2007: TOP 100 ALBUMS!

[IAceI]

EDIT: Nevermind I can't read apparently.

Edited December 26, 2007 by IAceI

[YI]

I tend to take it with a pinch of salt. To make this list we're talking comprehensively listening to roughly two albums per week just to actually get the 100. If this is a top 100 there really should be a few more that don't make the cut, therefore even more, with enough listening time to actually rank them. Unless you're still a lazy student lamo (oh, to be a lazy student lamo again...) with loads of time on your hands I just don't have the time for it. Plus either last year or the year before you had the Pipettes but not the Long Blondes, which is frankly like including North & South over Take That...

On the other hand you've got the Nobby avatar, and I do tend to find some good picks, so I'll give it a glance anyway...

Edited December 28, 2007 by YI

[YI]

YI's TOP 25 TRACKS OF THE YEAR

25. "We'll Always Be Home" by Attica! Attica!

from "DEAD SKIN, DRIED BLOOD"

(LIVE-Acapella)

In theory it's such a simple song, but that's what makes it so great. It's basically vocals and block chords on an organ, ridiculously simple, but it's beautiful, the lyrics are amazing...I need to expand my vocabulary, as I used those words far too much throughout this.

24. "Step Over The Wall" by Rentokill

from "ANTICHORUS"

http://www.noreasonrecords.com/ecard_rentokill.html (3rd down on e-card)

Fast, brutal and downright catchy. This was a total random download from my 'punk-rock' source and I'm happy that I did it. A very solid album, amazing singing, with nasal, crusty vocals. This is the standout track from the release.

23. "Diver" by Strung Out

from "BLACKHAWKS OVER LOS ANGELES"

(LIVE-Jason sounds fucking awful)

It shits on the other BOLA...oh yes...I went there. Strung Out are known for their AMAZING closing tracks and "Diver" is no exception. It's got so many last song 'clichés' in there, but it's absolutely amazing. Such an uplifting song.

22. "Grace Kelly" by Mika

from "LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzA0nG_PurQ (Music Video)

Love him or hate him, this song was cheesy pop goodness, and there's nothing in life I love more than good cheesy pop. Yes his album's pretty wank, all his singles after this one have basically sucked, has he relelased "Stuck In The Middle" yet? Now THAT is another great tune.

21."Ex's & Oh's" by New Amsterdams

from "THE COMPANION OF MY RIVAL EP"

http://www.myspace.com/thenewamsterdams (5th from bottom on player)

How this didn't make the album, I have no idea. A fucking amazing song. More of a simple acoustic style track like their earlier work, but mixed with some cool electric guitar riffs over the top and a brass section that really fits. "Guitarkansas" on the EP is AMAZING as well.

20. "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis

from "SPIRIT"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF84pIhP5UM (Music Video)

Hot for a near-nigger. Brilliant song, thumping drumline direct from the 80's, and absolutely epic sing-along chorus. What's not to love?

19. "When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" by Rooney

from "CALLING THE WORLD"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qoL-9jGaZc (Music Video)

It's great to finally see Rooney back, and it's nice to see them gain a bit of popularity. They apparently had two records refused by their label and there's bootlegs apparently doing the rounds, I haven't found them. Not as good as the first album, but to be honest, that's a near impossible feat. The lead single from the album, this is just too downright catchy.

18. "After Hours" by Caribou

from "ANDORRA"

(LIVE SESSION-OH MY GOD! FUCKING GOLD!)

A great record, and this track inparticular is amazing. It oozes charm and style, but at the same time it's the kind of tune that makes you want to jump up and get dancing, brilliance.

17. "The Receiving End Of It All" by Streetlight Manifesto

from "SOMEWHERE IN THE BETWEEN"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05fW5eAKZss (Song)

We used to be in love (MY LOVE!), but now we're just in like, and we broke all our promises and baby that aint right. NUFF SAID! At one time I'd have said Streetlight Manifesto were easily the best 'pure' ska-punk band (Although they have experimented a wee bit) but there's all sorts of styles and influences on this new release.

