Retreadin 2007 Part 6

So I had this idea for my end of the year round up. I called it Retreadin 2007. Every couple of days there would be a post about the memorable albums of this year. There were supposed to be about ten parts to it, but you may have noticed that I've kind of slacked on it the last few weeks. 2007 is now over. Dang. So here we go with a final retreadin pulling together the rest of the albums that I listened to and enjoyed this past year.

The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
This wasn't the Shins strongest work by far, but I did find myself singing along with quite a few tracks on a regular basis.

mp3: The Shins - Split Needles --> buy

Figurines - When The Deer Wore Blue
Figurines turned out a great follow up to Skeleton. It may have lacked some of the tenacity, but gained a deeper and emotional quality. I have a feeling these guys are just getting started.

mp3: Figurines - Drunkard's Dream --> buy

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of this album. Aside from it being a new MM release, the addition of Johnny Marr made everyone perk their ears up. The album didn't blow me away at first, but the last couple of songs on the album really are powerful and have made their way into my permanent rotation. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for these guys to put out a bad album.

mp3: Modest Mouse - People As Places As People --> buy

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
I must admit, up until this album, I really didn't care too much for Iron & Wine. There was never enough there for me. On The Shepherd's Dog, I&W gather sounds and rhythms from around the world and sew them into their pleasant folk songs. The end result is a powerful masterpiece.

mp3: Iron & Wine - Boy With A Coin --> buy

Handsome Furs - Plague Park
Sometimes side projects really sound like side projects. Not this time. Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and his wife Alexei Perry hooked up their drum machines, guitars, and synthesizers for Plague Park, and ended up producing some stunning lo-fi music.

mp3: Handsome Furs - Dead & Rural --> buy

Sea Wolf - Leaves In The River
Mr. Church definitely put out a gem worthy of many folks top album lists. His lonesome voice combined with beautiful production put this album on repeat many times throughout this year. And they killed it live.

mp3: Sea Wolf - Black Dirt --> buy

White Stripes - Icky Thump
Like Modest Mouse, can White Stripes produce a bad album? Nope. They cranked up the intensity for this one too.

mp3: White Stripes - Rag and Bone --> buy

John Vanderslice - Emerald City
'The Slice', as I call him, has done it again. He produces solid indie rock time and time again. It's nice to see him starting to get a little more press, because he has earned it. Pitchfork kind of slammed him for the repetitive lyrical theme of 9/11 on this and ahis previous album. While that may be true, I think his playing on each album has progressed and improved. Keep it up Slice.

mp3: John Vanderslice - The Tower --> buy

Caribou - Andorra
Daniel Snaith puts out another masterpiece of slightly off beat indie electronica! Hooray!

mp3: Caribou - Sandy --> buy

Well there you have it. I'm sure I've left some out, because frankly, my memory isn't so good. Feel free to chime in on what your favorites were.

Retreadin 2007 Part 5

We all know Radiohead is great. If you look them up in the dictionary it says 'great band.' So this past summer when we were all anticipating the release of their new album in '08, we were all expecting it to be pretty good. Then they went and did what great artists have always done since the beginning of modern art. They did what they wanted to do. They wanted the fans to have the music first. They gave us a present and let us decide what to give in return. All of a sudden the relationship between band and fan became closer. Of course it wouldn't have mattered if the music wasn't good. It was. In fact it was great. There was passion and focus flowing through each song from start to finish. Waves of rhythm would pull you from one song to the next. Then they would bottom out and let the lush vocals of Yorke do the rest. In the end, Radiohead did indeed produce one of the best albums of the year. It's a fact.

mp3: Radiohead - All I Need --> buy
mp3: Radiohead - Nude
mp3: Radiohead - Reckoner (LoveTongueAttack Bmore Remix)
mp3: Radiohead - Nude (Amplive Remix)

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Don't miss a great show tonight at the Lo Fi Social Club in Baltimore where We Read Minds, Suicide Dolls, Heroin UK, and Algebra of Need are performing.

mp3: We Read Minds - You're Too Young --> website --> buy

Retreadin 2007 Part 4

Menoma's Friend and Foe, out on Barsuk Records, took a couple of listens before I truly could grasp it. Having heard their previous albums, I was prepared for 'the strangeness', yet what struck me from this album was the amount of melody incorporated into it. Menomena has a sound unlike any other band. Off kilter dirty beats combined with layers of guitar, pianos and vocals. The make up of every song varies giving a freshness to each play. This was an early suprise of an album that came out at the beginning of the year and memorable enough to be written about now.

