I did my best to just choose one song for each artist, but as you'll see, in the end I just couldn't do it. Let me know what songs served as your 2007 soundtrack in the comments!

25. "Feels Good" by Rahsaan Patterson

24. "Explosions Were Heard" by Kinetic Stereokids | Stream

23. "Acceptable in the 80s" by Calvin Harris


22. "Fruehstueck" by Touane

21. "Happyfour Twenty" by Christ. | Video

20. "Myth Takes" by !!!


19. "The Minaret" by John Vanderslice | Link

18. "The Devil Never Sleeps" by Iron & Wine | Link

17. "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses


16. "Click Click Click Click" by Bishop Allen


15. "Air Aid" by Menomena


14. "Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse


13. "You Are Never Alone" by SoCalled | Download

12. "Flathead" by The Fratellis


11. "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" by Of Montreal | Download

10. "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice | Download


9. "Orange Chinese Car" by Marco Mahler


8. "No Cars Go" by The Arcade Fire | Download


7. "I Feel It All" by Feist | Link

6. "All I Need" by Radiohead | Link

5. "Black Like Me" by Spoon


4. "When Your Mind's Made Up" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová


3. "Catch Hell Blues" by The White Stripes


2. "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" by The Ike Reilly Assassination | Download

1. (tie) "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem


1. (tie) "All My Friends" also by LCD Soundsystem


Related: Best Albums

Labels: bestof2007, music

Merry Christmas to all...

Week One: Hope
Week Two: Peace
Week Three: Joy
Week Four: Love

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. - John 13:34

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? - Matthew 5:43-47

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners - Romans 5:8

Jesus... If I start connecting dots... that's a tall order. So I pray for wisdom, for energy, for passion and compassion. Compel me to love others as you loved us. Help me to use my life in a way that allows others to live. We praise you for invading Satan's kingdom and reclaiming it for your own. We wait hopefully for your return and want to do as much as we can in the time being. We love you. Amen.

Labels: Jesus

This is my favorite post to write every year. There's some slightly embarrassing proof that I've been doing this since Junior High. It's nice to have an outlet for it now. I really can't remember a better year for music in the past 15 years. I had a really hard time narrowing down what I thought was absolutely essential this year, and my top five is more or less interchangeable. If you see something you don't know, MySpace, HypeMachine, Elbo.ws and YouTube will probably have you covered. Check back later and I'll add some links to places where you can hear the albums or download a song or two. I'll post a top 25 songs list sometime soon as well. Happy listening!

25. !!! - Myth Takes
There are about five or six tracks on this album that make me want to get up off my chair and dance. And for those of you who know me, that's a high compliment. Only when I'm home alone of course. !!!, thanks for providing any peeping neighbors with hours of amusement.





24. Menomena - Friend & Foe
There are a ton of ideas infused in each song on Friend and Foe, and all of those elements add up to something creative and utterly fresh.

Download: "The Pelican" (via Pitchfork)





23. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
Singer/songwriter isn't my genre of choice, but I really dug Jose's trips into simple, sometimes brooding beauty.







22. Free the Robots - Free the Robots EP
It's jazzy, funky, soulful and just plain fun.








21. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Once Soundtrack
It's hard to hear this album apart from the movie, as it captures the street musician creates a raw anthem spilling over with creativity and passion, but I suspect that it works even if you haven't seen it. Do note that if you see Once, you're going to want to spend ten bucks to have the soundtrack immediately, so you might as well pick both of them up on your next Target run.



20. Thomas Fehlmann - Honigpumpe
This is electronica served just as I like it - minimal but warm. Fans of the genre should give it a listen.







19. Justice - t (cross)
I don't know how to sell this album any other way than this: "Do the D.A.N.C.E., 1, 2, 3, 4 fight. Stick to the B.E.A.T., get ready to ignite." Awesome. If these guys are Jesus-people, and everything about their titling tendencies point that direction, I'm hoping they get to DJ most of the parties in Heaven.

Download: "D.A.N.C.E." (via Pitchfork)


18. Rahsaan Patterson - Wines & Spirits
The best R&B album of the year. Each track has its own influences, but Rahsaan makes each one of them his own. If you like R&B even a little, seek it out.






17. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
There's not a bad track on here, and its best moments ("No Cars Go", "Keep the Car Running") hold their own with everything on Funeral, good enough for a top 20 spot.

Download: "No Cars Go" (via PopMatters)
Download: "Keep The Car Running" (via PopMatters)



16. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back
Mavis' record of contemporary spins on protest songs that she mastered back in the day (as the lead Staples sister) is moving, passionate and still capable of mobilizing people to change the world. This is also the best worship music I've heard this year.





15. Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
One of the best rap albums I've heard in years. The beats and music are choice, his voice is confident and distinct without being over the top, and it rewards multiple listens. Oh, and it's a ton of fun. Like, Tribe fun. As with Rahsaan, if you like hip hop even a little bit, seek it out.





14. The Ike Reilly Assassination - We Belong to the Staggering Evening
It's no doubt indebted to a host of influences, but never once does it feel like Ike Reilly is ripping someone off. He and his band are having the time of their lives writing contemporary send-offs and the occasional protest song disguised in a shawl of irony. They're from Chicago but they deserve to be known throughout the country. What a blast.

Download: "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" (via PopMatters)

13. SoCalled - Ghettoblaster
His basic, unorthodox formula is to combine hip hop elements with Klezmer and Jewish cantor music. What makes this such a beautiful marriage is that he obviously loves and knows both of those pieces so intimately. It's the most original music I've heard this year. Listen to "You Are Never Alone" and proceed to purchase the album.

Download: "You Are Never Alone" (via PopMatters)


12. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
55 minutes of pulse-thumping ecstasy, with "All My Friends" and "Someone Great" right in the middle, taking it to another place. LCD brings it.






11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
It's at once deeply confessional and personal, and also completely over the top. They take on many personas (my favorite being Prince after a bad breakup) to tell their story. They get funky, they get intense, and on "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," they sink their claws into you and don't let go for almost 12 cathartic minutes.

Download: "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" (via Pitchfork)
Download: "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" (left click)


10. Burial - Untrue
It's atmospheric but not removed from this planet. This is music for walks in the rain in urban America. It's detached but somehow you get completely immersed. To wit, it beckons you to enter into its world, with its spiral staircases, its flying choirs and its cavernous tree houses, and then it gets under your skin and you want to stay there.

Download: "Ghost Hardware" (left click) (via IODA)


9. Ned Collette - Future Suture
When all was said and done, Ned created my favorite album of 2006, the one that I played the most this year, and one that continues to grow on me. This is another grower, more so than last time, but the songs eventually reveal a beauty where, once you see it, it's hard to turn away. Stick with it. It's rewarding.




8. Pantha du Prince - This Bliss
It's an electronic album that I imagine would play as well in a warehouse as your headphones, only it constantly morphs into new shapes and ideas instead of lingering in atmosphere where so many recent electronica albums linger ad nauseam. And by using the same musical palette for the entire album, he develops a musical language that goes deeper than most wordless albums can go, especially ones created on a computer. I get lost in this music.


7. John Vanderslice - Emerald City
The crunch of his guitar ("White Dove") is tempered by his simple harmonies, the compelling percussion ("The Minaret") and his general songwriting skills and wordcraft. I love this album more each time I hear it.

Download: "White Dove" (via Vanderslice's Official Site)



6. Feist - The Reminder
Sometimes when I'm listening to The Reminder, I forget that I'm not sitting in Leslie Feist's living room.







5. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Andrew Bird got more cohesive, but no less daring. He put the guitars at the forefront to give the album some broad connecting tissue, and cut down on the wordplay, but upped the passion and heat. Andrew and his partners in crime absolutley cook on this record. I've listened to this at least once a week for the better part of a year, and it kicks off five albums that could've been #1.

Download: "Heretics" (via PopMatters)


4. Marco Mahler - Design in Quick Rotation
I've had this on pretty steady repeat since I first heard it. Some might argue that since I first heard this in December, it doesn't deserve to be in the top five, but I actually think that if I had heard this six months ago it'd be even higher. This makes the winter a little warmer. The eleven tracks are diverse in just the right ways, all sharing a lullaby quality that is sure to stir you and warm your heart. I love the lyrics, I love the fingerplay, I love the small choices he makes to flesh out his music without sacrificing any of the intimacy. I'm captivated.

Download: "Design in Quick Rotation"


3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
If it looks like a gimmick and smells like a gimmick, make sure it's not Radiohead before you draw conclusions. In the midst of pricing innovations, web sites, webcasts, discboxes and general hype, it's nice to know that they are still making some of the most original and challenging music out there. And even though they're arguably getting more accessible in their old age, the quality of their music is at an ethereal high.


