Articles from Berkeley Place-A lil' bit of BK from VA |
THE BEST ALBUM OF 2007: SPOON, “GA GA GA GA”
2007-12-22 05:44:34
I can’t say more than the dozens of bloggers I’ve seen put this album in their top 10 or 20, except that more of them should have put it at number 1. Fun, choppy, funky, and bouncy, it’s an album that never stops giving.
Here’s some stuff they released this year, including bonus cuts off of Ga etc.
It’s Gonna Take an Airplane (Dan Bejar cover)
I Can Feel It Fade Like An AM Single
1975
Mean Mad Margaret
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THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2007 (AND WHAT TO BUY INSTEAD!)
2007-12-21 12:35:52
In no particular order. These albums aren’t necessarily bad, but they should have been much better. 50 Cent’s “Curtis” isn’t here because, frankly, I didn’t have high expectations for it in the first place.
1. Common, “Finding Forever.” Lots of folks swear by Common, but to me he’s rarely been more exciting than a bath, and that’s at his best on joints like “I Used to Love H.E.R.” and “Bitch in You.” His last album, Be, had good Kanye beats and a few catchy pop songs like “Go,” but there wasn’t much meat there. He tries so hard to be likable that his message has all the meaning of a candy cane. Sure, it tastes good and looks nice, but after you’re done all you’re left with is a sugar high. Sometimes he’s creative, often he’s familiar, and he gets points for not stooping to the lowest common denominator, but I’ve never understood what about him is so great that Jay-Z had to name-c ...
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THE 40 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007: AMY WINEHOUSE (#2)
2007-12-21 07:01:53
It’s almost time to go back to business as usual here, reviewing indie rock and rap. Tomorrow I’ll post the #1 album, we’ll have a few Xmas posts, and we’ll be doing our old thang. I hope posting all these things that I’ve already posted throughout the year wasn’t a big waste of time for too many of you. I had fun doing it, anyway.
Here’s #2:
2. Amy Winehouse-Back to Black.
Drinking self-destructive retro Motown revival tattoos no no no cigarette bra hair.
You Can Only Hold Her/That Thing (Lauryn Hill cover)
Hey Little Rich Girl (Specials cover)
You Wondering Now? (Specials cover)
Monkey Man (Toots and the Maytalls cover)
Rehab (live, acoustic version)
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BEST 40 ALBUMS OF 2007: BROTHER ALI (#3)
2007-12-21 03:48:55
3. Brother Ali-Undisputed Truth (Plus bonus disc) (review)
“Undisputed Truth” begins with the birth of a new MC (“I came in the door 1984 . . .”) and that first track tells of fights over lunch money and growing up hard. Every track after that is pure brilliance. In a year where Jay-Z returned to his roots, Wu-Tang reunited, and Ghostface released another characteristically mind-blowing album, the best rap record belonged to Minneapolis’ Rhymesayers artist Jason “Ali” Newman. With a delivery that changes from song to song, hopping from the powerful growl of Ice Cube to the nasal, martyrous Eminem to the chanting, get-up-and-dance cadence of Jay-Z, Ali proves he can do any style, and does it mostly without stooping to silly gangsta bravado, profanity, or lame sex raps. Producer Ant (of Atmosphere) does some of the best work of his career here, but the show belongs to Ali. Never lazy, always stretching, this album is a must-buy, plain and simple. If you can score a c ...
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MORE MUSIC MORE MUSIC MORE MUSIC
2007-12-20 04:23:47
Benzos offer an EP, free and legal, nice and short.
Click on the tracklisting to go to their site and snatch it.
1. Coup d’état
2. We Have Names (branches b-side)
3. Blue & White (branches b-side)
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BEST 40 ALBUMS OF 2007: JOSH RITTER (#4)
2007-12-20 03:46:20
4. Josh Ritter-The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
I was a fan of Animal Years, but not much before that. This album, however, is a revelation.
Here’s most of the tracks off the album, all live except for track one:
To the Dogs or Whoever
Mind’s Eye
Right Moves
The Temptation of Adam
Rumors
Real Long Distance
Empty Hearts
And bonus tracks!
Harrisburg/Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone (Temptations cover)/Harrisburg
Johnsburg, Illinois (Tom Waits cover)
Long May You Run (Neil Young)-Josh Ritter
My Mexican Home (John Prine)
Little Ole Wine Drinker Me (Dean Martin)
The River (bruce springsbean cover)
California (Acoustic)
Crystal Chandeliers And Burgundy (Johnny Cash)
Mercury (w/Kathleen Edwards)
Chelsea Hotel No.2 (Leonard Cohen)
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THE 40 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007: BAND OF HORSES (#6)
2007-12-19 03:57:20
6. Band of Horses-Cease to Begin (Review)
Also a candidate for best sophomore album of 2007 (tied with Amy Winehouse), BoH prove that the loss of an essential bandmember need not be a death knell but instead can be a way to grow. This album stays true to the indie rock sound and formula, but integrates an Americana feel. Pure magic. I get chills every time I hear, “Is There A Ghost?”
Here’s a concert from October of this year, proving why the band deserves my #6 slot. A few tastes, then a zip.
Is There a Ghost?
Great Salt Lake
Islands on the Coast
Wicked Gil
Ode to the LRC
Funeral
No One’s Gonna Love You
Marry Song
Our Swords
First Song
The General Specific
Am I a Good Man (Them Cover)
ZIP FILE
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THE YEAR IN MOVIES: 2007
2007-12-19 03:48:48
Another foray into the non-musical, my post on the best films (that I saw) in 2007. Bonus: My lists aren’t snooty!
