okay, now my thoughts

So, first, 2007, as far as popular music's concerned, was the year of M.I.A. This woman is a bona-fide artist, everyone, and we are lucky as hell to have her. Arular (2005) hinted at things to come, but was anyone really prepared for the hip-hop mindfuck that is Kala? I sure as hell wasn't. Further, though her quasi-activism streak is half-baked at best, she's nevertheless prompting music fans to question things like globalization, signification, allusion and (gasp!) even terrorism (the bit about AKs in "20 Dollar" or "Paper Planes"'s infectious hook).

But it was a good year for Americans too. Though they have plenty of hataz armed with (some) valid ammunition, 2007 was huge for the fellas in Animal Collective. And while Strawberry Jam is hardly as accomplished as their previous two, our boy Panda Bear released a strange little electro/sixties pop/sample heavy record titled Person Pitch. It's a beautiful achievement and indicative of Animal Collective's more tuneful tendencies (as evidenced in songs like "Winters Love," "The Purple Bottle" and "Chocolate Girl"). Additionally, both Spoon and of Montreal released well-into-their-career albums that are justifiably lauded (though I've hardly internalized the former). Bishop Allen revisited a lot of their EPs from last year and gave us the surprisingly cohesive and sophisticated & The Broken String while acts like St. Vincent, Ghostface Killah, Liars, the Arcade Fire (hey, Win's American!), Lupe Fiasco, Black Lips, Mary J, Dr. Dog and Joanna Newsom all added new gems to their respective catalogues. There were also plenty of fine top40/crunk singles, though none really stand out for me.

I didn't hear albums from Bloc Party, Wu-Tang Clan, Kanye West, Modest Mouse, Okkervil River or Band of Horses-- all acts which received plenty of press and positive reviews.

Also, Jens Lekman decided to finally release an LP of new shit. Though it's not as emotive as When I Wanted to Be Your Dog, Night Falls Over Kortedala is still both hilarious and heartbreaking, while bringing the age of sample-heavy tunes into the pop music mainstream (and yes, anyone's cock being sucked by p4k = mainstream).

Oh yeah, and Radiohead released a record; it's okay.