2008 Woodie Awards
Commentary: Best 2007 Albums
By Luke Bauerlein
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: Entertainment
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At the heart of it all are Matt Berninger's simple piano arrangements and plaintive baritone voice. Too detached to be considered earnest and far too sincere to be nihilistic, Berninger's vocals are simply perfect, and lend weight to lines that might seem like throw-away details on the surface.
4. Jens Lekman - "Night Falls Over Kortedala." Swedish singer/songwriter Lekman doesn't just wear his influences on his sleeve, he steals them, literally sampling bits from orchestral '60s pop, Motown, '50s doo-wop and contemporary artists (fellow Swedes The Concretes and the Tough Alliance pop up,) and incorporating them into his own pop amalgamations.
His crooning vocals have been likened to Morrissey, and the result is a pop music cathedral of strings, horns, flutes, bells and toy piano that ranges from the gorgeous to the theatrical. However, whenever Lekman over indulges himself sonically, he almost always saves the moment with his lyrics.
5. Okkervil River - "The Stage Names." On "The Stage Names" Okkervil River is as tight as they've ever been, every hook is well placed, and every musical decision helping to enhance the portraits of Will Sheff's desperate characters.
The band is also playing around with genre more than they have on any other record, and whether it's the shuffling R&B of "A Hand to Take Hold of The Scene," the straight ahead rock n' roll of "Unless It's Kicks," or the more familiar country-folk balladry of "A Girl In Port," the songs all possess the sound of a band hitting its stride and having a hell of a time doing it.
So there you have it, my favorite albums of 2007. Rounding out my top ten for the year and also worth a listen are the Black Lips' "Good Bad Not Evil," Radiohead's "In Rainbows," Spoon's "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," The White Stripes' "Icky Thump" and Of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna, Are you The Destroyer?"
Luke Bauerlein is a student at West Chester University majoring in liberal studies. He can be reached at LB561388@wcupa.edu.
4. Jens Lekman - "Night Falls Over Kortedala." Swedish singer/songwriter Lekman doesn't just wear his influences on his sleeve, he steals them, literally sampling bits from orchestral '60s pop, Motown, '50s doo-wop and contemporary artists (fellow Swedes The Concretes and the Tough Alliance pop up,) and incorporating them into his own pop amalgamations.
His crooning vocals have been likened to Morrissey, and the result is a pop music cathedral of strings, horns, flutes, bells and toy piano that ranges from the gorgeous to the theatrical. However, whenever Lekman over indulges himself sonically, he almost always saves the moment with his lyrics.
5. Okkervil River - "The Stage Names." On "The Stage Names" Okkervil River is as tight as they've ever been, every hook is well placed, and every musical decision helping to enhance the portraits of Will Sheff's desperate characters.
The band is also playing around with genre more than they have on any other record, and whether it's the shuffling R&B of "A Hand to Take Hold of The Scene," the straight ahead rock n' roll of "Unless It's Kicks," or the more familiar country-folk balladry of "A Girl In Port," the songs all possess the sound of a band hitting its stride and having a hell of a time doing it.
So there you have it, my favorite albums of 2007. Rounding out my top ten for the year and also worth a listen are the Black Lips' "Good Bad Not Evil," Radiohead's "In Rainbows," Spoon's "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," The White Stripes' "Icky Thump" and Of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna, Are you The Destroyer?"
Luke Bauerlein is a student at West Chester University majoring in liberal studies. He can be reached at LB561388@wcupa.edu.
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