My Top 49 albums of 2007

About a dozen albums on this list were late additions as I spent the last few weeks of 2007 year going through my favorite national albums and listening to ones I might not have heard to come up with a list of 50 that I thought were some of the best. (2007's offerings from Rickie Lee Jones, Joe Henry and Richard Thompson albums were three late favorites.)

Somehow, I could only come up with 49. In the comments, let me know my most glaring oversight (even if it's Mirrored by Battles, or Mark Olson's Salvation Blues.)

1. The National - Boxer (This album is simply amazing, start to finish.)
2. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Impossible Germany is part of my soundtrack to 2007)
3. Jason Isbell - Sirens of The Ditch (Incredible songwriting. A keeper.)
4. Band of Horses -Cease to Begin (A creeper. Hearing one song from this album leads you to explore more, then you get sucked in.)
5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Beautiful, ethereal, almost spookily so.)
6. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Gorgeous, a bit of a masterpiece.)
7. Mishka Shubaly - How To Make A Bad Situation Worse (Hilarious and tragic. Best drinking album ever!)
8. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Is Jens Lekman the new Jonathan Richman?)
9. AM - Soul Variations (Did anyone see him at the Varsity 12/2? I missed it.)
10. Okerville River - The Stage Names
11. Joe Henry - Civilians
12. Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
13. Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge (Is Hawley is the new Sinatra.)
14. White Rabbits - Fort Nightly (Rock tight, wind it up.)
15. Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare
16. Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday
17. Nick Lowe - At My Age
18. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Much the same as the last Spoon album, but that doesn't make it not great.)
19. The Frames - The Cost (Not my favorite Frames album, but comparatively, it's still magic)
20. The Fratellis - Costello Music
21. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
22. Rickie Lee Jones - The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard (sounds like Rickie Lee Jones fronting the Velvet Underground)
23. Bjork - Volta (Grows on you)
24. Elliott Smith - New Moon (Gorgeous in its roughness. Only 3 of the tracks on this disc were previously released. Nymag.com: "New Moon gives him the triumphant comeback he never had in life.")
25. Beruit - The Flying Cup Club
26. Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five (If you haven't heard her, you must - her voice will catch you off guard and slay you)
27. Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
28. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Weird Fishes is pretty.)
29. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (Anyone else think Bright Eyes sounds better when you don't realize what you're listening to?)
30. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (You can tell from the first song how good the album's going to be. I hear elements of Kraftwerk, Tom Tom Club, Bowie, more - great. "North American Scum" grooves.)
31. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away (Not as intense an album as Chutes Too Narrow, but maybe there's a transition of sound going on here?)
32. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
33. Blonde Redhead - Got into it late in the year, but can't stop replaying it.
34. She Wants Revenge - This is Forever (A little rough in spots, but probably as good as their previous disc. It has elements of what I loved about the early to mid 80s. She Will Always Be A Broken Girl caught my attention because of the synth riff. Kind of reminded me of the Killers or Interpol in a way too. Last song, "Rachael" is a killer. Though about Bladerunner, it might also serve as an anthem for inherited cultural grief.)
35. Crowded House - Time On Earth (Don't forget about this album!)
36. Against Me! - New Wave (Title is ironic for a somewhat old school punk record. Americans Abroad is hilariously accurate.)
37. M.I.A. -Kala (A rhythmic fiesta - the Pixies quotes in 20 Dollar are hilarious)
38. Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior (at 58, Richard Thompson seems to still be getting better - this is a bouncy, energetic rock and roll album)
39. Menomena - Friend and Foe (Another one you need to hear more than once)
40. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Intense, clever, and somehow fun despite the dark content of the songs.)
41. White Stripes - Icky Thump
42. Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen: Legacy Edition (One of my favorite albums ever, 1985's Steve McQueen (known as "Two Wheels Good" in the States), re-mastered by original producer Thomas Dolby, and with an extra disc's worth of tracks.)
43. Dean & Britta - Back Numbers (Not a guilty pleasure, I hope. One of my early favorites of 07.)
44. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
45. Burial - Untrue (I like this a lot, but it kind of makes me want to listen to Radiohead.)
46. Patty Griffin - Children Run Through
47. The Good The Bad and The Queen - self titled
48. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
49. Stars of The Lid - And Their Refinement of The Decline (File under New Age? Chill, but not fluffy.)

Star Tribune Twin Cities Critics Tally 2007

I turned in my top ten albums list in on time, but since I didn't make deadline with the rest of my response, I humbly post all my responses to the annual poll below.

My Best local albums of 2007

1. Ed Ackerson – self-titled
2. Stook – When the Needle Hits the Wax
3. Terry Eason – Sentimental Vanity
4. To Kill a Petty Bourgoisie –The Patron
5. James Buckley Trio - Stitches
6. Evening Rig – Never Been’r
7. Alarmists – Ghost and the Hired Gun
8. Glad Version – Make Islands
9. White Light Riot – Atomism
10. Twin Town High Music Yearbook - Various

My Best local songs of 2007

1. Baby Guts - Staplegun
2. Dance Band - Shake Your Baby Maker
3. Dan Wilson – Cry
4. Ed Ackerson – Wired Weird
5. Stook – Lovesick Firecracker

My Best live acts of 2007

1. Gospel Gossip
2. MC/VL
3. Mouthful of Bees
4. Dance Band
5. Big Trouble

My No. 1 sign the local music scene was alive and well in 2007:

The Mad Ripple Hootenany and catching such acts there as Golden Smog, Elvis Perkins, Marc & Janey, and many other fresh songwriters. Hearing Phil Solem of the Rembrandt’s perform “I’ll Be There For You” with Ryan Smith of the Melismatics was truly another 2007 “you shoulda been there” Hoot moment.