THE TOP 10 FILMS (THAT I SAW) OF 2007.
10. Transformers. Yeah. I frickin’ loved it. Deal with it.
9. American Gangster. Yes, it was too long. Yes, it skipped over some of the most fascinating parts in the lives of its protagonists. But it was still great.
8. Rescue Dawn. Werner Herzog’s P.O.W. based-on-a-true-story film starring the increasingly amazing Christian Bale.
7. No Country For Old Men. Would’ve rated higher if they’d tightened up the third act.
6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was long, but no film this year has left such an indelible visual impression on me.
5. 28 Weeks Later.
4. The Simpsons Movie. Admit it, even if it wasn’t as good as any episode from the first 5 seasons, it was hysterically funny to see Bart naked.
3. Zodiac.
2. Eastern Promises. It’s not David Cronenberg’s best, but ...
Movies
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WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?
2007-12-18 18:18:58
. . . When you could be here:
Culture Bully’s 15 Best Mashups of 2007. It’s more fun to listen to them and guess the mashees before reading the answers.
Said the Gramaphone’s 50 Best Songs. An awesome playlist.
I haven’t listened to it yet, but Paperthin Walls has a 2CD mixtape that’s about as esoteric as it gets, with nothing but 2007 tunes.
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FREE AND LEGAL RECORDS FOR YOUR HOLIDAZE!
2007-12-18 04:24:12
Merry Christmas to all!
The Cassettes offer a free EP download, all covers, including a clean version of Liz Phair’s Fuck and Run! Follow link.
Pitchfork’s good for something: An Okkerville River mixtape of rarities from their 2008 tour and elsewhere! Click to download.
One of the most anticipated mixtapes of the year, the great and underrated Joe Budden’s Mood Music 3, get it before the labels squash it. If you’ve never heard Joe before, give him a try. A more viscerally honest rapper, you’ll never find. Rapidshare
And finally, The Silent Years want you to hear their first album, free of charge. The Silent Years are currently holed up in a studio from 5 pm until 7 am daily mixing their new album, “The Globe” with Chris Coady (TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, Blonde Redhead). Very cool, very generous. Mediafire.
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THE 40 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007: VOXTROT (#7)
2007-12-18 03:15:47
7. Voxtrot-Voxtrot. (review)
Where rappers do mixtapes, indie bands do EP and web releases, and Ramesh Srivastava’s five-piece have been content to do just that since 2003. This year, we finally were treated to the full length album for which all those EP and web singles were the prelude. And the result, Voxtrot, was no disappointment.
And speaking of mixtapes, Lupe Fiasco’s The Coolest Mixtape came out in ’07 and it was pretty good. It certainly has whetted my appetite for the full-length, which will not be released in time for this ’07 best of list. Like all of us did since 2003 for Voxtrot, we must wait patiently for Lupe’s release.
Maybe I’m just hungre for more Lupe, because the series of mixtapes that led to his first album was fucking amazing, but I’ve been spinning the latest one over and over and over. (The proper album drops soon, but too late to be considered for this year’s list.) There’s a little too much filler, but the new vers ...
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THE BEST OF 2007: ARCADE FIRE (#8)
2007-12-17 16:38:28
8. Arcade Fire-Neon Bible. (Halftime award!) I picked this album when I was only halfway through the year, but you’re forgiven if you forgot that this March release actually came out in ‘07. Unlike Funeral, which made a deep and lasting impression on the blogosphere, Neon Bible came and went with less than a month of real hype or fanfare. Partly, I suspect, this was because there are so many more releases (and so many more bloggers) than back in the glory days when I first got started and fell in love with Arcade Fire. But The Foo Fighters helped keep the hype running with their cover of “Keep the Car Running,” and then Bruce joined in the fun. It’s darker than Funeral (if that’s possible) in it’s truly bleak world outlook, but it also marks a wonderful trend of returning to music that matters: Protest songs abound in a time of war, and many of the tunes on this record are powerful examples. More importantly, at a time when the world is ...
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THE 10 BEST COVER CONCEPTS OF 2007
2007-12-17 03:54:35
An excuse to post or repost some of my favorite covers of the year . . .
10. Guilt By Association (link). A wonderful collection of covers by indie bands. What sets this collection apart from all the other covers projects this year is a truly eclectic (but not eclectic for its own sake) selection of artists, as well as the fact that each song is a kinda cheesey 80s rocker that the covering artists claims as a (you guessed it) guilty pleasure. The Petra Haden cover of ”Don’t Stop Believin” (Journey) (see below) is transcendant, but every track is worth a listen and others are just as brilliant. My favorites include Luna ”Straight Up” (Paula Abdul), Goat ”Sugar We’re Going Down” (Fall Out Boy), and Mooney Suzuki ”Just Like Jesse James” (Cher).
9.”Huey Lewis”.
Actually, I only know of two Huey Lewis covers released this year, but they’re both gems. I especially like Apostle of Hustle’s complete reworking of the original, but The P ...
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THE 40 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007: ALBERT HAMMOND (#9)
2007-12-16 13:00:26
9. Albert Hammond, Jr.-Yours to Keep (Review)
If I were going by iTunes playcounts, ex-Stroke member Albert Hammond, Jr., would be number one on this list. And I’m not gonna make excuses for that. Solid, straightforward rock and roll that would be at home in any era and on any radio station, whether it be pop, classic rock, alternative, or whatever passes for college radio these days.
And y’know what? I’m not even a Strokes fan.
In Transit (live)
Postal Blowfish (GBV cover) (live)
Old Black Dawning (Frank Black cover) (live)
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