5 Albums That Surprised Me (in a good way) in 2007

The following are albums that I've been listening to a lot this year, and thoroughly enjoying. Most of these artists I hadn't even heard of before this year.

Battles - Mirrored
I knew nothing about this band or any of the band members' other projects until a friend of mine played me a song from this album in March (thanks Billy!). The song was "Ddiamondd", and at first I started laughing out loud because I was totally unprepared for what I was hearing. The song starts with really fast vocals, but they're just gibberish (as far as i know). I wouldn't consider myself a person who really gets into experimental music, but this album definitely rocks out enough for me to get my feet moving. The song "Atlas", which is my favorite song on the album, apparently contains the following lyrics at some point during the song:

"singer is a crook, whoa-ey-oh
singer is a crook, whoa-ey-oh
singer is a crook, whoa-ey-oh

kitchen is for cook, whoa-ey-oh
sissors at the barber, whoa-ey-oh
The Chorus Doesn't matter" [source]

haha, I love Battles.

download "Atlas"
download "Ddiamondd"


Jeremy Messersmith - The Alcatraz Kid
Jeremy Messersmith is just a down to earth dude from Minneapolis. He played at my school this year, and he was a super cool guy. He took time to talk to the crowd, tell some short stories, and he even played bowling with some people before he took the stage for his set. I have a soft spot for singer/songwriters. If you can create a song with just an acoustic guitar, and it's good, then you have my respect. Jeremy takes it to a higher level at his shows, trying to imitate a full band experience, I guess you could say, by looping other instruments and vocals. However, what matters to me most is his lyrics and the stories he tells through his songs.

download "Novocain"
download "Beautiful Children"


LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Okay, so the only other LCD Soundsystem I've ever heard is "Daft Punk is Playing at My House", even to this day. I really think I should check out some older material of theirs, but I'm a bit nervous that it will not live up to my expectations after listening to 'Sound of Silver' many, many times this year. From start to finish this album is solid. "Someone Great" is one of the best songs of the year as far as I'm concerned. I have nothing but positive things to say about this album, and I have nothing to compare it to, so I guess I've said all that I need to say.

download "Someone Great"


YACHT - I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real.
Holy crap this album came out of nowhere and made me really happy really fast. I precisely remember my first time listening to this album. I couldn't stop raving about it. A lot of the album is just silly, but it's so much fun. Once I got to the song "I Believe in You" I was taken aback at one particular moment. That moment comes at about the 1:56 mark, when Jona sings "Why is there a picture of a penis on your fridge door/it makes me feel awkward." I wasn't sure if I heard that lyric right, so I did a "wait, what?" and replayed it. Sure enough, that's exactly what he said. It was then that I knew I was a YACHT fan for life.

download "I Believe In You"


Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
I'm not the biggest hip-hop fan in the world, but I really appreciate good hip-hop. Brother Ali is another Minneapolis artist that played a show at my school this year. The show was one of the best shows I've ever experienced as a fan of music. It was all about involving the audience and everyone uniting as one and saying "fuck the man". There was so much energy, and Brother Ali performed some very moving a cappella renditions of songs from 'The Undisputed Truth'. He demanded the crowd's respect for these songs, by not singing unless everyone was completely silent. I loved this for two reasons. One reason being that there is just something special and eerie about a large group of people standing around in nearly complete silence, and the other reason being that absolutely all of your attention was directed to his lyrics, which are sensational, by the way.

download "Truth Is"