Image by Kelly Image by Kelly2007-12-27 - 1:51 p.m. When it comes to music, there are no bad years, only years where Robyn Hitchcock doesn't put out a new studio album, just reissues that don't qualify for the big list... But anyway, here's what I liked this year: My favorite album of 2007: Future Clouds and Radar - Future Clouds and Radar Former Cotton Mather leader Robert Harrison takes the power-pop perfection of his previous band to giddy, diaphanous new heights; the songs are brilliant, the arrangements dazzling, and I admire the audacity of releasing a double-CD as a debut. Their show at Piano's this past spring was electrifying. And all the others: Kristin Hersh - Learn to Sing Like a Star Here she combines the raw, psychotic energy of her old Throwing Muses days with the restrained, but no less sparkling, songcraft of her more recent albums, creating her own patented brand of acoustic rock. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back Inspiring songs, amazing vocals--I think I listened to "Eyes on the Prize" more than any other song this year. Mavis's free outdoor show this summer was also my favorite live performance of the year. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away It makes me uncomfortable when I find myself agreeing with critics (and Zach Braff), but every song here is a perfect gem. Rickie Lee Jones - Sermon on Exposition Boulevard This album sounds like Mary Margaret O'Hara fronting the Velvets--it is the sound of a late-career perfomer finding raw, beautiful inspiration again, and it is nothing like her previous work. Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! Excellent pop tuneage from everybody's favorite Welshmen. Okkervil River - The Stage Names Seems like this got overlooked by the folks who got all misty about Black Sheep Boy , but I like this one just as much. Caribou - Andorra It's purty. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Kevin Barnes writes nice melodies. Life in a Blender - The Heart Is A Small Balloon Funny, poignant, brilliant. Love Camp 7 - Sometimes Always Never Challenging psych-rock that sounds like the sun poking out from the clouds Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life Trance-inducing Sub-Saharan homesick blues Some great songs of 2007: White Williams - "New Violence" Budos band - "Scorpion" Georgie James - "Cake Parade" Grinderman - "Get it On" Nick Lowe - "I Trained Her to Love Me" Buck 65 - "Dang" Green Pajamas - "Katie's Gone" Richard Thompson - "Needle and Thread" Spoon - "The Ghost of You Lingers" Angels of Light - "Goodbye Mary Lou"
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