Top 5

Yup, you knew this was coming. Instead of going with my top 5 CDs of 2007, I'm going to go with the Top 5 CDs I listened to in 2007. That, I think, will paint a more accurate picture of what I was like this past year.

1. White Rabbits -- Fort Nightly (2007)

This is a band I discovered from a random video ad I saw online. I went from a thirty second clip to buying their disc in a matter of hours, and it didn't leave my player for four months. The most accurate way to describe them is calypso-rock, but they're so much more than that. The vast amount of rhythmic variance makes me love it as a drummer and the high energy makes me love it as a driver.

Best Song: "The Plot"

2. Tokyo Police Club -- A Lesson In Crime (2006)

I used to be able to say this sounds like nothing I've ever heard before, but that's no longer true: it turns out there a lot of skinny jeans'd kids doing the jittery indie thing. However, there's a certain indefinable quality to this CD that sets it apart. Maybe it's that I heard it first, but there's a lot of layering here that betraysan attention to detail that can get lost in a genre with such marked simplicity. I love how energetic it is (even when it doesn't mean to be) and there's a lot of creative tones, in the instrumentation, rather than in the writing (although the writing is good, too). I just wish they could do it live...

Best Song: "Cheer It On"

3. Stars -- In Our Bedroom After The War (2007)

A late entry, but this was almost my favourite disc this year. There are a few throwaways ("Personal", for one), but even those tracks I don't enjoy I respect as honest attempts that didn't strike me personally. It's a pretty mellow disc, but covers a lot of ground, from the sublime ("My Favourite Book"), open drive ("Midnight Coward"), and the epic ("In Our Bedroom After The War")

Best Song: "My Favourite Book"

4. The Junction -- The Junction (2007)

I played a show with these guys this year and was blown away with how nice and talented they were (which unfortunately tend to be mutually exclusive terms in the music business). Another one that covers a lot of music ground, with everything from rootsy stompers to screamo climaxes. Definitely not a radio friendly pop album but one that I never seem to tire of listening to, and one you can definitely sing along to.

Best Song: "Components Of Four"

5. Phantom Planet -- The Guest (2000)

Going waaaaay back, this is an album I slept on for a long time and am kicking myself for doing so. I loved their self-titled disc in 2003 but never thought about pursuing their back catalogue since everyone had told me how each of their albums was like listening to a different band. WHy check out another phase of the band when I liked the phase they were in? I wish I'd known what an amazingly listenable pop album this is. "California" is here, of course, but there are also unrequited ballads, chewing gum pop songs about girls walking by, and a wee bit of angst for variety.

Best Song: "One Ray Of Sunlight"

Honorable Mentions:

The Dandy Warhols -- 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (1997)

Will Currie and the Country French -- Will Currie and the Country French (2007)

Sufjan Stevens -- Illinoise (2005)

Tapes n' Tapes -- The Loon (2007)

We Are Scientists -- With Love And Squalor (2005)

Mute Math -- Mute Math (2006)

Arcade Fire -- Funeral (2005)

Golden Dogs -- Big Eye little eye (2006)

Please discuss amongst yourselves.