More Best of 07 Bullshit

Off the cuff.

Fave live shows:

The Handsome Family - World Cafe Live, PA
The Hold Steady - State College, PA
Eric Bachmann - Maxwell's, NJ
The Thermals - Maxwell's, NJ
Gogol Bordello - Irving Plaza, NY
Apples in Stereo - World Cafe Live, PA
Yo La Tengo - First Unitarian Church, PA
Art Brut - TLA at the Fillmore, PA
Balkan Beat Box - Irving Plaza, NY
The Rapture - Urban Outfitters, PA

Maybe next year, Be Your Own Pet, Justice, Nellie McKay, Dean & Britta, Clipse, Battles, Willowz, LCD Soundsystem, New York Dolls, Arcade Fire, Wu-Tang Clan.

Fave pre-Oscar season films:

Fracture
Zodiac
Superbad
No Country for Old Men
Knocked Up
Grindhouse
Juno

Looking forward to catching up on The King of Kong, The Ten, I'm Not There, The Darjeeling Limited, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton. Which could take years; I finally saw Squid and the Whale last week. (and loved it.)

And finally, 60 songs I liked a lot in roughly the order I liked them in:

Carrie Underwood - "Before He Cheats"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
Ciara - "Like a Boy"
Ashlee Simpson - "Outta My Head (Ah Ya Ya)"
Justice - "D.A.N.C.E."
Mistah F.A.B. - "Ghost Ride It"
Maroon 5 - "Makes Me Wonder"
Brad Paisley - "Ticks"
My Chemical Romance - "Teenagers"
The Shins - "Australia"
Fountains of Wayne - "Someone to Love"
Avril Lavigne - "Girlfriend"
Kanye West - "Can't Tell Me Nothin'"
Wussy - "Jonah"
Miranda Lambert - "Famous in a Small Town"
Swizz Beatz - "It's Me, Bitches"
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"
The Apples in Stereo - "7 Stars"
Against Me! - "White People for Peace"
Get Him Eat Him - "2x2"
T-Pain - "Bartender"
Animal Collective - "Peacebone"
UGK feat. OutKast - "Int'l Players Anthem"
Britney Spears - "Piece of Me"
Feist - "I Feel It All"
Arcade Fire - "Intervention"
The White Stripes - "Conquest"
Kanye West feat. T-Pain - "The Good Life"
The Apples in Stereo - "Can You Feel It?"
Battles - "Atlas"
Ted Leo/Pharmacists - "Bomb.Repeat.Bomb"
Amy Winehouse - "You Know I'm No Good"
Kevin Drew - "Backed out on the..."
Paramore - "That's What You Get"
Shop Boyz - "Party Like a Rockstar"
T-Pain feat. Yung Joc - "Buy U a Drank"
Kylie Minogue - "In My Arms"
Maroon 5 - "Won't Go Home Without You"
Magik Markers - "Taste"
Travis Morrison - "Snacktime"
Bright Eyes - "I Must Belong Somewhere"
Lil' Wayne - "Upgrade U Freestyle"
Paul McCartney - "Nod Your Head"
Les Savy Fav - "The Equestrian"
R. Kelly & Usher - "Same Girl"
Jens Lekman - "A Postcard to Nina"
50 Cent feat. Nicole Scherzinger & Young Buck - "Fire"
Lori McKenna - "Unglamorous"
Hot Hot Heat - "Let Me In"
The Cribs - "Men's Needs"
Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"
The White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
The New Pornographers - "Mutiny, I Promise You"
A Place to Bury Strangers - "I Know I'll See You"
Rihanna - "Umbrella"
Spoon - "The Underdog"
Gogol Bordello - "Wonderlust King"
Beirut - "Scenic World"
Fall Out Boy - "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
Lil' Mama - "Lip Gloss"

I give a fuck about an Oxford comma.

I make no bones about being the world's worst English major and being woefully unread. Seeing as my job requires me to sit in a comfortable chair next to a portable heater for eight hours, I might as well hitch my wagon to a library. Here's what I'm gonna do. Each person who comments on this entry can drop one book they think I should read, and I'll read the first ten in the order they appear...I don't care if it's Infinite Jest or Gravity's Rainbow. In the rare case that I've already read the book you named, you either pick another or I go to eleven. If the next temp gig doesn't quite work out the same way this one does, I still want to try and read all these, it'll just take longer. Now educate me.

