Year-End Bullshit: Top 25 Albums of the Year

So it took me a while to finally post this one, and as much as I look forward to the year-end bullshit and critics' list, I'm sort of glad it's over, so I can get back to writing about Ron Howard and "The Wire". Tough list to compile, and I want to give honorable mention honors to the Beirut, El-P, Ghostface Killah, and Andrew Bird albums. 2007 was definitely a great year for music, if perhaps the worst year for rap music ever. Enjoy, feel free to comment.

25. Parts &Labor - "Mapmaker"

A fast, loud album that has the class to avoid being a messy heap of noise. The songs on "Mapmaker" are a hell of a lot of fun, and are far more subtle than they have any business being.

24. Roisin Murphy - "Overpowered"

Murphy makes a superb disco disc with the raucous beats to match her personality. It's definitely a frontloaded album, but goddamn, those first four songs are pretty unstoppable.

23. Justice - "Cross"

Took a while for me to get into this one, but it really is a top-notch dance album. It's got holes, but they're mostly due to overambitiousness; when Justice connects, though, they hit it out of the park.

22. Animal Collective - "Strawberry Jam"

An album that's maddeningly inconsistent; how the hell can you follow "Fireworks" with "#1"?? Still, there are too many fantastic tracks here to brush aside. The fact that they're evolving with each disc is admirable, and it's clear that they have the capabilities of bringing everything together for an undisputed classic.

21. Feist - "The Reminder"

An unbelievably alive album from an artist I once pegged as vanilla. The singles are still its strength, but there's really not a bum track to be found on Feist's coming-out party. As earnest as records get.

20. Fall Out Boy - "Infinity On High"

I wish I could be honest and say that I approach every album I hear objectively, I really could, but personal taste and prearranged discriminations inevitably bleed through. Admitting that "Infinity on High" is a great record was a tiring one, but necessary; I gritted my teeth, tried to stay as open-minded as I possibly could for a whiny-voiced album backed by Jay-Z, and just listened to it. If not for my damning snobbery, it would be higher on this list. Even people who hate the genre more than me have to appreciate the skill with which Pete Wentz slings hooks like the coldest of dealers, and the sheer R&B white dynamite of Patrick Stump's quivering voice. Simply put, it's a fantastic album that exposes these bastards as legitimate. Stop throwing stones at the crown, motherfuckers, and bow down.

19. Les Savy Fav - "Let's Stay Friends"

Another example of a band with immense talent deciding to stop goofing off, buckle down, and try their darndest to make a classic. "Let's Stay Friends" is a gem of a punk album, as unexpected as it is unexpectedly charming (yeah... that makes sense...)

18. Nina Nastasia & Jim White - "You Follow Me"

A collaboration album, I guess, but all of White's noodling around on his drums can't equal the performance Nastasia gives on every single song, raw emotion leaking out of her words. Best lyrics of the year, maybe. I'd also like to point out that, if any VH1-approved female singer with a well-regarded back catalogue (I'm lookin at you, Sheryl Crow!) made this album, it would win 9 Grammys.

17. The Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible"

Probably the best-case scenario for the Arcade Fire after "Funeral", "Neon Bible" is a powerhouse that does not always connect. It's still arguably the most ambitious album of the year, and a good share of these tracks - "Keep The Car Running", "No Cars Go", "Intervention" - establish these guys as unflappably good.

16. Tunng - "Good Arrows"

An album that almost all critics slept on, and for good reason. "Good Arrows" is a weird, difficult album, but not in the way you'd expect: the arrangements are challenging, the sequencing a little off, and the lyrics are terribly morose. It's a good thing that every song here is slowly, subtly mind-blowing, then. It may take a few listens to unravel, but its warm center is worth discovering, however patient you need be.

15. Battles - "Mirrored"

In essence, Animal Collective got beat by a band that outweirded them. It may be because AC is trying to become more accessible, but the fact that "Mirrored" is a force of nature should not be overlooked. Whether snorting entire rooms on "Ddiamondd" or grooving the fuck out on "Leyendecker", Battles captured a niche that seemed like it didn't need filling until 2032, when robots start recording prog albums.

14. Iron & Wine - "The Shepherd's Dog"

When will Sam Beam stop destroying my underestimations and come out with a collection of poorly conceived songs? That's right, he won't, because he knows his shit, because he has fleshed out his sound but not in a way that's distracting, because he's got the voice to match his gothic songwriting, because he's diligent enough to make sure every song on his albums is strong. EVERY song.

