Counting Down The '00s: The Best Of 2007

In 2007 we had no less than four records that equally deserved the number one spot of our "Albums of the Year" list. In the end the honor went to Les Savy Fav who made their spectacular comeback with a work of amazing variety and impressive punk-rock dynamics. This is what we had to say about the album in our end of the year review: "It was certainly the most impressive comeback of 2007. A decade since their debut and six years since their last full-length, Les Savy Fav resurfaced with the magnificent “Let’s Stay Friends”. It is their fourth and best album so far, a stylistically diverse, powerful record that achieves that rare, perfect balance between aggressive, pedal-to-the-metal punk rock intensity and melodic, even danceable, pop tunes. “Patty Lee” is perhaps the best example of this precarious balancing act, followed closely by “The Equestrian”, “The Year Before the Year 2000” and the single “What Would Wolves Do?”".

Equally impressive was Blonde Redhead’s “23”, the definitive album of their continuously evolving career. Here’s a quote from our review: "The New York based Japanese-Italian trio started in the mid-90s making glorious noise under the mighty shadow of Sonic Youth. They kept experimenting, continuously evolving their sound, and by the turn of the century, with album number five “Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons”, they had developed their own, unique voice. “23”, their seventh LP, is their masterpiece. A majestic dream-pop landscape where new wave and no wave meet and live happily ever after!".

The other two top releases of the year came from The White Stripes and Grinderman. Jack and Meg returned to form with the classic rock powerhouse that was “Icky Thump”, in my opinion their best album of the decade along with “Elephant”, while Nick Cave returned to the wild sound of his frenzied Birthday Party days with the first Grinderman album.

Modest Mouse delivered another excellent work, this time with the help of '80s guitar legend Johnny Marr, and successfully claimed a place in our end of the year Top 10 list for the third time in this decade. Equally successful was Interpol’s third release, Spoon continued full speed ahead with their sixth LP, while we also had four very important sophomore releases from Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem.

Dinosaur Jr. proved that there was a very good reason for their reformation by delivering “Beyond”, an astonishing album that picked up exactly where the original line-up had left off 19 years ago with “Bug”. Mark E. Smith surprisingly offered his best work for the year not with The Fall but with Von Sudenfed, the product of his collaboration with German electronic experimentalists Mouse On Mars.

The particularly strong Top 20 of the year also included albums from El-P (“I’ll Sleep When You're Dead” was our favorite hip hop album of 2007), The Go! Team, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bright Eyes, Kings Of Leon, The Shins and Radiohead who questioned the established way of distributing music by trying out a pay-what-you-like model. Personally, I decided to download the mp3s for free to decide if I liked the album and then, after approving of what I had heard, I paid for the cd. Call me old-fashioned, but paying for low quality digital music files makes no sense to me. Having something tangible in my hands and, more importantly, of high sound quality is what deserves my money, in my opinion.

Top 30 Albums of 2007

1. Let’s stay friends - LES SAVY FAV
2. 23 - BLONDE REDHEAD
3. Icky thump - THE WHITE STRIPES
4. Grinderman - GRINDERMAN
5. We were dead before the ship even sank - MODEST MOUSE
6. Favourite worst nightmare - ARCTIC MONKEYS
7. A weekend in the city - BLOC PARTY
8. Neon bible - ARCADE FIRE
9. Our love to admire - INTERPOL
10. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - SPOON
11. Tromatic reflexxions - VON SUDENFED
12. Baby 81 - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
13. Beyond - DINOSAUR JR.
14. I’ll sleep when you're dead - EL-P
15. Sound of silver - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
16. Proof of youth - THE GO! TEAM
17. Cassadaga - BRIGHT EYES
18. Because of the times - KINGS OF LEON
19. Wincing the night away - THE SHINS
20. In rainbows - RADIOHEAD
21. Boxer - THE NATIONAL
22. Under the blacklight - RILO KILEY
23. Boss - MAGIK MARKERS
24. Curses - FUTURE OF THE LEFT
25. LP - HOLY FUCK
26. Myth takes - !!!
27. Spirit if… - BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS: KEVIN DREW
28. Mosaic - LOVE OF DIAGRAMS
29. Lose all time - YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE!
30. A Place To Bury Strangers - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS

Top 30 Singles of 2007

1. The prayer - BLOC PARTY
2. Four winds - BRIGHT EYES
3. Is Is EP- YEAH YEAH YEAHS
4. Reformation - THE FALL
5. Icky thump - THE WHITE STRIPES
6. No cars go - ARCADE FIRE
7. The Heinrich maneuver - INTERPOL
8. Hang me up to dry - COLD WAR KIDS
9. Dashboard - MODEST MOUSE
10. Fledermaus can't get it - VON SUDENFED
11. No pussy blues - GRINDERMAN
12. Brianstorm - ARCTIC MONKEYS
13. It's getting boring by the sea - BLOOD RED SHOES
14. 23 - BLONDE REDHEAD
15. Mistaken for strangers - THE NATIONAL
16. Weapon of choice - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE
17. Chips ahoy - THE HOLD STEADY
18. What would wolves do? - LES SAVY FAV
19. What's a girl to do? - BAT FOR LASHES
20. Grip like a vice - THE GO! TEAM
21. North American scum - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
22. Golden skans - KLAXONS
23. Men’s needs - THE CRIBS
24. Charmer - KINGS OF LEON
25. Threshold apprehension - BLACK FRANCIS
26. Been there all the time - DINOSAUR JR.
27. 3's & 7's - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
28. 2080 - YEASAYER
29. To the east - ELECTRELANE
30. I’m not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you - BLACK KIDS