paulisded
12-10-2007, 01:04 AM
Judging by the headlines, 2007 was a terrible year for the music business. CD sales were down by close to 20%, and online downloads didn’t come close to making up this deficit. “Superstar” after “superstar” released albums that disappeared long before their last talk-show appearance. Record companies even delayed a number of high profile Christmas releases until 2008 to prepare for the much-anticipated massive layoffs predicted at all of the major labels.
Yet in terms of actual music, 2007 was a fantastic year that was actually reflected in the Billboard charts. Left-field artists such as the Shins, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Wilco, and Bright Eyes found themselves in the Top 5, selling substantially more albums than ever before. Veteran artists such as Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, Robert Plant, and The Band’s Levon Helm put out material that ranked with their best ever.
In other words, this past year saw a great leveling of the playing field. Indie acts may not find themselves trolling the talk show circuit, but by releasing stellar material they’re outselling the faves of Regis, Tyra, and Jay Leno. Imagine the sales of Wilco and Arcade Fire if they received just a small percentage of the Entertainment Tonight and Extra airtime given to the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Clarkson. It boggles the mind how the labels continue to blame their failures on illegal downloading. Sorry, but it’s not file sharing that’s killing the industry; it’s the major label star system that’s creating phony artists that the public doesn’t care about that leads people to the DVD and video game sections of department stores.
Here’s some of the stuff that rocked my world these past twelve months:
1. Radiohead, In Rainbows. On September 30, a cryptic message on Radiohead’s website rocked the entire record business. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced that their new album was completed, and would be available for download ten days later. Fans could pay whatever they desired for the new album, or pay nothing.
Even though the majority of the people who downloaded the album on October 10 elected to not hand over any cash, the band still made much more money in one day than they would under a standard record contract.
Other artists are now looking at releasing their future albums in a similar manner, and the record industry is reeling. Radiohead is certainly not the first act to self-release their music, but they’re certainly the biggest.
None of this would matter if In Rainbows wasn’t such a great album. While some of the electronica elements of their previous few albums are still present on some of the tracks, In Rainbows marks a return to the melodic-based elements of the The Bends.
(A traditional CD will be released on January 1 for those of us who still want a physical copy of the album.)
2. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible. For most of the year, it looked like Arcade Fire was going to run away with the title of “Album of the Year”. This Canadian band is one of those few acts that are impossible to describe. Elements of Springsteen, Bowie, and David Byrne collide with cheesy 80’s new wave and late-90’s alt-country in a big bowl of artistic genius.
3. Bruce Springsteen, Magic. I may be a Springsteen apologist but I’m shocked at the greatness of this album. It’s easily his best release since 1980’s The River, and the credit has to go to Springsteen’s dismissal of the clichés that has marred some of his more recent material. There are no phony vocal accents present; no over-used musical tricks by the E Street Band. The usual influences are still heard, but it’s also clear that Springsteen has been listening to younger artists such as Son Volt and Arcade Fire.
4. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky. For the first time since their debut album, Jeff Tweedy and the rest of Wilco refrain from utilizing “tricks” to color the material on Sky Blue Sky. There’s no crescendos of feedback and sound effects; it’s just the band playing some of Tweedy’s best ever tunes.
5. John Doe, A Year in the Wilderness. The former leader of X has quietly released a number of stellar albums since the band’s dissolution almost twenty years ago (although they continue to reunite for occasional tours). This album comes the closest to X’s rootsy latter years, primarily due to the harmonies of Jill Sobule, Kathleen Edwards, and Aimee Mann.
6. White Stripes, Icky Thump. Last year’s Get Behind Me Satan may have been a disappointment, but Icky Thump finds Jack and Meg White returning to the high standards of their previous releases. Bagpipes, flamenco horns, and a Patti Page cover may seem like unlikely additions to the pair’s musical blueprints, but they mix in well with Jack’s distortion-laden guitar and Meg’s simple yet effective drums.
7. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Spoon albums always take awhile to process. Like almost all of their previous albums, I initially deemed this as a disappointment when it was released this past summer. Yet every mix disc created over the subsequent months featured a track or two that quickly became my new favorite song, and my Ipod’s “four star” playlist ended up with almost half of the album. Yeah, this album’s a “grower”.
8. The Broken West, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On. To put it simply, if you like the Kinks, Big Star, Spoon, Wilco, and/or power pop in general, you’ll love this debut album by this band.
9. The National, Boxer. Cincinnati-turned-Brooklyn residents The National have been recording for close to a decade, and their moody, folk-ish brand of rock has quietly become beloved by the Paste and Pitchfork crowd. Yes, it’s “brainy’, but in this case it’s a compliment.
10. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga. On their sixth album, Conor Oberst and pals (including M. Ward and Gillian Welch) tone down the politics and experimentation for their most straightforward release to date. Oberst continues to grow as a songwriter; he most certainly is not the latest “New Dylan” but he is easily the most intriguing character to come out of the Midwest in quite some time.
