Every six months I do this. Here's the latest list of my favorites with video clips.
What's exciting is I just saw Jonsi last month and I'll be seeing the other four at Lollapalooza.
1 JONSI/SIGUR ROS
2 MATT & KIM
3 LADY GAGA
4 GOGOL BORDELLO
5 THE NATIONAL
Here's my last list, from November 2009.
Others earning consideration: Ke$ha, MGMT, The National, The Hold Steady, Crystal Castles
I've read a ton of "best of 2007" lists on blogs, so rather than subject everyone to another top 10 or top 50 list, I decided to recap my favorites from 2007 in a slightly different way, with some serious and not-so-serious categories. Here's my list, with YouTube links for each.
Favorite album of the year
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
Favorite Track of 2007
Rihanna - Umbrella (featuring Jay-Z)
Albums that grew on me after some initial disappointment
Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
Albums that, regrettably, never grew on me
New Pornographers - Challengers
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Most Tragically Overlooked Pop Single
Natasha Bedingfield - I Wanna Have Your Babies
Favorite Rock Album
The National - Boxer
Best Rock Song
Against Me! - White People for Peace
Best Rock Song That Makes Use of Church Organ
The Arcade Fire - Intervention
Rodney Atkins - These Are My People
Best Chorus
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Enrique Iglesias - Dimelo
Most Overrated Album
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Come on people, the emperor has no clothes! I'm perplexed as to how people are calling this a return to Radiohead's earlier sound. It sounds nothing like The Bends or OK Computer. What it sounds like is Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, with fewer weird sound effects. It's as if the band started recording it, then quit halfway through the process and said, 'Good enough.' By far the band's weakest effort since their debut.
Most Underrated Album
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
Scoff if you like, but this is a CD I couldn't stop playing. Other albums may have been greater artistic achievements, but this one had the most catchy tracks. And that's what I value most. Listen to "Bang the Doldrums" or "Thks fr Th Mmrs" and an hour later you'll be humming the chorus, whether you like it or not.
Artist I'm ready to give up on after three straight subpar albums
Rufus Wainwright
Best album from someone I'd given up on
Sondre Lerche - Dan In Real Life (soundtrack)
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
Best Album from 2006 I couldn't stop listening to in 2007
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Best televised performance
Feist - 1,2,3,4 on Letterman (with New Pornographers, Grizzly Bear, The National, and Broken Social Scene)
Best live performance by a Mexican instrumental guitar duo
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo on Letterman
Dresden Dolls - Shores of California
Gym Class Heroes - Clothes Off!
Gayest Song of the Year
Mika - Lollipop
My Chemical Romance - Teenagers
Best Concert I witnessed
Daft Punk - Lollapalooza
Most Memorable Song Performance I witnessed
Pearl Jam with Ben Harper - Rockin' in the Free World (at Lollapalooza)
Most captivating dancer
Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory
Polyphonic Spree - Lithium (at Lollapalooza)
Best attempt by a goth band to sound like Franz Ferdinand
Marilyn Manson - Heart Shaped Glasses
Best Song in the "Gypsy Pirate Rock" genre
HUMANWINE - Rivolta Silenziosa
Most Bizarre Pop Song That Still Rocks
Fiery Furnaces - Clear Signal From Cairo
Most Ubiquitous Song of the Summer Which Turned Out to be a Fluke from an Awful Group
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
Artist I love even though I admit he has little talent
Mickey Avalon
Kanye West - Stronger
Best Summer Jam
Justin Timberlake - Summer Love
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
