I thought from a good historical standpoint, as well as a great way to break the new website in, I would re-publish my best of 2007. It originally appeared last December in both my personal myspace blog and the Vodka Tonic Media blog on Bloglines. Some of the media links may be expired. If you want something, email me and I will help you find another alternative. (oh, and I deleted the Biggest Disappointment of 2007 part to go along with the spirit of my new blog).
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Below are my personal Top 15 albums released in 2007. Also listed are my top ten mp3 singles from this past year. I did not include any album or band that I was personally involved with. Each album in my top 15 has a picture of the album cover that can be clicked in case you are intrigued to pick up the record yourself. Also many of the songs mentioned below have links to free (legal) mp3s.

My top 15 albums:

(1) The Ponys – Turn The Lights Out (Matador)

 A switch from In The Red Records to Matador didn't slow these neo-psychedelic garage rockers one bit.  Nor did their decision to choose a less notorious, yet equally experienced, John Agnello to produce their 3rd record (as oppose to previous producers Steve Albini and Jim Diamond). The production is still abrasive and honest with an extra amount of spaciness not found on their previous two albums. "Double Vision" may have been the best choice as lead off track and debut single, but try programming all the even tracks on one listen and all the odd tracks on a separate listen and I swear you have two different EPs here. Good thing they both work well together to bring us the same indie rock masterpiece. The odd tracks remind me of a car wreck between the Los Angeles Paisley Underground of the 80s and the primitive post-punk eras of The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen. Even number tracks like "Everyday Weapon" and "Poser Psychotic" will keep long time fans of the Ponys believing the band still has the chops to put on one of the best live shows around.

(2) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81 (RCA)

"Weapon of Choice" wins the "best alternative rock radio hit that never was because RCA didn't hire anyone for radio promotion" award. I have a wife that, regardless of the mix CDs I have burned and the iPods I have bought her, still spends a few hours each week listening to the local modern rock station. I was beginning to have a little faith, hearing two of the best singles of 2006 get heavy airplay in 2007 (Silversun Pickups "..Twinkles" and PB & J's "Young Folks). Hell, they were even playing Placebo in heavy rotation. Somehow BRMC received no such love. Alternative radio should not only be an alternative to hip hop, R&B, country, & bad metal. It should also be the alternative ethics behind building a playlist for your listeners. This is what is killing your local FM programming. Those wanting to hear new indie rock tracks on a daily basis with a warm voice to guide them have no choice but to plug into KEXP's online stream  or maybe KRCW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. You always hear that the majors are not into careers anymore, they are into "hits" - immediate gratification by means of spins and record sales. But there are a few major label bands that have been able to build their audience slowly and effectively, without selling out to commercial radio. Their fans are few, but mighty. They are lifers. Dandy Warhols, Flaming Lips, Placebo, and even Radiohead before they split from EMI. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is the next band to enter this club. They may never have a radio hit or appear on SNL, but hey will be able to tour forever and put out records on a modest budget, making a modest living in both fields. Have you been to their website (http://www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com)? They actually have a continuously updated ranking of all their songs as decided by their fans. Fans register on the BRMC website and then are able to post comments for each song, often giving their own interpretation of the lyrics. Bands on top 40 radio and even bands on commercial alternative can't claim this level of connection with their fans.  If BRMC ever gets dropped by RCA, their fans are going with them. And more power to them. They may be one of the only artists that could actually get the new Radiohead model to successfully work for them.

(3) A.R.E. Weapons – Modern Mayhem (Defend)

Who cares what Electroclash is or was, file this record under Synth-Punk and integrate it in the same playlist you keep your Destruction Unit and Phantom Limbs songs in. I read two reviews comparing this album to Jay Reatards Blood Visions record from 2006, but I would even go as far as to say songs like "Just a Crutch" and "Just Getting Started" bares resemblance to the classic Black Wave album from the Lost Sounds. Only downfall: not released on vinyl....yet.

(4) Pop Levi – The Return To Form Black Magick Party (Counter)

Hipster dance rock? Maybe. Fuck, this cat sneezes more hipness in one kleenex than most us do in a lifetime. But listening to this record I am convinced this former Ladytron contributor gets it and is not citing T. Rex as a major influence just to come off pseudo-hip. There is some true grit and imagination in Pop Levi's songwriting. "Sugar Assault Me Now" blew my mind and my speakers when I first downloaded it from Insound's "Free Recommended MP3" weekly email (jocks and gamers may recognize the song from EA's NHL 08). Purchased the album and was immediately hooked. There are some catchy tunes on this disc. Even my four year old has been singing and dancing to "Pick Me Uppercut". Songs like "Flirting " and "Skip Ghetto" remind me of the soundtrack work Shudder to Think did years ago that overshadowed much of their latter albums. And "Blue Honey" comes onto me like some kind of hypnotic electro-lounge number that could be heard in some metropolis dive on the only weekday night when 20-somethings and 40-somethings can mingle comfortably. A stellar debut full length from an artist that the English press has already hailed as a future mega-star.

