One Chord To Another: Faves 2007


TOP 40 ALBUMS:

	1. Cats on Fire: The Province Complains This really wasn't a surprise. I've loved them since The Seelonce Mayday demo and this was the album I had been waiting for a long time. The Province Complains still sounds as great as it did when I bought it. Mesmer and Reason is a great candidate for the song of the year contest (obviously Higher Grounds would be the song of the year, but that's not really a new song for me). It's been really great to notice that they've gotten a bit of success in the "indie pop world". They totally deserve it.
	Bonus
	1. Michael McDonald: Finally The unofficial version of Michael McDonald's album was my album of the year 2006 and because I just don't have the heart to drop this out from this list completely, it can share the title this year. This way I was able to select a new album worthy of the album of the year title, but can also continue to spread my love for this beautiful album..

	2. John McGregor: Maa ei oo pimee It was a really close call between Cats On Fire and John McGregor. I kept changing the order several times, but in the end John had to settle for second spot this time around. Who knows tomorrow it might have been different. It's obvious that I love him and his music is valuable to me. It's just so pure, honest and beautiful. I wish I learn to live like these songs live. Full of down-to-earth warmth and kindness.

	3. The Avett Brothers: Emotionalism The Avett Brothers was my huge addiction during the last month of 2007. I completely fell in love with them and have seen their Conan performance more than 50 times. I would like to give them the album of the year award, but I wouldn't be honest. Songs like Paranoia in B-Flat Major, Shame, I Would Be Sad and Living Of Love are obviously fantastic and the best thing I heard during the year. Unfortunately the album is a bit too long and removing a couple of "only good" songs from the last half of the album would have made it an easy choise for the album of the year award. Despite this minor flaw, I'm completely in love with The Avett Brothers and Emotionalism might be the only "ism" I truly believe in.. At least as long as someone adds "JYPism" to the dictionary.

	4. Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger This must be a great album because I just bought a second copy of this (well it was really cheap and had the EP as a bonus). Actually Easy Tiger is probably the best album as whole on this list. This time albums that had higher peaks just managed to get ahead. Anyway, Ryan Adams is a wonderful songwriter and Easy Tiger is among his finest works. Maybe it isn't his most ambitious work, but it's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. And that finish called I Taught Myself How To Grow Old is one of the songs of the year.

	5. The Weakerthans: Reunion Tour For starters, Tournament Of Hearts must be the best song ever written about curling. And obviously songs like Night Windows and Sun in an Empty Room could almost be best songs ever written about anything. Virtute The Cat obviously tells her/his side of the story and The Civil Twiligth is a stunning song as well. This time perhaps a couple of fillers, but The Weakerthans still easily proved that they are of the best bands in the world.

	6. Damn Seagulls: Soul Politics Shame on me that it took me until summer 2007 to buy my first Damn Seagulls album, but after that I've been a huge fan. Soul Politics is such a perfect album and Lauri is a bloody amazing vocalist. Damn Seagulls was a really big thing for me during the year 2007.

	7. BMX Bandits: Bee Stings Maybe I'm getting old, but I really falled in love with this beautiful album. It was not an instant love affair and it took a bit of time fall in love with this new direction of BMX Bandits, but in the end it turned out to be my favourite BMX Bandits album. Bee Stings is able to be both beautiful & moving and light & easy-to-listen at the same time.

	8. Sweatmaster: Animal Eventhough Tom Tom Bullet remains my favourite Sweatmaster album, this was a magnificent album as well. Even pop fans need a bit of rock'n'roll every now and then. Sweatmaster is the best way to satisfy that need.

	9.Sloan: Never Hear The End Of It Okay, It might be questionable should this be on the list because it was originally released in Canada in late 2006. But the US release followed in early 2007 and that's when I bought it. The album also has 30 songs and not all of them are perfect. Therefore you can also question the fact that I placed it on such a high place on this list. The reason for the top ten place is that during the finest moments (and there's huge amount of them..more than half of the songs) of this album, Sloan is the best band on the planet. Fantastic songs that usually end a bit too soon.

	10. Future Clouds & Radar: S/T Same thing could be said about this (see Sloan). This is a double album and eventhough everything isn't perfect, it needs to be included. This is because around 3/4 of it is absolutely gorgeous and utterly wonderful. Great return from ex-Cotton Mather member Robert Harrison.

