AtlasPlugged's
Best Of 2007
This year as we all look ahead to a brighter and more successful music industry, we ask our MRG family and friends to look back and consider the music that they couldn’t tune out in 2007. Here are our staff picks for top Album, top shows, etc. Do you agree?
Adam Bird
Artist Spotlight , Musician's Atlas
Top 10 albums of 2007
*Young Modern - Silverchair
*Wincing the Night Away - The Shins
*The Con - Tegan and Sara
*Trampoline -Steel Train
*Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters
*Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
*Icky Thump - White Stripes
*Cross - Justice
*Alright, Still - Lily Allen
*In Rainbows - Radiohead
Top 5 Live Shows
*Silverchair - Webster Hall - NYC
*White Stripes - MSG - NYC
*The Shins - Terminal 5 - NYC
*QOTSA - Electric Factory - Phila
*Tegan & Sara - NYC
Top 5 non 2007 albums
*Elliott Smith - Figure 8/XO
*Dissociatives - S/T
*Squeeze - Singles Going Steady
*Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers/Silverchair - diorama
*QOTSA - Lullabies to Paralyze
Debbie Duke
Programmer/Web Maestro, Musician's Atlas/AtlasOnline
Albums:
*
Wisely – S/T (officially releases in Jan, 2008)
*
Elliott Smith – New Moon
*
New Pornographers – Challengers
*
Radiohead – In Rainbows
*
Robert Pollard – Silverfish Trivia
*
The Nines – Gran Jukle’s Field
*
Fools For April – S/T
Songs:
*Through Any Window – Wisely
*
Wolves Like Me – TV On The Radio
*
Club Action – Yo Majesty
*
Bucky Done Gun – MIA
*
Insanity (The Sanest Thing You’ve Got) – The Nines
*
Le Disko – Shiny Toy Guns
*
Naïve – The Kooks
Best live shows:
*Spam Allstars
*Balkan Beat Box
*Wisely
*The Nines
*
Crowded House
James Potter
Editor/Site Manager, Musician's Atlas
Top Albums of 2007:
*Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
*Tegan & Sara - The Con
*Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
*Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
*K-Os - Atlantis: Hymns for Disco
*Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
*Dethklok - Dethalbum
*A Wilhelm Scream - Career Suicide
*Unsane - Visqueen
*Smoke or Fire - This Sinking Ship
Top Shows:
*Cursive, Mastodon, and Against Me! at Roseland, NYC
*The Weakerthans at Webster Hall, NYC
*Cobra Skulls and World Inferno Friendship Society at Terminal 5, NYC
Joelle Caputa
Editor/Publicity, Musician's Atlas/Independent Music Awards
Top Albums of 2007 (in no order)
*
Sohodolls- "Ribbed Music for the Numb Generation"
*
Silverchair- "Young Modern"
*
Val Emmich- "Songs, Vol.1 Woodstock"
*
Scott and Aimme- "Sitting In a Tree"
*
Avril Lavigne- "The Best Damn Thing" (no joke)
Most Played Albums of 2007
*Lostprophets- "Start Something"
*
Butch Walker- "Letters"
*
Sohodolls- "Ribbed Music for the Numb Generation"
*
Scott and Aimme- "Sitting In a Tree"
*
Jeremiah Freed- Self-titled
Best Live Shows of 2007
* Silverchair- Webster Hall
*
Butch Walker- Maxwells
* Val Emmich- Mercury Lounge
*
Kill Hannah- Starland Ballroom
*
Shiny Toy Guns- Starland Ballroom
Jude Folkman
Editor-In-Chief, Musician's Atlas/Marketing Director, MRG
Best of the Year(In no particular order):
*Feist: “The Reminder”
*Carolina Chocolate Drops: “Dona Got A Ramblin Mind”
*Amy Winehouse: “Back To Black”
*White Stripes: "Icky Thump”
*Annie Lennox: “Songs of Mass Destruction”
*Bettye Lavette: “The Scene of The Crime”
Records I couldn’t get outta my head:
*Sasha Dobson: “Modern Romance” - The coolest, jazziest, pop chanteuse – buy this record now!
