Your First Half of 2007 in Music

[impy13]

We're halfway through what many of us are considering a banner year for music, and I want to know what is making you swoon through these first six months. I'm going to include the disappointing/surprising categories because they were Lance's idea from a previous thread that was less successful than it should have been. Let's try to limit this to only officially released albums. Lord knows I'd love to include Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or Okkervil River's The Stage Names, but I'll save them for the year end. Feel free to add whatever categories you want, but this is the stuff I have GOT to know:



Top 10 Albums of 2007 1/2:

1. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
2. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
3. The National – Boxer
4. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
5. Feist – The Reminder
6. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
7. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
8. Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
9. The Good, The Bad, & The Queen - The Good, The Bad, & The Queen
10. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Top 10 Tracks of 2007 1/2:

1. The Arcade Fire – “No Cars Go” – Neon Bible
2. The White Stripes – “Rag & Bone” – Icky Thump
3. Wilco – “You Are My Face” – Sky Blue Sky
4. The National – “Fake Empire” – Boxer
5. Explosions in the Sky – “The Birth and Death of the Day” – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
6. Bright Eyes – “Lime Tree” – Cassadaga
7. Feist – “Past In Present” – The Reminder
8. Bright Eyes – “Four Winds” – Cassadaga
9. Modest Mouse – “Little Motel” – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
10. LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends” – Sound of Silver

Most Disappointing Album of the Half Year

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Most Surprisingly Good, Even Great, Album of the Half Year

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

So far this year I’ve seen the following live:

Jeff Tweedy (twice), Explosions in the Sky, the Killers, Okkervil River, Damien Rice, and Bright Eyes










Do it to it, Lars.

 

[elevation2u]

1. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
2. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
3. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. National - Boxer
6. Tori Amos- American Doll Posse
7.
8.
9
10.

(haven't heard Icky yet)

Biggest Disappointment - Bright Eyes - Cassadaga

 

[Screwtape2]

Top Album of 2007 1/2:

1. Tori Amos – American Doll Posse


Top Track of 2007 1/2:

1. Tori Amos – “Smokey Joe” – American Doll Posse


Most Disappointing Album of the Half Year

Arcade Fire-Neon Bible (I like the album but it was a huge disappoint compared to Funeral and pretty average)


Most Surprisingly Good, Even Great, Album of the Half Year

I’m about to listen to Zeitgeist and from the live versions of the album tracks it will probably take this spot.


So far this year I’ve seen the following live:

Roger Waters

 

[Canadiens1131]

Notable artists:

Arcade Fire
Block Party
Css
Feist
Justice
The National

Notable gigs:

Arcade Fire live @ Ukrainian Federation (8+10.Feb.07)

 

[got_edge]

¡CEE ESS ESS!

 

[powerhour24]

My Top 10 Albums:

1. Bloc Party - "A Weekend in the City"
2. The National - "Boxer"
3. The Shins - "Wincing the Night Away"
4. Ryan Adams - "Easy Tiger"
5. Paul McCartney - "Memory Almost Full"
6. Chris Cornell - "Carry On"
7. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - "Once"
8. Arctic Monkeys - "Favourite Worst Nightmare"
9. Kaiser Chiefs - "Yours Truly, Angry Mob"
10. The Cinematics - "A Strange Education"

 

[powerhour24]

Concerts: Chris Cornell, Dropkick Murphys, The National, Ryan Adams

Favorite Tracks:

1. Bloc Party - "Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
2. The Shins - "Turn on Me"
3. The National - "Apartment Story"
4. Snow Patrol - "Signal Fire"
5. Bloc Party - "I Still Remember"
6. Chris Cornell - "Ghosts"
7. Paul McCartney - "Feet in the Clouds"
8. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - "When Your Mind's Made Up"
9. Pearl Jam - "Love, Reign O'er Me"
10. Arctic Monkeys - "D is for Dangerous"

 

[Lancemc]

Top 10 Albums:

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
2. Bjork - Volta
3. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
6. Feist - The Reminder
7. Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer's Block (if this counts)
8. The National - Boxer
9. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
10. !!! - Myth Takes

Top 10 Songs:

1. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
2. Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
3. I See Who You Are - Bjork
4. My Body is a Cage - Arcade Fire
5. Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
6. My Moon, My Man - Feist
7. Wanderlust - Bjork
8. Impossible Germany - Wilco
9. No Cars Go - Arcade Fire
10. Declare Independance - Bjork

Live Shows:

Arcade Fire - Best show I've ever seen.

