Best albums of 2007

[bowiglou]

yes, but do can they do it in Yiddish?

ryosuke said:

Actually bow, forget the shins and check out Soil & "Pimp" Sessions. You strike me as the kind of person who likes insane/intense Japanese instrumental jazz. Well instrumental except for some megaphone shouting by Shachou.

[wayved]

Wheat--Prayer....

This will be on the list somewhere.......Right now its at number 2, right behind the Twilight Sad, but no--Vorn, Sproutts, sea and cake too...Besnard Lakes...the numerical order will be tough. (that new Spoon album is awesome too)

[pattentank24]

I thought this was very funny Interpol don't care if you like the new album
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There comes a time in the career of nearly every band when they officially stop listening to what critics have to say about them. For Interpol, you'd think that time is now.

See, recently, Britain's fabulously, er, bandwagon-leaping music
publication, the New Musical Express, wrote a fawning review of a live performance by Editors, a band that could charitably be described as "Interpol-esque." And while the review itself wasn't exactly newsworthy, the fact that its author chose to kick it off by calling Interpol "the worst band on the planet, a tuneless, talentless shower of Joy Division copyist f---wits" is.

Not to mention that he describes frontman Paul Banks as a "whining, dreary, two-note-monotone singer" who sounds like "a cancerous baboon having his tonsils amputated," suggests that Banks' bandmates should be "dragged c--k-first into the nearest ditch, shot in the head with a bolt gun and have their entrails fed to diseased rats," and calls the band's upcoming album, Our Love to Admire, "unmitigated dogsh--."

So you'd think Banks would read that, throw his hands in the air, and let loose a similar fusillade of expletives (or maybe he'd have a good chuckle at the fact that some writer is losing his mind over a band like Editors).

But, in actuality, Banks says he's long ago given up reading — or caring — what the media has to say about his band, which is more of a survival mechanism than anything else, considering just how many people have so much to say about Interpol.

"With our band, there's always going to be something," he said. "I learned very quickly — almost from the first album — not to read that stuff, because it has nothing to do with what I do," he said. "If you need to do something creatively, you just do it. You don't worry what people are gonna think. I mean, I don't really put that much stock into what any jackass on the street tells me about anything, so why put much stock into something just because it's in print?"

And that mindset will undoubtedly serve Banks well in the coming months, as Interpol unveil Love (due July 10), a sonically spacious and lyrically amorous effort that takes everything the band has done on its previous two albums, rips it apart and airs it out on a clothesline over Big Sky country. It's a record that's by turns spookier ("Pioneer to the Falls"), spacier ("Mammoth") and more somber (the album-closing "The Lighthouse") than anything Interpol have done to date. It's a luminous, fully realized band album brimming with ideas and instrumentation, the kind that only comes when a group of musicians cut all ties from the outside world and go for broke. Which is exactly what Interpol did.

After wrapping a solid year of touring in support of 2004's Antics (see "More Interpol Tour Dates? Check; More Videos? Maybe Not") they returned home to New York and took a much-needed break ("I went out and got bombed," Banks laughed). Then they reconvened and, no longer signed to indie Matador Records, found themselves in a place both strangely familiar and, well, strange: free to be a band focused solely on the business of being a band.

"We just disappeared for three months, and then we were writing again," Banks said. "To the world we had disappeared, but we were together writing. Once the songs disappeared, we sort of derailed, but we started writing again, and it was like an evolution."

"The future wasn't totally unseen," drummer Sam Fogarino said, "but to have a moment where we didn't even worry about a record label, and to be able to exist as a band and just worry about the songs — period — and pushing our own envelope ... it wasn't something we hadn't been experienced since pre-[Turn on the Bright Lights, the band's 2002 debut]. And it's kind of amazing to be in this position after a couple of records, going to make the third, moving on to Capitol Records, and to feel that way — feeling brand new again — we're not supposed to feel that way."