Download both "Blue Honey" and "Sugar Assault Me Now" at Insound: http://www.insound.com/mp3/mp3s.php?searchtype=Artist&searchby=pop+levi

(5) Jeff Dahl – Battered Stuff (Steel Cage)

Ever since his one time drummer Pickle Dagger lent me a copy of Have Faith, I have always been a fan of Jeff's acoustic material first and his electric full band assault second. Compare both versions of "I'm In Love With the GTOs" and you can't deny the sincerity and passion that goes along with the folkier version found on Have Faith. My favorite tracks on 2005's Cursed Poison and Condemned were the dark ballad "Sweet Silence" and the slightly upbeat country ditty "Glitter and Tears". On this year's Battered Stuff, Jeff upgrades his acoustic set up to include a few tambourines and other percussions. "California Blues" is the stand out track, a nowhere-fast ballad that begs for a sing-a-long ready intimate crowd (leave your lighters at home, rockers). "Sandwich" has to be the best poverty stricken blues number ever written by a white man. Overall, this album proves to be a fabulous outlet for Jeff Dahl in times when three chords and the truth is just not enough.

(6) Peachfuzz – Catch Your Snap (Teenacide)

From Teenacide Records comes Peachfuzz whose second album bounces back and forth between Lookout era Green Day and a sound lost somewhere between TSAR's self titled debut and anything from Fountains of Wayne. Listening to records from the Teenacide label doesn't necessarily make you wax rhapsodic of an era long gone. Rather, they keep you believing that there is some alternate universe based in some middle class city in Orange County where kids still where Vans, have make-out parties, and take their musical cues from 120 Minutes on MTV. A world where everyone tunes into the same FM morning show to hear their daily take of The La's "There She Goes" and The Producers  "She Sheila" while eating french toast with maple syrup and basking in the early California sun.  A world without the Internet, although a few class geeks know of something called BBS. Catch Your Snap has become the perfect soundtrack to this alternate universe, even if that world is just some silly fantasy of mine. Again, no extra credit points given for the dismissal of vinyl.  I am pretty sure my alternate universe has turntables.

(7) Love of Diagrams – Mosaic (Matador)

Sure, back in 2005, 1 out of every 3 indie rock bands spewed clichés like "post-punk" and "no wave" in their press kits, but did any of them actually live up to it? Love of Diagrams does. Many may complain Mosaic is too minimalistic, too empty, too lo-fi to be a dance floor hit with the kids. Is everyone so infatuated with the latest wave of Gang of Four inspired rock that they forgot what the first wave of post-punk and no-wave represented back in the late 70s? Songs like "Pace or The Patience" and "Ms V. Export" sound like a young Siouxsie working her chops at an afterhours party in a New York warehouse art gallery. The rest of the album sounds like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks on Ritalin with better song structure. It's hard to believe that a record so street-smart could come from a band from

Free download of "Pace or the Patience": http://www.insound.com/mp3/mp3s.php?searchtype=Artist&searchby=Love+of+Diagrams&submit.x=19&submit.y=5

(8) Jesse Malin – Glitter in the Gutter (Adeline)

If you are surprised that Malin's most publicized record to date was released on the bay area punk label Adeline, don't be. The label's founder Billie Joe Armstrong was a big fan of DGeneration and invited the band to open for Green Day on the Nimrod Tour. I am also a big fan of DGeneration, even on the album Through the Darkness in which Malin's songwriting started to mature. I even dug his follow up band Bellvue, whose only album contained the first recorded version of "Brooklyn" (later found on Malin's 2002 debut The Fine Art of Self Destruction, a version I find to be watered down compared to its original). No surprise that Bruce Springsteen is a big fan of Jesse Malin too. He opts for a deut on the future last call bar anthem "Broken Radio", in much of the same fashion that Springsteen took a liking to Mike Ness many years before. Glitter in the Gutter is the third Malin solo album and the only one that has me buying into his new direction. Devoted listeners to the Underground Garage know that "In the Modern World" was the true single on this album, but many of you may be more familiar with the song's opening track "Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day)" which soars through your speakers ready to compete with your favorite 70s classic soft rock hit. Others may be more in tuned with "Bastards of Young", a cover of one of the most familiar songs from The Replacements.

