
15. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom (Buy)
mp3: New Young Pony Club - The Bomb
14. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Buy)
mp3: Radiohead - 15 Step
13. Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City (Buy)
mp3: Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches
12. Chromeo - Tenderoni (Buy)
mp3: Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
11. Teenage Bad Girl - Cocotte (Buy)
mp3: Teenage Bad Girl - Cocotte
10. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (Buy)
mp3: Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
09. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Buy)
m4a: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
08. Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia (Buy)
mp3: Midnight Juggernauts - Aurora
07. Feist - The Reminder (Buy)
mp3: Feist - I Feel It All
06. Simian Mobile Disco - Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (Buy)
mp3: Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler
05. Daft Punk - Alive (Buy) : Did you see the show? Did you see that??!! There are no videos, descriptions, recordings, picture diagrams, or even sign language expressions that can begin to halfway describe how awesome that show was. Though this excerpt would be much better suited for a best overall concert award, the live album is pretty damn good- so I feel no shame combining what would be two awards into one. I saw the Parisian duo donning their robot suits atop a glowing pyramid, blowing fifty thousand minds at the Sports Arena in LA one weekend over the summer. It was on their North American leg of their worldwide tour. Though the album doesn’t have any *new material*, it serves as a recap and a reminder as to how amazing those two robot gods are, and resuscitated a career that was built over ten years ago.
mp3: Daft Punk - Human After All / Together / One More Time / Music Sounds Better
mp3: Daft Punk - One More Time / Aerodynamic
4. Digitalism - Idealism (Buy) : Digitalism released an electro masterpiece this year, a beautiful journey through a 53 minute piece of time that once ended demands a second listen. Grouping together the singles of prior releases, the album could be considered one of the best mixes of the year, but the orchestration and the finished works stand as monuments of an electro-rock hybrid that is nothing short of astounding. There is no singluar consistency that is aimed for or achieved, the group leans towards each of the splintering fragments of the indie and electro house scene, complete with outros and even retakes of the classics like The Cure with “Digitalism in Cairo” and less obvious influences of groups such as New Order in “Anything New”. Idealism truly has something for everybody with their dance oriented electro garage band feel, fit for a dancefloor, a car, a treadmill, or anywhere.
mp3: Digitalism - Pogo
mp3: Digitalism - Idealistic
3. M.I.A. - Kala (Buy) : “I fly like paper, get high like planes.” was the phrase of the year. The Sri Lankan pop-queen, MIA, came back with a sophomore release that was hot enough to set blocks on fire across the planet. After the critically acclaimed ‘05 release of Arular, to witness the success of MIA has become something bittersweet. Like setting something you love free. It’s been thrilling to see how she was embraced! Her focus so far has been on the less fortunate, politically charged, underprivileged & forgotten peoples. She herself has become an anthem. Fantastic Timbaland style production, with schoolyard stomps, revolutionary chants, messages of unity & division, and later, some of the hottest remixes of the year. M.I.A. has been one of the popular searches on the blogosphere for months now, leaving people clawing for every version of a track available. I threw in The Tweleves remix below for emphasis.
mp3: MIA - Paper Planes
mp3: MIA - Boys (The Twelves Remix)
2. Boys Noize - Oi Oi Oi (Buy) : Alex Ridha came out swinging this year with this premiere full-length release under the title of Boys Noize. Where previous projects and aliases gained some attention, little could have prepared us for this. Big sound & big influences, similar to many contemporaries that have had the limelight this year. This record holds up to the previous releases by Soulwax, LCD, Justice, Daft Punk, Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, etc.. Powerful dancefloor bangers, meticulously arranged leaving everyone with differing favorites. One thing to pay attention to in Ridha’s technique is his preference of the analog rather than the digital, leaving the listener with the sharpest & cleanest spine shattering sound-quality possible. Seeing this set live only hammers in this point, literally driving you into the floor. Having the sickest logo & album cover art doesn’t hurt either..
mp3: Boys Noize - Lava Lava
mp3: Boys Noize - Let’s Buy Happiness
1. Justice - † (Buy) : Like it or not, there is no denying them their title. † was easily the biggest leak and the most anticipated album of ‘07. And if it weren’t for Daft Punk’s wildly successful Alive tour, they would probably take the category for best show as well. The album has it all, epic introductions bearing names of religious zeal, Jackson Five electro-disco-house singalongs with a music video that made So-Me’s career, a pinnacle bass driven Uffie single, an earth shattering Phantom follow-up, the list goes on and on. Not to mention the remixes! Oh! The Justice remix crusade has been like the best easter egg hunt ever, turning more and more people on to music that they had no idea that they liked. Justice have been called “The Next Daft Punk”, and though the comparison is lacking in substance, an evaluation of stature might hold that quote to be true: Justice easily rose to the forefront of their genre and have as recognizable of a following. Take another listen to “Waters of Nazareth” and try to tell me that their sound wasn’t one of the most powerful forces in music that we’ve seen so far this century.
mp3: Justice - Waters Of Nazareth
mp3: Justice - Phantom II