Category: Media

My venerable iPod had a bad run-in with an open sunroof and some precipitation, and my other one is still packed, along with my music drive. After a couple months of tinkering with Pandora and Last.fm, I needed to go out and find some good music the old fashioned way. That means without the benefit of a recommendation engine that thinks my affinities for various flavors of hip-hop and bands from France (Daft Punk, Air) mean I will like French hip-hop. Which I don’t. Because it’s horrible. French is well suited for poetry and indignation, but rapping … non.

So, I trawled the Amazon mp3 store for a while and ended up with a basket of albums:

1. Lily Allen’s “It’s Not Me, It’s You” – Decent but disposable pop, previous album was far more interesting.
2. Franz Ferdinand’s “Tonight” – Low expectations were met, I don’t even know if I’ve listened to it twice.
3. Andrew Bird’s “Noble Beast” – I haven’t really give this one a chance yet, it’s kind of wimpy and I haven’t really found the right situation to listen to it yet.

Then things started to get interesting.

4. Passion Pit’s “Manners” – As long as you skip the first song, this is a great, fun album. There’s hints of Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, some 70s and 80s pop, but it’s fresh, not retro. I was hooked on it for a week or so.

One of my favorite albums from 2008, though it was released in 2007, was Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch”, which might best be described as listening to a Beach Boys cover band playing at Arlington station while you’re at Symphony. I never realized that Panda Bear was a part of the Animal Collective, but when I found out, I bought:

5. Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” – This is a complicated album, that I just couldn’t really get into at first, but after a while, I came back to it and enjoyed it much more.

Serendipity struck when I bought the final album in the list, thinking it was another Animal Collective member, which it’s not, but given the name you can understand my confusion.

6. Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest” – The first time I listened to this album I was picking on some Radiohead wannabe vibes, but then I tried again and picked up a couple things and liked it more. Then again, and again, and again, for my entire commute to and from work each day. Each day I have a different favorite song. I haven’t enjoyed an album this much in years, probably since Atmosphere’s “Sevens Travels”. If you want something interesting, a little outside of the box but not as weird as Panda Bear or as over the top as Passion Pit, you should definitely check it out.

At some point in your life, your parents probably told you “life isn’t fair”. The Coen Brothers expand on this story with a ruthless, precise rendering that ended up being my favorite movie of 2007. Its not fun or funny, there’s a couple hiccups, but this film will stick to your ribs.

Many successful musicians put out albums that aren’t “real” albums in that they don’t contain much new music, but they either have a different take on them (remix albums), round out the fan experience (live albums) or just milk fans and almost-fans of some money (best of albums). They aren’t marketed as heavily, bands don’t tour to promote them, sometimes you don’t even notice them unless you are a devout fan. Once in a while, however, these end up being my favorite (AKA the best) albums a band releases. One of these just came out, namely Daft Punk’s “Alive 2007”, which is “pretty remarkable” to quote a friend. A list is born.

Top 3 Unintentionally Best Albums

1. Linkin Park – “Reanimation” – LP had a mediocre first album and then dropped this bomb, sending this Emo-band-in-the-making on a detour into electronic spectacle. This is also one of the best DVD-A discs out there.
2. White Zombie – “Super Sexy Swingin’ Sounds” – Not only did they end up with the most interesting White Zombie album, they put together the ultimate “night driving” album.
3. Daft Punk – “Alive 2007” – Like Mos Def, the problem with Daft Punk albums, even their songs to some extent, is the inconsistency. Going from boring to exciting beats, amazing flow to mundane limping, this album seems to fix that with great mixes of their best songs.

Honorable Mention

• The Roots – “The Roots Come Alive” – This might have made #3 before Daft Punk’s CD came out, but I’m not sure because their early albums were already so good. The highlight of this album is Jill Scott’s performance in “You Got Me”, which without exaggeration gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.