2007 Rewind Selecta: Music Won't Exist In 2008

Last week I assembled a somewhat decent list for my best of picks and Vivian from Redefine asked me to assemble a similar list. I used some of the discs that I choose from my original list, but it also got me thinking, "How many records have come out this year that I initially liked, do I still listen to?" The answer: not many.

Music, in general, has become a pretty disposable commodity, to the point where I'm selling off CDs that I've probably enjoyed at one point or another. Much of what I've been listening to lately is stuff that I haven't heard in a while, or ignored when it was released. Right now it's the fourth quarter, which means this is the time when labels are releasing the surefire hits to hedge their numbers. How many CDs have I purchased in the fourth quarter: 1. And it was a release from the fall. I didn't even bother to go out to get "American Gangster." Honestly, the only record that I would pay for is Ghostface's "Big Doe Rehab," everything else will probably end up in a $.99 bin. I have this sinking feeling that next years best list will be a littel shorter than this year's.

2007 Rewind Selecta: The Hits

I don't care if it's still early December, I'm going to write one of these arbitrary lists now and get it over with, that way, when other blogs are just straight blasting motherfuckers with the same Matador/Def Jux/Barsuk releases, I'll seem that much more of a trailblazer. Believe that.

Best Records of 07 (in no particular order):

Dawhud, "Basement Sessions" (Self-Released)
This fucking jam has been the most heavily rotated hip-hop record of the year...and I've only had it since the summer time. Even if I didn't know Dawhud, I'd still go out and buy this CD. Seriously. That's how good it is. The last time I heard a hip-hop album this cohesive and well put together? Maybe "Supreme Clientele." Maybe.

Broadway Calls, "Broadway Calls" (State of Mind)
These dudes get a lot of comparisons to Jawbreaker, but I'd say they're more like a non-shittier version of Green Day; maybe "Kerrplunk"-era.

Tegan & Sara, "The Con" (Sire/Vapor)
I think I wrote more about this band than I really needed to, but whatever. The record is better than that Paramore shite.

DJ Babu, "The Beat Tape Vol.1" (Nature Sounds)
Though each song is roughly a minute and a half long, Babu's instrumental album was pretty thorough and an easy listen from start to end. I know he didn't win the Big Tune Beat Battle, but I'd seriously like to see Sabzi come correct with a full-on wordless album and see how it fairs compared to this legend's run at it.

Alicia Keys, "As I Am" (J)
I just reviewed this shit last week.

Say Anything, "In Defense of the Genre" (J)
I'm hesistantly putting this up on the list. I've heard it a few times and while I'll venture out and say that the first disc is stronger than the second, I think that as a songwriter, Max Bemis is getting better and better. He's lyrically more interesting than half the bands that get featured on message board sites and I'm curious to see what comes out of his mouth on the next record.

Boys Night Out, "Boys Night Out" (Ferret)
Just a fun pop record to listen to.

Scott Storch featuring Nox, "Built Like That" (Self-Released)
Probably the worst diss record of all time, it's still halfway entertaining to hear Scotty Storch rap. It's the same carwreck reaction that people had that made William Hung one of the best selling "American Idol" contestants.

Amy Winehouse, "Back To Black" (Universal)
I know, I know. She's coked up as fuck and "Rehab" is probably the most played out song since "In da Club," but dude, have you heard the record in its entirity? That shit is amazing.

Crime In Stereo, "Crime In Stereo Is Dead" (Bridge Nine)
I also reviewed this last week, but I actually made the effort to buy it from a store. That's how much I liked it.

Deejay Om, "Reheated Naan and Curry" (G4)
This is a few months old but it's still fire.

Little Brother, "Getback" (ABB)
I was a little reluctant to hear Phonte and Pooh without 9th Wonder, but you know what? This new record actually bangs harder than "The Minstrel Show." No disrespect to 9th, but damn. Maybe they should've cut homedude from the roster years ago.

Manchester Orchestra, "I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child" (Red Ink)
A breathtaking album that openly criticizes organized religion from a band that is neither from Manchester, nor an orchestra.

triumphing over adversity: the shitty year we called 2006

2006, the 2K6, 2 grand seis, two dot dot nickel plus one. It was mostly bullshit. At least as pop culture was concerned.

We were dumbed down with the likes of "Survivor: Race War," a shittier season of "America's Next Top Model," and a full-length album by the world's most famous DNA Dumpster. Yep, just another year in America.

