I'll be the first to tell you that 2007 was a year that I spent considerably little time waiting anxiously
for new music to emerge hot off the presses. I augmented my vinyl collection like no other this year (related post with bad
news coming soon). That isn't to say that music isn't at a bad place right now, its just in a vortex of oversaturation. There
are not enough hours in the day to sit back and absorb even just the "best new music" column on Pitchfork. My favorites from
this year, both in singles and in albums, are a scattershot but highly likeable mix of left-field hits and pleasant surprises.
ALBUM
I don't have a favorite album of 2007. I did way too little footwork with actually sitting down and taking in
an entire LP from start to finish, at least as far ast 2007 went. There were a couple that did stand out for me, given my
oversight of what many critics jacked off this year (Sound of Silver? Strawberry Jam?).
One album that did very pleasantly surprise me this year was Ash's apparently final studio full-length Twilight of the
Innocents. Ash has been one of my favorite bands since I was about 13, and their previous album Meltdown was a
misstep in the classic Sandinista!-style misstep. I defended the band against their dud in my college's art magazine,
and surely enough three years later they swung right around (sans the ridiculously talented Charlotte Hatherley- more on her
later) and delivered the power pop that Tim Wheeler is capable of. "Blacklisted" and "Polaris" are included on this playlist.
For those of you who know me and my weird music tastes, you may say that I like my music noisy and I like it Scottish, usually
not in that order. One of the most ear-numbingly good shows I saw this year was The Twilight Sad. They're incredibly noisy
and incredibly Scottish, and their album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters delivers, complete with beautiful 50's
retro-packaging. Frontman James Graham doesn't even try to hide his thick accent. Righteous! I've included one of the songs
on there among my best singles of the year, so look below.
I also really liked the Dinosaur Jr reunion album Beyond. It was actually so good, I think they've avoided the "nostalgia
act" label entirely that people were afraid would follow J, Lou, and Murph into this new millenium. Their late-80's heyday
isn't even necessarily a heyday, considering how they're still incredibly relevant, given how solid this record is. Plus,
there's that whole "J Mascis is probably the best guitarist of the last 25 years" thing they have going for them. Sebawho?.
I'll even forgive the guys for nearly deafening me in New Orleans a few weeks ago. Check out my two favorite cuts "Almost
Ready" and "We're Not Alone" on the playlist.
Haha-Fart/Romance pop-punk legends The Queers, against tons of conventional expectations, put out a pretty good record, too,
called Munki Brain. Not one of the greatest, I just think Joe Queer needs more attention now that he's pushed 40 and
still tours his ass off. "Houston We Have a Problem" (on playlist) and "I Can't Stay Mad at You" are both great.
SINGLES
Plenty of good songs, even if no "album" proper really won my heart and soul. The best song of the year, and
maybe in contention for second-best of the whole damn decade (The Streets' "Don't Mug Yourself" is my favorite, in case anyone
was wondering) is a song by a hyper-hyped quintet from Jacksonville called Black Kids. "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend
How to Dance with You" channels the superficially great girl group mentality (this high school social is awkward!)
through Bright Eyes (if they weren't so damn depressed). Fro'd leader Reggie Youngblood strikes a vein with this one, and
the shout-along chorus completely seals it.
The Twilight Sad, the scottish noise-pop quartet I talked about above, also nailed it this year with a building, sprawling,
crashing, beautiful single called "And She Would Darken the Memory." (That's meant to be read with a Scottish brogue...go
back and do it again). Anyway, this comes in a very close second to my pick for best single, and is easily in the top 5 of
my favorite songs of the decade so far. [Really dumb of me to forget it when writing this column the first time up...I seriously
thought it came out in '06. D'oh.]
Los Campesinos! You! Me! Dancing! Unbridled enthusiasm! Kickass eclectic instrumentation! Sounds like twee pop with
balls! Hilarious! Exclamation points! I'd kill to see this performed live!
What else? Dan Deacon, a chubby ubergeek
from Baltimore with an ingenius electronic-trash setup (just watch this video to the right) was my single favorite show I
saw all year. His live performances are something everyone should experience in their lifetime. Quality adrenaline.
His song "Crystal Cat" has found its way into my brain on repeat. It's like british drum-n-bass, but written by Lewis
Carroll. Think Aphex Twin mixed with Ween and damn life-affirming.