The Who - Terrible Seats, fucking awesome show.

Bright Eyes - Awesome performance, worst audience I've ever been in.... by far.

RHCP - I always struggled to really like this band. This killed that for good. Laaaaaaame.

Snow Patrol - Didn't actualy see them. Bought a ticket for 5 bucks, sold it on ebay for 70. Saw TMNT that night instead.

Blonde Redhead - Weird. Weeeeird.

Missed Out Bigtime:

Bonnaroo - Fuckin' fuck. Next year. Next year.

Wilco - Fuckin' fuck. Noooooo. Next time. Next time.

 

[Screwtape2]

Bright Eyes - Awesome performance, worst audience I've ever been in.... by far.

Out of curiosity, where was it and what made it so bad?

 

[Lancemc]

It was at the 9:30 Club in D.C.

Pretty much the majority of the people in the crowd were in their teens (which shouldn't have been surprising), but the were some of the most obnoxious crew I've ever seen. Since they were all teenagers, that means they had a severely underdeveloped sense of humor, so the funniest thing in the world was screaming out song titles and "funny" things like "Conor, I stopped masterbating for you" the ENTIRE NIGHT. I was also surrounded by people who barely even paid attention to the show, despite the fact that they were lined up at least 2-hours in advance to get a good spot, and a lot of couples practicing extreme methods of PDA the whole night.

It was not pretty.

 

[Screwtape2]

It was at the 9:30 Club in D.C.

Pretty much the majority of the people in the crowd were in their teens (which shouldn't have been surprising), but the were some of the most obnoxious crew I've ever seen. Since they were all teenagers, that means they had a severely underdeveloped sense of humor, so the funniest thing in the world was screaming out song titles and "funny" things like "Conor, I stopped masterbating for you" the ENTIRE NIGHT. I was also surrounded by people who barely even paid attention to the show, despite the fact that they were lined up at least 2-hours in advance to get a good spot, and a lot of couples practicing extreme methods of PDA the whole night.

It was not pretty.

That sucks. People like that shouldn't be allowed to anything other than Nickelback concerts. I hope the next time Bright Eyes comes around, you have a better audience.

 

[Lancemc]

I hope so too. Sad thing is, it make me feel like never seeing Bright Eyes again, despite how great the show was. I'll probably check him out again though, but I'll be sure to stay way in the back of the club, away from all the idiots.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I'm doing top 5's because I haven't been buying as much music as I usually do this year

Albums:
1. Wilco--Sky Blue Sky
2. Kings of Leon--Because Of the Times
3. Arcade Fire--Neon Bible
4. Andrew Bird--Armchair Apocrypha
5. Amy Winehouse--Back to Black

Songs:
1. Wilco--Either Way
2. Arcade Fire--Keep the Car Running
3. Andrew Bird--Heretics
4. Wilco--You Are My Face
5. Kings of Leon--Ragoo


Biggest disappointment: Ryan Adams--Easy Tiger (bo-ring)

Biggest surprise: Andrew Bird and Amy Winehouse were both big surprises, Bird because I don't know how I hadn't heard of him already and Winehouse because I initially wrote her off as a throw-away pop singer and she's better than that. How much better remains to be seen, but Back to Black is a very good album

Seen so far this year: Wilco, Bob Dylan

 

[LMP]

Top 10 Albums of 2007 1/2:

1. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
2. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
3. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
4. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
5. Feist – The Reminder
6. Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
7. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
8. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
9. The Good, The Bad, & The Queen - The Good, The Bad, & The Queen
10. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Top 10 Tracks of 2007 1/2

