substantula: Top 10 Under-rated Records Of 2007

2007 was a pretty good year for music, but it was hard to pin down why. Hip hop was down, the music industry was way down, dance music staged a sly comeback, garage rockers gave us a breather from all that next-big-thing hype (Kings Of Leon, wherefore art thou yo?), singer-songwriters were still kinda boring, and indie rock chugged along sheepishly as indie rock does. Daft Punk brought it live, Radiohead and Jay-Z just plain brought it. Bangs gave way to beardos as Misshapes and Motherfucker closed and neo-hippy blog rock flourished, at least on a few URLs.

It felt like a year on the verge, a year in transition. No defining trends or dominant styles were being shoved at us by the media or record store clerks. Nothing to die for, but nothing to get mad about either. It was kinda refreshing actually. Maybe this is what the longtail is all about: wild genre diversity with no one winning the arms race. Everyone blissfully niching along in their own bubble of taste, hermetically bracketed by earbuds, blogging, downloading, going out, staying in.

LCD Soundsystem turned out to be the crit pick of the year (check the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll here), which leads us to paraphrase David Lee Roth's quip about Elvis Costello: critics like James Murphy because critics are like James Murphy, aka slightly-too-old-for-the-scene jaded white guys with record collections the size of Cassiopeia (and there’s nothing wrong with that, mind you). A krautrock comedy record? Why the F not?

And with that, here’s my Top 10 Under-rated Records Of 2007 (artist names link to myspace). Some of this stuff is good in the ‘good’ sense, others good in the JR Taylor/Armond White school of ‘you gotta be shittin' me’ sense, aka we’re venturing into territory from which few rock crits return alive: smooth jazz anyone? How about goth rock? Are you still with me? Good. Onwards then..

The Jai-Alai Savant Flight Of The Bass Delegate (GSL) So epic. So dub. So criminally ignored. So unpronounceable.

Dälek Abandoned Language (Ipecac) Hip hop served with an extra helping of murk and gnarl and snarl, like Jonny Greenwood invading an El-P record with a demon choir.

The Holloways So This Is Great Britain? (TVT) So this is what it means to be young and rocking and into girls. Nothing new, just amazingly great.

Anjani Blue Alert (Sony Legacy) Leonard Cohen's babe is hotter than yours. And she can sing too.

Yelle Pop Up (EMI France) Sun-brite confections covered in a shiny Tecktonik sheen, all finger snaps, pep rally chants and high-end. They said Madonna was fluff too, y'know.

Little Brother Get Back (Abb) Songs about disappointment, heartbreak, rejection, low sales figures, growth, maturity and perseverance. Plus party jams.

My Teenage Stride Ears Like Golden Bats (Becalmed) Like a C86 breeze borne on the wings of the JAMC and New Zealand pop. Jangle on Brooklynites. See my review in Cokemachineglow here.

Duran Duran Red Carpet Massacre (Epic) Their best since Notorious. The aural equivalent of popping champagne in a limo full of models. Plus Timbaland does more with two notes than most folks do with yadda yadda etc.

Kelly Sweet We Are One (Razor & Tie) A calgon-take-me-away bubblebath of perfectly calibrated E-Z listening. Norah Jones has abs of steel compared to this. If I told you Celine Dion’s producer had something to do with this, would you still talk to me?

HIM Venus Doom (Sire) For those of you with mascara running down your cheeks because you can't wait for the next Gerard Way missive, just shut up and listen to this record. Seriously. Finnish goth metal is the new Belgian New Beat. Plus track 7 sounds like Mark Lanegan.