While you were busy studying, finding a summer internship, making coffee and copies for said internship, and starting all over, an entire year of new music came and went. You probably missed most of the good stuff. Lucky for you we didn’t; we failed classes, sat at home being a burden on our families and lived in relative poverty. Why? So we could write up a year in review to make Pitchfork look like those kids at the party who just found out about the Shins. Send your thank you fruit baskets to Cadenza, Campus Box 1039.
7 Best of 2007
2) Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
3) Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
4) Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War
5) Saves the Day – Under the Boards
6) Justice – +
7) Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
The year 2007 saw a boon in great music, the best of which was the highly anticipated and uniquely released “In Rainbows.” Radiohead has been a major player in the international rock scene for most of our conscious lifetimes and this year they showed us exactly why. Plus they had the balls to give it away for free: major points.
Animal Collective stepped out of the indie box with “Strawberry Jam,” their most accessible album. This in no way means they diluted the high energy freak folk we have all come to know and love.
Same goes for Arcade Fire, who produced yet another album indie snobs and regular radio listeners could love. The catchy tunes off of “Neon Bible” made us wonder why everyone wasn’t using military choirs and Hungarian orchestras.
Stars took three years to complete and release “In Our Bedroom After the War” but the result was well worth it. Songs like “Personal” remind us why we keep going back to the sweet melodies and cherubic voice of Amy Millan that make Stars so uniquely fantastic. Saves the Day proved yet again why they were famous in their late teens: damn catchy emo pop rock. “Under the Boards” was a return to the sounds of “Stay What You Are” which was more than fine with fans and critics alike.
Justice’s first LP “+” helped them jump from fame due to remixes alone to more mainstream dance pop. The big hit off the album “D.A.N.C.E.” earned them major play along with one of the more fascinating-to-watch videos of the year.
Of Montreal managed to keep up the high energy, oddly entrancing sound that is so distinct to them with “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” No real surprise here, Of Montreal has been a solidly great band for the last three albums and look for their 2008 release to be more of the same.
7 Worst of 2007
2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Some Loud Thunder
3) Stars – Do You Trust Your Friends?
4) The Academy Is – Santi
5) Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High
6) Say Anything – In Defense of the Genre
7) Crank That (Soulja Boy) – Souljaboytellem.com
The Almost is the super-Christian side-project of Aaron Gillespie, drummer/singer for the already super-Christian screamo band Underoath. While we at Cadenza tend to hate overtly religious music, we have been known to like it at times just because, well … it’s good despite the religious crap. However, The Almost have gone too far by including a choir singing “Amazing Grace” for a decently long stretch of one song on their debut, “Southern Weather.” Although the album is bad in general, even if it was good otherwise, this would be offensive enough to make it one of the worst albums of the year.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released another pile of crap they’d like to call an album in 2007. We continue to wonder how they are so popular in the indie scene. While Stars released one of the best albums of the year, “In Our Bedroom After the War”, prior to this they released the worst remix album we’ve ever heard, “Do You Trust Your Friends?” Sure, remix albums are almost always bad (although Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm Remixed” does kick some serious ass), but there is not one single redeeming part of this album. Sorry, Stars.
One of the many bands riding on the coat tails of Pete Wentz and the Fall Out Boy mafia, The Academy Is… has achieved a decent amount of popularity. While we’ve never found them to be terribly good, their latest work, “Santi,” is infinitely worse than any of their previous material. The same can definitely be said for their more famous predecessors. Fall Out Boy’s “Infinity on High” is only slightly better than their debut album “Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out with Your Girlfriend.” While Fall Out Boy has put out some of the best pop-punk, emo-pop, whatever you want to call it, “Infinity on High” can best be described as the trash that comes out of an artist with a big head. Pete, we’re not sorry.
Lastly, although we had expected it to be bad, it’s still sad and should be mentioned that Say Anything’s “In Defense of the Genre” is a far cry from the incredible work that is “…Is a Real Boy.” We almost wish we didn’t see it coming.