Although you might not know if from Love's first single, "The Heinrich Maneuver" — which is about as classic a slab of Interpol as you can get — pretty much everything about the band is different these days.

And though the idea of change might frighten some of the band's fans and give critics yet another reason to sharpen their knives, Banks and Fogarino see Love as the best thing they've ever done, a record born out of creativity, necessity and ignoring the opinions of pretty much everyone not in Interpol.
"There's a certain alleviation of pressure that you can hear on this record," Fogarino said. "It's easier to please yourself first, and once you've done that, you're able to be way more honest with what you're trying to do."

"If there's a difference between these albums, it's that we're individually better musicians and as a band we're better songwriters. It's different in that it's an evolution for us," Banks added. "These songs couldn't have been written around Bright Lights because they're all, in my mind, better songs that we were incapable of writing back then."

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so as you can see this is why interpol hasn't addressed their fans once on this early pre album tour
they don't like you and don't care if you wanna hear "the specialist"

they had better deliver since i quite like the editors new album and think the editors are a better live band

[maarts]

They certainly play longer than Interpol- I travelled 6 hours to see Interpol do a 50-minute set. Fuckers.

[KooL]

"If there's a difference between these albums, it's that we're individually better musicians and as a band we're better songwriters. It's different in that it's an evolution for us," Banks added. "These songs couldn't have been written around Bright Lights because they're all, in my mind, better songs that we were incapable of writing back then."

All bands say this crap when promoting a new album. I don't know if they're saying this stuff to convince themselves or their fans. The truth is nothing on the new album even comes close to being as good as anything on their debut. They probably are better players than they were then, but as songwriters they've lost their 'spark'. At least IMHO.

This actually reminds me of an Elton John interview in the early 80s I think, when he was promoting a new album and the dude that was interviewing him [Molly Meldrum] was telling him he loved his new album, to which Elton responded "are you kidding me? I think it's the worst record I've ever made". Of course he was probably stoned at the time, but it was the first and final time I've heard an artist slam an album of theirs at the time of its release. Usually they'll wait for the release of a new record to slam the previous one, just to make the new one look better.

[bowiglou]

Kool, though not at that time (i.e., 1987) with retrospect Bowie has slammed some of his works (e.,g tonight, never let me down)

I think I'm the only person on these boards who find some redeeming facets to those albums (e.,g tonight = loving the alien, blue jean, neighborhood threat, I keep Forgetting; Never Let me down--Zeroes, title song, time will crawl)

I meant they aren't total dreck

and Kool, I've listened once through to Interpol and I don't think it's as bad as made out to be....but nothing has galvanzied me as much as their debut...but I do have a liking for the type of sonics Interpol employ

sb said:

"If there's a difference between these albums, it's that we're individually better musicians and as a band we're better songwriters. It's different in that it's an evolution for us," Banks added. "These songs couldn't have been written around Bright Lights because they're all, in my mind, better songs that we were incapable of writing back then."

All bands say this crap when promoting a new album. I don't know if they're saying this stuff to convince themselves or their fans. The truth is nothing on the new album even comes close to being as good as anything on their debut. They probably are better players then they were then, but as songwriters they've lost their 'spark'. At least IMHO.

This actually reminds me of an Elton John interview in the early 80s I think, when he was promoting a new album and the dude that was interviewing him [Molly Meldrum] was telling him he loved his new album, to which Elton responded "are you kidding me? I think it's the worst record I've ever made". Of course he was probably stoned at the time, but it was the first and final time I've heard an artist slam an album of theirs at the time of its release. Usually they'll wait for the release of a new record to slam the previous one, just to make the new one look better.

[KooL]

Bow, listen to that Interpol album a few more times. Once isn't enough. The first listen is always interesting because it's all new. If you can make it beyond 3 spins without skipping anything (or falling asleep during the second half), you deserve a medal.

[Ryosuke]

maarts said:

They certainly play longer than Interpol- I travelled 6 hours to see Interpol do a 50-minute set. Fuckers.

