So this is the new year.
And I don’t feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance.

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions
-Death Cab for Cutie

I remember listening to this song walking down the street in college. This was back when I was the cool kid with the CD player that recognized MP3’s. It’s a good song to start my favorite album of theirs called Transatlanticism. Heard of it before?

I’m going to keep this simple since I’m kind of burnt out from the December posts. Really, I’m just here to give you a heads up on some cool things going on at The Current. I’m really starting to be a major advertiser for them, aren’t I? The funny thing about that, is that I actually give them money and talk about them, which means I’m obviously on the wrong end of this deal. Smiley!

First things first. Tonight, The Current will have a guest DJ playing a special New Years Eve set. I can’t find a link for this one anywhere, but Erin claims that it’s from 6 or 7 until the ball drops at midnight. At that point, they’ll be playing Bob Sinclar’s ‘Soundz of Freedom’ “My Ultimate Summer of Love Mix”.

Then, starting at 10 am the next morning, they will start the Top 89 of 2007. Check it out if you have a chance!

Today’s song is the one that I referenced above, The New Year by Death Cab for Cutie. Happy New Year!

Cream of the crop, people. Cream of the crop.

10. Blonde Redhead – 23. This is one of those weird albums that gets a delayed entrance to emusic. Only issue here was that I didn’t realize that it was one of those albums and went out and bought it. Often described as a cross between <insert band here> and My Bloody Valentine, this album combines swirling dream pop with the awesome lyrical stylings of Kazu Makino. Favorite lyrics: from The Dress, “The tears you see on my face, you do have something to do with.”

9. Radiohead – In Rainbows. Probably the most talked about album of the year for reasons having nothing to do with the music. This album is classic Radiohead – whether you have short-term or long-term Radiohead memory, even. What I mean is that there’s something to love for both the people who think that Kid A was the best thing to happen to Radiohead and people who think that it was the worst thing to happen to them. Ok, if you liked Kid A, you’re more likely to enjoy In Rainbows than if you didn’t like Kid A.

8. Polyphonic Spree – The Fragile Army. Remember when I made a list of upcoming Minneapolis concerts? Remember that under the description of Polyphonic Spree, I just wrote “Polyphonic Spree!” ten times? That’s how stupid-happy I get about the Polyphonic Spree. I’m apparently easily amused by what I’ll call musical-rock, which is kind of what the Spree sound like. They also play a sweet version of Nirvana’s lithium.

7. Peter Bjorn and John – Writer’s Block. I told you the Swedes had a good year. These three were particularly good. For the longest time, I thought that this band was made up of a guy named Peter Bjorn and his good friend, John. Instead, it turns out that it’s Peter, Bjorn, and John. Apparently commas don’t play that large of a role in Sweden. Besides their hit single, Young Folks, Let’s Call It Off is a pretty darn good song. Have I mentioned that enjoy the Swedish accent?

6. Menomena - Friend and Foe. This is probably the least accessible album in my top-10. I doubt Erin would ever be able to get into a band like this. However, I can definitely try and force it onto the loyal readers of this humble blog. This is my go-to album for all things work related, when I want to shut out any noise and focus on getting stuff done. Menomena uses an unorthodox way of putting music together – they play different musical lines and put them into a self-programmed music program. Combine that with the interesting voice of the lead singers (they all share singing duties) and you get a somewhat inaccessible, incredibly awesome album.

5. White Rabbits – Fort Nightly. This is one of my favorite debut albums to come out in years. White Rabbits take a different approach on the classic dance band. Instead of speeding things up, they combine catchy latin beats with garage band music. Seeing them at lollapalooza, I was amazed that there were so many members of this band, even including two drummers. I find it interesting that both Fort Nightly and their best single, The Plot, came out at number five on both of my lists.

4. Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War. I originally thought that the Stars album that came out in May was supposed to be an original album. Then, it turned out that that album was really just a compilation of remixes. I was disappointed to say the least. Then, I learned that there would be an original Stars album coming out and that it was coming out early on emusic. In Our Bedroom has at least four songs that could be considered singles, and only one or two that I would consider skipping.

3. Apples In Stereo – New Magnetic Wonder. I feel slightly bad for putting this album at number three, since for most of the year I had been telling people that this was my album of the year. Well, it got passed. Similar to the Stars album above, New Magnetic Wonder is a reservoir of pop gems split by fun intermittent tracks like Joanie Don’t U Worry and Vocoder Ba Ba. For those who say that the album is dead, I doubt that I would like this album as much as I do without these silly tracks to break everything up.

