gets old. Each song is composed with its own unique textures and colours, which really helps prevent the album from becoming a tedious listen. I am amazed to think that when I first heard this album, I didn't think the songs really went anywhere. The development may be gradual and subtle, but at the end of each track it always feels like I'm in a better place than I was at the beginning, like every mood of the music has become stronger with time. What really sets From Here We Go Sublime apart from other albums of this type is the warmth and life breathed into every track. The sound is never sterile and cold but is always inviting and organic. The tones Willner uses are very rich, and each seems to have its own personality, for lack of a better word. It doesn't hurt that every track is equally strong, either, though at times one mood might be more preferable than another. "A Paw in My Face" and "From Here We Go Sublime" are two of my personal favourites. They have very different moods, but fundamentally are quite similar in the slow stuttering of sounds and the chords that alternate through the songs' primary sections. The worst part about using this album to sleep to is that you will rarely make it to the end to hear the title track. But the best part is that if you ever did, it would be totally worth your time not only to hear the eerie glitchy conclusion, but for the whole experience and the sensual journey on which this album took you.

3

In Rainbows
Radiohead

"I am a moth who just wants to share your light
I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you because there are no others"

The pre-release hype of In Rainbows was to be expected for many obvious reasons. Over the past twelve years, Radiohead had released a stunning five consecutive masterpiece LPs, and was considered by many to be the greatest band of the last several decades. This thought is increasingly hard for me to deny when I consider that my #3 album of 2007 might rank anywhere from the band's third-best to second-worst among their seven albums. It's a fair assessment that In Rainbows lacks the quality "the-world-is-ending-but-I-don't-care-because-I'm-in-heaven" peaks of their other albums, but it is overall a more consistent effort than 2001's Amnesiac and 2003's Hail to the Thief. In fact, this consistency is what sets this record apart from many other outstanding records that were released in the stellar year of music that 2007 was. I have seen a person call "All I Need" and "Faust Arp" the two weakest songs on the album, while another person has said that they are the two strongest. That there is nothing close to a consensus about better or worse tracks on this album speaks to the potential for widespread appeal that In Rainbows has, which is greater than any of their albums at least in the last decade and maybe ever. Sonically, it is hard to tell whether In Rainbows is a step backwards or forwards in time. In many ways, it sounds as though it would fit right between 1997's OK Computer and 2000's Kid A. In fact, the dazzlingly beautiful standout "Nude" was written over ten years ago. The instrumentation is more traditional also, with real guitars and drums playing larger roles and electronics playing a minor supporting role. Indeed, Radiohead doesn't really break any new territory here, but it really doesn't feel like a step backward because they do many things just as well as they always have: on the whole, In Rainbows has a more powerful emotional depth than Radiohead have been able to create in a long time. While they don't make quite as much use of them as they used to, they are still masters of the climax; "All I Need" and "Jigsaw Falling into Place" both have moments where the band builds to a glorious intensity, but on this album these moments are usually more atmospheric than simply loud. Whether through the minimalistic verses of "Nude" or the thick guitar layers of "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," Thom Yorke's trademark ghostly vocals soar and play a more instrumental role than they have since "I Will" and Kid A before that. Much of In Rainbows seems to have been crafted to make good use of this aspect of his singing style. This album introduces two of their most laidback songs to the Radiohead catalogue in "House of Cards" and "All I Need." Even though the style of these songs is different from what we're used to hearing from the band, they sound like they're right at home, and I think Radiohead pull it off better than any other band could. The lyrical content of these songs reaches back to the relationship-focused lyrics of sophomore album The Bends more than anything, but clearly are being sung from a different perspective now, twelve years later. That is kind of what this whole album is about. Radiohead is still Radiohead, but they have grown, and In Rainbows is like a look at Radiohead through different eyes, in different colours, from a higher height. It is for these reasons that "Videotape" is the perfect song to end this album. As long as it isn't the end of their career, I will be happy.