7 Most Disappointing of 2007
2) Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
3) Motion City Soundtrack – Even If it Kills Me
4) Paramore – Riot!
5) Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight
6) Minus the Bear – Planet of Ice
7) Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
A collaboration between Damon Albarn (Blur and Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (the Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), The Good, the Bad, and the Queen’s self-titled release is a classic example of how incredibly underwhelming supergroups can be. This is, perhaps, the most boring album we have ever listened to all the way through.
Bright Eyes’ “Cassadaga” was a massive disappointment as well and was a reminder that amidst all of the incredible music Conor Oberst has been a part of, there is a fair amount of crap. Motion City Soundtrack decided they were over synthesizers, which helped make “Even If it Kills Me” one of the most disappointing albums of the year. Paramore’s teeny tiny lead singer / songwriter Hayley Williams actually aged between “All We Know is Falling” and “Riot!” but you wouldn’t know it from the lyrics on “Riot!” They seem like they were written by a more immature Williams, a vast disappointment considering there’s no variation in the simple pop-punk riffs that run through “Riot!”
Finally, while Rilo Kiley’s “Under the Blacklight” and Minus the Bear’s “Planet of Ice” are not bad albums per se, we at Cadenza believe them to be a disappointment when compared to the bands’ previous works. While they may make some rotation on our playlists, they will always be met with melancholy headshaking. Same goes for the Smashing Pumpkins reunion album. A major disappointment when, after Zwan, you got back together (sort of) only to remind us why you likely broke up: no new ideas.
7 Most Surprisingly Good of 2007
2) Jimmy Eat World – Chase this Light
3) Elliott Smith – New Moon
4) Tegan and Sara – The Con
5) They Might Be Giants – The Else
6) Alkaline Trio – Remains
7) The Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Hilary Duff’s “Dignity” received rave reviews all around but constantly faced one major problem: it’s a Hilary Duff album. Well, we at Cadenza know exactly how cool we are and are unafraid to say how Hillary Duff brings new dignity to pop. This album is catchy, damn catchy, and we are willing to say this no matter how many tweens love her and no matter how many bad movies she makes with her sister.
Jimmy Eat World is a good band. Before “Bleed American” they had been pumping out good music for years, but it was that album that made them a household name. “Futures” followed their breakthrough but it seemed a reaction to the success of “Bleed American,” as if they were intentionally trying to move backwards. “Chase this Light” shows a more “over it” Jimmy Eat World and has brought them back into the giant spotlight of immense fame, fame that is well deserved.
Elliott Smith and Alkaline Trio both released a whole lot of previously unreleased material this year; however, it’s amazing to believe they never planned on releasing it in the first place as they contain some of the best material now ever released by the two respective artists.
Both Tegan and Sara and The Kaiser Chiefs released albums that were surprising in how infinitely better these releases were compared to their previous works. While both artists had put out solid music in the past, their new albums are vastly better, gaining them more critical acclaim and popularity than ever before.
They Might Be Giants are a particularly difficult band to judge. Sure, you can name seven amazing songs everyone loves by them, but when taking into account they’ve released well over 400 it seems less impressive. “The Else” proved that given enough time to perfect an album, even they can manage to weed through their overtly bizarre material for the catchy, just-bizarre-enough songs we all love.
7 Best Releases to Fly Under the Radar in 2007
2) Crystal Castles – Alice Practice EP
3) Capgun Coup – Nebraskafish
4) Jumbling Towers – Jumbling Towers
5) The Aliens – Astronomy for Dogs
6) Dntel – Dumb Luck
7) Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum
While obviously there are plenty of people listening to these artists’ albums (hence their existence), here are seven albums you might not have heard about.