	11. Mark Olson: The Salvation Blues Mark Olson originally got full five hearts here at onechord.net and probably therefore should be higher on the list. Nowadays, I think that it was probably just a bit too much and 4 1/2 would have been enough. That's why it didn't quite make the top ten. Nevertheless, It's still a really strong comeback from the ex-jayhawk and I still love the album.

	12. ultrasport: False Start City This album was full of hits and will probably make a killing on the upcoming best songs list. Unfortunately there was some fillers as well and therefore ultrasport had to settle for a place outside the top ten. They are still one of my favourite bands in the world though.

	13. Jason Falkner: I'm Ok.. You're Ok Jason Falkner finally returned with a new album and proved that he still is one of the best pop singer-songerwriters. The album has been recorded in various home studios and was therefore intentionally "mid-fi". I don't usually care about things like this, but in this case I've started to think that with a bit "clearer" sound it would have been in the top ten. Great album nevertheless.

	14. The Felice Brothers: Tonight At The Arizona Now this is what I love. Think small is the way to go also in americana. You don't need big sounds. Just sing your heart out. If Dylan was a better singer he could make something like this (sorry, I'm way out of order.. Dylan is great). Songs like Belly In My Arms, Mercy Me and Ballad Of Lou The Welterweight are worthy of all the hearts in the world and are album of the year caliber. A half of this album reach magical heights, but the rest is "only good" material and therefore The Felice Brothers doesn't take the album of the year award.

	15. Laurila: Boyhood This one rise above many albums that got more hearts in the reviews section. Boyhood really should have gotten 4 1/2 hearts back then eventhough I still don't like Death & Sexuality (it works live though). Apart from those couple songs that I don't love the rest of the album is absolutely marvellous. Songs like Solid Ground, She Wants To Be A Hurricane and Genius On The Run are just stunning. Laurila is also the best live band in Finland at the moment as far as I'm concerned. If I made a list of best finnish concerts of the year it would go like 1. Laurila at Dynamo 2. Laurila at Klubi. Especially the concert at Dynamo was totally amazing.

	16. Ben Weaver: Paper Sky Never thought I would fall in love with Ben Weaver, but Paper Sky made that happen. I love the dark rural beauty of the album. Especially the song Surrealism + Blues finds my heart every time.

	17. The Star Spangles: Dirty Bomb A whole lot of fun. Perfect album if you happen to love rock'n'roll and/or seventies power pop. Full of great songs like Tear It To Pieces Girl and Take Care Of Us.

	18. The Rollstons: Song Folks The Rollstons returned to form with their new album Song Folks. This is a great selection if you are looking for some colourful lo-fi rock where anything can happen.

	19. Dropkick: Turning Circles Perhaps there are lots of better sounding albums below Dropkick on this list, but it's the songs that count and I do love Dropkick's songs. This is pretty traditional county-flavoured pop music, but they just do it so well that I have to love them. There's almost a ridiculous amount of great songs on the album. Think of TFC goes country or something.

	20. Locksley: Don't Make Me Wait Time to have a bit of fun again. "Beatles mixed with modern garage rock" is their own description and it still sounds pretty accurate to me. A great feelgood album with lots of gorgeous songs like My Kind Of Lover, All Of The Time, It Won't Be For Long.

	21. Wilco: Sky Blue Sky All time favourite Wilco was back on the right track after Ghost Is Born. I loved songs like Either Way and Sky Blue Sky to bits, but I still think there are also a few weaker tracks on it. Therefore such a low place this time around, but Sky Blue Sky still brought Wilco back into my heart.

	22. Sister Flo: The Healer I think it's a bit shocking (I mean for myself, noone else cares about this list) that Sister Flo wasn't able to climb any higher. I'm not sure why, but for some reason The Healer never became as important as Tragician's Hat (which I still love and which I still rate as one of the best finnish albums released during the last 5 or 10 years) did. I loved the live concerts as much as before, but some tiny bit of magic was missing from the album. Despite all this, The Healer was still an excellent album and one of the finest finnish albums of the year.

