i may be a bird in a cage but at least it's your cage

I ended up having to break this down: the albums I thought were brilliant, objectively, and the albums I loved even if they weren't on my top five best. There's overlap -- Josh Ritter should really be on both lists, and so should Bright Eyes and Cobra, but every album gets one list and these are mine. Also, "fucking epic" is totally a valid reason to put an album on a Best Of list, what are you talking about?

Top Five Best Albums Released In 2007, in my humble opinion:

1. Bright Eyes -- Cassadaga. This was the best album of 2007, and you know how I know that? I don't normally like Bright Eyes and I loved this. It was all I listened to for about a month this summer.

2. Kanye West -- Graduation Day. Unconditionally across the board brilliant.

3. The National -- Boxer. Fucking epic.

4. Josh Ritter -- The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. "To the Dogs or Whoever" and "Right Moves" are already in my top 50 most-played tracks in iTunes, and the rest of the album is solidly, simultaneously joyous and devastating.

5. Cobra Starship -- ¡Viva La Cobra! GABE SAPORTA, YOU MAY BE CREEPY, BUT THIS IS A GENIUS ALBUM. Tongue-in-cheek 80s-influenced pop music, and it makes me want to get up and dance, which is the whole fucking point. I genuinely believe this is one of the best albums of the year, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

My Five Favorite Albums Released In 2007, which do not appear on the above list:

1. Fall Out Boy -- Infinity On High. Honestly, objectively, a really good album.

2. Nellie McKay -- Obligatory Villagers. She's, like, 22 or something, and this spans her mastery of so many genres and so many sounds. Her first album was amazing, and she just keeps getting better.

3. Okkervil River -- The Stage Names. Grew on me once I heard it in concert; it's sort of huge and heartbreaking live, which makes me appreciate the studio version more. But it's no Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See. (I am the only person on the planet who loves that album more than Black Sheep Boy, for the record.)

4. The Weakerthans -- Reunion Tour. They could record the phone book and I would love it, and I do, but still, once again, as above: this is no Reconstruction Site, alas.

5. Various Artists -- I'm Not There (Music From The Motion Picture). I would love this for the Mason cover of "Times They Are A'Changin'", but then it turned out that the rest of it was pretty awesome, too.

Honorable vague mentions: The Arcade Fire -- Neon Bible; Modest Mouse -- We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank; Motion City Soundtrack -- Even If It Kills Me; Feist -- The Reminder; Band of Horses -- Cease to Begin. All albums that I enjoyed, and listened to more than once, but didn't blow me away, or, in the case of Band of Horses, haven't listened to enough to have a real opinion besides "that's pretty damn good". (Poor Modest Mouse: they are never going to make another Moon and Antarctica, and I will forever listen to their new stuff and screw up my face and say, "Well, it's okay, but it's not Moon and Antarctica." But it's true! That album is genius.)

I've been torturing people with this question on IM for a couple of days, so if I bugged you about it, or if I didn't bug you about it but I should have, please feel free to share your lists in the comments. And if you can't narrow it to five, ten is more than acceptable. *grin*

Sometimes I get overwhelmed, because there is too much music to listen to and too many books to read and too many stories to write -- the sheer backlog of, for example, titles without stories I have on my computer, you don't even know -- and then I just end up listening to Josh Ritter tracks on repeat when I should be in bed instead. I am very tired today.

( brief work bitching )