2. The National – Boxer. What does it take to knock out Apples In Stereo? Try intimate, orchestral tracks with a low-voiced Matt Berninger. Boxer takes you on a slow, tension-filled ride through intricate stories. The biggest reason that I enjoy this album is because of Berninger’s vocal stylings. His voice becomes another instrument in each of the songs. So much so that you forget about the wonderfully intelligent lyrics. For example, on Start a War: “Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting, lock it up and leave?
Walk away now and you’re gonna start a war.”

1. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Erin apparently calls this album “Ga to the fifth power”. I decided that Spoon’s 6th studio album was deserving of this top spot for a simple reason. I listened to this album at least once a day for October through mid-December and I still go back to it. It’s incredible pop music – sometimes focusing on something very simple and discrete (My Little Japanese Cigarette Case) to the more complex and symbolic (The Ghost of You Lingers). Add to that some great pop songs (Rhythm & Soul and The Underdog) and you’re left with the top album of 2007.

Congrats to Spoon. They were #2 in 2005 list, so this isn’t necessarily new territory for them. In celebration, here’s Black Like Me.

Motown Philly back again,
Doin’ a little east coast swang.
-Boyz II Men

Merry Christmas! I’m thinking about creating a Christmas Eve tradition of singing Boyz II Men over Christmas carols. It worked out well last night. Erin was only impressed that I knew the words, not that I sang. On to the next part of the list!

20. MIA – Kala. People like to say that MIA is the future of music. I’d like to say that that’s just an excuse for the weirdness exuded in some of her songs. Personally, I find MIA a little weird, but love her politically-charged music. With her distinguishable voice and beats, MIA puts out another solid album that is loud and easy to bounce to. I probably lost some of my hearing at her show at lollapalooza. Now if she weren’t so interested in bringing back 80’s fashion…

19. The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes. Who doesn’t like 50’s music revival? I mean, really. This band is interesting because the backing band (known as “The Cassette”) is basically treated like the ugly sister who is sent to her room when company comes over. This band is about the three fronting women, who dress up in polka-dot dresses and do choreographed dances. Erin claims that they sound like The Spice Girls backed by ABBA, which is pretty close. I’m amused by the innocent-sounding music and the subtle lyrics.

18. Junior Senior – Hey Hey My My Yo Yo. I’m noticing a theme here. This is the third dance-able album in a row. For those of you willing to lump Junior Senior in as just another weird dance-pop group should step back and take a good look at yourselves. I remember reading a story about Junior and Senior renting a hot-dog cart to hand out hot dogs outside of the concert of a different Dutch dance-pop group. I think that the amusement that I get from the hot dog cart incident is a good reflection on the amusement that I get from Junior Senior.

17. Tunng – Good Arrows. It’s official. I own this CD, and it’s everything I expected. That being said, since I’ve only owned it for less than a day, I can’t put it too high on this list. That would just be playing favorites. That being said, it’s at the top of my current list of albums that I turn to on the ol’ iPod. Tunng combines folk and electronica in a very interesting way. I like to call the genre either electrofolk or folktronic, both of which would make decent bands names.

16. Josh Rouse – Country Mouse City House. As I’ve stated previously, Josh Rouse is a machine. Besides this CD, he also put out a CD with girlfriend Paz Suay under the moniker She’s Spanish I’m American. While this album isn’t as good as Nashville (my favorite Rouse-ian album) it’s pretty good in it’s own right. I find myself playing this CD a lot more than I remember playing this CD, which means that it’s very good, but vanilla at the same time. That’s Josh Rouse for ya.

15. The Hives – The Black and White Album. You can say a lot of things about The Hives, but one thing you can’t say is that they’re not trying. This album starts out running on all cylinders that hits you like a ton of bricks. The first two songs could be considered excellent rock anthems. It’s when they try and do something different that it doesn’t quite work. I’d really be interested in seeing these guys live, as I’m sure that it would be a great time. If only they weren’t opening for Maroon 5.

14. Emma Pollock – Watch the Fireworks. If Emma Pollock had a thick accent like the lead singer of The Twilight Sad, would I not enjoy her as much? That’s a good question that I don’t have an answer to. That being said, I really enjoy they stylings of this singer/songwriter. Her music lives and breathes in minor chords and simple guitar and piano combinations. When she opened for The New Pornographers, it was her quiet songs (Limbs and The Optimist) that really impressed me.

13. Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight. I like to make Jenny Lewis jokes every time I write about Rilo Kiley, but I’m going to try and avoid that this time. In Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley leans towards making Jenny Lewis the “official” lead singer and leaves behind their alt-country leanings. That being said, my favorite songs on the album are the ones that contain a little of the twang, more specifically, The Angels Hung Around.

12. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible. Well lookee here, mister! Didn’t expect to see this album so low on the list, now, did ya? I know, I really shouldn’t be bashing an album sitting at number twelve in my list, but I feel like I need to explain why this isn’t even top-10 for me. This is a very good album. The production of the organ on Intervention is probably my favorite of the year. The downfall of this album, in my mind, is the darkness of the sound – it doesn’t invite me to listen again. However, the sound of the album is intentional and well-done. I can appreciate that.

11. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? I feel bad. This album was high up in my list for album of the year for most of the year. Then I didn’t listen to it very often from August until now and going back, I don’t enjoy it as much as I had previously. This album was created while lead singer Kevin Barnes‘ marriage was on the rocks. It is raw and emotional, and at the same time, it sounds like Of Montreal, which makes it such a great album.

Now, since I finally own the Tunng CD, I can play you my #2 song of the year, Bullets.

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?
- Little Drummer Boy

I’m sitting here listening to Christmas carols and dreaming about hot cocoa. I don’t think I’ll get up from the couch to fulfill that dream quite yet. Per usual, I’ll just get to this long list I’m putting out today, especially since I’m going to try to write more about each album. Enjoy!

30. Hot Hot Heat – Happiness, Ltd. Hey, remember when I said that it takes me a while to get into Hot Hot Heat albums? Well, I wasn’t able to find the time. The Current loves these guys, or at least that’s the impression that I get considering they seem to be played every other time I turn to that station. Hot Hot Heat tried to be poppier than they had been previously. I think the album cover is a dead giveaway that they wanted this to be their pop breakthrough. Either that, or the major label pushed that onto them. This is still a pretty good album, but probably my least favorite of theirs so far.

29. Battles – Mirrored. Before I could get this album, I listened to it on nme.com’s media player and was blown away. What made this version great was that each track was precluded by a member of the band explaining what was going on for the upcoming song. For example, while they were shooting a video for the song Atlas, one of their members got his wallet stolen. This is artsy math rock, and for the first time there are lyrics, although not many of them.

28. Immaculate Machine – Fables. I was wondering when Kathryn Calder’s work with The New Pornographers would lead me to her actual band. The answer to that question is sometime in November of 2007. This album could be mistaken for classic New Pornographers, although it might be more of a second-tier New Pornographers album. Hey, when you want you some A.C. Newman, and you get his cousin, it’s gotta knock it down a notch. P.S. Kathryn Calder is A.C. Newman’s cousin, in case you were wondering where I pulled that from.

27. Noisettes – What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf. When talking about Noisettes, I spend most of my time talking about the intensity of lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa. That’s because the songs on this album necessitate someone willing to throw everything into their lyrical performance so that it doesn’t end up sounding somewhat contrived. As is typical with intense albums, the attitude is hard to continue throughout and this album starts to slow down somewhere around Bridge to Canada.

26. Maritime – Heresy and the Hotel Choir. Singer Davey von Bohlen starts out this album singing, “You are gonna have to lie to me. You’re gonna have to lie to me.” I’m not sure why it is so important for me to tell you this, but I really like how it starts the album. I’ve got the song here, if you want to check it out. Von Bohlen flat out knows how to be a lead singer, and is once again the most memorable part of the album. I think I might actually enjoy this album more than last year’s release, We the Vehicles.

25. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away. This album came out on January 23rd, amongst other big-hitting albums from Menomena and Of Montreal, which is probably why I forgot about it pretty quickly. I know, it’s kind of hard to forget about an album from The Shins, but that’s what happened. This album feels a lot more like Oh, Inverted World than it does Chutes Too Narrow, which is unfortunate for me, since Chutes is probably one of my favorite albums ever. That being said, if you like The Shins, then you’ll like this album.

24. Tegan and Sara – The Con. The Con stayed in my car’s CD player for a couple weeks in a row this summer. It seems to be more of a car album to me. I find it interesting that these twins each write their own songs and that they’re discernibly different. Similarly to trying to pick out which one is me and which one is my brother in a picture, however, I don’t know which one writes which type of song.