(9) The Love Me Nots – In Black & White (Atomic A Go Go)

It was only a few months ago that the Love Me Nots celebrated their first full year as a band. Within that time frame they attracted the attention of one of the most sought after producers in the Midwest (Jim Diamond), self-released their first full length on CD, sold out two pressings on vinyl, signed a management deal with an upstart firm in L.A., cracked the CMJ 200, and performed more shows in other US major cities then they did in their hometown of Phoenix. They are planning a European tour in 2008 which, if sales on Soundflat mailorder are any indication, should do extremely well. The reason this band is the hottest band in

Download "Alley" from directly from producer Jim Diamond's website: http://www.ghettorecorders.com/clients.html

(10) Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Living With The Living (Touch & Go)

"Bomb Repeat Bomb" was the best punk rock song I heard this past year or at least the best political punk song.  Coincidentally it's the only track that Brendan Canty produced that has any similarity to his alma mater, Fugazi (perhaps a disappointment if your first introduction to Ted Leo was "Ballad of a Sin Eater" off the Yes New York compilation from a few years back). The rest of Living With The Living makes for a complete and in touch display of indie rock that gives nods to classic artists from The Clash to Joe Jackson. You even get to hear some more twangy, alt-country barnbusters (back to back "Colleen" and "A Bottle of Buckie" both could had been both penned by Conor Oberst).  But this record has balls. To make one odd parallel, this record reminds much of Down By Law's punkrockacademyfightsong  album in that even when Dave Smalley toned it down on a few of the album's key tracks, the heart and gusto was still there as well as the cohesiveness.  A solid effort that's easy on the ears for both punks and indie-rockers.

Download "Bomb Repeat Bomb" for free here: http://www.insound.com/mp3/mp3s.php?searchtype=Artist&searchby=ted+leo

(11) Mooney Suzuki – Have Mercy (Elixia)

Longtime fans considered this record to be disappointing, and I guess if you were expecting a back-to-basics garage rock album you would be disappointed. But I am among the minority that thinks Alive and Amplified was their best album and single. However, if we approach this as Sammy James Jr. first solo album (only one original member appears on this record while James wrote the entire record himself for the first time since the band started in 1996), I think this effort will fair better with the old school crowd. Have Mercy opens with "99%", starting out with a riff borrowed straight from Angus Young's playbook and joined with a back-up arrangement that was probably stolen from the black book of previous producer The Matrix. But what is borrowed and/or stolen does not hurt this record one bit. "Good Ol' Alcohol" plays like an R-rated basement classic that your least responsible uncle introduced you to back when you were knee-high while "Adam & Eve" is that lost soft rock classic that could become a guilty pleasure of both you and your parents.  But don't call up Dad yet. Get yourself a few listens on your own or with your best pal before you share this gem of a rock album with pops.

Download "99%" free from CNET: http://music.download.com/themooneysuzuki/3600-8708_32-100067726.html

(12) Mondo Generator – Dead Planet (Suburban Noize)

Often billed as "Nick Oliveri and Mondo Generator", this post-Queens of the Stone Age experiment has now officially taken a life of its own. Creative differences often don't lead to great records by ex-members of superstar rock bands, but Dead Planet is an exception. From start to finish this is an explosive record that reminds me of my nights years ago relaxing solo and listening to each volume of the Fistful of Rock series while overpouring my own Beam and Cokes. Fans of supercharged Euro-rawk ala Gluecifer take notice. There are some bigger ears listening and bigger names paying tribute to the brand of walls of guitar sleaze rock you love. 

(13) Chris Rock – Cheese and Crackers: The Greatest Bits (Geffen)

No greatest Hits albums allowed on my top 15 of the year!? No Comedy?!?!. Bullshit. First, much of this album is actually unreleased in the world of retail audio. Not all of Chris Rock's critically acclaimed HBO specials made an appearance on CD, but this compilation of Rock's best seems to pull audio right off the original versions seen on HBO, as opposed to alternate versions heard on previous Chris Rock albums. No silly and unneeded Chris Rock songs here, just his brand of racially charged, yet balanced, intellectual comedy. Now that I think of it, shouldn't race oriented comedy start and stop with Chris Rock? Can anyone seriously tell me that Dave Chappelle and Carlos Mencia are doing a better job with their message than this? Has either of them come up with anything as brilliant as "Black People vs. N---"?  Give this record one spin and you will forget "I'm James Brown, Bitch" and probably thank me for it later.