2

Person Pitch
Panda Bear

"Coolness is having courage
Courage to do what's right
Try to remember always
Just to have a good time"

I read recently that Panda Bear likes music that sounds "drenched," but I think that anyone who heard this record had already figured that out. There is no better word to describe the way he uses reverb to make the sound heavier than it really is, to make notes and phrases sway and collide with one another as if they were riding in undercurrents or on waves. The immediate obvious comparison is Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys; Panda Bear's melodies draw heavy influence from the band and that era, but he takes it in a completely different direction. There is no doubting that some of the material could easily be crafted into excellent pop songs. But why do something that has already been done? Panda Bear is miles ahead of just about everybody when it comes to sound experimentation, and he proves it over and over again throughout Person Pitch. Unlike many other albums, Person Pitch's atmosphere is more than just an enhancer of songs; it is as integral a part of each song as anything else. However, this record's most astonishing accomplishment is the incorporation of the values of beautiful pop music with these atmospheric textures. The biggest difference between this and typical pop records is that Panda Bear develops his songs with virtually no chord progression. Songs move forward with expanding sound and fluid vocal melodies rather than by emotive changes of harmonic context. Still, it is very impressive how he can avoid having the melodies sound bland, something that seems like it would be unavoidable when composing in such a way. The result of Panda Bear's melodic wizardry and stunning production sense on "Bros" is like a pleasure centre overload. In fact, the whole album is. "I'm Not" begins with one of the most beautiful sounds that I have ever heard, and thankfully it is repeated throughout the song above a vocal melody that is continuously being stretched and pulled in different directions as it provides the album's first real sense of tonal progression. As these sounds sink away and fade out of existence, we are met with a thud that ushers in a rhythmic freak-out to begin "Good Girl/Carrots," Person Pitch's longest and most varied track. The first third is probably the most inaccessible stretch on the album, but suddenly, the most laidback, infectious pop bursts forth out of nowhere. The last third represents yet another transformation, and yet another great piece of "drenched" pop music. The vocal melodies almost do it all themselves here while Panda Bear aptly sings, "Listen in between your notes / There's something been going on." "Search for Delicious" is a sweetly mysterious ambient chill-out where there is again a bit of chord movement. A high vocal line joins in just like another instrument, immersed in time-based effects while it seems to transcend time itself, floating dreamlike above everything else that seems to matter just a little bit less. The perfection with which Panda Bear crafts these soundscapes really is remarkable—almost frightening. The level of his ability can only be hazily inferred by listening to Animal Collective records (he is one of four members of the band), but here he takes everything to a whole new level. With complete control over every aspect of the sound and songwriting, he exhibits mastery over every tone, melodic wave, and texture with elegance and the mind of both a pop genius and expert producer. When you listen to Person Pitch, you get the feeling that there is no way this record could have been created by committee; it is too unified, too meticulously crafted second-by-second to have been a product of battling or even cooperating minds. I cannot think of a better name for this album—if it can't be called "perfect," then "person" is the next word I would have to choose.

1

Strawberry Jam
Animal Collective

"It's the trees of this day that I do battle with for the light
Then I start to feel tragic, people greet me, I'm polite
'What's the day?' 'What are you doing?' 'How's your mood?' 'How's that song?'
Man, it passes right by me, it's behind me, now it's gone."