23. The New Pornographers – Challengers. Anybody think that A.C. Newman is laughing at his cousin right now. I mean, it’s obvious that he cares what this humble blog thinks, and with Immaculate Machine sitting up at 28, he’s got to feel pretty good about himself right now. Hold your horses, A.C. Twin Cinema was my #1 album in 2005, but now Challengers is way down here? This is The New Pornographers attempt at a mature album, but because of that, it falls short. The New Pornographers is about shirking off your real band responsibility and letting loose with some great super-group pop. Sorry, I wrote a lot here. It’s still a pretty good album, but unfortunately I hold this band to higher standards.

22. The Most Serene Republic – Population. TMSR reminds me a lot of The Anniversary, a band that my brother got really into after he saw them in concert. Population is full of interesting time signatures, but often ignores the “less can be more” adage. There are some real gems towards the back side of this album, including Career in Shaping Clay and Solipsism Millionaires.

21. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver. I know a lot of people who like this album a lot more than I do. I think I’ve figured out why I’m not that big of a fan. It’s the opening song. I can’t believe that they open the album with four minutes of techno beat before getting to the lyrics. If they had opened with the second track, Time to Get Away, I think I would enjoy this album much more than I do. I know, you think that I’m a bad person for judging the album by its first track, but if that’s the case, then you’re a bad person for thinking that I’m a bad person. Your conscience bugging you yet?

And there you have it. Halfway through the list and this is where we sit. Will Nick gorge himself on holiday goodies and leave everyone hanging until he can roll out of bed? Who was that masked man in the local cemetery? Will the villian in Scooby Doo ever blame anybody other than those kids? Tune in next time to find out. You might even get to figure out some more of this years top albums as chosen by yours truly.

Anyway…

I thought I’d play the song from Tegan and Sara that I should have played the week that I picked up the CD. Here’s Back In Your Head. Merry Christmas Eve!

I figure I should explain why I’m doing a top-40 list. Originally, I thought that 40 albums would be a little much, but then I found 45-50 albums that I’ve picked up this year (emusic is great!) and I really think that 40 of them are deserving of some recognition.

To quote Mario: “Here-ah we go!”

40. The New Amsterdams – At the Foot Of My Rival. Hooray! Last album in! I think that if this CD came out years ago, I’d like it more, but I’ll be honest… I have a prejudice against Matt Prior for, in my opinion, being the reason The Get Up Kids breaking up. If I were to list the last three New Amsterdams albums, it would go: 1) Worse for the Wear, 2) At the Foot Of My Rival, and 3) Story Like a Scar.

39. St. Vincent – Marry Me. This would be a good example of a 40-31 album. It’s a good album, but slightly weird. Cool, artsy weird. The point I’m trying to get at is that I need to be in the correct mood to listen to this album (or most albums in the 40-31 range). If you liked last year’s Regina Spektor, this CD is in the similar vein.

38. Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. These guys are Scottish. Really Scottish, and it’s awesome. I found this CD to be really cool for about a month, and then it kind of fell off of my radar. I would describe this album as dense and introspective. That, and Scottish. Definitely Scottish.

37. Bloc Party – A Night In the City. This is probably a little low for this album, but I can be vindictive when I’m disappointed. As I mentioned two weeks ago, this album didn’t hit me the same way that Silent Alarm did. I think that they went for a slower, more expansive sound than they originally had. I liked the tight, beat-driven sound of Silent Alarm much better.

36. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup. I have this thing for Eastern European sounding bands. I think that The Decemberists fall into this same category. This is the type of music that I think I would have found really weird years ago. Is this progress? You tell me.

35. Office – Night at the Ritz. This is a very loud debut album for an indie band. Rarely do you hear something this polished for a debut album. That being said, I like the first four tracks a lot and then it just kind of drops off. If the first four tracks weren’t so good, this wouldn’t be on the list, but if the last nine tracks were better, it might be up in the top 20 somewhere. Chew on that one.

34. Ted Leo – Living With the Living. Ted Leo (and the Pharmacists) have been doing this thing for a long time. He long-ago passed Moby as my favorite vegan artist. Like most of the albums in this area, this one starts strong and then starts to trail off around “Bomb. Repeat. Bomb.” If you like Ted Leo, you’ll enjoy this album, but probably not as much as his previous work.

