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Top Ten Lists From Our Friends

Thanks to everyone for submitting your faves of 2007! Want us to add your list? Send us an Email!

Michael Ohlenroth:
Elliot Smith - New Moon
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Nino Rota - Night's of Cabiria O.S.T . Valerie and Her Week of Wonders O.S.T.
Grizzly Bear - Friends EP
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Avery Tare & Kria Brekkan - Pullhair Rubeye
Fovea Hex - Allure
Various - Dr. Delay's REM Sleep

Lucy's List:
Hmmm... So these are the top things that I actually listen to, in the order of how much!
01. Bob Pollard - Crickets: The Best of the Fading Captain Series
02. Burial - Untrue
03. Wooden Shjips - S/T
04. Klute - The Emperor's New Clothes
05. Mississippi Records! - Mystery Thai Record, Life is a Problem, Lipa Kodi Ya City Council
06. Ed Askew - Little Eyes
07. Selda - S/T
08. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
09. Trees Community - The Christ Tree

Alex Ruder's Top 10 of 2007:
01. Burial - Untrue
02. Caribou - Andorra
03. Radiohead - In Rainbows
04. Cex - Exotical Privates
05. Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
06. Kanye West - Graduation
07. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
08. edIT - Certified Air Raid Material
09. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
10. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Shani Jayant, KEXP DJ and WoS enthusiast:
0. John Maus- Love Is Real
1. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer
2. Panda Bear- Person Pitch
3. Pink Reason- Cleaning The Mirror
4. Jana Hunter- There's No Home
5. Phosphorescent- Pride
6. A Sunny Day In Glasgow- Scribble Mural Comic Journal
7. Studio- Yearbook 1
8. Electrelane- No Shouts, No Calls
9. Mouthus- Saw a Halo
10. Burial- Untrue

Thanks WOS you rock! Happy holidays!

Matt Albers:
Neurosis - Given to the Rising (Favorite Album of the Year)
Angels of Light - We Are Him
Ben Frost - Theory of Machines
Low - Drums and Guns
Gui Boratto - Chromophobia
Supersilent - 8
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe/Cathodephase
Grinderman - Grinderman
Throbbing Gristle - Part Two The Endless Not
Nico - The Frozen Borderline (Favorite Reissue of Year 1)
Seefeel - Quique (Favorite Reissue of Year 2)
Anthony Rother Presents - We Are Punks (Favorite Compilation of Year)
Boris with Merzbow - Rock Dream
Anthony Rother - Moderntronic EP

Hey WOS...Here is my top 5 list. Do what you want with it... What about the Shaggs? What about the Au Pairs??? Michaela Melian, Little JimmyScott? Not 2007!!!
Your fan,
Ann Mcnally

1. The Flaming Lips live at the Paramount: I swear I was high as a kite and couldn’t focus on anything for a month after this show. And the most ridiculous thing is I bought a ticket from a scalper only ten minutes beforethe show, after pay-what-you-can night at the Intiman had sold out.

2. The New Pornographers – “Challengers” Happy, sad, beautiful,poppy…like all their stuff. Put them after the Highwaymen on your supergroup mix tape! Other than this and a few other songs, I did not think 2006 was a particularly good year for music…or maybe turning 30 made me jaded and unadventurous??? Never fear, I will get over it. Maybe I need to listen to more internet radio. Lots of what I was so excited about did not come out this year…like…

3. Ann Magnuson – “Pretty Songs and Ugly Stories” Picture the strings and anthemic guitar and all the bells and whistles on Klaus Nomi’s stuff (same producer...) but replace the opera singing with a craaaazy singer/performance artist and you have my favorite CD of 2007. But it came out in 2006! Wahhhh! I’m only one year late…I’m like 40 years late on everything else I loved in 2007!

4. Best albums from local bands that came out in 1997 and I still listen to all the time: 764-HERO “We’re Solids”, Murder City Devils -- Self-Titled (their first and best CD), Hazel “Airiana” (their last and best CD). These CDs stood the test of time!!!

