Favorite Album of the Year so Far?

Mine is Mika's debut. I have really not tired of this since I bought it. I love all of the videos and just get an all around good feeling when I listen to him. He was like a breath of fresh air and I eagerly await his next effort. What was your favorite album of the year so far?

Kanye's Synth heavy dirty production on Graduation was enough alone to pick this album up. I wish I had a FULL LIST of releases i really liked this year but this one comes to mind.


I would put Planet Earth up but I dont wanna rave about Prince right now, I like to give others a chance

superspaceboy said:

Mine is Mika's debut. I have really not tired of this since I bought it. I love all of the videos and just get an all around good feeling when I listen to him. He was like a breath of fresh air and I eagerly await his next effort. What was your favorite album of the year so far?

Blonde Redhead, "23". It's an album that I know I'll be throwing in my stereo for years to come. It's melodic, it has enough variety from song to song without sounding like a disjointed album, it's melancholy without being woe-is-me maudlin, and I think the production is beautiful - and quirky, in very subtle ways. It's not an album that jumps out and smacks you upside the head with its brilliance. It has to slowly settle under your skin with time. And it certainly has done that for me.

A close second place is PJ Harvey's "White Chalk". Gorgeous album. I was very surprised.

Tinariwen - Aman Iman


followed closely by -

Bruce Springsteen - Magic

Oook! EMC Funk Radio Celibate, Mushroom, Canopy, Arse Gravy.

I don't have one that sticks out above all others, but here are a few that have caught my attention so far.

Mavis Staples...



...We'll Never Turn Back


Michael Brecker...



...Pilgrimage


Larry Carlton with special guest Robben Ford...



...LIVE IN TOKYO


Soulive...



...No Place Like Soul


Eldar...



...re-imagination


Chaka Khan...



...FUNK THIS


Christian Scott...



...Anthem


David Witham...



...Spinning The Circle


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

paisleypark4 said:

Meshell Ndegeocello.....the rest are not even close.

theAudience said:

paisleypark4 said:

ONE album ..witha description. I dont know who none of those people are hardly

Come again?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Graycap23 said:

paisleypark4 said:

theAudience said:

Come again?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

who dem peoples?

theAudience said:

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

AsylumUtopia said:

Tinariwen - Aman Iman

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

PDogz said:

theAudience said:

Chaka Khan...



...FUNK THIS

LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver



There are certain moments in life that seem to stop the world spinning- their magnitude is such that they usurp all focus and filter out all distractions. I've had a lot of those moments in the past few years- the death of my father, immigration to another country and my blissful wedding day are among the most notable. Usually these moments are reserved for events of grand proportion, but sometimes something much less significant can trigger a heightened awareness or, hell, an epiphany of sorts. I was fortunate enough to have one such moment grace me this year, and that it came from a source as unexpected as LCD Soundsystem makes it all the more special. While I had enjoyed the panache and intellectual foreplay of the eponymous debut record, I in no way expected the sequel to be so emotionally charged and viscerally vital to my being. Sound of Silver, indeed, is an album of many moments.

In spite of the fact that Sound of Silver reveals a definite evolution, the album still retains the wry swagger and cunning dialogue of the debut. The project was launched with "North American Scum", a paranoid rant about anti-imperialism and a half-hearted acknowledgment of its validity, all to the backdrop of some killer dance swashes. Don't believe me? It's groovy enough to have inspired me to post an embarrassing clip of my own rendition of the song online- don't ask. "Time to Get Away", meanwhile, chugs and grunts along to a sassy beat that meanders into a distorted synth utopia complete with wild Princely yelps. "Watch the Tapes" buzzes along to a perfect new wave theme, percolating along to the dissatisfaction with fickle critical vicissitudes. "Us v Them" continues this theme, starting from a mild drone and building to an effervescent funk workout. All of these songs are fantastically executed, incorporating a bevy of influences and styles. Plenty of ass-shaking, coolly calculated moments here. However, their real value is found in their relative sparsity and placement among the tracks of a more emotional tilt which form the heart of the record.

What makes this album a bona fide classic is the way in which it subtly draws the listener into the scene before unexpectedly unleashing an emotional avalanche. The title track inserts a rather embarrassing repeated chorus into a beautifully crafted dance opus in which it is clear that Mr. Murphy has found some new tricks up his sleeve, enveloping the groove in increasingly intricate layers, capping it all with a floating xylophone whimsy for a moment of sheer ecstasy. The opening cut "Get Innocuous!" drenches Kraftwerk's "The Robots" in liquid metal for a good few minutes before wielding a harrowing blow of paranoia with some haunted, almost indecipherable vocals about the horrors of adhering to a life of normalcy. "When once you had believed it, now you see its sucking you in!", he pleads. The track is pure fire with its inspired mixture of electronic and organic percussion, and when the guest vocalist reels me into her rhythmic "You- can- normalize, don't it make you feel alive" chant, I lose all sensibility. Its impetus is so overwhelming that a slowly warping and chillingly stretched string note that ushers the song out completely goes off kilter in a moment of awestruck chaos. In a great display of parallelism, the album is closed with a track of a similar, but more direct theme, as "New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down" sees Murphy lament the loss of the spark that makes New York so great in what can be best described as a piano-driven power ballad. While he wallows in his criticisms with disarming vocal vulnerability, it is clear that he loves the city, as it is "still the one pool where [he'd] happily drown". As the desperation grows in his voice, so does the instrumental backdrop, culminating in a blistering guitar solo that bursts forth with frustration, ending the album in epic fashion- a chest-beating moment of invigoration, if you will.