33. !!! – Myth Takes. In case you’re late to the party, !!! is pronounced chk-chk-chk. They’re a dance-punk group that were much higher on my list earlier in the year, but then the album started to grate on me. That’s the “punk” of “dance-punk” coming out. Compared to the other dance-able albums that I got this year, this one falls a little short. Still, it’s good enough to make this list.

32. The Rosebuds – Night of the Furies. I think I bought this album mainly because of the cover. Once I got it, I heard me some smooth synth-pop. This album is very well produced and something I could hear playing at a chill lounge.

31. Ian Ball – Who Goes There. This is an album I picked up in one of my monthly emusic cleanups, which means it has to be pretty good to not be lost in the shuffle. Ian Ball has a game that he likes to play called “put adult-themed lyrics in innocent-sounding music”. Not listening to the lyrics can give you a completely different view on this album than listening to them.

Today’s song comes from the Ian Ball album. Check out Automatic Message.

I’ll just get to the point. Here’s your top ten list. Try and not get too excited!

10. The Hives – Try It Again. When this was going to be a top-10 list, I was going to say that the tenth song in a top-10 list should always be a song that maybe doesn’t deserve to be there, but is enough fun to be propelled into this spot. Go back and listen to it in my earlier post. This time, actually listen until the end and enjoy the final cheerleader “yeah!” at the end of the song.

9. Apples in Stereo – Same Old Drag. I had a hard time picking out which Apples In Stereo song should be in the list. I would say that there are 4 to 5 that are deserving to be called a “good single”. This was my first favorite and involves some fun background vocoder work.

8. Spoon – Black Like Me. Pitchfork had an article called, “Guest List: Best of 2007″ in which Menomena member Danny Seim said that when he’s having trouble getting into a CD, he listens to the last track over and over. If it’s good, then he’ll look forward to getting to it the next time that he listens through the CD. This song is the last song on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and is good stuff, which is why Spoon ends their show with it.

7. Menomena – My My. Menomena is similar to Apples in Stereo. I like a lot of songs on this album, and picking which one for this list was kind of difficult. I ended up choosing My My because it is just a lush song. There’s a lot going on vocally in this album with a Sigur Ros-like piano and bass line.

6. Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks. I still have no clue how they manage to whistle as low as they do on the final four notes of line. I think I’ve managed to pull that off once, and that was after a night of heavy drinking. I really think that Victoria Bergsman makes this song – her voice is really interesting.

5. White Rabbits – The Plot. I dragged everybody out to the opening Sunday morning show at lollapalooza last summer to see White Rabbits play. It had rained on Saturday night and everything smelled like wet dirt. When this song came on, I made sure that my brother knew that this was their best song and should be enjoyed. The same guitar phrase and drum-line are repeated throughout the song. It’s the bass-line and piano which break it up into parts. Good stuff.

4. The National – Slow Show. If My My is lush, this is rich. Similar to Young Folks, I have a hard time singing this song’s lower notes, but I think if it had been sung an octave up, it wouldn’t have the effect that it does. Playing the bass with a bow is a nice touch, and the change in keys to end the song are what brings it to the next level. “You know I dreamed about you, for 29 years before I saw you. You know I dreamed about you, I missed you for 29 years.”

3. Stars – The Night Starts Here. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The interplay between Torquil Campbell and Amy Milan completely makes this song. A lot of bands that try to combine two separate lines end up sounding a lot like a Sunday school choir. The bass line and synth drive this song from about a minute in. This is a great way to start a great album. I’m ignoring the opening song. In my book this is the first song on their album.

2. Tunng – Bullets. Have I ever enjoyed a song that I don’t own this much before? Perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder applies here, but if that’s the case why do I check out their myspace page once or twice a day to listen to it? I like the “see if adding this sound here works” mentality of the song and the fact that three voices (two male and one female) sing the entire song. I also enjoy that they end the song with a chorus of Na-na-na’s.

1. LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends. All I can say is that I really hope that the chord played throughout this song is in a comfortable position for the keyboard player, otherwise, this could become a difficult song after three minutes, let alone seven minutes and 36 seconds that it escalates. That being said, I’ve listened to this song two or three times in a row before. It’s just something that you can close your eyes to and lose yourself in until James Murphy belts out, “Tell me, where are your friends tonight?”

So there you have it. My top 20 singles of the year. Now it’s time for the fun to begin. See you Friday with albums 40-31 of my top-40 albums of the year list. Oh yeah, check out All My Friends.

