Music: best of 2007.

Krukowski, Damon ; Gordon, Kim ; Byrne, David 等

Damon Krukowski

DAMON KRUKOWSKI, A WRITER AND MUSICIAN, IS ONE HALF OF DAMON & NAOMI, WHOSE LATEST ALBUM, WITHIN THESE WALLS, WAS RELEASED IN SEPTEMBER ON THEIR OWN 20/20/20 LABEL.

1 Robert Wyatt, Comicopera (Domino) Written in the melancholy, self-reflective mode of Rock Bottom (1974), Comicopera includes one of Wyatt's loveliest pop melodies, the bittersweet "Just as You Are." A lyrical account of life in one's sixties, to file alongside Wyatt's indelible work from the 1960s.

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2 Caetano Veloso, Ce (Nonesuch) In his own document of middle age, Veloso subjects his songs to plastic surgery by enlisting twenty- and thirtysomething musicians as a backing band. Their wiry energy and Caetano's coruscatingly honest lyrics make this a red convertible of a record.

3 Various, Brazil 70: After Tropicalia (Soul Jazz) A compilation of Brazilian pop made during the '70s military dictatorship that had exiled many of the preceding decade's cultural innovators. The government clearly failed to stifle the energy and exuberance of MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) groups like the glam Secos e Molhados or the bossa-tinged psychedelic duo Nelson Angelo e Joyce.

4 Nick Drake, A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (DVD included with reissue of Fruit Tree [UME]) This impressionistic documentary reveals much about the pathologically shy Drake's inspiration. Shots of the stunning landscape around his family home dominate the film, as they must have the singer-songwriter's brief life.

5 Nico, The Frozen Borderline, 1968-1970 (Wea International) Many CD reissues of classic LPs are ruined by bonus tracks, their finales now followed by throwaway additions. But in the case of The Marble Index (rereleased here with Desertshore), it seems Nico's original might have been the distortion: The outtakes and alternates are every bit the equals of the originals, making this now an hour-plus-long journey into Nico's darkness.

6 Reinette L'Oranaise, Tresors de la chanson Judeo-Arabe (Jewish-Arab Song Treasures) (Buda Musique) The only female pupil of Algerian oud master Saoud, Reinette--like most Algerian Jews--fled the country following its independence in 1962. She settled in Paris, where she occasionally performed until her death in 1998. Her oud playing is virtuosic but here plays second fiddle to her voice--as powerful as Bessie Smith's, yet capable of extraordinary quarter-tone flourishes.

7 Cheikha Rimitti, Maghreb Soul: The Story 1986-1990 (Because) Known as the Mother of Rai Music, Rimitti--another Algerian exile in Paris, Reinette's Arab twin--nevertheless has little to do with the electronic sounds associated with that genre. Hers are modern songs performed with traditional instruments and techniques.

8 Tomokawa Kazuki, Works of Chuya Nakahara (PSF Records) Chuya Nakahara (1907-1937) was a Japanese poet influenced by French symbolism and Dada. Tomokawa is a gambler, drinker, painter, and singer of rare power. Here, he composes songs indebted to the earlier figure, making the poetry in each man's ouevre manifest.

9 Toshiaki Ishizuka, Drum Drum (PSF Records) Another veteran of the Japanese underground music scene, Toshiaki Ishikuza employs diverse percussion to conjure slowly shifting soundscapes. A record made in a rock vocabulary, with results reminiscent of Giacinto Scelsi or Morton Feldman.

10 Christopher DeLaurenti, Favorite Intermissions: Music Before and Between Beethoven, Stravinsky, Hoist (GD Stereo) DeLaurenti wired himself for surreptitious recording and attended symphony performances, then bootlegged only the orchestra's preparations. An album that creates the unmistakable sensation that something special is about to happen.

Kim Gordon

KIM GORDON IS AN ARTIST AND FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE BAND SONIC YOUTH. IN APRIL, SHE COLLABORATED WITH JUTTA KOETHER ON THE EXHIBITION "DEAD ALREADY" AT REENA SPAULINGS FINE ART IN NEW YORK. SHE WILL RELEASE A NEW ALBUM WITH FREE KITTEN IN 2008.

1 Mouthus, Saw a Halo (Load Records) Soul without a soul sawing away at demons past even while gliding toward a future hell, this record has everything you could want from a listen: ecstasy, remorse, and the unknowable.

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2 Charalambides, Likeness (Kranky) Tom and Christina Carter let us into their world a little more with each release. "Do You See" is starker and more vulnerable than anything by P. J. Harvey, yet it's also their most accessible song. Tom's guitar sets the rock tone while Christina belts it out with heart.