16. "Flux" by Bloc Party

from "FLUX (Single)"

(Music Video)

What I love about this is that it's almost certainly came to fruition purely by them pissing about and about halfway through realising, "Holy shit...this is great!". I'd love more Bravery Party in the future, especially seeing as The Bravery are wank these days...actually they only ever had like 4 good songs.

15. "Miss Blonde, Your Papa Is Failing" by Of Montreal

from "ICONS, ABSTRACT THEE EP"

n/a CHECK IT OUT!!

One of the simplest and laid back Of Montreal tracks, but it's still incredibly sweet and beautiful.

14. "Misery's Crown" by Dark Tranquility

from "FICTION"

(Song)

For the best part of the year, or at least for the first few months before the releases I was 'dying for' dropped this song would get played by me SO MUCH! Incredibly catchy keyboard/synth whatever, riff, just a truly epic song. Got a bit of a "Only For The Weak" by In Flames vibe to it.

13. "Roll On (ft. Jenny Lewis)" by DnTel

from "DUMB LUCK"

http://www.myspace.com/dntel (Bottom of player)

Whilst not a 'surprise' album per say, as Tambarello is incredibly talented, he has however got his head out of his arse 'creatively', I guess The Postal Service has taught him 'catchy tunes' are good too, it doesn't have to be borderline incomprehensible glitchiness and static. And it's the 'catchy' yet sweet and simple, but still weird, tunes where DnTel actually excells. Hands down his best release, and here's the standout track with The Postal Service's own (apparently now a full time member) Jenny Lewis.

12. "International TweeXcore Underground" by Los Campesinos!

from "INTERNATIONAL TWEEXCORE UNDERGROUND (Single)"

(Music Video)

Definately a band to look out for in 2008, they could be HUGE! They mix cute pop niceties with absolutely epic arrangements that would put the likes of Arcade Fire and The Polyphonic Spree to shame. I just checked the date of the demo's I downloaded, and they are dated October 2006. If I were to be honest, since then I never thought about them, until recently when I stumbled back across them by accident, found this new song and was totally blown away.

11. "My Moon My Man" by Feist

from "THE REMINDER"

(Music Video)

Such a simple song in theory. But it's the simple ones that can go on to become classics. The entire thing is basically centred around 4 piano notes, A-C-E and G. Not even chords...just notes. But despite being so thinly scored, it's still so luscious and beautiful, the intertwined multi-layered harmonic vocals whored out by the likes of Kylie Minogue to Imogen Heap, really add to the track. Plus...it's just so god damn dancey and great.

10. "I'Da Called You Woody, Joe" by Gaslight Anthem

from "SINK OR SWIM"

(Music Video)

EPIC song! EPIC band! One of those choruses that makes you want to get up, rock the fuck out and start screaming along. If I could put money on one band to 'save' 'punk-rock' (not that it needs fucking saving), it'd be these fuckers.

9. "Our Velocity" by Maximo Park

from "OUR EARTHLY PLEASURES"

(Music Video)

I used to swear by my intense hatred of Maximo Park. That was until the summer, when they 'headlined' some free gig here down by the river, so I decided to pop along with my mates. Saw some Calvin Harris aswell. Smuggled cans in, in our socks. It was AMAZING! Actually Maximo Park...and 2 minutes of Calvin Harris were the only people were saw, but whatever. I was fucked, and Maximo Park were amazing. I now love them. This song is too good. However the night ended in disaster when I got home rat arsed, decided to make toasties...fell asleep whilst eating them, woke up and the cheese had solidified. Ewwwwww.

8. "About You Now" by Sugababes

from "CHANGE"

(Music Video)

At first I felt dirty about placing this so high. But on further inspection I just feel dirty about the number of times I've pleasured myself to the video. Oh Heidi...Oh Heidi...Oh Heidi. Oh Tree Swinger...Oh other one with the cracking arse who's far better looking than Mutya. Fucking epic song. Pop classic.