	23. Butcher Boy: Profit In Your Poetry This is actually my girlfriend's album, but because we do live in the same household, I think it's perfectly ok to include this one as well. Especially because this fully deserves to be included. Butcher Boy is a new group from Glasgow and Profit In Your Poetry is a truly wonderful indie pop album.

	24. Hotel Alexis: Goliath, I'm On Your Side This wasn't as great as the perfect debut album, but it was still pretty damn good. Dark and beautiful. Soft and quiet. Maybe recalling Sparklehorse's soft and sad tunes. The Devil Knows My Handle on the other hand is very close to Wilco. Goliath, I'm On Your Side is not an easy album, but definitely a very rewarding one.

	25. The Primary 5: Go Wonderful scottish pop music. Sounds a lot like TFC, but it's no wonder because ex-TFC drummer Paul Quinn is The Primary 5's frontman. Go is an excellent pop album and it's really sad that The Primary 5 decided to call it a day few weeks ago. Hopefully Paul continues to make music, because both The Primary 5 albums were really great.

	26. Lucky Soul: The Great Unwanted Great classic pop music. The song Lips Are Unhappy already made last year's best song list, because I fell in love with it at myspace before the album was released. The album finally saw the light in april 2007 and it turned out to be almost as great as I had hoped for.

	27. The Redlands Palomino Company: Take Me Home The Redlands Palomino Company is a great alt.country / country rock band from London. Totally my kind of music. Male-female harmonies, great songwriting. Bonus points for reminding me of The Walkabouts with the title track. About 2/3 of the album is just marvellous. Too bad there's also a couple of songs that I don't like that much. Otherwise this could have been a contender for top 10 spots.

	28. Trembling Blue Stars: The Last Holy Writer TBS is one of the most influential bands in my life and their new album is always an event. The Last Holy Writer didn't make as huge impact as Her Handwriting or Seven Autumn Flowers did, but it was another great album. And Idyllwyld is certainly one of the songs of the year.

	29. Jesse Malin: Glitter in The Gutter I'm not the biggest Jesse Malin fan in the world, but the songs Lucinda and Black Haired Girl made a huge impact on me. Those are some of my favourite songs of the year. The rest of the album didn't hit the same heights in my heart, but I did enjoy everything on the album. Great rock album.

	30. Band Of Horses: Cease To Begin I still have a few problems with Band Of Horses, but this is certainly closer to my taste than the debut album. A guess the reason is still that I prefer things to remain small. I'm a down to earth guy and sometimes Band Of Horses just gets too big and too loud for me. The reason why Cease To Begin is above some of more consistant records (for me) is that when they are good, they are just so fucking brilliant. For example Window Blues and No One's Gonna Love You are just so bloody gorgeous that I can't take it. I have to pass out.

	31. The Clientele: God Save The Clientele A Fading Summer EP stil remains as my favourite The Clientele release, but they certainly made a great album again. That voice certainly paints the apartment with all the colours in the world.

	32. Richmond Fontaine: Thirteen Cities I prefer the previous two albums over this one, but there's still no doubt that this is a wonderful album. However, It's a bit difficult one to swallow I think. It works beautifully as a whole, but individually only few songs ($ 87 and a Guilty Conscience... and Capsized especially) really strike me. It's a record that needs time, but it certainly rewards the time you spent listening to it. I think I should finally order that Willy Vlautin novel, because it really doesn't cost much at amazon.

	33. Blanche: Little Amber Bottles Beautiful and dark americana. Thankfully gorgeous male-female vocal interplay makes it a little lighter and easier to take. Someway this reminds me of Räkärodeo (the greatest radio show there ever was or ever will be) and that's extremely positive mental image.

	34. The Red Button: She's About To Cross My Mind Hey where did The Beatles go. Apparently here. This is excellent 60's/ beatles-influenced pop music. Cruel Girl is so incredibly catchy and It's No Secret is so amazingly beautiful.

	35. Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha My only problem with Andrew Bird is that occasionally I happen to think I'm not smart enough to listen to him. This is only a reflection of my low self esteem and does not have much to do with Andrew Bird. Anyway, Andrew Bird is a great artist and hopefully he gets even wider recognition in the future. He certainly deserves all the hype and number #1 spots on several best of 2007 lists.

