Panopticon Blog

So this is it. Despite some high profile misfires from previously dependable artists like Bjork, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, DNtel and others, 2007 ended up with its fair share of unique, interesting, altogether awesome music.

Honorable Mention:

Bat for Lashes – Fur & Gold

The best album Bjork didn’t release this year. Equal parts girlish musings, fantasy imagery, and musical atmosphere, singer Natasha Khan is one of the year’s breakthrough talents.

O’Death – Head Home

An exercise that could be chalked up to hipster anachronism validated by some of the catchiest hooks this side of the Mason-Dixon line, Brooklyn’s O’Death fuses po’ boy bluegrass with furious punk-rock energy.

The National – Boxer

Almost entirely on the merit of its first two songs: “Fake Empire” is about the most perfect rock song in recent memory, and “Mistaken for Strangers” is remarkable and immediate in its bleak white-collar paranoia.

Rosetta – Wake/Lift

Dense, glowering post-metal for those who feel Isis has gone soft. The album’s centerpiece, “Lift (part 1-3),” is one of the year’s more intense musical experiences.

Sigur Ros – Hvarf-Heim

On Hvarf, Sigur Ros properly record many of their best tour-only tunes with startling immediacy. On Heim, they perform old favorites in an unplugged environment – the songs are no less grandiose without electricity.

The Top Ten:

10. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

Quirky, classically trained Andrew Bird pens solid singer-songwriter tunes with mature, literate lyrics. What makes him special, though, is his restless shuffling of instruments into and out of his compositions – trembling electric guitars, violins, dulcimers and a healthy amount of Americana flavored whistling cozy up aside one another in ways that echo Sufjan Stevens and Neutral Milk Hotel.

9. Radiohead – In Rainbows

It’s hard to decide which was more annoying – the hype around In Rainbows’ innovative release strategy, or the music community’s left-handed, “not as good as OK Computer or Kid A, but…”, compliments. So let’s look at In Rainbows for what it is – a collection of expertly written and performed songs by one of our best bands.

8. Burial – Untrue

Literally anonymous British dub musician Burial imbues his rave-y beats with unusual pathos, weaving minimalist sonic textures that seem to evaporate in your ears. Chilly, cinematic and strangely beautiful, this is one of the year’s most atmospheric records.

6. Tie: Battles – Mirrored, Holy Fuck – Holy Fuck

Two of the most original albums of the year have practically created, or at least popularized, a brand new genre – live instrumentalists channeling electronica. Battles, art-rock supergroup extraordinaire, unleashed the berserk Frankenstein Mirrored, which sounds something like an android’s interpretation of party music. But just because you’ve never heard anything quite like it doesn’t stop songs like “Tonto” and the infectious “Atlas” from burrowing into your head.

Holy Fuck, on the other hand, deals in far more terrestrial song writing, though is no less rewarding because of it. Sounding a bit like Lightning Bolt for ravers, or Massive Attack for metalheads, the band practically dares you to believe they’re making this music entirely with live instrumentation. Holy Fuck makes you want to fucking dance while simultaneously impressing the fuck out of you.

5. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala

Something about Swedish pop, from ABBA to Junior Senior, can make even the hardest music snob submit to its Velveta charm. Singer/songwriter Jens Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala somehow makes its Burt Bacharach-meets-Sufjan Stevens formula not only work, but flourish. Lekman’s offbeat lyrics (“Postcard to Nina”) and more-durable-than-Ikea songwriting (“The Opposite of Hallelujah”) will turn many sneers into smiles.

4. Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris

Apologies to Jack White, but Era Vulgaris proves that Josh Homme is the best and most creative guitarist in popular rock. Homme shepherded Queens of the Stone Age from a post-Kyuss curiosity into a hugely popular rock band without sacrificing an iota of his stoner-crooner quirkiness. Era Vulgaris, which on first listen seems scattered and unfocused, coalesces into one of the year’s most durable rock albums. Homme’s guitar work (not to mention his sexy robogrunge songwriting) on the stereo buzzsaw “Turning on the Screw,” the industrial “Battery Acid,” and the Nirvana-by-way-of-prog “3&7s” showcase Homme’s technical skills and creative bravery.