7. "Airtap!" by Erik Mongrain

from "FATES"

(LIVE)

Words cannot describe just how talented this guy is, the things he can do with an acoustic guitar, it's even more breathtaking than a Sunday School teacher shoving the neck up her vag. Modern day masterpiece.

6. "Relative Surplus Value" by The Weakerthans

from "REUNION TOUR"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuvtGWY43IE (Song)

John K. Sampson is one of the downright weirdest lyricists ever. Not weird in a totally obtuse vague way, but in a kind of true to life way. And not in a true to life, scummy northern-indie rock way. In a kind of upper crust Canadian singing about women's curling competitions and songs from the point of view of a cat...okay I guess it is a bit obtuse. But despite the weird lyrical content, he still manages to be so beautiful and sincere. A truly amazing song right here.

5. "Letter From God (To Man)" by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip

from "Free Download From Their Myspace"

(Song)

When "Thou Shalt Always Kill" came out, I absolutely adored it. The lyrical content is just so, so good. And then came this, and I was blown away. Whether you're religious or not is far from fucking important, as that's not really what it's about, but lyrically, damn, amazing. "Last time I sent down a message, you nailed it to the cross"...awesome.

4. "Uniform" by Bloc Party

from "A WEEKEND IN THE CITY"

(Song)

Fuck "Knights Of Cydonia" THIS is THE EPIC 'ROCK' ANTHEM out of the UK in the past few years. And it's not overly cheesy, and doesn't involve guitar noises that sounds like a horse having it's nackers lobbed off by a lightsaber. Simply 5 minutes of absolute sheer gold. A beautiful slow opening, some sweet melodies, haunting backing vocals, and then it goes uptempo. It keeps building, it gets more and more menacing before just before the 4-minute mark kicking in with the sinister riff and awesome lyrics (for Bloc Party) of "I am a martyr I just need a motive, I am a martyr I just need a cause".

3. "Mission Statement" by Strung Out

from "BLACKHAWKS OVER LOS ANGELES"

(LIVE-Nice Pants )

(Acoustic in a skate park, what's not to love)

Such an insanely catchy number, much like "Diver" this is an incredibly upbeat, uplifting number. I love the lyrics, and it's basically Strung Out at their bast, a fast, catchy song.

2. "Crowd Surf Off A Cliff" by Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton

from "KNIVES DON'T HAVE YOUR BACK"

http://www.myspace.com/emilyhaines (Bottom in player)

I'm not really high on The Metric, but this solo album has totally blown me away, I adore it. This song, fan-fucking-tastic. Doesn't really follow a conventional structure or chordal pattern. But it's the kind of song as the name kind of suggests, you can just put on and let yourself drift off to. Simply outstanding.

1. "Canoe" by Afterburner aka. Joey Cape

from "n/a"

http://www.myspace.com/afterburnermusic (Top in player)

That's right, song of the year from Joey Cape. Oh how I love him. How strange is it to think that the guitarist from Me First & The Gimme Gimme's is one of the 'best' vocalists and song writers of our time. If I were to be perfectly honest, I was never HUGE on Lagwagon. I mean they have good songs, some GREAT songs, but it always seemed like Joey could do 'more' and really seemed to be held back. Bad Astronaut really allowed him to push boundaries a little more, and now he's got a whole host of projects he's working on. If this song never makes a release I'm going to be incredibly dissapointed, just so beautiful.

We are going to play a game called, "GUESS THE BIRD". There will be 20 women, including Scouse sex pot, Heidi Range of the Sugababes, there...who will show up again. . They will all be music related...so that'll narrow it down a little bit. But for every 20 entires in this (5 albums at a time), there will a list of 20-1 of random fit women in music.. So not only can you discuss my awesome musical tastes and predict what albums will come up next, you will also get to predict which women will come next......now all I need is a bottle of good whiskey and some lager on tap, and I'd have all the greatest things in my life rolled into one.

What albums will make the cut...what's your favourite albums of the year? What's your favourite fanny in music? Fuck off Benji!!