*Neko Case: “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood”
*Richard Julian: “Slow New York”
*Sam Philips: “Cruel Inventions”
*Dolly Parton: “Halos & Horns”
Hair-raising live performances:
*Fiona Apple/Nickel Creek: Central Park NYC
*Rufus Wainwright: The Blender, NYC
*Sinead O’Connor: Beacon Theater, NYC
*Annie Lennox: United Palace Theatre
*Kristy Krueger: Austin, TX
Lauren Veteri
Managing Editor, Musician's Atlas/IMA Coordinator
*Ani Difranco - Canon
*Billie Holiday - Remixed & Reimagined
*Miguel Migs - Those Things
*Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
*Soho Dolls - Ribbed Music For The Numb Generation
*Feist - The Reminder
*Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Martin Folkman
Publisher, Musician's Atlas/Director, Independent Music Awards
Albums:
*Beauty & Crime – Suzanne Vega
*Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
*River – Herbie Hancock
*The Reminder – Feist
*The Knee Plays (CD Reissue) - David Byrne
Shows:
*Richard Julian & Sasha Dobson – Highline Ballroom, NYC
*Elvis Costello & Rosanne Cash – Rubin Museum of Art, NYC
*Melissa McClelland – The Living Room, NYC
*Lily Allen – Stubbs (SXSW), Austin
*Annie Lennox – United Palace Theatre, NYC
Albums I Couldn't Get Out Of My Head:
*Alan Price – O Lucky Man (Soundtrack)
*Steve Earle – Train A Comin’
*Terence Trent D’Arby – Neither Fish Nor Flesh
*James Brown – Star Time
*Tony Scherr – Come Around
Michael Shelley
Editor, Musician's Atlas
Favorite Songs:
*Allen Toussaint: “Play Something Sweet”
*Amy Winehouse: “Rehab”
*Sexteto Electronico Moderno: "Divagando"
*Anand Prayag & Chorus: "Pretty Priva"
*Jim Ford: “It Takes Two To Make One”
*The Rabies: “My Girl’s A Hologram”
Robert Fontana
Editor, Musician's Atlas
Top 5 Albums of 2007:
*Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
*Feist - The Reminder
*The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
*Silverchair - Young Modern
*Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Top 5 Songs I Couldn't Get Out of My Head:
*Coconut Records - West Coast
*Interpol - Heinrich Maneuver
*Paramore - Misery Business
*Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
*Pink - Who Knew
Top Concerts of 2007:
*Bon Jovi - Lost Highway Tour @ Prudential Center, Newark, NJ - Nov
*My Chemical Romance - The Bamboozle @ Meadowlands, NJ - May
Theresa McMillan
Editor, Musician's Atlas/Sales & Partnerships, MRG
Top 5 Albums
*White Stripes- "Icky Thump"
*Kings Of Leon - "Because of the Times"
*Silverchair - "Young Modern"
*Modest Mouse - "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank"
*Foo Fighters - "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace"
For better or worse....stuck in my head all year:
*Gwen Stefani- "Escape"
*Amy Winehouse- "Rehab"
*Lily Allen- "LDN"
*Rilo Kiley- "Moneymaker"
Best Live Shows
*White Stripes- Irving Plaza
*Roger Waters- IZOD Arena
*Beastie Boys- Central Park
*Raconteurs + Bob Dylan- IZOD Arena
*Coldplay - Madison Square Garden
David Wechsler
Musician/Writer
In no particular order (except that they sound good sequenced this way) my favorite songs are:
*I Will Rise Up / Ain't No More Cane - Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
*Shame - The Avett Brothers
*Rope To The Water - Life In A Blender
*Make-Out King - Eleni Mandell
*Vintage Clothes - Paul McCartney
*Identity Theft - Nellie McKay
*Sing with the Sailors - Brooks Chambers
*Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright
*Plus Ones - Okkervil River
*The Underdog - Spoon
*Ocean of Noise - The Arcade Fire
*Through with Love - The Sharp Things
*While You Were Sleeping - Elvis Perkins
*The Perfect Me - Deerhoof
*Grey in L.A. - Loudon Wainwright III
*Dear Friend - Eleni Mandell
*I Like Being Left Alone - Robbie Fulks
By far, my favorite album of the year was Eleni Mandell's Miracle of Five. I chose two of the songs for the best of 2007 CD but it could have almost been any 2 songs on the album. Not a bad song in the lot and all beautifully realized in performance and production.
The next four (well, excluding mine which I'm fairly fond of) would probably be:
*Emotionalism - The Avett Brothers
*
The Heart is a Small Balloon - Life in a Blender
*Obligatory Villagers - Nellie McKay
* A Movable Feast - The Sharp Things
And my favorite discovery of 2007 even though they didn't release anything this past year was the Kaizers Orchestra from Norway. Check 'em out!
John Romano
President, Avant Garde A Clue, Inc.
* The Spectacles - "Hey Ice Cream" http://thewaybackyard.com/ - It's all
about the songwriting, I dare you to listen to this album and not have a
lyric stuck in your head.
* Get Licious - "Get Licious" - http://www.myspace.com/getlicious -
Amazing voice, fun lyrics. Kind of like a turbo charged Maroon 5 with
deeper lyrics about jail, Hollywood, and getting stuck in Mexico.
* The Who - "Who's Next" - http://www.thewho.com/ - Rediscover the best
album ever.
* Wolfmother - "Wolfmother" - http://www.wolfmother.com/ - Ignore the
Zepplin influence and rock out!
* Bits of Grace Potter, Joe Purdy, Eels, Jim Bianco and Arcade Fire.