Dan Deacon is weird-really weird. Need proof? He crafted the first song on “Spiderman of the Rings” around samples of Woody Woodpecker … yes, the cartoon character. Nonetheless, he is brilliant and this 9-track electronic album is proof. See why he is our pick for the number one best release to fly under the radar for free at SLU’s Billiken Club on Saturday, April 12. Capgun Coup, the newest addition to Conor Oberst’s record label, will be returning to The Gargoyle to open for Cursive this April. A folksy band that relies on a very Oberstian singing style and a keyboard, they have enough energy to lend out to some other indie bands.
Crystal Castles thrashed around on several EPs, 7″ singles, and more in 2007. With their debut LP due in March, they are a group to check out now.
St. Louis natives Jumbling Towers not only released an album in 2007, but are about to begin production on another. Look for them all over the city, and within walking distance at Cicero’s on February 7 with Wash. U.’s own Victoria.
Rising from the ashes of The Beta Band, the Aliens will sound familiar to any fan of the Beta Band. With some catchy tracks such as “Robot Man” and “The Happy Song,” this is an album worth checking out.
James Tamborello makes us constantly wonder what counts as a side project. This year releasing an album under the name Dntel, you probably know him best from The Postal Service. Serving up the tons of electropop beats that propelled The Postal Service, it’s a mystery this isn’t on everyone’s iPod.
Black Moth Super Rainbow is not only a mouthful but an earful. The aural masterpieces are reminiscent of the lovechild The Flaming Lips and Animal Collective would create if during conception they were listening to the Polyphonic Spree. If that description doesn’t make you want to check them out then we’re out of ideas.
8 Most Anticipated Releases for 2008
2) Blind Melon
3) The Postal Service
4) Stiletto Formal
5) Ours – Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy)
6) Alkaline Trio
7) So Many Dynamos
8) Jack’s Mannequin – The Glass Passenger
It’s a difficult thing to choose the most anticipated releases for a new year. It’s so early in the new year that most of what can be foreseen for the year is scheduled for only the first few months. The music industry is not like the film industry with studios locking release dates years before films are released. Nonetheless we have attempted to do the impossible and in the process have become very excited for 2008.
We’re holding on to the slimmest of hopes that Guns and Roses’ Chinese Democracy will finally be released in all of its glory this year. While many might claim that its release will not grace the world until 2009 (a full fifteen years after Guns and Roses’ first recording sessions for the album), we at Cadenza are betting Axel and the gang (whoever that may comprise in the end) are kooky enough to do it at 14 years. Now apparently the first of a three album trilogy, Chinese Democracy is our most anticipated release for the coming year.
Blind Melon has reunited with new singer Travis Warren after disbanding in 1995 due to the death of original lead singer Shannon Hoon. The reformed band is now touring and will be at Pop’s on March 24. They’ve also recorded an album, which although the band’s Myspace says they are still label-less, has leaked to the internet and we hear it’s fantastic.
Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello have been slowly working to get out a new Postal Service record. We’re hoping it sees the light of day this year even though Gibbard’s Death Cab for Cutie have already confirmed a new release of their own. Phoenix, Arizona’s The Stiletto Formal are entering the studio ‘this year to finally record their first full-length album with Darell Thorp’ (producer for Radiohead, Beck and Outkast amongst others). Given the band’s previous work and Thorp’s work with these other artists, we can’t wait to hear the results.
Six years after their last release, Ours has returned to release their third album. After touring with Circa Survive they are about to head out on tour with Marilyn Manson and will be with him at the Pageant on February 10. The Faint are also expected to be releasing their first album since 2004, Alkaline Trio their first since 2005, and local favorites So Many Dynamos will be releasing their latest which they recently finished recording with Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, who managed to fit recording their album while crafting his own which is to be released on January 29.
Jack’s Mannequin is the best thing that Something Corporate gave us. We can’t wait for another installment of the sweetly sad lyrics and upbeat piano tunes. Until April 22 ‘Everything in Transit’ will have to do.