Edited December 29, 2007 by YI

[ROC]

God, you are bad at avoiding the point of the topic at hand, YI.

[YI]

God, you are bad at avoiding the point of the topic at hand, YI.

Edited December 30, 2007 by YI

[Regia]

Nice to see Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip and Erik Mongrain got nice high places on that list

The promotional advert for "Letter From God (To Man)" needs to be seen

[TheBusinessman]

I'm pretty sure I would have to put my song of the year as Aint No Reason by Brett Dennen.. Just a damn good song

[YI]

YI'S TOP 100 ALBUMS OF 2007: 100-96

The photo's/layout will be changed with. So the pics measure up. I need to install photoshop again, but cannot be arsed.

CAN'T FIND A GOOD PICTURE...HE LOOKS A LITTLE LIKE DIXON BAINBRIDGE THOUGH

100. "The Improvised Killing of Uncle Faustus and Other Mythologies" by David A Jaycock

GENRE:

Experimental/Folk/Instrumental

RELATED BANDS:

Big Eyes Family Players

SOUNDS LIKE:

James Green, John Fahey, Ben Chasny, Big Eyes Family Players

NOTES:

From Manchester, England comes David A Jaycock, with one of the weirdest, but still most beautifully haunting albums of the year. Centred mostly around acoustic guitar work, he blends in sinister backdrops of; piano, organ, electronics, choirs and a vintage synth to give depth to his compositions. Whilst to a certain extent you could argue the album doesn't get out of second gear, there's still a tapestry of beautiful melodies woven throughout the record. Perfect for a listen in headphones, in a dark room, letting yourself sink into it.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/davidajaycockmusic

BEST SONGS:

"Tremelo Study", "Es Cortinas Para Usted", "Basking" and "Reeleel".

99. "Proudly Present A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation" by The Wombats

GENRE:

Indie-Rock

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

The Pigeon Detectives, Arctic Monkeys, Milburn and all that jazz

NOTES:

My first contact with The Wombats came from the video to "Kill The Director". I caught the end of it, had no idea who it was or what song it was for a long time afterwards, but the sheer 'randomness' "THIS IS NO BRIDGET JONES...THIS IS NO BRIDGET, BRIDGET" was engraved in my skull for a long time. To be honest, they seemed very much like one of those bands I hate. The ones who think they're the Arctic Monkeys, their 'real life' lyrics. But for some reason, I fell in love with The Wombats. However, they do seem to have one thing they tend to abuse. The after chorus bridge with the shouty vocals things, where they repeat a line. They do it as previously mentioned in "Kill The Director" and in "School Uniforms" ("Short skirts, long hair, my hormones flying everywhere"), but I think they're the best two tracks on the album, so I guess it works. Okay, as I said, I normally hate these kinds of bands. The Wombats however seem to have a bit more variation in them though. The downright dodgy sounding electronics, I mean seriously, they sound like shite, but that kind of gives it a bit of an extra charm.

CHECK THEM OUT:

www.myspace.com/thewombatsuk

BEST SONGS:

"School Unfiroms", "Kill The Director", "Let's Dance To Joy Division" and "Backfire At The Disco".

98. "Wild Hope" by Mandy Moore

GENRE:

Pop

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

Lucie Silvas, Kelly Clarkson, Feist

NOTES:

Okay, I'll flat out say, this list is biased. Well, of course it is. It's based on one person's opinion. And just because I think Mandy Moore is quite possibly the hottest woman on the planet, that hasn't swayed my decision at all, because this is actually a good release. If I'm to be perfectly honest, I heard none of Mandy Moore's teeny-bopper shit, or if I did, I can't particuarly remember any of it. So I picked this up on the strength of the lead-in single, "Extraordinary", which was a catchy, somewhat sophisticated, but still simple pop-song. And that's what this album is full of. She's built herself, well, someone else has built her a bit of a niche in that she's still got the pop-sensibilities and style of the mainstream popular acts like; Natasha Bedingfield, Kelly Clarkson and Pink, but at the same time has the style and feeling of the likes of Norah Jones, Regina Spektor and St Vincent. She's basically in what I like to call the Lucie Silvas position...which in my head is her on top. She's somewhere between the two sides. However, her only slight problem is that, she's not as talented as these women. She doesn't do pop like Natasha Bedingfield. She can't do the anthematic 'rock-y' numbers like Pink and Kelly Clarkson. She's damn nowhere near as talented vocally as Norah Jones, and she can't draw in the indie-whores with the quirky tracks like St Vincent and Regina Spektor can. So she will be overlooked, often mocked, but I don't care, as from this album alone she has artistic integrity, as she's a solid vocalist, with some great tracks. She's fucking gorgeous.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/mandymoore

