Beginning my string of year- and decade-end content, here is my 2CD mix for 2009. (Yes, each of these will fit on a CD. Turn off the two-second gap in between songs.) You can download disc one here, and then download disc two here. Both ZIPs contain the iTunes album art. If either of these links goes down, let me know and I will repost. The track listings are below, which include links to individual YouTubes when available (click the song title), earlier writing on the album in question (click the album title), and additional commentary for albums or songs I haven’t beaten to death already (or will beat to death in the coming weeks in future entries of The Haul; quite a few of these are in the discussion queue).
I consider 2009 a strong year for music, especially considering that this mix doesn’t include many common picks for best songs or albums, i.e. Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Phoenix, St. Vincent, Bat for Lashes, the XX. If you have a strong case for any of these bands, post it in the comment section and I may give them another shot.
Now for the music I do like.
101. Superchunk – “Learned to Surf” (3:50) – Leaves in the Gutter EP
Superchunk is apparently eschewing LPs and instead using EPs and singles as a feeder system for their future greatest hits compilation. I am fine with this development.
102. We Were Promised Jetpacks – “Quiet Little Voices” (4:18) – These Four Walls
103. Deerhunter – “Disappearing Ink” (2:22) – Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP
Just an EP and a single this year? You’re slacking, Deerhunter. (Yes, I know Atlas Sound released an album.)
104. Bill Callahan – “Eid Ma Clack Shaw” (4:15) – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
105. National Skyline – “Bloom (Single Edit)” (5:35) – Bloom EP
106. Systems Officer – “East” (3:36) – Underslept
Pinback’s Zach Smith puts out a solo album that sounds remarkably like Pinback, yet I enjoy this considerably more than the last few Pinback albums.
107. Clark – “Future Daniel” (4:03) – Totems Flare
108. J Dilla – “Mythsysizer” (1:44) – Jay Stay Paid
109. Hammer No More the Fingers – “Radiation” (4:04) – Looking for Bruce
For a band that reminds me of the all-too-forgettable Schatzi, I do enjoy Hammer No More the Fingers’ mix of Archers of Loaf indie rock and cleaner hooks. You can read more about Looking for Bruce at Built on a Weak Spot.
110. Wye Oak – “For Prayer” (3:49) – The Knot
I’m on the fence on whether Wye Oak’s sophomore release is better than its predecessor and if it’s one of the top 20 albums of the year. My tentative answers are “Yes” and “No” respectively. The guitar work is considerably better, as “For Prayer” demonstrates, but the album misses the occasional levity of If Children.
111. Wilco – “One Wing” (3:41) – Wilco (The Album)
Wilco’s semi-self-titled LP is unlikely to drop jaws, but it’s a nice halfway point between the dad rock of Sky Blue Sky and the more explicitly postmodern LPs that preceded it. (Halfway might be an exaggeration. It's still dad rock.) I enjoy a few of its songs a lot, “One Wing” in particular, but I rarely listen to the album as a whole.
112. Boston Spaceships – “The Town That's After Me” (1:16) – The Planets Are Busted
At first I was surprised Bob Pollard had released two separate full-lengths with Boston Spaceships (The Planets Are Busted and Zero to 99) this year, but then I remembered that he’s Bob Pollard and that’s par for the course. Both albums are consistently good and will eventually be grabbed on vinyl.
113. Rachel Grimes – “Starwhite” (1:24) – Book of Leaves
114. The Twilight Sad – “The Neighbours Can't Breathe” (5:24) – Forget the Night Ahead
115. Heroes of the Kingdom – “Disasterol” (2:52) – HOTK
116. Tortoise – “Prepare Your Coffin” (3:36) – Beacons of Ancestorship
Pitchfork talks about how Beacons of Ancestorship features more of the dancier side of Tortoise. I knew my issues with this album could be condensed into one sentence!
117. Deleted Scenes – “Ithaca” (4:09) – Birdseed Shirt
I still like the songs, but the mix of this record is criminal. They were so much better live. Have J Robbins do the whole thing next time. He has restraint.