11. Steve Earle, Washington Square Serenade. Earle’s latest tells the story of a man who fell in love, got married (for the sixth or seventh time), relocated to New York City, and…discovered Pro Tools. He may be the most unlikely artist to ever work with the Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys), but the programmed beats and loops never get in the way of Earle’s masterful songwriting.
12. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin. If you’re disappointed that My Morning Jacket failed to release a new album this past year, check out the sophomore release by Band of Horses. Leader Ben Bridwell croons just like MMJ’s Jim James, albeit in a more traditional indie rock setting than MMJ.
13. Ween, La Cucaracha. The wacky Ween brothers, Dean and Gene, are back with their first album of new material since 2003. La Cucaracha is their warped look at the current state of the music business, with songs that mock (or celebrate) teen pop, lo-fi indie rock, jam bands, English techno, and even Latin music.
14. Jesse Malin, Glitter in the Gutter. Okay, the piano-bar cover of the Replacements “Bastards of Young” is sort of bizarre. Yet on his third solo album, the former leader of D Generation continues to show he’s a master of writing pure pop gems that his more famous buddy Ryan Adams would die for.
15. Babyshambles, Shotter’s Nation. Forget about the tabloid lifestyle of former Libertines leader Pete Doherty. Yes, he’s been in and out of jail and rehab for the past year. Yes, he’s known primarily as Kate Moss’ boyfriend. Somehow Doherty managed to record the best album the Kinks never made.
16. Grinderman. Nick Cave has rediscovered the guitar, and this debut album by his side project is easily the grittiest album he’s ever made…and that’s obviously saying something.
17. Lily Allen, Alright, Still. Every year there’s a fluffy pop album that catches my ear, and this year it’s the debut album by this ska-loving Brit pop star. Allen has a knack for writing witty little ditties about singles bars and past loves – songs that are bitter quite often but are never NOT fun.
18. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha. I’m really jealous that my beautiful friend Colleen got to see this talented multi-instrumentalist open for Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb earlier this year. On his tenth album (why have I not heard of him before?), the Chicago songwriter is one of those few artists who cannot be lumped into a specific genre.
19. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog. Previous Iron and Wine albums have been stripped down affairs with minimal musical backing to accompany leader Sam Beam’s signature vocal. That’s no longer the case, as the sonic pallet is stretched as far as possible without crossing into the dreaded “overproduced” category.
20. Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II. After years of albums devoted to a single genre, Young finally returns to the days of On the Beach and American Stars and Bars where the tunes jump from extended guitar duels to short little country ditties. But the question remains why he titled this album as a sequel to a bootleg 99% of his fans have never heard.
Yet in terms of actual music, 2007 was a fantastic year that was actually reflected in the Billboard charts. Left-field artists such as the Shins, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Wilco, and Bright Eyes found themselves in the Top 5, selling substantially more albums than ever before. Veteran artists such as Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, Robert Plant, and The Band’s Levon Helm put out material that ranked with their best ever.
In other words, this past year saw a great leveling of the playing field. Indie acts may not find themselves trolling the talk show circuit, but by releasing stellar material they’re outselling the faves of Regis, Tyra, and Jay Leno. Imagine the sales of Wilco and Arcade Fire if they received just a small percentage of the Entertainment Tonight and Extra airtime given to the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Clarkson. It boggles the mind how the labels continue to blame their failures on illegal downloading. Sorry, but it’s not file sharing that’s killing the industry; it’s the major label star system that’s creating phony artists that the public doesn’t care about that leads people to the DVD and video game sections of department stores.
Here’s some of the stuff that rocked my world these past twelve months:
1. Radiohead, In Rainbows. On September 30, a cryptic message on Radiohead’s website rocked the entire record business. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced that their new album was completed, and would be available for download ten days later. Fans could pay whatever they desired for the new album, or pay nothing.
Even though the majority of the people who downloaded the album on October 10 elected to not hand over any cash, the band still made much more money in one day than they would under a standard record contract.
Other artists are now looking at releasing their future albums in a similar manner, and the record industry is reeling. Radiohead is certainly not the first act to self-release their music, but they’re certainly the biggest.
None of this would matter if In Rainbows wasn’t such a great album. While some of the electronica elements of their previous few albums are still present on some of the tracks, In Rainbows marks a return to the melodic-based elements of the The Bends.
(A traditional CD will be released on January 1 for those of us who still want a physical copy of the album.)
2. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible. For most of the year, it looked like Arcade Fire was going to run away with the title of “Album of the Year”. This Canadian band is one of those few acts that are impossible to describe. Elements of Springsteen, Bowie, and David Byrne collide with cheesy 80’s new wave and late-90’s alt-country in a big bowl of artistic genius.
