The Internet, for better or worse, is a great experiment in democracy, giving everyone a critical soapbox to shout from. That can be a wonderful thing, but it does make for a daunting number of year-end “Best Of” lists. Certain artists appeared with predictable regularity: M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Panda Bear, Arcade Fire and The National all got ample amounts of love. We’ve sorted through the web’s detritus to come up with a handful of our favorite lists, from the mainstream to the underground and the just plain bizarre.
And if the following links don't quite satiate your need for meta-list craziness, check out the archival work of those
gracious overachievers over at Largehearted Boy.
Built on a Weak Spot Top 20: Some lesser known picks from the experimental, electronic and noise rock camps. No.1 goes to weird and wonderful Oxbow, and there’s also shout outs to fellow Hydra Head labelmates The Austerity Program, plus Ulrich Schnauss and Clockcleaner.
Best of World Music: NPR points us to Afropop.org’s rundown. Classic world music icons (Youssou N’Dour, Caetano Veloso) share space with crossover hits (Tinariwen) and reissues, like the fantastic “The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru.”
Mister Thistles' Top 50: Eclectic Best Of for musical polymaths, with some obscure nuggets, including Tim Hecker’s ambient atmospherics, Marnie Stern’s chaotic shredding, and Yeasayer’s world music bounce.
The Best Country Albums of 2007: For Country Universe, this was the year that the domain of the good ol’ boys gained an increasingly feminine touch. Lucinda Williams, LeAnn Rimes, Suzy Bogguss, Miranda Lambert, Pam Tillis and more made the cut.
2007 Hottest Canadian Bands: This list is refreshingly honest, like when we learn that Crystal Castles can be “grating and pretentious,” but also well worth a listen. Plus Tokyo Police Club -- a buzz band that made barely a ripple on any other Best Of lists -- gets their due.
Best Music Technology of 2007: XLR8R presents a survey of the gadgets and software that helped change the face of music-making, from Ableton Live 6 ("it makes me weep tears of joy") to the Boss DD-6 effect pedal.
Best of Rap 2007: Cocaine Blunts provides a definite list of rap's finest -- "if you disagree, then you're wrong" -- that includes UGK, Lil Wayne, Ghostface and more.
Andrew WK's Filter Favorites: First there’s the shameless self-promotion, naming an album he produced (Sightings) and played on (To Live and Shave in L.A.); then he tosses in Lil’ Wayne and recent W.K. collaborator Lee “Scratch” Perry. The real headscratcher is Hanson’s “The Walk”—who knew W.K. was not only a fan, but an occasional songwriting partner?
BETA: Because plenty of stuff was terrible in 2007, BETA gets pessimistic (and incendiary) with it’s Worst Albums rundown, including both the new Stooges and critical fave , Feist.
Also worth your perusal are Best Of lists from Gorilla Vs. Bear, Paste magazine and Said the Gramaphone, plus this survey of hip-hop mixtapes from PLAY's own Chris Ryan.
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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