	36. Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala Another steal from my girlfriend's record collection. I've always liked Jens Lekman, but I've never been a huge fan. When listening to him, it's impossible to find any reasons why I'm not a huge fan. This is again so wonderful.

	37. The Owls: Daughters And Suns The Owls was a real surprise for me. I bought Tullycraft's album from their label and because adding this to shopping basket didn't make the shipping cost any higher I tought I'll give it a go. I'm glad I did because this turned out to be one of my favourite indie pop albums of the year. I especially fell in love with the song called Yellow Flowers. That songs is like Harry Hunks with a female lead vocalist.

	38. Mooney Suzuki: Have Mercy This is probably a surprise choice here at onechord, but I still follow Miettinen and therefore went and bought this few months ago. And he was right as always. Rock'n'roll with a little bit of soul. Ashes, Rock'n'Roller Girl, First Comes Love and Mercy Me is such a stunning song quartet in the middle of the album.

	39. Limbeck: S/T Totally my kind of band, but perhaps not the most consistant album. If it had lots of songs like Let Me Come Home, you could easily lift them 20 places up. Perhaps now it's more like 1/3 of great songs and 2/3 of "only" really good alt.country.

	40. Dolour: The Years In The Wilderness This album has two parts and made the list because I love the part two called Hell or Highwater, which is full of light, jazzy old-fashioned pop songs. Wonderful material. The part one is called Storm & Stress and has some great power pop songs like Naive. It's good stuff too, but Hell or Highwater is the reason it made the list.

That's it. At the moment I seem to be more into alt.country and americana than indiepop and perhaps that's why some really good indie pop albums like The Bank Holidays, Club 8, Pants Yell!, Tullycraft didn't make the list (at least The Bank Holidays album perhaps should have been on the list, let's give that bubbling under spot for that one). I was also a bit cruel when it comes to finnish albums. At least Puny, Samettivallankumous and Captain Cougar were really close. Obviously there's a huge amount of albums that I just haven't heard. I haven't heard Panda Bear's album or Animal Collective's album. However, I don't think I would love them, because the songs I have heard from them just sound incredibly boring to me (yeah, I know, to most these basic pop and americana records that I selected are fucking boring). Perhaps I should loan that Panda Bear album sometime, because the reviews make it sound wonderful, small soundclips on the other hand just doesn't. The National didn't sound interesting either and well Radiohead might have been good, but I just don't care anymore (perhaps still shocked with that piece of shit called Kid A I once bought). The most obvious album that I still don't own is Dinosaur Jr. Some other albums that I probably would like/love but don't own: Bright Eyes, Richard Swift, Candie Payne, Ice Cream Hands, Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (a bit surprising, but I've heard several good songs from this one), Bill Callahan, Little Name, Plain Ride.. and well the list could go on and on.

TOP 50 Songs
First, I was cruel and ruled out Michael McDonald and Ilona V's Good Morning, because they were on last year's list. Secondly, No more than three songs per artist. Actually it was very hard to get even two, because 50 is such a little number and you want to give some love for several artists. Therefore I only included several songs from the same artist, if I thought I just couldn't leave some song out from the list. Especially with The Avett Brothers and The Soft Rabbit this was absolutely a must. The Avett Brother's song Shame should probably be on the list, but I had to choose three. Thirdly, Obviously this list is a joke in a way that these could be in any order. Alphapetical order would be better. For example I had a lot of trouble choosing in which order I will put The Soft Rabbit songs and in the end one of them was 3rd and one was 20th. And basicly it could be the other way around. Therefore you should probably just think this as 50 songs that I really loved during the year 2007. The order of the songs is insignificant. And finally. I'm sure that I forgot a few that should have been on this list. 1. The Avett Brothers: Paranoia in B-Flat Major 2. Cats On Fire: Mesmer and Reason 3. The Soft Rabbit: Your Street 4. The Felice Brothers: Your Belly In My Arms 5. The Weakerthans: Sun In an Empty Room 6. Laurila: Solid Ground 7. Ryan Adams: I Taught Myself How To Grow Old 8. Bridget: On Our Way Home 9. Trembling Blue Stars: Idyllwyld 10. ultrasport: False Start City 11. John McGregor: Puut ovat kaatuneet 12. The Avett Brothers: Living For Love 13. Topi Saha: Hämeentie 61 14. Fountains Of Wayne: Fire In The Canyon 15. The Soft Rabbit: Summer Riot 16. Red Carpet: Death Of A Band 17. Jesse Malin: Black Haired Girl 18. Band Of Horses: Window Blues 19. The Weakerthans: Night Windows 20. The Soft Rabbit: In A Blink Of A Black Eye 21. ultrasport: Bad Poetry 22. Ben's Diapers: The Good Life 23. Ben Weaver: Surrealism + Blues 24. The Felice Brothers: Ballad Of Lou The Welterweight 25. Sloan: Another Way I Could Do It 26. Future Clouds & Radar: Quicksilver 27. The Primary 5: Off Course 28. The Avett Brothers: I Would Be Sad 29. Damn Seagulls: The Beat 30. Jesse Malin: Lucinda 31. Hundred Million Martians: Passed 32. Hotel Alexis: The Devil Knows My Handle 33. Jason Falkner: Stephanie Tells Me 34. Cats On Fire: Sharp End Of The Season 35. Voxtrot: Every Day 36. The Bishops: Only Place I Can Look Is Down 37. The Owls: Yellow Summer 38. The Star Spangles: Tear It To Pieces Girl 39. Matador Jose: Hope I'll Never Break Your Heart 40. Grand Drive: Talking In Your Sleep 41. Limbeck: Let Me Come Home 42. Richmond Fontaine: Capsized 43. The Loose Salute: The Ballad Of The Dumb Angel 44. BMX Bandits: After I Made Love To You 45. The Redlands Palomino Company: Take Me Home 46. The Pearlfishers: Ring The Bells For A Day 47. Mellowmen: You Better Leave Now 48. Mooney Suzuki: Ashes 49. The Fast Camels: Big Daddy Smythe 50. Keren Ann: In Your Back


TOP 5 Little Discs (7", ep, cd5, mini-album etc)
I must admit that I don't buy much of these. I prefer albums. Therefore I only selected five this time around. I also noticed that it's shocking that I don't own two obvious releases. Red Carpet's farewell EP and Matador Jose's EP are both still missing and I'm 100% sure that these both would have made the list. Shame on me.

	1. Ilona V: Good Morning 7" Well nothing can go wrong when picking the best little record of the year. Ilona Virostek was on her own league. A huge favourite of mine. I hope we'll get a debut album someday.
	2. Hundred Million Martians: Passed (promo-cds) This excellent single previews upcoming HMM album Marseille. The a-side Passed and Stiv Bators cover I'll Be Alright are wonderful.
	3. Dropkick: Killing Time -EP Dropkick released also this excellent EP during 2007. There should be couple of full-lenghts coming up this year. Busy boys. Well it doesn't matter, because it seems that the quality of the releases remains high.
	4. Josh Fields: S/T 7 song EP/minialbum from Josh Fields. I'm not as big fan as absolute powerpop blog (where this was rated as the 3rd best album of the year and who introduced Josh Fields to me), but it is certainly a really good record.
	5. Tink: Northern Hemisphere -EP Tink returned and I think I still love him. Well I definitely do.




	TOP 10 Old Records (that I found during 2007)
These are new addictions. I for example did add some The Beatles albums, one Lee Hazlewood album and The Zombies single collection to my record shelf, but I've loved them for a long time and therefore they are not included.

	1. Bergen White: For Women Only

	2. Badfinger (discography) (because otherwise there would be 5 Badfinger albums on the list)

	3. Glen Campbell: The Capitol Years 65/77

	4. Paul Williams: Someday Man

	5. Roger Nichols & Small Circle Of Friends: S/T

	6. Roky Erickson: I Have Always Been Here Before -The Roky Erickson Anthology

	7. Epic Soundtracks: Rise Above

	8. Jackson C. Frank: S/T

	9. Evie Sands: Any Way That You Want Me

	10. America: Hat Trick
Bubbling under: I also got really addicted to The Rolling Stones in the summer. But perhaps more into songs than any particular album. Perhaps Aftermath or Between The Buttons could be on the list as well.