James' Favorites of 2007 Feature by James Hepplewhite
I’m still not using the word best, even though the ordinal ranking system might suggest otherwise. I’m going with my gut here, and the effects the albums had on me. There is nothing remotely scientific about this. Even more than 2006, music kept me sane and kept me from coming undone or keeping from becoming threadbare. Here’s what I listened to this year.
Favorite Albums Of 2007
20. KANYE WEST - Graduation You can fairly say this is the year I get introduced to hip-hop. This disc, and one a little further down on the list are my “toes in the water”.
19. THE WEAKERTHANS - Reunion Tour (Anti-) This got reviewed in my college’s campus newspaper. I guess that’s when I knew Pitchfork gave its seal of approval to a band that our scene has long since loved. It was around that time, that I finally gave it a spin and it grew from there.
18. MODERN LIFE IS WAR - Midnight In America (Equal Vision) Anything following up Witness has a long shadow to move past. This one did it better than most. Not better, mind you, but different enough.
17. YELLOWCARD - Paper Walls (Capitol) So, has someone told LP that he’s, uhhhhh, inhuman on the album? I’d say he ought to have that checked out by a doctor, but really, I’m just hoping someone gets these guys back in the studio to strike while the iron is hot.
16. DUSTIN KENSRUE - Please Come Home (Equal Vision) While none of these songs will replace “Under a Killing Moon” or “Deadbolt” or “The Earth Will Shake” as staples in my listening rotation, this disc has a pleasure all of its own, perhaps meant to be listened to in the car on the way back from a THRICE show, perhaps to decompress, but as much to soak in Dustin’s voice.
15. I ADAPT - Chainlike Burden (Mammapin) Heavy, monolithic metalcore with a fantastic Euro punch. I can’t wait to hear this band’s next work.
14. FAKE PROBLEMS - How Far Our Bodies Go (Sabot) It’s both exciting and shaming that this band is my age, and apparently, is making better AGAINST ME! records than AGAINST ME! is. It makes me wonder what I’m doing wrong with my life that I’m not writing one of the best discs of the year.
13. SOUL CONTROL - Involution (Rivalry) For a band that places so much importance on Eastern thoughts as well as Western ones, it’s a little unnerving that when this disc sinks in is when I’m reading Soren Kierkegaard. Anyone got some BURN to lend me?
12. JIMMY EAT WORLD - Chase This Light (Tiny Evil) Yes, it’s more poppy than the rest of their discography. Yes, there’s no “For Me This Is Heaven” on this disc, but it still rules. If it wasn’t for the 20 seconds of feedback on the end of “Electable”, I’d say it would be the best punk song of the year. Can Jim’s voice get better?
11. SAGE FRANCIS - Human, The Death Dance (Epitaph) I would say that this is only here for “Hell of a Year”, but that would spite “Underground For Dummies”, which in turn, thumbs its nose at “Got Up This Morning” and ending there would insult “Good Fashion” and you can see where this is going…
10. RUINER - Prepare To Be Let Down (Bridge Nine) The melodies are dark. The mood is bleak. Hell, the cover art has six people hanging from a tree. This is hardcore that makes you hate the world, but the disc ends with the closest thing RUINER has to hope. Breathless. Broken. Alive. Alive. Alive.
09. WORLD/INFERNO FRIENSHIP SOCIETY - Addicted The Bad Ideas (Chunksaah) So, the band moves even further away from punk as a sound, but gets even deeper into it lyrically? You can still count me in. I would send “…Weimar Republik” to my school’s swing dance club, but I don’t think they’d appreciate the lyrical content, which, perhaps, makes it that much more fun to dance to.
08. LIFETIME - S/T (Decaydance) There are imitators trying to be king. The ace, however, is back.
07. THE GEEKS - Every Time We Fall (Think Fast!) I don’t think straight edge youth crew hardcore ever left, but on the off chance it did, South Korea’s THE GEEKS brings it back to America better than it’s been done since, oh, CHAIN OF STRENGTH.