118. Fuck Buttons – “The Lisbon Maru” (8:15) – Tarot Sport
119. Jesu – “Losing Streak” (6:13) – Opiate Sun
Justin Broadrick’s biggest problem is quantity over quality, so a four-track EP of actual songs is a welcome return to the days of Silver.
120. Tim Hecker – “Borderlands” (4:30) – An Imaginary Country
201. Future of the Left – “Arming Eritrea” (2:57) – Travels with Myself and Another
202. Part Chimp – “Sweet T” (3:05) – Thriller
203. Obits – “Widow of My Dreams” (4:21) – I Blame You
204. Raekwon – “House of Flying Daggers Ft Inspectah Deck, Ghostface, and Method Man” (3:51) – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2
It’s a Wu Tang reunion with J Dilla beats. Method Man is in rare form.
205. Dinosaur Jr. – “Your Weather” (3:05) – Farm
I recently mentioned my malaise with Farm, but that doesn’t extend to the Lou Barlow songs, which continue to be excellent.
206. Built to Spill – “Pat” (2:36) – There Is No Enemy
My first listen to There Is No Enemy sputtered out before the halfway mark, but there’s some surprisingly inspired material on the back half, especially “Pat” and “Done.” I admittedly need to give this album more of a chance.
207. CFCF – “Crystal Mines” (3:58) – Panesian Nights EP
CFCF’s full-length Continent features deeper hues of the 1980s electronic revival, but I enjoy the 8-bit feel of the EP more. Both are worth checking out.
208. A Place to Bury Strangers – “Exploding Head” (3:32) – Exploding Head
The guitars are straight shoegaze, but everything else sounds like 1986, which predates shoegaze. Strangely jarring.
209. Constants – “Genetics Like Chess Pieces” (5:45) – The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension
210. Port-Royal – “Balding Generation (Jatun Remix)” (5:02) – Balding Generation EP
Port-Royal’s Dying in Time is two steps forward, two steps back from Afraid to Dance. For every new texture, there’s a recapitulation of the Moog melody from “Anya: Sehnsucht.” For every compelling vocal delivery (“Anna Ustinova”), there’s one that goes too far into electro-pop (“The Photoshopped Prince”). Yet despite these setbacks (and a bloated runtime), I’ve still listened to it an awful lot. “Balding Generation (Losing Hair as We Lose Hope)” is a highlight, but I prefer the stuttering glitch of Jatun’s remix, which condenses the song’s emotional crest into a more digestible package. Additionally, it got me excited for Jatun’s Blanket of Ash LP, which comes out in March.
211. Russian Circles – “Malko” (4:33) – Geneva
Russian Circles officially passed Pelican this year.
212. Polvo – “Beggar's Bowl” (4:59) – In Prism
213. Mastodon – “Divinations” (3:28) – Crack the Skye
214. Gordon Withers – “Defenestrations of Prague” (6:06) – Gordon Withers
215. Mission of Burma – “Comes Undone” (3:08) – The Sound The Speed The Light
216. Isis – “20 Minutes / 40 Years” (7:04) – Wavering Radiant
217. Last Days – “Life Support” (5:27) – The Safety of the North
218. The Life and Times – “The Politics of Driving” (5:01) – Tragic Boogie
Noted exclusions include Neko Case, Shannon Wright, Pelican, Sonic Youth, and the Flaming Lips. Who else did I miss?
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If I learned anything from my most recent list-making exercise, it’s that my knowledge of 1980s music lacks depth, despite my attempts to expand beyond staples like R.E.M., The Smiths, Pixies, and U2. I spent the decade playing with Legos, not buying indie LPs, so I’ll excuse my deficiencies. Muxtape #2: “Making the Body Search” is comprised entirely of songs from that decade, a few of which I’ve only recently stumbled upon. I’m keeping artists to one appearance on this Muxtape series, so no Colin Newman or Wipers, although Newman’s “Ahead” from Wire’s The Ideal Copy provides the subtitle.
1. Cocteau Twins – “The Spangle Maker”: Considering that I can rarely make it through a whole Cocteau Twins album in one sitting, I’ve been listening to them an awful lot lately. Every release seems to have a handful of gems that plead with me to keep listening, keep checking out more Cocteau Twins LPs, and I have complied.