5. Can I just add one more??? How about the Punk Rock Yoga class on Tuesdays? The name’s a little goofy but it basically means you can wear sweats if you don’t have butt tight hemp capris and THERE’S LIVE MUSIC. I don’t know where hottie teacher Janell finds these musicians but their trippy looped out hour-and-a-half songs makes class so interesting.

Dave Segal:
01 Valet, Blood Is Clean (Kranky)
02 White Rainbow, Prism Of Eternal Now (Kranky)
03 Holy Fuck, LP (Young Turks)
04 Black Dice, Load Blown (Paw Tracks)
05 Burial, Untrue (Hyperdub)
06 Kemialliset Ystävät- Kemialliset Ystävät (Fonal)
07 Panda Bear, Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
08 Vibracathedral Orchestra, Wisdom Thunderbolt (VHF)
09 Oh No, Dr. No's Oxperiment (Stones Throw)
10 Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life (World Village)

Kevin Coultas / Kelley's Market:
The Old:
Various – “Art Of Field Recording Volume 1” Box Set (Dust To Digital)
Various – “Black Mirror: Reflections In Global Musics” (Dust To Digital)
Various – “I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore” (Mississippi)
Buell Kazee – “Buell Kazee” (June Appal)
Various – “Meloddi Tuuvi” (Dust To Digital)

The New:
Susanna Wallumrod – “Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos” (Rune Grammofon)
Dirty Projectors – “Rise Above” (Dead Oceans)
Wilco – “Sky Blue Sky” (Nonesuch)
Shellac – “Excellent Italian Greyhound” (Touch And Go)
Robert Wyatt – “Comicopera” (Domino)
Lily Allen – “Alright, Still” (Capitol)
Deerhoof – “Friend Opportunity” (Kill Rock Stars)
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra – “Security” (Anti)
Christian Fennesz / Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Cendre” (Touch)
Grinderman – “Griderman” (Anti)
Andrew Bird –” Armchair Apocrypha” (Fat Possum)
Rufus Wainwright – “Release The Stars” (Geffen)

Dale Lloyd / (and/OAR):
Thanks for being around for another year!
Seattle needs Wall Of Sound!
Best Wishes for 2008
2007 CDs:
- BJ NILSEN: The Short Night (Touch)
- ALIO DIE & JAMES JOHNSON: Cube 7 - Sospensione D'Estate (Hic Sunt Leones)
- LUIGI TURRA: Ambient Silence (Kojiki / Microsuoni)
- SAFFRON WOOD: Platonica Filosofia Delia Temperanza (Hic Sunt Leones)
- PAUL BRADLEY: Chroma (Twenty Hertz)
- JASON KAHN: Fields (Cut)

Pre-2007 CDs (acquired in 2007):
- THOM BRENNAN: Satori (Raingarden Music)
- TORU TAKEMITSU: Film Music By Toru Takemitsu (Victor Japan) 7 CD box set
- GIOVANNI FUSCO: Films By Antonioni / Music By Fusco (CAM) - MEW: Frengers (Columbia)

2007 Perfromances:
- FRANCISCO LOPEZ / MATT SHOEMAKER: Good Shephard Chapel, Seattle, July
- AONO JIKKEN ENSEMBLE: Seattle Film Forum, Seattle, January
- OREN AMBARCHI: Rendezous / Jewelbox Theater, Seattle, October

Books:
- STEVE LAKE & PAUL GRIFFITHS [editors]: ECM - Horizons Touched (Granta)
- GRAHAM MARSH & GLYN CALLINGHAM: Blue Note Album Cover Art (Chronicle Books)
- HENRIK RYLANDER: Public Loudspeakers - Information And Disinformation (Kning Disk)
- SAM ROHDIE: Antonioni (BFI)
- JON WOZENCROFT: Touch & Fuse (Touch)

Kevin McKenna:
Best of 07
1. Neokarma Jooklo Trio - Solar Vision (Qbico)
2. Neokarma Jooklo Trio - Meditative (Qbico)
3. Jooklo Duo - Free Serpents (Qbico)
4. Tulasi - Maa Autaa (Sloow Tapes)
5. Group Inerane - Music of Niger: Guitars From Agadez (Sublime Frequencies)
6. Up-Tight - Early Years (Archive)
7. Les Rallizes Denudes - Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go/Flightless Bird Needs Water Wings (10th Avenue Freeze Out)
8. Axolotl - Memory Theater (Important)
9. V/A - Melodi Tuvi: Throat Songs and Folk Tunes from Tuva (Dust to Digital)
10. Michael Flower - Return to Knowing Nothing (Qbico)

And then....

1. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
2. Amon Dude - Amon Dude (Ikuisuus CD-R )
3. Loren Connors - As Roses Bow: Collected Airs 1992-2002 (Family Vineyard)
4. The Roots of Chica: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru (Barb?s)
5. Giorgio Pacorig & David Vanzan - Hallucinations (Troglosound)
6. Dredd Foole - Daze on the Mounts (Family Vineyard)
7. V/A - Radio Thailand: Transmissions from the Tropical Kingdom (Sublime Frequencies)
8. Paul Metzger - Deliverance (Locust)
9. Sightings - Through the Panama (Load)
10. Alejandra & Aeron - Billowy Mass (Kning Disk)
11. Wzt Hearts - Threads Rope Spell Making Your Bones (Carpark)
12. V/A - Lipa Kodi Ya City Council (Mississippi )

Other '07 Notables
1. Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway film (Sublime Frequencies)
2. In the Year of the Pig, August 24th, 2007 at the Nightlight, Chapel Hill, NC (w/ Felt Battery and Rahdunes)
3. Caetano Veloso at Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill, NC
4. Avant Marghen Volumes 1-3 Box Sets on Alga Marghen, super reissues of vocal experiment rare editions from some of the pioneers in vocal sound composition
5. Powr Mastrs by C.F. (PictureBox, Inc.)
6. The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky set (Anchor Bay)
7. Dennis Tyfus artwork, graced the covers of some pretty excellent releases on the Ultra Eczema label including Burning Star Core's Everyday World of Bodies LP, Commissaris Hjuler en Mama Beer's Mensen Die "Kort Staan" Voor de Zelfdoding LP, and X04's Lost Signals LP (http://ultraeczema.com/tyfus/)

Alan Bishop:
2007 TOP TEN:

1. The Ascension of Charles Gocher to the outer zones (February 19 2007)

2. Hayvanlar Alemi (Turkey) 'Super' (Self Released download)

3. Porest 'Live at Worm in Rotterdam' (November 2007)

4. Queen Shmooquan 'Live at Rendezvous Lounge Seattle‚ (October 2007)

5. Climax golden Twins '5 Cents A Piece' LP (Abduction)

6. Sir Richard Bishop 'While My Guitar Violently Bleeds' LP (Locust)

7. Roots of Chicha CD (Barbe‚s Records)

8. Vintage Pulchritude website

9. Ennio Morricone „Agent 505 Todesfalle Beirut/IL Successo‰ CD (GDM)

10. Group Doueh LP (Sublime Frequencies) & the 9 others released this year

Hello, this is Sean Palmer:
I missed most of 2007, but of the few releases I had a chance to hear, my favourites are...
Battles - Mirrored
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Efterklang - Under Giant Trees
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Songs Of Green Pheasant - Gyllyng Street
Hauschka - Room To Expand
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Ariel Pink - UNDERGROUND (Haunted Graffiti 1)
John Maus - Love Is Real
Yesterdays New Quintet - Yesterdays Universe
Peanut Butter Wolf - Badd Santa

Jermaine Blair:
1 Jay Reatard::Blood Visions
2 Astral Social Club::Astral Social Club
3 Kemialliset Ystavat::Kemialliset Ystavat
4 Boredoms::Super Roots 9
5 Ricardo Villalobos::Fabric 36
6 Deerhunter::Cryptograms/Flourescent Grey
7 Vibracathedral Orchestra::Wisdom Thunderbolt
8 Burial::Untrue
9 Sunburned Hand of the Man::Fire Escape
10 Panda Bear::Person Pitch