06. LOOK MEXICO - This Is Animal Music (Lujo) The best thing to come out of Florida since Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion. Okay, I’ll dial that back some. The best thing to come out of Florida since the Disco Before the Breakdown EP. Corey wasn’t kidding when he said this band rules.
05. BEDOUIN SOUNDCLASH - Street Gospel (Side One) So what do you do when a band releases an amazing record that takes you four or so months to get into and follows that up with a record that takes one listen to get hooked by? You call it one of the best records you’ve heard this year.
04. BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE - Strictly Rude (Side One) Forgive the laziness, but this one really should be titled Strictly Awesome.
03. CRIME IN STEREO - ...Is Dead (Bridge Nine) A follow up to the amazing The Troubled Stateside that sounds nothing like the disc that preceded it and yet sounds like it came from the exact same band? Enough talk. Is Dead channels BRAND NEW’S Deja Entendu to great effect, and lyrically, Alex still has it. If it was released by Bridge Nine this year and it hasn’t already been listed, you can bet it is in Is Dead’s formidable shadow.
02. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO - Somewhere In The Between (Victory) Brian says that it’s not an evolution from Streetlight’s previous disc, Everything Goes Numb, and that’s why he gives it a seven out of ten. I say, screw it, Somewhere In the Between earns its spot here because I listened to it 15 times straight through in one weekend and I can’t even say that for my favorite disc of the year.
01. A WILHELM SCREAM - Career Suicide (Nitro) Mr. Guerwitz, I don’t know if I even have the standing to address you directly, but here goes. If anything from this year is close to The Shape of Punk to Come in terms of musicianship, talent and punk rock feel, this is it. Career Suicide is vulgar as shit, talented as fuck and boundlessly energetic.
OTHER
THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY - Live at Oslo Jazz Festival
Hey, I can dance to this. Really. Perhaps it is part of my inability to dance to songs that aren’t about arms dealers or about Hallowmas. But whatever it is, it’s a nice introduction to, or, in my case, reminder of the (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY.
ALKALINE TRIO - Remains
It’s been widely recognized that most of ALKALINE TRIO’S b-sides are far better than the tracks they put on their full length CDs, so it makes sense that a collection of their b-sides smokes the competition, and perhaps to the band’s chagrin, most of their catalog.
PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS - We Ride to Fight!
Twenty four tracks, culling all of their pre-No Idea material (with one exception) on to one CD. Expressive, emotive and gut-wrenching, this is what emo is supposed to be about, and hardly ever is.
V/A - Our Impact Will Be Felt: A Tribute to Sick Of It All
I still don’t like SICK OF IT ALL on record, but I love these covers.
OPERATION IVY - Energy
This should be a no-brainer. Buy it. Listen to it. Be it.
DAFT PUNK - Alive 2007
Look, I didn’t even know I liked DAFT PUNK until I heard this, either. Now I do.
MONEEN - Saying Something You May Have Already Said Before
It’s a hell of an EP, with four killer acoustic songs, and a bside from the Red Tree, but perhaps the best and worst part is the DVD, which has four live cuts, which are captured in many different angles, professionally done, and during the last song, the credits roll. It makes me salivate for a full DVD of the set.
I Miss, Or Rest In Peace
VAUX
NONE MORE BLACK
THE EXPLOSION
MUCH THE SAME
WITH HONOR
HOT CROSS
Let's Not Even Talk About
Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me
Cartel - Cartel
I Didn’t Hear These CDs in Their Entirety, And I Don’t Care About What Anyone Else Thinks About It
AGAINST ME! - New Wave
Yes, I like Thrash Unreal as much as everyone else. I just don’t have a desire to hear the entire disc. I still like AGAINST ME!, and like FALL OUT BOY, it is hard to pin down, or figure out what to do with them. Fall Out Boy doesn’t have to spend millions of dollars going to Africa to shoot a video highlighting the genocide in Sudan, or play VFW halls between huge rock show tour dates, and Against Me! certainly doesn’t have to play benefit shows every couple of months.
