Best of 2007 music

I'm not gonna lie: 2007 wasn't the best year for music. I ended up unearthing a lot of records I hadn't listened to in a long time or getting into a lot of older music. These damn kids today with their iTunes and their iPod and their hippity-hoppity....

I'm noticing that a lot of the end of year music lists look the same. Is this just a coincidence or does everyone have the same bland taste in music?

At any rate, here's what tickled my gizzard for 2007:



Shellac- Excellent Italian Greyhound

At what point did rock music start not rocking? That's a question better left to those music scholars with pipes at Harvard, but someone forgot to relay the memo to Shellac.

Shellac, like AC/DC or ZZ Top, are a pretty locked-in institution at this point. They've slowly evolved over time, but you're not going to be hearing any strings, electronic bleeps and bloops or Kanye West sampling any of their stuff.

No, just stripped-down rock free of artifice, and you can always count on Shellac to deliver the goods. Plus, isn't that dog cute?



Bottomless Pit- Hammer Of The Gods

No surprise here. Silkworm, as everyone knows, was one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and Bottomless Pit are hellbent on carrying on in that tradition. Hard rocking, heartbreaking, and absolutely beautiful.



Richard Hawley- Lady's Bridge

Richard Hawley won me over with his 2005 album Coles Corner, and I'll be damned if he doesn't do it all over again with this one. Some of Coles Corner was a bit too syrupy for my taste, but this time, Hawley throws some rockabilly in the mix, and if anything, is an improvement on his previous album. Hawley's voice is a mix of Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Lee Hazlewood, which is never a bad combination. Hawley is much more than a novelty act, though--his songs are a timeless, great companion to the classic crooners.



I'm Not There- Original Soundtrack

Just like the soundtrack to Haynes' Velvet Goldmine, I'm Not There gathers the cream of the crop to pay tribute to good ol' Bobby D.

The highlights include Sonic Youth doing a feedback-drenched cover of the lost Basement Tapes track of which the film is named, Stephen Malkmus doing his best snide Dylan, and Mark Lanegan's smoky voice filling up "Man In The Long Black Coat."



Grinderman- S/T

Sick, just plain sick! I'm not even that big a fan of Nick Cave, but this one rocked.



Queens Of The Stone Age- Era Vulgaris

2005's Lullabies To Paralyze didn't quite match up to their mammoth 2002 album, Songs For The Deaf, but to be fair, that was a pretty hard act to follow. QOTSA seem intent on proving everyone wrong on Era Vulgaris, which is drenched in sleaze, cheap liquor and random freaks on the Sunset Strip.



Nina Nastasia & Jim White- You Follow Me

I think at this point I'll probably follow Nina Nastasia wherever. Totally stripped down arrangements--just vocals, drums and guitar, which really lets her songs breathe. Nastasia is quickly becoming one of the best songwriters out there, without anyone really noticing.