Top 10 reissues:
1 Moolah:: Woe Ye Demons Possessed
2 Brazil 70; After Tropicalia: New Directions in Brazilian Music
3 Hubble Bubble::Hubble Bubble
4 Young Marble Giants::Colossal Youth
5 Miles Davis::On the Corner box set
6 The Pop Group::Y
7 Seefeel::Quique
8 Camberwell Now::All's Well
9 Pylon::Gyrate
10 Fire Engines::Hungry Beat
11 El Kinto::El Kinto

Jefferson Petrey:
HERE ARE MY TOP ALBUMS OF 2007 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
V/A "50 Years of New Music in Darmstadt 1946-1996" -Reissue (Col Legno)
Bernard Parmegiani "Chants MagnÈtiques" (Fractal)
Janek Schaefer "In The Last Hour" (Room40)
Pan Sonic "Katodivaihe" (Blast First)
Oren Ambarchi "In the Pendulums' Embrace" (Touch)
Lost in Hildurness "Mount A" (12 tonar)
V/A "Hitokomakura : Sound-Art Tribute to Yasujiro Ozu" (and/OAR)
Adrian Klumpes "Be Still" (Leaf)
Ultralyd "Conditions for a Piece of Music" (Rune Grammofon)
Luigi Nono "Prometeo" (Col Legno)
Gavin Bryars/Philip Jeck/Alter Ego Ensemble "The Sinking of the Titanic"(Touch)
KTL "2" (Mego)
Marcus Schmickler "Altars of Science" (surround-DVD edition) (Mego)
Zeitkratzer/Lou Reed "Metal Music Machine" (Asphodel)
Peter Brotzmann Octet "Complete Machine Gun Sessions" (Atavistic)
Boris/Merzbow "Rock Dream" (Southern Lord)

Angela / Weirdo Records:
Various ~ Latinamericarpet: Exploring the Vinyl Warp of Latin American Psychedelia Vol. 1 ~ Sublime Frequenciescd 2007
Completely heady & frothy mix of Ventures ripoffs, mexican hat dances played on wurlitzers, children's instructional records, multiple attempts at chipmunk voices, fake steel drums, yoga meditation, ladies' mountain music from Peru, skits of doors being broken down, Chilean accordion, and that's just the short list. There are a shitload of Americulture ripoffs here, ranging from early 60s teen pop to Russian classical composers. There are so many in fact that if you can name more of the quotes on this record than I can, I'll pony up & mail you a dollar. Mixed in are some pan-S. Amer folk numbers, some more 'authentic' than others. But it's hardly an issue, especially with major freakos like 'La Gringa Inga' (a precursor to Xuxa perhaps?) popping in every few minutes to tell you what your foot is called in Ingles. Psych fans should note that there's not really a ton of fuzz here, but any surf/Link Wray fan would say that this is Attention Defecit Syndrome Psychedelia all the way.

Telegraph Avenue ~ Telegraph Avenue ~ Get Back/Munster/Repsychled lp/cd 2007/1971
Oooooh! I'd heard this one was good, but I didn't believe the hype until I put it on. Lickably luscious stained-glass harmony with those groovy Wings/Zombies-inspired vocals that make everybody such fans of Laghonia, We All Together, & so on. Plenty of bossa bopping underneath to keep things moving, & fuzz only puts the icing on the cake. Another Peruvian psych slam dunk.

Hair Police/Redrot ~ Hair Police/Redrot ~ Aryan Asshole cd 2007/2006
I'm totally psyched that this cassette got reished on cd, because it's a bomb. Live on Halloween, Hair Police & solo Mich. dude Ryan Opperman whump away like some sort of backasswards zombie reggae band. The recording (done by Nate Young & Heath Moerland) is completely fucked up- sounds like they put the whole thing through an echoplex- & it adds yet another layer to the nasty echoey romping onstage. There's also plenty of beer-fueled yowling & gabbering from those standing too close to the tape recorder. Free electronics, sax, drums, feedback vox, and you can easily hear how much fun everybody is having.

Various ~ Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us ~ Lightning Tree cd 2006/1921-39
Maybe you like the Bonzos. And if you do I'd bet five nippers you're over fifty, contribute to an IRA, and think Zappa is 'really way out'. Coolio, but for lots o' the rest of us, the Bonzo Dog Band ain't half as interesting as the wobbly old ballroom & vaudevillian numbers they ripped off. Hear the natty novelty sounds of P.G. Wodehouse and the Jazz Age as they appear on crackly old 78s. Fans of everybody from Rudy Vallee to Cab Calloway will simply pop their wainscoats. And just so we're not knockin' the Bonzos too badly, do note that they hand picked every track here. Nifty sheet music photos included too.

Various ~ Voodoo Party ~ University of Vice lp 2007
Totally wonderful ooga booga & jungle primitivo from the late 50s. Loads of bongos, unearthly echo, and vocalists who cry wild and stick bones through their noses. As usual from U. of Vice, there's tracks from around the world. Great vocal & instrumental impressions of animals & zombies. Also one of the only versions of the calypso/voodoo standard 'Rookoombay' where you can understand most of the lyrics.

Vom Grill ~ Biflinstrum ~ Audiobot cdr 2007
Brilliantly sloppy synth farts & sine tone blurping by my personal spiritual paragon & ultimate eurodude, Dennis Tyfus. Recorded drunk (one can only assume) at the Hardline Elephant house. Amazing synth horror show of blood farts, cream cheese burps, and zappy bee stings. Moog, Roland drum machine, & Korg.

Unknown ~ Thai Orchestra lp ~ Mississippi 2007/2000
Mysterious recording of an uncredited large ensemble blasting through countryside molam at breakneck speed. It had also been issued once before as the 'Siamese Temple Ball' cd. Percussion, xylophone, Thai electric guitar, & lots of hooting from the crowd too. Even better the second time around, I think.

Graham Lambkin ~ Salmon Run ~ Kye cd 2007
Jesus wept. Not only does Lambkin put out very few releases, they'll lay you out like a JuJitsu fighter when they do come around. This one's got the Shad man playing around with somber and resplendent string quartet & classical vocals records, and mixing them in to the dry & hinky cassette stomp that you're familiar with from those awesome Ring albums. Just as creepy, dark, and cloying as you could want, but gentle too- because we're all lonleyhearts sometimes. Lambkin also says that he ended up with this after starting out to make a concept record about...I wouldn't kid ya... bigfoot.

Luiz Eca Y La Familia Sagrada ~ La Nueva Onda Del Brasil ~ Vampisoul lp 2007/1978/1970
Absolutely fantasmic bossa hippie explosion. A waterfall of Sergio Mendez/Hellers vocals, big honkin' mariachi brass, tightly driven bossa acoustic guitars, and funkadelic murk. It's all mixed together & squirts in your face just like a grapefruit. Recorded in Mexico in '70 but went unreleased until '78, when it probably sounded like a drugged-up airline commercial more than anything else. They were the house band for a hotel chain, and the record was issued as a souvenir for the hotel gift shop.

Various AM-500 Box set American Tapes 1 one-sided 7", 19 cdrs, 1 dvdr 2007/2005-07
Man alive, whatta mountain. Over a year in the making & released exactly a year ago to celebrate the opening of '07 and the 500th release on his label, John Olson from Wolf Eyes topped his already prolific proclivities with this whopper of a box set. Edition of 100, and each one came with individual collage art in the inimitable Amtapes style (jumbled up angles, b&w xerox faces with eyes white-outed out, illegible handwriting, etc). I did, I think, actually listen to the entirety of this set over the course of the year. Have to admit though, the disc I kept going back to, and the one that made me cough up the considerable dough, was the 'comedy' cdr.  It was described by Ol' Coorz himself thusly: "Goofin CD/ Corsano, Wolves, Tyfuss, Keenan, Graveboyz, all dumb banter like "Steak and Shake Missing Children Hoarder/Cook".....drunk post gig situations ramblings/ totally retarded".