Saturday, January 5, 2008

A retrospective look on the music of 2007


Radiohead's "In Rainbows" is the best musical album compact disc of the 2007 year!

Homerun.

Yes, it's been on nearly every single top ten list known to man... This album is so beautifully grand, it might have even made the top ten lists of Country-Western Music Monthly and Christian Gospel Quarterly.

Radiohead posted a YouTube video for New Year's that features the entire album - if you'll be this computer for the next hour, open it up and have the audio play in the background.

I haven't had as good of a year listening to new music since I first left for college. In that last year, I was able to meet great people who introduced me to new genres (or genres that I never really paid much attention). Such as hip-hop, ska, emo (the "Sunny Day Real Estate kind, not the mall rat who wants to cut himself but won't because he just bought a $30 shirt from Abercombie that looks 10 years old) and yes - even Swing music.

This year's music boon is thanks to coworkers attempting one-ups-man-ship with mixtapes and the utilization as MySpace as a background checks for bands. The added bonus of MySpace were the concert calendars - and I was able to see these new (to me) bands live. The greatest example was finding out my cousin was coming to town.

My cousin's concert, and the experience that night with my Dad, may end up becoming my musical highlight of the decade. The year also had great adventures involving shows of Bloc Party and Feist (with a special Bon Jovi subplot to that Feist show).

Lupe Fiasco allowed me to return to hip-hop live events (after I had sworn against them five years prior in Milwaukee).
Once showed me how a musical can be modern.
Broken Social Scene induced me to the wonders of Canada on their way to becoming the greatest "gateway band" of all time.
Peter Bjorn And John's "Young Folks" made me wish I could whistle.
and Jay-Z taught me that he had his mind on his money and his money on his mind, and if you owed him ten dollars you ain't givin' him nine.

Grab your iPods as we walk into 2008,
TQ