Weekly Picks: Top 20 Albums of 2007!

Hey there! First off, Happy New Years! I realize I have not updated this in a very long time, but I think today is an acceptable time to start. Normally the plan was to make a new recommendation every week, but due to the inactivity it's pretty obvious how that worked. So, to make up for the lack of activity, I have come up with my "Best of 2007" roundup.

Here Goes:

Top 20 Albums
1) Radiohead - In Rainbows
2) Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
3) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
4) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
5) The New Pornographers - Challengers
6) Menomena - Friend and Foe
7) Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
8) Blonde Redhead - 23
9) The National - Boxer
10) Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
11) Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
12) Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
13) The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
14) The White Stripes - Icky Thump
15) Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
16) Kanye West - Graduation
17) Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago...
18) Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
19) The Good The Bad and The Queen - s/t
20) White Rabbits - Fort Nightly

Soak it in, lotta good stuff in there. I'd say it's a pretty wide variety that covers much of what's going on in today's new music. I'm not going to analyze each pick and bore you to death, but I'll go over a few keys

Big Surprise - I'd say the biggest surprise in my list would have to be the Bon Iver album, previous to this release I had never heard of the guy. I heard some buzz on Metacritic about the release and someone described his sound as a fusion between TV on the Radio and Iron and Wine. Immediately, I knew I had to give it a listen. A strange thing happened though, I wrote down they title of the album on some scrap paper to help me remember to listen to it when I got home. Later that week I began doodling on the paper and eventually came up with a design of a phased out tree, I think it turned out pretty nice, it was just neat how it said "For Emma, Forever Ago...", almost as like a dedication or something. Anyway, great album, and you can see my drawing here.

The Grower - One album that had to grow on me was the new Sunset Rubdown release. I've been a fan of Spencer Krug's work for a while now, but this one took me quite a few listens. Sunset Rubdown, if you have not listened to them, is not you're ordinary band. I can honestly describe some songs as weird, which isn't a bad thing, but I didn't see the beauty at first. This isn't the type of album you put on to impress a friend (at least in my case heh), but when you sit down with some decent headphones and actually listen, you can really see the true beauty of the album. And if not, go listen to some Wolf Parade, they rule too!

Late in the Game - This ones easy, I've had this album on loop all week it seems. Band of Horses - Cease to begin, it has been out for a while now, but I hadn't listened to it or its predecessor until recently. If I would have gotten a hold of this one earlier I think it would be higher in my list. Make sure you don't miss out on this one.

The Best - There were about three or so albums I considered for this spot, but Radioheads - In Rainbows took the cake. Not only did they come up with an admirable way of distributing the album, they came up with one hell of a record. Definatley worth the wait. There isn't a weak spot on the record, from start to finish I enjoyed it to the fullest.

Make sure you check out some of these if you have not already!

Hey 2007, Nice Ass!