2007 began with an onslaught of highly anticipated "follow-up" albums. Arcade Fire, The Shins, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah saw great commercial success from their youthful and energetic fan bases, but were slammed by critics for not following through on their supposed potential. The way I feel about Neon Bible now is the same as I felt about it when I first heard it: Funeral is an album for indie rock fans, Neon Bible is an album for Arcade Fire fans. No band can please all of the people all the time, but Arcade Fire can sure please those who still consider themselves fans after the wave of popularity.
Neon Bible is an album more reserved and mature. The manic street preacher has turned into a wise hermit, and those who seek him out will reap the benefits.
09. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
Success can be defined as being prepared when opportunity arrives. CYHSY certainly were prepared to handle the surrealness of 2005's indie-boom, which propelled them into indie-stardom, without anyone ever realizing exactly how or why. CYHSY are not a fluke though. Equipped with a flavored songwriter with an extremely unique voice, and a band full of self-conscious utility players, CYHSY are prepared to make awesome abstract pop music, regardless if the masses or critics like it or not.
Some Loud Thunder starts off with it's title track, one of the best, most complete pop songs in years. The track's production, created by Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann, crackles and pops with an off-kilter distortion, brilliant both sonically and conceptually. The track servers as a filter, separating those who are aware of CYHSY's brilliant vision from those confused fools riding the band's flash of popularity. Some will say this track is worth skipping. Ignore these people, for they have a skewed perception of what this album should be, (not to mention how absurd it is to have any type of perception of what any art should be). The album has an extremely strong beginning and end, not to mention the VU-influenced dance gem in the middle, Satan Said Dance. Seriously, can you imagine how many indie kids threw a dance party this year, just so they could play that song?
08. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
This is actually the first spoon album I've ever heard, and I'm a bit scared to work my way backwards. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is one of those classic breakthrough albums. Diehard fans won't admit its their best, favoring nostalgia and familiarity, but they realize it deep in their subconscious. The song craft is as strong as ever, and the production is clear and beautiful without over doing it. Theres a touch of reservation and abundance often at the same time. I believe it will be a while before I feel the need to venture backwards.
07. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
I've read it plenty of times, and every time I listen to Friend Opportunity it becomes clearer and clearer: Deerhoof really are the best band on the planet. Another band that I've shown up to the show a bit late on, I'm coming to realize, its much better late than never. Deerhoof have existed for quite awhile, slowly proving their technicality while honing their song crafting abilities. You can't help but listen to this album and dream that you were there to bear witness to it's inspired creation. Equally amazing is the thought that this album was created by only three people. Banging drums and roaring guitars are present throughout, but the range of extra sounds and synths and horns is truly incredible. Something about this album is magic. Or better yet, everything about this album is magic.
06. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Sound of Silver is a bit like chasing the dragon, I'll never be able to recreate how I felt the first time I heard it. Nothing sparked my interest more than curiosity, and my expectations were relatively low. Get Innocuous, the opening track, is 7 minutes of everything that you think this album should be. Flashing lights, tripping on E, getting loose to some white boy techno-funk, 7 minutes of what LCD Soundsystem should sound like, is now out of your system. What follows is 8 near perfect pieces of art, each complete in their own, but with a sum so much greater than their parts. The transition between tracks 4 and 5 is nothing short of genius. The former builds on a beat of what sounds like alarm clocks, resonating blips and beeps that are great for intense headphone listening or intense system-bumping-ass-shaking. The latter is more organic in every sense of the word, choppy piano hits complimented with rising bass and guitar. The song eventually turns into a 7 and a half minute freak out, reminding us that you can still sound like a rock band, but unfold like a disco tune.
05. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Ever get that feeling that someone close to you is doing sketchy things behind your back? Not answering your phone calls, not returning your emails. Acting like their hiding something from you, and coming home late from work. Then, when you're about to assume the worst, you realize they've really just been organizing you a surprise birthday party. Thats kinda what this album is like.
Animal Collective scared me for a bit with Feels. Not that Feels was bad (it was quite good), it was just... I felt like they were up to something. Its easy to get angry with your favorite bands becoming popular, especially because people start to like them for the wrong reasons. Thats what Feels was kind of like.
