Ah, doesn’t time just fly. We’ve already reached the 3rd annual ‘best of’ for this site and it only feels like yesterday that our eagerly bestowed platitudes were hungrily applied to the majesty that is the Aphex Twin’s ‘Goon Gumpas’. That was October 2005 and just 2 months later along came a list of our most loved albums from the previous 12 months. 2005 was a remarkable year for indie music and even if 2006 failed to steal its thunder there was much to saviour. 2006 was also mp3hugger’s first full year of operation so it felt right that at the end of it we should spill the beans on our Top 42 songs of the year. Which brings us neatly along to this years crop, which despite some stellar moments has hardly been a bumper harvest. With so many of the big hitters failing to produce the quality albums we expect of them it quickly became apparent that 2007 could be showing the first signs that the shuffle generation are getting their just rewards. The evidence is mounting that the album may indeed be in its death throes, why even those ace poppeteers Ash called time on their long player days. For what it’s worth my favourite album of 2007 was Folklore’s deeply imaginative ‘The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman’ which proved to be a stunning tale that weaved and bobbed like Cassius Clay in his prime.
If truth be told things on the single front weren’t a whole lot better. The one startling change this year was the hugely increased volume of freely (and legally) available music. Of course in many cases this meant that there was more rubbish to trawl through but the power of the promo track as a means of garnering interest is likely to become more apparent as digital replaces the harder medium. Take a gander at the official site of any band worth its salt and you are likely to walk away with at least 1 freebie and be treated to the online equivalent of the listening post (the dreaded stream). For the first time in the history of recorded music the consumer is being given the opportunity to sample the goods before purchasing (radio still has its place but you can’t beat the online experience for getting you where you want to go quickly). This can only be a good thing and should, in theory at least, allow the cream to float to the top.
So here are mp3hugger’s Top 42 tunes from 2007. These are the songs that have soundtracked our balmy summer evenings (all 3 of them) and illuminated the long dark nights of winter (the 362 others). To ensure an even spread there is a limit of 1 track per artist/group.
42) Efterklang – Cutting Ice To Snow
‘draws a hugely impressive victory from the jaws of rampant experimentation’
41) The High Violets – Chinese Letter (Ulrich Schnauss Mix)
‘ethereal outpourings that remind one of a young cranberry’
40) The Innocence Mission – Love That Boy
‘conjures fond memories of Harriet Wheeler sans background of jangle’
‘the thinking kids’ JCB song’
‘more documentary evidence to cast a legend’
‘alien bossa nova nourishment for both your cardiovascular and sound systems’
36) Sally Shapiro – He Keeps Me Alive
‘could be St. Etienne were they to push the euroticket even further’
35) Eagle Seagull – I’m Sorry But I’m Beginning To Hate Your Face
‘bulbous basslines, Eli Mardock’s curved pronouncements and the general sense of instrumental abandonment’
34) The Go! Team – Patricia’s Moving Picture
‘a rocket bottled’
‘a piano line as loose as an old pair of Joe Bloggs’
32) Ravens and Chimes – General Lafayette! You Are Not Alone
‘a soothing ointment for ears fatigued by daytime radio’
31) The Electric Pop Group – My Only Inspiration
‘the love song rewritten’
30) Jonquil – Lily
‘a banshee beat without the scares’
29) Dan Deacon – The Crystal Cat
‘put this sigue sigue in your spudnik’
28) A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Things Only I Can See
‘how to explain this wonderful noise to an unbeliever, you can’t, it’s either a you get it or you turn on the radio’
‘shuffles along with its socks around its ankles’
‘sweet jangling chords, remarkable vocals and an off-kilter momentum’
25) Lavender Diamond – Rise In The Springtime
‘Becky Stark is going to be a star’
‘the melodies practically levitate in the air’
‘indie pop in the grand old tradition with twee vocals, jangling chords and a heart so ripe with activity it could power a small hamlet’
22) Club 8 – Whatever You Want
‘2007’s most huggable piece of whistling appears about midway in, waltzing in time with Komstedt’s dah dah do’s’
21) Cloud Control ““ Vinta
ge Books
‘deep on inventive harmonies and zig zag instrumentation’
20) Beat The Devil – Shine In Exile
‘Ray can produce a harmonium, a curiously awkward looking instrument with a set of lungs as terrifyingly awe inspiring as her own’
‘colours your summer as well as those far off days when sand will be replaced by a mountain of fluffy snow’
‘the offspring of a union between a gorky zygotic mynci and a super furry animal’
17) Band of Horses – Is There A Ghost
‘the most possessed song the bearded ones have ever written’
16) Fujiya and Miyagi – Ankle Injuries
‘unlikely to become a terrace favourite’
15) Venice Is Sinking – The Grey Line
‘distinctly slowcore, all trailing strings and half hearted beats adding up to sumptuous melancholy’
‘so devoid of tired indie clichés it could almost create a genre on all its own. MozArt Rock anyone?’
‘a frantic exhibition of light and sound’
12) Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life
‘subtle twists are unveiled as the tune builds steadily to a restrained climax’
‘hang in there during those misleading warped vinyl early moments because the surf will soon be up and the good times will definitely be rolling.’
10) Rogue Wave – Lake Michigan
‘will become the cornerstone of indie mixtapes for years to come’
9) Grand Archives – Torn Blue Foam Couch
‘what’s lost and lonely and finishes up like a barnstorming epic?’
8) Super Extra Bonus Party – Softly
‘goes all Mr Hyde spinning completely out of control with a flotilla of searing chords and some heavily undulated beats’
7) Dappled Cities – Fire Fire Fire
‘Sydney has an impressive new attraction’
6) The Arcade Fire – Black Waves/Bad Vibrations
‘after the funeral comes the grief’
5) Akron/Family – Ed Is A Portal
‘every one of its many detours blooms into a rollicking good time’
4) Mumblin’ Deaf Ro – What’s To Be Done With El Salvador
‘sparse and generally acoustic but somehow sounds much bigger than it actually is’
3) Hello, Blue Roses – Shadow Falls
‘somewhat like a heart that has just been robbed of affection’
‘imaginatively conceived from the collective imaginations of over 70 interweb dreamers’
1) Loney, Dear – Carrying A Stone
‘tell me I am not the only one who is reduced to a crumbling heap whenever they hear this’
Beat the Devil. Nice.My favorites of ’07 here:http://mybigmouthstrikesagain.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-best-of-list-strikes-again-2007.html
aw, loney, dear does it to me every time, too. i loved that whole album. nice list. :)
great list. and totally agree with Loney, dear being at number 1. We have a similar thing going on at TLOBF. An eighteen track mix of 2007’s best tracks. You can find it here:http://thelineofbestfit.com/2007/12/07/end-of-radio-tlobf-playlist-2007-download/
Brill, thanks, glad I’m not alone on Loney, Dear.
I’m way too undecisive to make a top song list but it would probably sound very similar to yours. I was trying to assemble one comprised of 30 songs some days ago and I’m surprised to see that at least 14 out of 42 on your list would have made the cut.That said there’s some in here which fell under my radar and I’m very excited to listen them seeing we have a certain song compatibility. Will you be doing a best albums list as well?
Good to hear Moka. Won’t be doing an album list because I have been so disappointed with the stock on offer this year. Time and again I felt let down after lacklustre efforts from many of my favourites.
don’t set your bar so high and you’ll never be disappointed.
My friend will play at Loney, Dear’s gig in Stockholm =)
Hi from France… great top, unknown from French people like me… So thx very much