5. Son Volt - The Search After a somber opening track, the album kicks into high gear with perhaps my favorite song of 2007: "The Picture". It's a great driving song and I often start car trips with it. The notable difference in this song, and other tracks on the album, from other Son Volt releases is the horn section. It adds a very nice layer to the fuzzed guitars and rock percussion and seems to be a step forward for Jay Farrar and the gang. Otherwise the album is your traditional Son Volt fare, though I have to say I think it's my favorite since the band's best, Trace. If you have an affinity for Son Volt at all, pick this one up.
4. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Sam Beam's third full length album is another step forward in the songwriter's growing legacy. From the hushed tones of a man and his guitar on his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, Beam has graduated into lush rhythm's, textured melodies, and an arrangement of instruments in his latest. The laid back, almost not there vocals, and rich literary lyrics are still there, this time just set to a fuller backing music. While I love the adaptation Beam has made to his music, my favorite track, "Resurrection Fern", just happens to be the most reminiscent of his previous albums. All in all, a solid album that makes me excited to see what else will come from this brilliant musician and songwriter.
3. Beirut - Flying Club Cup Every now and then you are introduced to a new band that instantly enters your own personal musical canon. Beirut is that band for 2007. Like Sam Beam to Iron & Wine, Beirut is the current musical project of 22 year old Zach Condon. Don't let the age fool you, though, the instrumentation, lyrics, and of course the deep, heartfelt vocals are mature beyond Condon's years. The music belies description, it's something that really just needs to be heard, but the best I can do is to practice a little imagination exercise...are you with me? Okay. Picture yourself in the 1940's in some country in Eastern Europe, it doesn't matter which one, just imagine the stereotype: the old buildings, the street cafe's, the well dressed citizens mulling the streets. Now picture a band of gypsies on the corner with accordions, ukuleles, mandolins, and glockenspiel's performing for tips on a Sunday afternoon. The songs range from the leisurely Sunday, to the drunken night before, to memories of days on the beach with a lost love from days gone by. It's a unique experience and a breath of fresh air. If you haven't heard this album, I strongly recommend it.
2. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Despite scoring a towering "Moby Quotient" (an equation designed to rate how big a "sell-out" a band becomes after selling a song to a corporation) when VW used the song "Either Way" in a recent commercial, I still think this is an amazing album and Wilco an amazing band. The amazing thing about Wilco is that they still maintain the hipster cred they did before. Which puts Jeff Tweedy alongside Thom Yorke from Radiohead in the "folks who transcend hipness" club. Sky Blue Sky is an excellent, beautiful, rocking album and further cements the band as one of my all time favorites. Tweedy made a solid rock record here, complete with rambling guitar solos. It's a departure from some of the sonic experiments of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born and hearkens back a bit to the early days of A.M. but more grown-up. This is a record that everyone can get into, and yet still it doesn't lose it's "cool-ness". High points: guitar solo on "Impossible Germany", lyrics on "What Light", and the sheer rocking beauty of "Side with Seeds". Check this one out.
1. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
What can I say? This is an amazing album. After much hype and anticipation after the band's excellent debut album, Funeral, this Canadian 7-piece transcended expectations. From the powerful organ running through "Intervention" (the band recorded with an actual full pipe organ in a church), to the low key title track, to the 80's-ish sounding "Keep the Car Running", the album keeps your interest from beginning to end. This one to put on during a long car trip and listen to the entire album. There is variety to the instrumentation, depth to the lyrics, and always a subtle yet strong hook to bring you back to the songs. A part of t he lyrics to "Windowsill" read "MTV, what have you done to me? / Save my soul, set me free". Whatever has been done by most of the music we trudge through, The Arcade Fire are doing their best to reverse it...perhaps not to "soul saving level", but they definitely help.