2. For Against – “Shine”: If you had asked me to guess where For Against originated, I would have answered, “Some industrial town in England.” I would not have guessed Lincoln, Nebraska.
3. The Feelies: “Slipping into Something”: This song is the highlight of their 1986 album The Good Earth, which I covered in Record Recollection Reconciliation. It starts off slowly enough, but when the guitars pick up it nearly runs off the rails.
4. Mekons – “Empire of the Senseless”: I never knew what to make of the Mekons when reading through Touch & Go / Quarterstick catalogs back in high school so I stayed away from their expanding hoard of releases. But after including the enticing Fear and Whiskey in the last round of iPod Chicanery, I gave The Mekons Rock ‘n’ Roll a listen and was even more impressed. Tracking down their multitude of LPs could keep me busy for a while.
5. Elvis Costello and the Attractions – “New Lace Sleeves”: I purchased Trust on LP back in high school when Mark / Western Homes heralded its greatness, but I’ve kept to edgier efforts like My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, and Blood & Chocolate in spite of Trust’s lingering presence in my collection. The soul-inflected “New Lace Sleeves” caught my attention, however, so I’ll have to pull out that dusty LP soon.
6. Brian Eno & Harold Budd – “Not Yet Remembered”: From their acclaimed collaboration, Ambient II: Soporific Boogaloo.
7. Killing Joke – “Unspeakable”: Most fans prefer their 1980 self-titled debut, but What’s THIS For...! took their tribal drums, razor-wire guitar, and bellowed vocals to stranger, more apocalyptic places.
8. Comsat Angels – “Eye of the Lens”: Sleep No More is a great slab of post-punk, but it’s even better appended with post-album singles “Eye of the Lens” and “(Do the) Empty House.”
9. The Dead Milkmen – “Big Lizard”: I can only assume that my selection of Big Lizard in My Backyard for 1985 was the most curious choice on my recent list (“better” records from Hüsker Dü, The Meat Puppets, Mekons, The Pogues, The Replacements, and Tom Waits simply don’t have the necessary playtime for me to choose them), but I have nothing but fond memories of dubbing Dead Milkmen cassettes with friends in middle school. Even with a line like “And you should see the way it shits,” “Big Lizard” isn’t as juvenile as the rest of the album. It comes rather to melancholy for a song about the military blowing up a kid’s pet lizard.
10. Minutemen – “West Germany”: I owe my breakthrough on this record to Michael T. Fournier’s book on Double Nickels on the Dime in the 33 1/3 series. Go buy it!
11. Ultramagnetic MC’s – “Kool Keith Housing Things”: I almost forgot to include any ’80s hip-hop, but Kool Keith’s original group makes the cut. He stresses the second-to-last beat of most lines on Critical Beatdown, but he certainly kicked the habit by his mid-1990s records as Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, and Black Elvis.
12. Hüsker Dü – “You Can Live at Home”: The final song on their final record is a Grant Hart mega-jam.
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I have created a New Artillery Muxtape, which I’ll try to update every month or so with different songs. I’ve written about half of these bands a considerable amount in the last few months, so hopefully your interest is piqued. Many of the other selections are precursors for future posts. Muxtape #1 is subtitled “Now come days of begging, days of theft,” which is the first line of the second chapter of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. The novel has little to do with 1980s post-punk, American indie rock, or melodic electronic music and most of the songs lack insights into the American West in the middle of the nineteenth century.
1. Four Tet – “Hands”: I picked up Four Tet’s Rounds from the dollar bin of Reckless Records in Chicago a few years back. Although I was both surprised and delighted to find a recent, critically approved release in said bin, I put off actually listening to the album until “Hands” and “My Angel Rocks Back and Forth” came up on shuffle in my iTunes. Since then, Rounds has been in heavy rotation on my laptop and in my car stereo. The gentle pulse of “Hands” is still my favorite part of Rounds, which outdoes most of the organically inclined entries into the IDM wing of electronic music.