BEST SONGS:

"Most Of Me", "Extraordinary", "Ladies Choise" and "Gardenia".

97. "Armchair Apocrypha" by Andrew Bird

GENRE:

Singer-Songwriter/Indie

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

Coldplay, Final Fantasy, Mike Doughty, Joseph Arthur

NOTES:

It's quite sad, that in comparison to a lot of the singer-songwriters that are going to appear on the list, Andrew Bird seems to have more about him, and is willing to push more boundaries. Stylistically he jumps somewhat quite a bit. He can go from a straight up rock ballad, to a Final Fantasy quirky string tracks to tracks like "Simple X" with swooning Thom Yorke style vocals and slow build songs that wouldn't sound out of place on a Coldplay CD. But that's part of the problem. During "Plasticies" it often seems like he's doing his best Final Fantasy impression (I can't be arsed to google for his name, it's Oliver something I think ). In "Simple X" it sounds like he's doing his best Thom Yorke impression. In "Dark Matter" is sounds like he's doing his best Chris Martin. There's not a bad track on here. But there's just not enough 'him', and as a singer-songwriter that's really what you need. Although, I must admit, the whistling gimmick he has throughout the album is really good, and I like it. It especially comes in heavy towards the end, where he seems to develop his own style a little more.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/andrewbird

BEST SONGS:

"Scythian Empires", "Simple X", "Cataracts" and "Plasticities".

96. "CexCells" by Blaqk Audio

GENRE:

Electro-Pop/Alternative-Pop

RELATED BANDS:

The two gay ones from AFI

SOUNDS LIKE:

The Faint, Depeche Mode, The Birthday Massacre, Orgy

NOTES:

I really wanted to hate this record. It's the two pre-op transexual looking ones from AFI doing music to apparently emulate the bands that inspired them, like New Order and The Cure. And I fucking love New Order...and The Cure...I was just waiting to hate this. In fact. I only downloaded it so I could hate it. As judging from the electrical aspects on the last AFI album (And I never liked AFI to begin with), this was going to be shocking. But...it wasn't. In fact, there was basically no elitism surrounding this record at all. Throughout it literally did seem like two guys having fun, penning some tunes in a different style. And best of all, they seemed to carve their 'own' sound. Yes, it's the same sound The Faint and various others before them have been throwing around for years, but still, they sounded like their own band, not just two guys trying to emulate bands they could barely touch talent wise. I like how it starts a bit dark and depressing, but as it goes on, the tunes get poppier and catchier with the likes of "Semiotic Love" and the amazing "Again, Again and Again". Both the band name and album name are fucking drizzling shits.

CHECK THEM OUT:

www.myspace.com/blaqkaudio

BEST SONGS:

"Again, Again and Again", "Bitter For Sweet", "On A Friday" and "Semiotic Love".

[Skummy]

Final Fantasy's real name is Owen Pallett.

Incidentally, I've not heard any of these, I wasn't even aware Andrew Bird released an album last year. Definitely going to check out that and the Jaycock fella, though, he sounds pretty nice.