13. Kanye West - "Graduation"

When will Kanye get some respect? I mean, after "Graduation" becomes remembered as "the one after 'Late Registration', where Kanye beefed with 50", will anyone take the time to acknowledge how BRAVE of a release this is? For Kanye West, one of the most effervescent hip-hop artists around, to (mostly) drop the soul samples, rely on big synths, and to make a song as out-of-left-field as "Drunk and Hot Girls" -- and to do these things successfully -- is staggering. This is some left-brain semantics, and further proof that Yeezy's genius is bonified.

12. Panda Bear - "Person Pitch"

Gorgeous from front to back, "Person Pitch" is the apotheosis of the introverted "Young Prayer" and lacks the cynical underbelly of some of Animal Collective's work. Noah Lennox sounds like he's singing in the middle of a cloud, with "Bros." and "Ponytail" representing an amalgamation of everything positive in the world right now. As fun and wacky as the album cover.

11. Patrick Wolf - "The Magic Position"

Music this happy usually comes with a healthy dose of irony or from Gloria Estefan, but P-Wolf is all smiles here, and surprise, glowing cheeks are a suitable shade of rouge for the moptop. The pop songs are unadulterated gay joy, but Wolf really sinks his teeth into the ballads, which are impressive while never taking themselves too seriously. May fade over time, but "Magic Position" is perfect for here and now.

10. Burial - "Untrue"

This album will bulldoze you and cut out your heart. It is composed of darkness and voices that cut through it like slow-motion beams of yellow light. It is made from a man without an identity, and it sounds like it. It is impossible to dance to, but feels like it belongs in a club infested with people dancing to forget their complex, disturbing problems. There is so much distortion that nothing sounds human. It is brilliant.

9. Frog Eyes - "Tears of the Valedictorian"

For a collection of songs that exhibit endless energy and unpolished vocals, it's a hard to imagine how long it must have taken Frog Eyes to compose this album. That's because each track -- and especially its two towering bookends, "Caravan Breakers, They Prey on the Weak and the Old" and "Bushels" -- is so intricate that you have to notice the effort being exalted. Simply put, Frog Eyes is on fire during the entire length of this album; maybe it's because the guitar and drum work is obnoxiously good, or because Carey Mercer sounds like he's literally burning on some songs, but God, this band is unstoppable here.

8. Of Montreal - "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?"

Kevin Barnes seems like a complete dick, and I'm basing this on the way he seems like a complete dick during Of Montreal's live shows. Their performance at Pitchfork Music Festival led me into a fit of frustation: "Why don't they just PLAY the songs?" I asked my equally annoyed friend, watching from afar as the band passed ladle-fuls of fake blood from a big-headed gold monster into the audience. But the thing is, I was so aggravated because the songs they were playing during these shenanigans, the material being so clearly overshadowed on the live show, were the best of the band's career, and among the best of the year. A breakup record hidden under a rhinestone mask, "Hissing Fauna" is going to stand the test of time on record, even if it's disguised by gimmicks in person.

7. Menomena - "Friend and Foe"

I could write a lot of words about Menomena, about how they make superb music and how they are one of the most underrated bands in America and how their album artwork kicks ass, blah blah blah. It's pointless, I tell you. Menomena albums are not meant to be discussed, they are meant to be listened to, because every song is so simple and contains just majestic trinkets that you wanna make sure no one else has thought of such obvious ideas before. From the piano line of "Muscle'n Flo" to the opening line "What if all my enemies were dead?" to "My My", there are too many small wonders here to dissect with words. You just have to listen to it, preferably with a trusty friend, so you can lean back at particular points and exclaim, "That was awesome." It was, man. It was.

6. Radiohead - "In Rainbows"

And our heroes decided to create an album that is at once accessible and not one bit self-absorbed or demanding of their quest for perfection. These songs are not perfect, but "Hail to the Thief" effectively ended that desire by being a bit too drawn-out and pretentious. Radiohead has already mastered the universe, I guess, so the fact that "In Rainbows" is just a really solid rock album should not only be accepted, it should be recognized as an achievement that hasn't been seen since "The Bends". There aren't any "Idioteque"s here, but you just can't beat the pristine beauty of "Nude", the shimmy of "House of Cards", and the entirety of "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", not when they come from a group as admittedly smart as Radiohead. They could make eleven more albums of this caliber and I'd be a satisfied fan.

5. Deerhoof - "Friend Opportunity"

Fuck, man, "Friend Opportunity" is just a GREAT album. Excuse me while I gush about it, because, you see, Deerhoof makes me sounds like a snivelling idiot, that's how much their music grabs hold of the 12-year-old rawk fan inside of me and stunts my use of adjectives. And "Friend Opportunity" is their BEST album, by far, because they've brought together the tightness of "Reveille" and "Apple O'" and the songwriting of "The Runners Four" to make, ya know, really tight music. First three songs are fucking amazing, this is indisputable to me. "The Galaxist" and "Whither the Invisible Birds", the two slow-ish (for Deerhoof) songs, are completely gorgeous; again, indisputable. And the last four songs really stress the whole themes of loneliness and acceptance that run through the whole album. "Matchbook Seeks Maniac" = career highlight! In conclusion, Deerhoof destroys every band around it, and "Friend Opportunity" is the album their career has always been leading up to. Yeah!

