“Pitchfork” Heaps Its Praises On Panda Bear

jharv | December 18, 2007 8:55 am
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Pitchfork makes it easy when it comes to guessing its Top 50 albums of the year in advance, thanks to the “Best New Music” and “Recommended” stickers it slaps on the records it likes best. So if you’ve been paying attention to the bottom-left corner of the site for the last 12 months, P-fork’s 2007 list, headed up by Animal Collective member Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, should feel like a bunch of old friends getting one last shout-out before the end of the year. That, or it’s another chance to curse the site for over-praising a bunch of records that don’t really deserve the dap.

THE GOOD: U.K. post-punks Life Without Buildings’ career-capping live album and Stars Of The Lid’s six-years-in-the-making follow-up to a sleepy ambient classic sneak into the upper reaches. Plus all the other records everyone else with even a toe dipped into indie rock liked this year. THE BAD: Way too much tooth/brain-rotting twee Nordic indie pop/dance. What’s that you say? That’s only like three or four albums out of 50? It’s still too much. THE WHAAAA? “With Burial’s 2006 debut, it helped to have some investment in dubstep; Untrue is for everyone.” Really? Everyone?

50: Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life 49: Dizzee Rascal, Maths + English 48: Robert Wyatt, Comicopera 47: Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals 46: Marissa Nadler, Songs III: Bird on the Water 45: Ricardo Villalobos, Fabric 36 44: Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends 43: Stars of the Lid, And Their Refinement of the Decline 42: Ghostface Killah, The Big Doe Rehab 41: Life Without Buildings, Live at the Annandale Hotel 40: Beirut, The Flying Club Cup / Lon Gisland EP 39: The White Stripes, Icky Thump 38: Wu-Tang Clan, 8 Diagrams 37: Grizzly Bear, Friend EP 36: Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog 35: Black Lips, Good Bad Not Evil 34: James Blackshaw, The Cloud of Unknowing 33: King Khan & the Shrines, What Is?! 32: Sally Shapiro, Disco Romance 31: Deerhoof, Friend Opportunity 30: Caribou, Andorra 29: Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago 28: Dinosaur Jr., Beyond 27: Arcade Fire, Neon Bible 26: Various Artists, After Dark 25: The Tough Alliance, A New Chance / New Waves EP 24: Dan Deacon, Spiderman of the Rings 23: Studio, Yearbook 1 22: Okkervil River, The Stage Names 21: Dirty Projectors, Rise Above 20: Liars 19: Feist, The Reminder 18: Kanye West, Graduation 17: The National, Boxer 16: Lil Wayne, Da Drought 3 15: Justice, &8224; 14: Deerhunter, Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey EP 13: Jay-Z, American Gangster 12: No Age, Weirdo Rippers 11: Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala 10: Burial, Untrue 09: The Field, From Here We Go Sublime 08: Battles, Mirrored 07: Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 06: Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam 05: Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? 04: Radiohead, In Rainbows 03: M.I.A., Kala 02: LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver 01: Panda Bear, Person Pitch

Top 50 Albums Of 2007 [Pitchfork]

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