mp3: Menomena - Ghostship --> buy
mp3: Menomena - Duel



When I first saw the name Black Moth Super Rainbow I was intrigued to say the least. As it turns out, they couldn't have chosen a better names for their music. BMSR plays a type of music only known as analog-synth-funk-wha?. That's right. Synthesizers playing abnormally funky rhythms and melodies layered with vocals using the greatest invention ever - THE VOCODER. It was only logically to have a synth voice too. Getting back to the music, there wasn't anything on the album, Dandelion Gum, that necessarily blew me away, but I kept finding myself returning to this album for a groove fix. Black Moth Super Rainbow is the elixir for your analog-funk deficiency.

mp3: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Rollerdisco --> buy
mp3: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Sun Lips

Retreadin 2007 Part 3

After The National put out Alligator, I have to say I was intrigued, but not quite sold on them. I was probably the only one since they seemed to have drawn praise from everyone. This year they put out Boxer, an album that feels like you're the only one in the room with them while they perform a selection of intimate and personal songs. I'm sold. They're 'friggin good'. Boxer is a dark and stormy night, with looming pianos and instrumentation. It can draw comparisons to many great musicians and artists, but in essence, it is unique, powerful, and one of this year's best.

mp3: The National - Squalor Victoria --> buy
mp3: The National - Mistaken For Strangers

Eulogies is a band that came out of nowhere for me. I had no expectations when I first dropped their cd into the player. The sounds that emerged were hints of late eighties/early nineties indie rock with layers of modern goodness. With a croon similar to Tweedy, Peter Walker belts out passionate vocals over crisp guitar pop rock. For a first album, Eulogies hits all the marks and has me anticipating the follow up.



mp3: Eulogies - One Man --> buy
mp3: Eulogies - Life Boat

Retreadin 2007 Part 2

Second albums are notorious for exposing weak one hit wonder bands. That was the fear as I cracked open the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. To my relief and probably everyone else's that didn't happen. There was joy and happiness. This album is intense and emotional. Pain was put into crafting and molding this. The best part for me actually was months after the release. The Arcade Fire put up that crazy interactive video. Then they had the live performance with 'The Boss'. Basically those two things led me to pick up my copy of Neon Bible and put it back into the player. That's when I realized it truly was one of the great albums of the year.

mp3: The Arcade Fire - Intervention --> buy
mp3: The Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse

Sounds of Silver by LCD Soundsystem is a great album, but it would not be if it weren't for two particular songs. I'm not one to single out songs from an entire album and just repeat them over and over, but that's what I did with this album. 'North American Scum' is a classic. The lyrics are sarcastic(which I like) and somewhat humorous(which I also like). Not to mention the rockin' LCD style through the whole thing. Sometimes their emotion gets lost in the repetitive nature of their songs, but not in this one. Or in 'Someone Great' either. This song is what pushed this album over the top. It's a heartfelt, slow building, electronic anthem. A perfect song when you're driving late at night in the rain. It's not to say the rest of the album falls short---it's pretty good. In my opinion, these two songs took LCD Soundsystem to another level.

mp3: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum --> buy
mp3: LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

Retreadin' 2007 Part 1

I'm not very good at comprising lists. Deciding if one album is better than the other gives me a headache. I do know there were a lot of good albums that came out this year that deserve to be remembered.


Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? was a winner from the first moment I pressed play(well maybe a couple of moments after I pressed play). They took their sound and truly funked it up, making bizarre indie electronic-ish dance music. I must say the videos for this album weirded me out a bit, but didn't make me take them out of the rotation.


mp3: Of Montreal - Cato As A Pun --> buy
mp3: Of Montreal - Grolandic Edit




This album took the term 'side project' and threw it out the window. Andrew Whiteman, a member of the band Broken Social Scene, put out Apostle of Hustle's National Anthem Of Nowhere this year, and it was a truly amazing collection of songs. Powerful rhythms and energetic vocals make this album friggin fantastic. I think I listened to it for a month straight before changing the old playlist.

mp3: Apostle Of Hustle - A Rent Boy Goes Down --> buy
mp3: Apostle Of Hustle - The Naked & Alone