Blog is a Mix Tape

2007 Wrap-Up

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:50:00 -0800

I had grand plans to do a post a day about my favorite 2007 things starting about 2 weeks ago but life got in the way. It's hard to write when grandma's in town and a Felicia returns and you're stuffing your face all the daggone time.

So, here's what I would've gone into more depth about.

Best Albums of 2007

Untrue - Burial (Yeah, it creeped on up)
Play With The Changes - 4Hero
Version - Mark Ronson
The Reminder - Feist
American Gangster - Jay-Z
Kala - M.I.A.
Our Earthly Pleasures - Maximo Park
Koop Islands - Koop
Writer's Block - Peter, Bjorn & John
Ear Drum - Talib Kweli
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
Introducing... - Joss Stone
Under The Black Light - Rilo Kiley
The Fragile Army - The Polyphonic Spree
The Undisputed Truth - Brother Ali
Desire - Pharoahe Monch
The Weatherman LP - Evidence
Those Things - Miguel Migs
Proof of Youth - The Go! Team
Volta - Bjork

Best Record Label of 2007 - The Numero Group

Best Hip-Hop Album of 2007 that you probably don't have

Below the Heavens

Blu & Exile

Best Albums of 2007 that didn't come out in 2007

Bees + Things + Flowers - Incognito
Keep Reachin' Up - Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators
The Only Thing I Ever Wanted - Psapp
Set Yourself On Fire - Stars
Best Kept Secrets: The Best of Lam 1996-2004 - Lamb

Best Compilation Makers of 2007 - Jazzanova

Best Songs of 2007 (based on actual spins)

Innocence - Bjork
Black Mirror - Arcade Fire
Unlike Me - Kate Havnevik
Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) (featuring Outkast) - UGK
Give It To Me (f/ Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake) - Timbaland
The Show - Talib Kweli & Madlib
Don't Act (F/ Freeway) - Skillz
I Still Love H.E.R. - Kanye West
Ancient Curse - Peter, Bjorn & John
Lookin' At Me Sideways - Brother Ali

Best Songs of 2007 (based completely subjectively)

Innocence - Bjork
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) (featuring Outkast) - UGK
I'm A Flirt (Remix ft. T.I & T-Pain) - R.Kelly
He Can Only Hold Her - Amy Winehouse
1 2 3 4 - Feist
Champion - Kanye West
Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn & John
Look Inside - 4Hero
Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...) - Jay-Z

Best Video of 2007

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

Best Movies of 2007

Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
No Country For Old Men
Superbad
Lars and The Real Girl

Best Documentaries I Saw in 2007

The Heart of the Game
Who Killed The Electric Car?
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing
An Unreasonable Man

Best TV show I Liked that Nobody Else did in 2007 - John From Cincinnati

Best Read of 2007 - The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and The Awakening of a Nation

Best Website of 2007 - Last.fm

Best Website of 2007 to hate to sorta like - Facebook

Best ~~Blog~~ ~~Podcast~~ ~~Vlog~~ Content Site of 2007 - Undercover Black Man

Best New (to me) Content Site of 2007 - Away with Words

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song for sunday: the 2007 album that haunts me

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 08:33:57 -0800

Archangel

Burial

if it's the reclusive life that Burial seeks, he might just be his own worst enemy, because his new album, Untrue, bests Burial's fans' wildest hopes for the followup. Burial was a worthy, sometimes thrilling record-- an impressive debut-- but it sometimes lost focus, particularly when it attempted to carve out something closer to "proper," clubwise dubstep. But Untrue maintains the style and the vibe of the first album and yet does it better. It's a deeper album-- richer, more complex, more enveloping. The irony is that almost nothing has changed. Burial still makes his beats (at least, so he claims) with relatively lo-fi audio editing software, eschewing the comfort of sequencers and MIDI clocks. His string sounds, which on Burial let many a critic to call his music "cinematic," sound as unabashedly canned as they did last time, and his manipulated vocals-- warped, time-stretched, pitch-corrected-- are just as unabashedly emotive.

-Pitchfork Record Review (8.4/10), 11.13.07

I've only had this album for a week so I'm not ready to call it "Album of the Year" but it just might be. It's haunted me since the day I bought it (8.99 in the Amazon mp3 store, also available on eMusic) and I find my mind constantly returning to its complicated rhythms. Right now, it falls as #3 on my 2007 album chart.

It's just that good. When listening to this track, I want to sing along. I randomly break out in dance. I head nod. I listen intently. I listen casually. I listen all the time.

I haven't sat with the album enough to form a compelling review and maybe I'll get to that later. For now, I just want you to enjoy as I am.

Ghost Hardware

Burial

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prelude: what last.fm says about my 2007

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:20:44 -0800

Top Artists

1	Björk	559
2	Jay-Z	509
3	Common	440
4	NPR	438
5	Madlib	365
6	Talib Kweli	350
7	Little Brother	345
8	Sufjan Stevens	312
9	Mary J. Blige	276
10	J Dilla aka jay dee	273
11	De La Soul	271
12	Incognito	264
12	Jay Dee	264
14	Zero 7	256
15	Murs	237
16	Miguel Migs	227
17	Evidence	225
18	Oh No	216
19	The Arcade Fire	211
20	Joss Stone	210
21	Justin Timberlake	209

*plus 1 because I don't really count NPR as a music spin.