4. Lil' Wayne - "Da Drought 3"

How can Lil' Wayne release something like this, a stone-cold classic, and it still feels like it's just a preview of his masterpiece? Maybe "Tha Carter III" won't be the pinnacle of Weezy's career (smart money says that it will be), but for now, be satisfied with the best mixtape since "We Got It For Cheap Vol. 2", and the best display of rapping since "Purple Haze". It's official, Lil' Wayne is the king of one-liners that would take me and you 8 years to think of, but that he conjures up in the midst of a single drug-fueled freestyle: "I'm so motherfucking high, I could eat a star," "It's a bakery here, just tryin' to get dough!", "I'm the man in this bitch/They say money talks, well... I'm the ventriloquist," etc., etc., etc. It's eerily frustrating to know that I could study literature in college for another decade, write three novels, and study the dictionary, but I will NEVER master the English language and its dynamics like Weezy F. Baby does. 2007: the year of Lil' Wayne, always and forever.

3. The National - "Boxer"

I've always wondered what the guys of The National thought when they heard "Boxer" straight through for the first time. Did they just think that it was a follow-up to "Alligator" to be very proud of? Or did they have any inkling that they had just recorded a classic record, wholly original and precise in the way it captures the uneasiness of an entire generation fumbling its way through relationships and lives that they're dissatisfied with for some unclear reason? I mean, they would have been as arrogant as all hell if they had immediately thought the latter, but they would have been correct. And the most surprising thing is that they probably could have deduced it after one good listen, as I assume so many have done. "Boxer" crafts another world for its characters to exist in, but the environment sinks in so snugly because of its details: general tales of wanting more are piqued by images of regrettable parties, out-of-touch friends, and thinking about too much about your dick. The drums ground the affair in reality, and you realize that the portrait The National has painted here encompasses everyone in our awkward society. Yeah, I think they knew that when they first heard it.

2. Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago"

I knew I loved "For Emma, Forever Ago" from the first time I heard it, but I don't think I knew how much I loved it until I heard its last song, "Re: Stacks", in its entirety. I was walking through a few inches of snow on my way back from class, and it popped up on shuffle on my i-pod. Walking alone, with only the music to focus on, I realized how utterly hopeless the song was. It made me want to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth. But, of course, this was not a bad thing; "For Emma, Forever Ago" is an album about memory, about scars, and it is as cathartic as it is hypnotic. And as sad as "Re: Stacks" is, it is one of the most personal, moving songs I have ever had the good fortune to stumble upon. Like the rest of the album, it requires a patient ear, not because it is a difficult record to traipse through, but because you might miss some of its best parts if you blink. On "Re: Stacks", for instance, the way Justin Vernon enunciates the line "That has brought me to this loss", is a shattering display of power. In the end, though, "For Emma, Forever Ago" ends with the line "Your love will be safe with me", mirroring the way in which nearly anyone who gives this obscure disc a chance will eventually grow to cherish it. Bon Iver is the reason I listen to music.

1. Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

I'm sitting here, just one more blurb to write, and this album seems to be the one I find most difficult to find words for. For the last six months or so, I have been a mascot for this album. I have talked to friends about how "Rhythm & Soul" is a literally perfect song, to my dad about how "The Ghost Of You Lingers" really is a great single, to everyone who has ever approached my soapbox about how "The Underdog" is gonna blow up on the radio and make Spoon the next Modest Mouse. I guess I was wrong about that last one (Feist had already won the mass appeal for the year, I suppose), but it's never a regrettable thing when The Best Band In the World releases their Best Album, even if it's not the great public unifier that it should be. So what can I say about "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" that I haven't already expressed a dozen times over? I'm not going to talk about how every song is practically flawless, about how I want to scream like a schoolgirl when the music drops out in the middle of "Cherry Bomb", about how "Black Like Me" could not end the album on a more confident note. All I will say is that Spoon, through this album and their jaw-dropping back catalogue, have just made me have a better year. I latched onto this band this year before "Ga" came out, discovering the remarkable quality of "Gimme Fiction" and "Girls Can Tell", and when their new one was released, it manhandled even my highest expectations. They're just a bunch of guys who know their shit, who aren't afraid to try new things and strip themselves of gimmicks, all while staying true to their fundamental sound. They're just a fantastic band (the best right now, in my opinion), and "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" is their greatest achievement. Thanks, Spoon.