1/30/08: LCD Soundsystem (And Other Best Music of 2007)Something pertinent to the history of conservatism just happened in Florida—so let’s take advantage of our last chance to talk about pop music in 2007. There’s some kind of unwritten rule that you have to hack out any year-end stuff by the end of January. That’s why so many year-end music polls were released last week. And, in a surprising twist, LCD Soundsystem’s
Sound of Silver ranked as the #1 album on both the
Idolator.com Poll and the
Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Poll.
We like to think of those as the nation’s most important (and least discerning) music polls, since they’re the only ones who invited us to vote. Anyway, the important thing is that LCD Soundsystem—who didn’t get any of our votes—still got treated like a big deal despite “North American Scum.”
As we once discussed, we were a little suspicious when this song became popular with certain right-wingers. (Jim Treacher was the first to celebrate it, so there’s inherent suspicious behavior right there.) Anyway, as before,
here’s the Daily Gut’s link to the “North American Scum” video, so you can judge for yourself if James Murphy—he who is LCD Soundsystem—got one past the Leftists.
Meanwhile, what of our personal core beliefs? Here’s our own Top Ten of 2007, as buried somewhere in those two polls. It’s not all right-wing trash, but at least there’s nothing moronic here that we had to actively ignore:
Crowded House: Time On Earth (ATO)This one made it into a few critic’s Top Tens, but no one else will be shameless enough to admit that their favorite shows of the year was Crowded House and The B-52s. It helped that the Crowded House show was in a Masonic Lodge, so it felt all mysterious. Also, if you missed it, here’s
an interview where Neil Finn talks about respecting political beliefs.
The Star Spangles: DirtyBomb (Tic)The Star Spangles have spent several years as our favorite NYC band, and their 2003 debut on Capitol should’ve made them stars of MTV-punk. They were cute enough, but preferred that any eyeliner be worn by their dates.
DirtyBomb was the unreleased follow-up, and Ian Wilson and Tommy Volume had lost their rhythm section by the time they got it back for their own label. Their lesser contemporaries had also disappeared, but this incredible gutter-rock was still ignored. It’s not that gutters are passé. The real problem was that the band tried to stay in the closet, but word got out that their favorite movie is
Joe.
Cheeseburger: Cheeseburger (Kemado)Cheeseburger is a lot more typical of today’s NYC bands, right down to facial hair and the recycling of dopey ’80s rock riffs. There are also lots of chatty joking moments. They still pass for English on their self-titled debut, which means the blues influence is from Humble Pie and they probably didn’t know there was already a song about walking after midnight.
Art Brut: It’s A Bit Complicated (Downtown)This one’s a lot better than we could’ve expected from guys who made their mark as arch-kooks goofing on sophisticated rock. The lyrics remain painfully hysterical and true, but the backing is now an innovative mix of Brit pop cliché and melodic punk. At the very least, this was the year’s best celebration of self. There was a lot of competition.
They Might Be Giants: The Else (Idlewild/Zoe)A fine album of 13 songs that all run over two minutes and don’t have much accordion. Even better is
Cast Your Pod to the Wind, which is the untitled bonus disc with 23 unlisted songs—many of which are under two minutes and have some accordion. It’s the greatest B-side collection of all time. At least one of TMBG's two Johns is definitely a Leftist, but not such a bad guy.
Josie Cotton: Invasion of the B-Girls (Scruffy)Her new-wave glory days were kind of dull—despite “Johnny, Are You Queer?” rankling the gelled masses. This collection of songs from trashy films certainly starts off weak, with liner notes from John Waters and a cover of “Maneaters (Get Off the Road)” from
She-Devils On Wheels. The theme to
The Green Slime is no obscurity, either. From there, though, it’s perfectly straight versions of important tunes from
Beyond The Valley of the Dolls,
Girl In Gold Boots,
Who Killed Teddy Bear?,
The Black Klansman, and more.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Original Soundtrack (Sony)…as already
discussed here.
Amy Lavere: Anchors & Anvils (Archer)The cold swamp-pop of
Anchors & Anvils is also a reminder that the
Walk Hard soundtrack works because the filmmakers hired genuine morons to write Dewey Cox’s screwheaded anthems. If they’d hired Amy Lavere,
Walk Hard would’ve been as funny as that Joy Division biopic.
Dash Rip Rock: Hee Haw Hell (Alternative Tentacles)…as already
discussed here.
The Cynics: Here We Are (Get Hip)Here We Are is where these veteran garage-rockers finally discover the true breadth of white blues—and they start with a lovely acoustic title track followed by a bluesy stomp. Both songs address the same topic, which The Cynics already summed up with the title of 2002’s
Living Is The Best Revenge.
Here We Are has much more to say on the subject, expressed through country and pop and a revived garage spirit. The recurring theme is bitterness as a way of life and a triumph over insipid positive vibes. It’s sexy, too, as demonstrated by the cover illustration of Barbara Steele. Or maybe that’s frontman Michael Kastelic. The brilliant thing is that you can’t tell the difference.
Make them your own: That’s too many links. Let’s just use this space to plug the Best Press Release of the Year. Martin Gordon sent us an e-mail informing us of the release of a vintage live album from his fine old band Radio Stars. Among the selling points for
Something for the Weekend: “Eco-friendly release manufactured by condemned Chinese convicts.”
