WW’s Best Local Albums of 2007

[December 26th, 2007]

Compiling a list of the year’s best albums is no easy task—and limiting it to Portland bands doesn’t really help matters. But WW’s trusty music writers braved the trenches of our excellent local music scene and came out with ears ringing, faces grinning and a set of records that easily includes some of the best—and most certainly our personal favorite—records from the past year. That holds true no matter what part of the world you’re listening from. (Read about the most anticipated local releases of ’08, in our words and the artists’, on page 39.) —Amy McCullough

Lael Alderman, Of Birds, Devils and the Heart (self-released)

[POP MASTER CLASS] The home-studio era has much to answer for: Too many artists, given the opportunity to pursue their muse without constraint of time or money or clashing visions, flit through genres, add unfamiliar instruments on a whim, and obsess over every syllable until the production nudges near-inhuman perfection. Every so often, this turns out to be a good idea. After folding his shoulda-been-worldbeaters indie-rock group the Bella Fayes, Lael Alderman took to the basement studio and forged a solo album that tours nearly every era of pop (British Invasion through new New Wave) to forge marvels of songcraft that, largely by dint of heaven-sent vocals, organically build upon one another toward a distinct and coherent majesty. Don’t try this at home. (JH)

Au, Au (Oedipus Records)

[AVANT-FOLK] Au’s self-titled release is a more than a solid debut full of rickety yet elated melodies. Think Animal Collective with a little less animal—and a little more sobriety; it’s folk with the discipline of classical music and the nagging howls of new, weird Americana. (AS)

 

 

The Builders and the Butchers, The Builders and the Butchers (Bladen County)

[BURIAL BLUES FOLK] The Builders and the Butchers initially turned heads with their immersive performance style—employing singing in the round sans mic, recruiting the crowd as back-up vocalists, traipsing off into the street in the middle of the closing song. But shorn of the theatrics, the band’s music easily holds its own. The record traces the course of a traditional Butchers set, from stripped-down crowd-grabbing opener “The Night, Pt. 1” to lovely sing-along gospel closer “Find Me in the Air.” In under a year, the band’s gone from Mississippi Pizza party band to Crystal Ballroom opener, and this album shows why. (BS)

Crosswalks, New Ghost Lights (self-released)

[INDIE POP] From the opening whimsy of “Ghost Writer” and the bounding thump of “Voices” to dreamlike closer “Turnstile,” the Crosswalks have crafted a near-perfect blend of pop intelligence with New Ghost Lights. Interlacing a keen pop sensibility with verbose wordplay, humor and experimentation, the album hits all the right notes. As all three Crosswalks are songwriters, each track carries its writer’s vocal prowess, gelled by symbiotic talent. Bassist Emily Vidal crafts a giddy apocalypse with “Buildings and Bridges,” while guitarist Brendan McCracken makes “Find Time for Wind Time” explode, and drummer Dave Shur’s melodious grit carries “Takedown Boogie.” New Ghost Lights is pop at its most irresistible. (AK)

Michael Dean Damron & Thee Loyal Bastards, Bad Days Ahead (In Music We Trust)

[STUBBLE FOLK] Michael Dean Damron was always meant for the country troubadour life, even while he was thrashing and screaming with bar-rock staple I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House. Bad Days Ahead represents an impressive step towards that goal. (CJ)

 

 

 

Dolorean, You Can’t Win (Yep Roc )

[POETIC POP] Dolorean’s decidedly winter-friendly You Can’t Win captures the band at its best. Frontman Al James’ breathy, confessional verses of lost love move in step with moody arrangements, and listening to the result is as rewarding an audio experience as Portland offered up this year. The most consistently underrated band in Stumptown has crafted its masterpiece, and we’re running out of reasons to ignore ’em. (CJ)

 

Eskimo & Sons, How Does It Feel to Be Crushed by One Man with the Strength of a Million? (Boy Gorilla)

[JUST BEAUTIFUL] Eskimo & Sons can do no wrong. Songwriter Dhani Rosa and singer Danielle Sullivan have jaw-dropping vocal chemistry, and it drives the group’s gorgeous, lush and delicate folk-pop through the six tracks of How Does It Feel…, an extremely impressive all-around artistic statement. I’ve spent months intensely listening to this EP, and I’m still baffled at how a group of 21-and-unders got to be so stylistically and emotionally advanced. (CJ)

 

Graves, Seldom Slumber (Hush)

[LAZY JAZZ POP] When Graves’ Greg Olin sings, “I know a place in Grupe Park where we can go smoke grass,” you know he doesn’t take outdoor relaxing lightly. In fact, Seldom Slumber is the most satisfying getting-wasted-in-the-woods album I’ve heard all year. Chock-fulla lazy rhythms, shuffling percussion, lackadaisical vocals and kitchen-sink instrumentation, it spells “v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n” with hazy, jazz-tinged ease. (AM)

 

Lifesavas, Gutterfly (Quannum)