2. Colin Newman – “& Jury”: I’ve already written about my fondness for Colin Newman’s solo work, especially 1980’s A–Z and 1982’s Not To, which come closest to Wire’s art-punk. If you enjoy Wire’s first three albums or late ’70s and early ’80s post-punk and haven’t heard these records, track them down as soon as possible.
3. Frank Black – “Places Named After Numbers”: I remember seeing videos for Frank Black’s “Los Angeles” and “Men in Black” on 120 Minutes and taping the songs onto an audio cassette, but I never followed up on either record. Hell, I hadn’t gotten into the Pixies at that point. By the time I felt compelled to check out Frank Black’s solo albums, he already had far too many of them and I tossed off the whole enterprise. Whoops. Frank Black and Teenager of the Year have been making the rounds in iTunes lately and while both records could use some editing, gems like “Places Named After Numbers” make considerable sense in a post-Trompe le Monde context.
4. Accelera Deck – “Guided”: I first learned of Accelera Deck’s Narcotic Beats through Epitonic.com a year or so after its official release in 1998. At the time there were few, if any acts combining electronic beats and shoegaze guitar this effectively, so it’s a bit ironic that Chris Jeely abandoned this sound before its true emergence with M83, Ulrich Schnauss, Guitar, and similar new-gaze artists. Narcotic Beats may sound a bit dated nowadays since it’s not as polished as the aforementioned acts, but it’s hard to top the lilting melodies of “Guided,” “Greentone,” or “Drifting Out.” A career recap of Jeely’s output is long overdue, but if you ever come across Narcotic Beats or Exhalera Deck’s “Exhale” / “Inhale” LP, buy them and thank me later.
5. Smog – “Say Valley Maker”: I was officially chided by a friend of mine for not including A River Ain’t Too Much to Love on my best of 2005 list. My only excuse was that I was still digesting Smog’s Doctor Came at Dawn, Red Apple Falls, and Knock Knock and wanted to pace myself on Bill Callahan for a while. River now threatens Knock Knock for my favorite Smog LP and “Say Valley Maker” competes with “River Guard,” “I Break Horses (Peel Session),” and “All Your Women Things” for my favorite Smog song. I could quote every line from the song, but “And there is no love / In the unerring,” weighted with its extra syllable and fully breaking the rhyme of the verse, surpasses my other potential examples.
6. Wye Oak – “I Don’t Feel Young”: Wye Oak’s If Children comes together so strongly that it was hard to extract a single song to sample. While the guitar rush of “Warning” and the melancholic ache of “Family Glue” make solid cases for inclusion, the rising melody of “I Don’t Feel Young” grabbed me on the car ride back from New York this weekend.
7. C-Clamp – “Land Meets Sea”: Whenever I miss driving down I-57 to or from Chicago and passing a golden haze of nearly unbroken cornfields—yes, I actually enjoyed this drive—I think of C-Clamp’s guitar distortion and how perfectly it fits that mental image. “Land Meets Sea” adds an underbelly of acoustic guitar and an array of electric arpeggios to that distortion before pairing its closing feedback with descending harmonic chimes. It’s a multi-tracking extravaganza, but it’s handled with a remarkable amount of subtlety. I wish C-Clamp had recorded a third album, but Meander + Return and Longer Waves combine for a strong, if underappreciated legacy.
8. Silkworm – “Cannibal Cannibal”: Firewater will get its own post in the near future, but it took all of my strength not to put on one of Andy Cohen’s cathartic, solo-laden epics (“Slow Hands,” “Tarnished Angel,” “Don’t Make Plans This Friday”) in the interest of this mix’s pacing. Tim Midgett’s “Cannibal Cannibal” is much closer to the up-tempo classic rock of Lifestyle, but there’s certainly enough of Firewater’s relentless gravity in the pre-chorus couplet “It takes a lot of nerve / To get up in the morning.”
9. Wipers – “When It’s Over”: “When It’s Over” is a fine example of Greg Sage’s guitar pyrotechnics on Youth of America, an album I’ve covered several times.
