The Best Of 2007: Chris Elles
Monday, December 31st, 2007Top 10 Albums:
1. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
2. Various Artists - The Brit Box: UK Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-Pop Gems
3. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
4. Dane Cook – Rough Around The Edges
5. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Sigur Ros – Hvarf/Heim
7. The Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night
8. Dave Holmes - Ocean’s Thirteen Soundtrack
9. Nick Swardson – Party
10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81
The Brit Box rocked 2007 because:
This set encompasses the musical genres I would deem my favorite, without a doubt. These bands changed me and defined my years in college, so of course it’s going to stand out on my list this year. It’s awesome that Rhino took the time to wrap up the early 90’s UK indie scene into a box set some 15-17 years after the style was born. I still listen to many of these bands and I’m always eager to hear emerging artists who are influenced by the shoegazers.
Favorite thing of the year? Geeking out and joining my first fantasy baseball league (ended up # 4 out of 11).
What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Spent even more time with my family.
What are you looking forward to in 2008? My Bloody Valentine reuniting (finally) and MLB’s All Star Game in the Bronx.
Against Me!’s New Wave is 10 songs of pure punk perfection (clichéd album review statement, I know). Clocking in at 33 minutes and 36 seconds, the record is enough to satisfy your appetite for Tom Gabel’s self-realized and politically conscious lyrics while still begging to be played one more time because it was so short you couldn’t get enough of it. Don’t let superstar producer Butch Vig and major label Sire throw you off – while the songs may be more concise and skew more towards “pop” rock songs, every song retains the heart, grit and urgency that made you fall in love with AM!’s As The Eternal Cowboy and Searching For A Former Clarity. The record is so good it inspired Ben Lee to cover every song front to back (Ben Lee Sings Against Me: New Wave) – an artist I traditionally never liked but gave another shot simply because he covered my favorite album of this year (still don’t like him all that much, but hey, he did a pretty solid job). Lastly, Tom’s drawing of the panther on the cover? BADASS. “There is an Ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve.” 
This album completely caught me off guard, just hadn’t heard a “new” band hit me this hard in a while. Sonically it’s Bruce Springsteen (think “Atlantic City”), Mike Ness & Jersey Angst all thrown in a blender of awesome. The lyrics are smart and with each listen I’m more blown away.
It has the best song ever composed about partying in a castle.
In a year that saw the release of a new Radiohead record, it’s pretty remarkable for something else to take the top spot on my best of the year list. I’m not sure that Band Of Horses is actually the “best” record of the year. But I am sure that no other record meant more to me than Cease To Begin. From start to finish, the record captivates my attention, each song brimming with heartbreak and longing. 
When I first saw Paulson it was about 2 years ago at a small club in NJ. I had heard of the local Jersey band but never actually heard them. I was sold on them that night. In fact so much that I went directly to their merch booth and purchased both of their CD’s. This year a re-release of All At Once came out on Doghouse records and even though I had most of the songs, the 3 new ones were such pleasant surprise that I can’t wait for a new CD to come out. I got my fingers crossed for one in 2008, ’til then I’ll just have to play the All At Once re-master over and over.
