get flash or die slowly

Alright, here's part two of my Top 41 Albums of 2007, this time #16-30. I wanted to do this post a little earlier, so that I'd have the entire list finished before Christmas, but as we approach the top, it's getting harder and harder. Even with this list, I've been rearranging and relistening so I had to take more time for this. I might even change the complete Top 15 by the time I'll actually post them. We'll see.
The idea of just posting the albums without comments and a bunch of songs sounds very seducing, but I can't just list them. That'd be too easy, even though my laziness is at the highest level right now.
Let's go on.

30. The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out



Oh yes, The Ponys and Turn The Lights Out. This record makes me think of winter, but not in that depressing, it's-so-cold-I'm-freezing-my...-way, but in a different meaning. Even though Turn The Lights Out has it's dark shadows, it is also full of energy, which concludes, that you actually don't feel depressedbut calm, even after listening to songs like Let's Kill Ourselves, Poser Psychotic or look at that creepy-but-fascinating cover. That's what I think of winter, it's still f'ing cold, but you can also sit next to the heater and...
oh, what the f'. I hate winter, cold, snow, ice, rain and the rest of the stuff, that has anything to do with freezing, but I love Turn The Lights Out.

MP3: The Ponys - Exile On My Street (YSI)

get it @ amazon

29. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed



If there is someone who deserves to be in the top of best-mash-up-of musical-styles-in-2007, then it'd be Matthew Dear. Asa Breed can be described as a folk album with electronic tunes, an electronic pop album with folk guitars, a melodic sounding electronica/indie rock album....you know what I mean. It's fascinating to listen to Vine To Vine and Don and Sherri and actually be aware that both are on the same record from the same musician, that's just great. Could listen to it all day long.

MP3: Matthew Dear - Good To Be Alive (YSI)

get it @ amazon

28. The White Stripes - Icky Thump



So, now, half a year after Icky Thump, The White Stripes' long awaited sixth album, has been released, I still find it hard to put it in my Top 10. I can't deny, that the record is probably the most personal White Stripes record ever, that it has more highlights than the previous Get behind Me Satan and it is more blues and folk, to put it in plain words. Nevertheless, something is missing and I can't say what it is exactly. Maybe, I'm just not that big White Stripes fan, that I thought I was. But you can still ask Santa for Icky Thump. I would, if I didn't own it already. Pity.

MP3: The White Stripes - 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues (YSI)

get it @ amazon

27. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday!



Germany has been rather good this year, musical-wise. We got a nice indie record from The Robocop Kraus and now Modeselektor, one of the most important dance/electronica acts in and out of Germany, especially as 2007 is the year of electronic goodness and Happy Birthday! in the midst of them all. Besides, Happy Birthday! has excellent guests to present such as Maximo Park, Thom Yorke, Apparat to name a few and if that isn't cool, you are just not cool.

MP3: Modeselektor - The Dark Side Of The Sun (YSI)

get it @ amazon

26. Interpol - Our Love To Admire



Despite common belief (that may be a little exaggerated, but nevermind that now) that Our Love To Admire is the sign of the decreasing quality of Interpol's music, I disagree. These songs have such an energy and aswell imagery, that I feel like walking through New York City at night, feeling both threatened and seduced by the city. Of course, there's the single The Heinrich Maneuver, but also songs like Mammoth, Rest My Chemistry and No I In Threesome give you that familiar feeling of comfortable chill, that only Interpol can produce. I wouldn't call Our Love To Admire their best work, but it as isn't as horrible as often depicted.

MP3: Interpol - Pace Is The Trick (YSI)

get it @ amazon

25. Shitdisco - Kingdom Of Fear



Ok, so Kingdom Of Fear may not be the qualitively best production in my list and some may disagree with the album's position, but after all this is my personal list. Therefore I do not only decide on quality or musical diversion, but also on how much I enjoyed listening to it. Shitdisco and their crazy, dancy indie electronic tunes like OK, Reactor Party, Fear Of The Future or the song below are one of the most played songs in my iTunes library. Kingdom of Fear is simply fun to listen to without proclaiming in every song about another broken heart or lost love, just fun. JUST FUN.
Yeah.

MP3: Shitdisco - 3D Sexshow (YSI)

get it @ amazon

24. The Rakes - Ten New Messages



I didn't think too highly about Ten New Messages - it was in the it's-ok-but-I've-expected-more range - before I've seen The Rakes live last month. Maybe they are just that kind of band, who you have to see live, before you can really get into the record. Somehow, the songs just sounded more energic after seeing them performed by the London bases indie rockers. personally, I think it's a worthy follow-up of Retreat and Capture/Release.
A big 'Up' for singing about Tom Cruise!

