2008 Woodie Awards
Another listen: the best of 2007
Christine Nguyen
Issue date: 12/11/07 Section: Scene
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The year is coming to an end and the topic at the top of every music lover's mind is: The Best Album Lists of 2007. Whether you read them on the internet, refer to magazines, or just ask around, The Best Album list is a fun way to wrap up the year and see what new developments have occurred (or not) in music. The WVFI Music Committee offer you our favorites to read while taking a break from bio-chemistry chapters and crunching accounting problems.
This year in top album lists there seems to be a disparity between actually quality records and what the industry thinks they need to acknowledge to keep their music cred flowing. Abysmal lists from several print magazines (Filter, Harp, UnCut) as well as trusted music blogs (My Old Kentucky Blog, seem to signal a need for reinvention).
After the top 10 there seems to be nothing more than a gamete of the best indie artists of the last five years filling up the rest of the amazingly long top albums lists. If a band made a fantastic album five years ago why is that an invitation for its mediocre album to invade 2007's lists? Is there a need for a top 100 if only 1-57 are actually deserving of any recognition? And why in the world is The Good, The Bad and the Queen getting into the top five?
We get it, you all miss the Gorillaz. However, TGTBATQ are not them, and even if Damian is heading up the project, gold does not flow from his fingertips. To be fair, going through other lists and voicing my dismay, makes me realize that I will never be able to make everyone happy, but nevertheless I present my list of best (read: personal favorites) of the year.
Top Albums:
"Health," by Health
Health is pretty much the only experimental noise band that I can really stomach. Really I not only stomach it, but I really enjoy this noisy/trippy freshman album. This is saying a lot, as they have crafted some amazing amounts of chaos into controlled melodies while never losing the rawness of their sound.
This year in top album lists there seems to be a disparity between actually quality records and what the industry thinks they need to acknowledge to keep their music cred flowing. Abysmal lists from several print magazines (Filter, Harp, UnCut) as well as trusted music blogs (My Old Kentucky Blog, seem to signal a need for reinvention).
After the top 10 there seems to be nothing more than a gamete of the best indie artists of the last five years filling up the rest of the amazingly long top albums lists. If a band made a fantastic album five years ago why is that an invitation for its mediocre album to invade 2007's lists? Is there a need for a top 100 if only 1-57 are actually deserving of any recognition? And why in the world is The Good, The Bad and the Queen getting into the top five?
We get it, you all miss the Gorillaz. However, TGTBATQ are not them, and even if Damian is heading up the project, gold does not flow from his fingertips. To be fair, going through other lists and voicing my dismay, makes me realize that I will never be able to make everyone happy, but nevertheless I present my list of best (read: personal favorites) of the year.
Top Albums:
"Health," by Health
Health is pretty much the only experimental noise band that I can really stomach. Really I not only stomach it, but I really enjoy this noisy/trippy freshman album. This is saying a lot, as they have crafted some amazing amounts of chaos into controlled melodies while never losing the rawness of their sound.