MOG

10: VHS or Beta - Bring On The Comets I heard the fantastic single Can't Believe A Single Word on a music industry compilation earlier this year and it was one of the few tracks that made me go "hang on a minute" and dig up the package to see what I was listening to. Afterwards, I had to check out the record, which was full of admittedly similar sounding high octane dance-rock thrillers. Recommend: The "doo doo doo" harmonies of She Says and the outrageously good Fall Down Lightly, in which the Kentucky band does an incredible job recalling the Britpop golden years.
9: Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Trip The Light Fantastic A record many people were quick to dismiss out of the gate based upon previous track record and cool factor, this is actually a great pop record. Unlike her previous work, this is an album featuring strength in depth, where the singles are - critically and unfortunately - not necessarily the stronger tracks on the record. Though there are a couple of misses, there are still enough tracks here which rank not only among her best work, but sit also as great atmospheric pop songs. Recommend: The contrasting upbeat tempo of If You Go and slow burning What Have We Started which open and close out the second half of the album respectively.
8: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver I suppose the difficulty with making a list based upon your favourite albums of the year as opposed to the best albums of the year is that a record that might well sit at number 1 on almost any other list ends up at number 8. Arguably, seeing LCD play before Arcade Fire at Randall's Island in October was one of the best, if not the best gigs I saw this year. This speaks nothing of an album which keeps you moving from start until just about near the finish, where it lets off with the hugely sentimental New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, frankly a song that at moments can fit anyone who's lived here. The rest of the record is nonstop fun, an album which would sit just as well at a nightclub as a houseparty, or with a small get together of friends or driving alone in the car on a late night. Some of us even get to hear it in the office! Recommend: James Murphy's silliness hits a pinnacle on Time To Get Away, while the title track Sound of Silver recalls the Chemical Brothers at their finest.
7: Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers Definitely a record I'm in the minority championing, this is the album the Manics should have made 6 years ago when they promised a "back to basics" rock album that would shake up all of those rock fans the Manics used to have in the palms of their hands. Instead, they gave us the laclustre Know Your Enemy. This time, they followed up the beautiful pop melodies of 2004's Lifeblood with an album full of bounce up and down, sing along, air drumming anthems. Indian Summer obviously recalls mega-hit A Design For Life, but the title track opener and album closer Winterlovers reminds us that the Manics have - at points - retained the energy and fervour that made so many of us love them in the first place. Recommend: The Second Great Depression, a song so enormous sounding a stadium hasn't been built big enough yet, and Slash-inspired guitar riffing plus political banter of Send Away The Tigers.
6: Nicole Atkins - Neptune City A latecomer to the top 10, I discovered Nicole Atkins (and her backing band The Sea) opening for The Pipettes at their rescheduled New York show in November. It was blatantly a show that I went to for no other reason than my sheer out and out love of the headlining band (see last year's lists!) and worked late so that I presumably wouldn't have to deal with the opening bands. Fortunately, I still got to see Nicole Atkins play, and the show was so incredible the only thing I was thinking the whole time was that I had to go straight to the merch table as soon as it was over to make sure I could get her new album. Sonically, this record doesn't jump around a ton, showcasing Atkins' voice with many of the songs built around lush 60s-esque strings and percussion arrangements. Lyrically, much of the record recalls a sentimental loathing and nostalgia for small-town America juxtaposed with a big city awareness, something I certainly can relate to. Recommend: The 1-2 punch of the Motown inspired Maybe Tonight and the slow-building string-laden bombast of Together We're Both Alone.
5: Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! The last two SFA records haven't set my world alight, so it was with some trepidation that I approached their newest offering late this summer. But from the clever 43 second opener The Gateway Song through the punchy singles and into the meat of the album, this is a classic Super Furries record in the sense that it switches gears through the varying degrees of weirdness so quickly you can't help but enjoy the ride. And the difference between this and their more recent work is that it retains the pop sensibilities that made them great throughout. Definitely their best work since Rings Around The World and possibly even more. Recommend: This album is a winner owing to the remarkable 9 minutes in the middle third comprising Neo Consumer, Into The Night and the frenetic Baby Ate My Eightball. But Suckers, buried late on, is the band's best ballad since Demons over ten years ago.
4: Interpol - Our Love To Admire I've said over and over again that Interpol were the one band that never made sense to me until I listened to them in the context of New York City. So it is apt that they released a new album just over a week after I moved here. Soon after I saw the band's so-called crowning performance at a mostly full Madison Square Garden, but Interpol were always about more than a live show so I can't claim that as a turning point in loving this album. Simply put, the band employed a much wider soundscape than they had on albums previous in making this record, took some chances, and sometimes it paid off in big fashion. This is not a start-to-finish classic, but some of the band's best work is buried in this album and given their previous track record, that ought to be saying something. Recommend: The gear-shifting quiet/loud dramatics of Pace Is The Trick, which provides a nice contrast to Rest My Chemistry, a straightforward worn-out hangover masterpiece.
3: Wir sind Helden - Soundso Much of the focus around Soundso has been that simply it is not as good as its predecessor, 2005's Von hier an blind. Frankly, that can only be construed as missing the point as that record was one of the most astonishing and intelligent records of this decade in music, and of all time as far as non-English speaking indie-rock is concerned. Most of Soundso sits more than comfortably among the arsenal of the Heroes back catalogue, and with three more solid singles there is plenty here to suggest that in time there will be a richly deserved "best of" on the way. In fact, there is only one major mis-step on Soundso and that is when the band ventures into the English-titled The Geek (Shall Inherit) and becomes woefully pedestrian. The sparkling moments of this record, live favourite Die Konkurrenz and third single Kaputt stand alongside anything the band has done, and the still wittily poetic nature of Judith Holofernes' lyrics have shown that her foot is still on the pedal and the band have not slipped into cruise control. The critics are wrong: the next album is for all the marbles. Recommend: The tender Labyrinth and Hände hoch, fine contrasts to the aforementioned Die Konkurrenz.
2: Mason Proper - There Is A Moth In Your Chest This is an album it's almost impossible to write about simply through working with and accompanying the band through so much. I don't want to be that person that acclaims some local band that no one knows about, so it's with some pride that this year has seen the boys from Michigan's index finger take on Monolith and CMJ festivals, live sessions for WOXY, KEXP and CMJ, countless tours and live appearances all of which - when viewed in rooms completely, half, and barely full - still reminded me of how far they had come since doing an acoustic set on someone's student radio show years back. But what of the actual album? It's what happens when someone with youthful exuberance and limitless energy gets 13 ideas and sees those ideas through to completion. Say what you will about the music industry and all that encompasses it, but the biggest fault it had in 2007 is that you probably haven't heard this record. Recommend: The anti-aging 100 Years strikes a chord for anyone who's young and ambitious and wants everyone to know about it, while Life's Cornucopia is possibly as beautiful as a 3 minute pop song gets.
1: Pharoahe Monch - Desire Who am I? I'm the poetical pastor Slave to a label but I own my masters Still get it poppin' without artist & repertoire 'Cos Monch is a monarch only minus the A & R

