Hall of Awesome: Best Albums of 2007

10

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Once: Music from the Motion Picture

9

of Montreal

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

8

Feist

The Reminder

7

Justice

†

6

They Might Be Giants

The Else

5

Patton Oswalt

Werewolves and Lollipops

4

Jens Lekman

Night Falls Over Kortedala

3

Sondre Lerche

Phantom Punch

2

Loney, Dear

Loney, Noir

1

Panda Bear

Person Pitch

Before I begin, I'm gonna go ahead and say that I never ended up buying the new albums by The National, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A, or any of the other albums that seem to be dotting everyone else's year-end best-of lists. I am constantly amazed at the sheer volume of music other bloggers are able to listen to and absorb. How some people are able to listen to countless CDs over the course of a year and actually be able to come to a consensus over their favorite 20, 25, even 50, is beyond me. After ten, aren't you just picking CDs at random? If a CD makes my list, it is become I am in love with nearly every single song on it. I can't put Radiohead's new album on the list simply because I haven't had enough time to fully absorb every song. It takes a while for me to really get into the spirit of an album and to figure out exactly what the musician or band was going for. That probably explains why a lot of the CDs that made my list were released in late winter or early spring.

Kicking off my list is the downright beautiful soundtrack for Once, a film that is bound to make my best movies list...when I get around to actually writing it. Hansard and Irglová wrote all of the songs themselves and their vocal deliveries are unparalleled. Of course, the ever-prolific of Montreal delivered another terrific album with endlessly catchy melodies and increasingly experimental song structure (the twelve-minute "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" is proof of Kevin Barnes' genius). I had Feist's new CD and was semi-impressed by it, but once I got to see her live, I revisited the album and found myself entranced by all the new sounds and emotions I was able to find within it. Justice came out of nowhere to deliver the album everyone was waiting for Daft Punk to put out (meanwhile, Daft Punk's Alive 2007 more than made up for the misstep that was Human After All). They Might Be Giants was another band I got to see live, but by that time, I was already in love with their latest album, which was definitely a grower, but at least half of the songs on there were so incessantly catchy, I couldn't get them out of my head for months. Patton Oswalt's Werewolves and Lollipops marks my first-ever inclusion of a stand-up comedy album on my annual top ten list, but what an album it is. I still crack up every time I listen to "Death Bed," and the DVD, intended as a "bonus" for those who don't download the album, is almost as essential as the album itself. I was blown away by Jens Lekman's compilation Oh, You're So Silent Jens and his newest studio album shows him in fine form. Indeed, he samples everything from old doo-wop music to scratchy recordings of himself as a child, yet everything comes off as the most sincere and original music released this year. Meanwhile, Sondre Lerche released a new hard-rockin' album that could've easily doubled for a greatest hits collection, since every single track on Phantom Punch is solid and totally worthy of some radio play (sadly, Clear Channel hates talent). Loney, Dear went under the radar after a decidedly low-key Sub Pop debut, but I hope his inclusion at the number two spot on my list will inspire you to go out and get it, or at least to listen to such brilliant tracks as "Saturday Waits" and "I Am John." Finally, I have never been able to listen to an entire Animal Collective album front-to-back, but I immediately fell in love with the stark beauty and meditative nature of Noah Lennox's Panda Bear side project. I have taken to describing Person Pitch as a cross between the Beach Boys and Sigur Rós, but that comparison doesn't really do it justice. Take a listen to "Bros" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

And now, without further ado, the honorable mentions: