TOP 100 SONGS OF 2007: 1-10

Here it is, 2007's top ten songs. These are the ones you've been waiting for, folks! I'll move quickly onto discussing the songs, then:



10. Tori Amos - Girl Disappearing (Sendspace link)
Album: American Doll Posse

A melancholy, piano-led song about a girl who is disappearing into "a prison behind her eyes" while Amos watches, in the midst of a war pitting "woman against feminist". Its lyrics are enigmatic and intriguing, Amos' vocals are wonderful, the music pulls you in and drags you upwards. I'm still puzzling out the song's meaning, but its a beautiful piece of work regardless, and the best off her latest album.

9. Dragonette - Take It Like a Man (Sendspace link)
Album: Galore

Dragonette is at their best when they take a character I should have no interest in and draw me in, and this is exactly what they do here. While not being very slow, this song does have a strange softness to it, and it does express the idea that though this couple 'get a little crazy with the razor blades', they do love each other. This paradox, being able to draw you into the story of such an alien figure, and just the quality of the song that matches or beats the rest on Galore makes this a winner.

8. Andrew Bird - Self-Torture (Sendspace link)
Album: Armchair Apocrypha (iTunes bonus track), Soldier On EP (as 'Water Jet Cilice')

Andrew Bird at his best here. The song opens with his haunting whistling, like a bird call through am eerie mist. Bird's voice appears then, soaring through this mist with visuals of a mysterious girl with golden curls and morbid thoughts. The song is completely mysterious, but it resonates through your bones and through your body. Wonderful, and a tragic cut from Apocrypha. After this and the gems on the Soldier On EP, I would love to get my hands on any other Bird b-sides.

7. Grand Archives - Sleepdriving (demo) (Sendspace link)
Album: Demos

One of the best newcomers to come out of 2007, battling with the now-defunct Die Romantik for the title, this was a wonderful look at the potential of this band. The multiple vocalists gives it a wonderfully ghostly feeling, which works magnificently considering the fuzzy state the song is describing. The lyrics are quite interesting, with a great core theme in 'sleepdriving' that gives you the sense of needing only to escape, without any real consciousness, just instinct. The highlight is the voices, which just resonate in your chest, almost painfully beautiful.


6. Beirut – Elephant Gun (Sendspace link)
Album: Lon Gisland EP

Surprisingly, Beirut's best song this year wasn't on their much lauded new album The Flying Club Cup, but on their fantastic Lon Gisland EP. The epic nature of the band behind the music, with Zach Condon's excellent voice stirring into the mix, makes for a truly inspiring song. This feels wonderful, and that's the only way to describe it. It takes you and throws you into the sky, and you can't tell whether you're flying or falling.


5. Natalie Walker – Circles (Sendspace link)
Album: Urban Angel

A hauntingly beautiful foggy piano-based song about the circle of life, centring specifically around a pregnant woman whose soldier husband dies and leaves her alone with a child on the way. I showcased this track when I discovered it, and it's still outstanding, filling you up with ghostly vocals until you're ready to burst. Natalie Walker has one of the best voices I''ve heard.

4. Tegan and Sara - Back in Your Head (Sendspace link)
Album: The Con

Another former track showcase, this song has gone the rounds with remixes galore. A bouncy , angst-filled track about drifting apart, with the protagonist missing the time "when I was so strange and likeable". The lyrics here are excellent, and the music is a highlight, bouncing along. The vocals sometimes sound echoing, fitting the distance this song is about. The Con was a grower, and this one has shown itself to be the album's best.


3. The Pierces - Three Wishes (Sendspace link)
Album: Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge

Since I got it, I've been enchanted with The Pierces' very strong third album, and by far this was the most impressive track. A haunting, calm song with a preamble about the nature of the soul before it descends into a song about desire that, along with presenting a number of wonderful options for the wish taker, hints to the terrible potential of the scorned.

2. Die Romantik - Another Round (Sendspace link)
Album: Narcissist's Waltz

My favourite discovery of 2007, Die Romantik had an amazing, macabre sound that worked to their extreme advantage. The strained, yet immensely wonderful vocals of , combined with their particular spine-tingling sound, made their work always exemplary. The band broke up in the early days of 2008, which is especially a same considering this utter gem of a song left behind. Not buying Narcissist's Waltz in time for it to rank amongst 2007's Top 10 Albums post was a massive shame.


