My Ten Favorite Records of 2007

The year's just about up, so I guess it's about time I posted the list of my favorite records of 2007. I hope you find it useful and/or entertaining.

10. Baroness- The Red Album
I've yelled about Baroness quite a bit on this blog, and for good reason. They combine the technicality of Mastodon with the melodic sense of Pelican, two other great bands whose music I enjoy tremendously. As far as metal in '07 goes, Baroness get my pick for best record in the genre.

9. Matthew Dear- Asa Breed
The weird, multitracked vocals, goofy arrangements, and occasionally-infantile lyrics ("Love is such a tricky thing/can include diamond rings" gaaaack) may be offputting to some, but those who stick with this record beyond the obvious hit "Deserter" will find a surprisingly deep record from a guy better known for his impenetrable techno than for his vulnerable pop songs.

8. Gui Boratto- Chromophobia
The title of this album seems a bit of a misnomer to me- I hear color splashed all over each and every track. From the icy blue sheen of album-opener "Mr. Decay" to the warm earth tones of "Acrostico" and the brilliant, iridescent hues of "Beautiful Life," this is techno painted with the brush of a master (to excuse the somewhat overwrought metaphor).

7. Efterklang- Parades
INTENNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE! is basically the easiest way to describe this record. Imagine a Sufjan Stevens record with genuine sturm und drang instead of puppydog eyes and ballads about cancer. The whole record builds and builds and builds until the final release and redemption of the final track. It can be exhausting, but then so can great sex.

6. The Besnard Lakes- Are The Dark Horse
It seems like most of the press about these guys spent more time playing up their Arcade Fire connections than their actual music, which is a sad oversight. The Besnard Lakes write spacious, echoey jams featuring equal parts Pink Floyd, Mercury Rev, and Built To Spill. It is a delicious pastry.

5. Justice- †
The surge in Daft Punk-influenced techno this year is due largely to this monstrous record (deemed a monster by both its fans and detractors). Huge, hypercompressed riffs, cut-up vocal samples, and a balls-to-the-wall aesthetic that initially seems more appropriate for an AC/DC concert than a club full of drunken Germans. If you've managed to go this entire year without hearing †, you should probably pay more attention.

4. Burial- Untrue
I will be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about dubstep, but dang if this is not a great record. Eerie, pitch-shifted vocals fade in and out of murky, misty production that surprises in its looseness and rewards close listening with unexpected depths. The songs seem like they're barely there, ghosts really, but two hours later you find yourself humming the vocal line from one of them or tapping out an off-kilter drum beat with your pen. Untrue is subtle, accomplished, and to my ears absolutely innovative.

3. The Field- From Here We Go Sublime
It's such a simple formula- take tiny snippets of old pop songs, cut and paste them all over the place, add techno drumbeats and some envelope filters, click Save. You'd think anyone could do it, but Axel Willner has an uncanny knack for grabbing a completely unremarkable chunk of song and turning it into a gem that sparkles on its own. (the brilliant grab from "Hello" by Lionel Richie is the best example of this). Sublime is intensely melodic, wonderfully accessible techno that takes the best aspects of the current minimal crop and mixes them with fragments of a fondly-remembered past.

2. LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
Dear God, people, just listen to the progression from the gleeful self-hating pop of "North American Scum" to the shocking pathos of "Someone Great" to the best song of this past year, "All My Friends." James Murphy could have put out a three-song EP of just those tracks and it would still occupy the same spot on this list. The rest of the album ably bookends the incredible middle stretch, and it's clear that Murphy has grown as a composer and lyricist since his last full-length. I'm not even going to talk about how it SOUNDS- just go listen to "All My Friends." Over and over again.

1. Apparat- Walls
There is no better sound sculptor in the world than Sascha Ring, AKA Apparat. Walls is his master-stroke thus far, a heady achievement indeed following last year's fantastic Ellen Allien collaboration Orchestra of Bubbles. Walls is an electronic pop record in the finest possible sense- dense, intricately detailed and immaculately pruned soundscapes that build and collapse into and over gorgeous melodies that any other band would kill for. From the noir-soul of "Not A Good Place" to the soaring, M83-esque "Fractales Pt. 1" to the album's highlight, the simply breathtaking "Arcadia," this is the one record I kept coming back to all year long. It still hasn't relinquished its grip.