2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Critics like to use words to describe Spoon like 'economical' or 'efficient'. I think a better word is subtle. They leave space in their music for you to claim. It's your little cave where you can curl up and tap your feet happily. Spoon is one of my two favorite bands and this is the best introduction to them I can think of. So, if you haven't yet picked it up, allow me to recommend, without reservation, the absurdly titled (say it like machine gun fire) Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

Download: "The Underdog" (via PopMatters)


1. The National - Boxer
You know that part of the day just before dawn when the sky is a gorgeous but ominous shade of blue? If you listen to "Ada" at that specific moment, you'll have a clear sense that everything is going to be okay. This is the soundtrack to late night drives, after work train rides and all of the pensive moments of our lives. Each song builds to the next, with Matt Berninger's baritone playing tour guide and Bryan Devendorf's drums taking every song to a higher level, to the point where even when he drops out of the picture entirely, you feel his presence, a phantom conductor leading you into the wee hours of the morning. In one of the best years of music that I can remember, nothing bested this. It's perfect.

Download: "Fake Empire" (via BeggarsGroup)

What'd I miss?

Related: Best Songs

Labels: bestof2007, Favorites, music

Sunday night was amazing. Alas, I'm several days late on this one. Mary's song is so full of life and joy, and its many layers will no doubt inspire something different every time it is read. Be blessed...

Week One: Hope
Week Two: Peace
Week Three: Joy
Week Four: Love

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Luke 1:46-55 (NKJV)

It's been quite a day, so I may come back and post some thoughts later, but for now, here are the scriptures I've been thinking about this week. I keep coming back to Isaiah 2:4. We get a picture of the last days, where people "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks". I haven't been able to shake this question: What are my swords and spears, and how I could use all of the skills, energy and emotion I expend in a way that cultivates life?

Blessings to all of you.

Week One: Hope
Week Two: Peace
Week Three: Joy
Week Four: Love

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Isaiah 2:2-5 (NIV)

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD.
Psalm 146:5-10 (ESV)

Labels: Jesus

Every time I sit down to write something on my blog, I have really good intentions of writing something of substance, but I almost always end up writing something, published or not, about music or television. I'm not sure I've ever actually posted about television, save for a year-end list once, but something I saw this morning made me want to devote some space to television. That link will come at the end.

I like episodic television. More than movies even. It's a writer's medium - unlike a movie where great directors can cover up a lousy script and the best actors can make a bad script worth watching, the shows that are remembered are generally well-written and written with devotion and passion (great casting and direction certainly can push a show into that all-time category). I love following characters through well-developed arcs and watching them grow and mature (or not mature). I love the mythology that some shows develop over time. And I love the cliffhangers, the game-changing reveals, and just everything that's unique to a story lovingly told over many years. The reason I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was younger - the moment it went from fun-little-kid dream to maybe-i-actually-want-to-do-this dream - was entirely due to a television series. And when I was writing scripts in high school and college, I was predominantly writing for television - following one set of characters over 20-80 hours or so.

For me the best shows all share two broad qualities, regardless of genre. First, you're compelled to watch every time there's a new episode - maybe because you are so excited to see what happens next, or because the laughs are so consistent. Second, you can watch the best shows over and over again - often catching something new, or just paying closer attention to the jokes now that you're not concerned about what happens next (The Office benefits from re-watching more than any other current show).

Now that we're in the NetFlix/Blockbuster Online era, it's somewhat more realistic to recommend television shows. So many of the best shows are at their best when you watch from the beginning, and that's more doable now (unfortunately, a bunch of the best shows have been on HBO and feel a need to be different than network shows - and most do it in, um, not-so creative ways). There are a host of shows that I've been borderline-addicted to over the years, but if I had to choose a top five favorites, it'd have to be a top six, and it would have to include:


6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Now that it's widely acclaimed as one of the most important shows of the modern era of television, I feel better about sharing this on my blog: I went out of my way every week to see this show. The story of a teenage girl just wanting to be a teenage girl but instead being drafted into this strange world where she is responsible for constantly saving the world, and her friends, as much for a sense of belonging as for devotion to their friend, come along for the ride. Season one is fun, but it really found its voice in season two. There are plenty of good stand-alone episodes, but the reason it was required viewing was the season-long story arcs, the development of the three main characters, and especially the way it was juxtaposing vampires and all things vampire-hunting with high school. A show about a vampire slayer shouldn't be one of the most important commentaries on growing up in America, but that's exactly what it ended up being.


5. The Sopranos - There were blips along the way (the entire fourth season and the 'first half' of the sixth season were mostly forgettable), but this show sustained an incredibly deep level of storytelling for almost a decade. The main characters demanded your sympathies and like all the good mafia movies, their world was glamorized, but the show's creator, David Chase, never let you forget how evil and warped their world truly was, and he regularly dismantled the characters and made you rethink your loyalties. It was beautifully orchestrated with a collection of maybe the finest acting ever to grace the small screen. This was a morality tale, and a complicated one at that. And if you were watching so you could see who got killed next, you were watching for the wrong reasons. Now that it's on A&E, you can watch it sans most of the vulgarity and debauchery, although, be warned, it's still a show about a violent and entitled mafia boss and his family.


