This year I decided to do a mix of songs from my top releases instead of the usual song per album approach. Doing the colossal WORD project of 2007, Like A Scientist: Official WORD Blog Mix, is probably what made me want to do it this way. Make no mistake, this year-end mix won’t be as complicated or detailed, but hopefully you’ll enjoy listening while you check out the post! Happy New Year to everyone. I’m making a resolution to get back on track with the blog and start to post regularly again.
WORD Best of 2007 Mix (mp3)
01. El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux)
02. Dag Rosenqvist & Rutger Zuydervelt - Vintermusik (Self-released)
03. edIT - Certified Air Raid Material (Alphapup Records)
04. Modeselektor - Boogy Bytes Vol. 03 (BPitch Control)
05. Ben Frost - Theory of Machines (Bedroom Community)
06. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux)
07. Valgeir Sigurðsson - Ekvílibríum (Bedroom Community)
08. Jesu - Conqueror | Sundown/Sunrise | Lifeline EP (Hydra Head)
09. Letters Letters - Letters Letters (Type)
10. Sixtoo - Jackals and Vipers In Envy of Man (Ninja Tune)
11. Prefuse 73 - Preparations/Interregnums (Warp)
12. Lifesavas - Gutterfly (Quannum)
13. Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love Of Shared Disasters (Invada)
14. Various Artists - The Prix Label (Numero Group)
15. Jasper TX - In A Cool Monsoon (Pumpkins Seeds In The Sand)
16. Sylvain Chaveau - Nuage (Type)
17. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
2007 started out excessively exciting for me, as my two favorite albums of the year were released in quick succession in the early months, coming out of nowhere at me. One, a collaborative project with an artist I was just beginning to follow, and the other, a new album by an artist that has always grated on me previously. I love this, actually. Nothing makes me appreciate music more than being shocked by a new discovery or having my head completely turned by an artist. It’s what keeps me taking risks on things I’ve never heard. I’m talking about Vintermusik and I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, two albums that couldn’t be more different. Last year’s round-up talked about the similarities in disparate music and how I see the match-ups. I’m not sure I can say that with these two albums in particular. Vintermusik is an intimate, contemplative work, conjuring cold nights watching snow. I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is a loud, intense epic hip-hop album about paranoia and frustration. They both speak to different facets of my brain, though. These are two albums that will wind up on my Best of Life list someday in the future. They struck me that deeply.
I spent most of the year anticipating the edIT album, after being blind-sided by the brilliance of his remix of Daedaleus and subsequent appearances. Certified Air Raid Material is an album I meant to review for the blog, but never got to it. His mix of glitched-out IDM sounds with a bouncy club style of hip-hop is the freshest thing to come along in ages. Here is someone making new and exciting hip hop without worrying about crate-digger crusty breaks or making sure his drums sounded like 1968. I simply can’t get enough of “Back Up Off The Floor, Pt. 2 (feat. the Grouch)”, a simply brilliant post-electro-hop track. The Grouch raps about dongles and the very act of making this amazing music, topping it all off with a fun and instantly catchy chorus. Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass is like the catchier, bouncier “fun” version of I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, featuring brilliant production by Blockhead and the customary head turning lyrics by Aes. Another album I had been anticipating for most of the year was Sixtoo’s new one. Based on his previous album, experiments with live instrument recording, and the singles he had put out through Bully in the intervening years… the album I was expecting to hear was not necessarily what Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man turned out to be. And it’s possible it’s not the one he expected either. Due to some lost/stolen recordings, he was forced to make an “edit record” using recordings of live shows and old sketches. He cut and chopped these pieces into the album that was released. It’s quite brilliant and unexpected, sounding grittier and more kraut-rock than he might have intended. Sixtoo is an artist that will always deliver, and it’s frequently not what you think on first listen.
In contrast, there is a huge segment of my list that is all guitar feedback, starting with Ben Frost’s intense experiments, moving through Jesu, and into Crippled Black Phoenix. While Ben Frost has similarities with other music I have been listening to in recent years, it’s much more abrasive and in your face. Post-industrial ambient, if you will. Jesu was the weirdest addition to my listening this year. As I related in my review of Conqueror, my history with mastermind Justin K. Broadrick goes back to high school and was tantamount to obsession. To be listening to his mixing of late period Godflesh and My Bloody Valentine pop feedback is about as strange as things get for me with music. It’s a blend of styles no one would ever think could work, but Broadrick pulls it off brilliantly. Crippled Black Phoenix is a supergroup of various post-rocks from Godspeed and the like. It snuck up on me over the course of the year. It’s huge, sprawling and emotionally mood driven.
The intricate beauty of Valgeir Sigurðsson’s Ekvílibríum is probably most analogous with things like Sylvain Chauveau’s beautiful Nuage and Jasper TX’s late 2007 entry, In A Cool Monsoon (a simply gorgeous drone experimental pop album), but the Letters Letters album’s infectious vocal performances also fit in here. I can even put Burial next to releases like this and see the contemplative nighttime stories intersecting.
Nothing particularly puts the party on more than Modeselektor and their mix CD is simply brilliant. The choice of songs is impeccable, the blends smooth as butter, and their sense of humor fully intact. Put this on, following by Lifesavas and edIT and you have most of a night’s party music right there. Gutterfly was a bit of a shock for me, coming off their last album. This one is way more upbeat, full of flashy settings, a continuous environment, and a strong story structure. It definitely feels like the blaxploitation flick they were basing it on. What do you follow these up with on your theoretical party playlist? Why not Numero Group’s wonderful compilation of the little known treasures from The Prix Label for some serious soul and funk. Worth it for Mitch Mitchell’s “Can’t Get A Nuff” alone.
[2006 Addendum: In retrospect, Grizzly Bear should have topped my list. Manyfingers struck my emotional core profoundly, but Yellow House is still the album that I keep going back to, almost 2 years later. An astounding work.]