Viernes 30 Nov 2007, 14:30

Albums:

1. Stars Of The Lid – And Their Refinement Of The Decline

Some people might argue that Stars Of The Lid’s unique work hasn’t changed much over the years. But listen closely, and you’re likely to notice the progression in their compositions. Without ever telling you what to feel, these delicately crafted sounds are able to evoke a whole range of different emotions, depending on each listener. Every little change becomes a grand and sweeping event and despite its common classification as background music, it demands your full attention.
This is, without a doubt, the most compelling and rewarding listening experience I’ve had this year.

2. A Broken Consort – Box Of Birch

I read about Richard Skelton and his Sustain Release label in some Wire issue about a year ago. Although my interest was piqued, I completely forgot about him until I came across this release on ‘The Cookshop’ blog. Needless to say, I was in awe and craving for more after being sucked into this magical world for the first time.
The hypnotic, drifting drones created by layers of different acoustic instruments offer an immensely hypnotic atmosphere, conjuring a sense of loss and longing.

3. Ben Frost – Theory Of Machines

It’s hard to come up with words to do justice to this brilliant record.
Fragile, foreboding drones are floating in these dense pieces, just to be torn apart by distorted guitar feedback and thumping metallic drum sounds, as if rationality and clarity are being ripped to pieces by sheer brutality and violence. Frost is often working towards a climax, greatly audible on the outstanding 'We Love You Michael Gira', which starts very much like a Post-rock song, with pulsating synths and a clinical beep, growing into a subtle swell until suddenly suppressed screeching noises come crawling to the surface, slowly taking over the track.
This constant playing with two extremes displays a collapsing environment, a world in transition, and somehow I doubt it’s for the better.

4. The Field – From Here We Go To Sublime

5. World’s End Girlfriend – Hurtbreak Wonderland

6. Moving Mountains - Pneuma
7. To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie – The Patron
8. Tiny Vipers – Hands Across The Void
9. Future Of The Left - Curses
10. Burial - Untrue
11. Andrew Chalk - Goldfall
12. Beef Terminal – Life Without Nostalgia
13. 椎名林檎 × 斎藤ネコ – Heisei Fuzoku
14. Windmill – Puddle City Racing Lights
15. CoH - Strings
16. Jasper TX - In A Cool Monsoon
17. Hrsta – Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes
18. Oren Ambarchi – In The Pendulum’s Embrace
19. William Basinski – El Camino Real
20. Tokyo Jihen – Goraku (Variety)
21. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
22. Opitope - Hau
23. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Daydreaming
24. Black Dice – Load Blown
25. Lähtö – Shadows Of What We Were
26. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
27. Ethan Rose – Spinning Pieces
28. A Whisper In The Noise – Dry Land
29. Peter Wright – At Last A New Dawn
30. Genaro - Genaro
31. Gutevolk - Tiny People Singing Over The Rainbow
32. Piana – Eternal Castle
33. Radiohead – In Rainbows
34. Lichens - Omns
35. Hisato Higuchi – Butterfly Horse Street
36. Nancy Elizabeth – Battle & Victory
37. My Little Airport – We Can’t Stop Smoking In The Vicious And Blue Summer
38. Herbert Stanley Littlejohn – 17th and 18th Century Works of Funerary Violin
39. Elegi - Sistereis
40. Worrytrain – Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom
41. Blonde Redhead - 23
42. Shuta Hasunuma – OK Bamboo
43. Kashiwa Daisuke – Program Music
44. Enon - Grass Geysers Carbon Clouds
45. Emanuele Errante - Migrations
46. Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments
47. Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Jinx
48. Growing – Vision Swim
49. Last Days – These Places Are Now Ruins
50. Piano Magic – Part-Monster

Honorable Mentions:

Polysics - Karate House
Low - Drums And Guns
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
Pram - The Moving Frontier
Baroness - Red Album
Sixtoo – Jackals And Vipers In Envy Of Man

EPs:

1. The Sales Department – Accounts EP
2. Rameses III – Honey Rose
3. Benoît Pioulard - Fir
4. The Ghost Orchid - EP
5. Burial - Ghost Hardware
6. Pausal - EP
7. Nest - Nest
8. Le Chat Blanc Orchestra - Théories sur la danse

Songs:

1. Machinefabriek with Anne Bakker & Greg Haines - Konloop
2. Nobara – Fuzzy Lady
3. Talkingmakesnosense – Set Status
4. Riftmusic – Riftmusic No. 1
5. The Sales Department – Rain Projections
6. Milenasong – Love Feel You Do
7. Tiny Vipers – They Might Follow You
8. Future Of The Left - Manchasm
9. Burial – Unite
10. Tim Hecker - Norberg
11. Do Make Say Think – The Universe!
12. Seabear - Arms
13. Sylvain Chauveau – Fly Like A Horse
14. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
15. Pram – Blind Tiger
16. Boy Is Fiction – Should Have Stopped
17. Cocorosie - Werewolf
18. Low - Breaker
19. Chet – Ships Sink In The Fall
20. Great Lake Swimmers – My Rocky Spine

Other Great Records Discovered This Year:

Gingerbread Patriots - Wax Lips And Hummingbirds
aMute - The Sea Horse Limbo
Interpol - Antics
Dengue Fever - Dengue Fever
森田童子 - Mother Sky