In an era where mediocre lyrists of all genres are celebrated to the tunes of millions of dollars and subpar CDs are churned out annually amid undeserving fanfare, the tribulations of Pharoahe Monch up to the release of this year's Desire stick out like a sore thumb. One of the most richly talented lyricists of his generation sat mainly idle for 8 years between albums, ghost-writing for other artists here and there and popping up on compilations while label wrangling and disapproving A & R men rejected his life's work.

This is, of course, normal - and to be fair, a lot of albums that come out, especially in today's hip hop world would have been rejected by A & R men were they actually interested in delivering great records. But Monch plays a different game - as an intelligent rapper, he spent that time determined to make his perfect record. Desire is not a hip hop album that's about "the game." This is a hip hop album that draws from multiple inspirations, from the Motown inspired single Body Baby to the classic rock guitar solos that amplify that same song, the R & B grooves of the Erykah Badu assisted Hold On and So Good and the horn-blaring street level hip hop of Let's Go.

Lyrically, this is nothing less than a masterpiece. Much has been made of Monch's ability to roll out double (and in some case triple) entendres, and as an MC he uses this skill to tackle not only his label issues but also the more political no-go territories for mainstream rappers such as poverty, Africa, the Iraq war, gun control, AIDS, racism and government conspiracies. It's no coincidence there are many references to slavery worked in amongst the political and emotional issues he tackles on Desire, but what can be said is that with the long awaited release of his second solo album, his former masters have been well and truly owned.

Recommend: In addition to the unbelievably catchy singles, Free which kickstarts the album, and Bar Tap, which is not too dissimilar to Mos Def's Ms. Fatbooty both showcase his immense lyrical ability. The title track, however, is probably one of the standout hip hop tracks of the decade.

Posted on 12/24/2007