Strewn around and on top of my stereoset there are always a lot of CD's, LP's etc. waiting for me to put them back where they belong. I thought it interesting to let you in on the details, just to show what stuff I'm currently digging into. As of now you can find the latest additions on Pondertone's What's On weblog, below you can read all the old entries back untill 2003. I also like to listen to Last.fm, feel free to check my profile.
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2CD/2LP, 2007). I'm almost sure some people somewhere think those Radioheads are weird, to say the least. I mean their first single ever was quite standard in a funny way and they've only gone funnier since. Just imagine finishing a contract with a record company, secretly working on loads of tunes for quite a couple of years and then just throwing em up for grabs. Whilst doing so having an artist working on some incomprehensible sketches and saying people can order 'a limited edition box' with two cd's, two vinyl discs, a book and whatnot for a stack of cash. That could be mistaken for being funny... in a way. But there is absolutely nothing funny about their new album. It's a brilliant piece of music from beginning to end. An amazing amalgam of everything they dug into all through their career and lots more. At a glance it's not as sketchy and disturbing as say, Amnesiac or Kid A. It's not the ubermasterpiece OK Computer, but it's still a masterpiece. The tracks are more like atmospheres than songs, but they do have a recognisable structures. The arrangements are stunning. The band have really notably been working very hard to get every part absolutely spot on, without losing the edge. This... box is a statement. Because it's the best that was released in 2007, but also because it's the perfect example of selling physical copies of your work even when every nut on the planet can get the download for free. Song of the year: Nude.
2. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (CD nonesuch, 2007). This second place for the album is largely won by their show at the Paradiso this year. It really made quite a few musicians think of putting up an ad and selling their gear. That show was totally amazing, mindblowing and stunning. By comparison this album is quite normal. 12 very beautiful songs, beautifully written, arranged, produced, played and recorded. One would nearly forget that apart from originality and experiment there's also craftsmanship. And this album can be considered a statement of such. A very, very beautiful album. Longtime contender for song of the year: Sky Blue Sky.
3. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy (CD Ecstatic Peace, 2007). Yeah, sure, it sounds like Sonic Youth playing neatly tuned acoustic guitars. But in a way that's part of what makes this album so very special. The songs, the voice, the songstructures, it all sounds so very much like SY, but still it's different. There's intricate melodies, there's a ceartain laidbackness, a certain melancholy, violins even! I mean... really. It gets a bit noisy near the end at times, but the atmosphere is quite quite different form 'his other band'. A beautiful album, possible contender for song of the year: Fri/end.
4. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (CD Polydor, 2007). I had heard a song or two, but didn't really know him. And when he came on stage at Lowlands festival that didn't really help for me. But when the band began to play and he began to sing it all came together. This is a superb artist! In his totally weird vision, violins perfectly merge with electronics. Add a pinch of Morrissey and Bowie, a touch of melancholy, androgynally sexy words and vocals and you get a sense of what he can do. By that show alone he deserves to be in this list. And the album is great too.
5. Feist - the Reminder (CD Polydor, 2007). Fantastic album. Upbeat, weird, moody, beautiful, whispery, funny, melancholic. I first heard it on copied MP3's and bought this CD at her show in de Melkweg. My Moon My Man should have been a hit.
The rerelease of the year could be considered a surprise for some regular What's On readers. It's the Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (3CD EMI, 1967/2007). I knew the album but didn't own it physically. When I saw this release I bought it without a second thought. It looks like a book, contains the lyrics, three cd's (mono, stereo and bonustracks). I don't believe there's anything very new there, but after Syd Barrett was forced to leave the band forty years ago the others have made a point in trying to bury every single bit of good taste left in the band underneath layers of self indulgence and egomania and have notably tried to bore their fans to death. But this, their first album still stands after 40 years as something that will blow your mind like no other record possibly can. Contenders for song of the 20th century: Interstellar Overdrive and See Emily Play. And just to top it off there's a miniature reproduction of a sketchbook, made at the time, by the late great Syd...
Furthermore, their was an album that wasn't really a new release or a rerelease. As far as I'm concerned it would have won either category: Charles Mingus - Cornell 1964 (2CD Blue Note, 2007). This is music at it's most energetic, moving, thrilling and stunning. It's all this but above all fantastic. People who have visited this page before should know by now that I am a big Mingus fan, but even by his incredible standards this is something special indeed. The band is so together but yet there's so much freedom in their playing that Mingus is audibly glowing with pleasure. He is shouting out the names of his band while playing, humming, laughing, joking and... well... let's call it 'playing bass', but actually he makes the blessed thing sing, hum and laugh as well. With the fantastic Eric Dolphy.
Have a look at What's been on before!