3 & 4 MV & EE with the Bummer Road, Green Blues; MV & EE with the Golden Road, Gettin' Gone (Ecstatic Peace!) Gettin' Gone picks up the drift where Green Blues leaves off, seeing the band rock out like they never did before. There's a hint of early Royal Trux on their breezy, starlit mountaintop, but they make the falling apart/coming together thing sound like a campfire gathering, avec 'shrooms.

5 Islaja, Ulual yyy (Fonal) Islaja's music is a dream, abstract and enchanted but grounded in the earthiness of a Finnish forest floor. Her real name is Merja Kokkonen; I don't know what she's singing about, but I've never heard anything so otherworldly.

6 Britney Spears at the MTV Video Music Awards, Las Vegas Sorry, but I was impressed. In the year's most psychotic media moment, Britney created something more real than reality TV: entertainment without borders, an unconsciously brilliant deconstruction of American Idolism, a disintegration in slo-mo. You could almost call it art.

7 "Monster Eyes" in Jonathan Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet (Doubleday) Lethem gives the best description of being in a band I've ever read. I'd love to hear this song.

8 The Bastard Wing, To Contain Love (Ultra Hard Gel) This should have been the sound track to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season.

9 Negative Approach, Center Stage 1, All Tomorrow's Parties, Minehead, UK The '80s hardcore stalwarts really delivered on this reunion tour date. John Brannon can still work a snarl like no one else. Fists punched the air in solidarity, and the wings were filled to capacity with members of Wolf Eyes and other Detroit boys who were raised on NA's myth as much as on those of the Stooges and MC5.

10 Karen Dalton, Cotton Eyed Joe (Delmore) A beautifully transparent document recorded at the Attic in Boulder, Colorado, in 1962. I love Dalton's vocals, guitar playing, and arrangements, but also being able to visualize the room, its small size and intimate feel. Listening is like being in someone's house; maybe it's cold and raining outside, but everyone there is enveloped by the space and the music.

David Byrne

DAVID BYRNE IS AN ARTIST AND MUSICIAN. ARBORETUM, A COLLECTION OF HIS TREE DRAWINGS, WAS PUBLISHED BY MCSWEENEY'S IN 2006. HE IS CURRENTLY EXHIBITING AT HEMPHILL FINE ARTS IN WASHING, DC.

1 White Hats, Niobe (Tomlab) This "group" is actually just Yvonne Cornelius, a young woman who lives in Cologne and combines gentle electronic tracks with layered and manipulated vocals.

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2 Caetano Veloso, Ce (Nonesuch) Veloso's divorce album. His previous few records were lush and romantic, but personal events prompted a shift in style. With the help of his son Moreno and friend Pedro Sa, Veloso has found a sparse, postrock beauty in which strange yet simple rock instrumentation is juxtaposed with softly seething vocals.

3 R. Kelly, Trapped in the Closet (Jive) Part two (chapters 13-22) came out on DVD recently. This is what should be on Broadway--a slightly silly, but perfectly constructed, daytime drama in song. A kooky bit of dramatized epic poetry that laughs at its own blatant outrageousness--but not too much.

4 Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (Merge) Holy shit, these guys went from supporting me at the Hollywood Bowl to headlining their own show there in just two years! Well, they are one of the few "rock" acts that seem sincere, ambitious, and happy to be making music. "My Body Is a Cage" is a great song, even if I think the lyrics are all backward.

5 Flight of the Conchords (HBO) Similar in some ways to the British comedy program Mighty Boosh, though not quite as far-out or surreal. This was a musical stand-up act that got expanded for television, so the duo of Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie had time to hone and polish their already hilarious songs.

6 Romance & Cigarettes John Turturro's uproarious musical movie set in Queens begins where British TV series Pennies From Heaven left off. In Pennies, the characters lip-synched to 1930s songs, making explicit the way that pop tunes are often the sound tracks of our lives. In Turturro's movie, the actors' voices can be heard as well, singing along with Tom Jones as the neighbors chime in and garbagemen dance.

7 Jonathan Bepler's scores When I recently saw Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation's video Rape of the Sabine Women, 2006, and Matthew Barney's filmic collaboration with Arto Lindsay, De Lama Lamina (From Mud, a Blade), 2004, Bepler's scores and sound design stole both shows. In each case, Bepler realized the common but challenging ambition of making ordinary sounds, speech, and environmental noises into music.

8 Vampire Weekend This band assemble a crazy mash-up of African guitar lines and to-the-point NYC lyrics and melodies. They are working on an album now for XL Recordings, due in January 2008.

9 The Blow, Paper Television (K. Records) The Blow, which formerly comprised Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt (both collaborated on Paper Television; Bechtolt has since left), play supercatchy songs that deal bluntly with what life really feels like while avoiding almost all the cliches. Their live performances mix Ellen DeGeneres and Miranda July with some crazy shape-throwing.