MP3: The Rakes - On A Mission (YSI)

get it @ amazon

23. Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures



Maximo Park can do no wrong, right? Our Earthly Pleasures is a good album, the songs are great, but it still can't reach up to A Certain Trigger. Probably because the latter had that unique purity of a debut album, that honesty or that vitaliy, which surrounded A Certain Trigger in every song. I have to admit, I was very curious if Maximo Park would be able to come up with something, that would top the hype about their debut. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to say, that Our Earthly Pleasures is crappy, no, it's fantastic, it's got some typical but nevertheless great Maximo Park-esque songs like Our Velocity, The Unshockable and Girls Who Play Guitars aaaand a huge amount of love songs.
Like:

MP3: Maximo Park - Your Urge (YSI)

get it @ amazon

22. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver



So, the fat boy has done it again, besides producing and remixing others, his own album: Sound Of Silver. It hardly needs a detailed description, as LCD Soundsystem and it's newest baby surely have been discussed over and over again on most of the blogs and it has its deserved place on any Top albums of 07 lists.
And I'm in love with North American Scum. The song of course, pfshh.

MP3: LCD Soundsystem - Watch The Tapes (YSI)

get it @ amazon

21. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?



Of Montreal hardly need an introduction, as Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is one of the most hyped albums of 2007. I haven't really been into Of Montreal before this year (yeah, shame on me), but after reading over an' over again on numerous blogs, I got curious. And it has lived up to its promise. Strange song titles, strange album titles, crazy sounds and fantastic songs. God bless Kevin Barnes.

MP3: Of Montreal - Labyrinthian Pomp (YSI)

get it @ amazon

20. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog



The amount of most-hyped-and-most-blogged-about records in my list are rising, but I don't care about that. The Shepherd's Dog is just a wonderful indie folk album from singer songwriter Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine. Especially Boy With A Coin is amazing.
Buy this if you haven't already done so!

MP3: Iron & Wine - Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car (YSI)

get it @ amazon

19. Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times



Kings Of Leon.
Because Of The Times.
It was obviously obligatory. My Party is #3 in my iTunes Top 25 Most Played Songs and the rest of the album should be in there aswell. While I was 'kept' in Swanage all summer long, seperated from any 'music related updates' or even internet at all, Because Of The Times was one of the things that kept me 'sane', relatively anyway.

MP3: Kings Of Leon - My Party (YSI)

get it @ amazon

18. The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever



I expected 2007 to the year of The Cribs, the year they finally get the proper recognition for their work that they so utterly deserve. I think the world has finally realised, that The Cribs stand out of the sheer unmanageable mass of in British indie bands, that have emerged for the last couple of years. Of course, according to Britains most reliable, erm, music magazine, their comment about 'the mainstream attitude being more important than the global warming' on one of their festival performance was, unfortunately, more interesting than their fabulous third album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever. Hopefully, everybody else is cleverer and knows how to appreciate songs like Our Bovine Public, Girls Like Mystery or the unusual Be Safe with lyrics spoken by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. Fantastic.

MP3: The Cribs - Women's Needs (YSI)

get it @ amazon

17. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga



I actually had Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on #25 before reconsidering my own stupidness and then put it on #17. This is, as usually all Spoon albums are, a timeless record, the songs are catchy, funky, melodic, going straight to heart without sounding cheesy, conventional or mediocre. Spoon just simply are unique, hence the album title, which I think is so funny ironic and that makes me love Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga even more.

MP3: Spoon - Rthm & Soul (YSI)

get it @ amazon

16. Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release



Oh my God, I am so tired. Still one more to go.
Attack Decay Sustain Release, the debut of Simian Mobile Disco, everybody waited for it, everybody talked about it, most of them loved it. Well, I do. SMD make that great sound, finding the right measure for beats and bass in their songs, not too much and just perfect. Besides, my iPod just can't stop playing Hustler at least once a day or it punishes me with not working. No kiddin'. My iPod has it's own brain, a rather clever one, too. I suppose, it would refuse to play anything from Celine Dion - like I'd own anything from her....argh, let's not think about that awful, awful person.
Attack Decay Sustain Release is simply great and so is the bonus disc, which also contains the following song:

MP3: Simian Mobile Disco - I Got This Down (Instrumental Version) (YSI)

get it @ amazon

uhhhh, so these were #16-30. Almost done.
Now just a couple of records, that I listened to aswell in 07, but which just didn't make the list. I still advise you to own at least a third of these albums or two songs of each of them.
In alphabetical order:

Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated [buy]
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music [buy]
Black Strobe - Burn Your Own Church [buy]
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls [buy]
The Enemy - We'll Live And Die In These Towns [buy]
The Films - Don't Dance Rattlesnake [buy]
The Fratellis - Costello Music [buy]
The Go! Team - Proof Of Youth [buy]
Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. [buy]
Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop [buy]
Tegan & Sara - The Con [buy]
The Tellers - Hands Full Of Ink [buy]

I'll list some more at the end of my next post containing also my #1-15, which will be up after Christmas some time.
Until then:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

now, bed.
g'nite