Favorites from 2007

Music has been my true lifelong passion. My relationship with music predates running and fills in the brief gap in my life where I was too involved with extra curricular activities in college and I did not run. In the past few years, my relationship with music has evolved to a point where I no longer try to own or listen to EVERYTHING, just everything. I gave up being a running "snob," insisting that all runs must be done to the sounds of the world. Now I run with my iPod about 70-80% of the time. Why keep apart my passions?

My wife will still insist that I am a music "snob," but it is tough to slough off that title after years of playing in bands, working at a community/college radio station and independent used record store. I'm not a music snob, I just have a more refined musical pallate and I know more about music than the average person. Some people talk wine, some people dream fashion. I breathe music.

Introduction aside, I have decided to post my favorite albums from 2007. These are not the "best," and I am not going to rank them. They are just the albums I enjoyed thoroughly, and I am presenting them in alphabetical order. These albums are pretty relevant to my marathon training as they have accompanied me through many workouts in the past months. These albums are all over the Blogosphere and on various best of lists, so ultimately, my list is not too original. However, I think that says something about these albums!

!!! (Chk, Chk, Chk) - Myth Takes. How many runs was I on when "Bend Over Beethoven" came on and I did an 8 minute interval without realizing it??? More than thrice.
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam. I still haven't figured this album out.
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible. Along with Spoon, the best "rock" album of the year. I don't get tired of this album.
Battles - Mirrored. Modern Prog-Rock, pristine sound, and fun. Battles are carrying the torch of "POST" rock and making it very interesting.
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup. Not on this album is one of the best tracks of the year "Elephant Gun," available on the Lon Gisland EP. Beautiful Melodies over a mishmash of horns, strings and ukulele. Beirut is mainly one man, Zach Condon.
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity. This came out at the beginning of the year. It is tight, noisy and no one else sounds like Deerhoof.
Iron and Wine - The Song of the Shepherds Dog. Iron and Wine are a full band now, but it is still Sam Beam's voice and lyrics that make us shiver.
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver. Will anything be worth listening to in 2008? Depends on if LCD Soundsystem gives us another album. Let's hope for one. It's dance music you can rock out to; no it's rock music you can dance to. "Get innocuous" is one of my favorites from '07 what with its sloppy ride cymbals and Kraftwerk robot synths.
Jens Lekman - Night Falls over Kortedala. I don't know what is more impressive, that this the music on the album is made up of mostly samples or that you can sing along to the whole thing. This brings the Sweden count to 1.
Liars - Liars. I grew up loving Sonic Youth, so I have to love this album.
M.I.A. - KALA. This may be my favorite album of the year. It may also be one of the most socially important. And you can dance to it.
Panda Bear - Person Pitch. Like the Animal Collective, I have not figured out what makes this so great yet, it is engrossing headphone music.
Powerhouse Sound - Oslo/Chicago: (((breaks))). My favorite Jazz album of the year. Ken Vandermark is the saxophonist/leader.
Radiohead - In Rainbows. They are the Beatles of my generation? Popular and really good at the same time? NPR thinks so. The music speaks for itself.
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Along with MIA, my other favorite of the year. A lot has been said about it. Do you have a favorite track? I do, it's "The Underdog."

Other Notables:
- the song "Other Girls" by Tigercity - this is my favorite song from 2007 and my play counter agrees. Some combination of Cheap Trick and Prince make up this song. Perfect Power Pop!
- No Wilco on my best of 2007 List: they sound too much like the Eagles. I hate the Eagles. The songs are good and Nels Cline is awesome. But why do they have to sound like the Eagles so much? Thank you Nels Cline for rewarding my repeated listens.
- Giraffes?Giraffes! - Friends Ken and Joe released an awesome album available here http://www.lovesinheatrecords.com/ It is very good.
- 2007, the year I made peace with Fleetwood Mac: Tusk is a great album. They were a good band. There I said it.
- Jay-Z. American Gangster. I like this album. A lot. One of my favorite tracks of the year is from this album, the track is called "Ignorant S***."
- One of my other favorite tracks from the year is from Bruce Springsteen's latest album, Magic, which is a very solid effort from the Boss. "Living in the Future" is a great track for running to and I use it during repeats on the local indoor track. There are maybe one or two tracks on Magic that keep it from being one of the best of the year, but it does not disappoint!

Ok, it is getting late. I am tired. I have to run tomorrow. As I've said, I'll be peppering this blog with some music thoughts. I write better when not in list form, so hopefully it will be more focused. It will also be related to my running because I get most of my best listening done when I run.

Thanks for reading. Check out some of the other DFMC blogs I have discovered!!!