Albums Of The Year 2007

So here it is, the gospel according to Jamesinbrasil. After a year of painstaking research, which has led to a list not that dissimilar to other blogs and publications, these are my favourite records of the year:

1) LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2) MIA - Kala
3) Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
4) Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
5) Battles - Mirrored

And in my usual, "here's everything I thought was any good and in no particular order" way are the rest:

Modeselektor - Happy Birthday
Justice - †
DJ Medhi - Lucky Boy
Bjork - Volta
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Devandra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Mountain
Feist - The Reminder
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Yoko Ono - Yes I'm A Witch
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
Boyz Noize - Oi Oi Oi
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release
Tinariwen - Aman Inam: Water is Life
Grinderman - Grinderman
Dizzee Rascal - Maths and English
Burial - Untrue
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Liars - Liars
Fiery Furnaces - Widow City
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36
Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
!!! - Myth Takes
CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn
Supermayer - Save The World
Horrors - Strange House
V/a - Brasil 70
Bonde Do Role - With Lasers
Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
Bangers & Cash - EP
Digitalism - Idealism
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy
Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
Deerhunter - Cyptograms
Grizzly Bear - Friend EP
LCD Soundsystem - Fabric 36
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Hot Chip - DJ Kicks
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Lupe Fiasco - Cool
Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
Italians Do It Better
Om - Pilgrimage
Patrick Watson - Close To Paradise
Ghostface - The Big Doe Rehab
Alela Diane - The Pirate's Gospel
Miracle Fortress - Five Roses
Holy Fuck - Holy Fuck
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
Ruarri Joseph - Tales of Grime & Grit
Von Sudenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
Akron/Family - Love Is Simple
Chromatics - Night Drive
V/a - What's Happening In Pernambuco?

There's 63 albums there, so it must have been a fantastic year. Those top 5 are all superb albums, brimming with originality and tremendous songs, which is what it's all about really. So what do you think I missed? And what were your favourites? Comment away...

This is the news...

As you may have noticed, I have spruced things up a bit round here. I hope you like it.

So I finally relented and joined a gym. We all give in at some point. But the time had truly come, I wasn't getting any exercise and I needed to shape up, because as some of you will know, once you pass that milestone of 30 things start to hurt more for no apparent reason. Twice a week I have punished myself in a room full of bizarre contraptions (I'm sure they have a rack). So after two weeks, what I have gained? Well, I look the same and I feel the same. The first time I went, I thought I was going to die. Now, I just think I'm going to have a heart attack. So as you can see, there is some progress. It's obviously too early to get any real benefits from it, and I'm sure in three months time I will be some kind of awesome muscular man-machine. But at the moment all I have gained is the knowledge that I don't just have a dodgy back, but I also have a dodgy knee and shoulder too.

I went to see LCD Soundsystem a couple of weeks ago. If you don't know, I love LCD more than I love pao de queijo, and that's a lot. So obviously they were awesome, and they did all of my favourite songs, including future classics Someone Great and All My Friends, epic 12 minute freak outs Us Vs Them and Yeah, and the lighters aloft finale of New York I Love You. I was particularly interested to see how they would go down in Brasília, as this type of band never comes here, and the turn out was pretty respectable, although the venue was ridiculously oversized. This town is the richest in Brazil, and social appearances are very important. You have to look good all the time (particularly if you are a woman) and you cannot ever show any semblance of poverty. People can be judgemental, and being seen in the right place is very important. The fact that an LCD gig would somehow become a place for these peacocks to strut both amused and scared me. There's nothing worse at a gig then finding yourself in dance mode in a room full of statuesque posers. What actually happened was that all the people with good taste in Brasília congregated at the front and cut loose, and the posers, in the main, stood around at the back.

Thanks to the size of the venue, there was plenty of space, so when I say cut loose, I mean really shake it, not get all squashed and shake your head. And I have to say, I really went for it, as I haven't danced for a year since Daft Punk. It really reminded me of the sheer pleasure of dancing to music you love, it's a real primal thing, difficult to verbalise. So I won't, but if you like dancing, you'll know what I mean. And if you haven't done it in a while, go on, draw the curtains and shake it.

My current gig frenzy continues with Tom Zé on Sunday (three in just over a month!), I'll let you know how that was next week.

New LCD

Yes yes yes.

LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (removed - see comments for the full story)

The new album is out March 20th and if it sounds this good, then we are fortunate people indeed. Lots have other blogs have posted tracks, and then had to remove them. I managed to grab this one before DFA's swat team of lawyers swept down on them. Let's see how good they are, because if they find my blog here in the deepest darkest recesses of the internet, then they are very impressive indeed (clue: they are impressive).


The photo is from here