Pitchfork makes it easy when it comes to guessing its Top 50 albums of the year in advance, thanks to the “Best New Music” and “Recommended” stickers it slaps on the records it likes best. So if you’ve been paying attention to the bottom-left corner of the site for the last 12 months, P-fork’s 2007 list, headed up by Animal Collective member Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, should feel like a bunch of old friends getting one last shout-out before the end of the year. That, or it’s another chance to curse the site for over-praising a bunch of records that don’t really deserve the dap.
THE GOOD: U.K. post-punks Life Without Buildings’ career-capping live album and Stars Of The Lid’s six-years-in-the-making follow-up to a sleepy ambient classic sneak into the upper reaches. Plus all the other records everyone else with even a toe dipped into indie rock liked this year.
THE BAD: Way too much tooth/brain-rotting twee Nordic indie pop/dance. What’s that you say? That’s only like three or four albums out of 50? It’s still too much.
THE WHAAAA? “With Burial’s 2006 debut, it helped to have some investment in dubstep; Untrue is for everyone.” Really? Everyone?
50: Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life
49: Dizzee Rascal, Maths + English
48: Robert Wyatt, Comicopera
47: Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals
46: Marissa Nadler, Songs III: Bird on the Water
45: Ricardo Villalobos, Fabric 36
44: Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends
43: Stars of the Lid, And Their Refinement of the Decline
42: Ghostface Killah, The Big Doe Rehab
41: Life Without Buildings, Live at the Annandale Hotel
40: Beirut, The Flying Club Cup / Lon Gisland EP
39: The White Stripes, Icky Thump
38: Wu-Tang Clan, 8 Diagrams
37: Grizzly Bear, Friend EP
36: Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog
35: Black Lips, Good Bad Not Evil
34: James Blackshaw, The Cloud of Unknowing
33: King Khan & the Shrines, What Is?!
32: Sally Shapiro, Disco Romance
31: Deerhoof, Friend Opportunity
30: Caribou, Andorra
29: Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
28: Dinosaur Jr., Beyond
27: Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
26: Various Artists, After Dark
25: The Tough Alliance, A New Chance / New Waves EP
24: Dan Deacon, Spiderman of the Rings
23: Studio, Yearbook 1
22: Okkervil River, The Stage Names
21: Dirty Projectors, Rise Above
20: Liars
19: Feist, The Reminder
18: Kanye West, Graduation
17: The National, Boxer
16: Lil Wayne, Da Drought 3
15: Justice, &8224;
14: Deerhunter, Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey EP
13: Jay-Z, American Gangster
12: No Age, Weirdo Rippers
11: Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala
10: Burial, Untrue
09: The Field, From Here We Go Sublime
08: Battles, Mirrored
07: Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
06: Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam
05: Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
04: Radiohead, In Rainbows
03: M.I.A., Kala
02: LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
01: Panda Bear, Person Pitch
Top 50 Albums Of 2007 [Pitchfork]
@therichgirlsareweeping:
yeah for me dirty projectors live is incredible. I guess you can either get down or you can’t get down.
This is naturally my favorite list thus far, although I don’t think person pitch is all that. I lke the “edits” of the songs that floated around before the album came out. I prefer 3 minutes of a loop rather than 12
ha, yes.
@pgwp: No, I listened to it and wept profusely. The whole swirly-jam angle really bummed me out. Zzzzzzzzzzz. I used to love Andrew Bird (and have the pictures from SXSW 2002 to prove it, as well as all the Squirrel Nut Zippers records he guested on…), but I cannot get behind his new stuff. At all.
@Jfrankparnell: Wait, didn’t P-fork spooge all over Bon Iver originally? That’s why I avoided for so long, but to my peril. That record is gold, and the Bon Iver live experience is AMAZING.
@SuperUnison: No, because I’d've rather seen Japanther.
it’s voting based not numerically
I’ve been running the daily editorial content for more than three years now and no rating has ever been changed after publication over that time.
Also, a Club 8 review has been filed and will run in early Jan., and reviews of those other two Service releases should be filed soonish as well. (If you’re really filling out your Swedish pop scorecards at home, a review of The Honeydrips will also appear next month.).
Pipettes were on last year’s list, and the LP was also reviewed then. And if it really needs to be said, the reviews are the opinions of one writer at one time during the year and the year-end votes are the consensus opinions of the entire staff at a different time of the year.
@scottpl: If by Service you mean Labrador, then sure. Personally, if you guys ever get to Rough Bunnies Weisse Wessen Dreck Am Stecken then I’ll have a Swedish twee bingo (G-42! Ooh, I’m going diagonal!)
Panda Bear? Explain? Somebody? Please?