List-o-mania

As the year plods to an end, I’ve been reading through a lot of end of the year “best of” lists to catch up with what I missed back home. It tempted me to share my own eagerly-awaited by no one list:

Fave Albums:

I think the consensus about Arcade Fire’s eagerly-awaited Neon Bible was that it's good, but not “Funeral” good. That's a fair assessment. Also in heavy rotation around here is The Shins’ Wincing The Night Away.

One album that came out in 2006, but I think only in the States in 2007, that didn’t get nearly the attention it deserves is Jarvis Cocker’s first solo album, Jarvis. In many places it sounds like a middling Pulp album, which is still pretty friggin’ awesome. Jarvis’ unusual self-awareness is on full display here, as a sort of jotting of the thoughts of a semi-retired rock star from his country house. It is a peaceful, dreamlike album. It is unmistakeable and hilarious on “I Will Kill Again,” probably the best song here, and refracted in his musing on contemporary criminal trends in “Fat Children,” which suggests he’s likely to vote Tory in the next election. “Baby’s Coming Back to Me” is about the sometimes beautiful confusion between the great and small in a life.

But album of the year has to go to Wilco. Sky Blue Sky took a little awhile to warm up to, but the naysayers who condemned it as an Eagles album were too hasty in their rush to judgment. Listening to the first track, “Either Way,” is very much like getting into a nice warm bath. If the song never really takes off and rocks, nor wanders down some experimental alley like the last few Wilco efforts have, so what? There’s a time and a place for tunes that are supposed to replicate having a migraine (“Less Than You Think,” from A Ghost is Born), and there are time for just a simple tune about your hometown like the title-track, “Sky Blue Sky.”

Fave Singles:

Whenever you see one name and one song keep popping up, you figure there is something behind it. Rihanna’s “Umbrella” is, I think, the undisputed world champion of 2007, and I can dig it. Even here in Moscow it was everywhere, that one foreign song that pops out over the summer and can be heard even on the tinny speakers coming from a shwarma stand and from cab-driver’s Lada Zhigulis. This genetically engineered monster triumphs over its parts. Jay-Z’s ridiculous intro gives it a weird sense of an “event,” the production is heavy-handed, the lyrics are simple. But it’s a catchy tune, and the diminutive Barbadian that sings it does seem to have that mysterious “star quality” that is usually talked about and applied so recklessly.

But still, my personal track of the year remains “Australia,” by the Shins. It is one of those songs that seems to actually take flight, with impressionist lyrics. And every time I hear when that banjo pops in at the end of the song, it is a surprise. I decided when I first heard it in February that this was that kind of song – the one in some parallel universe that would be playing from the car windows lined up in traffic on Pine Street on some Philadelphia summer Saturday afternoon as I was walking to meet friends.

Just Heard But Might Really Like:

I haven't been as surprised by liking something as much as I have been by M.I.A.’s Kala, especially “Paper Planes” which comes close to being my favorite of the year. It pulls off the rare feat of really looking into what it means to live in a smaller world. All far more nuanced than what you hear about the subject from governments and corporations, as well as multi-culti enthusiasts and haters.

But I'm still a little hesitant, because I'm still turned off by the overemphasis of the craft of the studio. I imagine this is a big part of the appeal for a lot of listeners, and I can respect that, but I might pass myself. Listening to a whole album of tricks and effects is like watching a teenage computer nerd play with what he got for Christmas. Mr. Timbaland is a prime offender in laying his gloss, and I will never really ‘love’ anything he does. It gets boring.

The 'Fabrika' Award for Song I'd Like Surgically Removed from My Head:

I don’t know if Mika made it the States, but here, while avoidable, he kept popping up and these damn songs are awfully catchy. It’s very easy to make fun of the guy and his dippy music, but that’s part of the charm. “Grace Kelly” simply revels in its goofy lightness, with its bouncy mix of swagger, pout, and earnestness. It comes from the same place as “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” really.

Just Not Following:

There are a few breakouts this year that I don’t get. LCD Soundsystem, for instance. Having a hard time buying that. Also, Amy Winehouse. It’s been done, it’s all been done.

Just Caught this Year a Few Years Too Late:

Call it a lesson in learning not to judge others too hastily. For years, I’d been intrigued and amused by Pete Doherty’s crackity adventures like everyone else. Then I actually heard Babyshambles “Fuck Forever,” and to my shock, it’s a fantastic song – snidely-literate, outward-looking, super-catchy. That got me to look back at the Libertines and “Time for Heroes” and “What Became of the Likely Lads,” have been in heavy rotation in my headphones. As a fervent Britpop fan – I’m American and I like Suede, enough said – it was probably only a matter of time before I stumbled upon them. And I’m glad I did, even if it feels like the last chapter of an era, just before the Arctic Monkeys became bigger than the Beatles.