10 reasons why 2008's gonna be better than 2007

10. Cloverfield is gonna suck, but at least it's trying, dammit.
9. Hot Chip's already made the year's first Arcade Fire move. Also, first poised autohypes Vampire Weekend okay by me and certainly better than Menomena/Deerhunter. Heretic Pride's looking pretty boss, too.
8. Iron Man. The other genius RDJ plus a cameo from the real Tony Starks? DON'T FUCK THIS UP GUYS.
7. I just now JUST NOW got into The Office. Of course the American one.
6. Chances are excellent that Dean & Britta will be ushering in my year at Maxwell's, and a week later there will be laser tag and/or karaoke for my birthday.
5. Accomplished every other goal I ever had in 2007 (Love? In it. House? Out. Pazz & Jop? Voted. Licensed to drive? Fuckyeah. Job? It pays.), so now I can work on that record deal.
4. Somehow, me and the doll are still together. LUVYASM<3<3CH.
3. MOAR VILLAGE VOICE
2. Come January, Stylus will have its very own Joey and I'm LeBlanc, bitch. HOW YOU DOIN?
1. My new year's resolution's a good one.

Suck it, J-Murph

So this is what a taste of being delightfully fascist feels like. Lost at Sea's consensus pick just happened to be my favorite album of the year; Suck it, J-Murph. Where're "all your friends" now? To punish you all in time for stiff nog shots, Here's my top 10 again as a bonus, but this time with reasoning!

The list.

Here is every 2007 album I played, in order of preference, which goes all the way down to worst. A good chunk of these link to reviews I wrote, and most of the rest I just ranted on ad infinitum...here, in publications, annoyingly on Stylus' message board. I kept trying to quit Maroon 5 and couldn't; In Rainbows was easier to put down. Another few weeks with Lupe Fiasco might've swung it into the top ten. Imperial Teen felt too damn comfortable, being a favorite band of mine, and for weeks I tried to jar up my lust for Magik Markers or Dizzee Rascal to appear edgier. But those are sometimes records and I'm a wimp and I gotta have my three-chord relief every few records or I go asthmatic. Thank you, Apples in Stereo, for helping with that. I don't know what I would've done without "Can You Feel It?" this year. M.I.A. and LCD Soundsystem and Fountains of Wayne are dynamite for four or five songs. But then they just settle. And my favorites sit down for nobody. Yes, Arcade Fire is really my #1. Yes, I've heard the Burial record, thanks for asking. After trying to play every record important to me or my colleagues or the world at large this year I just gave out, though. Sorry, Mekons. Souljaboytellem.com was the very last one of these things I heard, and it was special in its own way. My head has a locomotive barreling through it.

This explains my preferred grading system.

A+

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Sly & the Family Stone - Greatest Hits

A

The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Kanye West – Graduation
Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Against Me! - New Wave
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
Justice - †

A-

Travis Morrison Hellfighters - All Y'All
Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Imperial Teen - The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band
Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool
Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English
Magik Markers – Boss
Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends
Lori McKenna – Unglamorous
Los Campesinos - Sticking Fingers into Sockets
Feist - The Reminder
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Tabu Ley Rochereau - The Voice of Lightness 1961-1979
Brakes - The Beatific Visions
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Mac Lethal - 11:11
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Kylie Minogue – X
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
M.I.A. – Kala
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
They Might Be Giants - The Else
Hyphy Hitz
Lil' Wayne – Da Drought 3
Vampire Weekend
Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather
A Place to Bury Strangers
Buck 65 – Situation
Ghostface Killah - The Big Dough Rehab
Low - Drums and Guns
Wussy - Left For Dead
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation [Deluxe Edition]

B+

The Hives – The Black & White Album
Pylon - Gyrate +
Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers
T-Pain - Epiphany
Britney Spears – Blackout
Battles - Mirrored
Brad Paisley - 5th Gear
The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
VHS or Beta - Bring on the Comets
Tegan & Sara - The Con

Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Drug Rug - Drug Rug
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Shooter Jennings - The Wolf
Jay-Z – American Gangster
I'm Not There
Amerie - Because I Love It

Honorable Mention:

***

Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew – Spirit If…
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Care Bears on Fire - I Stole Your Animal
Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Busdriver - RoadKillOvercoat
Prodigy - Return of the Mac
Cass McCombs – Dropping the Writ
Stylofone – Fall 2007 Sampler
Elizabeth Cook - Balls
Patti Smith – Twelve
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Amy LaVere – Anchors & Anvils
Lifesavas – Gutterfly: Original Soundtrack
Fanfare Ciocarlia - Queens and Kings
Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Souls?
Paramore - Riot!
Wiley - Playtime is Over
Balkan Beat Box - Nu Med
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Youssou N'Dour - Rokku Mi Rokka
The Hidden Cameras – Awoo
Beirut – Lon Gisland
Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
50 Cent - Curtis
Jason Holstrom - The Thieves of Kailua
Kanye West – Can’t Tell Me Nothing: The Mixtape
Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance
1990s – Cookies
The Chalets - Check In

