The best music of 2007 you should know about but don't
I'm writing this because I got tired of seeing the same top X of 2007 lists displayed pretty much everywhere. I haven't seen so much gushing over indie rock in ages. I'm not insulting the music, but it really feels like all the damn same.
Here's a list of what I couldn't stop listening to this year, and maybe you should at least try and open your ears to some of it. These are in no particular order and I'm listing just as they came to mind. I have a hard time choosing a ranking because the variety of moods I get from these is too broad.
1. Agua de Annique - "Air"
Anneke van Giersbergen left the popular goth metal turned experimental rock band, The Gathering, to pursue her own project. This is the result. I remained skeptical (and depressed that she had left one of my favorite bands) until my first listen. The music does a great job to convey the mood of Anneke's deeply personal lyrics. You're a terrible person if at least one of the tracks on this album does not move you.
2. Clutch - "From Beale Street to Oblivion"
Clutch is known by many to be one of the last truly great rock bands. They're experimental, they're blues, they're balls-out rock n' roll, and almost anything else you could want out of a band. The key is, you often have to listen to specific albums to get the sound you want. This band is always changing, never for better or for worse, just different. Their latest release sees them slide into a very bluesy and groovy style, but make no mistake, this is still pure rock. Ever-experimenting, there's even a song where they hybridize an old blues track with some of their own lyrics and music. There's a reason that Clutch fans are so incredibly rabid, so maybe you should find out why.
3. Between the Buried and Me - "Colors"
You'd probably never expect the incredible display of technicality, texture, and overall mind-blowing complexity of BTBAM's sound to come from a handful of metal kids from North Carolina, but that's what has happened once again with their latest, epic release. You'll find touches of indie rock, 80's prog rock, power metal, Middle-Eastern tones and grooves, and all sorts of melodic death metal spanning throughout this album. This is one you really have to pay attention to because it's always changing. Literally, for those uninitiated with the band, you'll find completely different time signatures and song structures popping up every 10 to 20 seconds but somehow it still all flows together into one giant musical portrait.
4. Porcupine Tree - "Fear of a Blank Planet"
Porcupine Tree is definitively prog rock, but not in the classification of a 70's prog rock band. Steve Wilson's brilliant lyrics and the band's musical compositions really impose strong emotions throughout. You'll feel anger when they want you to, loss when they want you to, and anything else they feel like. This album is truly an aural orgasm, and you deserve to give your ears such a treat. This is the band's best release in years, and actually shows a bit of a withdrawal from the influence that Steve Wilson's long-time production duties with Opeth had over their sound.
5. Nile - Ithyphallic
Nile is pure, unadulterated death metal. This band is not for the faint of heart, but those unexperienced with metal who are brave enough to take a listen may find something unexpected. The sheer technical ability of this band is absurd, and they focus it into an incredible display of Egyptian-styled music. That's right, Egyptian. Listening to a Nile album is like standing in the midst of a battleground in 3000 B.C.. The guitar work on this album is fast, precise, and melodic. The drumming is punishing and creative. This truly is what traditional Egyptian music would sound like if they had electric guitars back in the day. You'll even hear mellow, acoustic passages. Additionally, many, if not most or all, of the lyrics are translated directly from ancient Egyptian writings. Give this one a try. If the vocal style really bothers you that much, a couple of the tracks on the album were even added as bonus tracks without vocals.
6. Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes
Yeah, I'm putting a live album on my list. I don't care what you think. Opeth is a powerhouse of epic musicianship. They range from brutally heavy to tenderly soft, and it somehow always works perfectly. The concert contained within this album covers at least one song from every album, which is good considering a majority of their tracks float around the 10 minute mark in length. If you've never heard Opeth before, this is a great introduction to their sound, as well as the band itself. Mikael proves to still be a comedian behind the mic, and the band as a whole never takes itself too seriously. There's also nothing like the live feel of Opeth, and it's a testament to the ability of true musicians able to replicate their music live without depending on their cd being simulcast over the PA (I'm looking at you, top 40 radio).
Update: A clip from the Roundhouse Tapes DVD scheduled to be released this coming September can be found here.
That's enough for now. This isn't a definitive top X list so much as a list of things you should try to broaden your musical scope with. There are a lot more albums (mostly metal) that I loved this year but I don't want to turn this into a top metal album of the year thing more than it already is.