[NEO-BLAXPLOITATION] Sonically intricate, dense with elusive/allusive lyrics, and featuring cameos from heavy hitters like George Clinton, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and Fishbone (not to mention WW’s own former Screen star David Walker), Gutterfly is proof-positive that this town can produce a truly world-class hip-hop album—one with huge ambitions and the talent and drive to realize them. Lifesavas’ work here deserves to be as loudly—and widely—heard as anything by the Decemberists, the Gossip or any other hometown heroes—and Portland should be every bit as proud to be identified with it. (JR)

Leigh Marble, Red Tornado (Laughing Stock)

[DARK FOLK ROCK] When Leigh Marble repeats the line “If there’s something there/ We better tear the room apart and find it” with increasing volume and intensity at the end of sleeper highlight “Stakes,” it embodies all the sadness and anger wrapped up in a good breakup. Couple that with biting commentary on everything from self-destructive musician peers, overnight successes and sex-dependant relationships, and you’ve got yourself a burning, angsty folk-rock masterpiece. (AM)

 

Jared Mees, If You Wanna Swim with the Sharks... (Tender Loving Empire)

[BRASH FOLK-POP] Across an album of palm-muted punk-folk anthems, barroom sing-alongs and endless pop hooks, Colorado-via-California transplant Jared Mees somehow simultaneously emulates damn near every member of (my imaginary) intelligent indie-rock songwriter honor society: Tim Kasher (Cursive/ The Good Life), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and local champ Ben Barnett (see feature, page 25). But despite all the modern-rock references, Mees doesn’t sound derivative, exactly—he sounds like a smart songwriter with great taste and a singular sense of drunk-young-working class humor. And his slightly lispy, too-many-syllables-in-one-line delivery is just the thing to make you wanna learn all the words and cut out of work early just to shout along with ’im. (AM)

Menomena, Friend or Foe (Barsuk)

[EXPERIMENTAL POP] Right from the booming, fuzz-distorted drums that head off lead track “Muscle ’n Flo”—not to mention the light, dangling piano that later punctuates its breaks—you know Menomena’s long-awaited follow-up to I Am the Fun Blame Monster! is something special. The production’s fucking seamless; drummer Danny Seim’s adroit, jarring beats are danceable, static-filled and extremely rockin’ (all at once!); and the trio’s layered, joint vocals create a ghostly wall of sound that drives lyrics like “If only Jesus could wash my feet” and “O, to be a machine/ O, to be wanted/ To be useful” home with creepy resolve. In fact, the whole album has a vibe that recalls cult-fave sci-fi movies and novels. Even the cover art’s one of the coolest things around (check out the Grammy-nominated vinyl packaging). Did I mention there’s baritone sax, too? Yup, there most certainly is. (AM)

Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic)

[INDIE ROCK] Isaac Brock has a way of getting your attention—and “March Into the Sea,” the first track on the his band’s latest, is no exception. But basing your impression of We Were Dead solely on the shock value of said track’s maniacal laughter, furious fiddle and spit-filled growls (not to mention the incredulity of the band recruiting ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr) would be just plain inaccurate. Gentle, hook-ridden pop juxtaposing Brock’s bark against the soaring croon of fellow Stumptowner James Mercer (“Missed the Boat”) meets Talking Heads-channeling funk (“Fly Trapped In a Jar”), heartbreaking ballads (for Modest Mouse, at least: “Little Motel”) and epic instant classics (personal fave “Spitting Venom”). Dirty disco-funk single “Dashboard” not excluded, this is a fucking masterwork from a band that could’ve gone to major label/pop-single shit long ago—though I wasn’t too concerned. (AM)

Old Time Relijun, Catharsis in Crisis (K Records)

[NO WAVE] Sure, it takes a few listens of Catharsis in Crisis to appreciate lead singer Arrington de Dionyso’s trademark guttural warble, and Old Time Relijun’s brand of experimental jazz-meets-noise isn’t for the faint of hearing. But songs like “Daemon Meeting” have such catchy hooks that it’s easy to forget the broken sitar and apocalyptic themes and, instead, focus on the passionate music to be found here. OTR might be noisy, but it’s the sound of four musicians’ influences, a hundred ideas and a dozen instruments beautifully, creatively crashing together. (PR)

Adrian Orange & Her Band, Adrian Orange & Her Band (K Records)

[FOLK] Indie-music website Pitchfork burned this Portland prodigy’s latest collaborative effort, saying the world music-inspired folk album reminded it of “archival footage…of Big Brother&the Holding Company (sans Janis) jamming along to a pan of sizzling bacon.” C’mon, what does Pitchfork know? Orange is in full form here—his voice shaking and breaking, his lovelorn songs complemented by folks like the Microphones’ Phil Elverum. If layered horns, poetic lyrics and a symphonic collaboration of 12 musicians sounds like sizzling bacon, then pass the pork. (PR)

Panther, Secret Lawns (Fryk Beat)

[OUTER ORBIT] With his Prince-like falsetto in full effect, the debut full-length by Panther, a.k.a. Charlie Salas-Humara, is nowhere near a re-envisioning of his old noise-pop outfit The Planet The, but a unique experimental masterpiece. Crafted in the attic of multimedia artist E*Rock, Secret Lawns veers in every direction, yet sticks to a visible path. From the literal to the just plain out-there, everything present—vocals, lyrics, keyboards, Cuban-leaning beats—finds its own perfectly skittering, transformative place. (NMC)

