Yet another blogger releases a best of '07 list? Unfortunately, this time, it's me.
Here goes:

Armchair Apocrypha
Andrew Bird
After ...& the Mysterious Production of Eggs, my expectations were high for the whistling master and violin virtuoso Andrew Bird to produce another masterpiece. The album's more subdued sense of humor and somewhat darker instrumentation (more electric guitar!) work well with its title and theme...oh yes, the apocalypse. Every time I listen to "Yawny at the Apocalypse" I can feel a shiver run down my spine. At TGH's 2-year anniversary I declared Fiery Crash my favorite song of 2007, and it still holds true.

Andrew Bird - Cataracts
Buy Armchair Apocrypha from Amazon.com

Little Jabs
Two Hours Traffic
Throughout the year I've found myself continually falling in love with this album's playful take on the intersection between pop music and life. I hope you find yourself listening and giggling too. Two Hours Traffic may have begun my (bad) jokes about being addicted to Canadian artists.

Two Hours Traffic - Nighthawks
Buy Little Jabs (directly from the band)

Boxer
The National
Admittedly, I've spent more time listening to Alligator this year than Boxer, but mostly I've just spent a lot of time with the National. In "Brainy" Matt Berninger sings, "You might need me more than you think you will," and I'd agree: without the National to bring a sad smile into dark places, I think would have lost my mind this year.

The National - Apartment Story
Buy Boxer from Amazon.com

The Shepherd's Dog
Iron & Wine
This album came as a pleasant surprise. Though he's kept his beard (too bad), Sam Beam is a new man - suddenly he's comfortable with a dramatic piano, guitar solos, and a real drum part... it's crazy! And beautiful...because the man's voice keeps everything in line.

Iron & Wine - The Devil Never Sleeps
Buy the Shepherd's Dog from Amazon.com

The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter
Would I miss the opportunity to plug my favorite famous musically-inclined Oberlin alumnus? Never. Josh Ritter, who critics call "the new Bob (Dylan)" produced another prolific album. Beat that, Wesleyan!

Josh Ritter - Open Doors
Buy the Historical Conquests of... from Amazon.com


Page France and the Family Telephone
Page France
There's something in Michael Nau's songs that always manages to strike me unexpectedly, despite their cryptic and often whimsical lyrics and dainty instrumentation. This year I've found myself listening to ...and the Family Telephone on repeat, finding some deeper meaning for which words escape me. Goodness, what a great cop-out.

Page France - Wet Dog Afternoon
Buy ...and the Family Telephone

A Cork Tale Wake
Chris Bathgate
Not only do I love this album, but Chris Bathgate has been one of my favorite discoveries this year. Usually I'm not a fan of music that takes itself too seriously, but Bathgate's talk of life-changing moments and awakenings grabbed me. Not to mention his delicate, beautiful instrumentation.

Chris Bathgate - Serpentine
Buy A Cork Tale Wake

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Of Montreal
This album made the list despite my disappointment after seeing them live this year. Why? Because, to state it simply, I was converted to an Of Montreal fan this year entirely because of this album.

Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider
Buy Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? from Amazon.com


Peel (self-titled)
Peel
I've been dancing to this album's chaotic electro-rock city soundtrack all year and not writing about it on TGH. Shameful? Yes. Catchy? YES.

Peel - Oxford [alt link]
Buy Peel from Peek-A-Boo Records



Heroes and Sheroes
The Eames Era
This album was responsible for filling my ears with female-fronted indie pop all year, and I'm grateful. I think you'll find you are too.

The Eames Era - Could Be Anything
Buy Heroes and Sheroes from Insound



Honorable Mentions:
1990s: Cookies
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
Pela: Anytown Graffiti
Sea Wolf: Leaves in the River

Not on the list: Bishop Allen. This is because, for me a least, The Broken String didn't really feel like a new release. I listened to the album as though it was the remastered version of 2006's greatest hits...otherwise it would be here.

Coming soon: best songs of 2007.

Labels: Andrew Bird, chris bathgate, Eames Era, Iron and Wine, josh ritter, Of Montreal, page france, peel, the national, top list, two hours traffic

(more photos I took at the show here)
MGMT opened the night and, as I'd hoped, they put on a great live set. Just a note: the guys in MGMT have the cute/awkward thing going on in a '70s psychedelic sort of way. Oracular Spectacular was released on October 2nd, and well...you could get it on iTunes.
See previous post on "Time to Pretend."