(14) Blood of the Sun – In Blood We Rock (Brainticket)
 

Saw them at SHOD Fest VIII and bought the CD half way through their set. Blood of the Sun pays more tribue to classic rock than to a particular niche scene. The lead vocals have the smooth rock crooning quality that is comparable to Nicke Royale of the Hellacopters.  I think for the sub genre of Stoner Rock to survive a few more years, the new bands are going to have to be more psychedelic and less sludge. More Deep Purple and less Sabbath.  A little more boogie and a little less doom. A classic rock organ, like one that Blood of the Sun employs, wouldn't hurt either. My guess is that within three years Blood of the Sun's style will break out and the Stoner Rock crowd will grow to dismiss them. In that case, we may need to create a sub-genre called post-stoner. Well then, let's hail Blood of the Sun as it's first kings.

(15) Radiohead - In Rainbows (XL/TBD)

I am a fair-weather Radiohead fan. Not diehard at all. So I really can't tell you in full faith that In Rainbows is better than OK Computer or Kid A. What I do know is that, through an innovative business model, the new album got people talking. Release dates mean nothing nowadays. Gone are the days where fans would line up at the doors of record stores on Monday evening to buy their favorite new release at 12:01am. However, on October 10, hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide opened up their email to get their special link to the new Radiohead album. Isn't this how we truly define culture (the shared experience of repeated events)? Radiohead single handedly brought consumer culture back to music, even if half of those fans paid the minimum of barely anything. The question is, to sustain consumer culture in music, where do we go from here?

Honorable Mentions In No Particular Order: The Hangmen – In The City , Terror Visions – World of Shit, Digital Leather – Hard At Work, Antique Scream – Sink The Sun, The Willowz – Chautauqua,  Gore Gore Girls – Get The Gore

Top 10 Singles on my iPod during 2007 that I have yet to buy the whole album

1. Tokyo Electron - "AZ 238" from soon to be named album in 2008. The only way to get this is to stream it from their myspace page, unless you know how to stream-rip. http:/www.myspace.com/desertpunk

2. MGMT - "Time to Pretend" Originally released in 2006 I am now told. This makes me feel young again. A very innocent and yet curious approach to a pop song. SPIN magazine has a free download of this song: http://www.spin.com/features/band_of_the_day/2007/10/071005_mgmt/

3. Bat For Lashes - "What's A Girl To Do". Okay, it was the BMX bunnies in the video that got me too. See the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8

4. Deathline - "I Cannot See". First music video I have seen on You Tube created in Second Life. Video here:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=-g_R8-Ts2b0  Free mp3 download thanks to Artrocker here: http://www.artrocker.com/node/167

5. Band of Horses - "Is There A Ghost?". Sub Pop Records gives away the song for free. Yippee! http://subpop.com/media

6. Test Pattern (aka The Jaggers) - "You Make My Heart Beat Faster" For fans of the Buzzcocks and The Briefs. Test Pattern was a short lived AZ band that moved back to 'Bama and changed their name to the Jaggers (not Mick, but those things Brick Top likes to slice off). Download the song free from their myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/gogofucko

7. Manic Street Preachers - "Underdogs" . Long running brit-pop band still running. Yea, not as good as Stay Beautiful, but still worthy to be among the better glam-punk material the Manics have been known to put out . I downloaded this song from last.fm for free three months before their new album came out but it looks like it took it down. Unless you can find it: http://www.last.fm/music/Manic+Street+Preachers/Send+Away+The+Tigers or try looking on their own site to see if it is still available there: http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/07/news/2007/03/?headlines-page=3

8. Los Campensinos - "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives". I told my wife the chorus sounds like The Vaselines. She agreed. Download the song for free directly from the band: http://www.loscampesinos.com/stuff.php

9. Apples in Stereo - "Energy". If it sounds familiar it is because A&E was using this tune as to promote their new season line-up...and they did it the week after the single was released. Download it for free from CNET here: http://music.download.com/theapplesinstereo/3600-8591_32-100393994.html

10. Bright Eyes - "Four Winds". The song that helped me give indie-folk/alt-Country a second chance. Free download from Insound here: http://www.insound.com/mp3/mp3s.php?searchtype=Artist&searchby=bright+eyes

Have a great 2008!