[YI]

YI'S TOP 100 ALBUMS OF 2007: 95-91

95. "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" by Spoon

GENRE:

Indie-Rock

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

Interpol, New Pornographers, Apples In Stereo

NOTES:

There's a lot of people who are VERY high on this album. I just don't see it. I just don't get what's so special about it. I mean. Take for example, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", I don't rate it as the legendary album a lot of people do, but I can at least understand why they see it as legendary, and I think it's a great album. This...I admit that it's got the makings of a classic, but it's just far too dull in places. Take for example, "The Ghost Of You Lingers", where the album's title comes from (The piano part running throughout). The piano riff, with the "oooh's" and haunting vocals interlocking over the top of it. It's beautiful, it's so effective. And you think, "This is going to be an epic song". But it...just, doesn't go anywhere. Yes, it's a good song. One of my favourites on the album, but it could be so much better. And that's basically the album in a nutshell. It's good. There's a couple of catchy tunes. But they have the potential to be so much more, and a better band would realise that. I might sound like I'm being harsh on this album. I mean. It's good. Better than a hell of a lot of stuff I've heard this year. But not THAT good.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/spoon

BEST SONGS:

"The Underdog", "The Ghost Of You Lingers", "You Got YOUR. Cherry Bomb" and "Finer Feelings".

94. "In Our Nature" by Jose Gonzalez

GENRE:

Acoustic/Singer-Songwriter

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

Iron & Wine, The Bowerbirds, Elliot Smith

NOTES:

"Veneer" was an amazing solo record, which featured many beautiful tracks. It's been a while, but eventually Jose brings out the follow up album. And I must admit. I'm slightly dissapointed. I mean, it's a solid release. Everything's basically stripped down to the bear minimum. "Veneer" had a certain gloss about it, "In Our Nature" even has that removed. It's as though he's basically went out of the way to not make another 'catchy', succesful record. And naturally, that's really effected the content. There are some absolute gems though. The 'rapid', "Killing For Love", "Time To Send Someone Away" and the 8-minute long "Cycling Trivialities", inparticular. But, the fact he seems to want to seperate this from "Veneer" and the mainstream success that came with it, means that many of the memorable moments from that album aren't here in this one. Seriously, with "Veneer" in every song I could think of one bit that always stuck out, I could remember it, I could sing them through in my head. Here, most of the songs seem to be lacking these hooks.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/josegonzalez

BEST SONGS:

"Killing For Love", "Time To Send Someone Away", "Cycling Trivialities" and "The Nest".

93. "Hell Is For Heroes" by Hell Is For Heroes

GENRE:

Post-Hardcore/Alt-Rock

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

Thursday, (2nd album) Reuben, Taking Back Sunday, Bayside

NOTES:

Hell Is For Heroes are a funny one. It's difficult to decide whether their steep shunt in popularity is due to unfortunate circumstances out of or in their control. Their first album, "Neon Handshake" dropped in 2003, released on the big EMI label. And it was killer. Charted well in the UK, and they had a number of top 40 singles, which for a band like this, especially at that time, was impressive. Then, they just seemed to fall off the face of the planet. They were dropped/left EMI, and had to put out their second album independently, very little publicity. You could argue that this was out of their control, but another reason for their decline in popularity could arguably be the poor quality of the second release. "Transmit Disrupt", it was piss poor in short. Now this brings us to the self-titled, third release. And this, this had even less coverage that "Transmit Disrupt", if that was at all possible. Seriously, I tend to be tuned into stuff, especially with bands I really like (Which HIFH are, even if the 2nd album was shite), and even if I don't check the album out for a while, it's on my radar. I stumbled across this, totally by accident, whilst aquiring the debut album again after my external hard drive got fucked. A good many months after it was released. To give you some idea, of the torrent sites and private trackers I'm on, I haven't seen it. On Soulseek, I occasionally search it, and I've only ever seen one guy with it. It seems so random, that a band can just collapse off the face of the earth so much. And the sad thing is, this is a really good record. It's a lot more laid back than the previous stuff, less emo-y screaming and distortion for the sake of it. It makes it seem a little dull at times, but there's still epic tracks like "My Protector", "Only The Ridiculous Will Survive" and "Between Us". It lacks some of the style and killer tunes of "Neon Handshake", like "You Drove Me To It", "I Can Climb Mountains", "Night Vision" and "Sick-Happy", but it's still a solid, more mature record, in its own right. It has a pointless instrumental again, which knocks it down a peg or two. ps....the singer has an awesome, really recognisable voice.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/hellisforheroes

BEST SONGS:

"My Protector", "Only The Ridiculous Will Survive", "Between Us" and "Arcade".