MGMT - Electric Feet [highly rec'd!]
MGMT - Weekend Wars [highly rec'd!]
Repost: MGMT - Time to Pretend
MGMT's website/myspace

Grand Buffet came on and went off, and then it was time for...Of Montreal!

...which turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. I'm fairly sure the balance was off during the entire show (the band showed up late), and Kevin Barnes' strutting across the stage didn't quite do it for me. However, they did play some songs from Skeletal Lamping (to be released in 2008), which made for the most energetic portions of the show.

Of Montreal - We Can Do It Softcore If You Want (live, new song)
Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider [highly rec'd!]
Buy Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? at amazon.com
Of Montreal's Website/Myspace

Labels: concert, mgmt, Oberlin, Of Montreal

YANP put up some Of Montreal Tour dates, and I was shocked when I looked at the list to discover that Of Montreal are coming to Oberlin!
I'm so excited! I can't contain it!

More dates (I left out the European dates):
09-28 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
10-02 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
10-03 Urbana, IL - Canopy Club
10-04 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
10-05 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-06 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-07 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-08 Oberlin, OH - Hale’s Gym (Party in the house!)
10-09 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
10-10 Buffalo, NY - The Tralf
10-11 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
10-12 Boston, MA - The Roxy
10-13 New York, NY - Roseland
10-14 Baltimore, MD - Ram’s Head Live
10-31 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
11-01 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
11-02 Houston, TX - Numbers
11-03 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
11-04 Dallas, TX - Granda Theatre
11-05 El Paso, TX - Club 101
11-06 Tempe, AZ - Marquee
11-07 Tucson, AZ - Rialto
11-08 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
11-09 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
11-12 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-13 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-14 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-16 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
11-17 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater
11-18 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
11-19 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant

Of Montreal - No Conclusion

Labels: Of Montreal

Hello! Jason here.
I'm back from a beautiful weekend at pitchfork and my god was it amazing. The people at Pitchfork truly have put together another fine festival for the indie kid public. Hopefully they will continue to offer us poor starving indie kids a wonderful but inexpensive festival experience and not go the way of other festivals *cough*Lollapalooza*cough*

I noticed a few trends and highlights:

First of all, beards seemed to be popular at Pitchfork, and not just some scraggly indie beard (see: Voxtrot) (tons of those) but big fuckoff old testament beards. (apologies to Eddie Izzard) notable examples: Sam Beam of Iron and Wine and Brent Hinds of Mastadon. As a fan and supporter of beards that are not mine, I would like to see more of these great bearded musicians. Some of the members of Californe looked well on their way to the beard critical mass.

Second of all, I beat someone at one of the label tables at chess. I can't remember what label, I'll probably remember when I get an email from them (I signed up for their email list.) The girl wasn't terrible and she played a good game. I was missing The Sea and Cake at the time. I hope nobody finds that to be too big a crime against music.

One thing I'll say I have mixed feelings about is the lack of blood and bone being given up for the festival this year. Last year we had two notable musician injuries. We had one artist on the 3rd stage jump or fall (can't remember which) off the stage and break his arm. We also had Ted Leo getting much too excited and he seemed to have cut his head. We didn't have that kind of masochistic devotion this year. I'm really not sure if that's good or bad yet.

One thing that did return from last year is the announcer. The balding guy...was just a little excitable. He gave some of the corniest intros I have ever heard, which were sometimes very long-winded to boot. He also was infamous for announcing the Mountain Goats as the Billy Goats last year and this year announcing Deerhoof instead of Deerhunter. (Deerhoof did play last year though) Despite being terrible, he is rather amusing and I hope he sticks around despite all of his shortcomings.
Finally, although most bands were good, some great, some just weird as hell (I'm looking at you Deerhunter and Of Montreal) one band stands out in my mind. The New Pornographers played an amazing set getting everyone moving, and giving me an hour of bliss with old and new songs off their forthcoming album which Kate posted about a bit below.

