he seems a good egg. there's a couple of tracks on that record which sound uncannily like Neutral Milk Hotel, so much so, I concluded he must be a fan. there's no way anyone can accidentally sound like Jeff Mangum.

by the way, in case you didn't know (and I doubt anyone's interested) Elvis Perkins' dad was Anthony Perkins, Psycho himself; and his ma died in the 9/11 attqacks.

fact, bad luck fact fans.

Saw him supporting Willy Mason recently and he almost stole the show. Picked up his album after and love it. "While You Were Sleeping" is just awesome.

I think Caribou's "Andorra" is amazing... but "Boxer" to me seems on a totally different level from everything else out this year.

I feel the same way.

My top albums of 2007:

1. The National - Boxer
2. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8

then, in no order:
Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha
Feist: The Reminder
Bright Eyes: Cassadaga
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Stars: In Our Bedroom After the War

I have a strong feeling I'm missing an important one (I'm missing something...yeah I'm missing something...)

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Battles - Mirrored
Biffy Clyro - Puzzle
Kaddisfly - Set Sail The Prairie
Minus The Bear - Planet of Ice
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
The National - Boxer
The New Pornographers - Challengers
of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

not in order. But in alphabetical order.

i'm not getting the fuss about Mirrored. based on other artists i do enjoy, this should click, but it just doesn't.
..

i spun that CYHSY album and it's definitely not as bad as people make it out to be. i'll have to listen a few more times, and while it won't make my top 10 by a long shot, it ain't bad. i did/do love their debut to pieces too.
..

anybody feel like uploading Elvis Perkins? In the Aeroplane is one of my faves.

Mirrored >>>>>>> new CYHSY

you can't really compare those two in any way though, can ya?

and by no means is the new CYHSY terrific, but it got panned pretty badly by critics and online junkies like us. maybe my extremely low expectations are what made it seem better after one spin.

No... I can't compare them...

I have to add Pinback's new one.

Really good

Compared to S/T, I think Some Loud Thunder is a step backwards. It's not horrible by any means, but disappointing in that it doesn't live up to the huge expectations. I mean, look at Boxer as an example of what it means to not only live up to the quality of your last album, but try out new things and explore new themes while still coming out with an amazing batch of songs.

I think my favorites so far go as follows:


The National-Boxer
Neil Young-Live at Massey Hall
Elliott Smith-New Moon
Arcade Fire-Neon Bible
Bright Eyes-Cassadaga


So far, I'd say Ryan Adams' Easy Tiger is my biggest disappointment, but only because I have such high expectations for him. I can't wait for Bishop Allen and Rilo Kiley albums to hit stores.

my favorites so far are :

Boxer (Of course

TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO - BEING THERE (amazing norvegian band!)

I haven't bought enough new music this year to rank the year's albums. Until I stumbled upon TN with Boxer, Armchair Apochrypha was my most-listened-to album this year. I thought it was a clever album.

I liked Volta, but I find it inconsistent, like a lot of her stuff.


I'm also very much looking forward to the new Radiohead, although I'm not sure where the almost conventional new tracks they've been playing live fit into their arc. Are they moving back toward The Bends?

I just heard this and liked it a lot more than I expected to - kind of like lysergic Motown or something. And I just heard The Meaning of 8 by Cloud Cult and while they don't actually sound like Neutral Milk Hotel, they have something of the same vibe. I really liked it. Finally made room for something other than Boxer on my stereo anyhow.