Read the entire report in the Star Tribune:

• Top Local albums article
  
• The critics ballots
• The vote totals
  

Google Street View

I finally got around to using Google Street View on my house. (Been busy, and it wasn't quite on my priority list.)

Well, it looks better than I thought, and we appear to have been home judging by what are clearly our cars parked in front of the house. I'm guessing this photo was taken between March and June of 2007.

Anyone slightly freaked that the Google camera car or truck passed right by your house while you were inside and you didn't even know about it? This article links to a photo of some fellas in Minneapolis leaving a strip club in broad daylight. Aaron Landry (S4xton) makes a cameo. (In the article, not in the linked photo.)

I haven't explored much yet, but once they get the whole world done, this should completely eliminate the need to travel anywhere ever again. Just sit on the couch and go to Amsterdam or poke around Paris while lying in bed.

Actually, despite possible sinister uses, for worldwide travelers, this could be used as a great service to see if those photos of the hotel you plan to stay at represent the place accurately, and you can also get a feel for the neighborhood.

Street view your own house, and share your reaction in the comments.

More here from Julio Ojeda-Zapata : Google Debuts Street View in the Twin Cities

Follow me

New Year's Resolution #1: Get to 100+ Twitter followers by Groundhog's Day.

Why? 'Cause my Twittering is my bestest work ever. (Or at least my most concise.)

http://twitter.com/howwastheshow

HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for December, 2007

HowWasTheShow's special holiday podcast, featuring 9 songs and 8 guests.

1. Humanboy – “Something Familiar” – selected by Jason Nagel (http://www.myspace.com/humanboy)
2. Alicia Corbett/Tea & Sympathy – “1st & 3rd” – selected by Mei Young (http://www.myspace.com/corbettinorbit)
3. Terry Eason – “Megalomaniac” – Selected by David de Young (http://www.myspace.com/easonic)
4. Dreamland Faces – “Je Sais Comment” – Selected by Jon Behm (http://www.dreamlandfaces.com/)
5. Dance Band – “Shake Your Baby Maker” – Selected by Stacy Schwartz (http://www.myspace.com/mydanceband/
6. 757s – “Repeater” – Selected by Pat O’Brien (http://www.the757s.com)
7. Little Sister – “Fever” – Selected by Jen Paulson (http://www.myspace.com/littlesistermpls)
8. Sick of Sarah - “Hello Good Morning” – Selected by Andrea Myers (http://www.myspace.com/sickofsarah )
9. Trailer Trash – “Do You Hear What I Hear (You Really Got Me)” – Special Holiday extra (http://www.trailertrashmusic.com)


MP3 File

Utah Phillips Benefit Concert 12/15/07 at the Eagle's Club

Press Release:

Utah Phillips Benefit Concert
Saturday, December 15th - 6 PM
Eagle's Club - 2507 E. 25th St.

The "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest" has a bum ticker:

U. Utah Phillips, a former NPR host who was blacklisted in the state of Utah after an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1968 on the Peace and Freedom party ticket can be described as a raconteur extraordinaire, a radical historian well-versed in the sorrowful details of the bloodiest social justice struggles of the last century, a hobo, and one hell of a musician whose songs can break your heart and bring your blood to a boil.

Sadly, Utah Phillips has recently been forced to quit performing because of Cheyne-Stokes - a respiratory condition that causes severe disturbances in breathing and debilitating heart irregularities, leaving him with no means of support.

So on Saturday, December 15th, come join friends, admirers, and kindred misfits at the Eagle's Club (2507 E. 25th St) at 6 PM for a benefit concert featuring:

• Duluth's own favorite son, Charlie Parr (6 PM sharp)
• alt-country rocker Bernie King
• the sad folkie from North East, Gabe Barnett
• fiddle player Mary Dushane
• the mustachioed man who can tell you a story whilst entangling you in a lasso, Pop Wagner (& friends)
• the Joan Baez of the Twin Cities, Maureen McElderry
• a couple who actually hung out with Bob Dylan and aren't just making it up to sound cool, Judy Larson & Bill Hinckley
• classically-trained guitarist gone folkster, Phil Heywood
• the "pit bull of folk," Paul Metsa
• who's-your-daddy-Papa John Kolstad
• the mysterious bearded man who plays so well that it requires a different Hawaiian shirt each time, Dakota Dave Hull
• and Peter Lang whose talent needs no corny byline in a press release.

So come on down to the Eagle's and give a little back to a man whose part in the struggle for justice and whose gifts as a story teller and musician have kept the oral and musical traditions of resistance alive and kickin'!


This event is sponsored by the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World

Bride of Frankenskate and Post-bout bash

The North Star Roller Girls kick off the first bout of their second season Saturday night, October 27th at 6:30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. As Napalmer told us in this month's HowWasTheShow podcast, the most terrifying batch of women on eight wheels this side of the Mississippi outgrew their digs at the Cheapskate in Coon Rapids, where they skated for the 2006-2007 season, and have moved on up to the larger facility for season number two.

Doors for the bout, dubbed "Bride of Frankenskate," are at 6:30. The bout is at 7:30. Tickets are $10 advance, $12 at the door. (Buy your tickets in advance from Indie Tickets.) Halftime show music by Stockcar Named Desire. Bout DJs by Radio K.

Afterwards, come on over to Stasiu's in Northeast Minneapolis, where the girls will be winding down with Rank Strangers, The Slats, Action Versus Action, and The Revamps at a pre-Halloween party sponsored by HowWasTheShow.

When I wrote the press release for this party, I said this would be an out of hand event. Believe me, I was not exaggerating. Truly, I'm a little bit scared. But by all means, come on down!