Let it begin.

I originally intended for this to be a top-10 or even top-5 list, and then I ran into a small problem called, “I’ve put roughly 120 songs on this web page this year, I should probably make a larger list than just top-5.” My current plan is to listen to each song as I list it to give a better idea. That’s kind of time consuming, so we’ll see if I actually do that. This could end up being the longest list of the bunch.

Update! This thing is getting huge, so I’m going to break it up into two posts, which means you, loyal reader, will be getting a special Thursday post! This week only! Limit 1 coupon per household.

20. The Noisettes – Don’t Give Up. The passion of lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa, was unmatched this year, with Pelle Almqvist of The Hives coming close. There’s not much more to this song other than pure energy, but that’s ok. It doesn’t really need anything else.

19. Tegan and Sara – Back In Your Head. Lesbian twin sisters of Canadian origin unite! Apparently one of the two writes the more complex songs, and the other writes the simpler songs. Apparently this was written by Sara, which means she’s the one who writes the simpler songs. A simple song about wanting to be in the forefront of somebody’s mind.

18. Office – If You Don’t Know By Now. Straightforward Chicago rockers, Office, put out a debut album which starts out strong and fizzles towards the end. This is the strongest song on the front half.

17. Rilo Kiley – Breakin’ Up. Ooo, it feels good to be free. I wonder if lead singer Jenny Lewis will be singing these lyrics in the near future? See, that’s me being clever. This song has a poppy alt-country feel to it, with the backup singers helping with the amusement factor.

16. Polyphonic Spree – Running Away. The Polyphonic Spree are so positive. They definitely have a band of hippies feel to them. Anyone who can sing, “I feel so excited and delighted today. Cause you decided to be in my life” and get away with it deserves your respect, people.

15. M.I.A. – Boyz. This song feels like classic M.I.A. – a song with Maya Arulpragasam spitting “Na na na’s” at you as fast as you can handle. The bass line really drives this song along.

14. The Pipettes – Pull Shapes. Personally, I don’t see myself asking any pretty boys to dance with me, however any song that allows me to stop and strike a pose (i.e. pull shapes – those silly British!) is a good thing. “What do you do when the music stops? Pull shapes!”

13. The Most Serene Republic – Solipsism Millionaires. There are a lot of hidden gems at the end of this CD. This song is one of them. What I like about this song is the chorus is a breakdown the first time it is played, and the second time around, they plow through it with more bass and an added guitar solo, adding a great tension.

12. Radiohead – All I Need. I love what I call “The Radiohead dissonance”. They do it better than anyone else, but then again, they’re Radiohead, they should be the best at Radiohead dissonance. You don’t think this song is going anywhere until the final minute, and then everything breaks loose (relatively speaking of course)

11. Orgone – Who Knows Who? – As I said last month, I love the analog sound of this album. It really gives it a classic feel. I think the baritone sax really brings this song to the next level.

Wow, I guess I’m going to have to find a song for this post. I was going to use the #1 song in the list today, but since I didn’t get that far, it wouldn’t make much sense now, would it? Check out Solipsism Millionares by The Most Serene Republic.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It is officially time to start checking which albums people thought were the best of the year. In years past, I would make my own top 10 list and compare it to a couple choice “best of” lists. Usually, the cream rises to the top, but rarely will you find people who agree on the top albums of the year. For example, I thought that The New Pornographers‘ Twin Cinema was the top album of 2005, and I think really only my buddy Sam agreed.

I thought that I would get you started with a few best of list, including one that probably won’t exist this year.

• Pitchfork – this is the list that a lot of music geeks check out because it’s kind of pitchfork media writers puffing out their music knowledge chests to say, “Yeah, I know you don’t know a lot of this music, but here’s why it’s better than the stuff you’re listening to.” Occasionally, I’ll agree with some of their picks, but at other times, there’s just some weird stuff on here.

• A.V. Club – This is probably my favorite list because it jives with my lists pretty well. It’s a best of list by committee. The rules are spelled out pretty clearly to begin the list. This is also the only list that is currently available for viewing.

• The Current – If the A.V. Club list is a list by committee, then this is a general public election. The Current is sponsoring the “Top 89 of 2007″. Unfortunately, I should have listened to Nate and advertised this better, since the voting is officially over. Wait, what am I saying? Listen to Nate?

