Toby Castle - 2007 Review

Top 10 Albums of 2007

10. Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
Wish I could punt this further up the list but I listened to it again this weekend and I can't put it any higher. Single of the year in Our Velocity. I've seen them live more times than any other band ever. Their live performances helped keep this album in the Top 10. Paul Smith's bowler hatted antics and great angsty Northern tilted lyrics also keep this one up. Wish some of the tunes were a little more memorable...

9. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
My name is Toby Castle and I'm hopelessly addicted to new musical fads. I admit it I'm sorry. However, NYPC are not exactly signed up cheerleaders for the New Glowstick Generation. Nu-rave? More like nu-electro. Plus Tahita has a good line in filthy sex-talk type lyrics. The guitars & synths on this album rock out but what exactly is angular about their sound? Glow sticks at the ready... let the Ponies begin...

8. MIA - Kala
Dirty basslines, throbbing beats and seriously gobby. The man in Rough Trade said this album was "rinsing". Another new musical genre this year - world grime.

7. Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
This album's been coming in for a lot of criticism for being evangelical Christians and for pretending to be from the deep south when they come from Long Beach. Brooding, stuccato and urgent. If you like the vocals you like the album, if not it's in the bin.

6. Tinariwen - Aman Iman
My Andy Kershaw moment without the booze and wife beating.... Malian revolutionary blues-rock - battle hardened fighters with scars to prove it but mellowed by the influence of Hendrix. Saw them at Royal Festival Hall. Mindblowing experience.

5. The Enemy - We'll Live And Die In These Towns
Poor man's Jam. Cliched. Deriviative. Words used to describe the Enemy. But ignore the hype especially the latest spat with Alex Zane. It still sounds fresh, noisy and very very angry. More like the best thing to come out of Coventry since The Specials or "the band we've waited for since Oasis went to seed" (copyright Guardian). Away From Here and We'll Live And Die In These Towns unbeatable for first album fodder this year. Heavy rotation on the i-Pod.

4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
The electronic wizardry of their first album develops into sonic treat for the ears. This time it's not a one man show mixing this time round a proper band with some fine melodies, great lyrics and fantastic soundscapes. North American Scum and All my Friends real quality tracks that lift the soul.

3. Scouting for Girls - Scouting for Girls
November/December is always a good time of year for the release of musical gems and 2007 is no exception. Late entry but is here on merit. It's not going to win next year's Mercury and it won't be on any other list but it's still on mine. SFG are an easy target for the label of 2007's The Feeling. SFG have more talent in their belly button fluff than The Feeling. She's So Lovely & James Bond keep the smile on your face. More piano than guitar this album quietly rocks indie-style along...

2. Hold Steady - Boys and Girls of America
Every time I put on this record I think of college radio, Frat Houses and holidays in Key West. This is noisy rock that shouldn't find a place in a top 10 list for 2007 but it does and it deserves to be here. They look all wrong - balding, podgy, tashes, berets and dodgy prison tattoos but they make the sort of music America should be producing, trumpeting and celebrating. The rock is dead, long live the rock...

1. Jamie T - Panic Prevention
"Fucking croissant". Sheila - a modern classic paen to stella booze. Wimbledon's answer to Shane McGowan paints an uplifting picture of modern life with the best use of the c-word in music ever. Attempts to define this as this year's answer to The Streets afflicts the lazy journalists swelling the ranks of the NME. Comparing this urban poet to Mike Skinner does Jamie Treasys an injustice. His lo-fi, electronic shambling outpourings never cease to make to smile, nod your head & tap your feet. Top drawer.

Top 10 Tracks of 2007

10. Editors - Escape the Nest
9. Jack Penate - Spit At Stars
8. Robyn - With Every Heartbeat
7. Reverend & The Makers - Heavyweight Champion of the World
6. The Wombats - Lets Dance To Joy Division
5. Kate Nash - Foundations
4. Play You - We Start Fires
3. Klaxons - Golden Skans
2. The Twang - Wide Awake
1. Maximo Park - Our Velocity

2007's It's Good But It's Not That Good

Amy Winehouse - Back in Black
She's sings about rehab - I wish she'd fuck off there for good. Her and her Hawley Arms hanging out, beehive sporting friends. I'm sick of the whole saga, sick of her Dad clogging the airwaves on Five Live, sick of my newspaper column inches filled by her mother's "open letter" and sick of her trilby- wearing twat of a husband. The music? It's not about the music, it's the image that is conjured up when you play her record. And the thought that in the New Year we have the pleasures of a Pete and Amy duet to look forward too...

2007's Emperors New Clothes

The Horrors
Faris Rotter and Spider Webb. Rockabilly. Goths. Bag o shite...