Our survey of the best and brightest albums (that I listened to) in 2007 continues…

20. Orion Rigel Dommisse - What I Want from You is Sweet
Song: “Simon Sent for Me”

The first of three Hexham Head recordings on this list. Philadelphia’s Hexham Head Studios produced five terrific albums this year, two of which barely missed making this list, this one, and two more you’ll see later on. Orion Rigel Dommisse performs grim, death-obsessed folk tunes. Her instruments of choice are pizzicato violins, gently strummed cellos, and three of the lower-key tones on her keyboard. What I really like about this album is Dommisse’s sense of humor - she covers the theme song of Suicide Club, she constructs hilariously morbid narratives (On ‘Fake Yer Death’: “You could burn your house down and leave some bones / Make sure the bones look something like your own”). Listen to this late at night. But not too late.

19. White Williams - Smoke
Song: “New Violence”

That cover. That. cover. What. the. hell. is. that. cover.

Listen, I’m embarrassed to have something so eye-rapingly bad on my blog, so you know this album has to be good. And it is. White Williams is part of the extended nouveau-electropop circle that includes Dan Deacon and Girl Talk, and his debut album is a collection of driving retropop. Above all is Williams’ voice - deadened, robotic, and effortlessly cool. At times this approaches deadpan everything-you-hate-is-cool hipster overload (his heartless cover of “I Want Candy”) but there are so many great ideas on this record that I can forgive his more overt Vice Magazineisms.

18. Group Doueh - Guitar Music from the Western Sahara
Song: “Eid For Dakhla”

Group Doueh might be the single greatest thing about globalization. A band of nomad musicians from the Western Sahara listen to James Brown, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix records, blend with ras al hanout and poof! They come out with the most energetic stomp of music to come out this year. To be fair, Group Doueh are legends in their home country and have been performing for years, but this collection - released by the incomparable Sublime Frequencies - is the first time they’ve granted outsiders permission to record. One listen to the above and you’ll be glad they did.

17. The Broken West - I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On
Song: “So It Goes”

A lot of this year’s most prominent power pop albums really sucked (New Pornographers - you’re 2 for 4, now.) Lo and behold, this band, which got exactly no attention, made a really good one! The Broken West is like Being There-era Wilco’s younger, dumber brother, the one who scores more chicks and has digested Big Star’s Radio City but hasn’t gotten into country yet. In any other year, a good-not-great power pop record might not be enough to catch my attention, but we’re hurting for something great here, so this’ll do.

16. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Song: “Ponytail”

Every year I get to this list and find myself intensely tired of at least one album on it, but I know that I cannot leave this off, because it’s terrific (if overrated) and was a major part of What I Was Listening To in 2007. So here it is. I can’t be motivated to write what I like about it, but I like it.

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « 25 Albums for 2007 (Part One)
• » 25 Albums for 2007 (Part Three)

• BROWSE / IN Music
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• » 25 Albums for 2007 (Part Three)