10 Young@Heart Chorus An amazing choir from Northampton, Massachusetts, whose youngest member is seventy-two. I recently brought them to New York for my "How New Yorkers Ride Bikes" event at Town Hall (they sang Queen's "Bicycle Race," of course). The next day, at the Paris Bar, they did their own show of songs by the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, and others--all of which seemed to take on completely new meanings.

Marissa Nadler

MARISSA NADLER IS A MUSICIAN AND ARTIST BASED IN BOSTON. HER MOST RECENT ALBUM, SONGS III: BIRD ON THE WATER, WAS RELEASED THIS YEAR ON KEMADO RECORDS.

1 Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul (Barsuk) Seattle's Jesse Sykes, a fellow Rhode Island School of Design alum, penned my favorite song this year, "The Air Is Thin." Anchored by Sykes's weathered, creepy, and completely breathtaking voice, her new album is sure to become a modern classic.

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2 James Blackshaw, The Cloud of Unknowing (Tompkins Square) A gorgeous instrumental guitar record from this strapping twenty-six-year-old Englishman. For those who like John Fahey but want something more lush and ethereal.

3 Martha Wainwright at the Dunkin' Donuts Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island The mostly conventional--and unfortunately named--Newport festival is not typically my cup of tea, but free tickets let me hear a member of the folk royal family this past summer. The polite crowd didn't know what to make of Wainwright, since her voice isn't necessarily pretty--it's raw and intense. Her performance made up for the whole day, where mediocrity abounded.

4 Sibylle Baier, Colour Green (Orange Twin) This was technically out in 2006 but discovered by me in 2007, so I am counting it. The acoustic songs of Colour Green, unearthed more than thirty years after they were recorded, feature Baier's haunting voice and observational poetry. Discovered in a basement, dusted off, and given new life and ears, these tunes stand the test of time.

5 Mariee Sioux, Faces in the Rocks (Grass Roots Record Company) Sioux's strange stream of lyrics and beautiful voice make this a record worth your hard-earned money.

6 Beirut, The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing) An eclectic collection of songs from the very young and talented Brooklyn-based octet whose sounds make traveling seem as easy as playing a CD.

7 Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum) In the song "Imitosis," Bird sings that everyone is basically alone. I relate to this sentiment, and it's rare to hear something so disconsolate being expressed in an indie-pop chorus. He's also a killer violin player--a refreshing alternative to all the troubadouring guitar boys these days.

8 Tegan and Sara, The Con (Sire) I have a soft spot for girl-led pop-rock outfits, having grown up on bands such as Belly and Mazzy Star. Tegan and Sara are the new Throwing Muses. Their tunes are catchy and fun, but go deeper than the standard pop fare.

9 The Bird and the Bee, The Bird and the Bee (Blue Note) The MySpace profile of this band--whose music is reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto's bossa nova magic--proclaims their sound as a "futuristic 1960's American film set in Brazil." I love their rhythmic sensibility and delicate, whispery vocals.

10 Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, Furnace Room Lullaby (Anti-) One of my favorite records of all time has been reissued this year. Case is one hell of a singer, and she has a powerful stage presence. I'm happy to hear that her earlier albums are being reissued by Anti-, since some of her best work can be found on those recordings.

Alex Waterman

ALEX WATERMAN IS A WRITER AND MUSICIAN. IN 2007, HE CURATED "AGAPE" AT MIGUEL ABREU GALLERY AND COCURATED "BETWEEN THOUGHT AND SOUND: GRAPHIC NOTATION IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC" AT THE KITCHEN, BOTH IN NEW YORK.

1 Robert Ashley, Concrete, La MaMa E.T.C., New York This year's appearance of Ashley's autobiographical opera was a departure in more ways than one. The superb cast sang the stories of people from his past. Ashley's work continues to transport us to another plane of the American experience.

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2 Walter Marchetti, Utopia andata e ritorno (Alga Marghen, 2006) This year's summer monsoon season in New York would have felt incomplete without this timelessly fresh record by Marchetti. The first CD fuses recordings of a piano recital and a rainstorm; the second features the same piece replayed backward. As the heat and irritation rose, I would take a musical journey away and back again.

3 Alasdair Gray, Some Gray Stuff (Decemberism) A treasure of an album by the Scottish poet and author of the epic Glaswegian novel Lanark: A Life in Four Books. Gray here reads from selected stories and poems, his voice a resonant tenor, his wit piercing but humane.

4 David Tudor, Rainforest IV, performed by Composers Inside Electronics, The Kitchen, New York A two-day program of performance and installation in September included this continually evolving work by Tudor. The players included some of his old collaborators and some new faces, including Phil Edelstein, John Driscoll, Stephen Vitiello, and Matt Rogalsky. Interaction between audience and musicians was often marked by conversation and laughter, making for a playful and spirited event.

