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VINAL EDGE RECORD's BEST OF 2007 LIST!

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In no particular order...

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo"
Another Acid Mothers Temple CD you say. You think "I already own 10 of their releases and they all sound great, but all sound sort of the same, so I'll get something else." Well in this case you would be wrong. This new CD has some of the psychedelic overload moments we have come to love and expect, but then there are all these other elements. At times it sounds like a bunch of drugged out hippies doing Native American music, and at other times it sounds like the Incredible String Band. A fun and unusually varied release from this classic Japanese weirdo band. ---Chuck

DUNGEN "Tio Bitar"
Prog may be a four-letter word to most of these young whippersnappers that buy music today, but for some reason, THE KIDS LOVE DUNGEN. They just don't know how to pronounce it(DOOONG-un). Why do the kids want to hear a guy singing in Swedish to prog stylings with Thin Lizzy-ish guitar riffs? Hell, Why do I want to listen to something like that? Frankly I can't tell you, but it is addicting, and it works. ---Chuck

GRAILS "Burning Off Impurities"
Sometimes where we file a piece in our shop tells a lot about what we think of a piece. This band fits in the current label of "post-rock", and most of those pieces we file under "Alternative". This instrumental album has so much more going on than the average "post-rock" disc. Elements of ancient German hippie prog-rock with middle eastern flavors along with the building intensity similar to Godspeed You Black Emperor are drenched throughout, making this disc seem timeless. ---Chuck

MODEST MOUSE "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank"
Uber-hipsters will dis this band nowadays as a sell-out because of their major label and large popularity. It may be "uncool" to like popular bands, but there is a reason this band is so popular. They are great songwriters, and they make great records. This record is another great one. The lyrics are sharp, and the band quite simply ROCKS! ---Chuck

BORIS WITH MERZBOW "Rock Dream"
Unlike the previous collaboration, 2007's "Rock Dream" has Merzbow playing as the fourth member and adding a thick psychedelic presence to the already dense and sludgy Boris live set. Fans of both Boris and Merzbow will find this partnership incredibly appealing, though after two discs of heavy fuzzy fuckery, you may have to clean out your system. ---Chris

SPOON "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
From the opening bounce of "Don't Make Me a Target," this album sucked me in. It's catchy, it's fun and the band shows an incredible focus and attention to detail that will make you want to pop it right back on after it's finished spinning. This is by far Spoon's most complete and consistent album to date, and simply a great indie pop album. ---Chris

SHELLAC "Excellent Italian Greyhound"
We got a piece of paper in the mail about a month before the release date explaining that there would be no promotional copy of the CD, no posters, no promotions at all of any kind beyond the sheet of paper I had in my hands. And you know what? It was one of our best selling albums of the year! The opening track "The End of Radio" is an 8 minute diatribe of everything and nothing at once, and it's the perfect opener for what has to be the best Shellac since their debut. Jagged, powerful and as mystifying as the title itself. ---Chris

NECKS "Townsville"
Deviating from their usual jazz-rock formula, "Townsville" is a single improvised live piece that spans 50+ minutes and features mostly piano. It starts off very Eno-esque, incredibly relaxing and engulfing for how minimal it actually is, before building into an intense waterfall of piano and percussion. Top shelf stuff. ---Chris

GOGOL BORDELLO "Super Taranta!"
Gypsy Punk? Is Gypsy even politically correct? Is it supposed to be Eastern-European American Punk? Whatever the fuck it is, it's fantastic. Traditional string arrangement collides with punk rock, and outcomes this fun and amazingly energetic album. ---Trevin

V/A "People Take Warning"
This is probably the most impressive CD set I've heard all year. A 3 CD compilation the four horsemen would gladly play at parties. Traditional American folk showing the dark, dirty side of America long before video games and television, all written between 1913-1938. Just in time to cover the horrors of the Depression, the Dust Bowl, The Titanic, and the starvation of a nation. ---Trevin

DAN DEACON "Spiderman of the Rings"
One time in an interview, Dan Deacon said he just wanted to make music that if a whole bunch of awesome 4th graders got together would make, which is an accurate description of this album assuming the 4th graders you recruited were circuit bending geniuses with lsd slipped into their lunch money. Home-made dance music is the best kind of dance music. ---Trevin

ELECTRIC WIZARD "Witchcult Today"
The band that "cains harder than the devil" returns with probably their best full length since "Come My Fanatics." There's a little bit of early Monster Magnet psychedelia mixed in with the usual dose of Sabbath worship and tortured vocals. It's sick and grimm and absolutely essential doom for both the diehard and the casual dabbler. ---Chris

WOLVES IN THE THRONEROOM "Two Hunters"
Comprised of four long black metal epics, "Two Hunters" picks up where "Diadems" left off, though the band seems to have really found its niche. Making intense wall of sound black metal with menacingly gorgeous interludes, this USBM band is probably the best to hit the scene in the last 5 years. ---Chris

OM "Pilgrimage"
Another four-tracker on Southern Lord, Om's "Pilgrimage" absolutely NEEDS to be heard on headphones to be fully enjoyed. The vocals are low in the mix and play out more like another instrument, a soft chanting doom mantra. There is something incredibly beautiful in this black hole of ambience and floating drone, though your mother might not dig it. ---Chris

NEW PORNOGRAPHERS "Challenger"
This great Canadian indie-pop band makes the Vinal Edge list AGAIN! Took me several listens before I realized that I was hooked on the hooks! The shifting of different vocalists throughout makes this infectious disc stand up to repeated listenings.---Chuck

BURIAL "Untrue"
Not much changed formula-wise from Burial's first self-titled release, but "Untrue" is somehow a better, deeper, more mind-altering brand of hyperdub or corroded two-step than its predecessor. It's a cold fusion of house and confounding breakbeat, with vocals that are manipulated, processed, and folded to produce a soulful and challenging experience that is completely unique to Burial. ---Chris

V/A "Ethnic Minority Music of North Vietnam"
Simple and raw folk music. Some vocal only, some instrumental. I find enjoyment in it's simple unproduced charm, especially the acapella vocal tracks. ---Chuck

AMY WINEHOUSE "Back to Black"
OK, Chris doesn't want to review this or his metal customers will kick him out of the scene, or even worse, call him a homo (Common metal "dis"). He turned ME onto this I swear(I don't want my weirdo customers to think I have sold out). Anyway, ignore the tabloid booze-swilling coke-snortin' hubbub and just give this a listen. The gal has pipes, and the production on this is nothing short of masterful. Harkens back to prime James Brown Funk with a Sharon Jones Dap-King touch. The brutal honesty of the lyrics is the finishing touch. ---Chuck

SEVEN THAT SPELLS/MAKOTO KAWABATA "Men From Dystopia"
Another release from the tail end of 2007 that helps redeem the whole year! The band is from Croatia, the guy is from Japan's "Acid Mothers Temple". The combination melds into a psychedelic drenching of heaviness not unlike a Vulcan mind meld of AMT, Amon Duul, and Hawkwind. Heavy man. ---Chuck

DAFT PUNK "Alive 2007"
Thanks Daft Punk, you've ruined Daft Punk for me. This live album is pretty much a Mash-up of every hit the Parisian Duo have released. They flow the tracks into continuous sequences taking very few breaks through out the album. If you're already a Daft Punk fan, beware this album can destroy you, if not I advise internalizing all of their previous work just to realize how they've matched their tracks and mashed them into perfection. ---Trevin

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