Even with all that crappy shit, Chasing Coolness still got to have fun at the expensive of overhyped shitbags like Lady Sovereign, The Rock, and Clay Aiken. I also got to constantly write about the new Brand New album, even though they had Interscope's money behind them.
Other notable things that will end up on a VH-1 "I Love the..." special: Snakes on a Plane, Weezer's break-up, Evertan Lohan's short-lived DJ career.

What's to look forward in the year I'll dub, "tha two-thou siete?" Probably more of the same ol' shite. With that said (as if anything could save this rather lazy post), I'll leave you with a video that best encapsulates the year:

2006: The Hits

Last year around this time, my main man Joel H, wrote that it was tiny and meaningless to compile a best of list. I wholeheartedly agree with the man, yet I'm compelled to do it because part of being a music writer is to validate your existence by authoring such meaningless lists. And honestly, how many GD lists do I have to read before I fully comprehend that nearly every pop culture blogger LOVED that Jenny Lewis solo record [1]? More than anything, though, I just really like writing lists. Onward, good fellows!

Fave Wrekordz ov 2006 (in no particular order):

Blackpool Lights "This Town's Disaster"
Ex-Get Up Kid guitarist/singer Jim Suptic hits you over the head with that mid-west rock that we love so much. Word to the Replacements.

Rhymefest "Blue Collar"
Spotty in some parts, former Moleman and Kanye West ghostwriter goes for self and succeeds.

Nump "The Numpyard"
It transcends the Hyphy subgenre and is probably the most overlooked record on this list.

Brand New "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me"

Broadway Calls "Call the Medic We're Begging Please"
Sounding like Dear You-era Jawbreaker, Oregon's Broadway Calls is almost all politics and no bullshit.

Saves the Day "Sound the Alarm"/"Bug Sessions"

The Game "Doctor's Advocate"

Kero One "Windmills of the Soul"
In a Victory Records-type description, it's Christian Rap meets The Nonce in some wacky way.

Leigh Nash "Blue on Blue"

Matchbook Romance "Voices"
Shedding the emo tag, MBR goes for broke on a somewhat dense sounding album.

Maritime "We, the People"
Best pop album of the year.

Apathy "Eastern Philosophy"

Cut Chemist "The Audience is Listening"
Turntablism returns? You betcha.

Sinking Ships "Disconnecting"
Hardcore's return to form.

2006 Rewind: The World Went Crazy for the Gnarls

Roughly about a year ago, I read that Goodie Mobber Cee-Lo was collaborating with Danger Mouse on a project called Gnarls Barkley. This idea amused me for about two minutes, then I moved onto the next thing.

A few months later I heard "Crazy" and I knew that people were going to love it. I knew I was going to despise it.

After "St. Elsewhere" dropped, I didn't hear much about Gnarls Barkley. I heard and read a lot of press about the duo leading up to the release, but it didn't really have a lasting effect like, let's say, Gwen Stefani's "Love Angel Music Baby."

I still think that Gnarls Barkley sucks, but I think that they're a good respresentation of how music is today. People go hillbilly apecrap over it for a few months, then drop them like Britney Spears drops her kids.

Who will be the next disposable high profile act of the new year? Probably the Hold Steady, though I'd also put my money on Fall Out Boy's new album selling poorly as well.

2006 Rewind: When the Eems Started Dancing

The trend of all the emo/pop-punk/hardcore/screamo/stupid subgenre kids starting up nu-wave dance bands still continued to rage throughout the '06, which kind of makes you wonder when will these kids realize they've made a bad decision? I guess it's sort of like that girlfriend that you get all nostalgic about, even though you find all her little idiosyncracies so damn annoying and you can't wait to dump her. Ugh.

While last year brought us Head Automatica, The Killers and Panic at the Disco, 2006 shot us in our collective eardrums with Young Love (featuring Recover's Dan Keyes), Rock Kills Kid (who released a Jimmy Eat World-lite EP back in 2003), Plus 44, Shiny Toy Guns and many other disposable bands.

While I realize that the synthpop hits of The Killers and Postal Service reignited keyboard sales the last two years, there comes a time when we have to say enuff z'nuff. The Faint has been at this new wave revival for years and you know what? They're about a million times better than most of these bands. I'm writing this not to ride on the Saddle Creek coattails, but because it's merely a fact. "Danse Macabre" holds water not only as a pop record, but also as a socio-political album. I mean, if you're going to have a medium to speak your mind, you might as well say something meaningful, right?

I'm hoping that many of these dance bands will die out in 2007. Glassjaw (which is fronted by Head Automatica singer Daryl Palumbo) is taking another crack at hardcore for the new year and Good Charolette is releasing a dance/rap/rock record, which should pretty much murder the nu-wave movement all together. Here's to wishful thinking.