The true heart of the album, fittingly, is in its center. The brutally honest "Someone Great" captures the feelings associated with the loss of a loved one. The propulsive, thick synthetic haze that opens the song captures the fractured mental state of shock that comes with the news of death perfectly. The lyrics here are outstanding, from the recollection of how awful it is to hear such news over the phone to the commentary on how irrational the mind becomes, as he becomes angry that the weather has the nerve to be lovely while he is mourning. That the cavalcade of catastrophe "keeps coming 'til the day it stops" is a lesson well-learned. Perhaps the greatest display of lyrical brilliance here is the way in which he reveals how much he has built up the image of the person he has lost, by admitting "you're smaller than my wife imagined- surprised you were human". A mesmerizing moment indeed. What follows is the subject of that "moment" described in the first part of this review. A frenetic piano loop acts as the engine for the juggernaut of "All My Friends", the album's behemoth of a centerpiece, whizzing the listener through the twists and turns of life. The instrumentation slowly builds with a melodic bass line that would make New Order proud and some starry percussion that conjures the magic of Bowie's "Teenage Wildlife", before setting the stage for this heartfelt tale of the ache of aging. The story starts innocently enough with blissful nostalgia, but gradually evolves into a manic concession of how quickly life slips away. A wide emotional breadth is cast, with healthy doses of glee, dejection, desperation, defiance, majestic grandeur, charmed reminiscence and self-deprecation churning in the cauldron. Five years spent trying to get with the plan are mirrored by five more in attempts to reconnect with friends, which quickly become ten years dropped "as fast as you can" and a midlife crisis fomenting a 3-month trip to France. Every lyric here is a winner, succinctly cutting and as visceral as the searing guitar wails that intensify the mood. There is no catharsis to be found here and the exasperated pleas of "if I could see all my friends tonight" are left unresolved as the locomotive percussion slowly chugs to a halt. And that, my friends, is a moment that can be better described by the vision of my jaw agape than by any words that could emanate from it. Wow.

As I have grown older, I have found that it is much more difficult for new music to galvanize my emotions into an uncontrollably fevered pitch. As such, I appreciate such moments much more now at my ripe age of 27. Reviewers are generally taught to strive to give an unbiased appraisal, but I'll be damned if it doesn't delight me to the tips of my toes that an album can generate such a rebirth of wide-eyed, teenage, blind fanaticism that I am rendered helplessly unable to muster any semblance of objectivity. "Sound of silver talk to me, makes you want to feel like a teenager. Until you remember the feelings of a real-live emotional teenager." Sorry James, no need to think again.

"I'm a lover, not a haitcher"- Pandurito

Graycap23 said:

Cinnie said:

Planet Earth

sexxydancer said:

Planet Earth

Cinnie said:

sexxydancer said:

Planet Earth

what other albums did you hear?

^^^^^

Cinnie said:

Moonbeam said:

LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver

theAudience said:

Moonbeam said:

LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver

I must say that your well written review made me go listen to a few tracks of this album simply for the amount of effort you put into writing it.

Their music is not my thing but i'm glad you've found something you're so passionate about.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431
[Edited 11/24/07 18:56pm]

"I'm a lover, not a haitcher"- Pandurito

Cinnie said:

Graycap23 said:

Cinnie said:

.
[Edited 11/25/07 2:18am]

I haven't been buying as many things as in previous years. Blame it on getting an Ipod but I only put live concerts on it.



LIFELINE - an understated blend of old-fashioned acoustic soul tunes in the the Bill Withers/Bobby Womack style.



MIGHTY HIGH - Mule's been experimenting with Reggae and DUB sinve their NYE run and took tunes from last year's HIGH & MIGHTY album and remixed tunes and added new covers (from Al Green, Stones and The Band). Gueast vocals from Michael Franti and Toots Hibbert give it a bonafide irie feeling. Definitely Mule's funkiest outing.



NO PLACE LIKE SOUL - The jamband trio added a vocalist with strong soul chops. He's a full-time equal and fits in great.



STILL STUCK IN YOUR THROAT - F'bone's best in their rebuilding era.