1. Andrew Bird - Heretics (Sendspace link)
Album: Armchair Apocrypha

Soaring and nonsensical, with his voice and whistling at their glorious best, "Heretics" is a work of fantastic art, sending shivers down my spine while giving me hours' worth of musing over its mysterious lyrics. The fantastic beats make it Bird's catchiest song yet, and it doesn't surprise me that this is bringing attention to Armchair Apocrypha. Though I will be the first to say Apocrypha isn't 100% the album that The Mysterious Production of Eggs was, "Heretics" is definitely in the running against "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" for my favourite of Bird's tracks. Excellent, excellent song that gets better every listen.

If you enjoy these songs, I strongly urge you to consider buying their albums, because these are some of the best songs I've ever heard. If 2008 has a haul half as strong as 2007's, then it will be an excellent, excellent year.

ROULETTE 4

And, as these are so nice and easy, as well as let me showcase some music that otherwise doesn't usually get the attention over newer, flashier bands and songs...

1. M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel - When I Get to the Border (Sendspace) *
2. Grand Archives - Louis Riel (Sendspace)
3. The Dresden Dolls - The Jeep Song (Sendspace)
4. Regina Spektor & Sondre Lerche - Hell No (Sendspace)
5. Iron & Wine - Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog) (Sendspace)

(* Pre-'She and Him' days)

Enjoy! If you like these songs, make sure you check out their albums!

NEWCOMERS: WHO TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2008 AND BEYOND

One of the best feelings in music searching is uncovering a new artist, one with limitless potential who has their whole career coming for you to enjoy. The bands and artists contained herein are, like Dragonette and A Fine Frenzy last year, great ones coming up with their debut album. Some have great careers behind them already (M. Ward, looking at you) but these are still all new beginnings.

THE GRAND ARCHIVES

Led by Carissa's Wierd's and Band of Horses' Matt Brooke, this dreamy band is looking to have an amazing debut. In 2007, they released a quartet of demos that blew me away, including the amazing Sleepdriving and damn good Torn Blue Foam Couch. Their self-titled debut album comes out in February, and I'm foreseeing a great hit here.

Sample: The album version of one of their demos, Torn Blue Foam Couch, in all it's finished glory.

JAYMAY

This quirky young singer has a lot of talent, and I've managed to grab a scattered sample of her work that popped up on last year's EP and will pop up on March's debut, Autumn Fallin'. Lyrically fun, low key, some nice humming. Should be nice.

Sample: Nice, quiet song See Green, Sea Blue.

SHE AND HIM

This intriguing pairing of Matt "M." Ward and Zooey Deschanel drew my attention from the moment they sang a duet together, and they apparently feel the same way. Their debut, Volume One, should hit shelves in March, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited.

Sample: The two take on Ward's Magic Trick, a song I've always liked, in a live recording.

AMANDA PALMER

The Dresden Dolls vocal powerhouse's debut album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? is one of my most anticipated albums of 2008. Her work with Dresden Dolls and her various covers have shown power, range and emotion, and a live recording of Ampersand (a song I desperately hope finds its way onto the album) made me fall in love with her and her gorgeous voice.

Sample: The gorgeous Ampersand, performed live.

MOLLY MCQUEEN

Former lead singer of The Faders before their break-up, she's now moving to a solo career and using their most well-known track, No Sleep Tonight, as a single. There's no concrete news about the debut other than it's coming, and honestly, I can't wait.

Sample: The original Faders version of No Sleep Tonight.

HELLO, BLUE ROSES

Their debut, The Portrait is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty..., has already been released, I believe, but they qualify as newcomers in the 2008 year. This comes from visual artist Sydney Vermont and Dan Behar, best known of Destroyer, Swan Lake, or The New Pornographers. The album has a delightfully sweet, soft golden feel to it.

Sample: The single, and my personal favourite so far, Shadow Falls.

BELLE'S WAKE

A new band I discovered through thesixtyone, last year's release The Nature of the Ground EP, is quite good, and one of their songs has particularly caught my attention (see below). No concrete news of a possible album, but I'm hopeful as I'm interested to see what happens with these guys next.

Sample: Their most interesting track from the EP, Wild Creatures of Doubt.

LIGHTS

Toronto-based youth Lights makes sweet pop music that never fails to make me at least smile. The lyrics, the music, the sound, it's all very nice, and that's refreshing.