10. Stars of the Lid – “Articulate Silences Part 2”: I wish they played Boston every month.
11. Lungfish – “Creation Story”: I have a larger post in the works on the rise in vintage vinyl prices, but Lungfish’s early records are a particularly curious example of inflation on eBay. The band has staunch devotees whose desire for early Lungfish records like Rainbows from Atoms and Pass & Stow has pushed me out of the market for the time being. Sixty bucks? I’ll wait and see if I see them in a used bin, thanks. Dischord did remaster and reissue the former record last year, tempting me to break my “If it’s on vinyl, buy it on vinyl policy,” but I’ve held out in the hopes that my search will bear LP fruit. “Creation Story” limits Lungfish’s trademark meditative repetition to the music, since Daniel Higgs opts for a gloriously rambling alternate take on creation/evolution: “…as a fish realized it held a monkey inside of itself / And expelled it on the beach in a larval, salamander form.” It almost acts as a template for the bizarre world Lungfish inhabits on their later records, particularly Indivisible, The Unanimous Hour, and Necrophones.
12. Deerhunter – “Spring Hall Convert”: Microcastle, Deerhunter’s follow-up to last year’s Cryptograms, magically appeared on the internet far in advance of its release date, but I’m still enjoying its predecessor. I finally grabbed the vinyl pressing of Cryptograms and Fluorescent Grey at Newbury Comics (20% off coupons are the devil on my shoulder) and splitting the album into three sides makes absolute sense.
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This recap took me far longer to finish than anticipated, in large part because I enjoyed not listening to these songs for a few weeks. Here is the zip file of disc two of my year-end mix.
201 / Eluvium / “Amreik” / Copia / Temporary Residence
I would have preferred to include “Indoor Swimming at the Space Station,” but including a ten-and-a-half-minute long ambient song didn’t seem like the best approach.
202 / The National / “Fake Empire” / Boxer / Beggars Banquet
I’d largely avoided The National on the assumption that they were another bland indie rock band that Pitchfork heralded, but after seeing Boxer on too many reputable year-end lists to ignore, I gave it a shot. Turns out that Boxer is an excellent 11:30pm record and "Fake Empire" is an excellent opener. Now I feel like a jerk. Thanks.
203 / Battles / “Atlas” / Mirrored / Warp
You either grow to love the chipmunk vocals of "Atlas"or they quickly drive a hole into your brain. Those are your two choices. On a side note, scene kids have this new thing where they raise their hands in the air and “conduct” all of the words of a song. “Atlas” was a huge target for this behavior. Please make it stop.
204 / Minus the Bear / “Knights” / Planet of Ice / Suicide Squeeze
Minus the Bear’s foray into prog-rock still came with some clear singles and “Knights” was the best of them. While I miss the finger-tapping extravaganza of their early work, Dave Knudson’s “the lead guitar is in this loop pedal and I will stomp it accordingly” act is impressive enough. Two albums until he uses a chainsaw.
205 / !!! / “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” / Myth Takes / Warp
I can only take Nic Offer’s vocals in very small doses (or preferably not at all, in the case of the far superior Out Hud), but “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” was one of the highlights of the generally improved Myth Takes. When !!! swing and miss, it’s ugly, but this song is a nicely condensed version of their aesthetic.
206 / Marnie Stern / “Every Single Line Means Something” / In Advance of the Broken Arm / Kill Rock Stars
“Every Single Line Means Something” is an outlier on Marnie Stern’s debut, since it thankfully never gets too close to album’s standard Sleater Kinney meets Deerhoof approach. Her guitar pyrotechnics are largely held in check here, but it’s for the better of the song. I’m hoping that her second album holds more of these gems.
207 / The Race / “Ice Station” / Ice Station / Flameshovel
Ice Station became my go-to record once a few major storms hit Boston—“There’s no escaping / This ice station” is just too fitting for being stuck in traffic. Previous to the weather changing, my go-to song on Ice Station was “Evil Love,” with its circular vocals and new wave production.
208 / The Twilight Sad / “And She Would Darken the Memory” / Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters / Fat Cat
After seeing the Twilight Sad live at the Middle East Upstairs, I shelved their album for a long time. While I preferred the sonic depth of the record to the band’s curious stage presence, I avoided listening to the album for some unfounded reason.