92. "The Electrical Morning" by Marlango

GENRE:

Pop/Soul/Indie

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

The Postmarks, Norah Jones, Katie Mellua

NOTES:

Marlango is a Spanish indie-pop band, who sing in English, fronted by Spanish actress Leonor Watling. Most famous, as ROC tells me, for getting her tits out in made for TV movies. Excellent. Already they're off to an amazing start. Watling has a good voice, it's husky, somewhat of a dim-lit room, lounge singer style of voice, which goes with the occasional slight jazz twinge the music has. It is a little 'harsh' for the style of music she sings, but it's far from an awful voice. The songs are generally very soft and quiet, and most of the attention seems to be on the vocals, with little in the way of fancy instrumentation, although what is there is effective. There's some varied instrumentation in the background, and one 'gimmick' I do enjoy is the somewhat, 'music box' like sounds used in a number of tracks like "Shiny Fish" and "Never Trust Me". Whilst it's all laid back and chilled out, there are some tunes that are somewhat upbeat, but still contained, like the opener "Shout", which has a Amy Winehouse feel to it. Some sweet, stylistic pop songs here.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/marlango

BEST SONGS:

"Hold Me Tight", "Walkin' In Soho", "I Do" and "Shout".

91. "Sound Of Silver" by LCD Soundsystem

GENRE:

Electro-rock/Dance-punk

RELATED BANDS:

n/a

SOUNDS LIKE:

!!!, Simian Mobile Disco, Justice

NOTES:

"All My Friends" is easily one of my favourite tracks of the year, and it's an absolute gem submerged in the middle of a good album. From the moment I heard the clunking, fidgeting piano chords I knew this was going to be a fresh, totally different song from James Murphy. It builds and builds into an absolutely epic album, and what really strikes me is how good Murphy's 'traditional' style vocal work is. Generally his vocal work generally seems like an afterthought, and often as backing to the music surrounding it, but here his voice rides the music so powerfully, it truly is an epic song. As for the rest of the album, there's a good amount of variation here. The funky, "Time To Get Away" and the 8-minute "Us vs. Them" are standout tracks, with pulsating basslines and disco styled guitars. To be honest, I feel like I should put this higher, as it is a great album, and it's got a really fresh sound to it. But if I were to put it higher, I'd basically be lying. As, I generally don't 'spin it' all that much, and I really find it difficult to sit through the entire thing.

CHECK THEM OUT:

http://www.myspace.com/lcdsoundsystem

BEST SONGS:

"All My Friends", "Us vs. Them", "Time To Get Away" and "Someone Great".

[ROC]

Nah, YI, Watling gets her tits out in foreign movies (most famously in Almodovar's Talk to Her). Still hot, though.

I'd definitely have Spoon and LCD higher, but Spoon's album does tend to grate after a few listens as all of their albums have a tendency to do. Oh, and "Black Like Me" is also incredible.

Edited January 15, 2008 by ROC

[Vendetta]

Here is the problem I have with this...There will most likely be no country albums..so how can one say these albums are the tops of 2007 with out including albums from all genres?

[Clawson]

Country isn't a genre. It's a waste of air.

[IAceI]

Because it's his top 100 albums of 2007, not voted for by anyone else?

That and country music is just Southern Americans dressed as cowboys >_<

[YI]

Here is the problem I have with this...There will most likely be no country albums..so how can one say these albums are the tops of 2007 with out including albums from all genres?

[Cactus Drags]

The guy from Hell Is For Heroes has one of the best voices ever. I need to track down that album, I haven't even found it in shops :/

EDIT: Found it >_>

Edited January 18, 2008 by Dragsy 7-0