3. Grails – Burning Off Impurities

Grails started as a music school project in Oregon and their previous output betrays this origin – the band’s work was as often impenetrably experimental as it was engaging. On their new album, though, Grails have excised most of their pretensions and instead focus on phenomenally focused and inspired post-rock songwriting. Rolling metal, world music, ambient, and stoner rock into a cohesive package would be difficult enough, but on Burning Off Impurities, Grails have crafted a unique work that, from beginning to end, is the year’s most complete musical experience.

1. Tie: The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible, Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero

Though the two bands couldn’t be much different – The Arcade Fire is a 7-piece boroque indie rock outfit from Canada, and Nine Inch Nails is basically the solo output of Trent Reznor – but their albums have both hit a zeitgeist-y nerve of post-post-9/11 anxiety. These days, as many Americans have become more introspective and aware of their nation’s often destructive role in international politics and environment, ambitious, sweeping records such as Neon Bible and Year Zero seek to connect emotionally and intellectually rather than fostering ironic detachment. Both bands favor bombast over subtlety, but few go for the jugular in their unique ways with more passion that The Arcade Fire and Nine Inch Nails: These albums may not be flawless, but for my money, they are unquestionably the best of the year.

After Funeral, many (myself included) feared The Arcade Fire would have nowhere left to go – it’s rare for a young band’s debut to garner so much acclaim and be so profound unto itself without predicating a sophomore slump. Neon Bible blows Funeral out of the water. Channeling the E-Street Band as often as its Canadian power-pop and indie rock contemporaries, the songs on Neon Bible – especially the spectacular “Intervention” and epic “No Cars Go” — send chills down the spine and turn extremely downbeat lyrics into rallying cries. When lead singer Win Butler warbles such lines as “I don’t want to fight in the holy war… I don’t want to live in America no more,” the defeated idealist in all of us can’t help but wince.

After With_Teeth, many (myself included) feared Trent Reznor would have nowhere left to go – faced with sobriety and a dwindling fan base, Reznor released possibly his weakest collection of songs in a bid for radio play. But then, in the blink of an eye (at least by NIN standards), Reznor released the dystopian nightmare Year Zero – easily his best work since The Fragile. Finally singing about something other than himself – its heady sci-fi premise was detailed in a brilliant online campaign – Reznor’s songwriting is a strong as it ever has been, and his production techniques have matured greatly: It’s amazing how fresh NIN’s mix of angular Joy Division guitars and screeching IDM beats (“The Great Destroyer” would make both Freddie Mercury and Richard D. James proud) sound after 15 years of song writing.

This here is my humble list of best songs of 2007. I’ve restricted myself to one song per album, which made for some tough calls (especially from the album from which I’ve pulled my #1 — tracks one and two from said album are the first and second best songs of the year). Enjoy.

10. Digitalism – “Pogo”

In many ways, just one of many songs from the oh-so-hip disco-electro rock movement – “Pogo” just so happened to be the catchiest of the bunch with the most infectious chorus.

9. Bjork – “The Dull Flame of Desire”

The hugely disappointing Volta’s single bright spot is the meditative “Dull Flame of Desire,” which sounds exactly nothing like you’d expect a Bjork/Antony Hegarty/Brian Chippendelle (Lightning Bolt’s drummer) collaboration to sound like.

8. LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

I just can’t get down with James Murphy’s ironically detached dance-rock group LCD Soundsystem, but there’s no denying “Someone Great” from Sound of Silver is both hooky and emotionally affecting.

7. Eluvium – Indoor Swimming at the Space Station

Before devolving into hotel lobby piano stylings, Eluvium’s Copia peaks with this beautiful, haunting Eno-esque meditation. Serenely gorgeous and accessible, this is ten minutes that you never want to end.

6. Radiohead – All I Need

In Rainbows is more song based than Radiohead’s last few albums, which have been heady, cohesive experiences. “All I Need” is the best of the lot – the hypnotic synth line carries Thom Yorke’s fragile vocals until the song explodes in Sigur-Ros-ian glory that is the band’s most ecstatic conclusion since “Let Down.”

5. Bat for Lashes – What’s a Girl to Do?

The echoey, Roy Orbison drums beat and twinking sitar anchor the song’s woozy orchestral chorus and Natasha Khan’s stunning vocals. It takes several listens to discover just how downbeat the song’s lyrics are, but their juxtaposition with the eerie aural atmosphere only makes the song that much more impressive.