209 / Port-Royal / “Anya: Sehnsucht” / Afraid to Dance / Resonant
Port-Royal is the best example of a genre record from this year hitting the spot. “Electronic post-rock you say? You’re completely competent at it? Sign me up!” I had to trim this song down a bit since they fade off for a few minutes.
210 / Les Savy Fav / “What Would Wolves Do?” / Let’s Stay Friends / French Kiss
Les Savy Fav records compete with the band’s live spectacle and often lose, but Let’s Stay Friends showed remarkable resiliency against this trend. I would have liked to include both “Pots & Pans” and “The Equestrian,” since I can’t think of any two songs in better conversation with each other musically and lyrically, but in lieu of plugging two tracks from a record into these mixes I chose the single.
211 / LCD Soundsystem / “All My Friends (Single Edit)” / Sound of Silver / DFA
This may be the only LCD Soundsystem song that I like, but any collision of New Order and Steve Reich is worth a listen.
212 / Mary Timony Band / “New Song” / The Shapes We Make / Kill Rock Stars
“New Song” reminds me of Helium’s The Magic City, mainly in the combination of Timony’s guitar riffs and the background keyboard. This comparison is both a blessing and a curse, since while The Shapes We Make is a more accomplished album than its predecessor, the trimmed-down garage rock approach of Ex Hex was a more surprising turn in Timony’s career path.
213 / Shannon Wright / “In the Morning” / Let in the Light / Quarterstick
Shannon Wright was essentially the anti-Tara Jane O’Neil, starting her solo career with the nuanced acoustic songs O’Neil plays nowadays before her gradual progression into furious, oppressive rock songs seething like Rodan’s “Toothfairy Retribution Manifesto.” While I respected this progression, Over the Sun was its logical conclusion and her collaboration with Yann Tiersen was its logical epilogue. Let in the Light is the next book. “In the Morning” has all of the intensity of Over the Sun without the hand to the throat of “Portray” or “Birds.”
214 / Bottomless Pit / “The Cardinal Movements” / Hammer of the Gods / Comedy Minus One
“The Cardinal Movements” was one of four tracks to be released in a pre-album sampler EP last year and resurface on Hammer of the Gods. Since I viewed that EP as an unofficial release, unlike Silkworm’s Chokes! EP, I held off on including any Bottomless Pit songs last year. “The Cardinal Movements” was simply too good to pass up again, even with Midgett’s equally impressive “Leave the Light On” making Hammer of the Gods.
215 / Wire / “No Warning Given” / Read & Burn 03 / Pink Flag
I skipped through Wire’s discography somewhat haphazardly, getting hooked on 154, then moving to Chairs Missing, finally getting Pink Flag, and then fast-forwarding to A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck. I’d dabbled with the first two Read & Burn EPs and the resulting Send LP, but none of those grabbed me as much as Read & Burn 03, which sounds more like the 154-era Wire that originally hooked me. “23 Years Later” is the EP’s biggest statement, but at nearly ten minutes it simply wouldn’t fit.
216 / Mt. St. Helens / “City Of” / Of Others / Two Thumbs Down
Whereas previous Mt. St. Helens albums had one or two songs that were above and beyond their counterparts (“Always on Time,” “Ghostly Presence”), Of Others’ consistency made it more difficult to choose a winner. Despite my fondness for the album’s mid-tempo tracks, I opted for the tight post-punk of “City Of.” It keeps ratcheting up the pressure without losing form. Hopefully they will tour the east coast in 2008.
217 / This Flood Covers the Earth / “The Tetris Chainsaw Massacre” / Barnburner / Self-Released
This Flood Covers the Earth broke up after one too many tours fell apart, but the self-released Barnburner came quite close to approximating the fury of their live set. It would have been far ballsier of me to include the epic hardcore song at the beginning of a disc, but it fit best after the Mt. St. Helens track. I’m a sucker for half-time hardcore riffs and the outro of this song has a prime example.