I mentioned the Irish rocker Charlotte Hatherley earlier. She is awesome. And, dare I say (and Jake and I did say
on the Christmas special of "The Big Takeover" before playing her single), unconventionally hot. She left Ash because she
was gaining too much solo-steam, yet somehow hasn't broken through in the states yet. Wait...I've been saying that about Ash
for over ten years now. Check out "Behave."
Aesop Rock, everyone's favorite ambiguously Jewish long islander
turned rap impresario/genius left a lasting impression on me a few years ago with Bazooka Tooth. His album this year
None Shall Pass is good but nothing spectacular. Fortunately, the title track is pretty awesome. Blockhead does
some good snap/click/stomp production on it. Kudos!
The Animal Collective are pretty talented as brainstormers and hype-getters, don't get me wrong... but, let me put
their experimental indie pop into perspective. Imagine if Superman, perfectly capable of saving lives and bettering mankind,
chose to use his superpowers more often to build really cool Stonehenge-style mountains out of Ford Windstars. Then, every
couple of years, the writers and Pitchfork forced you to stare at the piles of cars, convincing you that you were some philistine
for not appreciating how awesome these piles of scrap metal were. That's the Animal Collective (also from B-more originally)
in a nutshell for you. They have the capacity to make awesome pop singles completely within their creative framework, such
as "The Purple Bottle" and "Grass" from Feels in '05, and "Peacebone" and "Bros" both among my favorite
singles from 2007 (the latter being a solo track by Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox that is entirely too long in its original cut
but still Brian Wilsonly beautiful). Too bad most of their album tracks are pretentious schlock half of the time.
And
James Murphy, aka LCD Soundsystem, that unintentional king of the hipsters, made an album called The Sound of Silver
that my housemate owns but I've been too lazy to borrow and make a sincere effort to appreciate. He has some song on it called
"All My Friends." It's pretty good. Actually, it's great. It just doesn't need my endorsement (None of these last three
do). I just wanted to include it because I can't get it out of my damn head, but that's not a bad thing. Damn you, James Murphy.
"Losing your edge" my ass!
I got back from Orlando the other day. I'm well aware that I'm long overdue for my compulsory "Best of 2007"
entry, which I'll unleash in a day or two. But for now, I thought I'd write for a bit about Disney World. I for one, don't
have plans to go back there until I have kids of my own. The thing about Disney is, as interested of a human spectacle as
it is, it does bring out the misanthrope in me. My cynicism did get to the best of my ex-girlfriend (sorry to her, and anyone
who caught the tail end of it upon my return). What really makes Walt Disney World worth the excessive admission, pain in
the ass families with 9-year-old kids in strollers, and food and accessories that suck money out of your ass, are the rides.
The attractions aka immaculately choreographed performance spectacles are okay, too. Before I get to the main attraction,
here is my short list of the best rides at Disney.
1. SPLASH MOUNTAIN As far as rides based off of arguably racist movies go, this one kicks ass. A giant flume that broadcasts screams halfway across Frontierland is reinforced with an excellently
oriented storyscape of animatronic animals all around the caverns and the scenery. Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox, considering how
little people know about them today, make pretty interesting characters. Something about a laughing place? I don't know, deal
with the crowds on a hot day. From what I understand, Jim "Ernest" Varney shot a promo video for the ride when it first opened,
and it left him bewildered, fitting right into his dramatic range.
2. THE HAUNTED MANSION This is a very close second. Every time I go on this, I'm more impressed. Every section
has something memorable about it. When I was a kid, I loved the bewildered old man with his dog's leash in one hand and a
lantern in the other, standing at the gates of the cemetery. This time around, the ballroom scene (dancing phantasms, one
hell of a use of mirrors) reminded me why I love this ride. Not to mention, they hired the creepiest drama majors available
to work the entry onto the ride. Vincent Price would be proud.
3. EXPEDITION EVEREST The Animal Kingdom is horribly designed and something of a disappointment unless you're claustrophilic,
but this ride almost justifies that park's existence. The gigantic Yeti is particularly badass, and aerodynamically, this
is probably the smoothest, most enjoyable roller coaster I've been on. The 'mountain' itself is an engineering marvel as it
is.
MOST UNDERRATED RIDE The People Mover, Tomorrowland (Magic Kingdom) I don't think that even on a busy
day we had to wait to get on this thing. It's a relatively smooth ride that covers the whole circumference of Tomorrowland,
so you can lord over the 2-hour Space Mountain line that you're not waiting in, see the go-kart speedway, pass through the
'launching pad' of Space Mountain, and people watch with the best of them. Highly recommended if you have any downtime whatsoever
or any desire for a cool breeze.