Sample: I've already posted my favourite of their tracks before, February Air, so this time I'll let you guys have I Owe You One.

STREAMS OF EUROPE

Oddly enough, this gorgeous instrumental music isn't from a band at all, but from a video game composition for an independent video game. This, however, doesn't detract from its beauty one bit. It's, in fact, excellent sleep music. I don't know if we'll be hearing from this artist once the score, and the game are completed, but I definitely hope so! The whole album, Meanders, was released free on the 'net last Christmas here.

Sample: The song that led me to fall in love with Streams, the quiet, beautiful and epically long From the Top of the Mountain to the Bottom of the Sea.

So, there's my upcoming newbies for 2008. Anyone have any suggestions for new bands or artists who I might wanna check out in 2008? Other than that, enjoy!

THE ALDEN'S AWESOME PLAYLIST 1

Hey! I kind of disappeared off the face of the earth this past week, mostly due to the crushing blow of Real Life, which made music-blogging feel very alien indeed. That said, I'm re-invigorated about introducing you guys to the music love and have another way of introducing it to you.

Similar to the roulette, the Awesome Playlist is a collection of songs, but instead of being random they're the ones that, for some reason or other, I've been listening to a lot lately. I don't know why, but on different weeks different songs just seem to 'click' with me, and for the time being these are those songs.

The Grand Archives - Sleepdriving (Sendspace link)
This group, headlined by former guitarist and vocalist for Carissa's Wierd and former guitarist for Band of Horses Matt Brooke, is pretty damn new. The only available songs are three demos they've recently released while they work on their debut. That said, the demos are excellent, and 'Sleepdriving' is the best of the trilogy. It's the kind of music that might play in the background of a dream, a melancholy, ethereal piece of music that I just love. Download this, as I expect these Archives will be one I raid from muchly in the future.

Andrew Bird - Why? (live) (Sendspace link)
You guys should know my intense love of all things Andrew Bird, if only because I've peppered his music through this blog. The only reason I haven't posted a showcase is that I'd need quite a bit of preparation to do him justice. Anyway, this song was originally released by his band, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, but their style sadly irritate me to no end. He later included a solo performance of the song on Fingerlings, the first of his live-only albums. The song itself is a typical Andrew Bird song in its atypical tone and focus: A man who is angered by his partner by his refusing to be riled up and fight, with the chorus including the line: "Damn you for being so easy-going." The idea of a relationship where conflict is promoted is an intriguing one, and it reminds that the real opposite of love isn't hate but indifference.

Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Heartbeats (The Knife) (Sendspace link)
Another group begging for a showcase, here's a taste of Scala, the intriguing Belgian youth girls' choir whose repertoire consists mainly of recognisable North American songs, and their conductors the Kolacny brothers. I've never heard the original song, but that doesn't matter much as Scala's version is a beautiful, piano-driven masterpiece. The choral treatment doesn't render it inaccessible; indeed, it makes it more universal, strangely enough.

Sufjan Stevens - Romulus (Sendspace link)
Sufjan seems to be the indie king, grabbing accolades and praise everywhere for his deep and heavily-researched albums, two of which are themed around American states. Romulus is from one of these albums (Michigan), and derives its title not from the mythical founder of Rome but from a Michigan city, where the song's protagonist lives. It's a story of shame, about an absent mother who buggers off to make a new family, leaving her other children in care of their grandfather. One of these children, the song's narrator, talks about their contempt of her, and how they would love to just avoid seeing her ever again. It's an interesting tale, one I'm curious whether there are real-life connections for Stevens or not. It seems intensely real.

And the one I cannot find to upload for the life of me, so you'll have to search it out for yourselves...

Brandston - Earthquakes and Sharks
Formed way back in 1996, Brandston seem to be a different creature than the Grand Archives. Seem, I'd say, because I only have this one song of theirs, and it rocks. A song with a fantastic beat that just dares you to not bounce around to it, it tells the story of a guy who slowly learns that Mexico and California are not the safest places for the uninitiated. The chorus is an amusing listing off of the dangers, while the rest of the song is his specific experiences with a number of these things.

BUY: Amazon, Amazon Canada, InSound

Those are the songs that have been on pretty heavy rotation on my iPod lately. Not 100 listens, but they're much dearer to my heart now than they once were. Enjoy!