 

Richmond Fontaine, Thirteen Cities (El Cortez)

[ALT-COUNTRY LIT] Recorded mostly in Tucson with support from the boys of Calexico, Thirteen Cities continues Richmond Fontaine’s streak of make-it-look-easy masterpieces. Willy Vlautin’s literate ballads of the American underclass seem plainspoken on the surface, but they reveal hidden complexity in their consideration of ordinary people facing everyday moments of moral crisis. And the band’s subtle, deft support paints evocative desert-highway soundscapes for Vlautin’s characters to inhabit. Like an alternate-universe Wilco that was never swallowed up by the recording studio, the band has quietly emerged as transatlantic standard-bearers for intelligent alt-country. (JR)

Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights, The Drunken Dance of Modern Man in Love (Cutthroat Pop)

[ALT-POP] Simply listing all the instruments Chris Robley plays on his sophomore album would take up a huge chunk of the space allotted for this review, but the rich textures of the recording itself tell most of the story. Aided by the sensitive, creative production of Type Foundry’s Adam Selzer, not to mention stellar support from some great local players (especially the horn and string sections), Robley’s layered arrangements yield long-term rewards, as do his haunting turns of melodic and lyrical phrase. Catchy enough for teen-TV soundtracks and clever enough for critical acclaim, these songs (unlike the diminutive Robley himself) have serious legs. (JR)

Sandpeople, Honest Racket (self-released)

[FUTURISTIC HIP-HOP] It was a long time coming, but Sandpeople’s third collaborative full-length lives up to the hype. Quickly becoming the Northwest’s premier name in hip-hop, the ’Peeps have more than a few MCs on the roster who live up to the future-funk beats of Simple and Sapient, the crew’s primary producers. (CJ)

 

 

The Shaky Hands, The Shaky Hands (Holocene)

[SUN-KISSED INDIE POP] Historians shall remember mid-2007 as “the summer of the Shaky Hands.” Something about their gentle ebullience and adorably shambling folk pop best accompanies sudden warm-weather showers—and signature tune “Summer’s Life” soundtracked every vegan barbecue, Flexcar road trip or pan-gendered romance of those dog days. Among the first releases from Holocene Music, the local quintet’s freewheelin’ sound isn’t an obvious match to the scenester club’s offshoot label, but winsome and pastoral as the music tends, there’s a helplessly stylish sheen to the debut. And, as anyone who attended a Memorial Day party ’round these parts knows, you can certainly dance to it. (JH)

The Slants, Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts (self-released)

[DANCE-PUNK TSUNAMI] It’s a great story: All-Asian synthcore troupe lands anime festival, achieves instantaneous notoriety from overpacked fireball-laden maelstrom, inspires John Woo and Dragon Ball Z fans toward aggro electro and—just months after its first practice—books gigs across the globe. As shadow-warriory as the Slants’ rise has been, it’s still all about the tunes, and the band’s debut—floor-filling synth pop bristling with all the menace and grandeur of its oft name-checked cultural icons—is propulsive, cinematic and impossible to ignore. Forget it, Jake. It’s the sound of Chinatown. (JH)

Elliott Smith, New Moon (Kill Rock Stars)

[SAD SOUVENIRS] Like a stumbled-on box of letters from an old friend, these outtakes feel like intimate revelations. We learn, for example, that Either/Or once had a lost title song, and that sublime Oscar contender “Miss Misery” began as the ordinary “Some Enchanted Night.” Along with the enclosed snapshot of the artist as a beaming, preteen KISS fan, Smith might’ve kept these recordings hidden. But since he’s lost to the future, we must console ourselves as best we can with the beautiful artifacts of his past. (JR)

 

Starfucker, Starfucker (self-released)

[SCHIZO DANCE POP] If I was a betting man, I’d bet that Starfucker will be the breakout Portland act of 2008. The kids love Josh Hodges’ low-fi dance-pop steez, and they show up in droves whether he plays house parties or clubs—and his self-titled EP has all the energy, hooks and deep melody of his live show. (CJ)

 

 

White Rainbow, Prism of Eternal Now (Kranky)

[PSYCH MINIMALISM] Though White Rainbow visionary Adam Forkner has been forkin’ ‘em out, so to speak (five releases since 2005), Prism of Eternal Now marks a momentous peak in his catalog. Emanating experimental crescendos of oceanic proportions, Forkner conducts the delicate and drony, all awash in tribal euphoria and healing vibes. (AS)

 

 

YACHT, I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real. (Marriage)

[ELECTRO-GOODNESS] Launched with local fanfare on an honest-to-god yacht called the Crystal Dolphin, YACHT’s I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real. makes it clear that mastermind Jona Bechtolt believes in lots of things: the dissolution of material excess, career happiness, the “Women of the World”—all of which you can totally dance to! Love is a drug, and so is positivity. I Believe in You delivers the latter over the counter. (NMC)