Then, Strawberry Jam comes along, and all worries are vanquished. Strawberry Jam is something entirely novel, yet contains everything that made Animal Collective great in the first place. The two standout features on this album are the abstract collection of noises blanketing each song, and Avey Tare's voice. Avey is possible the most interesting voice in music these days, strong and piercing like a laser beam, controllable high to low, whisper to scream. The album flows brilliantly too, each song improved by the flow of its predecessor.
04. Bullion - Pet Sounds In The Key of Dee
Its enough to say that Bullion chose one of the best pop albums of all time for his source material. Of course people are going to recognize Brian Wilson's distinguishable "ooos" and "aaahhs" and enjoy it on an easy level. But Bullion is trying to get you to think and listen harder. He teases you, cutting in tiny snippets of pleasure that you have to wait 4 more bars to hear again. The craft is certainly intentional and makes this album so much more than "just another mash up".
Whats truly amazing is the way Bullion fucks with the emotion of the song. Using only samples from "Wouldn't It Be Nice", a cheery pop song of innocence and longing, Bullion creates a bonified ass shaking anthem. "I'm Waiting For the Day" is another example. The original sobg is a an upbeat, optimistic track, sung by a tongue in cheek smirking Wilson. Bullion's version feels different though. Bullion works primarily off of one line: "I gave you love". When its played over the melancholy, eerie background that Bullion creates from the original tracks, the line's meanings and conveyed emotions are absolutely different. Instead of smiling and looking to the future, you feel heartache and longing. Such a change in mood and dynamic is nothing short of genius.
03. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
From Here We Go Sublime is an album that wraps you its entirety, hypnotizing your mind and soul in its simultaneously chilling and warm atmosphere. This album has been such a part of me this year, from falling asleep in a manic depressive state in Philadelphia, to looking outside the van window to fields of early morning fog somewhere in Iowa, to waiting underground for my trolley on campus. Each texture and sampled voice holds unnumbered feelings from the times I've obsessed over this album, and for that I'm eternally grateful.
02. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?
Who could have ever imagined that this album would have been this good? The first time I listened to it I was disappointed. The second time I listened to it I was confused. The third time I listened to it I was in love. Theres too much good stuff in this album to even begin talking about, but the overall themes are whats really impressive. The transition from first half of the album to second half is smooth and clear. The album pinpoints certain emotions (heartbreak, depression, lust, jealousy, denial) with unbelievable precision, to the point that I feel myself relating to a character in Sweden who's taken to Black Metal to ease his sadness. The sorrowful glee of A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger is what gets me. We've heard it before from Bradley: "saying I'm happy when I'm not". This song is the sonic representation of smiling, when deep down you feel like jumping off of a bridge.
1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Sometimes you'll be riding your bike, and as you pass a playground the sun just begins to creep out from behind the clouds. It's warmth erases the chill of the wind, and you see children playing on the swings, and maybe for just a moment, you feel a touch of bliss, and feel the age of your soul. Person Pitch is like that glimpse of sun, awakening real unabashed happiness from the pits of your day to day week to week paycheck to paycheck heart.
Its easy to become so personally attached to this record, primarily because of the way it was constructed. Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) chose to use snippets of his favorite songs as the building blocks for the album, giving it an extremely personal touch. This album can be considered a sonic representation of Noah Lennox at this point in his life, sharing a part of himself with the world.
The best minute and a half of music to come out this year comes three quarters of the way through the epic Good Girls/Carrots. The craziness stops for a brief moment and all thats left is a simple 1-2 beat drenched in reverb. A music box begins to play, and numerious memories are awaken. I think of standing in my second story room, sweating from the Philadelphia summer humidity, and hearing the icecream truck drive by. I think about being 8 and waiting everyday afterschool for the icecream truck. I think about being 4, and walking with my parents in the park. Suddenly Lennox's doubled voice comes in, unintelligible but unmistakably beautiful. I then relate to Lennox in the last song when he sings, "When my soul starts growing, I hope that it never stops".