Wait, were there any other bands on the bill?

[maarts]

ryosuke said:

maarts said:

They certainly play longer than Interpol- I travelled 6 hours to see Interpol do a 50-minute set. Fuckers.

Wait, were there any other bands on the bill?

One local support band but I missed. I had to travel by train from Newcastle to Sydney after work, got at the Metro around 10 and had to wait an hour before they came onstage.
Seemed at the time that 50 minutes was the general time the band was onstage during that tour.
Wished I knew- payed close to 80 bucks for a ticket and, due to the crappy trainservice didn't come home until 04:30.
At least the gig was good....

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

I saw Interpol on the Antics tour and they were on stage for a good 90 minutes. Great gig.

Still not taken with the new album.

[bowiglou]

good point....will give it a 2nd and 3rd listen and get back to you

Kook, I listened to Velvet Revolver last night.......first time ever heard them (isn't part of the band the STP lead singer and Slash?)...anyway, there is a bit of meat-and-taters-heavy-metal aspect to it, so it doesn't quite do it for me...but I did like a couple of the songs that turned down the ummph a bit.......

sb said:

Bow, listen to that Interpol album a few more times. Once isn't enough. The first listen is always interesting because it's all new. If you can make it beyond 3 spins without skipping anything (or falling asleep during the second half), you deserve a medal.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

I saw Interpol here in Austin twice. The first time was right when "Antics" was first released and they were just amazing. The second time, Interpol had Blonde Redhead opening up for them and Interpol was just terrible. Blonde Redhead literally just blew them away, showing the young pups how it's done. Even if you release a tepid record, you should atleast have the courtesy in my opinion of giving your fans a great show.

It's sad to say this but I hate Modest Mouse now. I saw them not too long ago and I have this issue with major bands being dicks to their following. If you don't like what you are doing, do something else. The fact that Johnny Marr can't save them from sucking these days is saying something and that something is not good. Ugh. The new one will be on my worst albums list for this year.

I, too, listened to the new Velvet Revolver and it was okay, bow. You are right as well. It is Scott Weiland from STP, Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum(The Cult) from Guns N Roses and I forget what band the other guy is from .

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

Skvor, I've never seen MM live, but I hear they were always a bit hit and miss, to say the least? Baron Von Bullshit is the sound of a shit live act.

[KooL]

I like the new Velvet Revolver album. I just think it's a really fun album. After listening to that boring Interpol record, this sounded like Appetite For Destruction all over again. Of course, it's not that good, but it is an improvement over the noisy and bland Contraband, which wins the award for the most awfully mixed hard rock album of the past decade or so. What can I say, I'm just a sucker for good ol' riff-rock, Slash solos and a little cowbell.

[Thorngrub]

well, korn's 8th studio album is certainly going to be a solid contendor for "best of 07", I'll say that much with confidence. The 2 songs I've heard thus far are sweet. "I Will Protect You", a heavy paean written expressly for Jonathan's 3 young boys, is as heartfelt & melodic as anything they've done thus far, and features some truly killer drumming courtesy of one Terry Bozzio, and a new super fluid guitar solo courtesy of Munky. The bridge in the middle of the song is drop bottom heavy as fuck, and the whole thing brings goosebumps and nearly a tear to the eye when you consider the lyrics directed to his 3 sons. Just an awesome tune all around.

And then there's the single 'evolution', helluva catchy tune w/more killer lyrics and a thumpin' rhythmic beat built to last, and a barking mad vocal shot out like a cannonball straight from the heart, courtesy of the one and only, Jonathan Davis.

I sense a bonafide modern -era classic being dropped on July 31st, fukkers ladies & gentlemen. I've already pre-ordered the DeLuxe Edition from Amazon.com, just in case it sells out in an instant across the globe; I ain't takin my chances with this thing. . . it will sell rather well, I'd wager.