Alright, enough with that crap. Here's the main attraction of any southern landmark:
THE MULLETS OF DISNEY, NEW YEAR'S EDITION
How endearing is this? That kid is going to have some wonderful stories to tell his parents and the cops when they recover
him.
This man looks particularly distraught that he forgot to TiVo that rockumentary on .38 Special.
I don't know if this kid's actually from Japan and has no grasp of irony, or he has some rare disease that makes the back
of his hair grow 2x as fast as the sides. At any rate, I laughed for a solid two minutes.
Doesn't really know where he is. All he knows is that he's got another perm appointment on Saturday.
This guy doesn't have a mullet, but he's holding a keytar. Strange how he blends in. I won't say what band he's in, but
they're one of the most handsomely paid cover bands in the world, I'd guess.
I sincerely hope you've all enjoyed my mulletography. I'll talk to you again, soon.
One album that did very pleasantly surprise me this year was Ash's apparently final studio full-length Twilight of the
Innocents. Ash has been one of my favorite bands since I was about 13, and their previous album Meltdown was a
misstep in the classic Sandinista!-style misstep. I defended the band against their dud in my college's art magazine,
and surely enough three years later they swung right around (sans the ridiculously talented Charlotte Hatherley- more on her
later) and delivered the power pop that Tim Wheeler is capable of. "Blacklisted" and "Polaris" are included on this playlist.
I also really liked the Dinosaur Jr reunion album Beyond. It was actually so good, I think they've avoided the "nostalgia
act" label entirely that people were afraid would follow J, Lou, and Murph into this new millenium. Their late-80's heyday
isn't even necessarily a heyday, considering how they're still incredibly relevant, given how solid this record is. Plus,
there's that whole "J Mascis is probably the best guitarist of the last 25 years" thing they have going for them. Sebawho?.
I'll even forgive the guys for nearly deafening me in New Orleans a few weeks ago. Check out my two favorite cuts "Almost
Ready" and "We're Not Alone" on the playlist.
Haha-Fart/Romance pop-punk legends The Queers, against tons of conventional expectations, put out a pretty good record, too,
called Munki Brain. Not one of the greatest, I just think Joe Queer needs more attention now that he's pushed 40 and
still tours his ass off. "Houston We Have a Problem" (on playlist) and "I Can't Stay Mad at You" are both great.
The Twilight Sad, the scottish noise-pop quartet I talked about above, also nailed it this year with a building, sprawling,
crashing, beautiful single called "And She Would Darken the Memory." (That's meant to be read with a Scottish brogue...go
back and do it again). Anyway, this comes in a very close second to my pick for best single, and is easily in the top 5 of
my favorite songs of the decade so far. [Really dumb of me to forget it when writing this column the first time up...I seriously
thought it came out in '06. D'oh.]
Los Campesinos! You! Me! Dancing! Unbridled enthusiasm! Kickass eclectic instrumentation! Sounds like twee pop with
balls! Hilarious! Exclamation points! I'd kill to see this performed live! 
I mentioned the Irish rocker Charlotte Hatherley earlier. She is awesome. And, dare I say (and Jake and I did say
on the Christmas special of "The Big Takeover" before playing her single), unconventionally hot. She left Ash because she
was gaining too much solo-steam, yet somehow hasn't broken through in the states yet. Wait...I've been saying that about Ash
for over ten years now. Check out "Behave."
The Animal Collective are pretty talented as brainstormers and hype-getters, don't get me wrong... but, let me put
their experimental indie pop into perspective. Imagine if Superman, perfectly capable of saving lives and bettering mankind,
chose to use his superpowers more often to build really cool Stonehenge-style mountains out of Ford Windstars. Then, every
couple of years, the writers and Pitchfork forced you to stare at the piles of cars, convincing you that you were some philistine
for not appreciating how awesome these piles of scrap metal were. That's the Animal Collective (also from B-more originally)
in a nutshell for you. They have the capacity to make awesome pop singles completely within their creative framework, such
as "The Purple Bottle" and "Grass" from Feels in '05, and "Peacebone" and "Bros" both among my favorite
singles from 2007 (the latter being a solo track by Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox that is entirely too long in its original cut
but still Brian Wilsonly beautiful). Too bad most of their album tracks are pretentious schlock half of the time.
1. SPLASH MOUNTAIN
2. THE HAUNTED MANSION
3. EXPEDITION EVEREST