5 Anthony Coleman The past year belonged to one of the hardest-working men in New York show business, whose work possesses an extraordinary intimacy and urgency. Coleman's latest orchestral and ensemble pieces, which he performed around New York this past year, is music that shakes and seduces.

6 New Rational Music, Rational Rec, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, London This monthly event, curated by Russell Martin, Matthew Shlomowitz, and Cecilia Wee, highlights avant-garde and experimental music but also features readings, performances, and a fair amount of booze. The name comes from Rational Recreation, a late-nineteenth-century attempt to civilize the English working class via Working Men's Clubs.

7 Issue Project Room, The Old American Can Factory, Brooklyn, New York Suzanne Fiol wanted to make a space for music, performance, and readings in a spirit of love and commitment, and created one of the warmest and best-sounding venues in New York.

8 Charles Curtis Curtis is one of the great cellists, and his performances of Morton Feldman, Alvin Lucier, and La Monte Young's music have been among my favorites. This summer I included him in "Agape" at Miguel Abreu Gallery in New York--he performed Eliane Radigue's solo cello piece, Naldjorlak, and completely transported the room.

9 Thomas Meadowcroft, Ezra Jack Plot One of the Berlin-based Australian composer's finest ensemble works received its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall in November. Written for Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Meadowcroft's piece is closely and cleverly linked to a sequence of video stills showing illustrations from Ezra Jack Keats's children's book The Snowy Day.

10 Lovely Music (www.lovely.com) Where else can you one-stop-shop for recordings by Eliane Radigue, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, and many others? Almost all of my top ten most-listened-to discs of the past year were put out by Mimi Johnson's label.

Julian House

JULIAN HOUSE IS A LONDON-BASED DESIGNER/MOVING-IMAGE DIRECTOR. HE IS A COFOUNDER OF THE GHOST BOX LABEL AND RECORDS UNDER THE NAME THE FOCUS GROUP, WHOSE NEW ALBUM, WE ARE ALL PAN'S PEOPLE, WAS RELEASED THIS YEAR.

1 Daphne Oram, Oramics (Paradigm) Music created by one of the founders of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop--a spellbinding mixture of bright sci-fi television ads, ominous tape work for theater, and cobwebby electronic classical miniatures. I love the whir and clunk and sine whistle of these pieces. A backyard workshop vision of the future.

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2 Panda Bear, Person Pitch (Paw Tracks) The Brian Wilson thing is only a small part of it for me; it's the whole ecstatic childlike vision and dreamlike slip and slide of these songs as they collapse in on themselves.

3 Tom Recchion, Sweetly Doing Nothing (Schoolmap) This begins in the world of pulp exotica before cutting free and dragging the listener into dark, echoing space, snagging on faded memories of late-night films.

4 Now We Are Ten (Trunk Records) Jonny Trunk's compilation of releases on his own label unearths some gems. Somehow, in Trunkworld, dreamy library music, diabolical Hammer Horror film scores, and 1970s English softcore porn make perfect sense together.

5 The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Good, the Bad & the Queen (EMI) Simon Reynolds described this as "Waterloo Sunset in dub," and it does make me think of the Kinks' London sinking into the Thames, music-hall organs clogging up with mud. Brilliantly produced, each track seems to contain a premonition of the one that follows.

6 Saint Etienne and Paul Kelly, This Is Tomorrow A film and accompanying score commemorating the reopening of London's Royal Festival Hall, recently refurbished according to the original specifications. The film captures the sprit of the project, while the music evokes a mixture of British jazz documentary music, '70s library records, and '80s synthpop, generating a mood of melancholic optimism.

7 Jean Painleve, Science Is Fiction (BFI Video) A DVD reissue of the films of the underwater filmmaker and Surrealist hero. Hallucinogenic imagery and great music, including my favorite piece by Pierre Henry, his music and effects for The Love Life of the Octopus. Reverb-drenched electronics and concrete sounds evoke bubbles and suckers.

8 The Green Man Festival, Brecon, UK Highlights of this charming event were Gruff Rhys's psychedelic-youth-theater-meets-local-TV live set and Voice of the Seven Woods's eastern folk psych.

9 Olivier Libaux, Imbecile (Discograph) A "chanson francaise" opera featuring a cast of famous French pop performers. Deceptively simple songs that feel like they've been lodged at the back of my mind all my life.

10 Various vinyl A highlight of my of year was excavating vinyl oddities like a strange music-for-schools EP by Johnny Dankworth titled King Monkey, Electronia by Farran and Vetter, and Musique pour le futur by Nino Nardini--perfect for sound-tracking drifting space capsules.