THE ATARIS - Welcome the Night
I have this neat little lie going on in my head that this band broke up after they put out their live CD. Why disabuse myself of that notion now?
BAD BRAINS - Build A Nation
An interesting couple of songs, but when compared with the discs they’re supposed to be compared to, it just doesn’t stack up.
Disc I Thought I Would Like A Lot More Than I Actually Did
SUNDOWNER - Five One Four Two
Bands I Slowly Warmed Up To, At The Insistence Of Some Fine, Feathered Friends
ENVY
THE WEAKERTHANS
Disc That Shows Why Just Because You Can Bombard the Press With Quotes About Bringing “Punk Rock Back” Does Not Mean You Should
GALLOWS - Orchestra Of Wolves
Biggest Tease In 2007 Not Called DILLINGER FOUR’s Civil War
POLAR BEAR CLUB - Sometimes Things Just Disappear
Disc I Remember Really Liking When I Heard All Of It Online But Didn’t Buy It Or Download the Files From Anywhere
WEATHERBOX - American Art
CD I Heard One Track Of And Haven’t Listened To Since
COMEBACK KID - Broadcasting...
CD That’s Aping SET YOUR GOALS, And That Band Was Aping NEW FOUND GLORY, So When I Say I’ve Heard It Before, I Mean It, And For That Matter, I Own The CD
FOUR YEAR STRONG - Rise Or Die Trying
The “Really, Jade Tree, Are You Terribly Concerned About How Much CMJ Charts New Lexicon In 2008?” Award
PAINT IT BLACK - New Lexicon
The “Well, At Least This Guitarist Stuck Around For Two Records” Award
RISE AGAINST
Best Limited Edition Packaging On a CD
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - The Longue Duree
Concerts
ALKALINE TRIO/SMOKING POPES - New Years Eve 2007, the Metro, Chicago
Despite the price, I can now say I’ve seen ALKALINE TRIO at their best in a smallish venue in a packed house. Worth it all around.
BANE/DOWN TO NOTHING/AMBITIONS/THE GEEKS - February 24, the Roboto Project, Pittsburgh
Three covers were played by three of the opening bands, the first one being REFUSED’s “Summer Holidays Vrs. Punkroutine”, the second one being MINOR THREAT’s “Filler” and the third being the MISFITS “Astro Zombies”. I don’t know what more I could have possibly asked for, until, you know, BANE played. No stage. No barrier. If it’s the last time I see BANE, then I can say I saw them the way they were meant to be seen.
STRIKE ANYWHERE/LOVED ONES - Mothers Day 2007, Arlington Heights VFW, Arlington Heights
Unanticipated consequences of all of the Chicago punk rock venues shutting down: I get to see STRIKE ANYWHERE and THE LOVED ONES play in a VFW, (the same place I saw VAUX last year, actually…) and magically, restore my faith in punk rock without pretense or hyphens. The end of Sunset on 32nd was so big, members of the crowd had to sing into the guitarists’ microphone.
JIMMY EAT WORLD - July 25th, Park West, Chicago
I don’t know what to say about this show that hasn’t already been said, but “the Middle” was epic and everyone seemed to have a good time. Maybe you can sit down and enjoy a concert…
MODERN LIFE IS WAR - October 14th, the Roboto Project, Pittsburgh
I just close my eyes, and I’m already there. I can still see the piles of people screaming along to D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S. and the kids crowding the band for “Fuck the Sex Pistols”.
AGAINST ME!/SAGE FRANCIS/THE WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY - Thanksgiving 2007, the Metro, Chicago
Finally, something to give thanks for on Thanksgiving!
PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS - November 30th, the Davenport, Cleveland
It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m never going to see PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS again, unless I head to Denver on February 16th. The bar wasn’t even half full, the band played like it was packed. They’re already missed.
