BEST MUSIC

hey guys... i should be studying, but i have to leave for drama rehearsals in 20mins so it seems pointless getting stuck into some work (though my research blog for mstu2000 is waaay behind, damn drama subjects taking up all my time). anyway, due to my excitement about splendour in the gress (I GOT TICKETS!) i thought id make a post about the best albums of 06 and o7 (so far) fuelled by my love for TV on the Radio after last year's splendour in the grass.

2006
1. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain. not just the best album of 2006 but the best album of the last fifteen years. i dont know what else to say. i bought this album in july of 2006 and i still listen to it at least once a fortnight and i love it everytime and pick up something new every time. its unreal.
2. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love. everything you wanted out of a follow up for echoes... more diverse yet more focussed, still fresh and makes you want to dance. check it yo.
califone, alber hammond, kasabian, raconeurs, strokes, band of horses
3. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time. yeah, they're on subpop and they're a jangly indie guitar band with a good singer. say no more.
4. Califone - Roots and Crowns. if you like wilco, as i do, then you will like these guys. brilliant.
5. Albert Hammond Jr - Yours to Keep. horrible album name, bad album art, the least famous of the strokes - could this be any more of a surprise?! turns out album hammond can write good songs that fit nicely in the strokes canon and more diverse, quirky stuff. and he can actually sing too. i know, im shocked too.

special mention: to kasabian, the strokes, the raconteurs, yeah yeah yeahs (tad disappointing given the awesomeness of their debut album, still one of the best albums of recent times). im sure ive forgotten some and that ill hate this list fairly soon but until then, here it is.

2007

theres the usual suspects here. 2007 has been kind to us musically. bands we already loved produced albums up to the standard we expected (the shins, bloc party, arctic monkeys) and others smashed our expectations.

Kings of Leon - Because of the Times. who knew they had this in them? like, wow. its incredible. at 13 songs, theres a couple that i wouldve left off, but the great moments are amazing and shows real progress.

The Ponys - Turn Out the Lights. the best of 2007 so far. easily. ive listened to it more times than ive had hot meals this year (which isnt that many thanks to drama rehearsals and work... do cup-a-noodles count as a hot meal?) and its just really really good. go get it. go listen to it.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky. i love this band. i love their experimental stuff, and their laid back stuff. theres some really bad songs on here actually, but the 6 or 7 amazing ones make it worthwhile. so ge it.

Bright Eyes - Cassadaga - i wasnt one of those "oh my god, how good is 'im wake awake, its morning' oh god" people. i bought the album, and some of the songs were good. lua was amazing. train underwater was good, at the bottom of everything was good. but it wasnt that good, it certainly wasnt worth the hype. cassadega is. its fantastic and makes me believe that he is one of the best songwriters of his generation. just listen to four winds and hot knives. thats some good shit.

funnily enough, one of the safest bets of the year turned out to be the most disappointing.
im talking about ms bjork, and volta. i dunno what happened, and i wont muse on what went wrong (cough timberland) but this album pushes aside her experimentations with song structure, melody, and form, and instead focuses on experimentation with protools and with dreary collaborations. COME ON! medulla was fun and interesting but i want to be blown away again! please.

new powderfinger out soon as well. im a little worried, we all like powderfinger but we know theyve always had that tendancy to be a tad middle-of-the-road, to not 'rock' as much as we'd like them to. especially worrying is their use of rob schnapf in the production seat. now i love the vines and elliott smith, but the syrapy 'not-a-wrong-note' crystal clear production he applied to these albums (less so the vines, however, the distance between their live performances and their sound on record can, i guess, be put down to schnapfy). the finger have always had a tendancy to water down their songs to concise, pitch perfect updates of their demoes. i can only hope that schnapf has not led them further down this road into the realm of boring. i saw them live (i was at the denim venim concert!) and so i know how good some of these songs sound live... i wait with fingers crossed.

ill post more later
thats it for now
peace out
matt xo