**

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Burial – Untrue
UGK - Underground Kingz
Wire – Read & Burn: 03
Beanie Sigel – The Solution
The Good Life - Help Wanted Nights
Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dead Horse
Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbia
Get Him Eat Him - Arms Down
Los Straitjackets - Rock En Espanol Vol. 1
Alicia Keys - As I Am
Buck 65 – Live and in Private
Corey Harris – Zion Crossroads
Say Anything – In Defense of the Genre
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Knobody - Tha Clean Up
Instant Karma
The Harlem Shakes – Burning Birthdays
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Chaka Khan - Funk This
Clinic – Visitations
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - Living with the Living
Ciara - The Evolution
We Are Wolves - Total Magique
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Jeremy Enigk - The Missing Link
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
Loudon Wainwright III - Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by “Knocked Up”
Illinois – What the Hell Do I Know?
Galactic - From the Corner to the Block
Northern State - Can I Keep This Pen?
Devin the Dude - Waiting to Inhale
I'm from Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends

*

Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
Bruce Springsteen - Magic
Swizz Beatz - One Man Band Man
St. Vincent – Marry Me
Shop Boyz – Rockstar Mentality
The Willowz - Chautauqua
Animal Collective - People
Young Buck – Buck the World
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Clinic - Funf
The Fall - Reformation Post TLC
Bonde do Role - With Lasers
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
Black Mountain - In the Future
Jewface
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
The Noisettes - What's the Time Mr. Wolf?
The Bird & The Bee
!!! - Myth Takes
Kathy Diamond – Miss Diamond to You
Common - Finding Forever
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch
Modeselektor - Happy Birthday!
Camp Lo - Black Hollywood
Manu Chao - La Radiolina
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
Bonde Do Role - Marina Gasolina
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Sally Shapiro – Disco Romance
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
Ween - La Cucaracha
Prince - Planet Earth
White Rabbits - Fort Nightly

Neither:

7L & Esoteric - A New Dope
Pissed Jeans - Hope for Men
Turbo Fruits - Turbo Fruits
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
Now That's What I Call Music! 25
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Land of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss
Ani DiFranco - Canon
Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
Wax Tailor - Hope & Sorrow
Of Montreal - Icons, Abstract Thee
Nick Lowe - At My Age

B

The National - Boxer
The New Pornographers – Challengers
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

B-

Lucinda Williams - West

C+

Liars
Serj Tankian – Elect the Dead
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars

Choice Cuts:

Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd.
“Let Me In,” “5 Times Out of 100,” “Give Up?”

PJ Harvey - White Chalk
“When Under Ether”

Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
“Hunting For Witches”

Silverchair - Young Modern
“If You Keep Losing Sleep”

Gravy Train!!!! - All the Sweet Stuff
“All the Sweet Stuff”

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
“Golden Skans”

Caribou – Andorra
“Melody Day”

Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
“This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” “The Take Over, The Break’s Over”

Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
“Believe E.S.P.”

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
“The Past is a Grotesque Animal,” “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse”

Soulja Boy – Souljaboytellem.com
“Crank That (Soulja Boy)”

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
“Black Bubblegum”

Panda Bear - Person Pitch
“Comfy In Nautica”

The Deadly Syndrome - The Ortolan
“I Hope I Become A Ghost”

Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
“The Crystal Cat”

Duds:

The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
The Brunettes – Structure and Cosmetics
Interpol - Our Love to Admire
T.I. - T.I. vs T.I.P.
The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City
The Stooges - The Weirdness
Hey Willpower - PDA
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Becoming the Master
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
Statehood – Lies and Rhetoric
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release
Deerhunter - Fluorescent Grey EP
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8

Obtained, but never got around to playing or getting a bead on:

Jill Scott - The Real Thing: Words And Sounds Vol. 3
No Man's Woman
Keyshia Cole - Just Like You
Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero Remixed
Turf Talk - West Coast Vaccine (The Cure)
Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
Urban Africa Club
Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water is Life
Chrisette Michele - I Am
R. Kelly - Double Up
Jill Scott - Collaborations
Motel Lovers: Southern Soul from th...
Bokoor Beats
Mary J. Blige – Growing Pains
Linda Thompson -Versatile Heart
Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory
Mekons - Natural
M. Ward - Duet for Guitars #2
Dropkick Murphys – The Meanest of Times
Robert Plant & Allison Krauss – Raising Sand
Japancakes – Loveless
Ill Ease – All Systems A-Go-Go
Redman – Red Gone Wild
R.E.M. Live