2006 Rewind: This Shitty Thing We Call Hip Hop

[For the next few days, I'll be revisiting some of 2006's most interesting (as well as not-so) opinions, thoughts as we look forward to rapping about inane pop culture in the new year.]

So it's December 8 and the new Nas record isn't out yet, and I'm actually kind of bummed.

I'm not debating on whether it's better than the new Jay-Z record; I know it's better than "Kingdom Come." For all its hype and the quotable mantra of Shawn Carter likening himself as the Michael Jordan of Rap, it's reflective of the direction that hip-hop has been going in the last few years: bloated, self-important, uninspired and, most importantly, a money making machine.

In my EMP Pop Music Conference submission, I go on about how modern hip-hop came to be because hip-hop fans who grew up in the 80's and 90's abandoned its major label counterparts once Diddy (then Puffy) and Master P's No Limit roster became the du jour emcees. Heads went to labels like ABB, Rawkus, Fat Beats, Ninja Tune and many others to get their fix, occasionally popping up when legends such as Pharaohe Monch began showing up in "Charlie's Angels" and whatnot. Eventually when the indie labels collapsed on themselves -- either through mismanagement or signing shitty rappers -- when looked to major label rap to make us remember why we love hip-hop in the first place.

And that's where we're at now. In 2006, we saw really terrible albums by Mobb Deep, Jay-Z, and Lady Sovereign, even a forgettable release by Ghostface Killah.

On this site, I've even ok'd albums that I probably wouldn't have in the past. I like The Game and Tha Dogg Pound, but I'm not crazy about them. In the numerous albums I've reviewed on this site and in print there are three (count 'em) albums that I enjoyed enough to even consider the best hip-hop records of the year: Cut Chemist's "The Audience is Listening," Rhymefest's "Blue Collar," and Nump's "The Numpyard."

Why is it that in 12 months of steady releases by notable emcees I could only find three discs worth talking about? Because we've lowered the standard for what we deem as acceptable hip-hop. The stuff we used to consider "okay" (Clipse, Cam'ron) is now "the best" and stuff that we'd consider shit back in the day (Lady Sov, MIA, Gym Class Heroes) is now listenable. Who the fuck decided that it was a good idea to take a step back?

All of this brings us back to Nas, the man whose latest offering, "Hip-Hop is Dead," I'm slowly waiting for. Not because I think it'll be as good as "Illmatic," but because like Nas himself, hip-hop fans have accepted that there will never be another "Illmatic." Only something that could be potentially pleasant.

album of the year? maybe?

Brand New
"The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me"
(Interscope)

The day is here. The arrival of the new Brand New album. Self-processed emo kids can finally breathe. And the album itself?

There's much to be said about the album that took nearly three years to be released. For one thing, following bands such as Switchfoot and Eisley, it's a decidedly very Christian rock album, particularly the imagery in the song "Jesus Christ," which has more to do with the iconography of the man and his message.

Then there's the vast stylistic growth from 2001's "Your Favorite Weapon" and 2003's "Deja Entendu." In a preview post from last week, I labeled the band's music as "bombastic, escapist pop" and now having heard the entire record, I think I may have coined some sort of review cliche to be used from here on out.

One of the most powerful elements of the band was their lyrics, which still appears to be as strong as before, but the music has gotten a complete overhaul. The aformentioned "Jesus Christ" has an intro that is basically lifted from Death Cab for Cutie's "Technicolor Girls;" "Not the Sun" is a faster ditty that refines the rapid punk moments of The Pixies. Yes there will be many comparisons to various bands that've shaped music culture within the last two decades, but Brand New has successfully borrowed from all of them.

At its musical core, "The Devil and God..." is a frantic album -- while loud and fast in some parts, it's quiet and reflective in others; it follows your standard pop trappings of catchy choruses, while other tracks have hardcore breakdowns. It's obvious that the guys in this band have a broader musical palette than your typical pop-punk fan.

In a lot of ways, this record will change the way that message board kids and Fall Out Boy rip off bands make music, just as "Deja Entendu" got them listening to Bright Eyes, "The Devil and God..." will cause a rise in pedal sales and dozens upon dozens of bands will cite Failure, Mineral and Owen as their primary influences, though they probably never heard of them before 2006.

Of course, my predictions could just all be hyperbole and I may be overpraising a record that I'll get sick of in a few months. But for this moment, this is the best album I've heard in a long time.