3. Bruce Springsteen, Magic. I may be a Springsteen apologist but I’m shocked at the greatness of this album. It’s easily his best release since 1980’s The River, and the credit has to go to Springsteen’s dismissal of the clichés that has marred some of his more recent material. There are no phony vocal accents present; no over-used musical tricks by the E Street Band. The usual influences are still heard, but it’s also clear that Springsteen has been listening to younger artists such as Son Volt and Arcade Fire.
4. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky. For the first time since their debut album, Jeff Tweedy and the rest of Wilco refrain from utilizing “tricks” to color the material on Sky Blue Sky. There’s no crescendos of feedback and sound effects; it’s just the band playing some of Tweedy’s best ever tunes.
5. John Doe, A Year in the Wilderness. The former leader of X has quietly released a number of stellar albums since the band’s dissolution almost twenty years ago (although they continue to reunite for occasional tours). This album comes the closest to X’s rootsy latter years, primarily due to the harmonies of Jill Sobule, Kathleen Edwards, and Aimee Mann.
6. White Stripes, Icky Thump. Last year’s Get Behind Me Satan may have been a disappointment, but Icky Thump finds Jack and Meg White returning to the high standards of their previous releases. Bagpipes, flamenco horns, and a Patti Page cover may seem like unlikely additions to the pair’s musical blueprints, but they mix in well with Jack’s distortion-laden guitar and Meg’s simple yet effective drums.
7. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Spoon albums always take awhile to process. Like almost all of their previous albums, I initially deemed this as a disappointment when it was released this past summer. Yet every mix disc created over the subsequent months featured a track or two that quickly became my new favorite song, and my Ipod’s “four star” playlist ended up with almost half of the album. Yeah, this album’s a “grower”.
8. The Broken West, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On. To put it simply, if you like the Kinks, Big Star, Spoon, Wilco, and/or power pop in general, you’ll love this debut album by this band.
9. The National, Boxer. Cincinnati-turned-Brooklyn residents The National have been recording for close to a decade, and their moody, folk-ish brand of rock has quietly become beloved by the Paste and Pitchfork crowd. Yes, it’s “brainy’, but in this case it’s a compliment.
10. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga. On their sixth album, Conor Oberst and pals (including M. Ward and Gillian Welch) tone down the politics and experimentation for their most straightforward release to date. Oberst continues to grow as a songwriter; he most certainly is not the latest “New Dylan” but he is easily the most intriguing character to come out of the Midwest in quite some time.
11. Steve Earle, Washington Square Serenade. Earle’s latest tells the story of a man who fell in love, got married (for the sixth or seventh time), relocated to New York City, and…discovered Pro Tools. He may be the most unlikely artist to ever work with the Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys), but the programmed beats and loops never get in the way of Earle’s masterful songwriting.
12. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin. If you’re disappointed that My Morning Jacket failed to release a new album this past year, check out the sophomore release by Band of Horses. Leader Ben Bridwell croons just like MMJ’s Jim James, albeit in a more traditional indie rock setting than MMJ.
13. Ween, La Cucaracha. The wacky Ween brothers, Dean and Gene, are back with their first album of new material since 2003. La Cucaracha is their warped look at the current state of the music business, with songs that mock (or celebrate) teen pop, lo-fi indie rock, jam bands, English techno, and even Latin music.
14. Jesse Malin, Glitter in the Gutter. Okay, the piano-bar cover of the Replacements “Bastards of Young” is sort of bizarre. Yet on his third solo album, the former leader of D Generation continues to show he’s a master of writing pure pop gems that his more famous buddy Ryan Adams would die for.
15. Babyshambles, Shotter’s Nation. Forget about the tabloid lifestyle of former Libertines leader Pete Doherty. Yes, he’s been in and out of jail and rehab for the past year. Yes, he’s known primarily as Kate Moss’ boyfriend. Somehow Doherty managed to record the best album the Kinks never made.
16. Grinderman. Nick Cave has rediscovered the guitar, and this debut album by his side project is easily the grittiest album he’s ever made…and that’s obviously saying something.
17. Lily Allen, Alright, Still. Every year there’s a fluffy pop album that catches my ear, and this year it’s the debut album by this ska-loving Brit pop star. Allen has a knack for writing witty little ditties about singles bars and past loves – songs that are bitter quite often but are never NOT fun.
18. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha. I’m really jealous that my beautiful friend Colleen got to see this talented multi-instrumentalist open for Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb earlier this year. On his tenth album (why have I not heard of him before?), the Chicago songwriter is one of those few artists who cannot be lumped into a specific genre.
19. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog. Previous Iron and Wine albums have been stripped down affairs with minimal musical backing to accompany leader Sam Beam’s signature vocal. That’s no longer the case, as the sonic pallet is stretched as far as possible without crossing into the dreaded “overproduced” category.
20. Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II. After years of albums devoted to a single genre, Young finally returns to the days of On the Beach and American Stars and Bars where the tunes jump from extended guitar duels to short little country ditties. But the question remains why he titled this album as a sequel to a bootleg 99% of his fans have never heard.