Top Tracks

1	Björk – Innocence	50
2	The Arcade Fire – Black Mirror	42
2	Kate Havnevik – Unlike me	42
4	UGK – International Players Anthem (f/ Outkast)	38
5	Incognito – Always There	37
5	José González – All You Deliver	37
7	Justin Timberlake – My Love (ft TI)	34
7	DangerDoom – Vats of Urine	34
7	Bonde do Role – Melo do Tobaco (Paul Devro Sweet Mango Mix)	34
7	Timbaland – Give It To Me (f/ Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake)	34
11	Mary J. Blige – Free (Interlude)	33
12	Zero 7 – Crosses	32
12	AYA – 45 Parade Place	32
12	The Foreign Exchange – Foreign Exchange End Theme	32
12	Incognito – Raise	32
16	Dilated Peoples – Back Again	31
16	Talib Kweli & Madlib – The Show	31
16	Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl	31
19	J-Love – Return Of The Theodore Unit (f/ Ghostface, Sean Wiggs and Trife Da God)	30
19	Björk – Aeroplane	30
19	Terry Callier – Just As Long As We're In Love	30
19	The Foreign Exchange – Be Alright	30
19	Madlib – Tape Hiss (Dirty)	30

Top Albums

1	J Dilla aka jay dee – Donuts	272
2	Incognito – Bees + Things + Flowers	198
3	Jay Dee – Ruff Draft	157
4	The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible	149
4	4hero – Play With The Changes	149
6	Robin Thicke – The Evolution of Robin Thicke	127
7	Brother Ali – The Undisputed Truth	122
8	Jaylib – Champion Sound	119
9	DangerDoom – The Mouse And The Mask	118
10	The Foreign Exchange – Connected	110
10	Björk – Volta	110
12	Common – Be	104
12	Mark Ronson – Version	104
14	Sia – Colour the Small One	90
14	Sufjan Stevens – Illinois	90
16	José González – Veneer	84
17	Mary J. Blige – My Life	83
18	Common – Like Water for Chocolate	81
19	Björk – Vespertine Live	80
20	Mary J. Blige – Love & Life	79

*note - just like last year, I'm not so sure about the albums list although it looks more accurate. That said, half the albums in my critical top albums list are no where to be found on the full chart despite what I know about my listening habits the second half of this year.

More in depth discussions begin in the morning.

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Best Random Finds of 2007

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 12:10:25 -0800

Lay Your Head Down

Keren Ann

I've noted -- probably on twitter since I rarely post things longer than 140 characters these days -- that I have way more music released this year than I have in years past. With podcasts, music blogs, my emusic subscription, amazon.com mp3 downloads and monthly amoeba runs, I'm awash in music. Hell, I even tested out urge for 6 months this year. As I do chores this morning, I'm listening to my Best of 2007 playlist in preparation for my end of the year music posts (yes, I might actually write things here in full interesting sentences that you may even care about). These two finds, Keren Ann, above, and Big Sir, below, were both random podcast finds. I'd never heard of either artist before and, in truth, I haven't sought out other music of theirs since but, today, I was reminded why I gave each 5 stars.

Blutrausch (Smooth Interlude)

Big Sir

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10 after 6: The Albums

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:54:24 -0700

It's that time of year isn't it? My 10 favorite 2007 releases so far.

Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation

Various Artists

No finer collection of music this year. It's a bunch of stuff you've never heard and it all sounds amazing. If you like soul music, you simply can't go wrong with this collection.

Play with the Changes

4hero

Very strong release from the downtempo veterans. It didn't hit me strongly with the first listen but has grown on me something fierce over the year. It's a great accompaniment to the album I've listened to the most this year, although not a 2007 release, Incognito's Bees + Things + Flowers.

ArtDontSleep presents From LA With Love

I don't go to Andrew Lojero's parties around town with the same regularity that I used to but this absolutely sounds like that Los Angeles. Underground. Creative. Excited. Agitated. We're under freeways and in back alleys and abandoned churches and it's 3 in the morning. The party don't stop because Art Don't Sleep.

Introducing Joss Stone

Joss Stone

What can I say? I tried to deny this album but I'm a sucker for good Raphael Saadiq production and Stone seems further along in her finding her own voice than some other young blue eyed soul singers. Where I find Amy Winehouse's Back to Black derivative and imitative of a certain sound, I somehow find Introducing... interesting and indicative of a certain sound. Joss might not have half of Winehouse's personality but, at the very least, I'm not running through the artist's her records sound like. And that is not to say that Amy Winehouse isn't great but, without fail, I keep thinking that Back to Black is that the music industry found someone to finally make a sophomore Lauryn Hill album and it just so happens to be a drunk off her ass white girl from the UK.

Emotionalism

The Avett Brothers

It's the Avett Brothers. Blue-grassy soulful indie pop harmonizing? That's my kind of cocktail.

And the rest:

6. Feist - The Reminder
7. Jay Dee - Ruff Draft
8. Evidence - The Weatherman LP
9. Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
10. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

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