5. Spoon – “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
7/10 on Merge
Metacritic: 84
Q: 80
Pitchfork: 85
Britt Daniel and Jim Eno have come miles from "The Way We Get By" in only two albums. From lo-fi GBV-like material, the songwriting/production duo have grown into studio geniuses pumping out pop gems approaching the order of 21st century Brian Wilsons. Finally working with a full compliment of bells and whistles, Spoon shine like never before. It is hard to find a weak moment and finding strong ones is only a drop of the needle away. Opener "Don't Make Me a Target" and closer "Black Like Me" are especially fine. Provided you're the kind of listener that tires of endless hooks and Daniel's sometimes sluggish vocals, the 56 minute record drags on a bit. An optimist might see "Five Gas" as "more to love". Certainly, one of the year's best. The mind reels at the thought of their upcoming European tour with Explosions in the Sky.
-RJR
4. Jens Lekman – “Night Falls Over Kortedala”
10/9 on Secretly Canadian
Metacritic: 80
Q: 40
Pitchfork: 90
Have you heard? Phil Spector and Brian Wilson had a lovechild. They named it Jens. And now it writes music. Really fantastic music. Many people were rightly put off by Lekman’s previous record, “Oh, You’re So Silent, Jens”. It was just so...barren. On “Night Falls”, Lekman has made up for this shortcoming with interest. Lekman paints with broad sonic strokes as far as instrumentation is concerned, employing brass and strings to do the bulk of the labour. Lekman pulls liberally from a wide variety of genres, and this is where many lesser artists would falter. But his experience from “Oh, You’re So Silent” serves him well in this respect; Lekman refuses to be overwhelmed and proportions his various influences masterfully. He deftly, effortlessly adds dashes of doo-wop, jazz, and classical to his mixture. But the critical aspect of this record, ultimately, is Lekman’s command of melody. Into the panoramic arrangements Lekman weaves intricate melodies with pinpoint precision, aware of every note and every lyric. This is not to say that the melodies are overly complex, just that every note has a purpose (or at least sounds like it does, and that’s hard to fake). Despite all this (or maybe owing to it), “Night Falls” is not for everyone. The Phil Spector schtick is laid on a bit thick at times, and while some (this contributor among them) find that endearing, others might find it trite or contrived. But as a straight ahead piece of music, like it or not, “Night Falls Over Kortelada” commands our attention and respect.
-PTC
2. Okkervil River – “The Stage Names”
8/7 on Jagjaguwar
Metacritic: 82
Q: 80
Pitchfork: 87
The surprise success of this year. Releases from Spoon, Modest Mouse, The White Stripes were bound to be winners, but Will Sheff's self-professed "mid-level band" have stumbled between mediocrity and genius for a couple of albums now. "Black Sheep Boy" had moments of greatness, but rambled too much. "The Stage Names" is the epitome of consistency, never getting sloppy or bloated. Okkervil River are playing as a tight-knit group and for the first time not just keeping time for the vocals. And Sheff cements himself as a great modern pop lyricist in the vein of Colin Meloy, John Darnielle, and Jeff Mangum. His characters are complex and witty, if a little road-weary. "Plus Ones" and "John Allyn Smith Sails" are the year's great inside jokes. Jim Eno's hand in production is evident enough, but OR carry more gravitas and are a little less eager to please than Eno's full-time band.
-RJR
2. The National – “Boxer”
5/22 on Beggars Banquet
Metacritic: 86
NME: 70
Pitchfork: 86
Very few people knew who these Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati rockers were before this year. “Alligator” was hailed by critics as a grower and in some cases even a masterpiece, but many listeners were unconvinced of this band’s merit (though this blogger was not among them). “Boxer” has all but completely silenced the skeptics. Lush instrumentation (anchored by Bryan Devendorf’s stellar drumming) coupled with Matt Berninger’s smoky, quietly tortured vocals weaves bleak, heart-breakingly beautiful tales of urban-corporate malaise. The National have returned to their (slightly) more expanded instrumental palette: this album features more acoustic guitar than “Alligator” did (a reversion to their earlier work), along with brass and strings (the latter arranged by Padma Newsome). Whether you’re talking about the insistent pound and grind of “Mistaken for Strangers,” the achingly beautiful “Slow Show” - a song which boasts the best coda of the century - or the droning melancholy of “Ada,” this album is a wondrous achievement from a band that has only begun to discover itself. Berninger’s lyrics shine as some of the best penned this year (with the exception of the embarrassing “Racing Like A Pro”). This is a complex, untraditional, thematically sprawling concept album: Berninger’s concerns are not of a sinister government or an oil war (though those things may concern him, I don’t know), but of something far more significant: a populace crippled by apathy, by a total lack of agency or ambition: “we’ll stay inside ‘til somebody finds us / do whatever the TV tells us.” These fears prove far more moving than the run of the mill anti-war, “Fuck the Republicans and fuck this war” rant, it forces us to look at something we don’t look at often enough: ourselves.
-PTC
1. Radiohead – “In Rainbows”
self-released on 10/10
Metacritic: 89
BBC: 90
Pitchfork: 93
There is little more to be said about "In Rainbows" from a critical point of view. I am so taken with its charms that rather than review it, I'd rather use my time to hasten its canonisation. Not since I began to think about music in a substantive way has an album come out this excellent. It's almost certainly the best album since the release of Radiohead's own "OK Computer". It made every other album this year look like child's play. The year's only other musical, nay, cultural event of similar magnitude was the Daft Punk world tour, tickets for which climbed into the hundreds of dollars. "In Rainbows" could be yours for free. Or $80. Or $15. Turning on critics complaining that the songs were just recycled "OK Computer"-era demos and questioning their relevance, Radiohead set the bar impossibly high for every other artist and listener. Let's hope they spill the beans on World Tour 2008.
-RJR
I’ll spare you the prologue (it would be lengthy, believe me). The latest release from the most influential and important band of our generation leaves next to nothing to be desired. This record is quite simply stunning from beginning to end. From the 5/4 stomp of “15 Step” to the final piano chords of the stunning closing track “Videotape,” this exceptional record grabs the listener and holds on with a vice-like grip. Radiohead has given us the gift of the most cohesive, uniformly spectacular album we’ve seen all year. This album shows a return to basics, but it is a move motivated by artistic vision, not necessity. The exceptional “Faust Arp” is a quick acoustic number that would have made The Beatles weak in the knees. “Reckoner” supports a relatively simplistic musical motif, weaving a gossamer guitar line between stark piano. Indeed, this standout track exemplifies the sort of maturity that Radiohead have arrived at: they are sophisticated as always, but on “In Rainbows,” they leave the listener to discover the nuances him or herself, which makes for a far more satisfying listening experience. Radiohead has learned the value of economy on this album. It is a far more frugal effort than any of their other albums. The band feels no need to overtly reinforce the profundity of the meaning this album bears. On “OK Computer” and “Kid A,” Radiohead showed signs of a certain breed of insecurity: their music was meaningful because it was difficult to access, but there was a lot behind it once you finally managed to sort it out. On “In Rainbows,” the music is meaningful because Radiohead knows it is. It is the sort of record that only the greatest band in the world can release. Simply put, “In Rainbows” is the closest thing this year - and maybe this century - to flawless.
-PTC
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