P.S. For all those complete Yoko haters. No, the set was in no way shape or form great. I also think it wasn't appropriate for pitchfork or to be headliner. However, some of the noise rock they did was actually rather good and Thurston Moore gave a brilliant performance.

- Jason

P.S.S. Kate is a Yoko hater.

Labels: festival, Iron and Wine, jason post, New Pornographers, Of Montreal, pitchfork

I tried and tried to put together a top ten list for this year's releases so far and failed again and again. Finally, as I had just given up, this list emerged....
In no particular order.... (Update: all the file links should work now)

(1) Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Until this year's release of Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer? I had dismissedOf Montreal as one of those truly pretentious bands I would never get into. This album proved me absolutely wrong, and I don't know anyone who feels as though Of Montreal sacrificed any of its uniqueness to do so. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider
Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
Buy Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? from Insound

(2) Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
I'm wide awake, it's morning was the album that turned me from a casual Bright Eyes' listener to an all-out fan, and with Cassadaga it's clear Conor Oberst has perfected his craft and matured as an artist. Don't miss the Four Winds EP, which it stands on its own as a great complement to the album. My review of Cassadaga from back in April.

Bright Eyes - Four Winds
Repost: Bright Eyes - Classic Cars
Buy Cassadaga / Four Winds EP from Insound

(3) The Eames Era - Heroes and Sheroes
See previous post. This is perfect pop in a girly indie package, and every track on the album is lovely.

The Eames Era - When You Were a Millionaire
The Eames Era - Dear Gabby
Buy Heroes and Sheroes from Insound

(4) Page France - ...and the Family Telephone
Page France for me is the epitome of what indie pop gets right - that only by describing the world in terms of its idiosyncratic details and the singularity of any one person's experience can you capture life's beauty in its full complexity. And Page France can remind me of all this while putting a smile on my face.

Page France - The Ruby Ring Man
Page France - Hat and Rabbit
Buy Page France and the Family Telephone from Insound

(5) Feist - the Reminder
I initially expressed concern over this album, only to slowly find myself listening to it again and again without realizing it. The Reminder takes everything that makes Leslie Feist's music great and wraps it all up in one neat accessible package.

Repost: Feist - 1234
Repost: Feist - I Feel it all
Buy The Reminder from Insound

Honorable Mentions:
Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Labels: Bright Eyes, Eames Era, Feist, Of Montreal, page france, top list

Have you ever thought that a lot of really random indie music videos reminded you of something your just couldn't place? I think I've figured out what it is.

Of Montreal - "Suffer For Fashion"


it's...

...Sesame Street.

Of Montreal - Labrinthian Pomp

Labels: music video, Of Montreal, Sesame Street

Getting a link from Best Week Ever, as I have discovered (again), is both a great gift and something of a curse. I get a flood of visitors to my relatively minor mp3 blog, and all they see is one mixtape I made up in the course of say, 10 minutes, as compared to some of the posts I spend significantly more time on. Additionally, when I get linked to by anyone big, I inevitably feel this undying urge to post something fast, before the flow of visitors returns to its usual number of 15 or so an hour (knock on wood), usually directed to my blog by google by pure happenstance. As a result, the quality of my posts inevitably suffers from my temporary ego boost.

Back on topic: I stumbled upon Bishop Allen's recent Daytrotter Session today only to be somewhat disappointed by the audio quality of the recordings and found myself browsing some of the sessions I had previously overlooked.
The most interesting of these was Of Montreal's; I usually associate the band with post-modern psychedelia, so to hear a stripped-down version of "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" played on an acoustic guitar was somewhat endearing. Check it out - it's referred to as "Eagle-Shaped Mirror."

Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider (from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?)
Buy Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? from Amazon

Labels: Of Montreal

Since I can safely assume all my old readers left in the 4 or so months since I took a break from blogging,
........no one's going to read this

Or download...(what everyone else and their mom is posting)
Of Montreal - Suffer for Fashion
Andrew Bird - Plasticities
Bloc Party - The Once and Future King

I'll be back with more substantial posts in the near future, I promise.
In the meanwhile, feel free to listen to me 6 am on Mondays (east coast time) on WOBC, which you can webcast here.

Labels: Andrew Bird, Bloc Party, Of Montreal