My Animal Collective epiphany came this past summer. I'd already spun AC member Panda Bear's Person Pitch a few times and liked what I heard, and I had listened to their 2005 album, Feels, once or twice last year. It happened just a few weeks before I had the chance to lay ears on Strawberry Jam. It was a beautiful summer day, and some friends and I were headed out to the lake to enjoy a secluded day at the beach. Being the asocial, rude, music fanatic that I am, I was in my own little world in the van that day as the magic of Feels finally sank in. I wanted to let everyone know, like I had discovered a secret that needed to be shared, and I think I might have tried, but in the end it didn't really matter. If I was the only one who "got" it, all the better. So when I learned, however later than I should have, about the approaching release of a new Animal Collective album, I was expecting big things, even though I have a terrible record with having high anticipation. Fortunately, "Peacebone" knocked me flat, and I never recovered. Animal Collective have always been great innovators, and could always manage to make sounds and combinations of musical elements you had never heard or never thought to put together. In Strawberry Jam, they move away from the sprawling drone songs that worked so well for them in past albums, choosing instead more traditional song structures, letting great melodies lead the way. Panda Bear lends bouncy African melodies to "Chores" and "Derek," but the greatest tracks are Avey's. "Peacebone," for example, sounds like it could have had its origins as a pop song before this band got their hands on it. A bouncy rhythm and tapestry of sliced blips carry the verse and are joined in the chorus by melodious steel drums to sound brighter than the band ever has. But Avey's vocal melody on that chorus is nothing short of perfection. Believe me, this isn't an isolated case. It seems that in every song he sings, he has some perfect climactic melody, an answer to whatever challenging foundation the rest of the group has laid down. An astounding quality of this album is in the lyrics, which actually have considerable depth in "Unsolved Mysteries," "For Reverend Green," and "Fireworks." "For Reverend Green" sounds like its background guitar and drums could have come straight out of Feels. Avey's performance is very dynamic in this very song-like standout track. You might say the same thing about "Fireworks," which follows as one of Animal Collective's most accessible songs. Much of its accessibility stems from the realness of its lyrics; Avey sings about "dreaming of just you" and "that sacred night where we watched the fireworks," some new territory for the band. There are stunning musical moments to be found almost anywhere you try to look. In the second half, the chorus of "Winter Wonder Land" shows a mix of energy, sound experimentation and pop sensibility that ranks among the most euphoric song sections of the year. Likewise, the sudden explosiveness of the drums in "Cuckoo Cuckoo" demonstrate how to use dynamics and space to make a song interesting without having to rely on complicated musical passages or development time. For that matter, Strawberry Jam should show a lot of people how to do a lot of things. I feel extremely lucky to have fallen in love with Feels when I did because there was no adjustment or appreciation period required for Strawberry Jam—the impact was immediate and convincing. Animal Collective use almost every key ingredient to great music to craft these nine excellent songs, but these ingredients alone are not what makes this album so incredible. It is how the four group members bring these ingredients together and mix them perfectly in new and exciting ways. It really was the year of Animal Collective, with both Panda Bear and the full band releasing outstanding records, and how fitting it is that their collective effort, Strawberry Jam, should be honoured with the title of Best Album of 2007.

At times this endeavour felt like a bit of a chore. I take things like this too seriously and put more time and effort into them than is proportional to the expected rewards. However, I was once again astonished and intimidated (being a musician myself) by the volume of quality music being produced these days, especially the amount that goes undetected and unappreciated even by the majority of avid music listeners. While I know that I stepped far beyond reasonability in the amount of time I put into dissecting these albums (listening to many of them 50 times or more) and writing this monstrous post, I do not regret it. The experience of rewarding listens was worth it, and music is so much more than a pastime for me that the influence many of these albums have had on me is likely to play a significant part in my recreational and professional future.

As for you, the reader, I hope that the music you love has a similarly positive an impact on your own life. If, however, you find that the music you once enjoyed has lost its effect on you over time, know that there is enough excellent music out there to satisfy anyone if they let it. I hope that my at least one of my recommendations will inspire you to search for yourself or to give one of these records a spin. Even if this list never reaches or impacts anyone other than myself, I feel that it was a worthwhile year in music for me. While I certainly won't approach next year with quite the ambition with which I came into January, 2007 (for weariness if nothing else), I look forward to another adventure in sound over the next twelve months. With that in mind, stay tuned for my next list; I guarantee that it will contain fewer than 12,000 words.