4. Nine Inch Nails – The Great Destroyer

Three wildly divergent songs in one: “The Great Destroyer” begins by building the most beguiling industrial melody Trent Reznor has written since Broken; then there’s the sing-a-long chorus (which could be the POV of a homicidal postal worker) with Freddie Mercury/80s Transformers Movie grandiose vocal harmony; and finally some of the most brilliant and breakneck IDM ever featured on a mainstream record.

3. Battles – Atlas

The least likely party anthem imaginable, this Mirrored highlight is one of the year’s most technically impressive and relentlessly catchy tracks. Vocalist Tyondai Braxton’s digitally manipulated chipmunk vocals adds robotic whimsy to his bandmates’ math art-prog dance funk(?). Yet all this could have been annoyingly precious without former Helmet drummer John Stainer’s precise, pugilistic beat keeping everything grounded.

2. The Arcade Fire – Intervention

A tough call from an album full of amazing individual songs, “Intervention” is Neon Bible’s most go-for-broke moment. Starting with the cavernous church organ melody as counterpoint to a folky, acoustic guitar rhythm, “Intervention” builds slowly with vocalist Win Butler morosely delivering lines like “working for the Church while your family dies” and “every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.” But then the Max Weinberg-esque drums kick in and the song becomes anthemic. By the time back-up singers incite fist-pumping and singing along, The Arcade Fire create the darkest arena rock since “Born to Run.”

1. The National – Fake Empire

To be fair, it would be impossible for the overrated Boxer to live up to its opening track, which may be the most perfect rock song written since Radiohead released The Bends. Beginning with an offbeat, gorgeous piano melody and quickly joined by Matt Beringer’s warm-blooded Ian Curtis-esque baritone, “Fake Empire” wastes no time sucking you in. Like everything else in the song, its momentum is just unconventional enough to feel universal and startlingly new – it doesn’t ebb and flow, exactly, but roundly builds to a horn and string syncopated overlap that gets more invigorating every time you hear it. Bonus points: the lyrical refrain “we’re half awake in a fake empire”; these few words somehow fully envelope the experience of living in America in 2007.

Hey everyone,

This is the first of several posts where I list my favorite music and films from 2007. First up is Best Music Video, to be followed by Best Songs, Best Albums, and Best Films. Hope you enjoy and argue!

5. These New Puritains – Elvis

This simpler than simple premise is elevated by stark cinematography, crack editing and some of the best casting you’ll see in a music video. Channeling Chris Cunningham’s clinical eye for human musculature, director Saam Farahmand puts post-punk rockers These New Puritains on the map.

4. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Seedling

What better fungi for this hallucinatory clip to feature than mushrooms? Taking the possibly lame dorm-room-stoner elements of black light, lava lamps, and Will Oldham, director Aran Reo Mann weaves a truly unnerving narrative that ups the ante of the spooky song considerably.

3. zZz – Grip

The mathematical and creative ingenuity on display in zZz’s “Grip” would make the hair on the back of Michel Gondy’s neck stand up. Consisting of one uninterrupted take of acrobats literalizing electronic music terms while flying at the camera off a trampoline, “Grip” is as hilarious as it is impressive.

2. Battles – Atlas and Tonto

As Mirrored proved the unlikeliest of crossover albums, the songs on it seemed unlikely music video fodder. “Atlas,” though, featuring the band playing in a rotating mirrored cube, captured the band’s groovy experimentalism perfectly. “Tonto,” an even less accessible song, shows the band playing amongst LED spires in a rock quarry that brings both Baraka and The Prestige to mind.

1. Bat for Lashes – What’s a Girl to Do?

Director Dougal Wilson does so many things right in this video it is hard to list – the simple concept of singer Natasha Khan riding a bicycle down a dark road fits the haunting song so perfectly that when the animals wearing Donnie-Darko masks emerge from behind her on BMXs, we hardly notice the genius sleight of hand (eye?) we just witnessed. I’ve probably watched this video 50 times, closely, and I still have no idea how it was done. It’s a brainteaser that distracts while the song buries itself in your head.