1. The Arcade Fire – “No Cars Go” – Neon Bible
2. The White Stripes – “Rag & Bone” – Icky Thump
3. Wilco – “You Are My Face” – Sky Blue Sky
4. Explosions in the Sky – “The Birth and Death of the Day” – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
5. LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends” – Sound of Silver
6. Andrew Bird - "Armchairs" - Armchair Apocrypha
7. Bright Eyes – “Four Winds” – Cassadaga
8. Feist – “The Limit to Your Love” – The Reminder
9. The Shins - "Sleeping Lessons" - Wincing the Night Away
10. Paul McCartney – “Dance Tonight” – Memory Almost Full

Most Disappointing Album of the Half Year

The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon

Most Surprisingly Good, Even Great, Album of the Half Year

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

So far this year I’ve seen the following live:

Bright Eyes - not many bands I like come through town, so I was excited. Plus it was one of my best friend's birthdays, so I bought her a ticket and it was like she was in heaven, that alone was awesome. I really started to dig Cassadaga and after this and started venturing into the back catalogue after Wide Awake and became a full-fledged Bright Eyes fan

Highlight: The epic-ass Road to Joy closer with about 20 people on-stage.

 

[XHendrix24]

I suck at ranking things, so I'm not really happy with these lists overall. There might be one or two albums/songs that shouldn't be there, and there's probably a few that I forgot. Plus, limiting it to 10 albums kind of kills me inside since it's been such a great year so far. But all of that aside, here goes:

Top 10 Albums of 2007 1/2:

1. Elliott Smith - New Moon
2. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
3. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
5. Black Francis - Bluefinger
6. Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
7. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
8. The National – Boxer
9. Battles - Mirrored
10. Interpol - Our Love to Admire

Top 10 Tracks of 2007 1/2:

1. The Arcade Fire – “Antichrist Television Blues” – Neon Bible
2. Black Francis - "Threshhold Apprehension" - Bluefinger
3. Elliott Smith - "All Cleaned Out" - New Moon
4. The Arcade Fire - “No Cars Go” - Neon Bible
5. Modest Mouse - "Dashboard" - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
6. King Khan and the Shrines - "Welfare Bread" - What Is?!
7. The White Stripes – “Rag & Bone” – Icky Thump
8. Parts & Labor - "Fractured Skies" - Mapmaker
9. Paul McCartney - "Ever Present Past" - Memory Almost Full
10. Elliott Smith - "Pretty Mary K (Other Version)" - New Moon


Most Disappointing Album of the Half Year

Voxtrot - Voxtrot (I almost put the New Pornographers album since I had all but forgotten this disappointment, but I remembered at the last minute. Ugh, what a waste of talent. Not terrible or anything, just soul-crushingly generic compared to their EPs. If they would have just put their first three EPs on a single disk, it would've easily been one of the best albums of the year if not THE best. This, however, was recorded much too quickly and lacks the great hooks and songwriting of their earlier work. A real shame. Hopefully they'll pick it back up for their next album.)

Most Surprisingly Good, Even Great, Album of the Half Year

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (Actually pretty good despite what I had expected originally. Certainly not the total disaster it could have been. I think it's still growing on me, too.).

Favorite Albums of the Half Year That No One's Heard

King Khan and the Shrines - What Is?! (Really neat throwback to 60's rock. The vocalist is all over the place - he can do everything from Lou Reed to James Brown over a semi-psychadelic rock template. Neat stuff.)

Parts & Labor - Mapmaker (Not bad either. Very Husker Du mixed with noise rock.)

So yeah. That'll do for now. And be ready for my end of the year list to be completely different.

 

[powerhour24]

Ahh, I forgot to add The Frames - "The Cost" in with albums.

 

[LemonMelon]

I've only heard 10 albums this year so far, so here they are:

1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
3. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
5. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
6. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
7. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
8. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
9. Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
10. Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare

Top five tracks:

1. Arcade Fire - Ocean Of Noise
2. The Shins - Sea Legs
3. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
4. Lily Allen - LDN
5. White Stripes - Icky Thump

The only band I've seen live this year is Arcade Fire, but they were fantastic.

 

[LMP]

Good to see more Shins love. I think Wincing is their best album to date.

 

[LemonMelon]

Parts of it are freaking incredible...parts are just OK...I would say it's their second best. I'm too attached to Inverted.