• Questionable Content (now Yelling About Music) - This web comic used to have a “Recommended listening” section, which turned into a music blog, which was left dormant for most of September and October, but has really stepped it up lately. They have a top songs of the year list somewhere in there, so I would assume that a top albums list would eventually appear.

• And, of course… mine. The list officially starts on Friday, with the bottom rung of my step ladder to greatness.

Today’s song comes from an album that I’ve just started to get into. It’s Beirut, which is really just one guy, Zach Condon, and a rotating backup band. His most recent album, The Flying Club Cup, is more of a concept album, sounding like it should be set in rural France, between WWI and WWII. If you’re curious – no, I didn’t come up with that on my own. I’m just reiterating what I’ve read multiple times about the album.

A lot of people say that Beirut is a polarizing band – you either love them or you absolutely hate them. I’m here to say that I’m pretty meh on Beirut. I like it, but I don’t love it. You can call me the exception to the rule. Check out Nantes, which I’m playing mostly for the French argument used really well as a breakpoint in the middle of the song.

I want to pick peaches off of a cherry tree…
Be gentle with me.
-The Boy Least Likely To

Today is my last off-the-cuff post of the year. All future posts will be scripted and unfunny. Music is serious, people. In fact, today’s song is probably the most serious song I’ve posted this year.

While leaving work yesterday, I caught myself humming a tune. When I got into my car and started her up, the song that I was humming came blasting out my speakers. Apparently, this song (by The Most Serene Republic, if you cared to know) stayed in my head all day, even with me listening to roughly four hours of music that wasn’t by TMSR during work, I still knew which song was going to be playing in my car after work. Now if I could only find a way to use this power for good instead of the obvious evil applications.

Anyway…

Like I said, I’ve got the rest of the year planned out, but I still don’t have songs picked out. I have 41 albums in a list of potential top-40, although sometimes I feel like the last 10 are really on there so that I can say I have a top-40 list. Oh well, you’re going to get them anyway.

If you’re bored at work today, pitchfork has put up a ton of features this week, from “The Year In News” to “Top 50 Music Videos of 2007″ to “20 Worst Album Covers of 2007″ and finally today’s, “Guest List: Best of 2007″. Apparently, people love MIA’s CD this year. I’ll start you out with Guest List. The rest of the links are in the upper right corner. Actually, I take back the “at work” part for some of this stuff. My bad.

Today’s song is a blast from the past from a band called The Boy Least Likely To, which I have classified on my iPod as post-punk, which is blatantly incorrect. Allmusic.com says that their themes are “picnic”, “sweet dreams”, and “new love”. That sounds about right. From their album, “The Best Party Ever” here’s Be Gentle With Me.

P.S. This past week may not have been the best time for new people to the site. Check out more “normal” music below, I’ve gotten a little weird with things the past four posts (maybe not the PB&J post from Monday).

I’m all outta faith,
This is how I feel,
I’m cold and I am shamed,
Lying naked on the floor
- Natalie Imbruglia

I’ve mentioned previously (my fourth post to be exact) that Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn was my most-heard song on XM radio. I heard it again on the radio on Sunday morning and decided to sing along. It was around this time that Erin informed me that I sounded nothing like Natalie Imbruglia. Instead, it would appear that I sound like a guy trying to sing like a girl singing along to Natalie Imbruglia. That’s a disappointment.

In this season of top album lists, there’s often a set of albums that would be considered disappointments. Even Nick has a few albums that he could consider disappointments (Nick should talk in third-person more often). Two of the albums are major disappointments and the other is only a minor disappointment, which I’ll try and explain a little better. We’ll start with the minor disappointment.

Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City. I feel bad putting this here, especially because it will end up somewhere in my top 30+ list of the year. It’s a disappointment because their debut album, Silent Alarm, was my #2 album of 2005, and this one won’t be near my top 10.

Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare. This was actually a pretty well received album this year. I didn’t like it at all. I couldn’t even find a single from it to put on this page. I guess that’s why music is subjective. After listening to this album a good number of times, I realized that I couldn’t understand the lead singer unless I really sat and listened hard.

Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light. Jimmy Eat World is trying to recreate the magic of Bleed American (a.k.a. their self-titled release). They were closer with Futures, and even that wasn’t even very close. Personally, for me, it doesn’t get much better than Clarity.

Know what? I’m going to go out on a limb and pick a song from The Arcitc Monkeys. Check out Teddy Picker.