218 / Last Days / “Swimming Pools at Night” / These Places Are Now Ruins / N5MD
If These Places Are Now Ruins was a bit more consistent in terms of quality, it would have been the third ambient release to make my top twenty. Unlike Stars of the Lid and Eluvium, Last Days stick to the electronic post-rock side of the ambient spectrum, particularly on the gently whirring “Swimming Pools at Night.” The layering of this track forced me to include it over the simple piano ballad “Saved by a Helicopter.”
219 / Jesu / “Blind and Faithless” / Split LP with Eluvium / Temporary Residence
Figuring out the closer for this disc was a difficult process. I didn’t want to mirror the first disc and have the ambient song finish things off, but most of my remaining potential selections (Alcest, Ulrich Schnauss, Nadja) didn’t fit the flow. I preferred Jesu’s Sun Down / Sun Rise, but those tracks were far too long to fit on a mix, and I didn’t allocate enough time for the title track of Conqueror. So instead I included an instrumental cut reminiscent of the Silver EP
Enjoy.
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I’ve accepted that physical mix CDs aren’t in vogue in 2008, so I’ve included links for the entire CDs and the artwork for my best of 2007 2CD set. Many of these songs have been pared down in order to fit onto an eighty-minute CD, so download presumed duplicates. If you want to receive a physical copy of the CDs—the packaging, as usual, is involved and not a task well-suited to anything other than my assembly-line production—send an email to Sebastian @ this domain name. Otherwise, here is the track listing and my commentary on the first disc of music (111 mb). The second disc and artwork uploads are forthcoming.
101 / Epic45 / “The Stars in Spring” / May Your Heart Be the Map / Make Mine Music
“The Stars in Spring” was the clear highlight of the lite post-rock May Your Heart Be the Map. Thankfully absent are the listless vocals cluttering other songs on the album, thankfully present is a focus to the layered arpeggios and drifting electronics.
102 / Prints / “Easy Magic” / Prints / Temporary Residence
I’ve played Prints’ “Easy Magic” for a number of people and the response is either “I wanted to stop listening to it, but I couldn’t” or “What in God’s name are you listening to?” I fall on the former side of things, obviously. My favorite song of 2007.
103 / Pelican / “City of Echoes” / City of Echoes / Hydra Head
The first time I heard about Pelican was from Centaur drummer Jim Kelly after they’d shared a bill in Chicago. Upon hearing their debut EP, I was surprised that the sludgy instru-metal band raved about Hum. While I caught hints of this affection on The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, the title track for City of Echoes could essentially be a blueprint for a Hum reunion. The dueling leads of “City of Echoes” extract Tim Lash’s flourishes on “Isle of the Cheetah” and “Dreamboat” and combine them with the churning riffs of “Stars” and “Winder.” I would prefer Pelican not to be an instrumental version of Hum, but if this track is any indication, I would wear any potential tribute record out.
104 / The Acorn / “Flood Pt. 1” / Glory Hope Mountain / Paper Bag
Whereas Canada’s more famous indie export spent 2007 disregarding the memories that made their debut a success and taking little joy in commenting on the present, the Acorn provided everything that their countrymen sorely lacked. “Flood Pt. 1” is an organic trip through the singer’s mother’s native Honduras. Given their folk origins, the quieter songs on the record are just as great, but “Flood Pt. 1” does a great job of mirroring the subject matter in the musical composition.
105 / Dinosaur Jr. / “Crumble” / Beyond / Merge
I wanted to include one of Lou Barlow’s excellent contributions to Beyond, since “Back to Your Heart” and “Lightning Bulb” surpass anything Barlow’s done since maybe Bakesale, but “Crumble” was too good of a J. Mascis anthem to pass up. Lou gets the shaft again.
106 / The Narrator / “SurfJew” / All That to the Wall / Flameshovel
All That to the Wall had four songs up for consideration—scorching opener “Son of Son of the Kiss of Death,” the chiming surge of “Breaking the Turtle,” the preemptive regret of “Start Parking,” and the hit single charm of “SurfJew.” It probably came down to my fondness for the doubled vocals on “And on this day son, you’ll be a man / Or on this day, you’ll be just another one of us / Who knows.”