 

[powerhour24]

It was a grower, at first it sounds good but just like more of the same from them (like when I first heard "Phantom Limb" I was driving and it just didn't do anything for me, then while I was watching the video I fell in love with the song) but the more I listen to it, the more I really like the album. "Turn on Me" is by far my favorite from it though.

 

[got_edge]

Top 10 Albums of 2007 1/2:
The Reminder - Feist
Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Neon Bible - The Arcade Fire
Boxer - The National
National Anthem of Nowhere - Apostle of Hustle
Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer - Of Montreal
Say No! to Being Cool. Say Yes to Being Happy - Softlightes


Most Disappointing Album of the Half Year
The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (CocoRosie)


Most Surprisingly Good, Even Great, Album of the Half Year
Mirrored (Battles)


So far this year I’ve seen the following live:
Sigur Rós, Muse, Damien Rice, Voxtrot

--

Still haven't heard the new Shins, Air, Amy Winehouse, Spoon or Bright Eyes. Not to mention the new (oldish) Elliott Smith release.

Okkervil River, Interpol and New Porn will have to wait 'til the end of the year to be listed. Wink.

 

[LMP]

Parts of it are freaking incredible...parts are just OK...I would say it's their second best. I'm too attached to Inverted.

New Slang and Caring Is Creepy are still the best 2 songs they will ever do, but Wincing is so solid.

Listen to Sleeping Lessons on a pair of hi-fi headphones in a comfy chair. It's an experience.

Phantom Limb is great, A Comet Appears, Australia, and Split Needles are fun. That album really surprised me.

got_edge, how's Sigur Ros live? I can only imagine it would be epic as hell.

 

[got_edge]

got_edge, how's Sigur Ros live? I can only imagine it would be epic as hell.

They were here to perform their set of the dance production Split Sides (from Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do). It only lasted 20 minutes

 

[LMP]

I'm convinced Starálfur is one of the most beautifully composes songs ever. Thank you, Wes Anderson, for exposing me to this song.

 

[I'm Ready]

Albums released this year that I liked

-The National-Boxer
-The Arcade Fire-Neon Bible
-Wilco-Sky Blue Sky
-Menomena-Friend and Foe
-Andrew Bird-Armchair Apocrypha
-Neil Young-Live at Massey Hall
-Elliott Smith-New Moon
-Rock Plaza Central-Are We Not Horses?
-Battles-Mirrored
-Deerhunter-Cryptograms

albums that have leaked that deserve to be on this list but I won't put them on because they aren't officially released yet:

-The New Pornographers-Challengers
-Interpol-Our Love to Admire

albums for the 2nd half of the year to look forward to, but haven't leaked in their entirety or at all yet

-Animal Collective-Strawberry Jam
-Radiohead-LP7
-Bruce Springsteen-(untitled, no official announcement on album yet)
-Okkervil River-The Stage Names
-Kevin Drew-Broken Social Scene Presents

albums this year that are already out that I know are probably good but haven't gotten around to listening to yet

-Feist-The Reminder
-LCD Soundsytem-Sound of Silver

albums released this year that I did not like

-Of Montreal-Hissing Fauna, Are you the destroyer?
-The Sea and Cake-Everybody
-Panda Bear-Person Pitch

I've found that trying to rank tracks between different artists is a futile task, so I'm not even going to try and rank my favorite tracks of the year.

Overall, this has been a very good year for music though

 

[LemonMelon]

I've got to try out some of the more indietastic records of 2007...haven't heard anything by The National (besides their set opening for Arcade Fire), Battles, Panda Bear, or Of Montreal.

 

[LMP]

Same here

I did like The National's album, but it's not Top 10 material for me.

 

[Zoots]

How the hell can you guys afford to buy so many albums in just 6 months? Oh wait... I'm assuming that everything was purchased...

 

[impy13]

how's Sigur Ros live? I can only imagine it would be epic as hell.

February 26, 2006. Third row. Bass Concert Hall in Ft Worth. Completely destroyed every concert I had seen and have seen since. They are phenomenal. By far the best live music experience I've ever had.


And I also got into them through La Vida Aquatica.

 

[got_edge]

How the hell can you guys afford to buy so many albums in just 6 months?

I call it "work."