My year end list of favorite albums, presented in iTunes goofy sort of alphabetical order. There are some notable exclusions, as I tried to stray from the low-hanging fruit of indie rock. (Battles, New Pornographers, LCD Soundsystem, etc)

Air Formation - Dream Storms For fans of: My Bloody Valentine, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Asobi Seksu

Akron/Family - Love is Simple For fans of: Angels of Light, Devendra Banhart, Grizzly Bear

Amandine - Solace In Sore Hands For fans of: Magnolia Electric Co., Okkervil River, The Decemberists

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha For fans of: Sufjan Stevens, M. Ward, Jolie Holland

Apparat - Walls For fans of: Autechre, Ellen Allien, Modeselektor

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible¹ For fans of: Islands, Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel

Arizona - Fameseeker and the Mono For fans of: Midlake, Sparklehorse, Annuals

Arthur & Yu - In Camera² For fans of: Bishop Allen, Yo La Tengo, The Essex Green

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music For fans of: Electrelane, Broadcast, Kings of Convenience

Bishop Allen - The Broken String For fans of: Voxtrot, Page France, Of Montreal

Blonde Redhead - 23³ For fans of: Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins

BOAT - Let’s Drag Our Feet For fans of: A.C. Newman, Apples in Stereo, Tullycraft

Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink⁴ For fans of: Annuals, The Arcade Fire, I’m From Barcelona

Breathe Owl Breathe - Canadian Shield For fans of: Brown Bird, Carissa’s Wierd, Andrew Bird

Caribou - Andorra For fans of: Broadcast, Animal Collective, The Books

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond For fans of: Sebadoh, Pavement, The Breeders

Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls⁵ For fans of: Clinic, Stereolab, Broadcast

Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today For fans of: Sleep, Goatsnake, Pentagram

Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five For fans of: Jolie Holland, Neko Case, Tom Waits

Grand Archives - Archives EP ⁶ For fans of: Carissa’s Wierd, Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket

Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara For fans of: Sun Kil Moon, Iron & Wine, Neko Case

High on Fire - Death is This Communion For fans of: Sleep, Coliseum, Electric Wizard

Jenny Hoyston - Isle Of For fans of: Erase Errata, XBXRX, Mary Timony

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Like, Love, Lust & The Open Halls of the Soul⁷ For fans of: Neko Case, Laura Veirs, Jolie Holland

Jesu - Conqueror For fans of: Pelican, Isis, Growing

Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers⁸ For fans of: Mirah, Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens

Let’s Go Sailing - The Chaos in Order⁹ For fans of: Maria Taylor, Rosie Thomas, Julie Doiron

Los Campesinos! - Sticking Fingers Into Sockets¹⁰ For fans of: Architecture in Helsinki, Pavement, Go Sailor

Love of Diagrams - Mosaic¹¹ For fans of: Electrelane, The Au Pairs, The Slits

Lucinda Williams - West For fans of: Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Wilco

Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water¹² For fans of: Josephine Foster, Mazzy Star, Espers

Maritime - Heresy and the Hotel Choir For fans of: Voxtrot, Built to Spill, Matt Pond PA

Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm¹³ For fans of: Deerhoof, Hella, Melt Banana

Mountain Home - Mountain Home¹⁴ For fans of: Marissa Nadler, Espers, Castanets

Ono - Yes I’m a Witch For fans of: Bjork, Laurie Anderson, John Cage

The Orchids - Good to be a Stranger For fans of: The Field Mice, 14 Iced Bears, LLoyd Cole

Peter Bjorn & John - Writer’s Block¹⁵ For fans of: The Concretes, Shout Out Louds, Camera Obscura

Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs For fans of: Built to Spill, The American Analog Set, Palace

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights For fans of: Tina Turner, Bettye LaVette, Aretha Franklin

Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills For fans of: The Concretes, Love is All, Comet Gain

Southerly - Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist For fans of: Lovers, Best Friend Forever, Nedelle

Witchcraft - The Alchemist For fans of: Pentagram, Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard

1. Reluctantly included. It’s a good album in spite of hype.
2. One of my absolute favorites and has been on constant play.
3. My absolute favorite album of 2007, and an excellent introduction to Blonde Redhead.
4. Giant, sweeping and crushing crescendos. They don’t sound like the Arcade Fire, but the elements you like about them will make you love this band.
5. One of the best post rock albums of the last few years, and unfortunately their last. I highly recommend their entire back catalog.
6. If you think you like Band of Horses, you will like this band 100x more. Band of Horses is a watered down Grand Archives and Carissa’s Wierd (Carissa’s Wierd being his former band, Grand Archives being Mat Brook of Carissa’s Wierd, and formerly Band of Horses’ new band.)
7. The only album I bought all year on the day it came out. (Most definitely on purpose.)
8. My second favorite album this year. Laura Veirs is probably one of the best American songwriters of our generation.
9. One of the saddest albums of late.
10. This year I fell head over heels in love with this band.
11. Another favorite that I listen to almost daily.
12. Listen to this on a rainy Saturday, or before you go to bed.
13. This album blew my mind.
14. Waited forever for this to come out.
15. Before this band was shoved down your throat in every commercial, television show, and movie this was a really great album.

Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 9:30 am | Leave A Comment | Comments Feed
Filed under: Music Tags: 2007, bestof