107 / Blonde Redhead / “23” / 23 / 4AD
When I overhead Blonde Redhead’s shoegaze homage “23” in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, I figured that my time with the song was coming to a swift and unjust end. Thankfully this did not occur.
108 / Deerhunter / “Hazel St.” / Cryptograms / Kranky
My first listen to Deerhunter’s Cryptograms fizzled out after the first half, which meant that I missed the album’s indie rock payoff. Whoops. “Hazel St.” is a great coming-of-age story that reminds me of a half-asleep (and considerably less saccharine) version of Poster Children’s “He’s My Star.”
109 / Errors / “Salut! France” / “Salut! France” 7″ / Rock Action
Errors should have a full album out in 2008, but the “Salut! France” single was almost enough to tide me over. I’m putting the over/under on the length of their record at 35 minutes. I am going under.
110 / The Berg Sans Nipple / “Of the Sung” / Along the Quai / Team Love
Noticeably absent from this year’s list are Do Make Say Think, whose last three records were in my top fifteen for 2000 through 2004 (a list which needs to be updated). You, You’re a History in Rust took a wrong turn toward Broken Social Scene territory. While I enjoyed finally getting to see them back in March, I was more impressed by their opening act, The Berg Sans Nipple, and spent far more time with their record than with DMST’s album.
111 / Wilco / “Impossible Germany” / Sky Blue Sky / Nonesuch
Two quick points about "Impossible Germany": first, I always hear “Impossible jiminy / Unlikely Japan,” second, the three-guitars-resolving-parts-at-once moment at the end of the song makes me smile regardless of its classic rock cheese factor.
112 / The Forms / “Oberlin” / The Forms / Threespheres
The Forms practice a dangerous brand of lyrical economy. While “Oberlin” floats along on barely recognizable syllables, album opener “Knowledge in Hand” has its more effective vocal melodies worn thin by far too many iterations of its title phrase. I chose less inflammatory option.
113 / Picastro / “Hortur” / Whore Luck / Polyvinyl
Picastro still hasn’t released a fully engrossing album, but “Hortur” is easily on par with past highlights “Winter Notes,” “No Contest,” and “Sharks.” Liz Hysen sounds like she’s sleepwalking through an intense dream, never letting her laconic delivery match the lyrical tumult. It’s a deft trick in which the lulling cello and anxious piano are fully complicit.
114 / Bill Callahan / “Sycamore” / Woke on a Whaleheart / Drag City
Woke on a Whaleheart never fully clicked with me, perhaps because I spent most of 2007 enamored with Callahan’s last release as Smog, 2005’s A River Ain’t Too Much to Love. Yet “Sycamore” stood out when I saw Callahan at the Museum of Fine Arts and not just because of the “I want to be the fire part of fire” lyric.
115 / Menomena / “My My” / Friend and Foe / Barsuk
I never got into Friend and Foe as an album, but “Muscle ‘n’ Flo” and “My My” stuck out as quality indie rock songs with excellent production values. “My My” made the cut because its tone fit the mix better, but both are worth hearing.
116 / Explosions in the Sky / “The Birth and Death of the Day (Jesu Mix)” / All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone Remixes / Temporary Residence
I had initially planned for this song to represent both Explosions in the Sky and Jesu; I prefer it to any of the original versions on All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone and many of the best Jesu songs from 2007 were too long for inclusion (“Conqueror,” “Sun Rise,” “Weightless & Horizontal,” “Farewell”). Eventually I caved on that logic, giving Jesu a song on the second disc. “The Birth and Death of the Day (Jesu Mix)” was one of the few post-rock epics that didn’t disappoint this year. Whereas All of a Sudden lacks the narrative scope of past EITS albums, this remix succeeds through churning layers rather than cathartic crescendos. It may not surpass Broadrick’s remix of Pelican’s “Angel Tears,” but it comes very close to equaling it.
117 / Stars of the Lid / “A Meaningful Moment through a Meaning(less) Process” / And Their Refinement of the Decline / Kranky
I’m fairly sure that putting the ambient classical piece at the end of the disc after the epic post-rock song is an enormous cliché, but it just fit better here. The highly affected piano chords in the last half of the song were too great to pass up.
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