4. My So-Called Life - The aforementioned show that made me want to be a screenwriter. When this show was first on, I taped them all and would play them until the tape wore out. It spoke to me. The characters were flawed. The ones we rooted for would make bad choices (and the occasional good ones). It was tragic, poignant, charming, and the characters were so real and complex, that when they canceled it after one season, there was a real sense of loss from the fans, because this show was helping people make sense of chaos. It was years ahead of its time, even though nothing has nailed high school as well as MSCL. Even if the exact circumstances looked nothing like your high school experience, surely you will recognize the emotions, which were never exploited, but instead were resonant and redeeming.


3. Arrested Development - It's been five years and we still quote this show several times each week. It just keeps getting better every time I watch it too. This is the type of show where they set up jokes early in season one that they would pay off late in season two, and it would make every episode in between take on a whole new life once they did. Every scene was so jam-packed with little gags, that after watching each episode at least a half-dozen times, I was still catching things for the first time. It was so skillfully crafted, the writing and acting was so brilliant, that I don't think any comedy will ever best it. I really don't know how to talk about this show without going into 'Chris Farley Show' territory where I say a quote and then collapse into hyperbole about how great said quote was. The price keeps going down at Amazon and Target, so there are less and less reasons for you to avoid it.


2. Lost - Prior to May, I wouldn't have been ready to put this on my all-time list. There was too much potential that they didn't know where they were going, or that they'd stretch it out for years and years. Then they announced that they're doing 48 more episodes over three seasons of 16 episodes and that's it. Now they get to cut the fat and tell the story they want to tell. When the show returned after a meandering first six episodes of season three, it became clear that they knew where they were going from day one. The show got this swagger that it wore well. After all of the moaning and complaining about the running in place, we were finally going somewhere. And then the season finale of season three happened and it changed everything and we were all utterly convinced that this is going to be worth devoting Wednesday nights to for the next several years. No show has rewarded the time you spend with it more than Lost. Clues are everywhere, and they all add up to something. There are probably a hundred reasonable theories on what will happen next. I'm emotionally invested in almost every character, and the shows two greatest strengths (Benjamin Linus & John Locke) appear to be on the verge of 48 mind-blowing episodes. Unfortunately the writer's strike might mean we only get eight episodes of Lost in 2008. That may drive me (and millions more) crazy. This is the show I'm most compelled to watch out of anything that I've ever seen. Wednesday evenings are an event.


1. The Wire - After the umpteenth "Greatest Show Ever" review, I hijacked a trial NetFlix membership and wailed on these DVDs. It's the unbelievable tale of the Baltimore crime scene - the police and the criminals and the politicians. It spends equal time with all three, creating this complex world where the good guys become bad guys and the bad guys occasionally become good guys. It's a show that always remains real, and never goes for the easy hook. And it's told (masterfully) like a novel. Often times an hour will go by and you'll wonder if anything just happened (not that you weren't enthralled at every turn, just that this is a different type of television show). The first ten episodes often exist for the final two or three (and going back to rewatch them is all the better because of it). In season four, it went to an even higher level when it went into the schools and followed four boys over the course of the year, and showed you exactly how the cycle keeps repeating.

This isn't a show where you wait in hope of a happy ending. The writers are former members of the press, the police force and the schools in Baltimore. They're telling a story that is based on the actual reality they experienced and are experiencing. They threw out the book of television clichés (which all of my other top six were guilty of at one point or another). I'm convinced that season four was the best twelve hours of television ever crafted, putting it right up there with the best movies and books and plays and every other work of fiction. Which creates high expectations for the fifth and final season - ten episodes starting in January. Which brings me back to the beginning - today they posted three shorts on Amazon.com that aren't precursors to season five, but do provide some background on some of the shows main characters - Prop Joe, McNulty & Bunk, and the greatest character the show has created, Omar. As a warning, it's an HBO show, and so there's some swearing in the shorts.

There was a teaser promo for season five they released a few months ago that, for all of the devotees of The Wire, had us at the edge of our seats constantly recounting how much time we had to wait for the premiere. That this simple and somewhat gloomy promo inspired me to verbally express my excitement while home alone in our living room should give you an idea of how great this show is. Amazon recently had a crazy-big Monday-after-Thanksgiving sale on every season so thanks to some birthday money, I'd be glad to host a viewing party for anyone who is interested. (If anyone has HBO and is a fan - we don't, so seeing the episodes will be tricky. Hence, I'm looking for a friend to watch them with - I'll buy the snacks).

So there you have it, hundreds of hours of entertainment recommended by yours truly.

Labels: Favorites, Other